All posts by h716a5.icu

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the third T20 between West Indies and England

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Mar-2014Contrast of the dayAfter six overs in the second T20 England were 30 for 3. This time they found their mojo with Michael Lumb, especially, cutting loose as they were 64 without loss in the field restrictions. The openers enjoyed three overs of pace, in the absence of Samuel Badree, before confronting Sunil Narine and although there was not quite the six-hitting frenzy that West Indies can produce, 11 fours in the six overs was certainly an improvement.Slower ball of the dayKrishmar Santokie found the going tougher early on in this match than he had done two days ago, but came back superbly in the latter part of the innings. He removed the dangerous Jos Buttler, however the highlight was his slower ball that confounded the out-of-form Ben Stokes. The ball gripped on the surface, turned and sailed through the considerable gap left by Stokes’ lunge forward. Just to cap it off for Santokie, the middle stump was flattened.Salute of the daySheldon Cottrell was a soldier before being an international cricketer. He used to stand guard at Sabina Park when matches were being played. Now, when claiming wickets on his T20 debut – Michael Lumb and Alex Hales in consecutive overs – he saluted his team-mates in a reminder of his former profession.Catch of the dayTowards the end of the match a rainbow appeared in the sky about Bridgetown. It would not have been out of place landing on Chris Jordan, because everything he touched turned to gold. First came the runs, then the wickets. But just to round it off he also pulled off a superb outfield catch, running around from deep midwicket, to remove Dwayne Bravo.Non-wide of the dayInstinct took over for Darren Sammy on the last ball of the match. Knowing West Indies needed six for the win, after a wide the previous delivery from Jade Dernbach, he went after the next ball which, if he had not got the toe-end of the bat on it, would also have been signalled a wide and given him another chance of launching one out of the ground. Still, with the series wrapped and at the end of a highly entertaining content, he was still able to draw a wry smile.

Also, Kohli’s race to 6000, left-armers’ series records, losing despite scoring higher, and when all 11 bowled

Steven Lynch28-Jan-2014Pakistan’s remarkable win over Sri Lanka in Sharjah came at the rate of 5.25 an over. Have there been any faster successful Test run chases? asked Philip Johnson from England
The only faster successful chase in a Test, given a target of more than 200, was pulled off at The Oval in 1994, when England scored 205 for 2 in 35.3 overs to beat South Africa – a rate of 5.77 per over. There wasn’t the same time pressure in that game, though – England won with more than a day to spare, whereas Pakistan only had 1.3 overs in hand. If you lower the required target to 100 or more then there are a dozen quicker examples, the fastest being 6.82 an over, which West Indies achieved in knocking off 173 for 6 in 25.2 overs to defeat India in Kingston in February 1983. That one was tight on time: Wisden records that “West Indies won by four wickets, in a frenzied finish with four balls of the final 20 overs remaining.”Rangana Herath collected a king pair and conceded 100 runs in an innings in the third Test against Pakistan in Sharjah. Has anyone else suffered this indignity? asked Malinda Wijesinghe from Sri Lanka
Rangana Herath was the 17th man known to have bagged a king pair (out first ball twice) in a Test, and none of the others also conceded 100 runs in an innings in the same match as Herath did in Sharjah – the most conceded before Herath was 87, by Bert Vogler for South Africa against Australia in Sydney in 1910-11. In the Adelaide Ashes Test of 2010-11 Ryan Harris took 2 for 84 in between bagging a king pair, in which he reviewed both decisions unsuccessfully, so was actually given out four times in the space of two balls. Herath actually occupies first and second spot on this particular list now, as he followed his 5 for 125 in the first innings against Pakistan with 0 for 100 in the second. Three people have conceded more than 100 runs in the match (both innings) in which they collected their king pair: Bhagwat Chandrasekhar took 6 for 52 in each innings for India v Australia in Melbourne in 1977-78, Adam Huckle had match figures of 2 for 136 for Zimbabwe against Pakistan in Harare in 1997-98, and Ajit Agarkar took 3 for 76 and 3 for 51 for India v Australia in Melbourne in 1999-2000.Is Virat Kohli on course to reach 6000 runs in ODIs quicker than anyone else? asked Pratap Agha from India
Sourav Ganguly is currently the fastest to 6000 one-day international runs in terms of matches – 152, compared to 153 by AB de Villiers and 156 by Viv Richards – although Richards got there in fewer innings (141, six quicker than both de Villiers and Ganguly). As I write, Virat Kohli has 5361 runs from 128 matches (121 innings), so if he maintains his current impressive ODI average of 52, he should get there in about 12 more innings, making 133. That means even if he doesn’t quite keep up his current form, he should have a fair bit in hand. Kohli already shares the records as fastest to 5000 in terms of innings (114, with Richards) and matches (120, with Brian Lara). Another batsman clocking up ODI runs at an impressive rate is Hashim Amla, who currently has 4054 from just 85 matches (82 innings), at an average of 53.Mitchell Johnson took 37 wickets in the Ashes series. How many left-armers have taken more? asked Ray Kennaugh from Australia
The answer here is slightly surprising: Mitchell Johnson’s haul of 37 wickets (at the phenomenal average of 13.97) equalled the record by a left-arm bowler in any Test series – by another Australian, Bill Whitty, at home to South Africa in 1910-11. Whitty was, according to Wisden, “a medium-fast left-hander whose sharp swerve made him something of an Australian version of George Hirst”. Two left-arm spinners come next: India’s Vinoo Mankad took 34 wickets at home against England in 1951-52, while Tony Lock demolished the weak 1958 New Zealanders in England with 34 at just 7.47 runs apiece. Another slow left-armer, Alf Valentine, took 33 in just four Tests for West Indies in England in 1950 (his debut series), while paceman Alan Davidson claimed 33 (again in four matches; he missed one through injury) in Australia’s famous 1960-61 series against West Indies.India lost the second one-day international in New Zealand despite scoring more runs than them. How often has this happened in ODIs? asked Amit Arora from India
India (277 for 9) lost the recent one-day international to New Zealand (271 for 7) in Hamilton by 15 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis equation – when rain stopped play India’s D/L target was 293. This turns out to be the 93rd time that a one-day international has been lost by the side scoring more runs. But most of those involved the side batting second overhauling a reduced target: interestingly, this was only the second time that the side batting second had ever scored more runs but lost – the other occasion was in Bangalore in November 2008, when India batted first and scored 166 for 4 in a match eventually reduced, by two rain breaks, to 22 overs a side. England’s target was revised upwards to 198, they fell short with 178 for 8.Has there been any Test in which all 22 players bowled at least one ball? And how often have there been 11 bowlers in one innings? asked Ashutosh Mehra from India
The most different bowlers used by both sides in a Test is 20, by South Africa and England in the course of a rather boring draw in Cape Town in January 1965. The only people who didn’t bowl were the two wicketkeepers, Denis Lindsay and Jim Parks. Actually, Parks might have been a bit affronted that he didn’t get on, as he’d taken a Test wicket the previous winter in India (a proper batsman, too – Dilip Sardesai, for 87). There have been four instances of all 11 players bowling during a Test innings, all during drawn matches. The last two happened on the batsman’s paradise at St John’s in Antigua: all 11 Indians bowled as West Indies made 629 for 9 in May 2002, then three years later all 11 South Africans turned their arms over as West Indies amassed 747. The first instance was at The Oval in August 1884, when the entire English side bowled during Australia’s 551, and it didn’t happen again for nearly 100 years, when all 11 Australians had a trundle as Pakistan made 382 for 2 in a cast-iron draw in Faisalabad in March 1980. Taslim Arif batted throughout that innings to score 210 not out, so it’s possible he achieved the unique feat of facing 11 different bowlers during his innings (I don’t think anyone else could have managed it). For the full list of most bowlers in a Test innings, click here.)And there’s an update to last week’s question about Nathan Lyon’s not-outs:
My answer to last week’s question about Nathan Lyon not being dismissed at all in the 2013-14 Ashes series was wrong, as I managed to input the wrong query into Statsguru. The answer I produced showed the people with the most not-outs in a series. The only person other than Lyon who has played throughout an entire five-Test series and not been dismissed at all is Bill Johnston, the fabled Australian tailender, in South Africa in 1949-50 – and he actually only batted twice, scoring 1 not out in the first Test and 2 not out in the third. Apologies for the confusion.

India have done well against South Africa in T20Is and might improve their record further given their form and the favourable conditions at Mirpur

Shiva Jayaraman03-Apr-2014The two teams have progressed to the semi-finals in contrasting fashion. India have waltzed in there after winning all their matches comfortably. They are the only unbeaten team in the league stages. Their narrowest win came against West Indies – by seven wickets with two balls to spare. Even in that game India had progressed to a stage when they needed just 23 runs from 32 balls with eight wickets in hand.South Africa have had to sweat it out. After ending up with a defeat from a winning position against Sri Lanka – they fell short by five runs chasing 165, after having scored 110 for 3 at the end of the 14th over – South Africa had to work hard for their wins in the remaining games. They snatched a win from New Zealand in the last over: Dale Steyn managed to defend what were the lowest runs to have been defended in T20Is in the last over – seven. This had only been done twice before – South Africa themselves had done it against the same opposition at Eden Park in 2012 and two days later Ireland did this in a match against Kenya. Ireland contrived to lose from a winning position against them. Their win against England, though hard earned, wasn’t as hard as the three-run margin suggests.India’s bowlers did a fine job of restricting the opposition in the league matches: the highest total that was scored against them in these three matches was 138, by Bangladesh. India batted second in three of their four games and the targets have obviously not tested their batsmen – evident from the fact that they have one of the lowest strike rates in the tournament and have lost the fewest wickets. India’s batsmen (click here for their tournament stats) have averaged 35.4 and scored five fifty-plus scores – both the highest among teams in the league stage. South Africa’s batsmen (click here for their tournament stats) have scored the most runs by any team in the main league stage and have the best strike rate as well. They have scored heavily in the last-five overs: their scoring rate of 10.6 being second only to West Indies’ 11.3.

Batting stats – Teams in the league stage

TeamMatRunsHSAveSRDis100/50sSouth Africa464586*23.03134.1280/3England4610116*22.59131.5271/1West Indies45937224.70123.5240/2Australia45657418.22126.7310/3Pakistan4556111*20.59118.6271/1India453162*35.40114.7150/5Bangladesh44976617.13104.2290/1Sri Lanka44868922.09124.6220/3New Zealand44196519.04116.7220/3Netherlands44156314.3199.8290/1

South Africa’s bowlers – much like their batsmen – have had to work hard. With South Africa bowling second in three of their matches, their bowlers have got the worse of the conditions under the lights at Chittagong, which has been the more difficult venue for bowlers with dew being a factor on occasions. Despite this, their bowlers have managed 30 wickets in the league stage – the second highest by any team in the tournament. They have also leaked runs though: their economy of 8.26 is one of the worst among teams. South Africa’s area of concern has been their bowling in the Powerplay overs – they have taken only four wickets in these overs and have conceded runs at 8.91 runs an over. Their economy in these overs in the worst among the ten teams in the league stage and a run and a fraction more than the next worst.India’s bowling in this tournament, helped by the spin-friendly conditions at Mirpur, has come up trumps. Their economy of 6.17 in this World T20 has been the best among teams. While their spinners have lead from the front, their medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has bowled extremely well too. He has played an important role in restricting the opposition batsmen. His economy of 4.33 in this tournament is the best among bowlers who have bowled at least five overs. India have been the best bowling unit in the Powerplays too, with an economy of 4.5 in these overs. Bhuvneshwar has bowled ten overs in the Powerplays conceding just 34 runs – among bowlers who have bowled a minimum of five overs in the Powerplays, no bowler has done better.

Bowling economy – Overall and Powerplays

TeamTotal WktsPowerplay WktsEcoPowerplay EcoAveSR4/5wIndia
27
6
6.17
4.5017.44
16.9
1/0
West Indies
31
11
6.32
5.4115.64
14.8
1/0
Sri Lanka
26
10
6.73
4.6616.92
15.0
1/1
Netherlands
25
7
6.81
6.5419.10
16.8
0/1
New Zealand
26
7
7.48
6.5422.84
18.3
0/0
Pakistan
23
6
7.66
7.0026.17
20.4
0/0
Australia
20
6
8.22
6.8332.75
23.9
0/0
South Africa
30
4
8.26
8.9121.66
15.7
2/0
England
14
3
8.41
7.8839.28
28.0
0/0
Bangladesh
16
2
8.46
7.2040.18
28.5
0/0

Chittagong has been the venue where spinners – Sri Lanka’s on both occasions – have completely annihilated their opposition in a couple of games. However, given the slow and dry conditions at Mirpur, spinners have been trusted to bowl more here compared with Chittagong. In ten league matches at Mirpur, spinners have bowled 205 overs -an average of 10.2 overs per innings – to 95 overs at Chittagong.

Spinners at Mirpur and Chittagong

VenueMatOversWktsEcoAveSRBBI4/5wMirpur
10
205
63
6.78
22.06
19.5
4/112/0
Chittagong
1095
32
7.40
21.96
17.8
5/31/1
India and South Africa are playing each other in the knockout stages of a major (involving five or more teams) limited-overs tournament after more than ten years. The last time these two teams played each other in such a game was in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy in 2002. There have been three such encounters between the teams with India coming out on top on all occasions. In T20Is though, this will be their first match in the knockout stage. Both the teams have made it to the semi-finals of the World T20s once before. While India went on to win the tournament in 2007, South Africa lost to the eventual champions, Pakistan, in 2009. Overall in T20Is, India have played South Africa in seven T20Is and have won five of them – the most they have against any team.

Head-to-head – South Africa’s record v India

FormatMatWonLostT20Is
7
2
5
World T20413World T20 knock-outs—ODIs (Major tournaments) knock-outs303

The BCCI set up a three-man committee to tackle the problem of chucking at age-group and domestic cricket, and it has produced significant results in five years

Gaurav Kalra and Sidharth Monga20-Oct-201427:05

Srinath: No place for chucking in cricket

Seventy – the number of suspect actions in representative cricket in India when the BCCI took stock after the first IPL in 2008. One hundred and thirty-five – the number of suspect actions a year later, after most of the bowlers hoodwinked the three-man committee set up to wipe the malaise out. They would bowl with different actions during testing and rehabilitation at academies, and continue chucking in actual match situations. Thirty-five – the number now, five years later, after the committee comprising S Venkataraghavan, Javagal Srinath and former umpire AV Jayaprakash came down hard on players with suspect actions.There was a growing feeling in the late 1990s and early 2000s the ICC had set the wrong example by allowing suspect actions to thrive. They were all over television, influencing the next generation of cricketers. You could see them in the maidans and the gullies. You could see them in official domestic cricket. Then the IPL put them all on TV. The BCCI found it embarrassing. It picked three men who had expertise. Two of the committee members are former umpires. One of them had a beautiful offspinner’s action. One of them is an active match referee. They knew the pitfalls; they knew where the ICC’s enforcement of the law was weak. They ignored what the ICC was doing. They said they wanted their game clean first.The first step was to empower and hold accountable the on-field umpires. “Umpires can get leg-befores wrong, they can get bump catches wrong, they can get caught behind wrong, but they cannot make the mistake of allowing somebody to bowl with a dodgy action and get the distinct advantage of straightening the arm,” Srinath says. “When they see a bowler is suspect, they note down the ball number. It could be 10 balls, 15 balls. It could be 10.3, 11.4, the faster one, or doosra, which is absolutely bent. This is compiled. It comes to us at NCA for us to look at it.”Kolkata Knight Riders’ Suryakumar Yadav was the only Indian bowler reported during the recent drive against suspect actions•BCCIBowlers have not been called on the field but the umpires have the power to do so if they feel a crucial and irreversible advantage is being exploited at a crucial juncture in a match. “You don’t want to call someone for chucking in open play because there is a psychological dent as well,” Srinath says. “They can definitely call him for chucking, but they give him a chance. They call him suspect.”They call the captain, speak to him, tell him, if it is really bad, ‘Look, stop him bowling now. We might call him for chucking. If it is getting too blatant, stop him.’ Then he is called suspect, he has to go for rehabilitation and all those things. In the meantime, even before the rehab, if he comes back to play the game again, and if he is found suspect again, umpires will no-ball him. The point is – the teams will have to take the risk of playing him again knowing his action is suspect. In my observation, if someone is called for a suspect action, generally the team doesn’t put him in the playing XI. That is the immediate reaction from the team. To not play him and let him go through the remedial process and let him come back next year or next season.”What happens during rehab is a little homegrown and not entirely scientific but, according to Srinath, it was essential given that testing cannot replicate match conditions. It was a lesson the committee learnt early. “We got a list of players who were suspects [after the first IPL], and this list came from first-class umpires as well as under-16, under-19 level,” Srinath says. “Umpires had found them to be suspect and that came along with the footage for us to review. This came to NCA Bangalore and the three of us saw that. At the same time these 70-odd bowlers were at the NCA undergoing rehabilitation. They were going through the motions and trying to get their arms straight and all those things. Everything seemed to be all right after the rehabilitation, there was no bend, there was no flex at the time of delivery. The following year, we had 135 people and many of them were the same repeat offenders from the previous years. We looked into it and saw the action has gone back to the original one.”What committee came up with is now being used by the ICC, too, as its explanation released over the weekend states. “We asked for the clippings of the match,” Srinath says. “We also asked the coach and the player to go through the motions in the nets at the NCA. That was taped from a similar angle at long-on. We asked them, ‘Honestly, is this the same action you use in a match too?’ And they said yes. We compared that on a split screen. It was shocking. What we saw and what they were saying were two different things. We made them sit in front of the system, and we made them see.”Where the process is not entirely scientific is that the BCCI does not have facilities to wire up bowlers and determine by how many degrees they straighten their arms. There is a sidestep of the ICC process here, in that the committee believes the human eye is the best judge. It also assumes a certain degree of culpability – an acknowledgement of guilt – when a bowler changes his action during testing. It is more panchayat than Supreme Court – the onus is on the bowler to prove his innocence if he has been reported and is found to have bowled with different actions during a match and testing. The committee does not tell the bowler by how much he is straightening the arm, or if he is indeed exceeding 15 degrees.”We had all sorts of justifications going around – A bowls like this, C bowls like this, therefore I have this action,” Srinath says. “That was wrong. So this committee of three decided that we are not going by international standards, by not taking any case examples. We said you have to go through the process. We are not calling them chuckers, we say your action requires rehabilitation, you need help. If he is really confident about it he can go to those centres, measure himself with those machines, we will definitely do the recommendation but where he goes, what he does, is up to him.”The committee is proud the number of suspect actions has reduced and that it has worked with age-group cricketers, because by 17 or 18 the action is more or less set. The committee is also unyielding in its view that there is no place for chucking in cricket even if it might help address the imbalance between bat and ball. Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja recently equated it to reverse swing, a natural response of the bowlers to the domination of the bat, and asked for some lenience in the degree of flex for mystery spinners. Srinath disagrees.”What you are doing by allowing these things or even building on such ideas is, you are allowing the game to be completely contaminated,” Srinath says. “You are allowing everyone to bend their arm. ‘The batsmen are ruling the roost so therefore let there be some balance.’ [Instead] Give them proper wickets. Seaming wickets for fast bowlers. Maybe some turn for spinners. I think the game has to be fair. There is no way the world will accept, barring those few people who are advocating this, for the chuckers to survive.”It would have been unfair to the players who had a good action, who had a very fair action. I would see it from the point of view of a fellow competitor who is also competing in the same tournament with a fair action. If I have a competition with another fast bowler who has been chucking left, right and centre, I will be disheartened. If I don’t bowl well and don’t get wickets, then it’s fine. Then you are really promoting the game, you appreciate the bowler who bowls better. But if someone is chucking his way to five or six wickets every game, it is not fair. This will definitely have a cascading effect. The moment you put the guy with a dodgy action on television, kids learn cricket by watching television. The first coach is television.”Srinath does not rule out the possibility that the BCCI method might have had some impact on the ICC’s recent crackdown on suspect actions. “It has been discussed with the ICC,” he says. “I am sure the board members, the representatives have spoken about it. There was a serious intent to crack down upon this mess, which was growing out of control. It’s not about the numbers, it’s about cleaning the game as quickly as possible. The question is why not then and why now. But when things are happening for the betterment of the game, then why do you ask the question why?”The BCCI way is not perfect, yet it is full of common sense. It agrees the bend is not being measured, but there is enough indication that the measure of 15 degrees is irrelevant. It is setting the bar higher – a bit like the ban on teaching the doosra in Australia. There have been suggestions that this latest ICC crackdown has not indicted any big names from India, Australia and England; it might well be because they have checks in place at domestic and age-group levels.

Plus, Sangakkara’s prolific 2014, players with stumpings and caught-bowled dismissals, and losing despite high first-innings totals

Steven Lynch06-Jan-2015Kumar Sangakkara scored nearly 3000 international runs in 2014, was this a record? asked Hemachandra de Silva from Sri Lanka
In all, Kumar Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in international cricket in 2014 – 1493 in Tests, 1256 in ODIs, and 119 in T20 internationals (this excludes his 16 in the first innings of the Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, which started on December 31, 2013). This is indeed a new overall record: Ricky Ponting scored 2833 international runs in 2005. Sangakkara’s Sri Lankan ream-mate Angelo Mathews is in third place, after a crowded year: he made 2687 runs in 2014. Ponting also scored 2657 international runs in 2003, Rahul Dravid 2626 in 1999, and Sangakkara 2609 in 2006. For the full list, click here.Brendon McCullum hit 33 Test sixes in 2014. Was this another record? asked Tushar Mukherjee from the United States
That’s a good spot, as Brendon McCullum’s 33 sixes in 2014 improved the previous calendar-year record by 50%! Adam Gilchrist hit 22 sixes in 2005, and Virender Sehwag equalled that in 2008. Andrew Flintoff smote 21 sixes in 2004, and Matthew Hayden 20 in both 2001 and 2003. McCullum’s 164 fours in 2014 was another New Zealand record, but well short of the overall one: Mohammad Yousuf hit 234 fours in 2006, breaking Viv Richards’ old mark of 230 in 1976.This year Brendon McCullum joined the group who have both a caught-and-bowled and a stumping in their Test career. How many players have managed that? asked Jeremy Hall from New Zealand
Brendon McCullum’s first Test wicket – Sarfraz Ahmed caught and bowled in Dubai in November – made him the 16th man to have both a wicket and a stumping to their credit in Tests. Among the others on the list are AB de Villiers, Tatenda Taibu and Mark Boucher of recent vintage. Another New Zealander, John Reid, is also there: his 85 Test wickets (a record for anyone who also made a stumping) included two caught-and-bowleds, Denis Atkinson of West Indies and South Africa’s Peter Pollock. But Reid wasn’t really a wicketkeeper – he stumped England’s Peter Richardson at Old Trafford in 1958 while briefly deputising for the injured Eric Petrie. Clyde Walcott, who kept wicket regularly in his early Tests, later managed two caught-and-bowleds (Vijay Hazare and Tom Graveney); he’s the only man to manage double figures for stumpings and wickets, with 11 of each. Another occasional West Indian wicketkeeper, Robert Christiani, took 3 for 52 against India at Delhi in 1948-49, and one of those (Dattu Phadkar) was caught and bowled.At what number did the Don bat in Tests ? asked Arinjaya Khare from India
Don Bradman scored most of his Test runs from No. 3: in all he made 5078 of his eventual 6996 runs from there, at an average of 103.63. He did occasionally go in further down: in ten innings at No. 4 he scored 485 runs at 53.88; from three knocks at No. 5 he made 427 runs at 142.33 (including a triple-century at Headingley in 1934); in six appearances at No. 6 there were 681 runs at 97.28; and in three outings at No. 7 he made 325 runs at 162.50, most notably a series-turning 270 against England in Melbourne in 1936-37, when he held himself back in the order while a wet pitch dried a bit.What is the highest first-innings total in a Test that resulted in defeat? asked Pete Abrahams from South Africa
There have been 13 occasions in Tests when a first-innings total of more than 500 hasn’t been enough to prevent defeat. The highest of all is 586, by Australia against England in Sydney in 1894-95, in the first of only three Tests which have ever been won by a side that followed on. Pakistan declared their first innings at 574 for 8 against Australia in Melbourne in 1972-73, but still ended up losing. There’s only one instance of a team scoring more than 500 in their second innings but losing: India amassed 510 against England at Headingley in 1967, but they were up against a first-innings deficit of nearly 400.With reference to the recent question about the imminent World Cup, it’s also being played in New Zealand: who are the best performers in ODIs there? asked Tim Pate from New Zealand
Yes, I was dimly aware that I’d left New Zealand out last time. The leading visiting batsman in one-day internationals played there is Mark Waugh, with 891 runs; Sachin Tendulkar had 821, and Ricky Ponting 752. Leading the way for the bowlers is Javagal Srinath, with 43 wickets, ahead of Wasim Akram (37). The leading New Zealand batsmen in home ODIs are Nathan Astle (3348 runs) and Stephen Fleming (2975), with Brendon McCullum third on 2406 at the moment. Their leading bowler is Daniel Vettori, with 113 one-day wickets; Chris Cairns and Chris Harris both took 94. Taking Australia and New Zealand together, the leading overseas batsman is still Desmond Haynes, with 3276 runs, while the top bowler is Wasim Akram (124 wickets).

Two four-days game in tough conditions tested England Lions. The play-off for an opening berth remained unsettled while Mark Wood emerged from the fast bowling attack

Ivo Tennant in Bloemfontein22-Jan-2015It is axiomatic that the most heartening aspect of England Lions’ two first-class matches on their short tour of South Africa has been Jonathan Trott’s return to international cricket following his stress-related illness. In terms of making an unbeaten double century at Paarl and then a half century at Bloemfontein it has been statistically successful, but then no-one doubted he could still score runs. More significantly, he has enjoyed his cricket and, insofar as anyone can pass judgement on a private matter, has appeared healthy and happy.Nor has he evaded his responsibilities as captain. He is sufficiently media savvy to have perfected the politician’s art of tossing a question back at his interlocutor, but has done so with humour. One question from this correspondent about whether he would like to follow Kevin Pietersen in coming up with an autobiography of his own was met with: “Would you like to write it?” Another, seemingly straightforward inquiry, was met with: “Is that a statement or a question?” In the mind’s eye, Harold Wilson is sucking on his pipe to bide time and clear his thoughts.One or two people came up to Trott and told him they knew his father or a friend of a friend of a friend, or some such connection, and he was invariably polite in response. This, after all, is his homeland. He knows the people, the pitches, even the opposition. Vincent Barnes, his old coach from his teenage years in the Cape and now looking after South Africa A, rather gave the game away when he said Trott had told him he was ready to return to international cricket.Quite when that will be is unknown. Sam Robson is the England opener-in-possession, but he did not excel on the trip in front of Andy Flower and Graham Thorpe. Adam Lyth made 65 in Bloemfontein while wickets were falling around him, but otherwise 7 and 37, and Alex Lees 53 runs in three innings. So Trott could yet be the preferred choice as Alastair Cook’s partner in the Caribbean. As for James Vince, the most successful batsman after Trott through innings of 78 at Paarl and an unbeaten 152 under some pressure at Bloemfontein, and whose cover drive is wonderfully alluring, he is not an opener. He will, though, be given the captaincy in the forthcoming one-day internationals.It would have been ideal for the Lions if they had played in more temperate conditions in Cape Town rather than commute to Paarl (temperatures in the high 30s and 42 degrees on the last day) and then have to leave their Newlands hotel the following morning at 4.30 am to fly to Bloemfontein, where they had to field in the mid to high 30s. It was a chance to give Paarl some much-wanted top-level cricket, but on such a short trip playing in Cape Town would have made sense. There would probably have been more spectators as well.Mick Newell has been in Bloemfontein in his capacity as an England selector, reminiscing about Pietersen when he was Nottinghamshire’s second XI coach: “A quite shy young lad who I thought was going to become an outstanding performer.” More significantly, he talked of the feedback that would be given to each county club at the end of this tour, emphasising that there is no pressure from the selectors in terms of which Lions players should be chosen for which format. “We don’t interfere with the way the clubs pick their teams.”As to the bowlers, the England hierarchy would have learnt little that they did not already know about Liam Plunkett, who took seven wickets. Much the same could probably be said of Boyd Rankin. Mark Wood is the emerging talent, singled out by Temba Bavuma, a century maker in Bloemfontein. He has a short, springy run-up, strong shoulders, and in addition looks as though he will soon be regarded as an allrounder rather than, at present, as a bowler who can bat.As for South Africa A, Theunis de Bruyn, who made an unbeaten 202 in Paarl and 161 in Bloemfontein, is clearly a Test cricketer of the near future. Newell rated Chris Morris, who is accurate and lively, but who is now 27. Rory Kleinveldt, his new ball partner, was the pick of the attack, but will be 32 in March. He is to join Northamptonshire this season.”They wanted me last year, but I had tendonitis in my knee,” he said. “I am absolutely a better bowler now than when I played for Hampshire in 2008, when I had to have a hernia operation. I understand the game better and it will be a challenge for me to adapt to bowling different lengths in England. I shall have at least two months with Northamptonshire as an overseas player, but am nationally contracted so may be required to go back home. Which of the members of their team do I know? Richard Levi. I’m not too familiar with the rest.”

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-2015The UAE bowlers were impressive early on, but the fielders let them down, as Ahmed Shehzad was dropped first on 8 and then on 11•Associated PressShehzad soon got into his groove and made UAE pay, striking 93 off 105 balls•Associated PressHe added 160 for the second wicket with Haris Sohail to lay a strong platform•ICCBoth batsmen eventually departed by the 35th over, but Pakistan continued to attack, with Sohaib Maqsood and Misbah-ul-Haq assuming charge•Associated PressMisbah, who batted with greater urgency, clattered four fours and two sixes to make 65•Associated PressOnce both were undone by the pair of Rohan Mustafa and Guruge, Afridi went past 8000 ODI runs with a six, his seven-ball 21 lifting Pakistan to 339•AFPUAE were rocked early in their chase, slumping to 25 for 3 in no time•Getty ImagesShiman Anwar and Khurram Khan then added 83 to provide some fight•Getty ImagesShaiman went on to register his third fifty-plus score in four World Cup games•AFPSwapnil Patil made 36 and Amjad Javed blasted 40, as UAE avoided being bowled out. However, they couldn’t prevent a 129-run defeat, their fourth straight loss in the tournament•AFP

Ajinkya Rahane is an excellent limited-overs batsman, but he will need to reduce his dot-ball percentage to evolve into the finished article

Sidharth Monga15-Apr-2015One of the most significant changes in limited-overs batting with the advent of T20, the advancement in bat technology and general modern-ness has been the the declining value of the single. Batsmen back themselves more now. They make a mockery of the old-fashioned making of every ball count. They go from strike rates of 70 to 100 in ODIs and 100 to 150 in T20s in no time at all. It doesn’t matter to them how slow they go in the first half of their innings.There are exceptions to the rule. AB de Villiers need not worry about the singles early on in his innings, but he does, which is why he is a rare beast in limited-overs cricket. Other good batsmen, though, back themselves to clear the field in a concentrated and calculated manner later on in the innings. Some don’t, and play low-percentage shots at the sight of a few dots early on in the innings. Suresh Raina is one of them. Some do but don’t have the big shots to shock the opposition in that late attack. These batsmen need to bat the old-fashioned way. Ajinkya Rahane might be one of them.Along with M Vijay, Rahane was India’s best overall Test batsman in the 13 away-Test ordeal over the last year and a half. In limited-overs cricket, though, he is still evolving. One of the missing links in his batting was the big innings, which he began putting together when given the responsibility to open the innings in England. Still he can give the impression he is playing too many shots, but when you look up at the board, he is going only about a run a ball. A little higher in T20s, and lower in ODIs.This is a little strange for a batsman who has surprised all by how well he has kept the runs coming in Test cricket. Vijay and he had the highest boundary percentage among Indian batsmen over those 13 Tests. The missing link in limited-overs cricket for Rahane is the singles once the field is spread out, once those boundaries are not readily available. In the recently concluded World Cup Rahane failed to score off 145 of the 250 balls he faced. At 58% this was the highest among Indian batsmen. Even Rohit Sharma, much maligned when it comes to dot balls, went at 55.7% despite batting in the first 10 overs when you are likely to face more dots than ever in an ODI innings. Among regular Nos 4 from regular ODI teams this World Cup, only the out-of-form Ross Taylor and Marlon Samuels had a worse dot-ball percentage than Rahane. Even Misbah-ul-Haq did better. And Rahane hardly looked out of form either.Seventeen batsmen so far have faced a total of 50 balls or more this IPL. Only Dwayne Smith and Virat Kohli have gone slower than Rahane. Rahane’s 93 runs off 86 balls are not to be sniggered at. He is doing a job for his team, a team that has won three games out of three. On a personal level, though, he will be a touch disappointed. While Kohli and Smith have looked a little out of form, Rahane hasn’t. He has been hitting the ball well but too often for his liking he has been hitting it straight to the fielders. What will disturb him a little is that all three times he has got out he has done so under pressure of dot balls and while trying to play big shots, which haven’t come off.Thirty-seven of the 86 balls that Rahane has faced have gone unscored off. Only Corey Anderson has faced more dots, but he has hit seven more boundaries than Rahane to have a much better strike rate. Rahane’s role at Rajasthan Royals is more like that of Gautam Gambhir’s at Kolkata Knight Riders. To bat deep into an innings and let the big hitters around him flourish. Gambhir has faced a similar number of dots to Rahane: 36 out of 89. However, he has scored at a much higher strike rate of 129.21. They have taken an equal number of ones, but Gambhir’s well-timed shots have avoided fielders better than Rahane’s. he has hit 14 fours to Rahane’s six.For a batsman who can’t all of a sudden hit 20 in one over, Rahane is facing too many dot balls. While he is still a very good limited-overs batsman, he is far from complete. In modern limited-overs cricket you need either those boundaries or you need to keep the dot balls to a minimum. To go from very good to complete Rahane will have to bring either of the two, or a combination thereof, into his game. Over the last two years Rahane has kept evolving as a batsman; this is just another part of that process.

Stats highlights from the first day of the Investec Test between England and New Zealand at Lord’s

Bishen Jeswant21-May-2015100 This is the 100th Test between England and New Zealand. There are six pairs of nations that have been involved in 100-plus Tests, and England are part of five of those. England have played 336 Tests against Australia, 151 against West Indies, 141 against South Africa, 112 against India and now 100 against New Zealand. The only teams to play more than 100 Tests among them are West Indies and Australia (111).7 Number of left-hand batsmen in England line-up in this Test. This is only the second instance of England fielding seven or more left-handed batsmen in a Test match. The only other instance was against Australia in Sydney in 2014, when England had eight left-handed batsmen. However, there have been 18 instances of England fielding six or more left-handed batsmen; all of them have come after 2008.1 Number of times in Tests that Nos. 5 and 6 have been dismissed in the 90s in the same innings – it happened today. Joe Root was dismissed on 98 while Ben Stokes got to 92 before being bowled by Mark Craig. Interestingly, the closest instance of this happening was also at Lord’s, when Marlon Samuels and Shiv Chanderpaul were dismissed for 86 and 91 respectively against England in 2012.0 Runs scored by Stokes in home Test matches prior to this Test. He has previously played two Tests in England, both against India, and scored three ducks from as many innings.161 The fifth-wicket partnership between Root and Stokes, the second-highest for England in all Tests when the first four wickets have fallen for less than 50 runs – Root and Stokes came together when the score was 30 for 4. The highest such partnership for England also came against New Zealand – Tony Grieg and Dennis Amiss posted 210 runs at Trent Bridge (1973) after coming together at 24 for 4.63 Jos Buttler’s batting average, the highest in Test history for any wicketkeeper who has scored at least 300 runs. Even among non-keepers, only five batsmen have a higher average than Buttler.7 Number of times in the last 50 years that a New Zealand fast bowler has taken three or more wickets in an innings when debuting in an away Test – Matt Henry has taken three wickets so far in the first innings. The first two instances of a New Zealand pacer taking three or wickets in an innings when debuting in an away Test were also at Lord’s – Ian Cromb and Jack Cowie in 1931 and 1937 respectively.

What could the coach and star player of international cricket’s most successful ever side find to argue about? Plenty

Jo Harman24-Aug-2015If you’ve heard Shane Warne commentate on the Ashes this summer – or in fact if you’ve heard Shane Warne talk, ever – you’ll know that he a hobby horse. Be it Cook’s boring captaincy, Beefy’s beery BBQs, Clarke’s funky fields, crap nicknames with convoluted backstories or his latest poker comp; in Warnie’s world, a point’s not worth making unless you make it a dozen times.That’s all very well when you’re retired and spouting off from the comms box but when you’re still playing and the hobby horse in question is the pointlessness of the existence of your coach, things start to get a little bit awkward.Shane Warne and John Buchanan were never going to get on, diametrically opposed as they were in almost every sense. A former university lecturer with just seven first-class appearances to his name, Buchanan was appointed as Australia’s coach in 1999 having led Queensland to their first Sheffield Shield title in 1994/95. He set about introducing a whole new coaching philosophy to the Australian dressing room and while captain Steve Waugh and later Ricky Ponting were ardent followers, Warne was not.Warne v BuchananGetty Images

Tests: 145 v 91 (as coach)

Wins: 92 v 70

Draws: 27 v 11

Losses: 26 v 10

Win percentage: 63.4 v 77

Data analysis and fitness were two of the central tenets of the new regime and Warne just couldn’t see the point. For Warne, a lager-guzzling larrikin whose phenomenal natural talent made his rise to super-stardom inevitable, these were unnecessary complications. Cricket had always been about having a laugh, gobbing off at a batsman, getting him out and then sinking a cold one. But for Buchanan, who’d worked his way up to the top coaching job in Australia despite having no playing career to speak of, they were absolutely integral to success.Coaching to Buchanan meant more than batting, bowling and fielding; it meant broadening the horizons of his players and developing them as human beings. He encouraged his players to deliver lectures and recite poetry in the dressing room to build self-confidence, with subjects ranging from Hulk Hogan to the Bee Gees. The English press dubbed Buchanan the ‘Wacky Professor’ after a team-briefing document was leaked during the 2001 Ashes that drew on the teachings of fifth Century Chinese warlord Sun Tzu. Warne may or may not have used his copy as toilet paper.

“After a bit I just turned to the coach and said: ‘I’m weak as piss, I hate your guts and I want to go home. You’re a d*ckhead'”Warne

Other wacky idiosyncrasies included encouraging his players to practise batting and fielding with their eyes shut, announcing his intention to develop a new breed of ambidextrous cricketers in time for the 2007 World Cup, pushing notes addressed to his own players under the hotel room doors of opponents and a multiple-captain theory during his stint with Kolkata Knight Riders which didn’t go down too well with incumbent skipper Sourav Ganguly. “Tomorrow I can also ask for four coaches,” quipped Ganguly.Best of all, there was his decision to hold vocabulary lessons during the 2005 Ashes, the intention being to encourage his players to use a list of polysyllabic words in everyday sentences. If he was trying to wind Warne up, he was doing a damn fine job of it.

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Buchanan lit the touch paper during Australia’s 2000/01 tour of India, criticising Warne’s fitness after the second Test defeat at Kolkata. “It’s no secret that Warnie’s probably not one of the fittest characters running around in world cricket,” he said. Hardly revelatory but it was enough to get the leggie’s gander up. Buchanan would later express regret at his comment but for Warne there was no going back.The feud escalated when Warne was forced to cut short his season with Hampshire for a pre-Ashes military-style camp and described a programme that appeared to be constructed out of his very worst nightmares. “Running up and down with water cans for five or six hours, pushing cars, sleeping in a sleeping bag with no tent, no mattress, out in the middle of nowhere. Orienteering through the middle of the night without a compass. There were 6ft kangaroos out there. [The coaches] were hoping we’d confront one of them – but we didn’t actually see one.”Unlike Warne, Australia’s captains under Buchanan, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting, were fans of the coach•AFPThe bad-blood started to coagulate when Warne was allegedly overheard at a charity do saying: “These boot camps are a big waste of time… after a bit I just turned to the coach and said: ‘I’m weak as piss, I hate your guts and I want to go home. You’re a d*ckhead’.”Buchanan’s methods had incensed Warne but they got incomparable results. Under his stewardship between 1999 and 2007 Australia won 26 Tests series, drew two and lost two, winning three consecutive World Cups to boot. In the years that followed Warne wouldn’t waste an opportunity to talk down Buchanan’s role in their success – “the coach is something you travel in to get to the game” etc – but Waugh and Ponting were quick to point out how pivotal he was.Buchanan eventually stepped down after the 2007 World Cup win but absence did not make Warne’s heart grow fonder. Later that year Warne launched his most scathing attack yet. “I don’t think he has made one good point in a long time, actually,” he told Sydney’s . “Everything that I have read that he says, he is living in pixieland. It just shows what us players had to put up with. We had to listen to his verbal diarrhoea all the time. He is just a goose and has no idea and lacks common sense, and you can put all that in there.”

“It would seem at times he does not put the same thought into these comments as he would in extracting batsmen from the crease”Buchanan

When Buchanan was given a role coaching England’s youngsters ahead of the 2009 Ashes, Warne couldn’t resist ruffling the goose’s feathers once again. “I think that’s a great move because that means we’ve got more of a chance. Hopefully Buck [Buchanan] will be doing his stuff and he’ll be working and doing all his things and hopefully over-complicating things. I reckon it gives our chances a big boost and makes our blokes more hungry.”For his part, Buchanan remained quietly puzzled by Warne’s outbursts. He rarely acknowledged the feud in the media but said in his 2009 book : “Since Shane and I left the Australian cricket team his critical views about my role have continued. It’s disappointing coming from someone like Shane who, on the field, has been a player and a person who has changed the face of the game.All Out Cricket”It is puzzling that a person of his stature in cricket, someone with iconic status, would continue to criticise me. It would seem at times he does not put the same thought into these comments as he would in extracting batsmen from the crease.”In 2013, Mike Hussey floated an intriguing theory about the Warne-Buchanan relationship. “I think the way John spoke to and treated and tried to motivate Shane was genius. He almost tried to get into an argument with him or challenge him with things that were a little bit leftfield. So Shane would say, ‘John, you’re dribbling rubbish. I’ll show you how to do it’, and he’d go out there and do it. In my mind that’s absolutely genius coaching.”If Hussey’s theory is correct, then Buchanan is even sharper – and even wackier – than anyone gave him credit for.