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A long journey, queues and ticketing troubles could not take away from the great show that Afghanistan and Scotland put on in Nagpur

Srinath Sripath13-Mar-2016Choice of game
As someone who has been following the Associate cricket scene fairly closely since the 1999 World Cup, I have always wanted to watch the likes of Scotland, Ireland and Afghanistan play live. Once it was decided that Zimbabwe v Afghanistan would be a direct knockout, last-minute arrangements were made to make the 800-odd km train trip from Mumbai.Team(s) supported
Afghanistan and Scotland. Every time Afghanistan take the field, the mind goes back to Taj Malik and . Their form in the run-up to this fixture and their defeat of Zimbabwe in Sharjah earlier this year meant their victory would not be seen as any kind of upset.Scotland – John Blain, George Salmond, Gavin Hamilton. Those are the kinds of names that pop up in the head when I think of them. It was, therefore, astounding that they have never won a World Cup game in any form since they made their debut in 1999.Key performer
While Samiullah Shenwari and Mohammad Nabi played vital roles in the Afghanistan win, Mohammad Shahzad’s early blitz set the pace for the game. Though sparse, the Afghanistan fans were out in vociferous support, chanting “Shahzad, Shahzad”, as he sent one ball after another for boundaries across the wagon wheel.One thing you’d have changed about the match
The ticketing. Fans were forced to go to the old VCA stadium in Civil Lines, a good 20 km from the actual venue. The comic relief, in all this, was on a notice board announcing ticket collections. It seems ticket collection was to be at the Jamtha stadium, and a last-minute shift meant a plain, white paper was plastered over the word ‘Jamtha’. Simple, brutal and convenient.
Moreover, there were no separate entry queues at the ground for the day’s fixtures, and plenty of Afghanistan fans waited from as early as 6am to beat the line.Face-off you relished
Samiullah Shenwari bowling to Malcolm Waller and Richard Mutumbami. Shenwari seems every bit the hard-working cricketer, not willing to give an inch to the opposition while batting, bowling or fielding. While he was hard on himself for dishing out balls down leg, he produced a few perfect deliveries any legspinner would have been proud of – flight, dip and sharp turn to beat the bat. One of these was to Waller in his second over, and when he came back for his third over, he hit the off stump with an almost identical delivery. First the feint, then the knockout punch.Wow moment
Right before the Zimbabwe innings began, wicketkeeper Shahzad and Noor Ali Zadran, who was fielding at first slip, had a lengthy argument about where the third man fielder should stand. In the end, they both decided that one of them should go to the crease to decide this once and for all. Shahzad, clearly the less athletic and orthodox of the two, sent Noor Ali to the crease. With Sibanda waiting to take strike, Noor Ali shadow-batted a cut to third man, and asked Gulbadin Naib to move to his left. As he walked back, the two had a hearty laugh. Not quite the autopilot settings that the likes of India and South Africa have, yet thoroughly enjoyable.Close encounter
Among the players and officials at the venue, Inzamam-ul-Haq got the loudest cheers when Afghanistan were warming up. A section of Indian fans somehow elicited a wave from the shy Inzibhai. A grinning Makhaya Ntini on the big screen came a close second.Shot of the day
Despite its brevity, it’s impossible to pick out one shot from Shahzad’s innings. An entire over from Tendai Chatara had one improbable shot after another – a front-foot pull to a short ball, then a blistering square cut, followed by a cheeky hook over short fine leg. You could play these in your head over and over again, and still run out of adjectives to describe them.Crowd meter
Earlier in the day, I ran into a number of Afghanistan fans, decked in their traditional , waiting for their tickets at the old VCA stadium. A majority of them were students, who had made the 700 km trip from Pune, while some others had come from as far as Kandahar and Herat. “,” (By the grace of Allah, we shall win today) was the common sentiment. These fans were a tireless cheering squad that picked out three of their biggest stars – first “Shahzad, Shahzad”, followed by “Nabi, Nabi” and “Hassan, Hassan”, as the players took Zimbabwe apart.Entertainment
The running between the wickets from the Zimbabwe and Hong Kong batsmen provided the most entertainment. Samiullah Shenwari, ever the livewire, took a shy at the stumps casually towards the end of the Zimbabwe innings. Donald Tiripano’s bat was inside the crease, but not grounded. It was yet another comic run-out from Zimbabwe, in what has been a dreadful series for them.Overall
Afghanistan were clinical, and it always felt like they were on fourth gear, from start to finish. Their fans from far and wide made it an atmosphere worth savoring. Associate sides get the wrong end of the stick far too often, and it was a joy to see them get past Zimbabwe. Likewise, a few Scottish fans by the South stand were there to witness their side’s first-ever triumph at this level. The perfect evening for them, despite the rain trying its best to deny them a deserving, account-opening victory.Marks out of 10
7. I almost missed the match due to the ticketing system. With no separate queue for this game, we had to stand in the same, long queue as that for India games. An understanding VCA official saved our day, just in time, to ensure we had the tickets before the game started.The new VCA stadium, the venue for the games, is a top-class facility and the experience in general was better than what you have at packed India games. You could roam around almost anywhere without being asked a thousand questions, and it was a chance to sneak around to some of the other stands and boxes to get a different view of the game.

Australia are favourites to seal a fourth successive Women’s World T20 title, with their main competition likely to come from the team across the Tasman

Vithushan Ehantharajah14-Mar-2016Antipodean shootout?
It’s hard to look beyond Australia and New Zealand for the title. Australia, sniffing their fourth successive Women’s World T20 trophy, seem to be the frontrunners. The Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) can take some credit for that: the success of the competition in its first year has added plenty of sheen to Australia’s game. Despite Australia breaking new ground domestically, though, they have lost their last three T20I series, the most recent of which came against New Zealand earlier this month. Factor in the loss of Grace Harris – one of the most exciting talents – and you begin to look at the team and wonder who beyond Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry you would file in the “match-winner” category. Then again, you might say the same thing about New Zealand with Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine. The two teams square off in Nagpur on March 21 and it’s hard not to think back to the men’s 2015 World Cup, when New Zealand beat Australia in the group stages, before Australia exacted revenge in the final. England, sitting in Group B, will be the match-up they’d want to save for the final.The outside bets
What’s an international tournament without a dark horse? If there’s a side that has shown the best on-field return on investment in women’s cricket recently, it’s South Africa. October 2013 marked a key moment in their history, as they joined England, Australia, West Indies and Pakistan in offering central contracts to their players. The following year, they made the semi-final of the 2014 World T20, which in hindsight might have been a jump too far as they were blown away by England. But, two years on, they have notched their first T20I win over England, along with their first ever T20I series win over West Indies. Theirs is a team mixing youth, experience and the sort of on-field buzz that sees them capable of defending low scores. The issue with this particular call is that they share Group A with New Zealand and Australia. And while they lack depth beyond their first XI, this is the first time Mignon du Preez has been able to have such a well-rounded attack. It is spearheaded by Shabnim Ismail who, in her ninth year of international cricket, has developed a full set of skills to counter some of the best batsmen in the world.India’s Smriti Mandhana, all of 19, is a player to watch out for•Getty ImagesThe next generation
If you’re keen for a home favourite, then look no further than Smriti Mandhana, a 19-year-old left-hand batsman who can unfurl the sort of square drives that will have you falling in love all over again. Then there is her team-mate Deepti Sharma, an 18-year-old offspinner who had spent the last few weeks tying Sri Lanka in knots.South Africa’s Dane van Niekerk has been around since 2009, but it has only been in the last three years that she has enjoyed sustained success with both bat and ball. Australia’s Jess Jonassen is up there with Mandhana as the most watchable left-handers in the game, while compatriot Lauren Cheatle, just 17, is an exciting left-arm quick who took 18 WBBL wickets at 19.72. West Indies’ Hayley Matthews – also 17 – is another fascinating all-round prospect. Away from your usual suspects, Cath Dalton of Ireland is an interesting case. A former England academy player, Dalton switched allegiances to Ireland to further her international career. While she had looked to make her way as a fast bowling allrounder, it is her batting which has become her strongest suit.(A caveat to this is that, disappointingly, only 13 women’s matches will be broadcast: 10 out of the 20 group matches, the semi-finals and final. Still, this is an improvement on previous editions, when only the semis and final were televised.)Not pitch perfect
An issue that continues to blight women’s cricket. It feels like in the last year playing surfaces have come under more intense scrutiny; pitch curators have been sacked, tosses scrapped, soils imported and heated words exchanged over 22-yards of dirt track. We ask a lot of our groundsmen and women with the sheer volume of cricket in the calendar, but it’s hard not to look at the pitches produced in Nagpur last week for the men’s first round of games and worry what might be in store for the women, who often get the short shrift when it comes to pitch rotation. It’s a shame really: the lower bounce and tackier surface that is prepared – or rather, underprepared – for many women’s fixtures rob us and them of their recently developed skills, such as hitting big down the ground and fizzing one past the ears. Good pitches will give these players the confidence to show just how expansive they can be.More money, less parity
For the third competition in a row, the prize money on offer in the women’s competition has increased. The figure this time around is US $400,000 overall, an increase of 22% from 2014’s figure of $328,000. In 2009 and 2010, that collective sum was only $45,000 with a small increase to $60,000 for 2012. This year’s winners will pocket $70,000 of the kitty, with the runners-up netting $30,000. Losing semi-finalists walk away with $15,000, while a group win is sweetened by $2,500. These figures pale in comparison to what’s on offer in the men’s competition: a collective $5.6 million, split into $1,100,000 for the winners, $550,000 for runners-up, $275,000 for semi-finalists and $40,000 for a group win.

A look at how top performers in the Pakistan Cup fared

ESPNcricinfo staff03-May-2016WinnerKhyber Pakhtunkhwa
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa team, representing a northern province in the country, won their fourth domestic title in the last two years when they beat Punjab in the final of the Pakistan Cup. The side remained focused despite the controversy surrounding their captain Younis Khan, who left the team briefly to protest a 50% fine imposed on him.Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lost their opening match to Islamabad but their two-run win over Punjab proved to be a turning point. They went on to win their remaining league matches – against Balochistan and Sindh – before thrashing Punjab by 151 runs in the final.Ahmed Shehzad and Fakhar Zaman shepherded the batting while seamer Zia-ul-Haq, left-arm spinner Zohaib Khan and legspinner Yasir Shah were pick of the bowlers. Younis returned for the final against Punjab, scoring 49 off 59 balls in the team’s total of 311 for 9.Runners-upPunjab
The team, which represents a province that is home to nearly 60% of Pakistan’s population, was led by Shoaib Malik. They had a formidable batting and bowling line-up but did not live up to expectations. They lost twice to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, chasing 263 and 312. Their most convincing performance came in a low-scoring match against Sindh, which they won by five wickets to qualify for the final.Best batsmenAhmed Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Shehzad was the highest run-getter in the tournament with 372 runs at an average of 74.40, and a century and three fifties. His dot-ball problem was a talking point during Pakistan’s World T20 campaign but in this tournament, he enjoyed good form and went past the 4000-run mark in List-A games. Despite the rich form, Shehzad had disciplinary issues in the tournament, and this played a part in his exclusion from the national training camp for the England tour.Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Born in the town of Mardan, in the northern region of the country, Zaman has played most of his cricket in Karachi. The left-handed batsman was the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 297 runs in five innings at 59.40, including a knock of 115 that set up Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 151-run win in the final. His ability to bowl left-arm spin makes him a utility player and he is in contention for a place in the national side after appearances for Pakistan A.Khalid Latif (Sindh)
The former Pakistan Under-19s captain was the third-highest run-getter, with 252 runs in four games at an average of 126. His best in the tournament was a 129-ball 168*, which nearly carried Sindh to victory in a chase of 320 against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Although he has won call-ups to the one-day and T20 sides, he has failed to convert his domestic form into more substantial scores in international cricket. He was recently picked for the national training camp.In addition to his accuracy with the ball, Zohaib Khan is also a handy batsman•PCB Best bowlersMohammad Amir (Sindh)
Mohammad Amir’s remarkable progress since his return to cricket from a ban for spot-fixing was also on display in this tournament. He took 11 wickets in four matches, including his maiden List A five-for. His team, Sindh, however, won only two of their four games and finished third on the table.Zohaib Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
The left-arm spinner, aged 32, also picked up 11 wickets, at an average of 16.63 and was selected in the probables squad for the national camp. In September last year, he captained Peshawar Region to the Haier T20 Cup title, beating Karachi Blues in the final. He reached the 100-wicket mark in List A cricket recently and has scored over a thousand runs in the format.Zia-ul-Haq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Tall, thin and athletic, Zia-ul-Haq hails from Vehari, a small town in Punjab that is also the birthplace of former Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis. His series haul of 10 wickets at 17.70 was a major driving force for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as was his ability to contain runs and provide vital breakthroughs. Zia, 21, has emerged through the Under-19 set-up. He took 11 wickets for Pakistan Under-19s in the 2012 World Cup and nine in the 2014 edition.A quiet runSalman Butt (Punjab)
Butt’s chances of reviving his career after the spot-fixing ban depended on his performances in this tournament, but he disappointed with 135 runs in five matches at an average of 27. His performances in the National One Day Cup earlier this year, where he finished as the second-highest run-getter with 536 runs, had generated interest but he failed to capitalize on the opportunity presented in this tournament.Shoaib Malik (Punjab)
Shoaib Malik had yet another quiet domestic tournament. He led Punjab to the final but his own contributions, with bat and ball, were ordinary. He scored 99 runs at 19.80 in five games and took five wickets.New faceImam-ul-Haq (Islamabad)
The inclusion of the 20-year-old nephew of Pakistan’s new chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq may have raised some eyebrows but Imam smacked a century for Islamabad in the only game he played to quash doubts over his ability. Imam is seen as one of Pakistan’s emerging players and has represented the Under-19s side in the 2012 and 2014 World Cups. He was not part of the Islamabad squad initially but was brought in to replace Misbah-ul-Haq, who took a break for personal reasons.

Plays of the day from the second ODI between Zimbabwe and India in Harare

Alagappan Muthu13-Jun-2016The wrong exit
Hamilton Masakadza is an imposing presence. He drove Dhawal Kulkarni through the covers without even batting an eyelid, but had to be rather watchful against Barinder Sran, for the left-arm quick was swinging the ball into him as adeptly as he was angling it towards the slips. Unsure of what he was facing, Masakadza was looking for an escape when a full and wide delivery arrived in the fifth over. He went after it with a fierce front-foot slap, could only manage a thick outside edge, and third man took the catch. Masakadza had taken the wrong exit.The usher
Vusi Sibanda was playing a sparkling innings. For nearly all of the hour and a half he spent at the crease, he knew which ball to hit and hit them sweetly, and which to defend and defended solidly. So it was no surprise that when he was two short of fifty and left-arm spinner Axar Patel pitched it short, the batsman leapt back and pulled over midwicket for a four. Interim coach Makhaya Ntini, sitting by the boundary, was up on his feet waving a towel like it was the chequered flag ushering the winning driver to the finish line in Formula One. Perhaps Sibanda mistook it as a signal to return to the dressing room. Little else could explain the poor swipe to long-on that led to his wicket two overs later.The variation
It took Yuzvendra Chahal only two years to become a household name in the IPL. But he has played only 20 first-class matches in over six years. This is because he plays for the same state as Amit Mishra, who may well be the best of India’s currently active legspinners. The plus side of that situation is young Chahal had a good role model and he borrowed a variation from Mishra’s arsenal on Monday. In his second over, after he had overstepped the previous ball, he made sure the free-hit amounted to only one run by bowling a seam-up delivery at 109 kph.The reprieve
Karun Nair, on debut as opener, had fallen to a short ball that held on the pitch and messed with his timing on Saturday. He was given another chance by the team management and it seemed he had wasted this one too when in the fifth over of another small chase, he wafted at a short and wide delivery and was caught behind this time. Nair was slowly trudging towards the pavilion, practicing a drive with a straighter bat, when the umpires asked him to hang around while they checked for the no-ball. And sure enough, Tendai Chatara’s front foot had strayed an inch too far. A relieved Nair belted the free-hit delivery down the ground.

ESPNcricinfo presents plays of the day from the second match of the series

Mohammad Isam09-Oct-2016The belated wisdom (which was still useless)Adil Rashid had struck Mahmudullah on the side of his front pad, and umpire Sharfuddoula raised his finger. Mahmudullah was on his way out, showing anger at himself by punching his bat. But suddenly he looked at the dressing room, turned around and took the review. On first view, it would look as if the ball had struck Mahmudullah’s gloves in his attempt to paddle Rashid, but a side-on view confirmed why Sharfuddoula and Mahmudullah were right. The ball struck his pad and would have hit between middle and leg.The swatMashrafe Mortaza’s trouble facing the short ball has been around for more than a decade, and he has found different ways to combat this problem. Today, he employed the swat against Chris Woakes when Bangladesh were in desperate need of boundaries. But it was a shot that even he didn’t think would end up where he intended: deep midwicket. He was looking behind him, thinking it had taken the top edge and gone behind the wicketkeeper. It went to midwicket where Jonny Bairstow’s misfield gave them the required boundary.The victims of the lengthEngland bowlers picked up several wickets using the shorter length. Chris Woakes removed Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes while Jake Ball and Ben Stokes removed Mushfiqur Rahim and even Shakib Al Hasan with deliveries of similar length. And so did Rashid, though he was fortunate to have Mosaddek Hossain’s wicket with a slow, short ball. The batsman tonked it right down deep midwicket’s throat.The confrontationBangladesh awaited the third umpire’s decision on Jos Buttler, who was struck in front with the leg-stump exposed. The batsmen and the fielders awaited the call. The Bangladesh dressing room started celebrating and from that the players in the middle started too. Mahmudullah was standing towards the batsmen, when he turned towards them and clenched his fists. After the on-field umpire made the signal, Buttler started to walk towards the Bangladesh fielders angrily. Gone was the happy expression that was Buttler’s regular outlook throughout this tour so far.

The former Hampshire captain turned commentator’s deep love for the game infuses his autobiography with an enthusiasm that is as irrepressible as it is genuine

Alan Gardner10-Dec-2016It should come as no surprise that Mark Nicholas considers cricket to be a beautiful game. It had stolen his heart by the age of nine and has been his sweetheart ever since. Beauty is the beholder’s business, of course, but “Nicko”, the roving romantic who went from captaining Hampshire to helming TV coverage in both hemispheres, puts his perspective across pretty convincingly. Never mind goalposts, jumpers are for keeping you warm in the slips.For those who know Nicholas chiefly through his work as a commentator and presenter, such ardour has long been obvious. Cover drives are “dreamy”, unplayable deliveries “crackerjack”. Plenty of cricket fans – particularly those immersed in Channel 4’s innovative coverage of England in the early 2000s – will have a favourite Nicholas moment (and there’s a good chance it came during the 2005 Ashes): his description of Steve Harmison’s slower ball to Michael Clarke at Edgbaston remains gloriously overblown, while other moments of appreciation verged on the pornographic. Nicholas sprayed his enthusiasm around like a Formula One driver with a fresh magnum.This approach, he notes in his autobiography-cum-memoir , meant he “came in for some stick – hyperbole and exclamations being the main grumble”. But the Nicko-isms (should that be Nicko-gasms?) were principally what made him one of the stars of the show once the rights to broadcast England Test matches switched from the BBC – staid old Aunty – in 1999. As Nicholas writes, “Channel 4 was where the flame burned brightest for me”, though he surprised many by subsequently carving out a niche as the polished Pom host of Channel Nine’s coverage in Australia.The great strength of his style is that it is so genuine. The book’s subtitle is “My love affair with cricket” and Nicholas bubbles over with anecdotes, lore and affection for the game. His 18-year career with Hampshire is also described as a “love affair”. The Channel 4 years were an equally passionate tryst: “It was a love affair with cricket and we stopped at nothing to make the lover special and everyone else appreciate her.”

The great strength of his style is that it is so genuine. The book’s subtitle is “My love affair with cricket” and Nicholas bubbles over with anecdotes, lore and affection for the game

The first notch on his bedpost came nearly 40 years ago, when scoring a hundred in Dover for Hampshire 2nd XI – “which was orgasmic”. Nicholas rose quickly to prominence at Hampshire, becoming captain at 23, though he never quite made the grade for England. He was selected to lead an A tour to Zimbabwe (contracting a potentially fatal strain of malaria while away) and nearly capped via the TCCB’s captaincy roulette in 1988, Mickey Stewart informing him during a county match in Guildford that he had lost a three-two vote against Chris Cowdrey.As a batsman Nicholas was good enough to score 36 first-class hundreds, but leadership was his metier. “Elvis”, the overweight public schoolboy who briefly worked as an analyst in the city during the off season, became “Jardine”, the bold captain who would lead Hampshire to four one-day trophies in six years. Along the way, he drank deeply of cricket’s heady brew: seeking batting tips from Barry Richards and Garry Sobers; being transfixed by Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in Australia (“cricket porn”); and chatting with Don Bradman and Bill O’Reilly in the back of the press box.In between sections on playing the game and covering it, Nicholas just loves talking shop too. Whatever your view on his ability or his insight, he has a great store of knowledge about the game, and a range of experience that includes having faced Jeff Thomson, met Packer (one of the book’s best anecdotes) and called Richie Benaud a colleague for many years. He writes touchingly of “Maco”, his great Hampshire team-mate Malcolm Marshall, and the Smith brothers, Chris and Robin, as well as sadly departed commentary box companions such as Benaud and Tony Greig. In one of the final chapters, he even heads off into the future to imagine an intercontinental championship for Test cricket (played over four days), a 30-over World Cup and the rise of Max10, an even shorter shortest format.Allen and UnwinAs readers of his work on these pages will know, MCJ Nicholas can rarely be accused of being dull. Peter O’Toole, Tiger Woods and Mick Jagger crop up either side of tales about facing the deadly combination of Derek Underwood and Alan Knott on a wet pitch; there are references to Ziggy Stardust, Alistair Cooke (no, not the England captain) and Bruce Springsteen. Nicholas is not afraid to confront criticism, either, raising the subject of an excoriating 2015 article by Geoff Lemon on the sliding standards at Channel Nine. He concedes that Lemon “had a point” and hopes that changes made to the coverage in Australia reflect a sincere desire to get back on track.”No one does it better” is a quote on the cover of , from Geoffrey Boycott. Few would argue with Sir Geoff. With the passing of a host of iconic broadcasting voices in recent years, it is tempting to suggest that Nicholas is now one of the keepers of the flame. He continues to spread the gospel, over the airwaves and through his work with the Chance to Shine charity in the UK. There is a sense that he wanted to write less about himself and more about cricket, though it is all the more readable for the personality bursting through. Besides, the two seem to go pretty well together: call it a beautiful friendship.A Beautiful Game
By Mark Nicholas
Allen & Unwin
420 pages, £20

Even though Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay have scored centuries in the series, there are small issues both batsmen could look at as the action moves to a more seamer-friendly Test venue

Alagappan Muthu23-Nov-2016Somewhere between taking off from Visakhapatnam and touching down in Mohali, England would have run into a dear old friend.Winter.It’s set quite nicely in the north and although the temperatures would not dip as low as they do at home for them, Alastair Cook and his men would know they have one less thing to fight against in India. The heat.They are also likely to notice a drop in the crowd. The PCA IS Bindra Stadium had hummed to Virat Kohli the last time he was here – an ODI against New Zealand – and could not believe what he was doing to Australia the time before that – at the World T20. There is hope that they would be just as interested in watching him perform as India’s Test captain, but it is not the strongest.There are other potential pick-me-ups for England, assuming they have looked at the data.M Vijay averages 43 when in the first Test of a series but it dips to 25.50 by the time the fourth arrives. Cheteshwar Pujara has a similar downward trend – 70.55 slips to 36.50. They have played only one five-match series before – against England in 2014 – and the sample is too small to indicate a trend. For the record though, Vijay averages 10 and Pujara 7.50 in the fifth Test of a series.Both men scored near-flawless hundreds in Rajkot. But in the first innings in Visakhapatnam, Vijay was bounced out in the fifth over. The surprise that had been in England’s eyes for the longest time had barged into his own as the new ball leapt up to take the glove and loop over to gully.A delivery at his throat would not be the first thing on a batsman’s mind when the game is barely into its first half hour. Further still if the bowler was James Anderson, a man known to take his wickets with swing, seam and guile. But Vijay just wasn’t ready for the ball that bested him even though it had pitched halfway down the pitch. While its line – right on off stump – was perfect, there is an argument that had Vijay been more alert to the length he might have dropped his wrists and swayed away. Instead, he tried to defend and the ball thudded into his top which was up around head height.This could well be reading too much into a batsman undone by a good ‘un before he could get set and Vijay has had his share of them in the recent past against New Zealand – two in the Kolkata Test and a rip-roaring catch at short leg in Indore – along with incidents like the second innings at Holkar Stadium where he did not put in a dive to prevent himself getting run-out. A player of his caliber – the gift of timing, endless reserves of patience and shots all around the park – should have had a much better series by now. Culling out the minor carelessness in his game may well be the key.Pujara is a tad less easy to categorise as lax. He is, however, a nervous starter, especially against deliveries moving into him and it was Anderson again who exploited this weakness with a superb display of reverse swing in the second innings in Visakhapatnam. Twenty-six of his 62 dismissals are either bowled or lbw. Oppositions tend to take note of that and if conditions are such that there may be swing in the air – like in Mohali on a wintry morning – Pujara will have his work cut out. He probably would not have it any other way. Vijay too. They’ve beaten tough odds before.India do not often play lengthy Test series. Touring South Africa in 2013, their bowlers could not handle back-to-back Tests. The first they drew. The second and final they lost. In 2016, though, they outpaced West Indies quite handsomely over four matches. Well three, considering the rain and outfield in Trinidad. They held New Zealand off superbly at home and are living up to the standards they have set for themselves.Kohli is at the centre of this revolution. He thrives on any kind of pressure, whether it is making sure he scores because there are only five batsmen in the side or showing that pitches don’t matter when you have intent or keeping his performances up. The Indian captain averages 51, 44, 50 and 56 in the first, second, third and fourth Tests of a series. He is the one England are most worried about so he is the one his team-mates will do well to follow.

There is no doubt about Mushfiqur Rahim’s importance to Bangladesh as a batsman, but concerns over his wicketkeeping and tactics resurfaced in Hyderabad

Mohammad Isam in Hyderabad11-Feb-2017In the 118th over of India’s innings, Wriddhiman Saha ventured a long way out of his crease to blast Taijul Islam but missed the ball. Mushfiqur Rahim completed the stumping, so Saha’s confident nod after the stumps were broken looked rather out of place. Moments later, it was revealed that the Bangladesh captain had missed the stumps on his first two attempts, and by the time he had removed the bails, Saha was safe.India were 466 for 4, with Saha on 4, at the time. The ball had just started to turn, and for the first time since the first hour of the Test, Bangladesh had begun to exercise some control on the run rate. After his reprieve, Saha went on to score his second Test century and India batted another 48.5 overs and added 221 runs.There is no doubt that Mushfiqur is integral to Bangladesh’s plans as a batsman. He has the proven quality of a dependable middle-order player, one who takes great care to get his team into strong positions and is their go-to man when the side is in trouble. The first two days of the Hyderabad Test, though, have put his decline as a wicketkeeper and captain in the spotlight.On the first morning of the Test, an edge from Cheteshwar Pujara off seamer Kamrul Islam Rabbi fell short of Soumya Sarkar at first slip. It was Mushfiqur’s catch because the ball was never going to carry to slip. Elite wicketkeepers convert these half chances. Then came the fluffed stumping, which could become a pivotal moment for the Bangladesh captain.There were more examples of Mushfiqur’s recent struggles behind the stumps in the ODI series against Afghanistan last September. He missed catches at different stages of the three games and a stumping, which hurt Bangladesh in a two-wicket defeat in the second ODI.Mushfiqur’s main skill has always been his batting, the reason he was picked ahead of Khaled Mashud for the 2007 World Cup. Bangladesh wanted a batsman who could keep, and to this day Mushfiqur has fit the mould.On the recent tour of New Zealand, he underlined his importance in that role. Until Mushfiqur was hit by a Neil Wagner bouncer in Wellington, New Zealand could not get the upper hand in the Test. Mushfiqur’s 159 in the first innings was a superb display of controlled aggression, and his 80-minute second innings, with a finger injury, was an example of pure grit. He had also repeatedly taken blows to his body.Grit alone isn’t enough for a captain, though. The ability to size up a match situation, balancing control and aggression, knowing what the bowlers are capable of and then getting it out of them, are all essential requisites in a leader.The first time India got away from Bangladesh after the early fall of KL Rahul was in the sixth and seventh overs of Kamrul’s first spell, when the bowler’s intensity was clearly down. Kamrul is no stranger to bowling long first-class spells, but to ask him to bowl a seventh over after a flaccid sixth showed rigidness.Against Virat Kohli, Mushfiqur persisted with aggressive fields when his bowlers were not reciprocating with controlled bowling. There were boundaries for the taking either side of the wicket. A captain at times is as good or bad as his bowlers, but Mushfiqur’s optimism was not in sync with his team’s abilities. When the grind was needed, Bangladesh were being generous with the field placements.Mushfiqur has also displayed the other extreme as captain. In the home series against Pakistan, for instance, Bangladesh played the first Test with the more defensive Shuvagata Hom instead of legspinner Jubair Hossain. In the Mirpur Test, on a pitch with some grass, Bangladesh picked only two frontline quicks in Mohammad Shahid and Shahadat Hossain. Shahid ended up bowling 41 overs after Shahadat was injured in the first over of the game.A year earlier, Mushfiqur had kept his main bowler Shakib Al Hasan out of the attack despite Sri Lanka slipping to 67 for 8 in the first ODI. By the time Shakib was brought back, Sri Lanka were 143 for 8. The theory was to not give the left-hand batsman Thisara Perera, who made 80 not out, a left-arm spinner’s angle – it is not always a sound plan and has cost Bangladesh in the past. Offspinners were bowled to Perera and he went after them easily. Catches also went down in that game as luck deserted an inflexible captain.In the light of such decisions, and Mushfiqur’s tendency not to adapt mid-session, look at events in the Test Bangladesh won against England more closely. In Mirpur, on the instructions of coach Chandika Hathurusingha, Bangladesh were led by Tamim Iqbal in the session in which they sealed their seminal Test win.Mushfiqur and Hathurusingha later explained that the senior players had been told to step up, but it was evident that Tamim and Shakib were calling the shots at a crucial time in the match. The directions came because Hathurusingha had been disappointed with Bangladesh’s approach in the previous session.To look at specific instances and results alone can be a bit harsh on Mushfiqur. There is a reason why, before MS Dhoni, no wicketkeeper had captained in more than 18 Tests. Mushfiqur is No. 2 on that list with 25 matches. If anything, Mushfiqur’s burden is bigger than Dhoni’s was: as a batsman he is more integral to Bangladesh than Dhoni was to India, and he has had to lead a less seasoned side.Bangladesh are a team looking to take that next step in Test cricket, after having become competitive in limited-overs cricket. They need Mushfiqur the batsman, but perhaps it is time for fresher ideas from a captain. Being relieved of captaincy could rejuvenate his wicketkeeping too. With a series against Sri Lanka next month, it may be the right time to discuss Mushfiqur’s workload in the Test team.

A distracted and angry team played without passion or practice, in a tournament that is off the radar for Australia’s sporting public

Jarrod Kimber at Edgbaston10-Jun-2017In the gloom of Edgbaston, with England nearly home, the rain about to come, and their million-dollar bowler clutching his hamstring, Glenn Maxwell dropped a catch that he misread so badly it almost hit him. Even when it didn’t rain on Australia’s chances, their cricket was underwhelming.Australia have played only one completed match – and even that was incomplete. They were poor in their first match, and much better in the second. By the end of those two washouts, their tally of two points was exactly what they deserved. If you include their two warm-ups, they’d played in four games in England, and finished just this one.Essentially Australia’s only game of this entire tournament was a knockout game against the only unbeaten team, the favourites, the home team, and they came into it with no proper preparation. Most casual Australian cricket fans don’t even know what the Champions Trophy is, what it means, or how often Australia has won it. Plus, it’s footy season, and this is hardly the Ashes. Besides, the Australian players haven’t had to face anything as hostile on the field as they have from their own board. But even though Cricket Australia’s executives might have played even more reckless shots than their top order, this Australian team never looked right from the moment it took the field in this tournament.The problem started at No.4. Moises Henriques has never made more than 18 in an ODI. His top score for Australia is 81 not out in Tests. He averages 31 in List A cricket. He made two List A fifties in his first nine seasons of cricket. He’s only ever made limited-overs hundreds in domestic cricket. He’s 30. Ten Australian players have scored over 4000 runs in ODI cricket batting at No.4: Michael Clarke, Damien Martyn, Allan Border, Michael Bevan, Mike Hussey, Steve Waugh and Greg Chappell.Henriques has good recent form in the IPL, Big Bash and one-day cup, but at No. 4, in an ICC tournament, it was two or three places too high.It is not Henriques’ fault he is batting at 4: he is there because of a hole in the centre of this team. Australia are a batsman short and a bowler short. And to elongate the batting and rush through the fifth bowler’s overs quicker, Henriques has been brought in to fill this gap. The middle overs in this tournament are when bowling sides try and take wickets – England smashed through theirs with wrist spin and pace to make sure Australia had nothing left with which to strike at the death. But in the 13th to 15th of a must-win game, Australia was bowling Moises Henriques and Travis Head when they needed wickets with no catchers, no hope of a plan other than ‘”let’s hope Ben Stokes does something idiotic”.Would Australia have won the game with Marcus Stoinis instead of Henriques, or even Chris Lynn for Henriques, with Head and Maxwell combining for ten overs? Probably not, because even though the chemistry was wrong, the performances weren’t much better. Pat Cummins has taken two wickets in 25 overs in this tournament, and served up 144 runs – 52 of which came in his first five overs against New Zealand. Today, Stokes took him for 43 runs from 28 balls.Steven Smith was an angry man for much of a sorry Australia performance•Getty ImagesDavid Warner came into this tournament having made a staggering 23.5% of Australia’s runs since the last World Cup: here he failed in two of the three games. Steven Smith makes 16.5% of Australia’s runs; he failed in two out of three as well. Starc looked underdone in the first match, bowled beautifully in the washout against Bangladesh, and clutched his hamstring for much of this game.Australia’s game-plan relies on one of their top three batting big, to make up for their shallowness below them. Instead they lost regular wickets, and then 5 for 15 once the tail was exposed. Australia’s game-plan relies on their fast bowlers taking regular wickets. Instead they started brilliantly but couldn’t keep striking. And that was the ballgame.You could extrapolate this one game and talk about the Ashes, and a psychological dominance that England might feel they now have over Australia, but you probably shouldn’t. The Australians might be embarrassed that a team lost to England with six or seven potential Test players, but you know, they played a better-prepared team with better form in a must-win game, and they lost. Their ODI team might need a stronger allrounder, but other than that, it’s hard to answer any big questions from two washouts and a loss.Plus there are bigger questions in Australia that need to be answered right now, what’s Schapelle Corby up to, who’s winning in the footy and what is the best kind of fusion to win with on a reality TV cooking show?At 35 for 3, Hazlewood raps Stokes on the pad, the Australians are screaming, and one ball later they are coming off. Smith looks frustrated, but he has all day. He was angry when Henriques got out, he was angry when he got out, and he was angry when his team fielded poorly. The only time he wasn’t angry was when the rain came for the last time, then it was relief.Australia, caught rain, bowled England, 0.

Only twice before had two or more bowlers picked up four or more wickets for a side in a Women’s World Cup game

Bharath Seervi02-Jul-20174/0 Dane van Niekerk’s figures – the first instance of a bowler taking four or more wickets without conceding any run across all internationals (men’s and women’s cricket included). Three for none has been achieved twice in women’s ODIs and once in women’s T20Is and only once in men’s internationals. Van Niekerk’s figures are also the best by a captain at a Women’s World Cup.190 Number of deliveries bowled in the game – which makes it the fourth-shortest completed women’s ODI. Pakistan and Australia played out the shortest game – 119 balls were bowled – at the 1997 World Cup in Hyderabad.48 West Indies Women’s total – their second-lowest in women’s ODIs and second-lowest for any team against South Africa. West Indies’ lowest total is 41, against England in 2008.6.2 Overs needed by South Africa Women to complete the chase. That makes it the third-quickest successful chase in women’s ODIs. They won with 262 balls remaining which is the third-largest win in terms of balls remaining in completed women’s ODIs.1997 The last time a total lower than West Indies’ 48 was witnessed in Women’s World Cup cricket. Pakistan slumped to 27 all out, the lowest total in the tournament’s history, against Australia Women. Overall, 48 by West Indies is the sixth-lowest in Women’s World Cup.3 Instances of two bowlers picking up four or more wickets for a side in a Women’s World Cup game. Marizanne Kapp picked up 4 for 14 and van Kiekert took 4 for 0 for South Africa in this game. Incidentally, these two figures are also the best two performances for South Africa Women in World Cup.