All posts by n8rngtd.top

The former allrounder is in line to be the temporary head coach of Bangladesh alongside being a member of the selection panel and a director of the cricket board

Mohammad Isam27-Nov-2017When BCB president Nazmul Hassan identified Khaled Mahmud as the frontrunner to be the interim head coach of Bangladesh, various potential conflicts came starkly into view.Mahmud is currently a BCB director and if he is ultimately given the temporary job, he will be the first director-cum-coach in world cricket. Even for someone who was an allrounder during his playing career, this dual role will be something.But this is not the first time Mahmud finds himself juggling several roles. He has been Bangladesh’s team manager on a number of occasions since the 2015 World Cup. He has also been head coach of Dhaka Premier League side Abahani Limited for the past three seasons, head coach of the BPL team Dhaka Dynamites since 2016, and a national selector since 2016.Wait. There’s more. Mahmud is the vice-president of players’ association – the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB). Naimur Rahman is president. Both Naimur and Mahmud are also BCB directors which puts them, theoretically, at both ends of the bargaining table for cricketers’ rights.And it does not end there. Mahmud is also head coach of Shinepukur Cricket Club, the Dhaka First Division Cricket League champions who earned promotion to the 2017-18 DPL, and Bangla Trac Cricket Academy. During the BCB directors’ last term, he was chairman of the BCB’s development committee, which meant he headed a department that finds and hones talent from across the country while working for a privately-owned academy that provides talent.All of these roles have made Mahmud arguably the most influential policy-maker in Bangladesh cricket. He has authority over senior team selection while at the same time being in charge of two of the top domestic teams in the country.Last year, when he was appointed to the selection committee, questions were raised that the captain should have been part of it instead of the manager. But BCB chief Hassan explained that it was only because of Mahmud that the team manager was being made a selector, not the other way around.Mahmud has, in the past, understood the problems leading so many roles could cause. In January 2013, he quit the BCB’s ad-hoc committee to join Chittagong Kings’ as coach in the BPL to avoid a conflict of interest.”Without any doubt it was a great honour for me when I was included on the ad-hoc committee,” Mahmud had said at the time. “It would have been nice if I continued, but the reality is different for me.”I have to earn money for my livelihood, so there was no other choice rather than taking the decision to continue as coach of the Chittagong Kings. I talked with [Nazmul Hassan] Papon bhai. Actually it was not possible to continue with both jobs as there was a conflict of interest.”Nine months later, he was elected board director and then took on all of those roles.Mahmud is not alone. The board president Hassan and director Ismail Haider Mallick, who is also the BPL governing council’s secretary, are employees of Beximco Group, which owns the BPL side Dhaka Dynamites and Shinepukur Cricket Club. Khulna Titans is owned by Kazi Inam Ahmed, who is also a current BCB director; the team employs Habibul Bashar as well, who is on the Bangladesh selection panel. Meanwhile, chief selector Minhajul Abedin is working for Chittagong Vikings in this season’s BPL.The BCB has, in practice, allowed for these conflicts of interest. Club officials have always held powerful positions in the cricket board. When re-writing its constitution in 2017, the board had an opportunity to address this issue in a more detailed manner but chose to ignore it completely.Some argue that a lack of quality administrators leaves the BCB with no choice. But the board has also mostly preferred to rely on Dhaka-based officials to run it; if they spread their net wider, they wouldn’t have the problem of quantity. Developing quality is then a matter of time.Perhaps it is time for the BCB to adopt the Cricket Australia (CA) model. CA changed their governance plan in 2012 so that the board is an independent entity containing nine directors. None of them are allowed to be directors or chairmen of their member associations.There are some like Mark Taylor (New South Wales) or Tony Harrison (Tasmania) who used to be, but they had to resign from state posts during an interim process from 2012 to 2014. The only potential conflict now is Taylor being board director and also a Channel Nine commentator.When asked about his dual role, Naimur said that CWAB representation in the board is helpful as it gives the representative a position to talk and work as a partner with the board. The CWAB already has a designated councillorship in the BCB apart from Naimur (a BCB councillor through Manikganj district) or Mahmud (BCB councillor in the cricketers’ quota).

Being excluded from the ODI squad seemed not to bother the Sri Lanka opener, as he scored his seventh Test hundred to give his team control of the innings

Osman Samiuddin in Dubai07-Oct-2017There are two ways to look at the fact that Dimuth Karunaratne was fielding questions about his absence from Sri Lanka’s ODI squad on an evening when his seventh Test hundred put his side in control of a Test match.One is to see it as a bit of a disservice to a near-flawless innings. The other is to acknowledge, happily, that a Karunaratne performance has become such a routine occurrence that we may as well talk about other things now.For the record, Karunaratne did not seem especially bothered by not being part of the white-ball squad. He will, of course, play, he said, if the selectors asked him; he will take things one game at a time, but right now was the time to focus on his Test career. He wanted to get better as a batsman in the longest format, to be more complete. And, if his recent performances are anything to go by, he seems to be enjoying Test cricket more than ever.Why wouldn’t he? Any time you can tell people you’ve scored more Test runs in the year than Steven Smith, Joe Root, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and David Warner has got to be an enjoyable feeling. Only Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla stand above him.For long parts of it, the century could have been an extension of his first-innings 93 in Abu Dhabi, the innings that did so much to ease Sri Lanka into that Test. He broke through this time, though, and remained unbeaten but the knock, in essence, was a reprise. There was perhaps a sniff of a chance to short leg in the second over of the day but, that apart, this was Karunaratne as conceived: functional, operating inside some kind of undisturbed, airless chamber.That is, however, not to say it was dull, or colourless – not at all. Only that it was so composed and matter-of-fact. Some of his play off Yasir Shah, for example, was imperious, none less than the up-and-over clip over midwicket that brought up his fifty. And he was particularly severe on Mohammad Amir, off whom he hit 10 of his 15 boundaries. Yasir and Amir are Pakistan’s premier bowlers, so the message was clear.And it came in what was, effectively, his first serious game with the pink ball and under lights. “I played a first-class game in Sri Lanka and got a hundred there,” he said. “So I had some confidence going into this game although what I played in Colombo was a day game.”Mostly we played in the day time today and only the last session under lights. The first four hours it was nice and smooth but the last two hours were tough. Under lights it is very, very tough. Amir bowled really well. [Mohammad] Abbas didn’t get much side movement earlier on, but he was tough to face with the second new ball under lights.”It wasn’t easy. We have done the hard work and now we need to cash in in the morning. We were not looking for runs after they took the second new ball. We were just trying to see off the day.”Dimuth Karunaratne and Sadeera Samarawickrama added 68 runs for the second wicket•AFPThough it was his 118-run unbroken partnership with Dinesh Chandimal that really secured the evening for Sri Lanka, the swift 68-run stand with Sadeera Samarawickrama had set the day racing. Samarawickrama, on debut no less, played in some respects the innings of the day – the point at which Sri Lanka looked most ascendant. Over 35 balls, it was played without a care in the world, or an obstacle in the way of him displaying his skills. In a couple of his inside-out drives, there was even a glimpse of – go on, admit it – Mahela Jayawardene.”He was the highest run-getter in first-class cricket last season,” Karunaratne said. “He played well today. I tried to give him confidence and he was very positive. I told him just to play his game. He had no fear and was very comfortable. Once he gets more experienced in this level he will convert them into big ones I am pretty sure.”A little of Karunaratne’s focus and know-how, the ability to navigate a path through a day, one session at a time, will not go amiss. That ability has left the destiny of this series, for now, in Sri Lanka’s hands.”We had a bad series against India,” Karunaratne said. “We want to desperately win this series. We are hungry. We just want to play our best and give our best and win the series. We are taking it one day at a time. On day one, we have done well and hopefully we will do well on day two as well.”

With India still searching for a fix in the ODI middle order ahead of next year’s World Cup, a good performance in the T20Is against South Africa could set the batsman on the road to a long-term comeback

Sidharth Monga17-Feb-2018India’s ODI series win in South Africa has been comprehensive, but there is still – as it should be if you are looking for perfection – cause for concern. Now that they have got wristspinners picking up wickets in the middle overs, India’s only remaining bugbear is their batting from Nos 4 to 7.Despite good starts, in the three matches that India batted first, they scored 133, 116 and 103 in their last 20 overs. Even when making allowances for the slower pitches in this series, this is not good enough, especially keeping in mind India’s middle and lower middle order have been known to struggle in the recent past. Ajinkya Rahane, the new No. 4, might have done enough to continue in that role for another series at least. It is too close to the World Cup to replace MS Dhoni. Hardik Pandya will be important as he gets closer to becoming a 10-overs bowler. That leaves one missing link: a batsman who can go big from ball one or rebuild an innings if required, is flexible with where he bats, and can provide a few overs as back-up for Pandya. A little big-match experience wouldn’t hurt either.That that spot is still not nailed down makes this upcoming T20I series important. Coming back in this series is a man who can hit big, who has experience, with an average close to 60 from two World Cups, is a good fielder, and a canny offspinner. He also brings some right-left balance to the batting line-up.Suresh Raina last played for India more than a year ago: all of three T20Is in 2017. His last ODI for India was part of a poor home series against South Africa in 2015, the World Cup year. Since then, Raina has been more out than in India’s limited-overs sides. One of the reasons has been his failing the yo-yo test, which he seems to have cleared now. He recently told TV channel that he was dropped despite good performances. He also went through a period of innuendo around his commitment and work ethic when he missed Ranji Trophy matches because his father and daughter were unwell at the same time.Because India are still not set with their middle order, Raina must not give up on a proper comeback. A good T20I series in South Africa can guarantee him a slot in the triangular T20I series in Sri Lanka. If he does well there and in the IPL, there is a real chance for him to travel to England a year before the World Cup. The team management has shown it is flexible by going back to Rahane at No. 4 after having earlier said they were looking at him as an opener alone.Raina comes with form. He was the sixth-highest run-getter in India’s domestic Twenty20 tournament, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. His strike rate nudged 150. He scored an unbeaten century in the Super League part of the tournament, followed by fifties on the next two days.In the IPL, too, Raina will be in a familiar role: focussing on his batting as Dhoni captains a familiar side, Chennai Super Kings. If he has to impress the India team management, though, he will have to begin doing it now. For, while there is hope for a big comeback, it is just a glimmer. He doesn’t have too much time either, as India have only two ODI series left outside Asia – in England later this year and in New Zealand early next year – before the World Cup.The only thing is, as every player will tell you, it is more difficult to make a comeback than a debut in Indian cricket. The landscape has changed since Raina last played. While ODI cricket – all limited-overs cricket in fact – has become flatter and easier for the top order facing the new ball, all middle orders are under pressure. If Raina has to come back, he will have to do so the hard way.

All you need to know about the six teams ahead of the sixth season of the Caribbean Premier League

Peter Della Penna07-Aug-2018ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Talking T20 Podcast: Will Warner help St Lucia Stars break their duck?

Peter Della Penna and Gaurav Sundararaman join Srinath Sripath as they look ahead to the sixth edition of the Caribbean Premier League
Listen on ESPN radio
Subscribe on iTunes

Trinbago Knight RidersThe defending champions succeeded largely on the strength of their bowling unit in 2017, which had five bowlers take 10 or more wickets when no other team had more than three. Two of those contributors – Shadab Khan and Ronsford Beaton – have withdrawn from the tournament this year.Though the responsibility on captain Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine may increase, a trio of reinforcements have been brought in to maintain depth with the ball. Shannon Gabriel and USA’s Ali Khan, who starred in the Global T20 Canada with Winnipeg Hawks, have been brought in to shore up the pace department while Australian legspinner Fawad Ahmed will be aiming to replicate Shadab’s success from last year.TKR’s batting has been extremely stable as they have continued to show faith in the core of Brendon McCullum, Denesh Ramdin, Colin Munro and Darren Bravo. However, they took a punt on Chris Lynn in the second round of the draft for USD 130,000. If he can overcome recurring shoulder issues, he can show what a menacing force he was in 2016 when he was the tournament’s leading scorer for Guyana Amazon Warriors.Squad: Dwayne Bravo (capt), Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Brendon McCullum, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Colin Munro, Khary Pierre, Junior Dala, Javon Searles, Terrance Hinds, Kevon Cooper, Nikita Miller, Anderson Philip, Hamza Tariq, Amir JangooSt Kitts & Nevis PatriotsThe Patriots saw their fortunes shift dramatically in 2017 thanks to the arrival of Chris Gayle as captain. Having never made the playoffs before, they went all the way from last place in 2016 to the 2017 final before succumbing to TKR. Gayle and Evin Lewis were a formidable opening pair all season, but Lewis enters this year’s competition in a form slump that may be a cause for concern.One of Patriots’ shrewd draft picks that paid off in 2017 was the selection of Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi, who wound up taking nine wickets at a superb 6.55 economy rate and also contributed 98 runs at a strike rate of 196 in limited batting appearances. In the wake of Nabi’s unavailability for this season, Patriots have banked on a new Associate gem to make a significant impact.Nepal’s 18-year-old legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane continues to see his stock rise after his promising debut with Delhi Daredevils and should be a major asset for Patriots prior to leaving midway through the tournament for the Asia Cup Qualifier. Lamichhane’s place will be filled in the second half by South African domestic batting star Rassie van der Dussen, who also stood out recently for the champion Vancouver Knights in the Global T20 Canada.Squad: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Ben Cutting, Carlos Brathwaite, Mahmudullah, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tom Cooper, Sheldon Cottrell, Brandon King, Devon Thomas, Graeme Cremer, Fabian Allen, Sandeep Lamichanne, Shamarh Brooks, Jeremiah Louis, Alzarri Joseph, Ibrahim Khaleel, Glen JavelleDavid Warner poses for a selfie with fans•Getty ImagesJamaica TallawahsThe two-time champions continue to see significant turnover and are almost unrecognisable from the squad that claimed their last title in 2016. After the departure of the Gayle-Chadwick Walton opening combo ahead of last season, Tallawahs have seen two of their top three scorers depart – Kumar Sangakkara and Lendl Simmons – as well as two of their three leading wicket-takers – Kesrick Williams and Mohammad Sami – not to mention the Bangladesh pair of Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah.Tallawahs will be banking on the return of 2016 Player of the Tournament Andre Russell, who missed the 2017 CPL via suspension, to provide a measure of stability and have named him captain. They drafted the dangerous legspin combo of Shahid Afridi and Samuel Badree to support the established spin presence of Imad Wasim, but Afridi opted out of the tournament on August 8, citing “knee rehab” as the reason in his tweet.*On the batting side, two high-profile additions are Ross Taylor and David Miller. Hard-hitting USA batsman Steven Taylor is hoping a change of scenery will rejuvenate his T20 career after flopping with Guyana Amazon Warriors last season.Squad: Andre Russell (capt), Imad Wasim, David Miller, Ross Taylor, Rovman Powell, Samuel Badree, Kemar Roach, Glenn Phillips, Andre McCarthy, Krishmar Santokie, Johnson Charles, Steven Taylor, Kennar Lewis, Steven Jacobs, Oshane Thomas, Elmore Hutchinson, Kirstan KallicharanGuyana Amazon WarriorsPerhaps the biggest loss for any franchise ahead of the 2018 season is the absence of Rashid Khan for the Warriors. The Afghan legspinner claimed 14 wickets while tying down batsmen with a sparkling economy rate of 5.82. Imran Tahir was snapped up in the sixth round of this year’s draft to replace Rashid overs while Shoaib Malik has also come over from Barbados Tridents to bolster both the spin and batting departments and take over the captaincy reins.Among key returnees, Luke Ronchi excelled as a late-arrival replacement scoring 172 runs in four innings but will be with the Warriors for a full season this season as he continues to be in sizzling form across the T20 circuit. Walton hasn’t had much success for West Indies but has been one of the best batsmen in the CPL over the several past seasons and led the tournament run-charts last year with 458 runs while Jason Mohammed was a solid middle-order presence, scoring 292 runs.Aside from TKR, no side is relying more on their locally-groomed talent to make significant contributions. In the batting department, Shimron Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford, who electrified at the Global T20 Canada with an unbeaten 134 off 66 balls for West Indies B against eventual champion Vancouver Knights, will be the key figures. On the bowling side, it means Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo and Keemo Paul will need to step up to assist Sohail Tanvir.Squad: Shoaib Malik (capt), Devendra Bishoo, Rayad Emrit, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Green, Imran Tahir, Jason Mohammed, Saurabh Netravalkar, Keemo Paul, Veerasammy Permaul, Akshaya Persaud, Roshon Primus, Romario Shepherd, Luke Ronchi, Sherfane Rutherford, Gajanand Singh, Chadwick Walton, Sohail Tanvir, Cameron DelportSteven Smith on the field is his first match since the Newlands ball-tampering scandal•Getty ImagesBarbados TridentsAfter going to the final in 2015, Tridents have missed the playoffs for two years in a row. Captain Kieron Pollard and fellow allrounders Shoaib Malik, Wayne Parnell and Akeal Hosein were the leading scorer or wicket-taker in all but a few games. However, in a major shake-up, all have departed, as has Kane Williamson.Leading scorer Dwayne Smith and fast bowler Wahab Riaz are the only big stars to survive the cull. Smith scored two centuries last season, but lacked consistency and only scored 146 runs in his other eight innings. Nicholas Pooran took a step back as well, with a best score of 32 in 10 innings. The Tridents leadership has decided to persevere with him, though in the hopes that he returns to his excellent 2016 form.Steven Smith is the most high-profile new arrival to the CPL this year and is being tasked with revitalising the Tridents batting along with top-draft pick Martin Guptill, who struggled last season with Guyana while dealing with injuries. Hashim Amla comes back to the CPL after excelling with TKR in 2016. A string of Barbadian West Indies internationals are available this year as well to boost the Tridents stocks, led by Test and ODI captain Jason Holder, Roston Chase and Shai Hope.Squad: Hashim Amla, Roston Chase, Dominic Drakes, Martin Guptill, Chemar K Holder, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Junaid Khan, Imran Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Ashley Nurse, Shakib Al Hasan, Nicholas Pooran, Raymon Reifer, Dwayne Smith, Steven Smith, Sunny Sohal, Shamar Springer, Wahab Riaz, Tion WebsterSt Lucia StarsThe new ownership’s decision to change the franchise name from Zouks to Stars brought all sorts of bad karma onto the St Lucia team in 2017. A year after making the playoffs for the first time with a franchise-best six wins, the Stars became the first team in the history of the CPL to go winless. The opening combination of Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles that proved to be so lethal in 2016 struggled for runs in 2017. Darren Sammy took the fall for the team’s poor start and was replaced as captain by Shane Watson midway through the season, though it failed to inspire a turnaround.Sammy is back, though Charles and Watson are gone. The latter has been replaced by fellow Australian David Warner who hopes to fare better than he did with Winnipeg Hawks on his T20 redemption trail. Taking the spot of Charles is Lendl Simmons, who is with his third team in as many seasons after failing to stick with Patriots and Tallawahs. Both sides of the ball are boosted by the addition of Pollard while another intriguing arrival is Mark Chapman, the Hong Kong-turned-New Zealand international who has been dominant with the bat in New Zealand’s domestic competitions but is getting his first opportunity in a foreign competition.On the bowling side, Stars were the only team in the competition to not have a bowler take double-digit wickets in 2017. Kesrick Williams and Mohammad Sami both accomplished the feat last season for Tallawahs and joined Simmons as part of the exodus to the Stars. On the spin front, 2017’s leading wicket-taker Shane Shillingford is gone and hoping to fill the void is the lone Afghan in this year’s CPL, teenage legspinner Qais Ahmad, who excelled in his country’s run to the semi-finals of the 2018 Under-19 World Cup earlier this year.Squad: Mark Chapman, Rahkeem Cornwall, Niroshan Dickwella, Andre Fletcher, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Kavem Hodge, Christopher Lamont, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lendl Simmons, Odean Smith, Mohammad Sami, Kieron Pollard, Qais Ahmad, Darren Sammy, David Warner Kesrick Williams, Rumman Raees, Obed McCoy, Jaskaran Malhotra*1215 GMT Afridi’s availability was updated after he tweeted he would miss the tournament

It may not quite signal his arrival at Test level, but Keaton Jennings rewarded the selectors’ patience with a big step forward in Galle

George Dobell in Galle08-Nov-2018These are the rewards for patience and persistence. Not just the patience and persistence of Keaton Jennings, who took 76 overs – and almost two years – to reach the second century of his Test career, but patience and persistence him.By the end of the English summer, it seemed unthinkable that Jennings could be selected for this tour. He had, after all, gone 10 Tests in succession without a half-century – a record for an England opener – and averaged just 19.20 in six matches since his recall. Almost unbelievably, he had averaged just 1.33 against deliveries that would have hit the stumps from seamers in the five-Test series against India and went through a spell of dropping chances in the cordon that hinted at a frazzled mind. Twice he was dismissed leaving a ball and it seemed the selectors would leave him, too.Jennings admitted to doubts, too. With the pervasive effects of the media – both social and professional – allowing him no escape from the pressures of the job, it got to the stage where he admits he had to “bluff himself” into believing he was good enough to prosper at this level. By the end of day three in Galle, he had everyone fooled.”When you’re waking up at 6.30am, having a cup of coffee and reading about your technical deficiencies, it’s not human to say it wouldn’t affect you,” Jennings said as he reflected on the last few months. “I’ve been waking in the night panicking, stressing and going through some tough times.”You read things and that doubt gets created. The pressure gets created to the point where I suppose you wake up and doubt what coffee you’re having in the morning. Something as simple as that. So you try to ask yourself ‘where is this pressure coming from?’ And it’s just from a lack of runs.”You have to keep believing. Whether it’s daft of yourself to believe or not, as a sportsman there are times you need to bluff yourself into thinking you’re capable of it. The thought did cross my mind during the India series that I might not make this tour.”ESPNcricinfo LtdAhead of The Oval Test against India, Ed Smith, the national selector, justified Jennings’ continued inclusion by pointing out that his average across the English summer was about the same as all the other openers involved in the Test season. And while that was, at the time, broadly speaking correct, it was followed by Alastair Cook making 71 and 147, and KL Rahul 149, in that final Test.Beyond that, though, Smith pointed out that Jennings’ record against spin made a strong case for his inclusion in the squad to Sri Lanka. Jennings had made a century on debut in Mumbai and, while he seems overly-reliant upon the sweep and reverse-sweep (with which he brought up that maiden century), he has not been dismissed in Test cricket playing either shot. Indeed, as CricViz pointed out ahead of this innings, he has been dismissed once every 78 defensive strokes against spin at this level – compared to once every 25 defensive shots against seam bowlers – and never by a ball that turned less than 4.5 degrees.The ECB system deserves some credit for that. Jennings feels the breakthrough in his batting against spin came when he was sent to the UAE as part of a Lions tour. There he worked on his game with Graham Thorpe and Andy Flower – both fine players of spin themselves, of course – and was subsequently called up to the Test tour to replace the injured Haseeb Hameed. That century in Mumbai followed soon afterwards.”I suppose I’m going to get slated at some point for playing a stupid reverse sweep,” he said. “But I see it as a big strength of mine. I see it as a shot that, in a way, gets me out of jail.”I think at times on turning surfaces, like day one here, if you play with a straight bat you feel like you’re going to nick balls and get out. I felt that reverse sweeping or sweeping was less of a risk.”The team management liked Jennings’ apparently equable character, too. While many players – think of Jonathan Trott or, perhaps, Mark Stoneman towards the end of his spell in the side – allowed the inevitable failures that occur at this level to eat away at their confidence, Jennings has the unusual ability to shrug off failures and remain as calm and positive as ever.That temperament was on display here. There were times he was beaten on the outside edge, but you would hardly have known it: he simply settled for the next delivery and attempted to play it on its merits.The roots of that calm nature may well have been born in crisis, however. After his first spell in the side ended with him being dropped, Jennings realised he needed to recalibrate his life. He started to appreciate that cricket, while important, was not the only way he should be defined and that there were many joys to be had away from the game. It’s not that he doesn’t care – far from it – it’s just that in order to be at his best, he needed to find a way to release the pressure.

I felt a lot more happy in my life away from cricket this year compared to last. I didn’t feel like the stress of selection was hanging over me all the timeKeaton Jennings after his Galle hundred

“I’ve been guilty of feeling the pinch in the way I [just] see myself in terms of runs,” he said. “But cricket is a job. You do it from 8am until 7pm and then you go home enjoy a beer, a rum and coke and time with your niece and nephew. You spend time with your family and actually have a life outside of cricket.”I should say a big thank you to the people – my mum and dad, my uncle – who have stuck with me over the last 18-months backed me through some tough times. I felt a lot more happy in my life away from cricket this year compared to last. I didn’t feel like the stress of selection was hanging over me all the time. I did the previous year.”At times, this year and last year, it’s kept me sane. It lets you feel stable. Hopefully I can continue to bubble myself in that sort of environment.”There was context, too. Had Cook not retired, had Hameed not suffered a catastrophic loss of form, had most viable alternatives not already been tried and discarded, it seems unlikely England would have persisted with him. But they didn’t want to thrust two debutant openers into the fray, they didn’t want to force one of their middle-order batsmen into the position and there weren’t obvious candidates making irrepressible cases for inclusion.So, for this specific tour and in these specific circumstances, there was some logic in his inclusion. And the selectors deserve credit for seeing it. This was Jennings third Test in Asia and he has scores of 112, 54 and 146 not out among them.But a couple of generations of former England batsmen – the likes of Tim Robinson (who averaged 66 after 10 Tests), Alan Butcher (who scored 22,000 first-class runs and won one Test cap), Alan Jones (who made 1000 runs in a season 23 times in succession without winning a Test cap), Hugh Morris (who played two of his this three Tests against a West Indies side containing Marshall, Ambrose, Patterson and Walsh), Kim Barnett (player of the match in his only ODI), Graeme Fowler (final three Test innings: 201, 1 and 69) – could be forgiven for wondering what they might have achieved had they been shown such confidence and support. Jennings knew he was a little fortunate to win this opportunity.The reverse-sweep was a productive outlet for Keaton Jennings•AFPThere was little fortunate about this innings, though. While he survived one leg-before shout on 58 that would have been out had Sri Lanka called for a review, he generally looked admirably solid. Putting to one side the aggression that characterised the batting of England’s top-order in the first-innings, he settled for crease occupation and the unhurried accumulation that befits a side starting their second innings on the second day of a Test.There were 59 singles and just six boundaries in his century and, while he did not come down the pitch to the spinners until he had reached three figures, he swept (both reverse and conventionally) with such assurance that it appeared it was sometimes used as a defensive ploy and played irrespective of the field.Some caution is required, though. There may be several openers in the county game – the likes of Sam Robson (who looks a fine player of spin), Adam Lyth, Stoneman, et al – who would make a century every 10 games or so if given the opportunity. This innings, admirable though it was, does not signal Jennings’ arrival as a Test player. No, the players who can sustain a career at this level, have to produce runs with some degree of consistency.This was a large step forward for Jennings, but he has played 10 Tests in England, not made a half-century and averaged 17.72. Like the sombrero bought in Mexico or the kaftan worn on holiday in the Middle East, what works abroad doesn’t always sit so comfortably at home. England won’t play three spinners at home; it’s possible they won’t play Jennings, either.”This is just a starting point,” he acknowledged. “You have to make sure you do it over and over again. Look at Alastair Cook: he scored 33 Test hundreds and played 161 matches yet there were still doubts about his place at times.”I’ve got to make sure I put it this in context, come out again tomorrow and continue to try and get better. It’s been a tough 18 months, but I sit here tonight really proud.”

Schoolboy error costs Kings XI Punjab; they didn’t do themselves any favours by feeding spin to Sunil Narine early on either

Srinath Sripath27-Mar-2019Russell’s knock: 3 in 5, a reprieve, then 45 off 12Mohammed Shami hasn’t had the best of times against Andre Russell in the past: he’d been smashed for seven sixes off 14 balls in the IPL before Wednesday night.And yet, keeping with his excellent recent spurt in white-ball form, Shami delivered three near-perfect yorkers to Russell to start with. The third one got Russell neck and crop from around the wicket: a well-thought-out plan, executed to perfection.ESPNcricinfo LtdBut Russell wasn’t out. And the game turned. Kings XI had made a schoolboy error, placing only three fielders inside the circle. Shami’s wicket turned into a no-ball, gave Russell a second chance, and ended up activating Russell’s beast mode. He went on to smash eight consecutive boundaries after that, muscling his way to 48 off 17 balls, 45 of them coming after that reprieve.By the end of that innings, Shami’s record had only worsened: ten sixes conceded off 22 balls, numbers which do grave injustice (and pay no heed) to how well he nailed those three yorkers at the start. Something for Luck Index to tell us more about, then.Why do IPL teams feed Narine with spin in the Powerplay?We’ve been on this train before. Sunil Narine loves facing up to spin in the Powerplay.A quick look at his stats say that he gets out often (six times in 17 innings) to spin, but just look at the common thread between some of his most destructive innings: his fastest fifty came after smashing fellow Trinidadian Samuel Badree for 30 off ten balls. Last year, he went after Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal en route to a 17-ball fifty.ESPNcricinfo LtdSo after R Ashwin brought on mystery spinner – and millionaire – Varun Chakravarthy for the second over of the innings, the familiar script played out all over again. Kings XI coach Mike Hesson explained at the post-match presser that they brought Varun on to take on Lynn, who has struggled against mystery spin in the past. The match-up went out of hand once Lynn took a single first ball to bring Narine on strike. After getting hit for a six, Varun spilled a tough chance off a full-blooded Narine drive next ball, and things only went downhill from there: four, six, six to hand him the most expensive first over in IPL history.All things considered, was the punt really worth it?Because, here’s the flipside: Narine strikes at a towering 259 against spinners in IPL Powerplays, and takes a fancy to lack of pace on the ball early on. Most tellingly, despite how improved he has become as a T20 hitter, the short ball still gets him out regularly. Mohammed Shami almost got him with one in the third over, before Hardus Viljoen sent him back minutes later, with his third ball in the IPL.Narine might have got just 24, but it was made in modern-KKR style: chancy yet fearless, off just nine balls, carrying them to a 53-run Powerplay, without worrying one bit about losing his wicket.Knight Riders had some huge overs through their innings against Kings XI•Getty ImagesRussell and Narine’s assaults meant Knight Riders’ Manhattan had some stunning skyscrapers: three massive overs went in excess of 22, only for the fourth time in IPL history, and the first time in a game not played in Bengaluru.Knight Riders get the Powerplay combination rightIt’s not often in a game at Eden Gardens that you go through the Powerplay with the Knight Riders pace bowlers in operation all the way.Their spin attack is among the most complete in the T20 franchise world – a mystery spinner in Sunil Narine, a left-arm wristspinner in Kuldeep Yadav, and a legspinner in Piyush Chawla – and they typically use them over the course of the innings in different roles, starting with Narine and/or Chawla in the Powerplay.But on Wednesday, for only the third time in the last 18 games at Eden, none of the three bowled a single over in the first six, as Dinesh Karthik stuck with an all-pace plan.Here’s why that could have been: Chris Gayle and KL Rahul have great records against the likes of Chawla (strike rate 181) and Narine (231) over the years, leading to Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson and Andre Russell starting proceedings.As it turned out, the openers fell in contrasting fashions. Rahul went through with his shot too early against Ferguson, and Gayle was beaten for pace and done in by Russell’s steep bounce. It was a double-whammy for Kings XI: they had 12 overs of spin to face, and had lost the two batsmen who had carried them to victory in the corresponding fixture last season.

Also: have India ever won a Test without a single wicket taken by a spinner?

Steven Lynch15-Jan-2019I noticed that Kumar Sangakkara scored eight centuries in the space of 11 first-class innings during 2017. Was this a record? asked Michael Crump from England

That purple patch by Kumar Sangakkara came during his remarkable farewell season with Surrey in 2017. In successive first-class innings he scored 136 against Lancashire, 105 against Warwickshire, 114 and 120 against Middlesex, 200 and 84 against Essex then 4 and 26 in the return game, and 180 not out and 164 in separate matches against Yorkshire. Sangakkara signed off from his final season with 1491 runs at an average of 106.50.There have actually been four previous sequences of eight hundreds in 11 innings in first-class cricket. The first to do it was the prolific Australian opener Bill Ponsford, spread over the 1926-27 and 1927-28 seasons Down Under. His sequence, mostly for Victoria, went: 151 (v Queensland), 352 (v New South Wales), 108 and 84 (v South Australia), 12 and 116 (v Queensland), 131 and 7 (Australian XI v The Rest), 133 (v South Australia in 1927-28), 437 (v Queensland) and 202 (v NSW). Ponsford scored 214 (and 54) against South Australia in the match before this run started, and in the one after it ended hit 336 (also against South Australia), making ten centuries in 15 innings in all.The last to do it before Sangakkara was another sublime left-hander, Brian Lara, in 1994. The sequence began with his Test-record 375 for West Indies against England in Antigua, and continued when he joined Warwickshire: 147 (v Glamorgan), 106 and 120 not out (v Leicestershire), 136 (v Somerset), 26 and 140 (v Middlesex), the first-class record 501 not out (v Durham), 19 and 31 (v Kent), and 197 (v Northamptonshire).Regular readers of this column will hardly be surprised to learn that the other man to manage eight hundreds in 11 innings was Don Bradman – and indeed he did it twice! Towards the end of the 1938 England tour he scored 144 against Nottinghamshire, 103 and 16 in the fourth Test against England, 202 v Somerset, 17 against Glamorgan, and 67 v Kent. Once at home in Australia he started the 1938-39 season with 118 for his own side against KE Rigg’s XI, 143 for South Australia v New South Wales, 225 v Queensland, 107 v Victoria, 186 v Queensland, and 135 not out v NSW. That made it eight centuries in 11 innings, including six in the last six to equal CB Fry’s record (later also matched by the South African Mike Procter). This period was the most productive of even the Don’s spectacular career: he had one sequence in which he scored 20 hundreds in the space of 33 first-class innings, which included the eight in 11 mentioned here.And Bradman did it again, at the age of 39: in 1947-48 he made 185 (in Brisbane), 13 (Sydney), 132 and 127 not out (Melbourne), 201 (Adelaide) and 57 retired hurt (Melbourne) in Australia’s Tests against India, and added 115 for the Australian XI en route for England against Western Australia in Perth. Once in England, he started the 1948 “nvincibles tour with 107 against Worcestershire, 81 v Leicestershire, 146 v Surrey, and 187 against Essex in the famous match at Southend in which the Aussies piled up 721 runs on the first day.Stuart Broad has two Test hat-tricks to his name: one against India in 2011, and another against Sri Lanka in 2014•Getty ImagesTagenarine Chanderpaul recently scored a century for Guyana which took him 424 balls – is this the slowest first-class hundred? asked Davo Kissoondari from Guyana

Tagenarine Chanderpaul certainly proved himself a chip off the old Shivnarine block with his century for Guyana against the Windward Islands in Providence last week. According to the Guyana Times, “His century came off 424 balls, batting for 429 minutes, hitting seven fours, nine twos and 46 singles.”Chanderpaul junior’s effort equalled the slowest hundred by balls shown on the Association of Cricket Statisticians’ website, by Sanjay Bangar for Railways against Uttar Pradesh in Delhi in 1995-96. The number of balls faced – especially for part of an innings – are generally not known for most earlier matches. But the Melbourne cricket historian Charles Davis, who has devoted himself to studying old Test scorebooks, has discovered several hundreds that needed more than 424 balls. The longest, at 535, is Colin Cowdrey’s for England against West Indies at Edgbaston in 1957. Nazar Mohammad’s hundred for Pakistan against India in Lucknow in 1952-53 took around 520 deliveries.The longest by time was by Nazar Mohammad’s son Mudassar Nazar, for Pakistan against England in Lahore in 1977-78. Mudassar took 557 minutes (419 balls) to reach three figures, while S Ramesh’s 556-minute century for Tamil Nadu against Kerala in Chennai in 2001-02 came up from a sprightly 339 deliveries.How many people have taken two hat-tricks in Tests? asked Geoffrey Keen from England

Four bowlers have taken two Test hat-tricks. One of them, the Australian legspinner Jimmy Matthews, actually did it in the same game – against South Africa at Old Trafford in 1912. Oddly, Matthews didn’t take any other wickets in the game. Wasim Akram almost matched Matthews’s feat, taking hat-tricks in successive Tests against Sri Lanka in 1998-99, in Lahore and in Dhaka.Stuart Broad has also taken two, against India at Trent Bridge in 2011 and against Sri Lanka at Headingley in 2014, while the tall Australian offspinner Hugh Trumble took two hat-tricks against England at the MCG, one in 1901-02 and another in 1903-04.Which Test player called his autobiography Panther’s Paces? asked Prakash Joshi from India

This is the title of a long-awaited tome from Chandu Borde, the fine Indian batsman of the 1950s and ’60s. He was only the third Indian – after Polly Umrigar and Vijay Manjrekar – to win 50 caps, and finished with 3061 runs in 55 Tests, with five centuries. He captained, in the absence of the injured Nawab of Pataudi, against Australia in Adelaide in 1967-68. His book, co-written with Mohan Sinha, is a neatly produced hardback, published last year by Anubandh Prakashan in Pune. I imagine you should be able to obtain one from them if you would like a copy.India won the series in Australia without much input from the spinners. But have they ever won a Test without a spinner taking a single wicket? asked Jamie Henderson from Australia

India have only ever won one Test without a spinner taking a wicket at all – and it was quite a recent one. In Johannesburg last January, they beat South Africa by 63 runs, with the wickets being shared between Jasprit Bumrah (seven), Mohammed Shami (six), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (four) and Ishant Sharma (three).There have been two Indian victories which included a solitary wicket for a spinner: over Sri Lanka in Galle in August 2001, when Harbhajan Singh made a solitary strike, and at Trent Bridge last summer, when R Ashwin took one England wicket and the seamers (Bumrah, Shami, Ishant and Hardik Pandya) shared the other 19.Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

In a week, Shami went from back-up to match-winner. In six balls, he let West Indians know their World Cup was over

Sharda Ugra at Old Trafford27-Jun-20191:13

Hussey: India’s well-balanced bowling unit makes them extremely hard to beat

Television has its blessings but watching a craftsman live at work offers us an intangible and mighty beauty. No matter what the distance between the man and his audience at a stadium, the man in the middle always remains human scale. Height, weight, frame, physique. Always seen in proportion to someone you know. The guy next door, the man on the street, the teller at the bank, the owner of the gym. It is when that man does what he does, what he must, in a stadium full of people squealing, screaming, shouting that he becomes The Maestro. It is what Mohammed Shami did on a golden Manchester afternoon at a ground dappled by blue shirts and backlit flags. At Old Trafford, Mohammed Shami showed us his Maestro.In the space of a week, Shami has gone from backup option to hat-trick taking match-winner. In the space of six balls on Thursday, Shami was to let the West Indians know that their World Cup was over. And have the Indians take one more step towards a place in the final four, with one win required from their next three matches. He was to ensure that his delicious dismissal of Shai Hope could be entered in the ball of the World Cup contest or at least challenge his pace-bowling buddies to try and match its perfection. In only his second match in the World Cup, Shami has stepped in and stomped his name on the contest. He has bowled less than 17 overs in this World Cup, but he already has eight wickets; his economy rate of 3.46 is the best of all bowlers at the World Cup, currently, and his strike rate, 12.1, is the best among all frontline bowlers.Watch on Hotstar (India only): Mohammed Shami’s four-wicket haulThe numbers will always tell their own set of tales. But Shami’s unflustered and switched-on presence in the two matches when he has stepped into the XI, following injury to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, has been impressive and looks for the moment irreplaceable. During the pre-match warm-up on Thursday, Bhuvaneshwar was seen running around Old Trafford and having a bit of a bowl, but is widely expected to sit out the game.It was Shami who turned up ready when West Indies openers Chris Gayle and Sunil Ambris came to the crease in pursuit of 269. The ball that everyone will remember and cite is the one that destroyed West Indies hopes, (yes, yawn, predictable but couldn’t resist) but it wasn’t just pulled out of his sleeve like a magical rabbit. It was in the planning from his many morning nets and from the first time Hope was to run into Shami.The Gayle wicket was the breakthrough that began the deluge, Shami giving Gayle little room to free his arms and outside of an inside-edge four, offering cramping width. The two play for the same IPL team, Kings XI, and Shami says he knew that if he kept Gayle quiet, “in a little while he would have a go at the ball and get out”. The first West Indian wicket in Gayle took away not only West Indies’ most dangerous batsman but also their most experienced. It was the short ball that rose far less quickly than Gayle had anticipated and when Hope came to the crease, the next bouncer took off towards MS Dhoni’s head. Christopher Henry gone, a considerable target to chase plus uneven bounce. Goodness.Mohammed Shami starred with four wickets in India’s dominant win•Getty ImagesFour dot balls and one cut for four was the next exchange between Hope and Shami before the peach arrived. Landing perfectly on an upright seam jagging back through the gap between an extended bat and Hope’s pad and clipping off stump. He practices these things, Shami was to say later. Bowling with the new ball in the nets, trying to land it on the seam, and looking for benefits like he did at Old Trafford on Thrusday: the cut, the seam movement and trying to exercise a grasp of what the new ball will do off the seam and what control can be exercised over it in a live situation.”In the morning the ball was moving, it was cutting in and out and the bounce was up and down. All you had to do was be careful with line and length,” Shami said, mischief in his smile, “after that 268 runs are enough.”WATCH on Hotstar (US only): Full highlights of India’s victoryCoiled within Shami’s regular unfussed run-up and a bustling delivery action is latent, unexpected and disconcerting pace. His last delivery of the day was to move faster than the umpire’s eyes could see. It flicked Oshane Thomas’ glove onto the keeper and Shami celebrating with a fist flung in the air, even before the batsman had been given out. It needed a referral to check before the game could be declared ended and Shami was grinning throughout.It is what Shami has done in his brief, brilliant 2019 World Cup: come running into the heat of the moment and leave wreckage lying in his wake. He was grateful for Jasprit Bumrah leaving him with 16 in the final over to defend versus Afghanistan without their most proficient batsmen, accepted. But the hat-trick had to be taken and Shami did so.He has handled sitting out three matches being pragmatic: “Fifteen of us have come to play for the country, so there is something in you that you are here, you have to be patient and stay positive. If you remember you are here to represent your country you don’t feel the pressure of whether they will play me or they won’t play me. There is only one thing: your mind has to be clever, alert and your execution has to be spot on.”What must be appreciated is that the Shami of 2019 is nothing like the ODI struggler and straggler whose 50-over career went into a tailspin after a blazing start as the fastest Indian to 50 ODI wickets after his 2013 debut. He only played sporadically after an impressive 2015 World Cup, and sat out an entire year of ODI cricket between July 2017 and October 2018. The attention he gave to his five-day cricket in that period, however, has given fresh impetus to his ODI game, according to former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta. Shami was going through a multitude of professional and personal issues, but the focus on what mattered – cricket – cleared his mind. Increased fitness and conditioning to bowl long Test-match spells without breaking down has made Shami not merely quicker but consistently quicker, and added to his potency in the ODI game. “I have confidence in my skill, that I can bowl on any wicket in the world.”At Old Trafford today, a regular man in human scale showed us his exquisite, singular craft.

Don’t speculate on his road ahead. Simply sit back and watch him do his thing

Karthik Krishnaswamy12-Aug-20199, 88, 65, 18, 30, DNB.Six matches, five innings, two fifties. Average of 42.00, strike rate of 96.33. Not a bad start, you’d think, to life as an ODI batsman.And yet, Shreyas Iyer didn’t play another 50-over game for India in the next 18 months. He didn’t get a game on the 2018 tour of England, and didn’t even make the squad for the Asia Cup later that year. By the time the 2019 World Cup rolled around, India had played 27 straight Iyer-free ODIs, and he was no longer a real contender for a middle-order slot.Selection is a subjective thing, and selectors can have many reasons for picking one player and leaving out another, not all of which can be explained by averages and strike rates. There may have been something in Iyer’s game that didn’t quite convince them. Or something in his game that needed working on away from the glare of international cricket. Perhaps they liked what they saw, but felt other batsmen offered more.Whatever it was, Iyer is back now, part of India’s line-up at the start of a fresh four-year ODI cycle. KL Rahul, who began the World Cup in the middle order and ended it as opener, and did pretty well in both roles without quite hitting peak form, is back on the bench.

I think he’s a very confident guy, he’s got the right attitude, and his body language was brilliantVirat Kohli on Shreyas Iyer

So it goes, perhaps understandably, in a crowded field without any one standout choice, where convincing arguments can be made for pretty much every candidate. Until someone stakes an undeniable claim for a permanent spot, the spectator is best advised to sit back and enjoy the talent on view, and ignore the selection question.On Sunday, there was one shot that particularly summed up what Iyer is good at. You might have seen it in the IPL, and you’ll definitely have seen it if you’ve watched him bat for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy.The ball, from Carlos Brathwaite, was respectable enough, not quite short or wide, and the field West Indies had set showed an awareness of Iyer’s strengths: deepish gully, backward point and cover point forming a tight ring square on the off side, and third man on the boundary, also square. There are no unknowns in international cricket anymore. And yet, Iyer found a gap, meeting the ball on top of the bounce with a shot that wasn’t quite a cut or a punch, and is perhaps best described as a stab. Shimron Hetmyer turned to his left at backward point and shaped to dive, before deciding it was pointless. Chris Gayle expended no such effort at gully, but the ball would have beaten even Roger Harper.Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer put on 125 runs for the fourth wicket•Getty ImagesIyer excels at this sort of thing, needing less width and shortness of length than most to cut, punch, stab, chop, slash, carve, flay, steer, guide or dab the ball through the off side, square and fine. A slowish pitch at Queen’s Park Oval gave him plenty of time to sit back and pick off runs in those areas. Four of his five fours came in the region behind square on the off side. One of them was a ramp almost exactly over the keeper’s head; he crouched in response to a short ball from Kemar Roach, and kept his eye on the ball as it rose, the slowness of the bounce allowing him to meet the ball precisely when, and where, he wanted to, with the bat face angled just so.The ability to pick off boundaries in that region allowed Iyer to chug along at a run a ball while otherwise simply sticking to the nuts and bolts of middle-order ODI batting: nudges off the legs, checked drives down the ground, slaps to the off-side sweeper. It was precisely what India needed when he joined Virat Kohli at 101 for 3.”Brilliant,” was Kohli’s verdict on Iyer during the post-match presentation. “Stepping in, not having played many games in the past, but I think he’s a very confident guy, he’s got the right attitude, and his body language was brilliant. Beautiful hands on the ball, and really kept the tempo going, took a lot of pressure off me, so I could play myself into a tempo like I like doing, and after I got out he got those extra runs for us as well. Really good start for him, hopefully he gets another one.”An excellent return to the ODI team, then, with a third half-century in only his sixth innings. What it means for Iyer beyond this game, and this series, and what it says about how he might do when faced with challenges unlike this one, are questions for another day. For now, it’s perhaps best to simply sit back and watch him do his thing.

Four teams are still in the race for two remaining spots in the playoffs of BBL09

Shiva Jayaraman24-Jan-2020The Sydney Sixers have strengthened their chances of playing the Melbourne Stars in the Qualifier on January 31, following their win over Brisbane Heat on Thursday. The result means the Adelaide Strikers are the only team left to challenge the Sixers for second place on the ladder at the end of the double-round-robin league stage.It’s been a horror-show for Heat with the bat in the last few matches, but all is not yet lost for them as the ninth edition of the BBL gives a lifeline to even the fifth-placed team on the table. This season of the BBL features four matches – three knockout matches and a qualifier – to decide the finalists on February 8. In the first of the three knockout matches, the fourth and fifth-placed teams play each other to decide which team progresses to the next knockout stage. With the Stars, the Sixers and the Strikers securing a place in the playoffs, and the defending champions Melbourne Renegades out of the race, there are four teams vying for the two spots still up for grabs.The top five teams in the BBL 2019-20 league phase will make it to the Finals•ESPNcricinfo LtdHere’s what the teams that still have a chance need to do.Hobart Hurricanes, nine points from 12 gamesThe Hurricanes are currently second from bottom, but they could still qualify without the complication of net run rate (NRR) if they win both their remaining games to get to 13 points, and if a few other things fall into place for them. The Hurricanes need Thunder to lose both their remaining matches, and Heat to win not more than one of theirs. This will ensure that Thunder and Heat join the Renegades at the bottom of the table, leaving the Hurricanes to scrape through to the playoffs.If Thunder win against the Scorchers, they will also join the Hurricanes on 13 points (having lost to Hurricanes on Friday). However, this is unlikely to end well for the Hurricanes given their poor NRR. In this scenario too, Heat have to win at most one of their two remaining matches.The Hurricanes could tie with Thunder for fifth place on 11 points if Thunder lose both their remaining games, one of which is against the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes will also need Heat to lose both their remaining games and stay on 10 points. It will then come down to NRR between the Hurricanes and Thunder. But the odds of that happening are not in favour of the Hurricanes given their inferior NRR compared with Thunder.David Miller falls over as he tries to play a shot•Getty ImagesBrisbane Heat, 10 points from 12 gamesThe loss against the Sydney Sixers has pushed Heat to the brink. There’s hope for them yet, but they will need help from other results. First up, they will need to win their remaining two matches and get to 14 points. They will have to make sure they win handsomely too, to improve their NRR, should it come to that. It will help them immensely if Sydney Thunder lose at least one of their two remaining games, or if the Perth Scorches lose both. This will ensure that one of these two teams is behind Heat on points. With the Hurricanes and the Renegades unable to get to 14 points, Heat will qualify with four other teams.Heat are likely to run into the wall of NRR if Thunder win both their remaining matches – one of which is against the Scorchers – and the Scorchers win theirs against Adelaide Strikers to tie with them on 14 points. Then it will be down to NRR between Heat and Scorchers. Heat are unlikely to survive this battle as their NRR of -0.582 is currently inferior to the Scorchers’ 0.066.Sydney Thunder, 11 points from 12 gamesThunder will qualify if they win both their remaining matches and move to 15 points since Heat, the Hurricanes and the Renegades can’t get to 15 points.Thunder can qualify with 13 points too, with help from various combinations of results between the other teams. One straightforward way of that would be if the Scorchers lose both their remaining matches (one of which is against Thunder) to stay on 12 points and Heat don’t win more than one of their remaining games to also stay on 12. That will leave Thunder as one of the top five teams on points since the Renegades are already out of the race.Thunder could qualify even if they end up losing both their remaining games, but they would have to make sure that their NRR doesn’t suffer by too much in these losses. For that to happen, they need Heat to lose both their remaining matches and the Hurricanes to lose their match against the Strikers. In this scenario, Thunder will be tied on points with the Hurricanes, and, given the latter’s poor NRR, Thunder are likely to finish ahead of them.Jhye Richardson gets back to his run up•Getty ImagesPerth Scorchers, 12 points from 12 gamesThe Scorchers are the best-placed team to qualify of the four. They will make it if they win their remaining matches and get to 16 points or if they beat Thunder on Sunday. A win on Sunday will make sure Thunder stay on 13 points or less, and with the Hurricanes and the Renegades out of the 14-point race, the Scorchers will finish as one of the top five teams.If the Scorchers lose to Thunder but beat the Strikers to get to 14 points, they could qualify without relying on NRR, provided Thunder lose to the Hurricanes, or Heat manage to win at most one of their remaining matches. This will mean that one of the two teams among Thunder or Heat don’t get to 14 points, and join the Hurricanes and the Renegades in the bottom three.If Thunder beat the Hurricanes too (and go to 15 points ahead of the Scorchers) and Heat manage to win both their remaining games, then the Scorchers will be tied on 14 points with Heat. Should that happen, it will come down to NRR between the Scorchers and Heat for fifth place.The Scorchers could qualify even if they lose both their remaining games, but would need Heat to also lose both their matches and the Hurricanes to win not more than one of theirs’.Two-team race for secondIt is left to the Sixers and the Strikers to battle for the second spot and the opportunity to have two cracks at getting into the final. The Sixers have their nose ahead in the race as they already have a two-point lead over the Strikers, and a game against the bottom-placed Renegades on Saturday. The Strikers have two matches left, against the Scorchers and the Hurricanes, and will do well to beat the Scorchers and not leave it to the result of the Sixers-Renegades game.