Coach Pierre de Bruyn elated with the fight shown by his team to make the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup

Firdose Moonda22-Oct-2021Namibia is a country of 2.5 million people, nine cricket fields, five cricket clubs and 16 contracted players. And they’ve made it to the Super 12s of a T20 World Cup.Along the way, they’ve won their first-ever major tournament match and they’ve beaten a Full Member. Over the next three weeks, they will play against four others and they have automatically secured a spot at the next T20 World Cup too. Their performances will get people talking about the deserts and the desolate landscapes of the country they call home; a place where you can drive for hundreds of kilometres and not see another soul; of Africa’s last colony, with no major cricketing achievements to its name until now.Watch the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup on ESPN+

Sign up for ESPN+ in the US and catch all the action from the Men’s T20 World Cup. Match highlights of Namibia’s historic victory is available here in English, and here in Hindi (US only).

“It’s a dream that’s come true. These players were six and seven year-old boys, dreaming of playing against teams like India and Pakistan. That dream has come true,” Pierre de Bruyn, Namibia’s coach said. “All they had in the last few years was to watch these guys on TV and dream about it. They will wake up knowing it’s real. I am just so pleased for them. I don’t think people really know how limited we are. We are not a cricket organisation with a luxury of great resources.”That’s no understatement. Two years ago, the Namibian national men’s team only had three contracted players. When they secured ODI status in April 2019, they were able to get 13 more. They still don’t have a stadium to call their own and play home games at a club ground, The Wanderers (not the one you think you know). De Bruyn, who has been coaching them from the start of that year, still lives in Centurion and commutes to Windhoek as often as needed. They don’t have a full time physiotherapist, a full-time strength and conditioning coach or a full-time team manager and between November 2019, when they qualified for this tournament and April 2021, they had no official fixtures.The Covid-19 pandemic would not have helped, of course, but it meant Namibia had no match-time against the kind of teams they would face at this event. “But, we’ve got a saying that we’ve got to find a way,” de Bruyn said. And they did.One of the first things de Bruyn did was to rope in an old friend, Albie Morkel, albeit also on a part-time basis, to join the coaching staff. “He is a guy I wanted from the start. We’ve known each other for more than 20 years and his expertise and calmness was something I thought we could use.”The next thing was to organise matches as often as they could. In the build-up to the T20 World Cup, Namibia hosted Uganda, a Zimbabwean Emerging side, a South African Emerging side and two South African domestic teams, the Titans, captained by the country’s Test skipper Dean Elgar, and the Knights. Namibia beat all those sides.David Wiese is congratulated by his team-mates•ICC via GettyAnd finally, they sought out a headliner: South African allrounder, David Wiese, who qualified to play for them through ancestry. Wiese’s father was born in Namibia and he had initially thought of playing for them early on in his career. Then, the Proteas happened. He went with them to the 2016 T20 World Cup and thought he would become established in the side but never did. He signed a Kolpak deal and when that system ended, started a journeyman T20 league career earning high status in the Pakistan Super League and the CPL.He had never played for Namibia before this tournament but in three matches, has put in two award-winning performances, though he did suggest that his accolade against Ireland should have gone to the Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus for his unbeaten 53 off 49 balls. “It was an unbelievable captain’s knock under pressure,” Wiese told the television broadcasters. “I’ll accept it but today’s his moment. They (the team) have put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes and they deserve every success.”Wiese’s modesty does not reflect his value to the team so far. After they were bowled out for their joint-lowest total in a T20I against Sri Lanka, 96, he scored a half-century to help them complete their highest successful chase against Netherlands. Then, he took 2 for 22, to keep Ireland to 125 for 8 on a slow Sharjah track before plundering 28 off 14 balls to accelerate the Namibian chase just as it may have stagnated. There were stages in their reply when it seemed that the pressure was growing on them, but for de Bruyn, the result was barely in doubt.”Our planning going into this game was calm. The conditions suit us. That’s what we get back home. We had a solid game plan and we made sure we stick with that game plan,” he said. “It was quite simple: don’t leave the stumps, play straight and take it deep. I think where Ireland got it wrong was after that powerplay, a devastating powerplay (Ireland were 55 for 0), the next four overs, they fell asleep. We just knew we had to take it deep, rotate hard, we ran much better between the wickets. The planning was something we discussed and also the opposition analysis.”Now, de Bruyn will have other opposition to analyse, a task he relishes as Namibia enter a tough Super 12 group. Although there may not be any expectations that they will progress further, the monetary gains from getting this far will make a significant difference to their ability to develop further. “We didn’t mind that [underdog] tag coming in but we had a lot to lose. We didn’t accept that we would have nothing to lose because financially it makes a big difference. We can upskill and we can invest a little,” de Bruyn said.They can also show some of the bigger nations what they are made of. “We are going into Group B as the underdogs and those guys will look at us and maybe see us as a pushover. We’ve shown the cricketing world over the last week that we are not a pushover. We are going to keep on competing, regardless of the results.”Because they’ve got 2.5 million dreams to live out in a different desert.

The Singapore-born batter opens up on his stratospheric rise in stardom, playing in different leagues, setting the PSL alight, and more

Danyal Rasool26-Feb-2022There’s a long, circumspect pause down the other end of the Zoom call. It is so extended that a quick check is needed to ensure the connection hasn’t been cut. It hasn’t. Tim David is merely considering his next words.It’s a frequent occurrence during the conversation with Multan Sultans’ platinum pick this year. Time and again, the soft-spoken David stops mid-sentence, almost editing himself in real time as he snips out a word here, adds in a phrase there. There’s a crispness to his diction many would struggle to match in print. It’s precise, surgical, almost delicate. For a man who boasts a strike rate of 199.20 in the PSL this year, and over 150 since the start of last year, those aren’t words too keenly associated with him.Related

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He might be dressed in his Sultans shirt for the interview, but there’s more to David the man than the fearsome power-hitting that’s fast becoming his trademark. The hunger to improve is, as with nearly all elite sportspeople, insatiable, but so is a shrewd understanding of how to give himself the best chance of making it in the cutthroat world of T20 franchise competition.”Sure I’d love opening the batting in T20 cricket,” he tells ESPNcricinfo at one point. “That’s awesome; you get to face as many balls as you can. But in such a competitive market, there’s not spots for that. And so for me to get myself into a Big Bash team [last year], I needed to work on those skills and the biggest opening I saw where my skill set would fit in was to be able to play in the middle order and play with power.”When David was plucked by the Lahore Qalandars last year for the second leg of the PSL, he was almost an unknown quantity outside Australia. A Singapore international who only had one solid season in the Big Bash League didn’t quite glitter like some of the other big names the PSL has seen, but David knew the work that had gone behind his BBL success, and felt it was both sustainable and replicable.”I think it was a case of finding what I was best at. My skills were better equipped to being able to hit and play aggressively through the middle. For me to be effective, I have to be able to clear the boundary when I want. The experience you get through batting in the middle order, you learn how to chase, finish off an innings or maximise the scoring when the game’s pretty much dictated to you.”Opening batters go out and they can essentially play however they want to, whereas a lot of times the middle order players have to play to what the game demands. So, I’ve got to walk out, I might have to get going in my first three balls. Sometimes that’s not easy, but that’s what you have to practice for, because that’s what’s required of me.”That revaluation of his career and skillset has produced astonishing results. The 2020-21 BBL season saw him score at a strike rate of 153.29 – among players who scored more runs, only Chris Lynn and Ben Cutting boasted a superior strike rate. The second leg of the PSL, played in relatively low-scoring UAE, saw David become emerge as a breakout star even as the Qalandars crashed and burned, his 180 runs coming at 166.66. He would go on to enjoy success in the CPL, land an IPL gig and have a stellar follow-up season at the BBL. Just last week, Mumbai Indians paid over USD 1 million to snap up his services for this year’s IPL, a competition he said he was “definitely” excited for.David doesn’t want to be measured by just runs: ” It’s nice if those things look favourably upon me, but I think it’s about match impact”•Lahore Qalandars”Each league has a different identity,” he says. “Perhaps you go to the CPL where sometimes the wickets aren’t as good and you get a high dot ball percentage. Guys might play, say, three, four dots and over then hit a six when they get the opportunity. The Big Bash can be tough because you can play on bigger grounds, so obviously your margin for error is larger. If you have a mishit, you can get caught in the deep. I’d probably say the biggest factor [that determines the ease of power hitting] is potentially ground sizes in Australia. Some grounds aren’t so big or there’s certain areas of the ground you have to target.”For now, though, it is the Sultans who’re enjoying the fruits of his services. At the PSL draft, last year’s defending champions snapped him up in the Platinum category, a meteoric rise for a player who was little more than a wildcard just six months earlier. Slotting into an Andy Flower-led franchise that prides itself on using extensive analytical data to wring every last drop of performance out of their team, the Sultans-David relationship feels much more natural. Does he feel the same way?True to form, David is more measured in his assessment. “I guess I haven’t played enough for both teams to really [compare]”, he eventually says. “We’ve obviously been in some really good form here at Multan, whereas last year with Lahore we had a strong side but we didn’t play our best, we weren’t winning games. That was disappointing, [but] I don’t think I was at Lahore long enough to be able to pass comment on it.”I’ve got to be comfortable with accepting that fact that playing in the middle order in T20 cricket is so dynamic. My output can’t be measured by runs or necessarily strike rate. It’s nice if those things look favourably upon me, but I think it’s about match impact and that’s what I just try to be. The more I play each time I reflect back on how I have as much of a positive impact to the team as I can.”On that count, he ticks all boxes handsomely for the Sultans this season. A 29-ball 71 and an unbeaten 51 off 19 in consecutive games – two innings that saw him smash 12 sixes in 48 balls – stand out as obvious highlights; he’s also joint top six-hitter (20) this PSL with leading runscorer Fakhar Zaman, who has taken 379 balls to hit the same number as David has in 126. The Sultans have been in imperious form all season, winning 10 of their 11 games to cruise into the final.

“I think it’s important to be realistic. I’ve definitely performed well at times, but after every tournament I’ve left thinking I could have done better”

While David has been a key reason for that success, there’s perhaps an argument he’s still being wasted a little batting as low as he does. In Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood, the Sultans have a formidable opening partnership, but it is one that tends to bat through large chunks of the innings without quite achieving the same level of destructiveness that David or Khushdil Shah provide. In a game against Karachi Kings earlier this month, the pair batted for 14.2 overs for 100 runs, with the asking rate rising above 15 by the time the partnership was broken; David faced just 7 balls for 13 runs. In the qualifier against the Qalandars on Wednesday, Rizwan scored an unbeaten 53 in 51 balls, carrying his bat. Multan lost just two wickets, and David never got to bat at all.”I would be very hesitant to be critical of Shan and Rizwan,” he says, as ever, weighing every word before uttering it, “because they’ve been such big strengths for us this season. I still think they are in every game. They set such a strong platform. It really sets it up for our team the way we’re structured with a strong middle order. We like to think that all of the guys in the middle order could bat up top if we needed to. If we need to bat in the first 10 overs, we all can. We all want to face as many balls as we can, but we understand the role of the team and I think everyone in this side is going out to try and do their best for the side.”One of the highlights of the season came in an early game, with Quetta Gladiators seven runs from victory down to their number 11 against the Sultans. Skipper Rizwan moved the six-foot-four David to the deep midwicket boundary all the way from the other side of the ground. Next ball, Naseem Shah smashed it to exactly that place, with David needing every inch of his frame to grasp the ball, spoon it back up as he overbalanced past the rope, and take the catch on the return to seal a sensational win. It was emblematic of Rizwan, who cannot seem to put a foot wrong at the moment, as batter, wicketkeeper or indeed captain.”I’ve really enjoyed playing with Rizwan as my captain,” David grins. “He just encourages our team to have fun, play with a smile. That’s easy to say when you’ve won seven out of your eight games.David insists on leaving “everything I do on the field”•Getty Images”He’s probably a little bit more relaxed off the field, I think it’d be fair to say. But he’s been great for us to perform our best. We keep it simple. We’re trying to play bravely so we can just put in our best performance in the match. And you know, part of being a professional cricketer is accepting that you can’t have a perfect performance every day.”The heights David has hit have been so stratospheric at times it’s impossible not to wonder if it’s sustainable. Australia are likely to look at him very closely for this year’s home T20 World Cup; the days of playing for Singapore are done and dusted. David accepts that he’ll invariably run into a rough patch sooner or later, but rejects the idea he is simply a cricketer going through a purple patch.”I think it’s important to be realistic. I’ve definitely performed well at times, but after every tournament I’ve left thinking I could have done better. I’d be wary of calling it a purple patch. I know I’ve had good form and I’ve played well, but I’d like to think that it’s very sustainable. It’s encouraging to me that I’ve been able to do it in different leagues, across different competitions. I’m aware that form can change, and I’m sure that will come at some point. And that’s another skill of learning how to manage yourself through those periods. I’ve just been learning so much through each tournament. I feel already so much more confident in my own game I’m having a really good time.”But the idea of the T20 World Cup gets short shrift.”I don’t think it weighs heavily on me at all. If my performances are providing me the opportunity to be a part of those things, then that’s great. But honestly it sounds cliched, but I’m just literally focused on our game tomorrow.”That “game tomorrow”, the PSL final against the Qalandars, really is a rather big deal, and for once, there’s little hesitation in David’s answer. For a man who has seen his fortune turn – and indeed built – in a little over 12 months, talking about a competition eight months away makes little sense.”I hope I’ve given you enough,” he smiles, a little sheepishly. “I want to leave everything I do out on the field.”

They dismantled Pakistan with pace, persistence, a hint of movement, and more than a hint of pent-up frustration

Alex Malcolm23-Mar-2022Finally. After 13 days of backbreaking toil in this series. After 13 days of waiting for the pitches to do something. After 13 days of hoping the chosen ball would reverse. After 13 days of relentless but slow run-scoring. After 13 days of watching hard-earned nicks hit the turf.Finally, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc said enough is enough and took matters into their own hands. They huffed and they puffed and they blew away Pakistan’s batting line-up with sheer pace, persistence, a hint of movement, and more than a hint of pent-up frustration to put Australia in command.Cummins became just the fourth Australian quick in history to take a five-wicket haul in Pakistan. Starc became just the third quick in the series to bag four wickets or more in an innings. Pakistan lost eight wickets for 54 runs in 30 overs to hand Australia a critical 134-run lead with two days to go.It was a Herculean effort from Australia’s two fast men.At one stage in the afternoon, it looked like an impossible task. Lahore’s surface was offering precious little. Azhar Ali and Babar Azam’s bats looked as broad as ever after Abdullah Shafique had again batted for what felt like days. There were very few signs of the prodigious reverse-swing that Naseem Shah had extracted the previous day.Australia had frivolously burnt three reviews, two in pure hope and exasperation that they might not hit another pad for days despite neither looking close to out.Steven Smith had dropped three catches, one each of Shafique, Azhar and Babar. None were easy, though, all incredibly difficult given how close to the batter he has stood at times, but all told he has missed six chances in a series where chances have been few and far between.

At one stage midway through the 13th day of the series, all five of Australia’s bowlers were striking at more than 100 for the tour and Starc’s wicket tally of three was level with direct-hit run-outs for the series

Nathan Lyon bowled 30 overs unchanged for little reward. He did claim Shafique thanks to Australia’s only successful review, scratching the outside edge of his broad bat with one that went straight on. He could have had Babar too, who drove hard out of the footmarks and edged fine of the wrong-footed Smith at slip. Mitchell Swepson too produced a chance off Azhar – which Smith was unable to grasp – but was unable to extract much else as the surface offered less spin than the one in Karachi.At one stage midway through the 13th day of the series, all five of Australia’s bowlers were striking at more than 100 for the tour and Starc’s wicket tally of three was level with direct-hit run-outs for the series.Australia needed a lion in Lahore and they found one in their captain. Out of nowhere, in a short burst at Azhar, Cummins induced a false stroke. A well-struck drive that was not kept down. Cummins fell to his left in his follow-through, reached to his right, and plucked a stunning catch. He threw it in the air as he rolled to the ground and finished on his knees roaring with delight.”That’s why he’s No. 1 in the world,” Starc would say of Cummins after the day’s play. “He started it for us.”Australia had an opening.Cummins threw Starc the ball post-tea with Fawad Alam far from settled and Starc rammed his way through with sheer will.This wasn’t the spectacular high-velocity reverse-swing that he showed in the first innings in Karachi. Instead, it was a showcase of his fitness and willpower. Starc can be maligned for his sometimes wild radar and his lean spells as he had experienced on this tour as well. But one thing he is given very little credit for is his ability to sustain 140kph speeds across a backbreaking series. His pace has never dropped during this arduous tour. And it didn’t on the 13th day. He finally got the reward when he delivered the perfect length and line to Alam with a hint of reverse-swing back to crash through a gaping gate between bat and pad and smash into off stump.Pat Cummins held a stunning return catch to remove Azhar Ali•AFPStarc smelt blood in the water. He trumped that delivery to Alam with an even better one to remove Mohammad Rizwan. From around the wicket, he again hit the perfect length, angling towards off stump and tailing away a touch to beat the outside edge and crash into the top of off.”It’s having a really calm approach,” Starc said. “Patty’s been fantastic in his captaincy. There have been times where they’ve built partnerships and played really nicely. It’s about staying calm and not letting that scoreboard get out of control and take our chances and moments when they come.”Pakistan’s tail was now exposed and Cummins sensed the moment. He brought himself back on in tandem with Starc and in 20 deliveries they took 5 for 4.Cummins and Starc ratted the stumps twice more and thundered into the front pads of Nauman Ali and Babar. Starc pinning Pakistan’s captain on 67 was proof that no one could stop Australia’s steam train from running down the track. Not even DRS could overturn this one as it was just clipping the outside of leg stump.Only one of the nine wickets the duo took required a fielder’s assistance, with Smith taking a nice low catch of Hasan Ali at first slip having moved back to a conventional position behind Alex Carey.”Once we get a sniff we want to try and ram that home,” Starc said. “So to work in a fantastic partnership for those few overs is what we’re about.”For the second Test running, Australia have done the hard yards to set up the game in their favour and they can thank Cummins and Starc for it. Now they need to finish the job.

Philosophy of Mott’s record-breaking Australian sides aligns with England’s attacking mindset

Matt Roller18-May-2022Pushing boundaries, hitting boundariesEngland’s white-ball revolution has been defined by aggressive batting and Mott has encouraged positivity throughout his coaching career. In the 50-over World Cup earlier this year, his Australia side made three of the four 300-plus totals, including a tournament-high 356 for 5 in the final against England. Before Mott’s appointment, they had never made 200 in a T20I; between March 2018 and October 2019, they did so four times.”I thrived under him,” Mark Wallace, who captained Glamorgan during two of Mott’s three seasons as coach, tells ESPNcricinfo. “I was a very standard county keeper who would bat at No. 7 but Motty came over and saw my strength was to play in a certain way: basically, to try and whack anything wide through the off side.Related

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“He told me to keep doing that and that if you get out a few times, that’s fine, but don’t put your strength aside because you might nick a few to the keeper or slash a few to gully. I ended up having some of my best seasons under Motty. He was brilliant for me as a cricketer.”Mott took a similar approach when working as Ireland’s assistant coach at the 2015 World Cup. “We had myself, [Ed] Joyce, [William] Porterfield, [Paul] Stirling, Kev [O’Brien], [Gary] Wilson – experienced players who knew what we were capable of,” recalls Niall O’Brien. “But he instilled confidence in that line-up to go out and play shots.”He challenged us to think big. We knew that playing in Australia, getting 260 wasn’t going to be good enough so he challenged us to get 300; we were definitely more aggressive as a batting unit in that tournament.”Against West Indies in Nelson, Ireland chased down 305 with 4.1 overs to spare, with O’Brien scoring 79 not out at nearly double his ODI career strike rate. “It was very evident that the boys were trusting their ability because we’d been backed to take teams down,” he adds.Mott will lead England’s transition away from the Morgan era•ICC via Getty ImagesManaging transitionMott has signed a four-year contract with England and his biggest long-term task will be breaking up the core of players who have spearheaded the white-ball sides’ transformation since 2015 – not least captain Eoin Morgan, who turns 36 before the T20 World Cup in Australia this winter.”The decision-making process was about finding someone who wasn’t going to come in and disrupt that environment – they have a very strong leader in Eoin Morgan – but also [someone who can] subtly enhance it along the way,” Key said. “And then whenever there is a transition in leadership, they are the right person to take it into the next era and Matthew Mott came out on top of the list for that.Australia’s women were reigning world champions in both 50-over and 20-over cricket when Mott was appointed and Key drew a comparison between their situation in 2015 and England’s men now. “What he has been able to do with them, I don’t think should be underestimated. He has made the gap greater between the rest of the pack in the women’s game and there’s a lot to be said for that.”He added that Morgan’s “philosophy” had filtered into the English system to such an extent that they were blessed with “a whole production line – of batsmen in particular – that play in that style”. Key said: “The coach is the one that has to be smart to work out who to invest in in the future. I think we’ve got the right person in Matthew.”Mott (left) spent three years at Glamorgan working with Wallace (centre)•PA Images/GettyRole clarityWorking closely with Meg Lanning, Mott has made a point of giving players clear roles in the Australia side and has been willing to change a winning side when conditions or circumstances dictate: against New Zealand in the World Cup, the experienced Jess Jonassen was left out to fit two legspinners and an out-and-out quick into the side.At Glamorgan, Mott used Simon Jones – the former England seamer – as a middle-overs enforcer in what proved to be his final season; he was not at his destructive best but chipped in with 10 wickets as they reached the YB40 final in 2013, their first one-day final for nine years.”He wanted to fit his players into a style and give them clarity to play in those roles,” Wallace explains. “[Jones] was given a role of bowling in the middle of the innings and trying to take wickets; nowadays, that seems like something that every team does but back then it was slightly different. It gave the batting side something to think about, especially being Simon Jones and with the name behind him and created a little bit more jeopardy in the middle of the innings.”Mott has been particularly analytical in his approach to T20 cricket, with the decision to omit Ellyse Perry for the Ashes T20Is against England informed by her sluggish strike rate. “Now we have this depth in Australian women’s cricket, we are able to make some more specific decisions,” Mott said.Perry was not considered to be part of Australia’s full-strength top three, and her scoring rate made her a poor fit for the middle order. “It’s not necessarily about picking the best batters in those No. 5, 6 and 7 spots… it’s the players with the ability to score 15 runs off 10 balls,” Mott explained. The parallel with Ben Stokes, whose T20I career has never really taken off, is clear.Mott was “very keen for team morale and camaraderie” at the 2015 World Cup, Niall O’Brien says•Getty ImagesTeam cultureNick Hockley, Cricket Australia’s CEO, immediately highlighted the culture that Mott had created around the side when paying him tribute. “[Mott] has played an instrumental role in the success of our incredible women’s team,” he said, “driving a team-first mentality and creating an environment that’s allowed the players to blossom into some of the world’s leading cricketers.”Shortly before the 2015 World Cup, Phil Simmons handed an Ireland training session over to Mott. “We didn’t do any cricket: he took us on a walk from Coogee down to Bondi,” O’ Brien recalls. “I remember thinking, ‘this is an absolute joke – we’ve got a World Cup game in five days’ time’ but it was actually a beautiful walk and we sat down as a squad and had some brunch.”Everyone sat around and thought, ‘you know what, we’re lucky to be here. This is a pretty good life.’ That took a little bit of the pressure off heading into a major tournament and it shows that he was flexible in how he wanted to do things. Motty was very keen for team morale and camaraderie, sitting around and having a drink at the end of a game.”That attitude was apparent in the early days of his coaching career. In the build-up to the inaugural IPL season, as Kolkata Knight Riders’ assistant coach, Mott was concerned about the form of Brendon McCullum – his new Test counterpart – and spent some one-on-one time with him in the nets.After an hour, “Mott decided to abandon the session and instead took McCullum to the hotel bar for a beer,” Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde write in . “That seemed to relax him: he scored 40 and 50 in consecutive warm-up matches… suddenly he felt like he belonged at the crease again.” Days later, he blitzed 158 not out off 73 balls.Lanning and Mott pose with the World Cup trophy•ICC/Getty ImagesLiving up to expectationsThe days of England going into major tournaments as no-hopers are long gone and there is a minimum expectation that they should reach at least the semi-finals of every World Cup they enter; despite the absences of several key players through injury, losing to New Zealand in the T20 World Cup semi-finals last year seemed like a major opportunity missed.Expectations were high throughout Mott’s tenure with Australia and he has experienced both sides, with shock defeats in the 2016 World T20 final and 2017 World Cup semi-final preceding victory in the 2018 and 2020 T20 World Cups and the 2022 ODI World Cup.Mott has admitted feeling “embarrassment” after the semi-final defeat against India in 2017 and used that game as an opportunity for a reset in the team’s culture and style of play, encouraging players to embrace their favourites tag. “Expectation is a good thing because it means you’re going pretty well as a team,” he said.In 2020, the prospect of selling out the T20 World Cup final at the MCG added another layer of scrutiny. “It was relentless,” Mott told . “Everywhere we went, everyone felt a duty to promote the final, even though we weren’t comfortable saying we’d be there.”In practice, they made the third-highest total of the tournament (184 for 4) against India – the first of consecutive dominant performances when batting first in World Cup finals. Australia’s ability to cope under pressure with Mott at the helm bodes well for England.Rob Key talks to the press•Adam Davy/PA Photos/Getty ImagesPlaying second fiddleKey made clear in a press conference on Wednesday that Mott will have to accept that there are occasions when England’s white-ball teams will be a lower priority compared to their Test side.”We made it very clear how it was going to work: at times, you may not get your best side – especially in the white-ball at the start,” Key said. “I’ll be very clear to the selectors and the coaches which series have precedence over the others at that point… we’ll try to be flexible with it but it will start from the top and head down.”Mott will face that challenge straightaway in his tenure: his first series, visa-permitting, will be England’s three ODIs in Amstelveen against the Netherlands which are jammed into the schedule between the second and third Tests against New Zealand, meaning no multi-format players will feature.That said, Mott himself was quick to recognise the divergence between formats in the modern era. When asked about the prospects of split coaches back in 2010, while working as an assistant coach for Australia at the men’s World T20, he was quoted by the as saying: “My personal opinion is that it’s going to go that way… the games are moving further and further apart.”

Despite a match-winning fifty, both Sanjay Manjrekar and Ian Bishop feel the batter could have been more aggressive

Shashank Kishore11-May-2022Ian Bishop wants him to add “another gear” to his batting. Sanjay Manjrekar felt he could have been a “bit more aggressive” when set, especially as he neared a half-century. Shubman Gill, however, felt he paced his innings exactly the way he had to on a challenging Pune surface on Wednesday against Lucknow Super Giants.There was grip and turn for the spinners, and there was something for the fast bowlers to work with, especially because it tended to get two-paced when they hit hard lengths. Hardik Pandya, the Gujarat Titans captain, may have been influenced by this as he elected to bat, and Gill “quickly realised” the need to bat through and bat long.Related

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Having been dropped off the very first ball he faced in the opening over, Gill batted through to make a 49-ball 63. He raised his half-century off 40 balls, and ended up with a strike rate of 128.58, the highest in the innings among batters who faced at least 20 balls. Rahul Tewatia’s cameo, a 16-ball 22 not out, gave them some impetus as Titans posted 144.ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats metrics pegged Gill’s impact runs as 74, meaning it was worth 11 more than what he finished with. His impact score overall stood at 80.36. The next best was Super Giants’ Avesh Khan, who had 67.57, courtesy his spell that accounted for the Matthew Wade and Hardik that left Titans reeling at 51 for 3 in the 10th over.”I’d like to see one more gear,” Bishop noted on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time:Out. “The traditional anchor doesn’t sit well with me. It’s just a personal thing, and I could be totally wrong. The guys I think anchor an innings well are Jos Buttler, below that a KL Rahul…guys who can go at maybe 120-125 and then tee off towards the back end and end with something over 140, maybe even 150. I don’t like a traditional guy batting through the innings, run-a-ball or just over a run-a-ball. I’m defining that for me. I’d like to see Shubman Gill have another gear to go to.”Vikram Solanki, the Titans’ Director of Cricket, looked at it slightly differently. “He was simply outstanding, wasn’t he?”, he said. “He’s a quality batsman, quality technician. He’s got a wonderful temperament. It’s no wonder that he’s so highly regarded in Indian cricket. I thought he was exemplary with his innings today. I thought he assessed the pitch very well, I thought he batted accordingly.

“The traditional anchor doesn’t sit well with me. It’s just a personal thing, and I could be totally wrong.”Ian Bishop

“I know he would’ve helped every other batter who went out to bat. It was quite difficult, and it was very evident with the scores. Our assessment of the pitch was exactly that, it was a tough pitch, and our batting would center around somebody taking responsibility around those situations, Shubman did exactly that today and showed what a high-quality player he is.”I think halfway, we knew that was a very competitive score. It was apparent that it wasn’t the easiest wicket to score on, it was difficult. Only due to Shubman’s knock, and later Rahul Tewatia who played a brilliant knock, we got to a competitive total. We took confidence from the fact that it was difficult for Lucknow to score. Our attack has been able to take wickets, so we know if we bowl like we have in the past, we’d make it difficult for them. We just felt we could put them under pressure [with the total they had].”On 40 off 32 at the 12-over mark with Titans on 76 for 3, Gill took another 10 balls to reach his half-century in the 17th over, having got through the stretch without looking for a single boundary-scoring option. Gill later explained his rationale behind the approach.”I didn’t expect the ball to seam as much as it did at the start,” he said. “It was nipping around. After that, I didn’t expect the spinners to have a bit of turn. One thing I felt was they didn’t bowl up as much. If they would’ve bowled a bit up, it would’ve been difficult. Krunal [Pandya] was keeping it a little short and being conservative. It was easy for us to maneuver the ball around, we kept on taking singles which was easy on this wicket.”It’s quite pleasing when you’re there till the end and finish off matches for the team. That’s exactly the chat I had with Gary [before the game].I told him I want to finish at least three-four matches for the team.”

The answer might depend on whether they are looking for short-term gains or if they have a bigger picture in mind

Sidharth Monga20-Aug-2022Sikandar Raza and Sean Williams are the best batters in this Zimbabwe XI. Not just now. They have been among the best over the last ten years. Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza, Craig Ervine and Elton Chigumbura haven’t played – or didn’t play – as much as them in this period.Raza and Williams are also the most experienced batters in this Zimbabwe side.Now, in a top side, in normal conditions that ODIs are played in, it would be admirable for the two senior batters to take up the most difficult role in 50-overs games: when the field goes out, when the ball becomes soft, and scoring becomes difficult.Zimbabwe, however, are a side that has been struggling for runs from the top order. Even during their two superb chases of 291 and 304 against Bangladesh, they got off to abysmal starts. They have had scores of 31 for 4, 31 for 4, 18 for 4, 49 for 4, 6 for 2, 42 for 4 and 47 for 2 in their last seven ODIs. The early-morning starts and the movement for the first hour or so during this series have further compounded their top-order problems.Related

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India’s new-ball spells in both matches – aided by the movement available to them – have been top-notch. It is not hard to imagine more accomplished batters getting out to what was on offer. Zimbabwe’s problems, though, have extended to contests against Bangladesh and Afghanistan too.You watch from outside and the first thing you notice is that their best batters are batting too low. Always firefighting with little left after them. In such a situation and these conditions, you wonder if it would pay to have one or both of your best batters take charge and bat in the top order and let the newer batters ease themselves into international cricket. Right now, in these conditions, top three is the more difficult place to bat. There is more impact to be made there.However, it is not as straightforward as that. You can see why Zimbabwe might want to have some meat down the order. They don’t want to be in a position where if their best batters get out to the new ball, the rest just fold. They will point to the two chases against Bangladesh where the presence of quality down the order helped them recover.It can also be argued that what is at the top is the future of Zimbabwe cricket, and Raza and Williams were even being moved on before Dave Houghton took over as the coach. So pushing them up is not the long-term solution Zimbabwe are looking for. To make them bat out of position can be counterproductive. Raza last batted in the top three in List A cricket in 2015, and Williams in 2019.It is a difficult to be a decision-maker. Houghton recently told ESPNcricinfo that if you pick ten other best cricketers from among the domestic franchises, the ability will be hardly any different. So it is perhaps for the best that they stick with the guys who are struggling so that they can learn from their experience and be part of long-term solutions.Then again, it is tempting to wonder what if one of the two seniors were batting with them before it got to 29 for 3.

Harmanpreet Kaur put together a magnificent century, capped off by stunning late acceleration, in a near-perfect batting display

S Sudarshanan22-Sep-2022The wide-eyed, wry smile perhaps told a tale.Harmanpreet Kaur had just managed a last-minute crouch, enough to connect a pull off a short ball from Lauren Bell that barely rose knee high. So good was the contact that it beat deep square leg to her right. The reaction was telling because she was bowled by a Sarah Glenn delivery that stayed low in the first T20I against England. But on Wednesday, the India captain was set, having already faced 46 balls until that point, and was up to the task.A flurry of cuts, pulls, slog-sweeps and scythes over the off side followed as Harmanpreet lit up Canterbury with some scintillating strokes to finish unbeaten on a monumental 143, thereby taking India to 333 for 5, which eventually proved 88 too many for England. It was India’s second score over 300 in ODIs this year, following the 317 for 8 against West Indies in the World Cup earlier this year.In fact, two of India’s four 300-plus totals in ODIs have come in 2022. And both of them have a common thread – a Harmanpreet century combined with a three-figure fourth-wicket stand.Related

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Harmanpreet walked out to bat after Yastika Bhatia’s dismissal and soon saw a well-set Smriti Mandhana depart, leaving India at 99 for 3 at the start of the 19th over. At the time, it seemed as if yet again, India’s batting would let them down after the toss had gone against them. It had happened more recently in the T20I series decider and also in the World Cup against England.With Harmanpreet though, there’s now a sense of this being team, especially after assuming the captaincy across formats post Mithali Raj’s retirement. She commands more authority – not that she did not earlier – and the players seem to rally behind their fearless leader. And so, in company of Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet set about with the rebuilding task. India could score only 24 runs in the next seven overs as Harmanpreet guided Deol, who was playing just her sixth ODI. The run rate, that was well over five when the pair got together, dipped below 4.75.Deol likes to play the long game – get in early, get set and then accelerate, much like she had showed during the Senior Women’s One Day Challenger earlier in the year. Having crawled to 18 off 36, Deol tried breaking the shackles by stepping down to Kate Cross but only managing to chip one over mid-on, before truly doing so with a dab past backward point for four.She then showed her wares against spin – carting offspinner Charlie Dean inside-out over cover before slinking down and depositing left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone into the sightscreen – then notching up her maiden half-century in ODIs. In the interim, Harmanpreet used the crease well to flick Bell through midwicket before a slog sweep over the same region brought up her second successive fifty-plus score. In the 12 overs leading up to Deol’s dismissal, India had managed to score 76.Highest individual scores for India in women’s ODIs•ESPNcricinfo LtdWhile Harmanpreet’s first fifty came off 64 balls, the next fifty runs took only 36 balls coming. She picked the lengths early and almost made England bowl to her plans by using the crease well. Full and wide outside off, get across and smack it over the bowler; slower length ball outside off, move across and swipe it through square leg; full and fast on off, get down to paddle it to fine leg or nail the cover drive. Debutant Freya Kemp’s back of the hand slower balls were dealt with by making room and slicing over the infield to exploit the arc from extra cover to backward point.It was as if Harmanpreet was finding the boundaries at will. She scored her last 43 runs off just 11 balls with India managing 62 off the last three overs. Her unbeaten 24-ball 71-run stand with Deepti Sharma was the quickest in women’s ODIs where data is available. Kemp’s 11-ball penultimate over went for 26 and Harmanpreet scored 18 off her 19-run last over.”I just wanted to spend some time on the wicket because today’s wicket was not easy to bat on in the first innings,” she said after the match. “I wanted to keep watching the ball and play accordingly. I didn’t try too many shots [early on]. It is important to read the wicket and be there. Being there is more important because I know if I take more balls initially I can easily cover up in the end.”It was the 113-run fourth-wicket partnership between Harmanpreet and Deol that enabled them to score 121 in the last ten overs against England.”After the partnership with Harleen, we got the rhythm we wanted and I just backed myself after that,” she said. “We knew even if we scored 300, it could be chaseable given England’s batting line-up. That’s why we were looking for maximum runs in the last five-six overs.”Whoever was coming in to bat with me, I was giving them the message that if they could find boundaries, fine, otherwise keep rotating the strike. Scoring more than 300 was very important for us.”At the end of it all, Harmanpreet ensured that she – and the entire team – could afford more than just a wry smile as they head to Lord’s for the series finale with an aim to give veteran fast bowler Jhulan Goswami a fitting farewell.

England’s go-to man defines another World Cup with a pair of innings under immense pressure

Andrew McGlashan13-Nov-20222:44

Stokes is ‘a big presence, a big personality, a big winner’

“We all know what he’s capable of, and not just match-winning innings, but match-winning innings under serious amounts of pressure. I know well that if it comes down to the crunch that you want a man like Ben Stokes walking out.”That was assistant coach Paul Collingwood speaking before England’s game against New Zealand, where their tournament stood on a knife-edge after the defeat to Ireland and washout against Australia. It took Stokes one more game after that, but he defined another World Cup with a pair of innings under immense pressure against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. England had to win four matches in a row to take the trophy; Stokes starred in two of them.There is a wider redemption arc that fits with Stokes’ performance at the MCG after what happened in the 2016 tournament when Carlos Brathwaite took him for four sixes to win the game for West Indies. However, in the intervening years, which have also involved a major off-field controversy and a lengthy spell away to manage his mental health, he had more than delivered when England needed him most, not least that memorable 2019 summer with the ODI World Cup and Headingley Ashes Test double, but also more recently as he took on rejuvenating the Test side alongside Brendon McCullum.Related

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“It’s an amazing story,” Jos Buttler said. “It’s been an amazing journey, all his big moments… he’s never let that 2016 final push him back and the things he’s gone on to achieve since then are just amazing.”Still, leading into the tournament, and during the early matches, there was debate about Stokes’ position in England’s T20 side, even if you sensed he was the type of player who would find a way. He had never previously had a clear role, particularly with regards his batting and where he slotted into the power-packed order. His numbers were unconvincing, albeit partly reflecting the haphazard tasks he had been given.Neither of his vital innings over the last 10 days have come when faced with huge run-rate pressure – although things were getting dicey when 49 were needed off 35 balls against Pakistan – but there’s the intangible factor, which can’t be measured purely by numbers, of being able to deliver in the biggest games.Eoin Morgan, whose presence has still been felt during this tournament and a name often referenced by the current team, spoke on of how Stokes recognises and wants to be in the clutch moments.This was not a free-flowing Stokes innings – it came towards the end of a year when he often took a T20 approach to Tests during the home season – and Buttler joked afterwards that if he’d played that way in a Test match he would have dropped himself. He was given a working over from Naseem Shah, who sent down one of the best none-fors that was possible, beating Stokes with three consecutive deliveries in the 12th over.But Stokes knew what was on the line. Having battled to 24 off 34 balls, he pierced the off side with a back-foot drive against Haris Rauf who was also outstanding with the ball. Then he seized on the moment when Shaheen Shah Afridi’s brave effort to return from a knee injury was halted after one delivery, crunching Iftikhar Ahmed’s offspin through the covers then launching him over long-off for six. Briefly there were flashbacks to the Trent Boult parried six at Lord’s in 2019.All of a sudden it was 28 needed off 24 balls. Three boundaries from Moeen Ali in the next over and the job was almost done.Ben Stokes roars after hitting the winning run•Getty Images”He always stands up in the biggest moments,” Buttler said. “He’s a man who can take a lot of pressure on his shoulders and perform and absolutely with him in the middle you know you’ve got a good chance. Just so proud of him, pleased for him that he’s stood up and done it again.”He’s a true match winner, and he’s been there in those scenarios time and time again. He just has a lot of know-how. It certainly wasn’t his most fluent innings or probably didn’t time the ball as well as he can, but you knew he was never going to go down without a fight and stand up and be there at the end. We were immensely lucky to have him, and he’s one of the great players of English cricket.”There is another part of the Stokes career story where this performance could sit. He missed the squad for the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia which became (another) nadir for England’s white-ball cricket, but the catalyst as to what was to follow under Morgan and now Buttler. Since that omission, which raised the question of whether a superb talent would be squandered, Stokes has dominated the world game, navigating personal and professional challenges along the way.Test success came first on his return, followed by the evolution of his ODI game – his retirement from 50-over cricket means as he won’t have the chance to star in India next year, although it may be unwise to completely rule out a change of heart – but in T20Is there had not been the crowning moment.It didn’t come in a blaze of fours and sixes, which in many ways fitted the way the tournament played out, but he was there when it mattered. As he let out a roar on hitting the winning runs and dropped his bat on the MCG turf, another chapter of an extraordinary career had been written.

At the same time, having given so much to England, it is understandable he has chosen to sacrifice himself in less painful ways

Vithushan Ehantharajah24-Aug-2022Ben Stokes isn’t one for soundbites. But on the eve of his sixth Test as the full-time men’s captain, one which England need to win to square the series with South Africa, he leant on what is becoming a familiar crutch.”I would never ask my team to do something I wouldn’t”.It is an admirable stance for a skipper to take, and perhaps Stokes is in the unique position as an allrounder where he can act it out. The short-ball tactic England employ – with mixed results – is basically all on him, as it was in the previous regime under Joe Root.With age, the effects of these bumper spells, the extra effort, and the multiplying force put through that front leg wear a little heavier, particularly on his left knee. However, such is his belligerence that even concern from good friend and former England cricketer Steve Harmison was dismissed as unnecessary. “It is something I can manage.”Related

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Interestingly, discussions on how he bowls himself and the associated risks did not elicit the familiar nugget. It was his batting: particularly the almost cavalier approach to the craft he has adopted under Brendon McCullum. There are shades of the Kiwi’s familiar two-step down the ground routine in among some outrageous shots that, so far, have reaped 259 runs at an average of 37 in this summer’s home Tests.It is not bad, but certainly short of his capabilities. There was a period from the start of 2019 to the end of 2020 when it seemed we were entering a new era of Stokes, the batter: he averaged 50 across 18 Tests, with four hundreds among them. At times, he looked the most technically accomplished in the line-up, which is saying something, given he sits next to Root.And yet at the same time, to focus on numbers and aesthetics is to miss the point. Stokes’ method, however madcap, is his way of embodying the extreme of how he wants the batting line-up to operate.Ben Stokes’ belligerence has had mixed results, but created a noteworthy turnaround and comeback wins•Stu Forster/Getty Images”I know when I play well it’s very good for the team,” he answered when asked if, perhaps, there is a regression to the norm. “Me being the leader, I would never ask my team to do something I wouldn’t, but there’s a bigger picture to that if that makes sense.”I’m sure there will come a time when it does have to mellow down a little bit but at this time right now, I feel I’ve got a big responsibility to be that person hitting the message home and almost people watching going like ‘he’s able to go out and do that in a difficult situation’.”If you will allow for some extrapolation with wildly different sample sizes, Stokes’ mantra is clear to see. Overall, he attacks deliveries twice as often as he did across the three home summers between 2019 and 2021. The biggest expansion is the approach to full deliveries, going after them 42.42% of the time compared to 11.54% in the above period.Similarly, he is striking length balls more than twice as often. It is no surprise his strike rate of 78.72 is comfortably his highest in an English season.After a trio of scores – 54, 46 and 75 not out – in his first four knocks of the summer, there have been plenty of starts that in the old days of a few months ago would have been filed under “thrown away”. Their purposes, however, were not for nothing, either shocking bowlers and the field for the benefit of the guy at the other end, or coming in next.Even the twin 20s in the innings defeat at Lord’s had a little more to them: the first innings a necessary counter, the second a hit-out as the last viable option for victory before being caught at midwicket trying to strike Kagiso Rabada for a six, thus becoming the ninth wicket to fall.”It’s about the language we speak as well in the group to set the tone of what we’re about,” Stokes on England’s approach•Getty ImagesMaybe because cricket is like this, but it is hard not to wince at the thought of Stokes wanting to be the canary down the mine, given he strikes gold so often. At the same time, having given so much of himself to England over the years and still only coming away with sub-par results – one win in 17, anyone? – perhaps it is understandable that he has chosen to sacrifice himself in other, slightly less painful ways.And it is certainly working to a point, with four wins and an overall run rate of 4.50 which is the highest of any team to play five or more games in a season.Ahead of the second Test against South Africa, nursing a 0-1 scoreline, Stokes took the opportunity to talk the talk once more, fully aware he will walk it from 11am on Thursday, and hopefully get others to follow as resolutely as they had before.”It’s about the language we speak as well in the group to set the tone of what we’re about, because when you are up against the wall – as we were in the first innings – it’s a lot easier to take a step back and go into your shell a bit more,” he said.”That’s something we don’t want to creep into this team at the moment. That game in particular we all hold our hands up and know we didn’t perform to where we wanted to, and there will be occasions when similar situations happen. But if they go out there with the confidence of having the backing of the dressing room is very powerful I feel.”Indeed, this match feels like more of an acid test than last week. Then it was about seeing how much of the ethos sustained after a long break. Now it will be about how much those players still believe after a first defeat.As for Stokes? Well, he might find himself in an interesting conundrum. Because as much as he still wants to lead the way, doing so here, with the series on the line, might require a more selfish approach.

Of those with 200 Test wickets, only Marshall, Garner and Ambrose have a better average than the Australia captain

Alex Malcolm02-Dec-2022Pat Cummins could hardly have delivered a better ball to reach 200 Test wickets. Wide of the crease, angling in with a wobbling seam towards the obdurate, indefatigable front-foot defence of West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite.That defence hadn’t been breached in 165 balls and Australia’s fab four of Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, with help from the emerging Cameron Green, had taken just one wicket in 54.1 overs.But Cummins did what Cummins has done so often. What he did to Joe Root in the 2019 Ashes. What he has done to the world’s best batters for 11 years. He landed the wobbling seam on the perfect length, and the ball nipped away a fraction, past the outside edge of Brathwaite’s bat and crashed into the top of off.”I’ll take that,” Cummins said at the end of the third day. “Top of off. I was happy.”It’s almost sorcery. An illusion from a handsome magician. You can’t see Brathwaite’s off stump behind the full face of his bat, yet the ball found a way around it. That’s why Cummins is so good. It’s why of all the Test greats with 200 wickets or more, only Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, and Curtly Ambrose have a better average.Related

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“Incredible. It’s pretty crazy,” Cummins said. “There’s still plenty [of] guys I know who’ve taken 300, 400, 700, so comparing numbers doesn’t seem as significant as others. But I think [with] any milestone when I think of wickets, I kind of think of longevity and knowing I had a bit of time out of the game. It’s always a nice realisation.”It’s serendipitous that the West Indies greats are referenced in Cummins’ great achievement. Australia’s vaunted fab four have ascended to a level no other four-man Test attack in history has reached. They became the first specialist bowling quartet to play together in the same Test with 200-plus wickets each.And it was a case of getting the band back together and playing the same quality hits they have done over many years prior. Only the band hasn’t played together much in recent times. Cummins, Starc and Lyon have played in each of Australia’s last eight Tests together, but Hazlewood has only joined them in one. He missed the four matches of last summer’s Ashes series through a side injury, only to return for their first Test in Pakistan.Cummins laughed that his joints ached just watching England plunder 506 in a day on the same Rawalpindi pitch that tortured the Australians in March when they took two wickets in 172 overs between the four of them.Hazlewood was left out of the final two Tests of the series and the two Tests in Sri Lanka as Australia opted for two spinners.But here they slipped back in sync. Even though Hazlewood took only one wicket, his quality Test-match lines and lengths complemented the other three. He made the key breakthrough on the third morning, finding the outside edge of Tagenarine Chanderpaul after beating it repeatedly the previous night. It opened the door for Cummins to barge through on Brathwaite, while Starc – with the woes of the T20 World Cup behind him – showcased his tremendous red-ball skills, nipping a superb offcutter back through Kyle Mayers’ gate with a 57-over-old ball before swinging the second new ball sharply back into the right-handed duo of Jermaine Blackwood and Joshua da Silva to remove both men in quick succession.Cummins: The three other guys are three of my best mates. We all get along so well•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesLyon played his part containing Jason Holder before removing him with a change of angle and clever field setting.”It’s great,” Cummins said, “The three other guys are three of my best mates. We all get along so well. It’s not just the time out in the middle. It’s the amount of dinners and nights in physio rooms kind of hanging out together. It’s a really special group we’ve got going. Just have so much confidence in each other even today just felt so relaxed the whole day. Just knowing once you’d finish your spell, someone’s going to step up.”The addition of Green is like adding a versatile guitarist to an already rounded four-piece band. He was hostile with the old ball pinning Nkrumah Bonner and Jason Holder on the helmet. Bonner had to be subbed out for concussion at which point Green turned his sights on the replacement Shamarh Brooks, getting rid of him with outswing at good pace.The pace trio, and their all-round addition, learnt from their mistakes on day two bowling a lot fuller and getting rewards by bringing the stumps into play. As a result, a score of 159 for 1 turned into 283 all out.”This wicket more so than others felt like that good length… it didn’t feel the slips were as [much] in play,” Cummins said. “So, it was something we spoke about trying to get a little bit fuller and get them driving.”Like all great bands, they stepped off stage before their encore. Cummins could have enforced the follow-on with West Indies 315 runs behind and six-and-a-half sessions remaining but admitted it was never an option.”Hopefully the pitch gets a little bit harder to bat on and it gives us bowlers a little bit of a break,” he said. “We’ll bat for a little bit into tomorrow and then we’ll kind of work back and hopefully leave us plenty of time to try and take the 10 wickets.”You always bowl better when you’re slightly fresher. Day five is normally harder than day three or four. Yeah, there’s really not too many instances where the follow-on is realistic.”