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Stats highlights from the first day’s play of the second Test between India and New Zealand in Kolkata

Bharath Seervi30-Sep-20165 Scores of 50 or more by Cheteshwar Pujara in first-class matches in September 2016, in six innings. He had made 166, 31 and 256* in the Duleep Trophy and 62 and 78 in the first Test of this series before making another fifty in this Test. Before this, he had made just one 50-plus score in ten first-class innings.86.55 Ajinkya Rahane’s average in the second Test of a series, the best for any batsman to have played 10 or more innings. He has made four centuries and four half-centuries in the 11 innings in second Tests of a series. Click here for his scores in second Tests of a series. 1999 The previous instance when three or more wickets fell in the first session of a Test at Eden Gardens. Pakistan had lost six wickets against India in February 1999. Since then India’s first innings against New Zealand, in which three wickets fell in the morning, was the first such in 10 Tests there. However, India did not lose any wicket in the second session and then lost four wickets after tea. 141 Runs added by Pujara and Rahane for the fourth-wicket, most by any pair for that wicket at Eden Gardens. The previous highest was 140 runs between Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman in 2011-12. 3/35 Matt Henry’s figures, as at the end of the first day. are his second-best in Tests so far. His best is 4 for 93 at Lord’s in 2015. This was only his second haul of more than three wickets in nine Test innings.7 Number of times Pujara has failed to score a century after reaching 50 in his last eight fifty-plus innings. The century came in the Colombo Test. Incidentally, he had converted six of his first nine fifties into centuries.87 Runs scored by Virat Kohli in his last six Test innings, since his double-century in Antigua. He made 44, 3 and 4 in three innings in West Indies, and 9, 18 and 9 in the three innings of this series so far.31.53 Kohli’s average in Tests in India since March 2013 when he last scored a century on home soil – second-worst among the seven India players to play 10 or more innings in this period. Only R Ashwin averages (31.30) lower than Kohli. Kohli has scored three fifties in the 16 innings. Interestingly, he had an average of 56.54 in his first 13 home innings which included three centuries and four fifties. 23 Shikhar Dhawan’s average in home Tests since his 187 on debut in Mohali in March 2013. He hasn’t made a single fifty-plus score in 10 innings since then and his highest score has been 45 not out. His average is the lowest among all India players to play 10 or more innings in this period and second-lowest among 22 openers who have played 10 or more innings in their home country since March 2013. 12 Wickets for Jeetan Patel in Tests in India, including the two he took on the first day in Kolkata. This is his most against a Test team in any away country. He has played four Tests in India.

Mitchell Starc has made taking wickets in the first over of an innings a regular habit, the latest being Stephen Cook on the opening day of the WACA Test

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Nov-201619 Wickets in the first over of an innings across all formats for Mitchell Starc, the most for any bowler since the start of 2015. Next on the list, with seven wickets each, are Lasith Malinga, Dawlat Zadran and David Willey.11 First-over dismissals in 27 ODIs during this period for Starc. In Tests, he has taken seven in 23 matches and one in three T20Is.13 Right-hand batsmen Starc has dismissed in the first over of an innings.8 Batsmen caught, six bowled, and five lbw.3 Consecutive Tests in which he has struck in the first over of an innings. He had removed Dilruwan Perera with the fourth ball in Sri Lanka’s second innings in the third Test in Colombo and Dimuth Karunaratne with the first ball in Sri Lanka’s first innings in the second Test in Galle.

Nuwan Pradeep may come across as meek more often than not, but he has the ability to make the world take notice with his bowling, the way he showed on the second day

Andrew Fidel Fernando at the Wanderers13-Jan-2017If Nuwan Pradeep has ever had a word with a batsman, it is possible his voice did not carry to the other end of the pitch. Chances are, it has never happened anyway. Not only is Pradeep perhaps the most withdrawn man in international cricket (he has played 23 Tests, but how many times have you heard him speak?), he is also a sporadic presence in this XI, and so, rarely capable of building himself up to some professional confidence.

Why Mathews took the new ball

Angelo Mathews bowls with the new ball ahead of some frontline quicks because Sri Lanka are more confident in Mathews’ ability to hit the right length, bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake has said. Mathews has routinely been the first-change bowler this series, and had also taken the second new ball in the first innings of the Johannesburg Test.
“Well what we think is that we need to hit the right length with the new ball,” Ramanayake said. “Angelo is one of the guys who hits right length consistently. That made us think to give the new ball for him and he has been successful. Lahiru Kumara tends to bowl shorter and he likes the bouncer a lot. But with the new ball we are looking at someone who could bowl that good length.”
However, of the seamers who have played at least two Tests this series, Mathews has the worst wicket-taking record by a distance. He averages 64.50 for his two wickets, while Kumara and Nuwan Pradeep average 26.45 and 43 respectively.

That he’s injury prone is not even slightly his fault. Pradeep comes from difficult circumstances, and coaches have suggested there was a lack of protein in his diet during adolescence.But however the problems have come about, Pradeep’s hamstrings now almost audibly twang with each bouncing step towards the bowling crease, so perpetually close are they to snapping. Such are the travails of Pradeep’s life. Even when he is fit, he sometimes does not make the XI, especially at home, where Sri Lanka sometimes only deploy seam bowlers in order to protect themselves from nastier questions about the state of the pitch. Pradeep comes to us intermittently, and sometimes unexpectedly, like a substitute teacher in high school – never really sure about his position, but grateful for the chance to be there.Sometimes he is so mild mannered, by the end of the period kids are hanging off the ceiling by their underpants, and have tattooed rude pictures on each other.But on other days, such as this one, Pradeep picks up the pointer, slams it on the desk and makes the world take notice. The Sri Lanka staff room remains an unhappy place, as it has been throughout the series, but thanks to the bowlers – Pradeep and Lahiru Kumara in this innings – they will avoid being sacked en masse when they face the higher ups.Nuwan Pradeep claimed four wickets for one run in the space of 18 balls•Gallo ImagesHe had begun on day two as meek as ever – short and wide to Faf du Plessis, and duly thunked to the square fence. He’d concede another four that over, but upon his return to the bowling crease, Pradeep was strikingly changed. The first ball of his second over pitched on off and veered sneeringly away from du Plessis’ bat. The next one was almost as good. The third delivery squared him up to take his edge, and suddenly, while Pradeep’s larynx remained as still as ever, but man, had his bowling had found its voice.In an 18-ball burst beginning with that du Plessis wicket, Pradeep was transformed from subdued substitute to the kind of headmaster that has a nose which smells contraband chewing gum from miles away, and a stare that makes students wet themselves. There were cynical, threatening, whispers from the ball, as it beat edge after edge; his co-faculty members in the slips howling their appreciation of the dressing down this unruly South Africa batting order were receiving. These batsmen had run amok this series. Pradeep took four wickets for one run, bowled a brute that pounced off a length at Vernon Philander, and gave Sri Lanka some satisfaction, short-lived though it turned out to be.But as it so often happens in the teaching world, after lunch Angelo Mathews came in like a school director attempting to piggyback off Pradeep’s excellent work, opening the bowling from Pradeep’s end. When Pradeep finally got the ball in hand and tail-end batsmen to bowl at, he found himself completely under-resourced – he squared Wayne Parnell up and took his edge, but only one slip was in place to a bowler in sublime rhythm. The diving man at first slip couldn’t hold the chance.”I was hoping Pradeep will take five wickets in an innings, because he hasn’t done that before in Test cricket,” bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake said. “He bowled pretty well in the last game also, though he didn’t pick up any wickets. Today morning he hit the right length consistently. Hopefully he will get more wickets in the second innings.”There may not be much of a second innings, of course, with Sri Lanka 80 for 4 already, and South Africa’s quicks smelling blood on a pitch that is still very quick. But at least before the mandatory collapse set in, Pradeep’s 18 balls provided a sliver of Sri Lanka dominance. It was probably their best patch of play in the series, and all the sweeter for having come from the mellowest man on the staff.

Kane Williamson is the spine of New Zealand’s batting, and the glue in the middle-order, but he can’t always be the solution

Melinda Farrell in Cardiff06-Jun-2017It may be unusual for teams to breath a sigh of relief after losing a vital match in a major tournament but New Zealand can take some comfort out of their loss to England: at least they’ll have their captain for their final group game against Bangladesh, a game they now must win to have any chance of progressing to the semi-finals.Kane Williamson narrowly avoided suspension for a slow over-rate but was fined 40 percent of his match fee after officials ruled New Zealand were two overs short of the target. Considering they had bowled just 45 overs by the stipulated interval, it was hardly surprising that, immediately after the match had finished and before the ruling was announced, Williamson admitted to having his “fingers crossed” and joked he would “avoid the umpires for a couple of days”.Should New Zealand progress, Williamson must also avoid another slow-over offence in this tournament; a second will be met with a two-match suspension. He was fortunate there were enough time allowances in this match – which included a minute’s silence for the victims of Saturday’s terrorist attack in London – to reduce the offence to two overs.While Williamson’s team-mates were fined 20 percent of their match fees, it’s easy to imagine they would rather take a hit to the hip pocket than lose their best batsman, leader and talisman. With a well-rounded bowling attack, sharp fielders and ODI batsmen of the calibre of Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor, no one could accuse New Zealand of being a one-man team. But the fact his dismissals in both matches have precipitated a batting collapse (7 for 37 against Australia and 8 for 65 against England) shows just how important Williamson is to a batting line-up where the middle order appears somewhat brittle.Partly because of injury, partly because of form, New Zealand have shuffled and tinkered with their batting line-up in the past six months – in the 12 ODIs leading into the Champions Trophy, eight different players have batted at five, six and seven – and the overall batting order has changed for virtually every match, hardly an ideal lead-in for a major tournament.And in fairness to players such as Neil Broom, Jimmy Neesham and Corey Anderson, it was fiendishly difficult to get in as England’s bowlers exploited variable bounce in the pitch with some excellent cross-seam bowling.It was this very combination that accounted for Williamson: Mark Wood, hitting the deck hard and catching the edge of the seam, extracted extra bounce and the ball grazed the glove of a surprised Williamson as he tried to adjust his shot.When Taylor departed three overs later, picking out midwicket when he tried to take on Jake Ball, a difficult chase quickly became impossible.”It would have been nice for Ross and myself to be able to take it further and maybe sort of bring it down to that 10-an-over mark where anything can happen,” said Williamson. “A credit to the way England bowled. They got a lot out of the surface. They bowled a very good area, very consistent, and made life difficult for us with the bat.”It looked difficult, even for the sublime talents of Williamson, who could probably make a dirty slog look handsome enough to ask out on a date. The batsmen were not only contending with a bowling attack offering little respite on a challenging wicket – both Williamson and Taylor were struck on the helmet in one Liam Plunkett over, the ball to Taylor spitting up off a back-of-a-length delivery – the blustery winds added another level of discomfort. A bail blew off the stumps twice, the boundary rope was blown askew in two corners of the field and, several times, the electronic advertising hoardings clattered over, one by one, like cascading dominoes.But no matter the conditions, New Zealand will struggle to go all the way in this tournament if the middle-order topples in a similar fashion. Williamson may be the glue, he may be the spine, but he can’t always be the solution.”I guess that’s kind of what Kane comes with,” said Corey Anderson. “Obviously he can do his thing and he’s one of the best players in the world but, if he has that day when he does fail, then we’ve got to make sure we stand up as a team and try and get around him.”Even though it’s great to have Kane scoring runs, we’ve got to make sure we stand up on the day if he doesn’t as well. It gives other guys the chance to step up as well.”Of course, even if the entire team performs brilliantly against Bangladesh, and wins easily, it may not be enough to go through to the semi-finals. New Zealand would then have to rely on England beating Australia in their final group match at Edgbaston on Saturday.But thoughts of that match are premature. Bangladesh are the first obstacle to overcome, a team that beat New Zealand – albeit without several key players – in Ireland last month.There could hardly be a more opportune time for New Zealand’s middle-order to click into place behind their captain.

The No. 4 position has become a problem for South Africa and captain Faf du Plessis is best placed to fill the hole in their batting line-up

Firdose Moonda at Old Trafford05-Aug-20171:35

A bad day today, but the Test isn’t gone – Amla

Nothing is working for South Africa. Not changing up the opening pair, not trying three different No. 4s, not altering the balance of the side from seven specialist batsmen to six and then going back to seven again. Not counterattacking, not trying to bat time, not even leaving. Nothing is working and, as this tour hits Groundhog Day, South Africa have to ask themselves why.The answers may lie in their failure to address the issues that existed last summer, when they were winning. And that is understandable. A team on the up – and South Africa were on a major up after slipping to No. 7 in the Test rankings this time last year – can brush their inadequacies aside. They can excuse them as mere speed bumps on the road to success, so that is what South Africa did. They said home pitches were generally seamer-friendly, especially in season when Sri Lanka were the sole visitors last summer, and they blamed conditions for the lack of hundreds in the New Zealand series in March, where Dean Elgar was their only centurion.Elgar is also the only one to have made a hundred in this series so far and South Africa can’t claim clouds and movement are the only reasons for that. Especially not after this showing.With the sun out at Old Trafford and after the early bite, this should have been a batsmen’s day. It was in the morning session, when England’s tail added 102 runs to their overnight total against a listless South Africa attack, whose only tactic seemed to be to wait for an error. And the defensive, dare we say negative, approach came from the top. Half of those runs came after Faf du Plessis moved the field out when the ninth wicket fell and Jonny Bairstow was then dropped on 53. The pressure was completely off the last pair and James Anderson could enjoy the best view of Bairstow taking England to a decent total, but not one that should have scared South Africa as much as it seemed to.

South Africa have thrown their two most promising players – de Kock and Bavuma – to the wolves while leaving the captain to clean up the mess

Their approach was to bed in. After the early losses of Elgar and Hashim Amla, just as he was getting going, Heino Kuhn and Temba Bavuma scored just 17 runs in the next 11 overs as they tried to show they could bat like Test players. But Kuhn got frustrated. Even though he was carrying a hamstring strain, he tried a tip-and-run and it almost cost him, then he was almost involved in a run-out after a mix-up with Bavuma, then he gloved a sweep and was almost caught behind and then he nicked off. Then the real rescue act was supposed to begin.Du Plessis spoke pre-Test about being “extremely hungry to make a play” at the place he used to call home; he spoke at the end of the last Test about “really enjoying those situations where there is almost no hope and you can just do your thing”. With him and Bavuma at the crease, South Africa were steady but when they were dismissed within three balls, South Africa had sunk to a position where a series-saving victory seemed impossible. And to where the proper scrutiny should begin.The No. 4 position has escaped the microscope because the opening partnership has been so poor but it can’t for much longer. In this series alone, South Africa have tried to fill it with experience in the form of JP Duminy, attack in the form of Quinton de Kock and an anchor in Temba Bavuma. They have not looked at making it the place for a leader.Du Plessis is probably the best candidate to bat there but is hidden at No. 5 instead, perhaps because the demands of the captaincy necessitate that he has some breathing room lower down the order; perhaps because his preference is to bat lower so he can come in if there is a real crisis. He should instead be thinking back to when he stepped into the role and how he fared. Du Plessis only batted at No. 4 in seven innings but in the time performed one his greatest rescue acts. His 134 against India in Johannesburg allowed South Africa to draw. When Jacques Kallis retired in the next match, there was talk of du Plessis taking over permanently but he only batted there in three more Tests before being moved.Temba Bavuma was the latest to bat at No. 4 for South Africa in the series and he top-scored with 46•Getty ImagesDu Plessis moved back to No. 5 for the tour of India and the home series against England and then he was dropped. When he returned, it was as captain and the decision was taken to move Duminy to No. 4. Duminy scored two hundreds in that position but a lean run in the last two series all but ended his Test career – he has not even been included in the A side that will play India A later this month – and means South Africa have to look elsewhere.Given that de Kock has been the most consistent performer in the last year, he was promoted to No. 4 but three failures in four innings forced another rethink. Bavuma was then promoted and it sounds like he will stay there. “Technically, Temba is very sound. He has been getting starts and the captain and coach feel he is the guy to hold the mantle,” Amla said, though he admitted South Africa are “still looking for the right combination”.Really, they have thrown their two most promising players to the wolves while leaving the captain to clean up whatever mess remains. It does not sound like the most effective way to order a batting a line-up, it sounds like a reaction to what could quickly become a crisis.South Africa are struggling for depth and though they may blood Aiden Markram in the home summer, Theunis de Bruyn – who made 11 batting at No. 7 here – is the only viable middle-order option. They need more batsmen to come through and the upcoming A series may help in that regard. David Miller has been included, Stephen Cook has been given a lifeline and the likes of Khaya Zondo and Jason Smith are on the radar. But none of them is likely to be the next No. 4. For that, they need du Plessis to step up again and maybe start to get things working.

The latter half of Angelo Mathews’ captaincy wore his batting down. As Sri Lanka prepare to face the top-ranked side in the world, they need Mathews the batsman to let the weight fall and rediscover his old freedom

Andrew Fidel Fernando24-Jul-2017Angelo Mathews, 30 years old, former captain, once the owner of a fearsome average, now merely a very good one, potentially a great batsman still, but man, the last 18 months have not been kind.For a player of such indisputable quality, it has been a strange decline.Remember how he had been in 2014 – that last great year of Sri Lankan cricket – when out of nowhere, he hit a harvest so golden, so irrepressible, that he bludgeoned attacks into pulp, nurdled without relent, left no advertising board unstung by his boundary hits, and even when off the field, probably coughed up, sneezed and exhaled runs.There was that monstrous 160 at Headingley, of course, when he threw his bat in anger at a team-mate’s dismissal, then set about busting England up all by himself. There had also been a sweaty 157 not out to save a tough game in Abu Dhabi, and a difficult 43 not out to set up a victory at SSC. At times, Mathews seemed to have supernatural help. Having hooked Sri Lanka towards victory late on the fifth afternoon in Galle, against Pakistan, the furious black cloud that had bore down on a packed stadium held off its torrents until he was taking the winning run. He averaged 87.80 and played the lead role in a famous series victory in England. So thoroughly did Mathews own 2014, that Kumar Sangakkara scored more international runs than has ever been made in a calendar year, and still, quite happily admitted his captain had been the better batsman – prospering on every type of surface from greentop to dustbowl, producing every kind of innings from stonewall to sprint.Now, three years between himself and his best work, Mathews finds himself surpassed. He was once the torchbearer for the next generation of great batsmen, but what’s this? Four younger men have snuck by him, mounting hundreds upon hundreds in years in which he has not averaged thirty. And while Mathews had been stuck attending Sri Lanka’s transition into transition into transition, each of Virat Kohli, Steven Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson have taken the reins of happier, more confident sides. Mathews will be thankful for last year’s Test series against Australia, at least, when he for once got the better of one of those younger men. Otherwise, since the beginning of 2016, his would have been one long, sombre vigil.And this is perhaps the most unfortunate thing about the dip in his arc: where once leadership had unlocked the great batsman within him, the latter half of Mathews’ captaincy so clearly wore him down. Every time he fronted up after a match and declared his team’s performance to be “humiliating” or “embarrassing” or his “worst loss as captain” or “one of the lowest points” in his career, Mathews the batsman appeared a little more diminished in his next innings.Where’s the rampaging Angelo Mathews of 2014?•Getty ImagesThere were no technical failures during this leaner period. Well, not really. He does occasionally hang his bat out against the seaming ball, and that had been the source of some strife in South Africa this year. But far worse has been the lack of conviction in his strokes, pushing tentatively even after he has struck firm boundaries, handing out soft dismissals to every team that rolls up – the recent caught-and-bowled to Graeme Cremer being a prime example.For that Test – against Zimbabwe – Mathews had already handed over the reins, but there was still none of the old freedom about his game. When you are captain, you tie yourself so tightly to the team’s fate, that maybe it takes a little untangling to feel your old self again.India’s last tour of Sri Lanka in 2015 was the last the world saw of Mathews the great batsman. In that series, he had averaged 56.50 on pitches favouring bowlers, and outscored India’s best batsman – Kohli – by more than 100 runs.In 26 innings since, 735 runs at 28.26 have been his returns. This, for a man who once mopped up top-order spills better than anyone in the world, wiped nervous sweat off tail-enders’ brows and charged them to bat better in his company than they ever had before. And if all else failed, and a loss was certain, he would at least hit a few quick runs and make the scoreline more presentable.Sri Lanka have no more need for Mathews the captain. As they prepare to face the top-ranked side in the world, Mathews the batsman they could use plenty of.There is no better time to shed the despondence of the last few months. No better time to let the weight fall, and to discover the joy that once coursed through his game.This time, do it for yourself, Angelo. It could be the best thing you do for your team.

Four years on from the famous leak, how well do you remember England’s much-derided Ashes 2013-14 cookbook?

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2017

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan were Sunrisers’ two biggest threats on the night of the IPL final. Shane Watson saw them off and waded into the rest of their attack, validating CSK’s faith in his experience and know-how

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai28-May-20182:32

‘A lot of emotion in the franchise, a lot of desire’ – Fleming

In Royal Challengers Bangalore’s disastrous campaign last season, Shane Watson played eight matches and scored all of 71 runs. He bowled 26.5 overs for only five wickets and an economy rate of 9.13. He was about to turn 36 then and did not possess a fresh pair of legs, and it seemed only natural when RCB released him ahead of the 2018 auction.There were rumours that he was playing his last IPL, and he himself admitted, “there may be a time when, hopefully, I get a chance to coach somewhere, and it just takes over from my playing days,” at the end of the tournament.When his name came up in the auction with a base price of INR 1 crore, only Chennai Super Kings bid for him initially before Rajasthan Royals joined in. Whenever Royals raised their paddle, Stephen Fleming, the CSK coach, replied immediately with a bigger bid. What was he thinking? Why did he want an out-of-form 36-year-old?Fleming had done his homework. Watson had found some form at home, with 331 runs from 10 innings for the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League. Two half-centuries, a strike rate of 139, nothing extraordinary. Fleming explained at the press conference after winning his third IPL title with CSK that he kept a close eye on Watson and had “no doubt” the allrounder would do well. CSK bought him for INR 4 crore.”When you look at his season with RCB, he was in and out, and he batted at No. 4,” Fleming said. “I also watched him closely at the Big Bash and there were signs that he was in good form. Certainly, every team that I have come up against, he seems in good form, so the best way to get rid of him is to buy him. I had no doubt he was going to make an impact. Fitness was an issue as it is a long tournament, but he is more professional than even I thought. He is a bit broken now. [His] bowling, we didn’t have to use much but he has got through with one of his greatest performances.”In the UAE a month after the auction, Watson finished as the fifth-highest run-getter in the Pakistan Super League with similar numbers to the BBL: 319 runs from 10 innings, two half-centuries and a strike rate of 135.With those numbers behind him, Watson got his “favourite” position in the line-up, in the IPL – the opening slot. He first showed against Rajasthan Royals what kind of damage he could inflict from there: a 51-ball century.On Sunday, in the IPL final, he was coming off a duck against the same opponents they were meeting in the final, Sunrisers Hyderabad. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was toying with him again, and it seemed as if Watson had no clue what was happening. The ball was bouncing, swinging both ways, and Bhuvneshwar was making it do whatever he wanted, at speeds in the mid-130s. Fleming admitted later CSK were “lucky” Watson didn’t lose his wicket.”Yeah, it was a good struggle, wasn’t it?” Fleming said. “The opening spell was, I thought, outstanding from SRH. He might’ve been none off 10 balls. It was a real battle in the first four or five overs. It was a great final in that sense. Shane gradually found a bit of range and rhythm. The boundaries aren’t too big for the big hitters like Watson, Brathwaite and Dhoni. He kept patience – again, that was experience – didn’t give it away. He knew his power game would get the team out of trouble, and it did in spectacular fashion. He got his second hundred of the tournament, he’s got over 500 runs. He has been a star performer for us.”BCCIWhen Watson was on 0 off 10 in the fourth over, Sunrisers fans could have made memes already of how Watson was going to cost his team the match, and the trophy. CSK were chasing 179 against the best attack in the tournament on the biggest stage. In Bhuvneshwar’s third over on the trot, Watson and Suresh Raina took four singles. Watson’s first job was done – to act like a sponge, absorb all the threats Sunrisers’ attack was posing, and not give a wicket to Bhuvneshwar. As soon as he was out of the attack, Watson changed gears, smacking a short and slow delivery in the last Powerplay over from Sandeep Sharma over deep midwicket for six. He must have expected the delivery next; he stood still, let the ball come to him, and drilled it back for four.Kane Williamson brought on Siddarth Kaul, Sunrisers’ best fast bowler this season, but he turned out to be a different bowler on Sunday night. He was bowling short, down the leg side, and into Watson’s pads. Watson can flick those away even in his sleep. The result – 16 off the over. All the pressure Watson had absorbed was now being transferred back onto Sunrisers.Williamson now brought on Rashid Khan. As with Bhuvneshwar, all CSK wanted was to not give him wickets. In his first two overs, Watson nudged him into the leg side whenever he spotted a googly and Suresh Raina kept dabbing him to midwicket one ball after another.Fleming explained later that having a strategy against Rashid was a “key focus” to win the final. “[Facing] Rashid Khan was a definite plan,” he said. “We actually have played him quite well, we’ve been more positive in the past, but we were afforded the luxury through Shane’s hitting of being more conservative, even playing out a maiden. At that point in time, we had really nullified his impact and that was a key focus for our tactics to win the final, and we did that well.”By seeing off Rashid’s first two overs without much fuss, the Watson sponge had done its job again. When Sandeep got the ball again, the Watson sponge became the Watson bludgeon again. In the 13th over, Sandeep kept missing his yorkers and Watson kept clubbing them. A drive over wide mid-off for four, three consecutive sixes off misdirected deliveries, and a four off the last ball, expertly guided between backward point and short third man, gave CSK 27 runs from the over. It brought the equation down to 48 runs from 42 balls, which ended the match right there. Rashid still had two overs left and Bhuvneshwar one, and they would bowl them with CSK facing no scoreboard pressure.In Rashid’s last over, Watson completed his hundred and stood still at the non-striker’s end while facing his team’s dugout, with a beaming smile and arms aloft. In the 19th over, Ambati Rayudu hit the winning runs and Watson ambled across the pitch to embrace his partner. His back was to the dugout, so he didn’t realise that a swarm of his team-mates was running towards him. Rayudu quietly slipped away, allowing them to clamber all over Watson.If this team management had not stood behind Watson when he was being written off, he wouldn’t have scored two centuries this season. And if Watson had not shown his patience and experience on Sunday, who knows how CSK would have handled the pressure on this big night.

In the year of ball-tampering and bans, a weakened team found a way to survive more overs than any Australian side before them to snatch a dramatic draw

Daniel Brettig in Dubai11-Oct-2018For the first time in 2018, new territory for Australian cricket represents a point of pride rather than a moment of madness. In the year of ball-tampering, bans and backlash, a severely weakened Test team found a way to survive more overs than any Australian side before them to snatch a draw from Pakistan out of the dust of Dubai. History made, leaving a series still to be won.When Australia began their occupation on day four, they faced the prospect of 140 overs to block out; more than a day and a half of batting on a pockmarked and spinning pitch. In the team’s rearview mirror was the loss of all 10 wickets for 60 runs on day two; looming in the headlights were Yasir Shah, Bilal Asif and Mohammad Abbas.Never had Australia lasted more than 90 overs in the fourth innings for a draw in Asia. A team shorn of Steven Smith and David Warner? Forgeddaboutit! To paraphrase Ray Warren’s call of an end-to-end Queensland try in a famous State of Origin encounter, that’s not a draw, that’s a miracle.And whose miracle was this, forged amid enervating heat and all sorts of mental blocks. It belonged, chiefly, to Usman Khawaja, conjuring the greatest of his Test innings and one of the greatest save-a-game efforts in all of Test history. Only Michael Atherton, for 643 minutes at Johannesburg in 1995, had batted longer in a fourth innings than Khawaja’s 524 minutes for 141. Much as the Wanderers has remained Atherton’s signature moment, so too Dubai will always be associated with Khawaja.From the very start of his first-innings 85, Khawaja showed evidence of strong planning, deep concentration and vastly improved fitness. While he joined his team-mates in the hole they fell into after an initial opening stand of 142 with Aaron Finch, Khawaja had provided an example for others, as underlined by a post-play discussion in the middle with the rest of the side’s left-handers. As Travis Head attested, Khawaja’s strength of mind and sureness of method was something to be followed.In the second innings, Khawaja added a fusillade of reverse sweeps, 21 in all, to confound Yasir in particular. In the consistency of the shot’s use and its proficiency, Khawaja recalled a famous World Cup innings by Graham Gooch at Mumbai in 1987, when he swept Maninder Singh and India out of the tournament. But the use of attack as the best form of defence over such a prolonged period provided a reminder of how much quality may be found in Khawaja’s cultured hands, now without peer as the most skilled in this Australian batting line-up. He played the innings of a senior player, and a leader. As so many in the team had said before this match, it should not require the bestowal of a formal title to make one.Accompanying Khawaja for the best part of 50 overs across close to two full sessions was Head, the South Australian captain and debutant. Here was another example of deep concentration but also rapid learning. Having looked lost in the first innings, Head found his way through the testing early passages on the fourth evening and slowly gathered confidence, punching the ball with clear intent off both front and back feet. He did not always get it right: the sweep did not work for him and he may easily have been lbw playing it against Yasir when he was on 44. But overall Head showed he was a willing pupil in these conditions, and with Khawaja turned the draw from a theoretical possibility to a tangible one.Usman Khawaja gets down the track to hit straight•Getty ImagesAfter Head and Marnus Labuschagne both fell to skidding deliveries made possible by the second new ball, Tim Paine walked to the middle with a keen desire to salvage more from this day. He had, as a far younger man, made quality runs in Asian conditions on the 2010 tour of India – at the time describing conditions as the toughest he had ever encountered. But now as Australian captain, having also delivered 222.1 spotless overs behind the stumps, Paine was highly invested in this team and this scenario.His early overs in the middle were fraught just about every ball. One Yasir legbreak, left alone with a clear sight of the stumps, failed to disturb the off peg by approximately one millimetre, and there were numerous other strangled appeals. But little by little, Paine gained a foothold, aided by Khawaja’s serene presence at the other end. Slowly the minutes ticked past, and tea arrived without a further wicket. Five left to survive the match’s final session, in which an average of 4.75 wickets had fallen across each of the previous four days, meant that Paine’s Australians now had a glimmer, however slight.When eventually fatigue and sweeping got the better of Khawaja, lbw to a perfectly pitched googly by Yasir from around the wicket, the final hour had already begun. Time was running short, but there was plenty for Pakistan to conjure a win – just ask the West Indies and their inattentive No. 11 Shannon Gabriel. Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle were unable to endure, as 15 overs with five wickets left became 12 with a measly two. Nathan Lyon, so often the last man out in Australian defeats, marched to the middle at No. 10.The closing overs were incredibly tense, with the benefit of a Paine inside edge onto pad meaning that Pakistan were out of reviews. Yasir, Abbas and Bilal all tried their wares, with Sarfraz Ahmed unwilling to try a wayward Wahab Riaz, despite his greater pace. Paine’s bat, for the most part broad, also found fortuitous edges, one fractionally over the stumps from Yasir, another marginally past them from Abbas. Strained smiles from Pakistan’s fielders and an increasingly grimacing face from their coach Mickey Arthur told a tale that climaxed with something as simple as a Paine forward defence, and then a fist pump. Australia did not, in the end, bat out 140 overs, but only because Sarfraz offered his hand to Paine after 139.5.For the coach Justin Langer, this was a result to epitomise the type of Australian team he and Paine are trying to build – hard to beat at first, and then ever more frequently victorious. Langer, of course, had been involved in one other result commonly viewed as miraculous, the fabled Hobart chase against Pakistan in 1999. Where that victory, complete with centuries to Langer and Adam Gilchrist, had jumpstarted Australia’s reign of dominance, this one picked a previously forlorn team off the Newlands killing floor.Langer has reflected on that result, where his outward positivity when Gilchrist arrived had masked a sense of impending doom, and thoughts mainly of keeping his tenuous spot. “Gilly walks out, and I’m being positive, saying, ‘If you just hang in there, you never know what could happen. Let’s see if we can stick it out till stumps, it might rain tomorrow’. He goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, no worries’,” Langer said last year. “I was just trying to say the right things but thinking to myself, we’re going to lose this Test but if I get 50 not out I might get another Test match…”Similar exchanges were had between Khawaja and Head, then Khawaja and Paine. In the closing overs, Paine and Lyon tried to relax by talking about watching episodes of . But at the end of all that talk, the nerves, the sweat and the sweeps, was salvation of a kind Australian cricket had not previously seen. In it came a significance that recalled Hobart, as Langer has often said: “It was significant personally, but for the Australian cricket team, it was actually the [third] of our 16-match winning streak. I think we thought if we could win from there, we could win from anywhere.”This wasn’t a win, but very close to it for the psyche of this team. At the end of another famous draw, in 1984 against the West Indies, the then recently retired Rod Marsh rang the Caribbean to inform the batting hero Allan Border and the captain Kim Hughes that a rare non-winning rendition of the team song had his blessing. In the heat, dust and glare of Dubai, another Australian team forged a similar piece of history, at a time when it was so sorely needed.

It has been a far from simple build-up for Joe Root with injury and form concerns to deal with. The final XI looks exciting, but also a gamble

George Dobell at the Ageas Bowl29-Aug-20185:46

Compton: England top-order lacks backbone

When England were at their best between 2009 and 2011 or so there was a predictability about almost every aspect of their cricket.They had a settled batting line-up, a settled slip cordon and a settled bowling attack. Squad announcements could be cut and pasted for months at a time.Those days are long gone. It might just prove that England have stumbled upon the perfect line-up ahead of the fourth Test in Southampton, but it feels patched together rather than engineered.There is some justification behind the tinkering. Jonny Bairstow, for example, has a finger injury that necessitated he relinquish the gloves, while Chris Woakes has a long-standing quad issue that rendered him unfit for selection. Ben Stokes also has a knee problem that will limit the number of overs he can deliver. The knock-on effects of those injuries was bound to create ripples.But England go into this game looking just a little vulnerable. Few of their batsmen are in their regular positions, after all, and there are four left-handers in the top seven against an attack that favours them. And, as well a new keeper and slip cordon – well, not new so much as revisited – they appear to have abandoned their continuity of selection policy. Meanwhile, their most pressing problem – the fragility of their opening partnership – has not been addressed at all.None of that necessarily makes the selection of the side wrong. It’s just that England have a side stacked with aggressive allrounders most of whom would be best placed batting at No. 6 and very few candidates to strengthen the top three. And in asking Bairstow to move up to No. 4 – an unusual response to a man breaking a finger – they are asking him to fulfil a role he has almost never attempted in county cricket and for which he expressed little enthusiasm on Tuesday.It is not impossible he could make a go of it. He has the talent and it could even be the making of him. But if he is to make it work, he may well have to curb the natural aggressive instincts that have earned him much of the success he has enjoyed to this point. If, as is entirely possible, he comes to the crease within the first 10 overs and continues to push at the ball, he will quickly expose a middle-order that looks more exciting than reliable.The same could be said for most of the batsmen. Joe Root wants to bat No. 4, Stokes has spent most of his career at No. 6 and it is only a few months since Ed Smith, the national selector, talked about Jos Buttler as an ideal No. 7. A few days ago, Moeen Ali scored a double-hundred against a strong Yorkshire attack while batting at No. 3. There is, for sure, some method in the madness of mixing all that up. But there may be some chaos, too.Collision course: Ben Stokes and Alastair Cook bump into each other during training•Getty ImagesEngland have altered their slip cordon, again, too. Root, whose catching gained a far from effusive review from Trevor Bayliss only a couple of weeks ago, will field at second slip with Stokes at third replacing Keaton Jennings. It said a lot for England’s lack of confidence in the position that Root explained the changes not by way of suggesting they would catch better as much as they would deal with the disappointment of drops better.”The hardest thing to get your head around in Test cricket is dealing with when you’ve dropped one,” Root said. “It’s easier to ask experienced guys who have done that a lot more to handle it better.”Ollie Pope is a particularly unfortunate victim of all the tinkering. Asked to fulfil a role that was alien to him – he bats No. 6 for Surrey but was required to bat at No. 4 for England – he has been jettisoned after just three Test innings. As a result, he could be forgiven for wondering what happened to the policy whereby a player was given “one Test too many rather than one too few” that has been touted so often in recent times.Dom Bess (two Tests) and Jack Leach (one Test), who appear to have become England’s third and fourth-choice spinners, could be forgiven similar thoughts. Perhaps Sam Curran, who was dropped a couple of Tests after producing a player of the match performance, too. You wonder whether such treatment – and the insecurity it can breed – compromises their development and confidence within the dressing room. And if it doesn’t, why can’t Alastair Cook, or other experienced players, be dropped when out of form? It seems, at present, as if England find it much easier to drop according to age than merit. Bess, Curran and Pope were all 20.”That’s part of international sport,” Root said in explanation of the Bairstow decision. “You don’t always get what you want. And hopefully he uses it in the right way to continue to work really hard at that side of his game. And he and Jos two can push each other to keep improving in that department.”There were no guarantees that Bairstow would win the gloves back, either. With every chance that his finger will not have improved sufficiently for England to make any change ahead of the final Test at The Oval, it seems Buttler will retain the job. Then, when the side travels to Sri Lanka, it will be unclear who the first choice keeper has become.Admirably meritocratic? Or unnecessarily destabilising? We’ll see. But you do wonder how many people in that dressing room are starting to look over their shoulders.There was one nice moment at the end of training on Thursday. Once all the players had left the field, Mark Nicholas and Robin Smith – both hugely popular and significant figures in Hampshire cricket – emerged from one of the function rooms overlooking the ground and took some pictures of one another playing imaginary shots on the Test pitch. Smith has had some tough times in recent years so to see him in fine fettle and, even without a bat, unleashing that famous square-cut was heartening and reviving. How England could do with a batsman of his class now.