Leading the middle order in the former Australia captain’s Ashes XI: a dashing batsman from England (or South Africa)

Ricky Ponting09-Jul-20151:59

Kevin Pietersen

“He was a match-winning player and the tougher the situation, the better he played: a bit like Glenn McGrath. He was one of those guys who loved to win the defining moments that decide a series like the Ashes”

StatsOVERALL: Matches 104 Innings 181 Runs 8181 Average 47.28 100s/50s 23/35
ASHES: Matches 27 Innings 50 Runs 2158 Average 44.95 100s/50s 4/13Best performance158 at The Oval, 2005
The final day of the final Test of an Ashes Test, and England’s batsmen had one simple task against McGrath, Lee, Warne and Tait: make sure not to lose the Test. Kevin Pietersen’s first ball – McGrath was on a hat-trick – looped to the slips off his shoulder and umpire Bowden correctly ruled not-out. He survived two more chances and at lunch, England were only 133 ahead with five wickets left. Post lunch, it was Pietersen’s session as he raced to his maiden Test century off 124 balls. Brett Lee pumped up the pace, but Pietersen pulled off some outrageous shots. His 158 effectively sealed England’s conquest of the Ashes in 2005.TriviaKevin Pietersen has twice made scores of 158 in the Ashes.

Some easy ones were put down, some cost their team a lot, and some came with a second chance. A few drops from the three Tests between Sri Lanka and India

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2015Saha puts down a sitter
Sri Lanka were already reeling at 66 for 5 in Galle, and it would have become 66 for 6 had Wriddhiman Saha held on to a simple chance after Dinesh Chandimal edged one off Ishant Sharma. Boosted by the drop, Chandimal went on to score 59, putting on a stand of 79 with Angelo Mathews to steer the team to relatively safer shores.Mubarak drop makes Rahul a centurion
Probably the costliest drop of the series. Sri Lanka had taken two wickets within five overs on the first day at P Sara Oval before Dushmantha Chameera had KL Rahul edge one straight to gully, but Jehan Mubarak let this one pop out of his hands. Rahul, then on 11, scored his second Test hundred and earned himself the Man-of-the-Match award.Dhawan drops Silva before catching Silva
A straightforward catch to Shikhar Dhawan at first slip, in Galle, which didn’t cost India much. Kaushal Silva sent an outside edge flying to Dhawan, who tried to pouch it with his fingers pointing up, but did not succeed. Thankfully for India, Silva fell in similar fashion, caught by Dhawan off Varun Aaron, soon after.Rahane’s rare drop
Ajinkya Rahane was having a dream run in the slips. Then, in Sri Lanka’s first innings at the P Sara, Sangakkara edged a ball off R Ashwin that flew to first slip where Rahane tried to grab it with his left hand and then again on second attempt, but failed. Sangakkara, however, added only eight more before edging another one from Ashwin to Rahane.Thirimanne gives Dhawan a life
Dhawan had marched on to his hundred in Galle and was on 122 when he struck a full toss firmly into the covers towards Lahiru Thirimanne. The fielder leapt to his left, went almost parallel to the ground, and got both hands to it, but it wasn’t enough.

As the Dukes cherry gains popularity for its hardiness, its makers are looking to spread to markets outside of England

Scott Oliver25-Nov-2015They say the best form of advertising is word of mouth. If those mouths happen to be in front of a TV camera or microphone, then so much the better.For cricket ball manufacturer Dukes, the fallout from the summer’s Ashes was pretty good. First Ricky Ponting – lifelong user of Kookaburra kit, whose balls are used in Australia’s domestic first-class cricket – proposed that the Dukes should be used in all Sheffield Shield games. Then Shane Warne weighed in: “The Kookaburra ball goes soft, it’s no good, it doesn’t do enough. We need to use the Dukes ball, it does more. It swings more and it seams more, so why aren’t we using it?”Of course, it was all music to the ears of Dukes owner, Dilip Jajodia, although he is keen to proffer an important caveat: “It’s nice of Shane to suggest that, but I would add [that the balls need to be] produced to cope with the general playing conditions in a given country. It can’t be the same surface finish for all countries. We do have the ability to adjust the surface protection according to what’s required.”These comments appear especially pertinent now, with cricket on the cusp of its brave new world of day-night Tests and with concerns over the durability of the pink Kookaburra ball on abrasive Australian pitches.Jajodia believes that for day-night cricket, the white ball is best for visibility, as opposed to the pink variant•Scott OliverTwo years ago, Jajodia attended a set of tests conducted by Cricket Australia under lights in Melbourne, the upshot of which was that an orange ball with a black seam that he provided was deemed the best by the players involved in the experiment, although it was ultimately rejected due to “a myth that the orange ball leaves a ‘comet trail’ on the monitors of cameramen”. Even so, he believes neither pink nor orange is optimal for day-night Test cricket. “You cannot dye the cricket ball any other colour than red for it to be effective for cricket,” he points out. “When you dye the ball orange, you lose the fluorescence when it goes into the pores. It becomes a ‘dirty’, burnt-orange colour.”If you want a ball that’s really visible in day-night conditions, obviously white is proven to be the best. The traditionalists say you can’t wear coloured clothing for Test cricket. I think that’s over-exaggerated.”Jajodia is trying to get his products into more umpires’ rooms, to increase his market share (currently, his Dukes County Grade A red ball is used for all Tests and first-class cricket in England and the West Indies; boxes have been sent to the boards of Sri Lanka and India for testing; he supplies balls for grass-roots cricket in Auckland, Gauteng, Queensland and elsewhere).Jadojia moved to England from Bangalore as a qualified insurer in his twenties, and started his own sports mail-order firm, Morrant, in 1973. His success selling balls to league cricket led to an invitation to do the same at Dukes, and Jajodia bought the brand outright in 1987 when “it was at a low ebb”. By then, with the skilled workforce retiring or dying off and no one willing or able to replace them, the factory was relocated from Tonbridge in Kent, where it had been established in 1760, to Walthamstow in east London. Experienced stitchers from the subcontinent were brought in on six-month contracts, until visa restrictions were tightened in the wake of 9/11: “The Home Office said they needed a university degree. I said: ‘No, these blokes are craftsmen. They haven’t been to college!'”James Anderson: a fan of the Dukes ball, but only if it swings straightaway•Getty ImagesAlthough the “skilled part of the manufacturing process”, the hand-stitching, is now all done abroad, there is still a great deal of native know-how and discernment brought to bear on the UK side, beginning with the selection of the hides in the tannery: “You use the middle four strips of leather from the back [of the animal] – the middle two for the Test balls – and when you cut the four quarters, you ensure they’re consistent for density and strength. If you didn’t have a factory that went into so much detail – if you were just cutting out strips and knocking out quarters – then you could have three quarters from the back and one from the belly, which is weak and stretchy. They look pretty similar but the composition is different. All the natural pressure will be pushing that quarter out, separating it. After a while, the ball will be out of shape.”We’re dealing with natural materials: the leather, the cork and latex used in the centres. They could all vary slightly – What did the animal eat? Was it sick? – and they could all react slightly differently to different conditions. We have to try and be as consistent as possible, but no two balls are exactly the same.”Of course, given all the interacting variables in the selection, cutting, dyeing, stitching and moulding (or “milling”) of the leather, and in the subsequent stamping, lamping, greasing and lacquering, standardisation can never be absolute. In fact, a ball’s individuality extends to “tolerances” in its dimensions: a circumference of between nine and eight-and-thirteen-sixteenth inches, with the weight between 156 and 163 grams. Jajodia’s personal feeling is “that a cricket ball isn’t a product where you can just mass-produce it at the top level. That personal magic can’t be put into it.” Not only does the hand-stitched seam keep its proudness for longer, helping maintain the rudder effect, the quarter-seam is always closed tight, giving the ball a smooth surface, both of which assist swing.While Jajodia claims he can spot who has stitched a ball from the thread on the seam – “It’s like a person’s handwriting: each guy has his own technique” – he cannot say exactly how he comes to pick out the sets of 12 balls – each of which takes four hours of craftsmanship – that are set aside for a Test match. “I’m a self-appointed feeler of cricket balls, but don’t ask me how I choose. There’s no precise formula. It just has to feel right, as Jimmy Anderson would tell you. He’s just got to feel happy about it. He can be a little moody about it if it doesn’t behave exactly how it wants it to. If he gets a wicket in the first over, he’s the best ambassador I’ve got, but if it doesn’t swing straightaway, well…”A craftsman at work in the Dukes factory in Walthamstow, east London•Scott OliverJajodia is grateful for the feedback from the likes of Anderson, much as he seeks the feedback of batsmen, to be sure the ball has the right feel on the bat. Yet the individuality of each ball, and the variability within each model, means the testing process is imprecise. And there’s the rub with handmade balls: you never know how good an instrument they are until a virtuoso such as Anderson starts to play them.”The problem with a cricket ball is, it fails in use,” Jajodia says. “You can’t test it. You can’t bounce it like a tennis ball, then put it on the market. If you bounce it a couple of times, it’s second-hand. Despite that, you’ve got to try and produce perfection – and that includes deterioration.”Ultimately it’s the widespread sense of a skewing of the balance between bat and ball – cricket administration’s eternal problem – that motivates Dukes to get their white ball introduced to international limited-overs tournaments, to be ready to provide a ball for day-night Tests, and to drop their red leather cherry into more and more Test-playing territories.That said, Jajodia remains mindful that there is no perfect balance. “The ICC and the MCC are expressing concern with the balance between bat and ball, but I couldn’t get out of them what the concern was. Was it that the ball was too effective? Or is it that the bats are too good and the ball’s being whacked out of the park? If you had a Test match that goes on for five days, they’d say, ‘Oh, this is boring. Nobody wants to watch them anymore.’ If you had a game that was over in three days, they’d say there’s something wrong with the ball: the game’s over early, and they’re losing money. You can’t tinker all the time. You’ve just got to accept that the odd game will be finished in two days, and the odd game will be a boring draw. It’s not always about the ball.”

R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have taken the bulk of India’s wickets against South Africa, but Amit Mishra has played an important role too, chipping in with key strikes at important junctures

Sidharth Monga in Delhi01-Dec-2015On pitches straight out of spinners’ fantasies, the record book shows that Amit Mishra has taken only seven wickets in the series, which is only two more than South Africa’s opening batsman Dean Elgar, and puts him fifth on the list of wicket-takers so far. Mishra is not getting fooled by cold numbers, though. In the four innings he has been used in, he has taken out the South African innings’ top-scorer three times, and the best-looking batsman on the other occasion. He has bowled only half the overs sent down by Ravindra Jadeja, who has taken two more than double Mishra’s wickets. There is a role for him in the team, and he is quite aware of it.Mishra’s wickets are: AB de Villiers twice in Mohali, JP Duminy in the first innings in Nagpur, and both Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis at the end of South Africa’s longest partnership of the series. On pitches where flight and guile in the air hasn’t been mandatory, teams rely on bowlers who can spear the ball in accurately. That R Ashwin has been just as effective while continuing to flight the ball speaks volumes of the form he is in, but the pitches have led Virat Kohli to be judicious with using Mishra. He is usually called upon when more is required than just the misbehaviour from the pitch.Mishra is proud he has delivered. In Mohali he bowled de Villiers with a legbreak that was flat, giving him the impression it might be pitched short and sending him back into the crease, and turned little, enough to beat the bat but not too much, thus not missing the off stump. It is a variation he has developed in his time outside the team. He says one big legbreak is not enough at Test level. You need those less-turning legbreaks to take the edge or hit the stumps.”In the second innings in Mohali when I bowled AB de Villiers, that was the best wicket I took,” Mishra said, two days before the start of the last Test of the series. “At that time we had a small total to play with, and they had wickets in hand.”Mishra was actually asked if the Amla wicket in Nagpur was his best. “That was my second-best. If we hadn’t taken that wicket we could have lost the match or it could have been drawn,” Mishra said. Drawn? Perhaps Mishra has taken to heart team director Ravi Shastri’s comments of “to hell with five days” and thought it was a three-day Test.Kohli had said earlier how Mishra had asked to bowl him when India were struggling to find a way past Amla and du Plessis. “Virat came to me and asked me what we should do,” Mishra said. “I said let me bowl, I feel like I can get a wicket here. He said okay. I was already confident, I knew we needed to get a wicket there and I felt I could use my variety.”Mishra then got the wickets, Amla with a legbreak that took the shoulder of the bat, and du Plessis with a wrong’un that shot along the surface. That he has been striking at key moments has given Mishra satisfaction despite being left out of the side when the team management felt it needed just two spinners in Bangalore. “It is more important to take wickets when it matters,” Mishra said. “When you take important wickets and your team wins, it gives you more satisfaction rather than bowling 15-15, 20-20 overs [for more wickets]… If in short spells you bowl well, say six to seven overs and take one or two wickets, it helps the team a lot.”Mishra says he understands his role in his team, a smaller team of three spinners within the big team. That is one of the big reasons why India have done so much better than South Africa in the series, he said. “Not only are we bowling well, we are bowling well at the same time,” Mishra said. “We have a great combination going. We understand each other’s games and game plans. We are sharing our knowledge and our ideas. It is important for any team to win matches and series, for bowlers to trust each other, to keep talking to each other and helping each other.”There has been one big disappointment for Mishra, though: that with all the talk around the kind of pitches prepared for the series, the success of the spinners is not being celebrated as much as it would have been otherwise. “If the spinners are bowling well then the talk should be that spinners are bowling well,” Mishra said. “Rather than focussing on the pitches. We can bowl well outside too.”

The team is currently paying the price for basing their selections on a tour of Bangladesh which was heavily disrupted by rain, and left them with more questions than answers

Firdose Moonda in Nagpur26-Nov-20152:05

What should be South Africa’s batting approach?

Let’s put aside Nagpur’s nastiness for a second. There are several other stories scrutinising it. This is about turning the spotlight on South Africa, whose slump to their lowest score since readmission, is the result of more than just a snake pit of a surface and shrewd spinners for opponents. A spaced-out schedule, questionable team selections, and a gulf in skills are the factors mainly responsible for their implosion, and should have been mitigated against before they embarked on this tour.South Africa knew they were set for a Test tour of India many months ago, but this series would only have entered their sphere of focus when the fixtures were confirmed on July 27. Then, the attention was on the duration of the tour – 72 days – rather than the content of it.Once the idea of ten weeks away from home was fully internalised, emphasis turned to the content. The trip would start in October with three T20s, which would serve as good preparation for next year’s World T20. Five ODIs followed, and then the main course, a first four-Test series in six years. That the Tests were last was seen as a positive because most touring teams get better with time, which would mean South Africa would be as well acclimatised to conditions as they could hope for by November. It did not quite work that way.The limited-overs matches were played on entertainment pitches which provided plenty of runs. South Africa’s only experience of red-ball cricket was a placid two-day practice match in Mumbai where everyone but AB de Villiers meandered through the motions. They should have known they needed more than that as preparation, especially given the gap between the Tests.South Africa’s last completed five-day Test was in the first week of January, eleven months before the first Test in India. In between that, South Africa went to Bangladesh but only had four days of Test cricket out of a possible ten in a series where weather was the winner. That small sample only served to show them there were snags in their long-form play, but it seems they ignored them.The Bangladesh Tests were played without de Villiers, who was on paternity leave, or any great intensity from South Africa. Only Temba Bavuma, the reserve batsman, managed a contribution of significance with a half-century in the first innings of the first test. South Africa totaled an unremarkable 248 and then conceded heavily against a spirited Bangladesh. They were 61 without loss in the second innings when rain ended play, trailing by 17 runs, and regarded that as proof that their new top two could take shape.The reality was far removed from that. Stiaan van Zyl, the opener on trial, was promising but hardly convincing enough to be promoted permanently. The lower middle-order received a new layer of uncertainty after wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock was dropped on batting form and Dane Vilas, an outside candidate for the job, debuted. South Africa returned from Bangladesh with more questions than answers and no game time to find alternatives.Stiaan van Zyl has looked completely out of his depth in this tour•BCCISo they had to turn to the last time they played competitive Test cricket, against Sri Lanka in mid 2014 – the three home Tests against West Indies were extremely one sided – to mentally prepare for this series. That visit would have brought back good memories. Dean Elgar scored a century, Dale Steyn found reverse swing to win the first Test, and a blockathon in Colombo secured the series. That was South Africa’s first series since the retirement of Graeme Smith and first under Amla, and it was successful enough to convince them their transition was taking place as planned.Now all of that had been throw into disarray. South Africa look under-prepared and unsure. The above would explain why they may not have been ready enough. Their choice of players may explain why they have not been competitive enough.In an attempt to follow protocol and give players a proper chance to prove themselves, South Africa stuck with the men they promoted in Bangladesh. Van Zyl kept his spot at the top, Dane Vilas kept his behind the stumps, and Simon Harmer remained the first-choice holding spinner. Of those, only Harmer is doing the job better now than he was then.Van Zyl appears completely out of his depth, inexplicable for the player who led the domestic first-class run charts two summers ago. Vilas has struggled behind and in front of the stumps and South Africa have been left wondering if they should have turned to more experienced players for a tour of this magnitude and left the blooding for later. Stephen Cook could have been an option for the opener’s spot, Thami Tsolekile for the keeper’s role, and Morne van Wyk could have done both jobs, opening a space for another player lower down the order.These issues would not be so glaring if South Africa’s most experienced batsmen were doing what is expected of them, but Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, de Villiers and JP Duminy are not. De Villiers and Duminy, to a lesser extent, have at least shown signs of form but du Plessis is more present when he is providing advice to Amla and the bowlers on the field than he is with bat.Amla himself is preoccupied. He is captaining in fast-forward – he has to because the game has been moving so quickly – but he is batting that way too. His rush to get runs is not working and his footwork has suffered as a result.The only player who has evoked some memory of Galle is Elgar. He has shown staying power through the struggle, but then something slips. If he is the class of player he is suspected to be, he will push through that ceiling soon. But for South Africa, soon needs to be very soon.Elgar and Amla carry their last real hope of squaring the series. If they fall early on the third morning, India will be able to see straight through. Even if they survive a little bit, the ask may still become too much. South Africa not only have to score their highest total of the series, but the only one over 300. On a crumbling pitch, perhaps even the South Africa of old could not do it. But few thought they could do what they have done before – like draw in Adelaide, win in Perth, beat the clock in Port Elizabeth and stage a coup in Galle – and they will have to remember that now.

Stats highlights from a run-fest on the third day at the WACA

S Rajesh15-Nov-2015235* Ross Taylor’s score, the highest by a New Zealand batsman in Tests against Australia – he went past Martin Crowe’s 188 at the Gabba in 1985. Kane Williamson’s 166 is the third-highest. Five of the nine highest scores for New Zealand against Australia have been in Perth. Taylor’s current score is also the joint fifth-best by an overseas batsman in Australia.1 Double-centuries scored by an overseas batsman in a Perth Test – Taylor is the first to achieve this feat. The previous-best was 196, by Hashim Amla in 2012. Australian batsmen have scored five double-hundreds in Tests here. This is also the first instance of two double-centuries being scored in a Test match in Perth, and the first instance of three 150-plus scores in a Test in Australia.265 The partnership between Williamson and Taylor, the highest for New Zealand against Australia. The previous-best was also in Perth, in 2001, when Nathan Astle and Adam Parore added 253 for the eighth wicket. It’s New Zealand’s second-highest for the third wicket in all Tests, and the fifth-best for this wicket by any pair against Australia.262 Runs scored by Taylor in ten previous Test innings in Australia, with a highest of 75 and an average of 26.20.105.12 Williamson’s Test average in 2015 – he has scored 841 runs in nine innings, including four hundreds. Among all New Zealand batsmen who have scored 750-plus runs in any calendar year, Williamson’s average is the best.6 Instances of two 250-plus stands in the same Test – David Warner and Usman Khawaja had added 302 in Australia’s first innings. All of these six instances have happened since 2005, and three of those Tests have been in Australia – the other two instances were against India in Sydney in 2012, and against England at the Gabba in 2010.4 Pairs who have put together two or more 250-plus stands for the third wicket*. Before this partnership of 265, Williamson and Taylor had also added 262 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2012. The other pairs to achieve this are Hashim Amla-Jacques Kallis (three times), Mahela Jayawardene-Kumar Sangakkara, and Mohammad Yousuf-Younis Khan (twice each).5 Tests in Australia where both teams have topped 500 in their first innings. This is the first such instance at the WACA. Three of those five games have been in Adelaide, and all three in the period between 2003 and 2008.3 Instances of two New Zealand batsmen making 150-plus scores in the same Test innings of an away game (including neutral venues). The two previous instances were in 1972, in Georgetown, and last year in Sharjah. Also, the number of New Zealand batsmen who have more than one Test century in Australia: Martin Crowe, Andrew Jones, and Williamson (two each).1 New Zealand batsman who has scored hundreds in successive Tests against Australia – Williamson is the first. Glenn Turner, though, has scored a century in each innings of a Test against Australia, in Christchurch in 1974.2302 International runs for Williamson in 2015, the highest ever in a calendar year by a New Zealand batsman; the next-best also belongs to Williamson – 1933 in 2014.5030 Test runs for Taylor – he is the fifth New Zealander to top 5000 runs in Tests.38.17 The average runs per wicket in Tests in Australia since the beginning of 2012. Among all countries, it’s second-highest, after the average in Bangladesh (41.29).* Nov 16, 0400GMT: This has been edited to include partnerships for the third wicket only.

Like his idol Shane Warne, Sandeep Lamichhane appears to have the full repertoire. With a hat-trick against Ireland to seal Nepal’s place in the quarter-finals, he couldn’t have asked for a better start to his career

Mohammad Isam30-Jan-2016″I have leg-break, googly, flipper, top spin and zooter.”Sandeep Lamichhane’s idol is Shane Warne so it is hardly surprising that the Nepal spinner says that he has the full repertoire. On his Twitter page, Lamichhane describes himself as “RIGHT ARM LEG BREAK GOOGLY BOWLER”. So, now you know.Lamichhane took a hat-trick in his five-wicket haul against Ireland, who were soundly beaten by eight wickets in Fatullah. The win meant Nepal have now booked a place in the last eight of the Under-19 World Cup for the first time. It is hard not to imagine the madness back home in Nepal, where cricket is now considered the No.1 sport.In his first spell, Lamichhane removed Gary McClintock with a full delivery that the batsman drove straight to long-off. When he was brought back in the 32nd over, Lamichhane turned the game on its head with his hat-trick. The first of those wickets was that of Lorcan Tucker, who was caught by Dipendra Singh Airee at midwicket.Next ball, Adam Dennison edged to the wicketkeeper and captain Raju Rijal before Fiachra Tucker became the hat-trick victim after he missed a straight ball. Lamichhane later added the wicket of William McClintock in the 34th over as Ireland slipped to 83 for 7, with Nepal’s maiden quarter-final place nearly sealed.It is likely that Lamichhane’s hat-trick was the fifth in the Under-19 World Cup, after Jermaine Lawson (West Indies vs Zimbabwe, 2000), Kamrul Islam Rabbi (Bangladesh vs Ireland, 2010), Harry Conway (Australia v Nepal, 2012) and Kuldeep Yadav (India v Scotland, 2014). Lamichhane, who is from Chitwan in Nepal, however said that the win was more important than the hat-trick, which he was confident of grabbing after picking up the first two wickets in the 32nd over.”It was awesome,” Lamichhane told ESPNcricinfo. “When I got my third wicket, my single focus was on taking the hat-trick. This is my first time that I took one actually.”What was more important than the hat-trick was that we won an important game and qualified for the quarter-finals. I hope we can continue the same way in other matches.”Lamichhane first heard of cricket before actually watching it on television. He had earlier taken 1 for 41 against New Zealand in the first group stage match, having already taken five wickets in the warm-up games.”When I was young, I heard news of cricket in radio. And watched a lot of matches in television. My coach, the management and everyone in Nepal helped me in my cricket,” he said.In the space of two days in this competition, legspinner Lamichhane, left-arm spinner Mahipal Lomror and offspinner Wesley Madhevere have taken five-fors. It is as clear a sign as any that spin will slowly be more dominating in the tournament. Lamichhane, having got into the habit of taking wickets on Bangladeshi wickets, will no doubt be one to watch out for in the rest of the tournament.

Kamindu Mendis can bowl orthodox left-arm spin. He can bowl right-arm offspin as well. He is also a handy batsman. And his unique skills were on show against Pakistan in Mirpur

Vishal Dikshit in Mirpur03-Feb-2016On the first ball of the 18th over in Sri Lanka Under-19s’ chase against Pakistan Under-19s, in Mirpur, left-handed batsman Kamindu Mendis attempted a reverse sweep off left-arm spinner Ahmad Shafiq and it fetched him three runs. That was not the first time Mendis had switched hands or his stance or his style of playing – whether during the day or his career.When Pakistan were batting, Mendis was brought on to bowl in the 27th over with two right-handed batsmen in the middle and he started with some orthodox left-arm spin. After a run-out in that over, left-handed batsman Salman Fayyaz took strike. Mendis then switched to right-arm offspin.”I practice with both arms but I bowled with both arms [in a match] for the first time in Under-17 against St Joseph’s College two years ago,” Mendis said after the match. “I took four wickets in that match.”The junior Sri Lankan selectors first spotted him and his unique skill about a year ago in school cricket and held several trials before picking him for the home Youth ODIs against Pakistan last October. “He does it very well and he’s just 16 years,” junior selector Ranjan Paranavitana told ESPNcricinfo. “And he can bat at any position…it’s an added factor for Kamindu.”Mendis first started practicing with both arms in the nets at the age of around 13 when his coach Dhanushka Dhinagama came up with the idea. The plan was simple – turn the ball away from the batsman. And that’s what he did today too – left-arm orthodox against right-handed batsmen and right-arm offspin against left-handed batsmen.”When two left-handed batsmen are batting, we have to use two offspinners,” Paranavitana explained. “When Kamindu is bowling he can bowl to both kind of batsmen.”Mendis is also aware that he is not the first Sri Lankan to try it out. Hashan Tillakaratne, a part-time offspinner, had done so in the 1996 World Cup in a league match against Kenya. Defending 398, Sri Lanka had the match in the bag when Tillakaratne came on to bowl the last over of the innings and bowled left-arm orthodox spin and right-arm offspin. Even though Mendis was not even born then, he has played with Tillakaratne’s son who happens to be a chinaman bowler.Naturally a left-hander, Mendis is more of a classical spinner compared to the spinners of this age and era. Right arm or left arm, he flights the ball and often pitches it up to tempt batsmen to drive with a slip in place. In Sri Lanka’s 23-run loss to Pakistan, Mendis bowled only four overs without any success and conceded 21 runs.Mendis took to cricket because of his cricket-following father and represents Richmond College in Galle, like his captain Charith Asalanka. And the two recently made their List A debuts together for Galle Cricket Club. Mendis and Asalanka, in fact, have been playing together since the Under-13 level.Mendis is one of the youngest members of the squad and likes to call himself a batting allrounder. It was his batting that proved more handy on Wednesday when he hit 68 runs at No. 3, even as the rest of the batsmen did not provide substantial support. In a chase of 213, Mendis took his team closer to 150 with a patient knock, which lasted nearly two hours, before holing out to long-on. Sri Lanka then lost their last five wickets for 32 runs.”My idea was to play 50 overs but I played a poor shot and got out,” Mendis said. “So I think I should do less mistakes and do well in remaining matches.”The other young and promising allrounder in the team is Jehan Daniel, the only player younger than Mendis in the squad, and assistant coach Avishka Gunawardene said the idea to pick them early was to hone them for the next Under-19 World Cup.”That is the plan in our mind,” Gunawardene said. “In every Under-19 tour we are planning to have 16 or 17-year-old guys go on the tour so they can play for a couple of more years in Under-19 and take over when the senior guys go. That has been the plan in the system.”I think Sri Lanka’s school cricket structure is really good, it is one of the best in the world. That is the backbone of Sri Lankan cricket. So until they come out of school, they hardly play first-class cricket.”Mendis bats left-handed, can he bat right-handed too?”Can’t bat with both hands (laughs) but I can reverse sweep,” and he used quite a few of them after the 18th over too.

Quinton de Kock stole most of Sunday’s headlines for his rapid century, but Mohammed Shami’s successful return in his first IPL match since 2014 provided a rich subplot in Delhi Daredevils’ seven-wicket win

Deivarayan Muthu in Bangalore17-Apr-2016The Chinnaswamy Stadium geared up for an ensemble-driven blockbuster on Sunday night. Chants of “R-C-B, R-C-B!” were deafening an hour before the start of the hosts’ second match of the season.The chants grew louder when Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shane Watson turned up for practice. Delhi Daredevils coach Rahul Dravid, hoping for a happy homecoming, also drew a big cheer.At the pitch adjacent to the playing surface stood the comeback man Mohammed Shami with a new, flashy hairstyle. He listened intently to his captain Zaheer Khan, nodded, and delivered a short ball with extra bounce. It thudded into the gloves of Quinton de Kock. Zaheer had another chat with Shami and patted the fast bowler on his back. That turned out to be a regular scene throughout the first innings.After opting to bowl, Zaheer explained that Daredevils had picked Shami to exploit Royal Challengers Bangalore’s middle order, which does not have as much cream as the top. Shami, playing his first IPL match since May 2014 and his fifth competitive match since the 2015 World Cup, was far from his best, but changed the game by giving Daredevils the momentum de Kock needed to run away with the chase.At 16 overs, when Shami came back for his third spell, Royal Challengers were cruising at 164 for 2 with Kohli in a rarefied zone on 75 off 43 balls. By then, Watson was also set – on 27 off 17 balls – and the pair had the crowd grooving to their shots. Zaheer had been put away for two sixes and two fours in the previous over . The pressure was on Shami and to remind him the raucous crowd went: “We want sixer, we want sixer!”Shami duped Watson with a slower ball, but the batsman managed to find a six via a mis-hit. The crowd wanted more. Shami, however, muted them with a chest-high short ball, which tucked Watson up for room. He only managed to pop a catch off the gloves to short fine leg. Shami was pumped and let out a roar.Three balls later, Shami showed off his improved fitness and ran out Sarfaraz Khan off his own bowling. Shami nimbly moved to his left in his follow through, picked the ball up with his left hand, spun around and fired, all in one motion to nail the stumps and catch Sarfaraz a foot short despite a dive. Shami’s confidence was back.The crucial blow, though, came in his next over when Shami speared a full ball that Kohli could not get underneath and shovelled to long-on. Shami and Daredevils were on to something and he followed it with rising short balls that gave Kedar Jadhav and David Wiese no leeway to free their arms. He gave away only 14 runs from his last two overs and finished with 4-0-34-2.Morris’ hit-the-deck bustle complemented Shami and helped Daredevils drag Royal Challengers back to 191, which de Kock later termed a “par score.” At the post-match presentation, Zaheer said that his last over – the 16th which went for 21 and preceded Shami’s final spell – had made Daredevils re-assess their bowling plans.”My bad over helped me figure out what will work,” Zaheer said. “Just told [Shami and Morris] bowl back of a length … Tournament like IPL, momentum helps, these kinds of games matter. We ticked a box and now we have three to four days off.”That Shami hit back after a nervous start should come as a boost for Daredevils and Shami himself. His second ball was a loosener down leg, which was helped on its way. His third was a decent length ball, which was manoeuvred to the cover boundary by Kohli’s supple wrists. His sixth was a rank full toss, which was gleefully swatted into the stands beyond midwicket by de Villiers. In the tenth over, Shami lumbered to his right from long-on and fumbled, allowing two instead of one.Shami looked like he was shaken. It helped that he had Zaheer, who had the experience of mentoring several bowling groups, kept chatting with Shami and shielded him from pressure like an older brother would protect his younger one. The innings ended with a smiling Shami high-fiving Zaheer. The night ended with de Kock’s sparkling century sealing Daredevils’ first win over Royal Challengers since 2010.

Sulieman Benn rates his team-mates on dancing, dress sense, football skills and more

Interview by Jack Wilson24-May-2016How does it feel to be a T20 World Cup winner?
Incredible, amazing, tremendous. To win the World Cup at my age is just the pinnacle of my career. It feels so good to know I’ve contributed so much to a winning cause. I don’t think it will get much better than that.And what was the party like after?
Not good, actually! There were issues with the security at our hotel after the game, so we couldn’t have a real good party. The best ones happened before the final. I’ll never forget them.You are 6ft 7in tall but bowl spin. What happened?
I always enjoyed watching quick bowlers but that’s it. I never had the passion to be a quick bowler. I never thought about it. I enjoyed the art of spinning far more. I feel us spinners are the artful side of the game.Who is the most naturally talented player you have ever played with?
I have played with quite a few. A guy called Martin Nurse for Barbados was a very, very naturally talented player with both bat and ball. He didn’t push on for whatever reason but he could really play.What would you be if you were not a cricketer?
I’d love to be a footballer. Failing that, a singer.Who is the best footballer in the West Indies warm-ups?
Marlon Samuels is very good.And the worst?
Darren Sammy. He never passes the ball!Who is the best captain you have played under?
Kirk Edwards. He just got things done effectively and was a real good man manager. He did some very good things for Barbados.

“If I was stuck on a desert island with Tino Best, he would drive me up the wall and I’d probably end up killing him”

Who is the worst sledger you have ever seen?
Trent Boult. He just made me laugh! He’s too nice to sledge.Which player have you seen who is destined for a big future in the game?
Dushmantha Chameera. He really impressed me bowling for Sri Lanka in the World Cup against us. He looks like a good talent.As a big Manchester United fan what would you like to say to Louis van Gaal?
Thank you for bringing the young players through… now it’s time to move on!Whose wicket celebrations are the best in the game?
It has to be DJ Bravo.Which of your team-mates is the best dancer?
That one has to be, by far, Sulieman Benn.Which ground does the best teas?
Lord’s. It’s all so nice there and comforting – except for the weather.What would the average cricket fan not know about you?
That’s a tough one. How about the fact I sing? I’m a solo singer in my spare time.Which of your team-mates would you least like to be stuck on a desert island with?
Tino Best. He would drive me up the wall and I’d probably end up killing him.Who is the most vain?
Darren Sammy.Who has the worst dress sense?
Kirk Edwards. Most of his clothes are pretty questionable.What is the best piece of coaching advice you have ever been given?
To go and enjoy it. Enjoy the game and express yourself.