ESPNcricinfo staff25-Apr-2016But Parthiv Patel (81) and Ambati Rayudu (65) made the most of their chances to put Mumbai on top•BCCIThe pair added 137 off 85 balls to lay a strong platform•BCCIJos Buttler capitalised with a 13-ball 24, and helped Mumbai post 189 for 6•BCCITim Southee and Jasprit Bumrah took a wicket each in the Powerplay, as Kings XI were reduced to 32 for 2•BCCIHowever, a stand of 89 off 61 from Shaun Marsh and Glenn Maxwell kept Kings XI in the hunt•BCCIMarsh fell in the search for quick runs, but Maxwell continued his onslaught, hitting five fours and a six in his 39-ball 56•BCCIBumrah, though, effectively killed the chase with the wickets of Maxwell and Nikhil Naik in the 18th over as the required rate continued to climb•BCCIMitchell McClenaghan picked up two wickets in the 19th over as Mumbai wrapped up a 25-run win•BCCI

For a while in the afternoon session it appeared Pakistan were losing their way but, after his role with the ball, Yasir Shah played a starring role again

Jarrod Kimber at Lord's16-Jul-2016Yasir Shah took his sixth wicket early on Saturday morning. It was a good ball that trapped Steven Finn straight in front of the stumps. A few balls later England’s innings is finished. Yasir can put his feet up.The problem is, he isn’t the only person with his feet up.You can see Younis Khan’s toe twitching well before Jake Ball is at the crease, the left foot is weirdly twitching towards the bowler, the right foot is rattling around in his boot. Then he moves into a weird half squat in front of his stumps. When the ball arrives there is a leap at it, across his stumps, towards silly mid-off, as if he has been tickled by a monster made of feathers, or electrocuted, or like he is trying to lead with his belly button.The only real problem is now after all that twitching, shuffling and jumping he has to play a cricket shot against very good bowling on a wicket that has started playing slightly oddly. His head is not over the ball, it is barely still on his shoulders, and his feet seem to be on hot coals, or allergic to grass, or covered with haemorrhoids.Younis isn’t batting, he’s surviving, somehow. Even what should have been a normal cover drive becomes an abnormal monstrosity that has a squat-thrust angled bat. It is only when the ball goes through the field that he moves into the correct foot position with an awkward shuffle that he seems to be doing so he just remembers how he is supposed to be doing this. His feet are playing several shots per ball, his hands, barely one. Neither agree with each other.And when he doesn’t play a shot, it’s like he’s doing an interpretive dance move to represent how a bird flies through a puff of smoke, but with a broken leg, terrible stage fright and no dance training.England just sat and watched, they clearly decided that whatever this was, it wouldn’t, or at least shouldn’t, last, and they went dry. They bowled very well, they kept the field in a ring, and waited for the implosion.It was Azhar Ali who broke first. He nearly ran himself out when he had thought to himself that there was only a single, and then something clicked in his head and he decided it was two. And then it was the pressure of the scoreboard’s stillness. In four overs they scored seven runs, and in the end of that period Azhar was out lbw. If there is a culture with a word that means both unlucky and inevitable at the same time, it was that.Then Misbah-ul-Haq came in. His first ball was a defensive shot that suggested we were going to get austerity Misbah, not world-record quickest-Test-hundred Misbah. Twelve balls come and go, and Misbah brings stability by watching Younis bat from the non-striker’s end and add only one more run. Then Misbah faces Moeen Ali for his second ball. Alastair Cook set a ring field, an outer ring field. Men simply scattered to boundaries, knowing that Misbah may and try to dine.What they didn’t know was that Misbah was going to enter the buffet, strip off his clothes and jump mouth first into the shrimp bowl. He had faced two balls and somehow transformed from Misbah to Shahid Afridi.Somehow, against all cricket logic, Younis survives the session. As does Asad Shafiq, who does it with much more clam and technique.Then Younis hammers a ball back onto his stumps. On a normal day it would be one of his worst shots, today it was among his best. It was the slowest scoring from him since his first Test match.Then there is a brief interlude of Pakistan batting so well through Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed that they looked like completely taking the game away before Shafiq misses a good one.And there he is again, Yasir Shah. Promoted four spots up the order, working on what should have been his day off.Not long into their partnership Sarfraz dropped the ball at his feet and tried to invent a single, Yasir said no, saving a horrible run out. The throw hit the stumps and trickled a metre or two away, and Sarfraz was off for another non-existent single. He was like the rat that touched the electric cheese, and went back to make sure. It was Yasir who took the cheese away.It was also another dot ball, and they had been growing, and during the next over, Yasir started to feel it. The further the over went, the louder the crowd got, and the more nervous Yasir bats. He’s not in the UAE now, Lord’s may not be a coliseum like Edgbaston or Old Trafford, but this isn’t home, even a neutral home.This is a real crowd, and they have noticed England’s chance. It is now 15 balls since a run and Yasir is 2 off 23. The last ball is full and stops a bit on the wicket, Yasir tries to turn it, it takes the leading edge and it floats. England fielders start celebrating as it does, the crowd rises with it, but the ball then dips. Broad is the fielder at mid-off and he is on his way in, but it’s low and in front of him, and it’s not a catch made for a man of his height. But he gets there just as it’s about to bounce, and there is grass, hand, and by the time the English players have returned to the ground from their celebratory leaps, it is clear so has the ball.Sarfraz is dropped by Jonny Bairstow, and just like that it is Yasir, in his first Test in England, who is the guy who can score the most runs, the safest way, so that he has a target to bowl at. He is less rattled than Azhar, less airborne than Younis, and less crazy than Misbah. His experienced team-mates at Nos. 3, 4 and 5 had made 48 runs, from a lot of balls, and Yasir gets better with every ball. When Sarfraz is out, he just continues to score runs and give Pakistan hope, right up until the second last over of the day.Yasir drop-kicks one over midwicket, gets his highest Test score and then artfully glances. Two clever shots and then an over later Pakistan’s day is finished.Tomorrow, like today, will start with Yasir. Tomorrow, like today, might finish with him as well. There just won’t be any time in between to put his up feet.

Visibility is good, so is durability, and while it does swing a fair amount, it ought to spin as well

Aakash Chopra22-Jun-20165:42

Chopra: Pink ball visibility not a problem for anyone

Hardly anything is perfect when tried for the first time, but if you don’t ever try anything new, you’ll make no progress. It’s the same with the pink ball.In the only day-night Test match played with it, in Adelaide, it swung a little too much under lights. There were issues with the visibility of the seam – the green thread used to stitch the ball together at the time didn’t stand out as prominently as the white thread on the red ball did. Also, there were apprehensions about how long the ball would last in slightly drier conditions.The Cricket Association of Bengal deserves applause for conducting India’s first ever multi-day match with the international standard pink Kookaburra ball. While Kookaburra has made significant changes to the ball that was used for the match in Adelaide last year, CAB chose to be slightly cautious (at Kookaburra’s behest) and left a reasonable amount of grass on the pitch for the Super League final.Does it swing too much?
Since there was a decent grass covering on the pitch and the surface was a little moist underneath, everybody expected the ball to move prodigiously, both in the air and off the ground. And it did do a fair bit. There was some swing available in the air for the first 10-12 overs and seam movement till about the 30-35th over. If the bowler was willing to bend his back, he found bounce and carry too.But before passing judgement that the pink ball moves a lot more than the red, please remember that even the red Kookaburra moves about when it’s new. It’s the SG Test ball that doesn’t move appreciably early on, and so it’s unfair to compare its behaviour with that of the pink or red Kookaburra. On the other hand, the SG (if maintained well) keeps moving in the air for a lot longer into a match than the Kookaburra. As far as seam movement is concerned, we can attribute that to the pronounced seam, coupled with extra grass.The pink ball will swing a lot more at the start of a game than the SG Test ball, but movement in the air and off the surface (assuming Test pitches in India will be quite barren) will disappear after the first hour.Is it easily visible?
The pink ball passed this test with flying colours. The change Kookaburra has made in the colour of the thread used for the seam, from green to black, has made a significant difference in sighting the ball. I spoke to some of the batsmen who played in the game, and the wicketkeeper, about whether they were able to follow the seam from the bowler’s hand, and all of them said that they were.Some sensational catches were taken in the slip cordon, and that tells us that sighting the pink ball hasn’t been an issue for the fielders either. As for the commentators, it has been a lot easier for them to spot the ball under lights as compared to even the white ball.The change in the colour of the thread used for the seam, from green to black, has vastly improved the visibility of the pink Kookaburra ball•AFPDoes it last?
That’s the key question that needed to be addressed in this game. The main reason for India not using the red Kookaburra is its longevity (or lack of it) in Indian conditions. Also, the seam on the traditional Kookaburra is blunted and sinks into the surface of the ball by around the 40th over, which makes it almost impossible for the spinners, especially fingerspinners, to make an impact, since they are not able to grip the ball as well as they otherwise might, and nor does the seam grip the surface of the pitch on landing. Since spin is India’s main weapon in the longer format, it’s unlikely that any ball that doesn’t assist spinners will find favours.To address this issue, Brent Elliott, the managing director of Kookaburra, informed us (the Star Sports commentary crew) that they have tried to emulate SG by using a thicker thread to stitch the latest version of the pink ball. We followed the ball closely through the game and were pleasantly surprised to find the seam fairly intact even after the 75th over. Unlike the old Kookaburra, the seam on this new ball didn’t disappear. It could easily be a combination of the thicker thread and the grassy pitch that enabled the seam to stay intact. So the ball needs to be tested on barren pitches before passing a verdict on this aspect.In addition to the thick thread, Kookaburra also had four coats of pink on the ball, for it to last the distance. Usually a big issue with playing under lights is that as soon as the top layer of colour comes off, the ball starts picking up dirt and taking on the colour of the grass, and that affects its visibility. But with extra layers of pink added, visibility was not an issue at any stage of the game, including at twilight.The flip side of having extra layers of pink is that there was negligible wear and tear on the ball – both sides looked almost identical even after the 75th over. If one side doesn’t get scuffed up, it’s impossible to get the ball to reverse-swing, and that element was missed in this game. Once again, it’s expected that the ball will wear faster on drier pitches, but how much and how soon can only be known after further testing.Does it spin?
R Ashwin is India’s best new-ball bowler, for he has dismissed more openers than any other bowler in the current Test side, including the fast bowlers, since his debut. For day-night Test cricket to become a reality in the subcontinent, Kookaburra has to come up with a ball that suits Asian conditions too – that is, one that is spinner-friendly. While spin hardly played a role in this game, the general feeling among the players is that the pink ball will turn on spin-friendly pitches. Since the seam stays pronounced till late in the innings, there’s no reason why it won’t turn if there is some soil (and not grass) to hold on to on landing.It was noticeable that the pink Kookaburra was hard right up until it was replaced by a new one. The ball didn’t go too soft even after it had been hit for hours.How does it react to dew?
Besides the factors mentioned above, there’s the matter of dew in the evening hours, for the bulk of the cricket season in India is in winter. Since there was no dew in Kolkata for the Super League final, we don’t know how the pink ball will behave when there is dew. However, the good thing is that it can’t be too tough to find a couple of Test venues across the country that are not affected by dew at any given time.Overall, the pink ball has got a big thumbs up from everyone involved in the trial, and it looks like a matter of when and not if before the first day-night Test is played in India.The author was a part of the Star Sports commentary team for this game, and had access to additional information by virtue of that role

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Nov-2016Jason Holder shouldered arms to Mohammad Amir and lost his wicket•AFPDevendra Bishoo partnered Brathwaite for a 60-run stand that helped West Indies take the lead•Getty ImagesWahab Riaz snuffed out West Indies’ last three in quick succession to finish with a five-wicket haul; West Indies were bowled out for 337 and led by 56•AFPBrathwaite joined an elite club, becoming only the fifth West Indies batsman to carry his bat; he finished on 142•Getty ImagesHolder ended an opening stand of 37 when he had Sami Aslam caught off a short ball•Getty ImagesHe then dismissed Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan for ducks to reduce Pakistan to 41 for 3•AFPRoston Chase had Misbah-ul-Haq holing out to deep-backward square leg•AFPAzhar Ali held firm with an unbeaten 45, and added 39 for the fifth wicket with Sarfraz Ahmed. Pakistan ended the day on 87 for 4, leading by 31•Getty Images

The BCB has striven to retain Bangladesh’s top-tier status in Tests – but now it needs to focus on developing a consistently competitive team in the longest format

Mohammad Isam01-Nov-2016The buzz surrounding Bangladesh’s two-match Test series against England is yet to wear off but the decoration at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, the home of Bangladesh cricket, has already changed to T20 colours. This was inevitable due to the schedule but the quick shift of attention on this occasion seemed jarring.That’s because arguably for the first time since their inaugural Test 16 years ago, Bangladesh has been competitive in a Test series against a major team. The 1-1 result could have been even better for the home side had they overcome tight corners in the Chittagong Test but in Dhaka, they finally beat a team ranked much higher than them.While the players involved will enjoy at least couple of days off, they will soon return to the hectic world of the Bangladesh Premier League, which is designed to swallow up attention spans, airwaves and column inches in the country. The win over England, a seminal moment in Bangladesh’s cricket, will not be given the rightful time to sink in, and be reflected upon.The general apathy towards Test cricket has been around for a very long time, and much of it is due to better results in ODI, which was already a format highly relatable with the public due to Bangladesh’s historic proclivity towards one-day cricket.It has also partly caused a disconnect between the BCB’s protection of Test status and its efforts to keep Tests as the primary format for the Bangladesh team. The BCB has vehemently opposed the idea of a two-tier Test system, and whenever discussions surrounding this proposal have come up, the board has successfully wiggled out of it.In early 2014 a working group of the Finance & Commercial Affairs committee of the ICC proposed that teams ranked Nos. 9 and 10 (Bangladesh at the time) play in the Intercontinental Cup from 2015, but it was an idea that was ultimately shelved along with many other proposals of the “Big Three” era. The BCB also opposed the two-tier structure, which was discussed this year at the ICC, and ultimately prevailed after the plan was shelved once again. But its opposition in board meetings hasn’t necessarily contributed to an attitude towards giving the team more Tests.The latest gap, which lasted more than 14 months, was the team’s longest period without a Test match. While it is true that Australia postponed their two-Test series in October 2015 due to security fears, and Bangladesh’s first-ever Test in India was moved from August this year to February 2017, the BCB also shelved plans to play Tests against Zimbabwe in November last year, January this year and even after the World T20 in March.Scheduling around the Under-19 World Cup was given as one of the reasons for the postponement of hosting Zimbabwe but the BCB generally prefers to play the format of the ICC event in the lead-up. So after playing three ODIs and two T20s against Zimbabwe in November last year, Bangladesh played against the same opposition in four more T20s in January so that they were in the groove for the subsequent Asia Cup and World T20.Previously, Bangladesh’s longest stretch without a Test was exactly 14 months (from June 4 2010 to August 4 2011), while there have also been gaps of 13 (once), seven (twice) and six months (three times).Attentions will quickly switch to the return of the Bangladesh Premier League•BCBBefore the 2007 and 2011 World Cups, Bangladesh put all their focus on ODIs, which for the first instance was reasonable because they had a poor 2003 tournament in South Africa. But ahead of the 2011 World Cup at home, postponed Tests against New Zealand were hardly given a thought because of a 4-0 victory in the ODIs.Most teams schedule more ODIs before a 50-over World Cup but Bangladesh’s focus shifted away from Tests in 2000 – when they gained Full Member status – to ODIs by 2006 mostly due to the lack of progress in the longer format during this period. Their only series win was against Zimbabwe at home in 2005, and only after they had lost most of their top players, and the next wins came against a third-rate West Indies side in 2009. Beating Zimbabwe in Harare back in 2013 was perhaps their most well-earned win, given how they had to bounce back from a massive defeat in the previous game; another notch in their belt was drawing against Sri Lanka in Galle that same year. But these are slim pickings for a Test nation that promised much in the beginning.What has also been frustrating of late is the absence of A-team tours, which has disappointed many in the Bangladesh team management. If they had been arranged, then Test specialists like Mominul Haque and Taijul Islam could have been in touch with top-quality cricket. Instead, they had to rely on long net sessions and some domestic first-class matches in the build-up for England.Even for the Test series against New Zealand, Bangladesh’s preparation would entail four weeks of BPL followed by a ten-day camp in Sydney and then three ODIs and three T20s in New Zealand. Then they play the one-off Test against India after which a tour of Sri Lanka with Tests and ODIs is also being discussed before they head into the Champions Trophy. Even afterwards, there will be a push for ODIs as they would also like to ensure automatic qualification to the 2019 World Cup, though the BCB president Nazmul Hassan has suggested that is already within their grasp.Bangladesh cricket has a lot on its plate in 2017, with more focus on ICC events like the World T20s as well as in the home front where the BCB elections are knocking at the door. Test cricket will continue to have less attention but if they are really interested to get better at it, perhaps proper succession planning is the answer. It should include four-day matches against Afghanistan and Ireland, which sounds unsexy but even if Bangladesh A play the games, they would get opposition that is better than the fare at the domestic level.The talk of two-tier Test cricket will not die down any time soon so if Bangladesh wants to keep itself relevant as a Test-playing nation, focusing solely on keeping their status won’t be enough. Playing more Tests gives them more chance of winning, which would in turn make them more watchable and commercially viable as a cricket nation. The win against England should not be treated as an exception; it is a firm stepping stone for Bangladesh towards greater progress.

In part two of the interview, Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur talks about the attacking brand of cricket he wants his team to embrace

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi14-Sep-2016Read part one of the interview herePakistan have 14 ODIs scheduled between now and next September, the cut-off date for qualifying directly for the 2019 World Cup in England. How realistic are their chances of making it to the World Cup without having to play the qualifiers, given they are ranked No. 9?
I have to be realistic. We haven’t got the time, but we have started the journey now. We will have to start again. I have got a really good feel for the personnel and the areas we need to improve on. I have looked at people we can work with, people we can bring in, and I am comfortable we will be okay.Do you reckon Pakistan are behind the curve compared to the modern ODI teams?
With the brand of cricket they are playing, definitely. We can’t play that brand of cricket anymore. We have to be brave. You have to take the game on.Not playing in the IPL and other premier T20 leagues – do you reckon that has hurt their understanding and development of limited-overs cricket?
And facilities and the domestic competitions, which are average. You can’t blame them. Then they are potentially fighting for places all the time. There has been no stability [in the ODI side]. They start playing for themselves. We have a massive challenge in our ODI team.Fitness is amplified in one-day cricket – fielding, running ones, twos, threes. Sometimes in an over you are running six twos. If you are not fit enough, you can’t run those runs. It is to the detriment of the team. Without a doubt, that message has started getting across. But it can only go across to the players if I am consistently delivering it. I am not going to tolerate players turning up unfit. They are professional athletes representing a country. It is not good enough [being unfit].

“I want us to play an attacking brand of cricket, a brand that is good to watch, a brand that inspires the players to play and gives you so much more gratification from your supporters”

Why was Mohammad Irfan not played in the Ireland ODI series? A bowler like him could have done with some overs under his belt considering he had not played for a few months?
Irfan came into the ODI squad as a replacement for [Mohammad] Hafeez, so he wasn’t with us [in Ireland]. That made it even worse for me because your replacement players are the ones with the fresh legs. They are the people who up the ante, who bring in fresh energy. And he comes in and starts cramping. That potentially cost us an ODI [in Cardiff].But he just got off the plane. That could have played a part in the cramps, considering his height. And about two days later he plays in the Cardiff ODI. Can you entirely blame him?
Funnily enough, a couple of bowlers cramped in the same ODI, but they were fit enough to get back and finish their overs with the intensity required.I don’t want to harp about Irfan. It could be about any other player that joins the squad in the future. I get disappointed when players arrive and are not at peak condition. Ultimately that is the reflection of the set-up I run. Ultimately that is the reflection of me and my support staff. We are judged by that, so I am not going to tolerate guys that jeopardise that. And it is not a Mohammad Irfan thing. It is an integral part of the Pakistan system. If I can change and make it 10% or 15% better, we have a better chance of success. I sat down the T20 squad and told them: when you arrive, you need to understand the standards demanded by this set-up; that you come in and meet minimum requirements. And those minimum requirements are lower than what South Africa or Australia have. I am taking baby steps at this point of time.Discipline is another aspect where you think things can improve. Can you talk about the example of Yasir Shah turning up two days late for camp when you first arrived in Pakistan?
We thought he was arriving on Friday, but he came on Sunday. I had just arrived at the NCA. I am not sure what the communication between him and the PCB was, but I asked him, “Hey Yas, weren’t you supposed to be here on Friday?” He said, “Yeah, coach, I’m just two days late. It’s okay.” We both had a laugh and I went back to my room and thought, “Gee, he is being serious.” I hope he was joking.”To be able to close off a run chase or finish off when you are setting a target is a real skill. And I wanted Shoaib Malik to do that”•AFPThat sort of thing will not happen again even if it was true?
Absolutely not.Are you going to take hard decisions in terms of players?
I think we have to. If we keep picking the same [players], we are going to get the same, and we will be sitting at No. 9 in the world. We have nothing to lose. We just have to invest in some players. I know for a fact that from the first ODI to the fifth [in England], we changed the whole brand and style of cricket.In the first ODI, in Southampton, we played like cricket was played back in 2002. By the last ODI, in Cardiff, we chased down 302 with overs to spare. We took the attack to England. That is how we have to play. If we play the way we did in Southampton, we are not going to win the game.Grant Flower said he sensed insecurity among some ODI players, which was holding them back from expressing their game openly. Have you seen the same?
Maybe there was [a sense of insecurity] with the old regime. In fact, probably there was. I would like to be able to think we can identify the players we can take forward and then invest time in them. Create clear roles for them and hopefully we will get the results. Because if we want them to play high-risk, high-octane stuff, we ought to back them for a period of time as well.You have seen various players in the PSL. What do you think of the pair of Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad making a comeback in the ODI set-up?
They have to prove that they are not going to be a disruption to the team, because clearly in the past they have done things that weren’t right. I was not there, but clearly they have. They have to conform to the standards and requirements of the team.

“I get disappointed when players arrive and are not at peak condition. Ultimately that is the reflection of me and my support staff. We are judged by that, so I am not going to tolerate guys that come in and jeopardise that”

Azhar Ali, Pakistan’s ODI captain, is a committed player. But is he really a modern ODI cricketer?
He is. He is getting better. He is a fantastic batsman. Azhar’s batting ability is brilliant, which means he can adapt without a doubt. Again, in the ODI series against England, he adapted throughout, so he is good enough.What about Shoaib Malik? He is the most experienced, yet that is not reflected in his numbers (in ODIs he averages 26.80 with the bat outside Asia, 38.72 in Asia, 24.41 in Australia, where Pakistan go on their next tour, and 12.94 in 19 innings in England, where the next Champions Trophy will be played next year).
He knows where he stands. I was so happy to see him come out in Cardiff and play with a real intent that had probably been lacking just a little bit. I am talking about intent in his defence, intent in his attack. He committed to every shot. He was committed to that innings. I was so happy he came through that.Is there a reason he bats in the lower order?
That was me. I wanted a guy that could finish for us. No. 6 is such an important and tough position in the batting order. Michael Hussey did it for Australia for a period of time. To be able to close off a run chase or finish off when you are setting a target is a real skill. And I wanted Shoaib Malik to do that. We promoted him to No. 4 in Cardiff and he gave us what he wanted, so maybe his role changes now, going forward.”If we keep picking the same players, we will be sitting at No. 9 in the world”•Getty ImagesYou said this recently: “I don’t want us to fear failure. I think any team that fears failure is a team that struggles.” Why did you say that?
I don’t want us to be tentative, whether it is with bat, ball or in the field. I want us to be 100% committed to the decisions we make, because if we do that, we’ll have a lot more chances of success than failure. I want us to play an attacking brand of cricket, a brand that is good to watch, a brand that inspires the players to play and gives you so much more gratification from your supporters. It must be a brand that challenges, a brand that stimulates, but it must be a brand that is encapsulated by fun.You need time to help build and grow that kind of brand. Is the PCB willing to give you that?
I am pretty sure the PCB will give me the time. Definitely.Read part one of the interview here

Stats highlights from the third day in Chittagong where Ben Stokes and Shakib Al Hasan dominated the action

Bharath Seervi22-Oct-20161045 Previous highest aggregate by a wicketkeeper in a year, by Andy Flower in 2000. Jonny Bairstow went past that mark in the second innings of this Test to set the new record. England have six more Tests to play this year.7 Consecutive partnerships of 50 or more runs for the sixth-wicket for England which include both innings of this Test. The sequence began from the second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford. In these seven innings their average sixth-wicket stand has been 92.57 including two century stands.0 Instances of a Bangladesh bowler taking more than five wickets in a Test against England prior to this match. Incidentally, in this match, two bowlers have taken more than five wickets – Mehedi Hasan and Shakib Al Hasan. Both have picked up seven wickets each so far. This is only the fourth instance of two Bangladesh bowlers taking five-wicket hauls in a Test.85 Ben Stokes’ score in the second innings – the best by an England No. 6 batsman against Bangladesh. The previous highest was Ian Bell’s 84, also in Chittagong, in 2009-10.10 Left-arm spinners who have picked up 150 or more wickets in Tests. Shakib became the tenth left-arm slow bowler to reach the milestone. His strike rate of 65.4 balls per wickets is second only to Rangana Herath among those ten bowlers.17 Wickets taken by Bangladesh spinners in this Test – the second-most for them in any Test. The most wickets picked up by their spinners in a Test is 18, on three occasions. England have two more wickets left in their innings as at stumps.5 Runs added by England’s second and third wicket partnerships in this match – the lowest for them in any Test. Those wickets added 0 and 3 in the first innings and 1 each in the second innings. Their previous lowest from those two wickets was 12 on three occasions, two of those in the 19th century.2005 Last time England lost their first three wickets for less than 30 runs in both innings of a Test – against South Africa in Centurion. They were three-down at 21 in the first innings and 28 in the second innings of this Test. This is their first such instance in a Test in the subcontinent.49 Balls faced by Alastair Cook in this Test – his third-least in a match in Asia. The two instances of him facing fewer balls than this in a subcontinent Test have both been in Sri Lanka.2 Instances of Bangladesh opening with two spinners in a Test innings. Their second innings of this Test was the second such instance. The first was against Zimbabwe in Khulna in 2014-15.55/8 Runs and wickets in the first session of this day – Bangladesh collapsed from 221 for 5 to 248 all out and England lost 3 for 28. However, in the next two session only five wickets fell for 200 runs.

Jos Buttler has barely played red-ball cricket since being dropped from the Test side in 2015, and he believes that has helped him discover his game

George Dobell in Mumbai09-Dec-20161:05

Buttler calls for more consistent bowling

Jos Buttler has credited a lack of first-class cricket as a crucial ingredient in his successful return to the Test team.Buttler made 76, his second highest Test score, to help England reach 400 in their first innings in Mumbai. It was an impressive contribution for a number of reasons, not least the restraint Buttler exhibited against testing bowling. It was also his first half-century in first-class cricket since May 2015.More pertinently, it was just his fifth first-class innings since he was dropped from the England Test team in the UAE in October 2015.But far from seeing that lack of red-ball cricket as a disadvantage, Buttler insisted it was a factor in his relative success.”I don’t feel like having not played first-class cricket mattered to me at all,” Buttler said. “Probably the best thing for me is having not played any red-ball cricket for a year and having some time to think about my game.”We play so much cricket that sometimes there isn’t enough time to think, break down your game and work out what is vital to get the best out of yourself. I feel like the last year I’ve probably learned the most about myself and about cricket in my whole career.”While Buttler’s words clash with conventional wisdom – Alastair Cook described Buttler’s lack of first-class cricket as “clearly not ideal” ahead of the Mohali Test – there appear to be a growing number of players arguing for the benefits of a fresh body and mind over the virtues of regular games. Certainly Eoin Morgan has previously said he felt “twice the man” for a month’s rest ahead of an ODI series – while Kevin Pietersen has often remarked that England’s cricketers are obliged to battle not only their opponents, but their own schedules.At the time Buttler was dropped from the Test side, he seemed confused and lacking in confidence. He had failed to reach 50 in his 12 most recent Test innings – he had not reached 10 on six of those occasions – and later admitted he was “relieved” to have been left out.”I got to a stage where I was not concentrating and did not want to be there,” Buttler told The Telegraph this time last year. “It was a relief to get dropped. I was not enjoying walking out there and feeling like I didn’t know where the next run was coming from.”Crucial to Buttler’s improvement now – and it does have to be said, these are early days in his recall and the returns, while pleasing, are relatively modest – has been a renewed belief in his own abilities. And while these haven’t been demonstrated in copious amounts – or even sparse amounts – of first-class runs (injury and white-ball commitments limited him to a single County Championship match in the 2016 season), they are real nevertheless.Jos Buttler’s highest Test score carried England to 400•AFPAfter all, Buttler is the scorer of the three quickest ODI centuries made by an England player. He has shown, in many T20 and List A situations, that he has a rare ability. Few doubt his talent.But, after a series of failures in Test cricket, he had begun to doubt himself. And without the time and space to reflect and then work on his game, he felt he was sinking deeper into the mire with every dismissal.”I’ve learned one of the big things you have to have, that the top players have, is belief in your own game,” he said. “You have to be confident that, when you get a chance, you’re going to perform.”You’re your own best coach. There’s plenty of people out there to speak to, but probably one of the things I was doing when I struggled was speaking to too many people. It is better bringing it back to a few close people you trust and to yourself. No one can do it for you.”You can receive great advice, but you’ve got to believe in yourself.”Part of the reason for Buttler’s limited appearances in first-class cricket in 2016 was a decision to appear in the IPL. While there still appears to be some controversy about such decisions in English cricket, Buttler’s decision was fully supported by the ECB – indeed, they currently encourage players to gain experience in high-profile T20 leagues – on the basis of their increased prioritisation of white-ball cricket.If Buttler goes on to help England to that elusive global ODI trophy – and he may well – it may well be credited as a contributory factor. Anyway, had he not subsequently broken his thumb playing T20 cricket for Lancashire, he would still have been able to play several Championship matches.Besides, he feels the experience of representing Mumbai Indians in the IPL may have helped him deal with the conditions and the environment in Mumbai.”It probably helps, having practised and played here,” Buttler said. “Having experienced IPL, you get used to the noise and chaos going on around you. You learn to deal with it and not get distracted. I think familiarity is good and definitely helps.”Might there be a bit of contradiction there? After all, he argues that “familiarity is good” when it comes to batting in Mumbai, but freshness is best when it comes to building an innings against a red ball.It doesn’t really matter. Just as Ben Duckett’s success in the English domestic season didn’t much matter when he came up against Ravi Ashwin and co. And just as Mark Ramprakash and Graeme Hick’s century of first-class centuries didn’t matter when it came to Test cricket. Success in county cricket is no guarantee.All that matters is whether their method works in Test cricket. So while you would think that Buttler would benefit from more experience, while you would think he would benefit from learning how to build an innings – he has, after all, a modest first-class record (just four first-class centuries and an average of 32) – if he can demonstrate that his method works, he should be encouraged to embrace it.This was an impressive innings. While Parthiv Patel’s description of the early part of it as “very lucky” is somewhat graceless (and antagonistic), it is not entirely without truth. But while Buttler found batting a desperate struggle against the spinners on the first evening, he had the confidence and composure not to try and thrash his way out of trouble.While there were glimpses of the fine limited-overs player he has become – a few reverse-sweeps and one heave over mid-on for six – it was the less eye-catching skills that helped him here: his patience; his soft hands (not least when playing Jayant Yadav in front of leg slip when he had scored only 1), his ability to manoeuvre the ball and his maturity in dealing with the periods of pressure. Only once – in his 73 against New Zealand at Leeds in 2015 (his most recent half-century before this) – had he faced more deliveries in a Test innings.The game has changed. We live in an age where players reach centuries on debut with reverse-sweeps, where catches are routinely taken by fielders using the both sides of the boundary, where switch-hits and doosras have become part of the lexicon of the game. If Buttler wants to do things his way – and if it works – that should be just fine.

A look at MS Dhoni’s major achievements as India’s limited-overs captain, including the most runs in ODIs by a keeper-captain, and a staggering batting average in winning causes

Shiva Jayaraman04-Jan-20171 Number of captains to have won all the three major ICC limited-over tournaments. MS Dhoni is the only one to do so. Under Dhoni, India won the 2007 World T20, the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. Dhoni’s four wins in the finals of limited-over tournaments involving five or more teams are the joint-highest for any captain. In addition to the three aforementioned events, Dhoni also led India to the Asia Cup title last year.110 ODIs won by Dhoni as captain – the second-most after Ricky Ponting’s 165. Allan Border is the only other ODI captain with at least 100 wins. Dhoni led India to 20 wins more than Mohammad Azharuddin, who is the next India captain on this list.41 Wins for Dhoni in T20Is – the most for any captain in the format. Darren Sammy comes second with his 27 wins as West Indies captain. Dhoni has also captained in 72 T20Is, the most by anyone.199 ODIs in which Dhoni has led – the most for an India captain and the third-highest overall. Only Ricky Ponting and Stephen Fleming captained in more ODIs. Among India captain, Azharuddin is next with 174 matches. He is the only captain to have led an international team on 50 or more occasions in each format.110-74 Dhoni’s win-loss record in ODIs; among India players to have led in at least 20 ODIs, Dhoni’s win-loss ratio of 1.486 is the best. Rahul Dravid’s win-loss record of 42-33 is the next-best.6633 Runs in ODIs for Dhoni as keeper-captain – more than thrice the number of runs scored by the next player on this list. Kumar Sangakkara is a distant second with 1756 runs. In T20 internationals, Dhoni is the only keeper-captain with over 1000 runs. Dhoni has played as keeper-captain in 271 limited-over internationals – the most by any player. No one else has played even 100 matches as keeper-captain in limited-over internationals. Sangakkara’s 67 matches are the next highest.53.92 Dhoni’s average in ODIs as captain – the second-highest for any batsman to have scored at least 1000 runs, after AB de Villiers’ 65.92. Among the seven captains who have scored at least 5000 runs, Dhoni’s average is more than 11 clear of the next-best – Ponting.7-4 Dhoni’s win-loss record in the finals of multi-team ODI tournaments – the best among India captains who led in more than one such final. Azharuddin is second with a win-loss record of 11-8.70.83 Dhoni’s batting average as captain in India’s ODI wins. Among the 32 captains with at least 1000 runs in winning causes, Dhoni’s average is the third-best. Only de Villiers and Sachin Tendulkar averaged higher. Dhoni made 3754 runs in India’s wins, including three hundreds and 29 fifties.12 Number of times Dhoni was unbeaten in successful chases as T20I captain. George Bailey is second with five such innings. In ODIs, too, Dhoni leads the list with 26 such innings.

Former South African umpire Cyril Mitchley remembers his days on the circuit, giving Tendulkar run out at square leg and Atherton caught off the thigh pad

Luke Alfred05-Feb-2017Cyril Mitchley hears a voice rather than sees a face when you ask him a question nowadays. Eighteen months ago he started suffering from a hereditary disease of the retina – called macular degeneration – which blurs everything he looks at directly. His peripheral vision is fine but in the middle it’s indistinct and blurred, a soggy mess.He struggles in the garden and shouldn’t be driving his Toyota Tazz, but carries on regardless, vaguely relieved that he no longer needs to see whether Saeed Anwar or David Boon has feathered an edge to the keeper. “My paternal grandmother was an artist,” he said. “She painted water. When she started painting red and yellow water we realised that something was up and that her eyes were packing in. I’ve got the same thing.”There was a pinch of the showman about Mitchley the umpire. In his early umpiring days he used to go into a prize-fighter’s crouch before jabbing his index finger at you not once but twice or three times. “Dave Richardson complained – he said I took too much pleasure in it, so I didn’t use the flourish so much after that. Even when I wasn’t crouching I always used to stand with my head at a slight angle so my good ear was facing the batsman. I had one season as a 20-year-old inside-forward with Sheffield United – I had the choice of Charlton, Wolves or United, God alone knows why I chose United – and someone kicked a wet, heavy ball at my head. It burst my eardrum. After that my hearing in the left ear was always a bit dodgy.”Mitchley wasn’t about to allow the imperfections of a wonky ear get in the way of a job he loved. He was always engaged, never distant, always part of the game without allowing his personality to overshadow bigger names or larger spectacles. He remembers giving Sachin Tendulkar run out from square leg in South Africa’s first readmission Test (beside the third-umpire bells and whistles, the match was unspeakably dreary) and was scandalised by a stranger who he at first assumed was an autograph-seeker, offering him $50,000 to make sure Pakistan didn’t lose the third Test of their 1994-95 home series against Australia. He reported the approach to John Reid, the match referee, and promptly forgot about it. The high-scoring Test was drawn, so Pakistan wrapped up the series 1-0.Launching from the haunches: Mitchely crouches as fast bowler Brett Schultz bowls in a tour game against India, 1992-93•Getty Images”The best umpire I ever stood with was [the Tasmanian] Steve Randell, said Mitchley. “I thought he was brilliant. I was the first neutral umpire to stand in an Ashes Test [at the Gabba, in November 1994] and I stood with Steve, although he couldn’t stand Ian Healy for some reason. He came to me once and said: ‘If he steps out of line for anything we’re going to nail him’.”The biggest decision Mitchley ever made was when he was asked to judge on Sanath Jayasuriya’s run-out in the 1996 World Cup final in Lahore. Jayasuriya was later named Man of the Tournament, and Mitchley was well aware his decision would have far-reaching consequences. “[Steve] Bucknor and [David] Shepherd got the final and I wasn’t even sure I was going to be in Lahore because I was in Delhi, but Dave Richards [the ICC chief executive] phoned and said: ‘Look, we think there’s going to be a bit of shit and we want you there as TV umpire. We’ll send you a ticket.'”To cut a long story short, many of the tournament umpires had flown to the final in Lahore and we were all sitting in the same box-like booth, so when I worried about giving Sanath run-out there were many eyes on me. Not long after that we get a Sri Lankan delegation who’ve come to complain. I’m not happy but Clive [Lloyd], the match referee, says, ‘Relax, Cyril, let’s all have a look at the slow-motion together.’ So we look at the replay and he then asks them: ‘Are you happy with the decision?’ They say they are, and then he tells them in no uncertain terms to get the hell out of there.”Mitchley describes the 1996 World Cup – co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – as a tournament of considerable behind-the-scenes strain. With such a broad sweep of venues, competition logistics were already demanding, and with the Australians and the West Indians refusing to visit Sri Lanka, tensions rose. He had to be present in Colombo, just in case the Australians arrived, and signed an affidavit in the presence of an attorney to that effect. He remembers tournament organisers like Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev (“They didn’t trust the Australians”) being exceptionally tense and the competition unfolded in an atmosphere of mutual watchfulness. “I suppose the upside of the trip to Colombo was that I had four or five days free to visit the tea plantations and the hill stations and that was fabulous,” said Mitchley.Mike Atherton walks back past Mitchley, who gave him caught off the thigh pad, in Port Elizabeth, 1995-96•PA PhotosHe wasn’t one to dwell on mistakes but remembers a shocker he gave Mike Atherton in Port Elizabeth in 1995-96. “As soon as I saw his face he just knew I’d stuffed it up,” recalls the man many in South Africa still call “Squire”. Mitchley apparently gave Atherton, a man for whom he had immense respect, out caught off the thigh pad and the decision perched darkly on his conscience for the rest of the day.Squire’s humiliation was softened only slightly when Ian Botham told him to forget it after the close, but turned to wry amusement when he was later presented with the signed leg of a white plastic chair by Dermot Reeve. Atherton had smashed the chair in a fury once he returned to the dressing room and the token of his esteem was duly delivered by a smirking 12th man – Reeve. To this day it remains one of Mitchley’s treasured mementos, along with signed shirts and equipment from Brian Lara and Malcolm Marshall, two of his favourite players.Mitchley says he was a dogged wicketkeeper-batsman with a good eye, not much to look at but plucky. He kept to Hugh Tayfield (“what a taskmaster”) as a young club cricketer and reserves special praise for a long-forgotten Transvaal fast bowler called Ken Walter. “When he played at Pioneer Park [in Johannesburg’s Southern Suburbs] he could be well-nigh unplayable. John Reid brought the New Zealanders to South Africa in the early sixties. They always said that Ken was the best South African bowler they faced by far.”Mitchley was the first umpire to refer an on-field decision to the TV umpire•PA PhotosMitchley once hit a lippy young Brian Davison (yet to make his mark as an elegant middle-order batsman at Leicestershire) back over his head after Davison had terrorised a handy Transvaal B batting line-up during an away fixture in Salisbury. Mitchley had been put on the plane by the irascible Eric Rowan, who warned him to stay off “the sauce” and nail down a regular place.”Brian was giving our guys a send-off, telling them that they’d just been bowled by the legcutter and what not,” said Mitchley. “I didn’t have a good bat, I couldn’t afford one, but he bowled me one in the slot and I just pumped him onto the grass embankment for six.”‘You can call that whatever you like here in Rhodesia, sonny,’ I told him as I marched down the pitch, ‘but in the Southern Suburbs, where I come from, we call that a six.’ It was my highest first-class score, 66, I was proud of that.”Mitchley’s route past 66 soon took him into umpiring. He umpired in one B section game before being promoted and was always a firm favourite with the players. He was verbally adroit and exuded a kind of cheery calm that instantly made them comfortable. He enjoyed his time at square leg and is mildly relieved that he escaped much of the current culture of super-scrutiny. “We probably had an easier time because we actually made the decision. Every decision nowadays can be referred with the exception of a wide. We weren’t watched quite as much.”His capacity for the verbals must have had something to do with his love of poetry. He never did very well at school, receiving a couple of O levels, including 8% for Latin, but he can still recite poems by John Masefield and Sir Henry Newbolt by heart. He loves *”In Flanders Fields”, by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, and takes comfort from their heft and rhythm now that he can’t actually see the words on the page. “The degeneration happened about 18 months ago over two or three days. At first I thought to myself: ‘What’s wrong with my eyes, they’re going cockeyed?’ Then I thought it was cataracts, but that wasn’t it. I don’t have an income now, so I’m thankful that my wife still works. I’ll be 79 on Independence Day.”If anything, his fading eyesight has sharpened his memory. He remembers Harry Wolf, the Southern Suburbs chairman, walking around the change room and deftly placing folded five pound notes into the Tayfield brothers and Walters’ shoes. There were never any coins, they were liable to roll across the floor and so raise awkward questions. Notes were discrete, even delicate. Mitchley, the young whippersnapper, watched it all, knowing he had some way to go before he found a note in his.*The name of the poem was corrected