All posts by h716a5.icu

Australia will have to break a lot of fourth-innings records if they are to achieve an improbable victory over South Africa at the WACA

Bharath Seervi06-Nov-2016414 Highest fourth-innings score at the WACA in Tests for any team, by South Africa in 2008-09. Australia’s highest here is only 381 which came against New Zealand in 2001-02. They have been set a target of 539 by South Africa this time.406 Highest fourth-innings total by Australia in Tests – against England at Lord’s in 2009. They lost that Test chasing 522. Their highest successful run chase is 404 at Leeds in 1948.Highest totals for Australia in fourth innings•ESPNcricinfo Ltd1971 Last time Australia batted more than 140 overs in the fourth innings of a Test – versus England in Adelaide. They have approximately 143 overs to bat in this match and need to score at a run rate of about 3.77 to chase down the target successfully. Only five times have Australia batted more than 140 overs in the fourth innings.0 Instances of targets more than 500 having been chased in history of Tests. The highest successful run chase by any team is 418 by West Indies against Australia in St John’s in 2003-04. Only four targets over 400 have been successfully chased.309 Margin of defeat for Australia at WACA in their last Test against South Africa, after being set 632 to win. They were all out in 82.5 overs in that innings.4 Consecutive fifties for Quinton de Kock in Tests. He had made 82 and 50 in the Centurion Test against New Zealand and made 84 and 64 in this Test. He now has five fifty-plus scores in eight Test innings this year. His average of 76 this year is second only to Ajinkya Rahane (84.28) among batsmen playing five or more innings.4.39 Run rate of South Africa’s innings on this fourth day. They added 150 runs in 34.1 overs losing two wickets. They had ended day three at run rate of 3.09 but escalated it to 3.37 at the end of the innings on day four.2 Instances of David Warner getting run out in Tests, in 102 innings. His first run out dismissal was against Sri Lanka in Hobart in 2012-13.2 Totals of 500-plus for South Africa in their second innings at the WACA – most for them at any venue. They have had only three more such totals in the second innings, all at different venues. They had scored 569 in the second innings in 2012-13 and won by 309 runs.

Stats highlights from the third ODI at Durban where the hosts chased down a mammoth target of 372

Bharath Seervi05-Oct-20161 Number of higher successful run-chases in ODIs than the target of 372 chased by South Africa in this match. The biggest of all successful chases was also by South Africa when they chased 435 at Wanderers in 2006. Incidentally, the top-four successful chases have all been against Australia.1 Batsman at No. 6 or lower to make a higher score than David Miller’s unbeaten 118 in a successful chase of 300 or more in ODIs. Yousuf Pathan made 123 not out against New Zealand in Bangalore in 2010 chasing a target of 316. For South Africa, no player batting at No. 6 or lower had scored a century while chasing before Miller. Hansie Cronje’s 87 not out against Zimbabwe in Centurion in 1997 was the previous highest.5 Instances of Australia losing the first three matches of a bilateral ODI series. The last such series for them, before this, was against England in 2012 where they lost the four completed matches of the series.2009 Last time South Africa defeated Australia in a bilateral ODI series. They played each other twice in between and Australia had won both those series – 2-1 in 2011 in South Africa and 4-1 in 2014 at home.3 ODIs with a higher aggregate of runs from both teams than the 743 runs scored in this match. A mammoth 872 runs were scored in the famous Wanderers ODI of 2006, 825 in Rajkot between India and Sri Lanka in 2009 and 763 at The Oval between England and New Zealand last year.107* Runs added by Miller and Andile Phehlukwayo for the seventh-wicket, the fourth-biggest stand in successful chase for the seventh-wicket or lower. It is the second-highest seventh-wicket partnership for South Africa in ODIs.2000 The last time South Africa won an ODI against Australia at Kingsmead. They had lost each of the four encounters since then before winning this match. Overall, their record is 3-5 against Australia in Durban.325 Runs conceded by the opening bowlers in this match from either side, the most in any ODI and the first instance of more than 300. The previous highest was 298 at Wanderers between the hosts and West Indies in January last year. The other bowlers conceded only 418 runs in 60.2 overs compared to 325 runs in 39 overs by the opening bowlers.82.42 Quinton de Kock’s average while chasing in ODIs this year. He has amassed 577 runs in eight innings while chasing including three big centuries and a 70 in this match. When batting first, he has scored only 250 runs in seven innings with no centuries.34* Previous highest score for Phehlukwayo in his List A career. This was just his second ODI innings, making an unbeaten 42 off 39 balls to help Miller get South Africa across the line.69 Balls taken by David Miller to reach his century, the fastest by a South African batsman against Australia. The previous fastest was by Quinton de Kock off 74 balls in the first ODI of this series. Miller’s knock is the seventh-fastest for South Africa and second-fastest by a South African player other than AB de Villiers. Click here for fastest ODI centuries.96 Runs conceded by Dale Steyn, the most by any South African bowler in an ODI. The previous worst was 95 by Wayne Parnell against India in Gwalior in 2010, a match better remembered for Sachin Tendulkar becoming the first batsman to score a double-century in ODI cricket.

Stats highlights from the fourth day of the Hamilton Test, when New Zealand piled up a demanding target for Pakistan

Bharath Seervi28-Nov-20164 Centuries by Ross Taylor at Seddon Park in Hamilton – the second-most by a New Zealand batsman at a single venue. Martin Crowe made five hundreds in Wellington. In Hamilton, no other batsman has scored more than two centuries. Taylor hasn’t scored more than two centuries at any venue apart from Hamilton.11 Consecutive innings without a fifty-plus score for Taylor before making an unbeaten 102 in the second innings of this match. He had made only 140 runs in those innings at average of 14, with a highest of 37. Also, in home Tests, he went without a fifty-plus score in 12 innings since start of 2014.345 The highest successful run chase in New Zealand, by West Indies in Auckland in 1968-69. Pakistan’s highest in New Zealand is 274 in Wellington in 2003-04. No visiting team has scored 369 or more, which is Pakistan’s target, in the fourth innings in New Zealand.1 Number of higher targets successfully chased by Pakistan. They had chased 377 in Pallekele in 2015. They have never won chasing more than 300 in Tests outside Asia.1985 The last time Pakistan lost a Test series to New Zealand. Since then, in 12 series, Pakistan have won seven and drawn five.3 Fifty-plus scores for Tom Latham in home Tests in 18 innings. He was dismissed for single-digit scores in each of the first three innings of this series before making 80. He averages 28.17 in home Tests, compared to 41.18 in away Tests. This was his seventh fifty-plus score this year, which is the joint-most for New Zealand alongside Kane Williamson.6/128 Imran Khan’s match figures in this Test – the best of his career so far. His best in his previous seven Tests was 5 for 109 in Pallekele in 2015. Imran took three wickets in each of the two innings in this match.

Sri Lanka have struggled badly since the 2015 World Cup, mainly due to the retirements of three batting legends. But two young dynamos pointed to a light at the end of the tunnel in a win over India

Alan Gardner at The Oval08-Jun-2017Of all the matches that were supposed to bring this Champions Trophy to life, Sri Lanka versus India was not it. Pakistan’s upset of South Africa had spiced up Group B – though the Birmingham rain kiboshed the chances of a genuine thriller – but it seemed going into this fixture at The Oval that the chances of Sri Lanka overturning their great bogey opponent, one of the favourites for the tournament, were only marginally higher than Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party storming to a landslide victory in the UK general election.These are tough times for the discipline of psephology – and who knows what British exit polls may be about to tell us – but at least the underdog victory remains one of sport’s great pleasures. Sri Lanka came into the Champions Trophy with the worst record of the eight participants since the last World Cup and walked into this match having lost 16 out of 21 ODIs against India, going back to their defeat in the 2011 World Cup final.But while Sri Lanka’s bowling effort was largely forgettable, as India ambled toward what many presumed to be an adequate total, they suddenly came to life in the chase, led by two young batting bucks in Danushka Gunathilaka – who was only added to the squad as an injury replacement on Wednesday – and Kusal Mendis. Both were run out short of a century, both short of the crease despite desperate dives, but India had been rattled and belief began to course through Sri Lankan veins.Their supporters, too, sensed the moment. Although the game began with the pounding rhythm of Indian dominating the atmosphere, a little over an hour later a band finally struck up a tune on the north side of the OCS Stand. They were still going when Angelo Mathews nonchalantly tucked a single to complete victory and by now, with clumps of departing India supporters beginning to leave gaps in the stands, Sri Lanka flags were popping up all over, waving proudly in the evening breeze. Sri Lanka may have been traditionally late to the party – but the party has now officially started.Not only did they beat India, setting up the tantalising prospect of two virtual quarter-finals, but they did it equalling their highest successful chase and with eight balls to spare. Notably, the cool contribution of the returning Mathews aside, this was a landmark moment for the new generation of Sri Lanka batsmen, after a couple of difficult years that have encompassed the retirements of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan.There is no doubt that losing three such big beasts is a significant handicap, no shame in admitting it either. When Sri Lanka reached the semi-finals of this competition four years ago (where they were rolled over by India) that august trio were their leading scorers. As they have begun to rebuild since, Sri Lanka have carried around a convenient excuse for failure, a note to be handed to the teacher before the start of class: “Sorry, Miss, we didn’t bring Sanga and Mahela.”It must be difficult, too, seeing Sangakkara touring county cricket and scoring hundreds with regal disdain – only 10 days ago, he missed out on a record-equalling sixth successive first-class ton by a mere 16 runs. Before this match, on what is now Sangakkara’s home ground with Surrey, Mathews was asked whether they had tried to get the old maestro in as a ringer. “I always asked him that,” Mathews replied. “Even a couple days ago, I was asking him can you come and play for us, you know, in this game?”Mathews was joking, but many a true word was said in jest. Now, perhaps, Sri Lanka will have the conviction they can do without. When Jayawardene turns out for Lancashire in the NatWest T20 Blast later this summer (as a local no less) Sri Lanka fans may be able to chuckle rather than be reduced to tears.Sri Lanka flags and fans were popping up all over, waving proudly in the evening breeze, as the match progressed•AFPAfterwards, Mathews had special praise for Gunathilaka. “To walk into a game knowing he wasn’t even in the 15 – Kapugedera got injured yesterday and he had to step in and open the batting against a very strong opposition – it was fantastic the way he batted, it was very pleasing. Kusal Mendis and Danushka played with a lot of freedom and that really set us a platform, made it so much easier for myself and Kusal Perera and the middle order. Don’t forget Asela [Gunaratne]. That little cameo really won us the game. It was a fantastic batting effort.”Having been comfortably beaten here by South Africa at the weekend, Sri Lanka stuttered out of the blocks again. India were inserted after Mathews won the toss but much of what followed felt pre-programmed. Their fast bowlers bent the knee, rather than their backs – though on an admittedly docile track – and never looked like making the inroads that overcast conditions might have promised. Lasith Malinga’s first ball was a wide long-hop that Rohit Sharma eased to the boundary.Malinga began his second spell with a wide, too, then commenced his next over with a juicy half-volley that Shikhar Dhawan spanked through the covers to bring up his fifty. Malinga’s resurrection for this tournament, having not played an ODI for 18 months, feels increasingly like rolling out a battered T-800 with an Arnold Schwarzenegger mask strapped on, the returns diminishing along with later instalments of the franchise.But if the aging stars are no longer guaranteed box office, then it’s time for a reboot with new men in leading roles. Gunathilaka and Mendis made eye-catching contributions on this ground a year ago, though their pair of half-centuries were ultimately dwarfed by Jason Roy’s 162. Gunathilika’s fast hands set the tone for Sri Lanka’s chase this time around, flashing the first boundary in the fifth over, a riposte to Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s dismissal of Niroshan Dickwella.Predictions about India’s much-vaunted attack were confounded, the bowling made to look flatter than your average election pollster, wearily trying to come up with a formula that works in the modern age. Gunathilaka stepped out to straight drive Jasprit Bumrah, using 144 kph to his own advantage, and then slapped Hardik Pandya for six to go to fifty. Mendis had a life on 24 when Pandya could not hold a return chance but then set about neutralising Jadeja, three fours and a six whipped impudently through the leg side to expose a previously hidden imbalance in India’s XI.Throughout the second half of the match, as the unthinkable became imaginable, then inevitable, the lone troupe of players kept up their jaunty rhythm, an island of resistance in a sea of India tricolours and drumbeats. “Nava gilunath baan choon,” they say – even if the ship sinks, the party will go on. Well, Sri Lanka are still afloat and the party is in full swing.

So you know his average and that he was dismissed for a duck in his last innings, but do you know what his favourite subject was in school?

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Aug-2017

Not for the first time has the PCB tried to shake up domestic cricket in the country, but now, they may well have hurt the chances of young players desperate to break into the first-class tournament

Hassan Cheema14-Jul-2017The traditional annual event remains one of the pillars of modern sports. There are the Christmas Day games in the NBA, Boxing Day games in the Premier League, the Boxing Day Test and the Bastille Day stage of the Tour de France. Each of them is laden with tradition and helps keep these sports popular in their respective countries. Pakistan cricket too has its traditions. Devoid of any international cricket at home, it is admirable that the cricket fraternity here continues to persist with them. The greatest of those traditions is the annual domestic cricket reform. Much like traditional holidays they promise much and they leave you feeling empty inside when it’s all over.These domestic reforms aren’t regurgitated though – like every snowflake each of them is unique. To describe them all would waste time both yours and mine, but while Australia’s Sheffield Shield and the English County Championship have had more or less the same format and participants for decades, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy – Pakistan’s foremost first-class competition – bucks the trend.

Changes to the QeA Trophy

Season Number of teams1999-00 112000-01 122001-02 182001-02 242002-03 92003-04 92004-05 112005-06 72006-07 72007-08 222008-09 222009-10 222010-11 122011-12 122012-13 142013-04 142014-15 122015-16 162016-17 16Thus the fact that there is another potential reform of domestic cricket on the way elicits little more than a shrug.Except this time around there are, actually, significant changes. The move away from substandard Grays balls to Dukes is a welcome if overdue one. And the introduction of the draft promises a level of meritocracy that’s been mostly absent from the Pakistani game. Or it would if Pakistan cricket existed in a vacuum.Since the draft for the first PSL the PCB has begun to think of a draft, any draft, as the panacea it has been looking for. The Pakistan Cup, the National One-Day Cup and now, potentially, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy all will have one draft system or another. And the official logic behind each of these has been that this method removes the corruption of selection that is otherwise so prevalent in the country. If only it was a simple as that.In 2016, buoyed by the success of the PSL and its draft, the PCB repackaged the Pentangular as the “Pakistan Cup” – the new premier 50-over tournament in the country. Each of the four provinces, as well as Islamabad had teams that were to be selected by the draft. Five respected cricketers – Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Sarfraz Ahmed, Azhar Ali and Shoaib Malik – were appointed as captains to introduce a veneer of respectability.Yet as Islamabad drafted its final player, the captain of that team – Misbah – reportedly walked out. That final pick had been of Arsal Sheikh. Ordinarily this would not have been that big a deal, except that Arsal is the son of Shakeel Sheikh, who just happens to be the head of the Islamabad Region Cricket Association, a member of the PCB’s Governing Board and a former head of the PCB’s Cricket Committee.An uproar in the media followed – not over the selection of Arsal – but at the ignoring of the outstanding players from Pakistan’s under-19 World Cup just a few weeks prior to this draft. Thus the PCB opted to expand the draft by one more round allowing each of the five teams to select a player from the under-19 World Cup squad, and so Hassan Mohsin and Shadab Khan were selected.Once the tournament started, Shadab would play the first three matches, take five wickets, and with Misbah not available for the fourth game, would be dropped for Arsal.A year on from that episode, we will be told by the PCB that the draft system is immune from selections which may be perceived as nepotism.Let’s ignore the fact that these proposed changes emerged from a PCB meeting involving its major domestic stakeholders. Let’s especially ignore the fact that this meeting was chaired by Shakeel Sheikh. Let’s also ignore that sat next to him in the meeting was the recently appointed Director Cricket Operations for the PCB, Haroon Rasheed. A cursory Google search tells us that in 2014 the PCB created a four-man committee for domestic cricket reform – two of the four men were Sheikh and Haroon Rasheed. In 2009 the PCB had a similar committee – two of the five men in that were Sheikh and Rasheed. There are probably many other such committees but Googling any further would be pointless, because we know what that would throw up. Perhaps the reason Pakistan has had the same domestic system for two seasons in a row (2015-16 and 2016-17) might be that Rasheed was too busy being the chief selector to be part of domestic reform. Now free of those duties he can return to his calling.The proposed reforms state that eight players in every QeA regional squad will be selected from the region itself and 12 drafted in. In an ideal world those first eight would be the best possible players available. But considering the nepotism and favouritism that is rampant it isn’t likely to be the case. There are a hundred such cases dotting the country; each region has its own. The only reason the Pakistan Cup story is known is because of how high profile an event it was.In any case, the result of the latest reforms could well be that the majority of the eight slots end up being filled by men with the biggest clout. The 12 players that will be selected via the draft will be departmental players, meaning these are the players who have already established themselves in the domestic game. And so the tiny window that all youngsters have in this country to reach the first-class level will be closed. In one fell swoop, the PCB plans to cut off the small pipeline that keeps Pakistan cricket alive, and will denude the powers of the regions even further.And that’s the important thing to remember here. For all the corruption, for all the nepotism, for all the incompetence it’s these regions that have kept Pakistan cricket alive. It is they who oversee the clubs that are the entry point into the professional game. It is they who develop kids into cricketers. It is they who provide opportunities to the players to shine on the domestic stage. And when that player signs up with a department, with its promise of higher, regular salary and job security, these regions return to do that process again. The regional associations may be crooked – and there is very little doubt that they aren’t – but it is they who make Pakistan cricket work. This move would reverse the progress of a stagnated system.But there is not much cause for alarm. Even if these reforms are enacted you can be sure that there will be a domestic cricket committee in 2019 that will reverse these decisions. And we already know two of the members of that committee.

The stats highlights from the opening day of the Nagpur Test include the Ashwin-Thirimanne history, the Jadeja-Ashwin partnership, Karunaratne’s prolific 2017, and more

S Rajesh24-Nov-2017A no-contestWhen R Ashwin dismissed Lahiru Thirimanne in the morning session, not many would have been surprised. After all, this had already happened 11 times previously in all international cricket – six times in ODIs, five times in Tests, and once in T20Is. It is the most times he has dismissed any batsman, and the most times any bowler has dismissed Thirimanne in international cricket.Since the start of 2010, only two bowler-batsman pairs are higher in this list: Mahela Jayawardene-Saeed Ajmal, and Mohammad Hafeez-Dale Steyn. Both Thirimanne and Ashwin feature once more in the top five – Thirimanne has been Anderson’s bunny as well, while Ashwin has had plenty of success against David Warner as well.In terms of frequency of dismissal, though, the Ashwin-Thirimanne one is better than any of the other entries in the top five. Of the 18 times that Ashwin has bowled to Thirimanne in internationals, he has dismissed him 12 times, which is a frequency of one dismissal every 1.5 innings.

Ashwin v Thirimanne in each format

Format Runs Balls Outs AveTests 60 151 5 12ODIs 75 138 6 12.5T20Is 2 5 1 2The Ashwin-Jadeja partnershipFor the 24th time in a home Test, Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were a part of India’s team, and as usual, they wreaked havoc on the opposition batsmen, combining to take 7 for 123 to bundle Sri Lanka out for 205. In these 24 Tests, they have combined to take 273 wickets at 20.94, with 22 five-wicket hauls between them. In these 24 matches, these two bowlers have taken 64% of India’s bowler-wickets; the other bowlers have combined to take 155 scalps at 33.35.

Ashwin and Jadeja, in the home Tests they’ve played together

Bowler Tests Wkts Ave 5WIR Ashwin 24 149 21.78 15Ravindra Jadeja 24 124 19.91 7

Ashwin+Jadeja v the other bowlers in these 24 home Tests

Bowler Tests Wkts Ave 5WIAshwin+Jadeja 24 273 20.94 22The rest 24 155 33.35 1Those numbers compare favourably with those of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. In the 34 Tests they played together for India, they took 356 wickets at 27.23, with 30 five-fors. They combined to take 66% of the total bowler-wickets in those Tests, and, like Ashwin and Jadeja, were significantly better than the other bowlers combined.

Kumble and Harbhajan, in the home Tests they played together

Bowler Tests Wkts Ave 5WIAnil Kumble 34 201 25.57 17Harbhajan Singh 34 155 29.38 13

Kumble+Harbhajan v the rest in the 34 home Tests

Bowler Tests Wkts Ave 5WIKumble+Harbhajan 34 356 27.23 30The rest 34 187 41.40 4Karunaratne’s special yearSri Lanka would have been much happier had Dimuth Karunaratne gone on to a bigger score than his 51, but those runs were enough to make him only the second batsman to get to 1000 Test runs in 2017, after Dean Elgar. Elgar has 1097 runs in 20 innings, compared to Karunaratne’s 1000 in 23. Karunaratne has faced more deliveries than any other batsman in Tests this year, though – 2212 to Elgar’s 2162.

Top run-getters in Tests in 2017

Player Inns Runs Ave Balls 100sD Elgar (SA) 20 1097 54.85 2162 5FDM Karunaratne (SL) 23 1000 43.47 2212 3HM Amla (SA) 20 942 49.57 1733 3CA Pujara (INDIA) 15 925 66.07 2017 3For Karunaratne, 2017 has been a watershed year: his previous best aggregate in any year was 769, from 21 innings in 2015. He has also been Sri Lanka’s leading Test batsman in 2017, in terms of runs, average and hundreds.

Sri Lanka’s top run-getters in Tests in 2017

Player Inns Runs Ave 100sFDM Karunaratne 23 1000 43.47 3LD Chandimal 21 742 39.05 2N Dickwella 19 725 40.27 0BKG Mendis 20 669 33.45 2MDK Perera 19 472 29.5 0WU Tharanga 16 430 28.66 1AD Mathews 15 402 26.8 0Chandimal’s 3000The top-scorer in Sri Lanka’s innings, Dinesh Chandimal, had a personal milestone to celebrate too, becoming the 13th Sri Lankan batsman reach 3000 Test runs. That would be a small crumb of comfort, though, given the way the team collapsed after winning the toss.

It was a case of role reversal on the opening day at Headingley. Did the sun work against Pakistan?

Osman Samiuddin at Headingley01-Jun-20181. Winning the tossThe toss-winning side has won only once in the last eight Tests at Headingley. Sarfraz Ahmed had not won a toss since becoming Test captain (in four Tests). This was a bad time to start. Poor form.b) Batting first after winning the tossOk, so it wasn’t wrong. At the time Sarfraz won it, it was kind of sunny and the surface did look like there might be some batting in it. And in two of the last five Tests at Headingley when the side winning the toss has batted first, they’ve won one and lost one.c) Batting first after winning the toss and batting badly354, 257, 350, 298, 258, 174: Spot the odd one out.It’s the last one in case you have no idea what those numbers mean. They are the last five first innings totals at Headingley. Win the toss, lose it, bat first, bat second, if you don’t bat well it won’t matter.England bowled well. But Imam-ul-Haq, Sarfraz and Usman Salahuddin (no relation to this writer) made classic Pakistani-batsmen-in-swinging-conditions mistakes. Chasing a drive when leaving would have worked well, and aiming through midwicket when playing straight would’ve worked better.4. Headingley, wearing an ’80s outfitA long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Leeds used to be a monster swing ground. You could pitch a ball on a pitch in Sheffield and it would swing back to take middle on the match pitch. Asian batsmen turned up to be shown up.Then it stopped happening which, of course, climate change.Today it decided to swing like the 80s. In fact, since Cricviz’s records began (from 2006) the only time it has swung more in the first innings of a Headingley Test was in 2013, when New Zealand were in town. England made 354.5. England caughtI know right? They really did (well they dropped one-and-a-half catches).f) Shadab Khan is batting too lowHe’s not really. He should just be on all lists as a rule.f) i) The sunAll the hours England have put into those sun-harnessing sessions finally paid off.It was out at the toss so Sarfraz decided to bat. About three seconds after he had made the decision, Joe Root manoeuvred it back behind the clouds. They kept it there till Pakistan were 79 for 7. And then it didn’t go back in. Well played England.8) All fortune used up at Lord’sPakistan weren’t lucky at Lord’s. But England did drop more catches than there have been pictures of Harry and Meghan in the last month. And where they somehow managed to not edge deliveries at Lord’s, they edged everything here. In the parallel universe of Lord’s the delivery that dismissed Asad Shafiq would either have missed his bat, or been dropped by Alastair Cook. Here Cook grasped on to it after the juggle.Otherwise, and other than the three poor dismissals, they showed pretty much the same judgment they had in Lord’s. There they left 65 balls in the first 30 overs. Here they left 57. It’s just that the balls didn’t leave them.y) England’s batting started wellSee no. 5. Or belowz) Universities aren’t what they used to beEngland had gone 13 innings without an opening stand of 50 before Cook and Keaton Jennings got together. Jennings shouldn’t have been here if the Open University degree he’s studying for had put its foot down and not allowed him to miss an exam to be able to play. He’s studying for an accountancy degree by the way and he did kind of bat like he’s studying for an accountancy degree.

All the interesting numbers from the IPL 2019 auction

Srinath Sripath18-Dec-20185:43

Agarkar: Unadkat’s salary of 8.40cr doesn’t surprise me

70 slots available, 60 filledWhile all teams filled their full overseas quota of eight players, only three of them – Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals – filled all 25 slots in their squad. Kolkata Knight Riders ended with 21 players, the fewest in the field.Caribbean hit a 6, England’s fiferWest Indies ended up with the highest representation among overseas sides, with as many as six of their stars attracting bids. With most of them coming at relatively low, below-one-crore base prices, they were all snapped up for a cumulative INR 17 crores, five times their combined base price of INR 3.4 crores. England, despite their players not being available after April 25, 2019 – they will miss almost half the tournament – ended up with five players, all first-timers, being bought. Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Denly, Harry Gurney and Liam Livingstone are all set to make their IPL bow in 2019.