The top order had the experience to bail out their inexperienced attack, but they instead went down in abject fashion

Andrew Fidel Fernando19-Mar-2023Angelo Mathews, Dimuth Karunaratne, and Dinesh Chandimal have all been on four Test tours to New Zealand (this one included). Kusal Mendis has been there three times. Dhananjaya de Silva twice. By now, they’ve sat through days worth of meetings and analysis on how to bat in New Zealand, pored through many hours of footage of the opposition, discussed leaving on length at length, and – such are this team’s predilections – likely become family friends with Nandos staff across the country.The attack has the excuse of inexperience. They have not toured New Zealand anywhere near as much, have a much more complicated history with injuries, and anyway are treated with borderline disdain at home, where pitches frequently make them comedic props in the spin bowlers’ dramatic production. And while New Zealand have had a difficult World Test Championship cycle, their batting order is studded with an all-time superstar in Kane Williamson, a reliable hand in Tom Latham, and batters who have made very bright starts to what promise to be long careers in Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell, and Tom Blundell.Their bowling? Well, you’ve kinda gotta maybe say that they were a more daunting proposition in the bad old days when Trent Boult and Tim Southee curved the ball snarl viciously from either end, before Neil Wagner summoned bouncers from the depths of hell in the peak Wagnerball era.Related

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If one didn’t nick you off swinging it one way, the other would get you lbw swinging it the other. And if you survived all of that, the other guy would jam your fingers against the bat with a ball that rocketed off the pitch, his team-mates gathering around to kindly check on you as you writhed around in pain, knowing your tour was over.It is almost to be expected that Sri Lanka’s attack had as poor a first innings as they did in Wellington. On day one, they were battling a near-gale. On top of which, New Zealand’s best batter was incandescent. And there was also the debutant wicketkeeper, who missed a vital catch (he missed a straightforward one off Henry Nicholls on the first evening).

“Their bowling inexperience had made a victory almost impossible, but on day three, batting incompetence sent Sri Lanka nosediving towards defeat”

But for Sri Lanka’s batters to have as poor a day three as this? Just a single 50-plus partnership, and all out for 164, in testing, but not unplayable batting conditions? Their bowling inexperience had made a victory almost impossible, but on day three, batting incompetence sent Sri Lanka nosediving towards defeat.Across that first innings, Sri Lanka made what might be termed rookie mistakes. Late on day two, Mendis saw a short, wide delivery, and failed to hit it far enough away from Conway, who dived spectacularly to his left to intercept it. Mendis has been at the ground for a number of otherworldly New Zealand catches. When they are feeling themselves, this is what New Zealand do.Then, the next day, Mathews fished at one he shouldn’t have. Chandimal charged offspinner Michael Bracewell and went through with his doomed heave to legside when he might have played defensively when he realised he wasn’t getting to the pitch of the ball. Dhananjaya de Silva ran at Bracewell also, and chipped him softly to the catcher at midwicket – perhaps the softest dismissal of the day. Karunaratne played much better than his team-mates, reaching 50 twice in one day. But then he failed to make a century out of either one, holing out twice in the deep, with no need to fall this way in the second innings.Sri Lanka are now faced with an almost impossible climb. They are 303 runs behind, with eight wickets in hand. New Zealand’s bowlers have bowled almost 110 overs in succession, so there is hope the visitors can subject them to further fatigue, batting a wicketless first session out first thing on Monday, then clawing back the lead in the afternoon. It would not be the first time Mathews and Mendis have put on a big stand at the Basin Reserve.But Sri Lanka once again require a second-innings miracle to make something out of this game. The top order had the experience to bail out their inexperienced attack. Instead, in the first innings, they went down in abject fashion.

England have attacked unwisely, been sloppy in the field, and made selection mistakes

Ian Chappell02-Jul-2023England are looking more like a team resigned to the fate of losing the Ashes rather than the freewheeling confident bunch who felt they could comfortably achieve victory at home in any circumstances.The Australian team has great confidence and belief in captain Pat Cummins, who has proved his leadership style in a variety of conditions. England, on the other hand, are reeling, having lost a Test they thought they would win, at Edgbaston, and then seen their hopes at Lord’s dashed by all-round sloppy work in the field and a failure to cope with a bouncer attack from the opposition.Australia are growing in strength, while England are starting to question themselves, and this is a recipe for a disaster for the home side. They suffered an ignominious 4-0 hammering in Australia, and now the ugly scars are re-emerging; they’ll have trouble halting the slide.Related

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There is no doubt Ben Stokes is employing the right strategy in trying to win Test matches from the first ball; that is how the game is best played. What is in doubt is the ability of England – as they’re currently constructed – to successfully employ that strategy.England’s bowling and fielding have been disappointing, and now their batting has suffered a dramatic collapse against the short-pitched delivery. Major doubt is now evident in the English camp.It’s going to take a monumental display of strong leadership from Stokes to reboot England’s confidence to a point where they can turn the tables on Australia.Forget the first-innings declaration in the Edgbaston Test – that was a positive move. England lost that match because of their unbalanced, struggling attack, inept fielding, and their confusing and downright poor selection. They had an ageing attack that lacked variety and whose control over line and length was in question when confronted by an onslaught. They also don’t have the pace required to mount a meaningful bouncer barrage.When their batting – a source of comfort in the past – collapsed in a flurry of panicked shot-making at Lord’s, the doubts quickly resurfaced. That this occurred following a major injury to Australia’s prized offspinner Nathan Lyon only underlined England’s plight.

A bouncer barrage like Australia’s takes a physical toll on the bowlers, but if it helps secure an early series victory, the remaining Tests become a matter of coasting home

The England batters had no sensible answer when Australia resorted to a bouncer attack, and this gave Cummins’ men a huge boost. It’s true that Australia’s bowlers have the height and pace to employ bouncers well, but it helps when the opposition self-destructs. While it’s also true that a bouncer assault takes a physical toll on the bowlers, if it helps secure an early series victory, the remaining Tests become a matter of coasting home.It’s all well and good for England to say “That’s the way we play”, but when wild and woolly shot-making like in the first innings at Lord’s is on display, it’s time for the batters to answer some serious questions.In the field England are struggling to combat Steve Smith’s monumental thirst for runs, Usman Khawaja’s stubbornness, and the aggression of Travis Head. In addition, David Warner has shown tremendous resolve to overcome Stuart Broad’s domination. In the face of Australia’s determination, England needed to field superbly but they failed dismally.England’s error-ridden selection was summed up by Moeen Ali’s recall. he was not a successful spinner against Australia even at his peak and yet England chose to bring him back, making yet another serious miscalculation.Now that England’s batting has stumbled and fallen, the selection blunders become more apparent. In the past England haven’t been quick to change tack and resolve thorny issues. I’ll be surprised if the modus operandi changes under this selection group, while Australia are likely to go from strength to strength.Trying to win from the first ball is admirable, but gifting your wicket to the opposition with reckless shot-making is not a tactic designed to beat good sides. Australia under Cummins are a good side.

Najmul Hossain Shanto joined an exclusive list for Bangladesh with his twin tons in Mirpur

Sampath Bandarupalli17-Jun-2023546 Bangladesh’s win margin by runs in Mirpur is the third biggest in the history of Test cricket. England defeated Australia by 675 runs in 1928 at the Gabba, the biggest win by runs in Tests. England were on the receiving end six years later, losing to Australia by 562 runs at The Oval.661 Bangladesh’s second-innings lead against Afghanistan. Only seven times did any team have a higher lead at the end of their second innings in a Test match. It is also the highest second-innings lead for any team in a five-day Test, bettering New Zealand’s 659-run lead against Sri Lanka in the 2018 Christchurch Test.14 Wickets for Bangladesh pacers in Mirpur are the most for them in a Test match, surpassing the 13 scalps shared against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui at the start of 2022. The Bangladesh quick bowlers claimed eight wickets in Afghanistan’s first innings, the most by them in a Test innings at home.Related

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2 Batters with centuries in both innings of a Test match for Bangladesh, including Najmul Hossain Shanto in Mirpur. Mominul Haque was the first batter from Bangladesh with twin hundreds in a Test match, a feat he achieved against Sri Lanka in 2018 in Chattogram. Shanto’s 270 runs against Afghanistan are also the second-most runs in a Test match for Bangladesh, behind Mominul’s 281 against Sri Lanka.82.82 Shanto’s batting strike rate in this match is the fourth-highest for any batter when scoring hundreds in both innings of a Test match (where balls-faced data is available). The highest is 90.90 for David Warner during his 135 and 145 against South Africa in the 2014 Cape Town Test.261 Runs aggregated by Afghanistan in this Test are the lowest for any team in a match against Bangladesh while being bowled out twice. The previous lowest was 354 runs by West Indies in 2018, also in Mirpur. Afghanistan’s 261 runs are also the third lowest for a team in a Test match in Bangladesh.151 Test wickets for Mehidy Hasan Miraz. He is only the third bowler to complete the milestone for Bangladesh, after Shakib Al Hasan (233) and Taijul Islam (177).

The USA and MI New York spinner believes there’s no substitute for hard work where he comes from

Peter Della Penna17-Jul-2023In the summer of 2016, a 25-year-old hospital equipment diagnostics technician showed up to an open tryout at a typically unkempt cricket outfield with an artificial jute matting wicket in the Bronx, New York. He was hoping somebody would notice him and give him a shot to go a little further on the pathway to play for the USA national team.That goal was itself only a way of going from one amateur pursuit to another, since USACA was a year into their suspension and a year away from expulsion by the ICC, while the rest of the USA ecosystem was in limbo and the thought of a professional career was a mirage in the desert of the American cricket landscape.Left-arm spinner Nosthush Kenjige might as well have been Moses on that day at Van Cortlandt Park, a stranger in a strange land. VCP is a place where cricket has been played for more than 100 years – mostly anonymously – at the Parade Ground between 244th and 252nd Streets just off the Henry Hudson Parkway. Though he was born in Alabama and was a US citizen, Kenjige had spent almost his entire life living in Karnataka and had only come back to the USA late in 2015, initially to Virginia before quickly moving north to New York City, and taking up a job inspecting hospital MRI and X-Ray machines. Barring the friends he quickly made after joining Columbia Cricket Club, nobody knew who he was, let alone how to pronounce his name.Related

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Fast forward seven years, and Kenjige is taking the new ball in Grand Prairie Stadium for MI New York. With his third delivery of the night, he beats Martin Guptill’s attempted sweep and lets out an excited and knowing plead for lbw before umpire Billy Taylor obliges with a finger raise. It’s validation for all of the hard work that Kenjige has put in to get to this moment, going from an amateur club cricketer in New York to a centrally contracted player with the USA national team, and now also representing a professional T20 franchise tied to New York and the IPL.”It’s been unreal,” Kenjige said in the post-match press conference after MI New York’s 105-run demolition of LA Knight Riders, a match in which he finished with figures of 2 for 7 in three overs and also took two catches in the field. “To just get the tournament started, I know we were all eagerly looking forward to it for the last one or two years and to have such good teams and such good management teams which are running the teams, it just feels unreal. To have such good cricketers from all around the world playing right here in Dallas, this is all what we wanted from the USA cricketing point of view. So I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”It means a lot. I think there’s a lot of responsibility on the local guys as well. Local and the other USA cricketers who are playing this tournament because a lot of kids look up to us and they see us practice. They look at us going through the fitness regimes and they want to play for the country and obviously for them to see us playing alongside the superstars of the game, it just motivates them even more. So I think it’s a big responsibility for us to do the right things all the time, even when nobody’s looking.”

“To have such good cricketers from all around the world playing right here in Dallas, this is all what we wanted from the USA cricketing point of view”Kenjige says the MLC still feels ‘unreal’

That last line sums up the majority of Kenjige’s cricket journey, literally and figuratively. The 32-year-old is the epitome for what it takes to make it grafting away in the USA cricket scene. After Kenjige had been identified as a genuine prospect at the 2016 VCP open tryout in New York, he took a five-wicket haul at a USA intra-squad trial two months later in Florida and the USA men’s selection panel, at the time headed by former West Indies international Ricardo Powell, gave him a heads up that they were interested, but that he was currently ineligible to play for USA until he met some additional requirements.Though he was a US citizen, the ICC eligibility rules at the time in 2016 stated that someone who had not been living in the USA for at least four years must demonstrate a commitment to the local community, which could be done through completing 100 days of coaching in the country. According to the ICC definition, 100 days equaled eight hours. So Kenjige would work a normal 9-5 pm shift going around hospitals in New York City inspecting x-ray machines, then drive to an indoor facility and do four hours of coaching on every weeknight from 6 to 10 pm.On weekends, he would come to the same facility from 10 am until 6 pm to do more coaching with academy players. Before long the owners of the facility gave him his own key so that he could lock up the place after taking a few more hours to spot bowl in the nets on his own after everyone else had left. By February 2017, he had completed his 100 days of coaching and was deemed eligible to represent USA. He took another five-wicket haul at another USA national team intra-squad scrimmage in March 2017 in Houston, and was immediately picked to play for USA on a World Cricket League tour of Uganda.Kenjige has been a fixture in the USA setup since 2017•Peter Della PennaHe’s been a fixture in the USA setup ever since, and has since migrated from New York to Dallas, leaving the world of hospital equipment inspecting behind in favor of a place where the weather and facilities are more conducive to year-round cricket playing and training. He is an active coach and mentor with the MLC-affiliated Mustangs Academy. But getting a chance to perform on the T20 franchise stage and running with it now puts Kenjige onto a different level.”Nosh doing so well, it makes me so happy,” LA Knight Riders bowler Ali Khan, Kenjige’s USA team-mate, said. Ali himself has gone through a similar journey to Kenjige, starting off life in the USA as a mobile phone salesman while playing for USA in his free time as an unpaid amateur before finally striking it big in the summer of 2018. “He’s been working hard, a really hard-working guy, and a lot of other players who are also working hard. They’re just waiting for the opportunity and the opportunity is here now and it’s up to them now to avail it with both hands and I’m sure the world will see a lot of talent coming up now.”Just one innings or one spell can change your life because all these players are here. Just like I played with [Dwayne] Bravo in a local tournament and I did well and he picked me in other leagues. Then that changed my life. So just one opportunity, one good performance can change your life.”Kenjige was USA’s leading wicket-taker at the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe•ICC/Getty ImagesKenjige was USA’s leading wicket-taker at the recent ICC World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, one of the few bright spots on a team that finished winless and in last place. Though he has been in every 50-over squad for USA since his maiden call-up in 2017, he has not played in T20 cricket for USA since September 2018 at the ICC Americas Subregional T20 Qualifier in North Carolina. He was USA’s leading wicket-taker in that event, with 12 wickets in six matches before being mysteriously left out of USA’s squad for the ICC Americas T20 Regional Final in Bermuda in 2019, and has yet to make his official T20I debut for USA.However, MI New York scouted him and rated him highly enough before the MLC Draft in March that they invested a fourth round draft pick in him at the $40,000 slot level. Mahela Jayawardene singled Kenjige out for special praise stating that, “We honestly thought that Nosh would probably go in round two or three” and that, “as soon as we had the opportunity, we grabbed him. He’s one of the best left-arm spinners going around the US. He knows these conditions better than anyone else and he’s a two or three phase bowler. He bowls in the powerplay, which is a massive thing for us, being a left-arm spinner, and a good character as well. He’s not afraid of a challenge.”Whether or not having a stellar debut for MI New York on his resume will get him back into USA’s 2024 T20 World Cup squad plans remains to be seen. For now, Kenjige is focused on continuing to do well with MI New York and will let the chips fall where they may when it comes to a possible recall in USA’s T20 side.”It’s just about what I can do with the bat and the ball and the field,” Kenjige said. “Apart from that in terms of words or sentences, it’s not gonna go a long way. So I think it’s best to just leave the performances on the field and I know at some point I will get an opportunity and I just need to be ready for it.”

And is Virat Kohli the fastest to 20 ODI centuries?

Steven Lynch12-Sep-2023I noticed that Jos Buttler captained England on his birthday recently. How rare is this? asked Jennifer Roberts from England
Jos Buttler skippered England in a one-day international against New Zealand last week in Cardiff on September 8, his 33rd birthday. Things started well as he top-scored for England with 72, but he ended up on the losing side.Captaining on a birthday is reasonably common: this was the 31st such instance in men’s ODIs, and it was followed next day by the 32nd – Dasun Shanaka skippered Sri Lanka against Bangladesh during the Asia Cup in Colombo on his 32nd birthday. The only other Englishman to do it was Andrew Strauss, in what ended up as a sensational defeat by Ireland during the World Cup in Bangalore on March 2, 2011, his 34th birthday.Tamim Iqbal has made something of a habit of this, captaining Bangladesh in three ODIs on his birthday (March 20) in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Viv Richards and Arjuna Ranatunga both did it twice.There have been 15 instances in men’s T20Is, including another one by Shanaka (in 2022), and one by New Zealand’s Tom Latham (April 2), who also did in an ODI.There have been more cases in Tests, but only 21 occasions when a captain had his birthday on the first day of the match, when he presumably tossed up. The first instance of this actually featured both skippers: on March 11, 1953, in Georgetown, Jeff Stollmeyer (West Indies) turned 32, and Vijay Hazare (India) 38.Virat Kohli captained India in a Test against South Africa in Mohali that started on his 27th birthday (November 5) in 2015, and in a T20I against Scotland on his 33rd, in Dubai during the 2021 World Cup.I read that Tim David was the first to play a one-day international having previously played T20s for a different country. Is that correct? asked Mason Edwards from Australia
It’s not quite true. The hard-hitting Tim David played his first one-day international for Australia last week, against South Africa in Bloemfontein last week. He had previously played 28 T20Is, the first 14 of them for Singapore, where he was born in 1996. The particular distinction achieved by David is that he is the first man who made his official international debut for a country that doesn’t play ODIs to appear in one, obviously after being selected by a country that does play them. (In case it helps the explanation, Mark Chapman, who is now playing for New Zealand, previously appeared for Hong Kong – but they did have ODI status, and he played two such matches for them, as well as 19 T20Is, before New Zealand chose him.)By a remarkable coincidence, the first woman to achieve this unusual double completed it on the same day as David: on September 9, Mahika Gaur made her ODI debut for England, against Sri Lanka in Chester-le Street, after 19 T20Is for United Arab Emirates (and two in recent weeks for England). The UAE’s women’s team does not have ODI status.Which man has the best bowling figures in The Hundred? asked James Narracott from England
The best bowling figures in the men’s Hundred are 5 for 11, by the South African-born Manchester Originals legspinner Calvin Harrison against Northern Superchargers at Old Trafford last month. Harrison bettered the mark set in 2022 by another Originals player, Josh Little, who took 5 for 13 against Oval Invincibles, also at Old Trafford.There have been three other five-fors, by Marchant de Lange (5 for 20 for Trent Rockets), Imran Tahir and Henry Brookes (who both took 5 for 25 for Birmingham Phoenix). For the full list, click here. The only bowler to take five wickets in an innings in the women’s Hundred is Fi Morris – 5 for 7 for Manchester Originals against Birmingham Phoenix at Old Trafford in 2023.Hashim Amla is the fastest to 20 ODI hundreds, getting there in 25 fewer innings than the next fastest, Virat Kohli•AFPVirat Kohli scored his 20th ODI hundred in his 133rd innings. Has anyone got to 20 faster than Virat? asked Vikram Ramaswamy from India
The only man to reach 20 one-day international centuries quicker than Virat Kohli’s 133 innings is the South African Hashim Amla, who got there in 108. In third place is Australia’s David Warner who scored his 20th century in his 142nd ODI innings, against South Africa in Bloemfontein last week.Only 12 others have scored as many as 20 centuries in ODIs. AB de Villiers reached the mark in 175 innings, Rohit Sharma in 183, Ross Taylor 195, Sachin Tendulkar 197, Sourav Ganguly 214, Herschelle Gibbs 217, Chris Gayle 226, Saeed Anwar 243, Ricky Ponting 244, Tillakaratne Dilshan 279, Sanath Jayasuriya 350 and Kumar Sangakkara 366.Both captains during India’s Asia Cup match against Nepal were called Rohit. How rare is this? asked Husein Bharmal from Oman
The captains in that Asia Cup match in Pallekele last week were Rohit Sharma of India and Rohit Paudel of Nepal. The only previous instance of the captains sharing the same first name in ODIs was in Perth in 1990-91, when Australia were skippered by Allan Border and England by Allan Lamb.Border and Lamb also opposed each other in one Test, in Brisbane a few weeks earlier; other instances involved Herbie Taylor (South Africa) and Herbie Collins (Australia) in three Tests in 1921-22, and Jack Ryder (Australia) and Jack White (England) in one match in 1928-29. The only case in T20Is was by Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan) and Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan) in 2013-14.Molly Dive (Australia) and Molly Hide (England) opposed each other in four women’s Tests (three in 1948-49 and one in 1951), and Mary Duggan (England) and Mary Allitt (Australia) in three in 1963. Clare Connor (England) and Clare Shillington (Ireland) captained in an ODI in Pretoria during the 2005 World Cup. (I’ve tried to use the forenames by which the players were usually known, but nicknames or shortened versions of names might mean these lists are not quite complete, so, for example, Steve Waugh and Stephen Fleming did not show up in our query.)Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

The 50-over World Cup winner leaves opponents in awe of his strokeplay during blistering innings

Hemant Brar23-Nov-20231:53

Inglis on his century – ‘Nice to get the monkey off the back’

Josh Inglis has left everyone in awe.Mukesh Kumar is scratching his head. Axar Patel and Rinku Singh have wry smiles on their faces. Suryakumar Yadav, India’s stand-in captain, cannot help applauding.In the tenth over during the first T20I in Visakhapatnam, Mukesh marginally missed his length with the yorker. Inglis took it on the full, used his wrists to open the face of the bat beyond 90°, and hit it into the turf. The ball flew off the surface, beating the backward point to his left and leaving the deep third with no chance of stopping it.No one in world cricket plays such shots better, or more regularly, than Suryakumar. In fact, he has even hit sixes off those deliveries over that region. Still, he was seen shadow-practising what Inglis had just done. There couldn’t have been a bigger compliment.Inglis is no stranger to inventive strokeplay. On his T20I debut against Sri Lanka last year, facing just his fourth ball, he reverse-swept Wanindu Hasaranga through point for four. On Thursday, however, he opened his account with a textbook cover-drive off the first ball he faced, from Ravi Bishnoi.Related

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Australia had lost Matthew Short from the previous ball. But on a small ground and a belter of a pitch, they knew they had to attack all the way through. Inglis was up to the task. The only time he looked a bit handcuffed was when Axar cramped him with the arm-ball. But after three dots, Axar pitched one short and wide, and Inglis duly dispatched it to the boundary.From there on, it was a complete domination. In the eighth over of the innings, Inglis hit Prasidh Krishna for three fours and a six in one over as the fast bowler struggled with his line and length. Till then, that six – clearing the deep-backward point fielder via a back-foot punch – was the shot of the match. But the night was still young. A couple of overs later, Inglis bettered it, at least in the eyes of his opponents, with the aforementioned four off Mukesh.He reserved the severest punishment for Bishnoi, off whom he scored 49 from just 15 balls. Six of his eight sixes came against the legspinner, three in one over. It was not that Inglis was targeting a particular area. He scored all around the wicket – 54 runs came on the off-side and 56 on the leg – which meant India couldn’t restrict him by packing one side and bowling there.Having brought up his fifty off 29 balls, Inglis needed only 18 more to get to his hundred. It was the joint-fastest T20I hundred by an Australia batter, equalling Aaron Finch’s 47-ball effort against England in 2013. En route to the milestone, he reverse-scooped a full delivery from Arshdeep Singh over short third for four, once again impressing Suryakumar.Despite Steven Smith scoring only 52 off 41, Inglis’ 110 off 50 balls powered Australia to 208 for 3. Eventually, it didn’t prove to be enough as India chased it down with one ball to spare. But Inglis has seen far bigger ups and downs in life.Josh Inglis shows his inventive side•BCCIThere was a time when he wasn’t able to convert his starts in first-class cricket. After 34 matches, he averaged 28.15 with nine fifties and no hundred. He overcame that by working with a sports psychologist and spending more time with his batting coach. In the next 18 games, he has scored at 44.27 and notched up four hundreds.During that time, he and Alex Carey were contesting for a place in the 2021-22 Ashes squad after Tim Paine stepped away from the game for a mental-health break. The selectors went with Carey. The following year, Inglis was picked as Matthew Wade’s back-up for the 2022 T20 World Cup, but a freak golf injury ruled him out of the tournament.But things have been looking up in 2023. During the recently concluded ODI World Cup, he replaced Carey as the first-choice 50-over keeper, and scored 58 off 59 against Sri Lanka in his second game. In his next six innings, he could manage only 96 runs at an average of 16.00 but had the team management’s backing all the way through to the title.Inglis has also replaced Wade in the T20I side, or at least that is what it now looks like. When Australia played a three-match T20I series in South Africa earlier this year, Inglis played all the games with Wade warming the bench.Even though Wade is the captain, and the first-choice keeper, for this five-match T20I series, he isn’t sure if he will be the first-choice keeper for next year’s T20 World Cup. And Inglis’ innings hasn’t made things any easier. But Wade was full of praise for the “terrific knock”.”I was just speaking to him and asking if he wants to go back down the order,” Wade said after the game. “But I don’t think we are seeing that for a while . To come out at No. 3 and play shots from ball one… he was the class better on the night.”

He was virtually the last option considered to replace Warner, but there is merit behind the call

Alex Malcolm12-Jan-20241:43

Why has Steve Smith been pushed up the order to replace David Warner?

It took a while for Australia’s selectors to realise Steven Smith was serious about opening the batting.Australia’s best Test batter since Bradman opening? Risk him against the lottery that can be the new ball? The gut feel from those who heard it was to dismiss it out of hand. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.Australia’s hierarchy had been softening the ground for a reshuffled batting order for some time but none of the limited public utterances from the selectors about who might open had featured Smith’s name, despite the fact they had known he had an interest in doing it for some time.Related

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No ghosts of 2018: overlooking Bancroft 'purely a cricketing decision'

But when Smith declared his desire publicly on day three of the Sydney Test things escalated, although it didn’t immediately seal the deal. Captain Pat Cummins and coach Andrew McDonald both spoke to the media 24 hours later and both still cautioned against the idea.Things instead shifted significantly between Saturday and George Bailey’s press conference on Wednesday where he announced that Smith would be Australia’s newest Test opener.It is quite an incredible turn of events. Thirty-four-year-olds with 9514 Test runs at an average of 58.01 and 32 Test hundreds, all of which have been scored between Nos. 3-6, don’t suddenly turn around and enthusiastically volunteer to do the toughest batting job in Test cricket. If anything, they slide further away from the new ball, as Ricky Ponting and Allan Border did late in their careers.What has become evident is how extreme Smith’s desire is for a fresh challenge. The selectors needed to know that he was in for the long haul. They needed to know that if he was knocked over cheaply by the new ball a couple of times in the West Indies series, or if he lost his wicket having to bat for 10 minutes late in a day, that Smith would not backflip on his stated desire and request a move back to No. 4.Who’s the new kid? Steven Smith has never opened before in Test or first-class cricket•AFP/Getty ImagesThe answer they got, it appears, was unequivocal. He’s all in. Bailey called it selfless. And in many ways, it is.But there is an understated self-interest in it. An element of self-preservation perhaps. It is becoming clear that Smith may not have been long for Test cricket without a circuit-breaker. Marnus Labuschagne stated publicly that Smith was excited and re-energised by the thought of a new challenge. That sentiment has been echoed privately.Smith had stated at the start of the Australia Test summer that he is taking things day-by-day. There have been questions about his Test future for over twelve months and he has never once squashed them with an emphatic declaration of his future commitment in the same manner that Nathan Lyon has declared his stated aim to reach the 2027 Ashes.He is, of course, under no obligation to do so. But there is a strong suspicion that Smith won’t indulge in a David Warner-esque long goodbye. That he might wake up one day and decide the once insatiable thirst for churning out Test runs isn’t there and act on that thought without much hesitation.Which is what makes his request to move to the top of the order even more intriguing. It appears that batting No. 4 for Australia has become Groundhog Day for Smith. He’s been there and done it over and over and over again. There isn’t a scenario he hasn’t seen. There isn’t a challenge he hasn’t conquered.The year just gone is a prime example. How do you get yourself motivated for a tour of India when you scored three centuries on the previous trip? How do you fire up for an away Ashes series when you averaged 110 on the last one?Smith averaged 42.22 for the year with three centuries, including one in the World Test Championship final and a Lord’s special in the Ashes. By mere mortal standards it is a good year, especially considering the conditions he played in. But by Smith’s other-worldly standards he is batting like a mere mortal.What is noticeable is that opposition teams aren’t necessarily finding it easier to knock Smith over. But they are finding ways to slow his scoring to a crawl and force him into uncharacteristic error more easily. He struck at just 46.89 in 2023 compared to 53.51 across his career. That dropped to 40 during the recent series against Pakistan.He is losing interest in the patience battle that middle overs Test batting is offering him. He’s seen it all. Neil Wagner’s short ball barrage. England’s stacked legside theory. Pakistan packed the offside in Sydney and bowled wide. He’s seen it before and solved it before. Continually being asked to do so again is wearing thin on him. Like an actor who is famous for a specific role, he is both wary and weary of being typecast.The new ball offers a new dawn. Three slips and a gully. No covers or funky leg side rings. Good bowlers attacking the channel and his stumps, with acres of space infront of him and behind him to score freely when they stray. A scoreboard reading 0 for 0 with no time to sit and watch those above him accumulate with ease before the ball softens and the bowlers stop attacking and start defending.That is a problem that Smith is keen to solve. It’s a problem that will clearly keep him motivated for awhile. It seems it will have him jumping out of bed with a new zest for batting, rather than opening the curtains to see Groundhog Day again.Cameron Green will return after being dropped at the end of the Ashes•Getty ImagesIt has afforded Australia the luxury of bringing Cameron Green in to bat at his preferred position of No. 4 behind a top three of Smith, Usman Khawaja and Labuschagne and it gives Cummins six bowlers to work with. It’s a tantalizing line-up on paper.Oddly though, despite winning at nearly every turn with very few selection blemishes to speak of the knives are already sharp if it doesn’t work. Noses have been put out of joint by the absence of an experienced first-class opener despite even Matt Renshaw conceding the selectors had clearly picked Australia’s best six batters.There is also an undercurrent of resentment already developing towards Green despite a better Shield record than the supposedly snubbed Cameron Bancroft and a Test hundred in India nine Test innings ago.The moment Australia are two-down cheaply with Smith already in the sheds instead of walking out to bat to lead the rescue mission, the why’s and what for’s will be deafening.It is hard to believe it won’t work given the calibre of player Smith is. But it is still going to look strange when he walks out to bat in Adelaide. Steven Smith, a Test opener.

With Will Jacks in the waiting, Green and Maxwell could find themselves under pressure

Shashank Kishore07-Apr-20242:19

Moody: Both Green and Maxwell are under pressure

It’s alarming and astounding all at once that Virat Kohli has contributed 38% of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s runs so far. He currently holds the Orange Cap for most runs, while striking at just over 146. He’s scored quicker only once previously, in 2016 when he played a stirring role in RCB’s march to the final with a record-breaking 973 runs.There’s been an intent to go hard from the first ball, even though it hasn’t always manifested into desired outcomes. There’s been the slowdown against spin, like you saw on Saturday when R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal tied him down with exceptional bowling in the middle overs, but there’s also been the inherent desire to try and bat through simply because of how reliant they are on him.That’s because Faf du Plessis has made 109 runs, Glenn Maxwell just 32, while Cameron Green, a big-ticket pre-auction trade, has 68 runs in five innings. Prior to Saturday’s game these three had lasted all of 133 balls across 12 innings while striking at 120. These returns are in stark contrast to 2023, when du Plessis made 730 runs at a strike rate of 153.68, while Maxwell made 400 at 183.48.Related

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It’s a different story that RCB didn’t make the playoffs even then, but their overseas combination wasn’t one of those reasons. This time around, while the playoffs are already beginning to look increasingly more distant, their struggles have also had a ripple effect on the shaky middle order.Rajat Patidar, who has had much success at No. 3, has had to float around the batting order while searching for runs himself. Anuj Rawat has found himself in one game, out the next, while Mahipal Lomror inexplicably found himself on the bench against Rajasthan Royals despite making an unbeaten 17 off eight balls in their only win (against Punjab Kings) and smashing 33 off 13 against Lucknow Super Giants when all their other batters were tied down.Dinesh Karthik too hasn’t been utilised enough in a role he has been designated to play ever since he rewrote his template to become a finisher in 2018. Against the Royals, RCB strangely held back Karthik, promoting rookie debutant Saurav Chauhan instead after Maxwell was dismissed in the 15th over with the score reading 128 for 2. They managed 183 for 3, but there was this lingering feeling that they hadn’t utilized their resources well enough.”I think batting out there for quite a bit with Virat, we found the wicket was tricky and low,” du Plessis said. “In our heads, we felt 190 would be a good score. I did feel last over or two, we could have maximized 10-15 runs more. In the evening, you saw with the dew it played much nicer. I feel now in hindsight, we should’ve pushed a little harder to get to 190-195 mark.”Andy Flower, the head coach, was a point-blank about their struggles.”We’ve got issues with our batting,” he said. “You’re being generous when you say these are early days [in the competition]. We’re one from five games, not a position any side wants to be in. We’ve got Virat in superb form but the other guys are struggling a little for form and confidence.”We’re trying to do everything we can to make them feel strong and confident. As you’ve seen in this competition, scores and aggression are going only one way, we need that confidence and aggression to put the opposition under pressure and we haven’t found that form yet.”Faf du Plessis has not been able to recreate his form from IPL 2023•AFP/Getty ImagesKohli underlined the difficulties in facing spin, with the lack of pace and bounce leaving him with few options but to just hit straight. And then you saw Sanju Samson play some of the most aesthetically pleasing shots against spin, using his feet and lofting inside-out effortlessly, squatting low and sweeping into the arc between deep square and deep midwicket during the course of his match-changing 148-run partnership with Jos Buttler.Of course, there’s a world of difference between the two spin attacks. Where Royals had Chahal and Ashwin, RCB had to make do with Himanshu Sharma and Mayank Dagar. Fundamentally, spin is a problematic area no doubt, and has the potential to leave them in a tangle even when they encounter slightly tired decks as the season progresses. This is invariably bound to put even more pressure on a misfiring batting line-up.”Of course we do discuss strike rate and aggression, it’s part of the understanding of the T20 game that the level of aggression has to be above a certain threshold and you always want to be putting the opposition under pressure,” Flower explained. “Certainly taking the aggressive option, certainly on pitches like today.”The fact is at the moment our top five aren’t in sparkling form apart from Virat and that’s a tough place to be. It’s not for lack of effort. They’re working hard. Giving it everything they’ve got bit just not firing at the moment, if we’re going to turn this around, we need them firing.”Is there a workaround?There’s a growing clamor for them to bring in Will Jacks, and for good reason. His powerplay strike rate of 164.21 is the best among batters who’ve faced a minimum of 1000 balls (a fairly big sample size to consider).In his second most-recent T20 innings in February, Jacks blasted an unbeaten 53-ball 108 to help Comilla Victorians post 239. He strikes at 146 in the middle overs. He also bowls decent off spin to boot.”RCB have to seriously consider Will Jacks,” Tom Moody said on ESPNcricinfo’s ‘T20: Time-Out’. “How they fit him in is a discussion that needs to be had. I can’t se him coming in for Faf. To me, both Maxwell and Green are under pressure.”I think your hand is forced. You can’t have a potential resource in your squad and not press the trigger particularly when you’re in the position you’re in now. If you don’t do it now, when will you do it? Your season’s already gone. I’d back Faf and Virat to open and put Will Jacks at No. 3.”This move may need RCB to drop Maxwell or Green, a position they would’ve never envisaged at the start. But in desperate times, RCB may just be forced to take desperate measures or run the risk of summoning their calculator that they dust back to life unfailingly around this time, season after season.

After a poor run in 2023, the KKR allrounder is destroying bowlers once again in T20 cricket

Hemant Brar28-Mar-20241:31

Moody: Russell looks to be back at his best

Andre Russell is batting like no batter ever has in T20 cricket.Among those with 250 or more death-over runs in a year, Russell’s strike rate of 287.50 (276 runs) in 2024 is by far the highest. Heinrich Klaasen, who seems to be batting on a different plane now, is a distant second at 261.68.During this phase, Russell averages about two sixes per over, and he’s in it for more than just a good time. Once in, Russell sees it through: he’s batted in 11 innings at the death this year and got out only three times.We’re only three months into 2024 and Russell has 474 T20 runs at an average of 67.71 and strike rate of 226.79, which is a phenomenal improvement from last year. In 2023, Russell’s 522 runs came at an average of 26.10 and his strike rate of 155.82 was his lowest in a year since 2011 (min. two innings).Russell said that a small change he made to his technique had resulted in a big impact to his game.”I have made a few [technical] changes,” he said on the eve of Kolkata Knight Riders’ game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. “I was batting in the nets in Abu Dhabi and Sunil [Narine] mentioned something to me as he was watching my technique. And I realised I was moving too much [forward].”So I worked on my stride towards the delivery. Now having a short stride is working for me. When I look at most big-hitters, they don’t really have a big stride. So that’s one thing I have done and now I have a bit more time to play the ball. I think that is the one little tweak that I have done. I am trying to move as late as possible. I have good hand speed, so I try to depend on that and just use hand-eye coordination.”!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();