All posts by n8rngtd.top

IPL 6 is a crucial season for the players with the big auction shuffle coming up next year

Siddarth Ravindran02-Apr-2013It may not be everyone’s favourite tournament but an indicator of the IPL’s status as the biggest annual competition in the cricketing calendar is the reduced number of bilateral series this season. While there have been plenty of calls for an official window, which the ICC has repeatedly ignored, the only series being played in April is the bottom-of-the-table clash between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. And the next series is England v New Zealand, beginning in mid-May. Sri Lanka have reshaped their scheduled full tour of the Caribbean to a tri-series also involving India starting June, freeing up the Chris Gayles and Lasith Malingas to play the entire IPL, window or no window.The line-up of controversies ahead of the tournament, several of which are only tangentially related to cricket, underlines the significance of the IPL in India. In Maharashtra, the opposition party doesn’t want IPL matches to be held in the state due to the drought in region, claiming each venue will use up 2.16million litres of water during the tournament. In Karnataka, Kingfisher Airlines employees have threatened to disrupt IPL matches in protest at not receiving their salaries from Vijay Mallya, owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore. In Tamil Nadu, the chief minister has barred Sri Lankan IPL cricketers from playing in Chennai, after growing political tensions over the treatment of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka.For the players, this season becomes particularly important since (almost) all of them go into the auction pool next year. That will mean additional pressure on the players, who will be well aware that a decent season this time could make them millionaires over the next few years. Just ask Saurabh Tiwary, whose 419 runs in 2010 earned him an enormous US$1.6m the following year. He has done little of note in the two seasons since, but continues to earn that fat salary from Royal Challengers. A lacklustre season, especially if you are an overseas player, and you could end up watching IPL 2014 from your couch at home.Unlike the everything-changes season of 2014, this year fans will at least be able to easily identify with their teams as the core of most teams remains unchanged, and with mainly low-profile signings. Plenty of little-known cricketers earned big bucks – including Sri Lanka spinner Sachithra Senanayake, Australia fast bowler Kane Richardson, South Africa allrounder Chris Morris, Australia allrounder Glenn Maxwell – and there will be plenty of interest to see whether any of them can repeat the star-turn that Sunil Narine provided after pocketing a bagful at the 2012 auction.The glaring exception to the trend of small names being bought was Ricky Ponting, the Australian legend who returns to the IPL after a four-year absence, and in a delicious twist will captain fellow great Sachin Tendulkar and his supposed bête noire Harbhajan Singh. With Anil Kumble also in as Mumbai’s team mentor, most of the central characters of the Bollyline controversy of the 2008 Sydney Test will share a dressing room this season.Ponting is one of the retired old guard that most fans can only watch at Twenty20 leagues like the IPL. A year after Adam Gilchrist said, “I have played my last game of cricket,” he is back leading Kings XI Punjab for another season. There’s also Muttiah Muralitharan, looking to prove he has as much guile two years after his international retirement as he did in his pomp. Sourav Ganguly may have finally hung up his boots but Rahul Dravid is still around, more than a year since he last turned out for India.

A new title sponsor has come on board, shelling out $72m for five years, nearly twice what the previous sponsor had paid; Deccan Chargers are no more a part of the IPL after defaulting on payment, but new owners were found for the franchise soon after, sold for a healthy $80m

Dravid is in charge of Rajasthan Royals, who are once again expected to find the going hard. As in the previous season, at the start of the tournament there seems to be two tiers of franchises in the competition – four out of Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians, defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers are expected to progress from the league phase, with Royals, Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Pune Warriors generally predicted to be also-rans.Warriors are the most likely of the second lot to put up a serious challenge, bolstered by the return of Yuvraj Singh and the acquisition of New Zealand’s Ross Taylor and Sri Lanka spinner Ajantha Mendis, though they will miss the experience of their first buy at the auction, Michael Clarke. Warriors could challenge Daredevils from the first group, as the loss of big-hitters in Kevin Pietersen and Taylor have weakened a team that has typically been among the favourites every year.There have been plenty of changes in the IPL since tens of thousands of Kolkata Knight Riders fans thronged the streets of Kolkata to celebrate victory last season, several of which showcased how big a draw the IPL remains. A new title sponsor has come on board, shelling out $72m for five years, nearly twice what the previous sponsor had paid; Deccan Chargers are no more a part of the IPL after defaulting on payment, but new owners were found for the franchise soon after, sold for a healthy $80m.Though the IPL continues to pull in the crowds, the television ratings in the past couple of years – while still very healthy – haven’t matched the heady highs of the Lalit Modi years (TVRs of 3.45 in 2012, compared to 3.51 in 2011, well below the 5.51 reached in 2010). Two years ago, among the first lines of commentary in the IPL was about how the tournament had been instrumental in India winning the World Cup. One of the final lines of commentary of the recently concluded home international season before the 2013 tournament was Ravi Shastri informing us how the unexpected and unprecedented whitewash of Australia had “set India up nicely for the IPL”.While the breathless haste with which the IPL followed India’s World Cup win hurt the tournament in 2011, India’s appalling overseas run in England and Australia hit the ratings in 2012. This season, with the mood in India on the upswing after the Australia victory, the organisers will be hoping for a similar upswing in the ratings.It still remains popular enough for Bollywood to consider holding back big releases till the end of the IPL season, but the league still has plenty of problems, with several franchises and franchise owners facing financial difficulties. In December, the Sahara group, owners of Pune Warriors and major sponsors of the Indian team, were ordered to pay back Rs 24,000 crores ($4.42billion) to their investors; Vijay Mallya’s companies, owners of Royal Challengers, have been weighed down by his debt-ridden airline; in February, Rajasthan Royals were fined Rs 100 crore ($18.77 million) for violating India’s foreign exchange laws, while both Royals and Kings XI Punjab were involved in a long legal battle with the organisers after they were threatened with expulsion for violating the IPL contract agreement.Despite those troubles, the IPL is set to dominate the cricketing landscape for the next couple of months, with its usual mix of cricket, Bollywood and hype.

Daniel Vettori still loves the game, but he is uncertain whether the game still loves him

David Hopps in Cardiff09-Jun-2013″When you are away from the game it probably rejuvenates your love for it.” That assessment came from Daniel Vettori as he contemplated his lengthy absence from the fray. Against Sri Lanka, in New Zealand’s first game in the Champions Trophy, Vettori finally made his return. One wonders how rejuvenated his love feels now.Vettori still loves the game, but he is uncertain whether the game still loves him. These days it gives him so much hardship. Back on the field, in his first ODI for 27 months, he gazed into its eyes, hoping his love would not go unrequited, but the game gave him mixed messages, flattering him for all it was worth, without ever suggesting that things were how they used to be.”Tell me you need me, tell me we’ll grow old together, tell me I’m still the one,” Vettori said to the game. And, in his first over, the game assured him he was still a superhero. “I’ve made you a used, dry pitch, your favourite,” said the game. But as he ran in to bowl, his body thicker these days, his movements more cumbersome, he still feared the game was looking elsewhere.He came on for the eighth over, his appetite whetted by the presence of Mahela Jayawardene, who he had picked off regularly over the years. They had first come up against each other in an ODI in Napier in 2001 and Vettori got him lbw. The habit was still ingrained in what had been his 273rd and last ODI – the World Cup semi-final in Colombo – when Jayawardene was lbw to his third ball. “Memories like that can help get you through,” said the game.New Zealand lost that match, another near miss in a major tournament, and immediately afterwards Vettori announced that he would take a prolonged rest from ODIs to prolong his Test career. He has been resting, or retiring or recuperating ever since: different words, but all signifying that the years were passing by and he was no longer on the field.This time, in Cardiff, his third ball turned and skimmed past Jayawardene’s outside edge. The next ball, tossed up higher, slid through Jayawardene’s defences and struck him on the back pad. Vettori begged the umpire, Bruce Oxenford, for the lbw decision and when it came Jayawardene knew, in his heart, that there was little point in a review.At the end of the over, Vettori was withdrawn from the attack, his immediate job done. He returned later and, in all, conceded only 16 runs in six overs, conceding boundaries to Angelo Mathews, a full toss bashed through midwicket, and to Lahiru Thirimanne, a slog sweep in the same direction. After such a lengthy lay-off, he could not have asked for much more.His spectacles glinted and tongue lolled from his mouth, with the intense concentration of a student sitting finals, just as it had always done. He demanded respect; he might have lost his litheness, but he will never lose his game sense. He took a catch too, back-pedalling five yards to clutch a routine skier from Thisara Perera at mid-on.”I’m still the one, tell me you’ll never let me go,” Vettori told the game. But the game could not be entirely oblivious to the heavy strapping on his right arm, a more ungainly approach to the crease and his limping gait at mid-on. It had heard too, about the mesh implanted into his groin earlier this year to address another injury concern. Then there was the hand pressed into the thigh whenever he bent down to field, a legacy of years of back trouble, once an endearing idiosyncracy, now a reminder of his growing vulnerability.His ambitions once stretched no further than becoming a pharmacist, after taking a degree in health sciences, but it is likely that no amounts of pills or potions will spare him now.There was a time when the game almost loved him without limits. Back in 2009, he dominated for New Zealand with bat and ball, but even then the side he led was poor and, as much as people spoke about his nous and praised him for holding New Zealand cricket together, he was landed with one of the worst captaincy records in New Zealand’s history. They even lost 4-0 in a one-day series in Bangladesh.It was good to see him back, but he did not look fit. New Zealand will give serious thought to resting him against Australia in Birmingham and keeping him for what could be more spin-friendly conditions back in Cardiff against England on Friday. But his return did not give much credence to his wish to stick around long enough for the 2015 World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand. This tournament might yet become his farewell.Most disturbing was his response when Mitchell McCleneghan bowled Mathews round his legs. He clapped his hands in delight, but hobbled in to join the celebratory huddle so slowly that by the time he arrived, the wisecracks had already ended. The achilles injury that has prevented two earlier attempts at a comeback in England this summer still seems with him.Neither will there be many times when New Zealand will wish to field two spinners, as they did today. One of Vettori’s great achievements has been to build such a record in a country with a climate not conducive to spin bowling. Nathan McCullum, who has advanced his one-day career in Vettori’s absence, has a worse bowling average, but he is a stronger batsman, and busy and purposeful in the field.But at least Vettori was spinning a cricket ball again. It was better than spinning apples. In IPL this year, about the only time he came to anybody’s attention was when he joined Sir Richard Hadlee to appear in a promotional video for New Zealand apples, complete with a powerful rock music soundtrack. Vettori tried to look tough and mean, as if spinning apples was the challenge he had been seeking all his life, but it was his head that must have been spinning.In between times, he grew a bushy brown beard, which is the sort of thing you do to pass the time in India hotel rooms when there is no cricket to be had. He was clean-shaven for his comeback, 34-years-old yet strangely full of excitement and trepidation.He came in to bat with New Zealand rocking at 70 for 5, but was unable to turn the game. He made five in an uncomfortable 15-ball stay and then fell lbw to Lasith Malinga. Replays showed that he had got an inside edge, and he knew it, but New Zealand had already used up their review.”That’s not fair,” Vettori told the game. But the game was looking away.

The curious case of watching cricket as a neutral observer in Dubai, one of the world’s odder places

Andy Zaltzman23-Oct-2013It is a curious experience watching cricket in a neutral stadium as a neutral observer. In Dubai today, as South Africa took a probably-decisive grasp on the second Test against a Pakistan team that exacerbated the stranglehold by part-asphyxiating itself, I felt like a one-man Switzerland, without the gold reserves. It is a particularly curious experience when that stadium is well over 99% empty. At the start of play, there were no discernible spectators at all, if you exclude the various staff and the players’ families. When the umpires outnumber the crowd, you know that ticket sales have been sluggish.Dubai seems to me to be one of the world’s odder places, an architectural and lifestyle fantasy built on literal, economic and metaphorical sand. An unattended Test in a perfect stadium on a lush green outfield in the desert might not be quite a crazy as an uninhabited archipelago of luxury counterfeit islands, or a fully-functioning ski-slope in a notoriously non-snowy part of the world, or a half-mile-high skyscraper in a city with a patently-obvious excess of ground space, but it is still almost rampantly odd.Despite the emptiness – understandable on a working day, especially given the geographical inconvenience of the stadium, and depressingly far from unique in the modern Test game – and the oddness, matches here are absolutely critical for the mist-shrouded, bicker-threatened, financially-skewed future of the international game. Pakistan’s current team is possibly the most prosaic it has fielded, but these matches, however sparsely attended, are the lifeline for a cricketing nation that has produced some of the most charismatic play and players in the game’s history.Fortunately, the stadium was soon fractionally filled by a delegation of wildly enthusiastic schoolchildren, intent on cheering every Pakistan run. Their vocal chords were not unduly exercised. In the face of a South African attack that was hostile, varied and skillful, Pakistan played a series of shots that veered between reckless and incompetent, often encompassing both. Khurram Manzoor began the cavalcade of carelessness when he smeared at the second ball of the day, an alluring outswinger from Dale Steyn that tempted the first-Test centurion into mistaking himself for a peak-era Virender Sehwag.To be fair to Khurram, it was a good outswinger – he could argue that by attempting to plank it to the cover boundary he at least made the ball fly into the slips faster and more awkwardly than if he had simply defended it. The ingeniously-difficulty-enhanced catch was pouched, however, and South Africa had an immediate initiative. In an hour of mayhem either side of lunch, Pakistan folded quicker than an overpriced ski and snowboard shop in a small Saharan village.Sadly for Pakistan, such skittlings are commonplace. They have been bowled out for less than 100 seven times in their last 39 Tests, since July 2009. In their previous 338 Tests, over 57 years, they had failed to reach three figures only nine times. They last played a Test in their home country in March 2009. Clearly, this is not a vintage generation of Pakistani batsmen. Test cricketers must have become accustomed to playing largely to hypothetical crowds watching on distant televisions, and Pakistan’s more so than most. But representing their nation only away from home or in the strange Emirati hinterlands, divorced from their supporters and the heart of their cricket, cannot have helped the collapsibility of Misbah-ul-Haq’s men.

• One of those recent sub-hundred subsidences was in the previous Test at this ground, against England early in 2012. Then, as today, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. They were obliterated for 99 – but went on to counter-skittle England and win the match. Today’s batting performance suggests that this was some kind of strategic masterstroke, that some scientific genius at the PCB had calculated that the number 99 has a hypnotic effect on opposing teams. Phase B of the plan has not gone as well this time, however. England, wobbly after two painful defeats, were jellying at 104 for 6 at the end of the first day. South Africa are proving a rather more resilient pudding, at a solid if not impregnable 128 for 3.
• Extraordinarily, until Imran Tahir’s burst today, in which he ran further in his celebrations than the Pakistan batsmen collectively ran between the wickets in their entire innings (if I may exaggerate) (slightly), no right-arm spinner had taken a five-wicket haul for South Africa since Harry Bromfield in the Cape Town New Year’s Day Test of 1965.

Since then, left-arm spinners have taken 11 five-fors for the pace-preponderant Proteas (121 have been taken by seamers). And people have been waiting for a legspinner to take a five-for for South Africa for longer than they have been waiting for a British monarch to abdicate. Bruce Mitchell, opening batsman and part-time twirler, took five against Australia in Durban in March 1936; Edward VIII handed in his crown, sceptre and car keys and skedaddled with Mrs Simpson in December of that year. Since then, it has been a barren time for both South African legspinners and British abdication fans. Tahir changed all that. The world’s eyes are now trained on Buckingham Palace, to see if the Queen suddenly starts spending a disconcerting amount of time gadding about with an American divorcé.

A chip off the old block in some ways, his own man in others, Tagenarine Chanderpaul is set to be Guyana’s next big thing

Kanishkaa Balachandran27-Feb-2014He removes the bail and drives it into the pitch with his bat when he marks his left-handed guard. He walks forward and brushes the pitch with his bat. He then turns left and takes a few steps towards the square-leg umpire, giving the impression of being ill at ease with his surroundings. Back at the crease, his head is tilted to the leg side. With the right glove, he touches the crest on his helmet, then the right thigh, and then his crotch, before finally resting it in position on the handle. Save for the bail routine, this fidgety pre-ball ritual is repeated almost every time he takes strike. Sounds familiar?Chanderpaul would be the obvious guess, but the player described above is not Shivnarine. It is his son Tagenarine .There are more similarities between dad and son, but one they don’t share is the stance. With his right foot pointing towards square leg and his chest facing the bowler, Shivnarine at the crease looks like a tennis player facing a return of serve. Tagenarine’s stance is side-on and conventional. Both do have high backlifts.At 17, Tagenarine (pronounced Tay-je-narine) looks as lean and frail as his dad did at 20 during his Test debut against England. Both are economical with words. During his early days as a Test player, Shivnarine came across as painfully shy and diffident in front of cameras. You would be lucky to get more words out of his son. The one-line answers are followed by a shy chuckle. When asked if he copies his dad’s mannerisms, he says, “I’ve not really picked up anything. Just happen to look the same way.”Tagenarine may not be in the senior West Indies team team yet, but the fact that he has made it to the national Under-19 level while his father is still actively playing is headline-grabbing. The two have played together in one first-class match for Guyana, against Trinidad and Tobago in Port-of-Spain, but they didn’t get to bat together in it. They have done that in club games, and once shared a stand of 256 in Guyana. Shivnarine is 39 and shows no sign of stopping yet, so more opportunities to bat together at the first-class level beckon.Tagenarine grew up in the same house as his dad, in Unity Village, Demerara, on Guyana’s east coast. Shivnarine’s father, Khemraj, a fisherman by day, coached his son like it was his life’s mission to get him to play Test cricket. He would take Shiv to the community centre nearby, where the throwdowns would last for hours. They would sometimes go to the Atlantic shore, where young Shivnarine would face bumper balls directed at his body. Taking the blows was worth it in the end, when cricket became a means of moving on from rural poverty and a harsh life at sea.Khemraj has taken charge of his grandson in a similar manner, preparing a concrete surface by the side of their house for Tagenarine to practise on. The boy also trains at the ground nearby every day after school.For years Khemraj had to double up as grandfather and dad to Tagenarine after Shivnarine moved to Florida to live with his second wife, Amy. Tagenarine stayed on in Unity, where he split his time between his grandparents and his mother, Annalee, who ran a beer garden in the village.In the absence of Chanderpaul senior, Khemraj’s presence and dedication assumed great significance for the young boy. Shivnarine has since taken a more active role in his son’s cricket, having moved back to Guyana in 2009.By most accounts Tagenarine is a more attractive batsman to watch than his father, and he is capable of innovating with reverse sweeps and the like. Like his father, though, he has the ability to pitch a tent at the crease. The signs were evident early. When Tagenarine was ten, he once batted five hours in a club game against players twice his age and scored 61.Daren Ganga, the former West Indies and Trinidad batsman, who has known Tagenarine since he was five, says the ability to persevere at the crease could be his biggest inheritance from his father. “He is a player Guyana is depending on to bat for long periods,” Ganga says. “He’s got good concentration methods, and a wide array of strokes.”In this U-19 World Cup, Tagenarine has given enough proof that he’s in the side on merit and not because of his surname, with two fifties, including 93 against Canada.Ganga says the pressure that comes with the Chanderpaul surname is something Tagenarine will have to deal with. “He will always be in his father’s shadow, so to speak because Shiv is second to Brian Lara in terms of batting achievements for West Indies. I don’t think he will be able to jump out of his dad’s shadow overnight.”The comparisons will be inevitable, and it’s a challenge the youngster is well aware of. “I try not to think about it. Just try and be myself,” he says.

England made life harder for themselves than it should have been on the opening day, but their pace attack – and those vying for selection – are offering the suggestion of a strong pack

George Dobell at Headingley20-Jun-2014A maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket is “just the beginning,” according to Liam Plunkett. Recalled to the Test side for the first time in seven years in the first Test of this series, he produced a display of pace, skill and heart to prevent embarrassment on the first day of the second Test.England squandered half-a-dozen chances and gambled on inserting Sri Lanka in conditions that offered little to their seamers but, thanks to Plunkett’s sustained hostility and a hat-trick from Stuart Broad, still finished the day in a good position.It was another step in the remarkable resurgence of Plunkett who, a couple of years ago, was reduced to playing second XI county cricket and must have thought his days as an international cricketer were over. It was also witnessed by his father, Alan, who required a kidney transplant seven years ago, but declined Liam’s offer of one of his to ensure that his cricket career was not jeopardised.”I would never have dreamed of this happening 18-months ago,” Plunkett said. “But it was important for me to show I could perform at Test level.”As soon as I played last week – even from the moment I turned up – I felt it was more for me. I felt I bowled well last week and created chances. It was my job to try to create chances on a flat wicket and I felt I did that. It just wasn’t to be.”I wanted to perform to prove that and to pick up a five is just the start. I feel confident here [in Test cricket]. I back myself and everyone in the dressing room backs each other, which is great.”This was not a particularly quick track. Certainly it was nothing compared to those seen in Perth or Brisbane over the winter. So to have a top-order batsman fending to short-leg off a brute of a lifter – as was the case with Lahiru Thirimanne – bodes well for the future.After a winter when the difference in pace between the England and Australian attacks was marked, England are beginning to assemble a group of bowlers who just might be able to fight fire with fire. With Chris Jordan, Steven Finn and Plunkett all vying for on-going selection at present, and the Overton twins and Tymal Mills offering hope for the future, England’s seam attack, at least, is beginning to look a little more potent.It is to be hoped that the ECB coaching staff do not interfere. Finn and Plunkett have both suffered from over-coaching in the past, while Jordan only started to deliver on his potential after he moved to a county that allowed him to simply play cricket and not think too much about technique.The last thing Plunkett requires is to be sent to the ECB’s academy at Loughborough for any extra assistance. He was described, by virtue of his height and the bounce he generates, as “totally different to other fast bowers” by Dinesh Chandimal after play. In days gone by, England might have tried to homogenise him.The excellence of Plunkett and Co saved Alastair Cook and Matt Prior, in particular, from an awkward day. There were several times when it appeared the decision to insert Sri Lanka was incorrect – not least when they negotiated the first hour without loss and when they reached 108 for 2 – and there was little movement or pace in the pitch to justify Cook’s decision.Had Plunkett and Broad not performed so well, the criticism of Cook’s tactical acumen would surely have grown and it might have been asked whether the criticism from Shane Warne and others had goaded him into attempting something rash and out of character. Sri Lanka later confirmed that they would have batted first anyway.There might also have been questions about his use of Plunkett. While Plunkett has rebuilt his reputation largely through running down the hill at Headingley and operating in short spells, here he was asked to run up the hill and operate in spells of up to eight overs. If England want to retain him at his best, Cook may well have to use him more sparingly.Prior endured a disappointing day. As well as missing a straightforward edge offered by Sangakkara on 27, he also failed to appeal for another edge from the same batsman on 16 – replays suggest it would have been given out had England reviewed or, perhaps, even appealed fully – and failed to insist on utilising the DRS for a lbw appeal when Kaushal Silva had 10. Had England done so, Billy Bowden’s decision would have been overruled.This was not the easiest day on which to keep wicket, with the ball moving substantially after it passed the bat, but Test keepers cannot afford to drop chances like the one Prior missed off Sangakkara. Having kept wicket very little since he was dropped in Australia, the doubts over Prior’s future are still prevalent. If a keeper in county cricket was in better form – and Jos Buttler remains a work in progress with the gloves – his place would be in jeopardy.This was also a worrying day for Headingley. While 11,000 tickets were pre-sold for the first day, about half of that number attended in the first session. While the crowd numbers edged up over the day, they remained modest bearing in mind that there are three Yorkshire players in the England side and that this game has been staged a little later in the season than recent early-summer Tests. In short, Yorkshire are running out of excuses for their continued failure to attract spectators to international cricket.Some will say ticket prices remain too high. But with a starting point of £32 for adults and £15 for concessions, they compare favourably with most leisure pursuits. Perhaps people are put off by the poor spectator experience that was quite common here a few years ago. It takes time to change public perception and the club’s recent attempts to reach out to people from beyond their traditional support base has yet to bear much fruit.Saturday’s sales are stronger – around 15,000 are expected – but day three sales are dismal. The fact that play was briefly delayed after a minor disturbance, a spectator was arrested having hit Shaminda Eranga on the back with a piece of cheese thrown from the White Rose Stand (formerly the Western Terrace), will do nothing to improve their reputation.With Yorkshire having a staging agreement with the ECB that guarantees them a Test every year until the end of 2019, they look, at present, certain to host an Ashes Test that year. With England hosting the World Cup that season, only one team – Australia – is currently scheduled to arrive on a Test tour and only five Tests are planned. It is, though, just possible that Ireland or Afghanistan will have gained Tests status by then.With a capacity of just 16,000 and a modest sales record, Headingley could count itself fortunate if it gains another high-profile Ashes Test and looks unlikely to be able to sell enough tickets for any other game. Even with the help of their in-form England contingent.

Plays of the day from the match between Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Sharjah

Siddarth Ravindran22-Apr-2014The surprise onslaught
Cheteshwar Pujara has had a difficult time adapting to the Twenty20 format, a struggle that continued today as well. He had reached 3 off 8 deliveries when Dale Steyn, the premier fast bowler in the world, was brought back for his second over. Just as his fans braced for more laborious, ineffective strokes Pujara began the over with a crisply-struck lofted boundary to cow corner and unleashed two more fours in the next three deliveries. The gamble of giving Steyn an extra over in the early stages had come unstuck.The drop
With Glenn Maxwell in the form he is in, the opposition need to grab every chance he offers. If Sunrisers Hyderabad could have chosen which fielder they wanted to take a skier from Maxwell, they would have picked David Warner. It was Warner who was under the ball when Maxwell miscued towards long-off in the 10th over. Warner was quick off the rope and was perfectly positioned to pouch it, but he inexplicably missed it, adding to a lengthy list of dropped catches this season. He barely got his hands on it, before the ball hit him on the midriff and fell to the ground. A moment later, Warner too was lying on the ground, clutching his head in disappointment. Maxwell was on 11 at that stage.The miss
Two balls later it was Pujara who offered a chance. He charged down the pitch and launched the ball towards long-on. It wasn’t going to clear the rope, and Darren Sammy was getting in line with it near the boundary. At the last moment, though, Sammy seemed to lose the ball in the lights, and turned away from the ball. He was facing the crowds as the ball whizzed past him for a one-bounce four.The overstep
Even before the ball had got to Warner for that dropped chance, Sammy had been celebrating the dismissal of Maxwell. In the 15th over, he waited till the catch was taken in the deep before giving Maxwell a send-off. The smile was wiped off, again, though, when the umpires asked for the replay and saw that Sammy’s front foot was well over the line when he delivered the ball.

The only time that India took a lead while batting first at Lord’s was in 1936. With England currently at 219 for 6, India will be hoping to make this a second time

Bishen Jeswant18-Jul-2014100 Number of catches that Alastair Cook has taken in Tests. He reached this landmark when he took a juggling catch in the slips off Ben Stokes to dismiss Mohammed Shami. Among non-keepers, Cook became the seventh Englishman to reach this landmark.295 India’s highest score while batting in the first innings of a Test at Lord’s. India’s previous highest score in the first innings of a Lord’s Test was 235, made in June 1952. India, however, have made five 300-plus scores in their first innings while batting second in a Lord’s Test.1 Number of Tests at Lord’s that India have not lost when they have batted first. India have batted first in six previous Tests at Lord’s and lost five of those. The only time that India did not lose was in a Test in 1979 when they were bowled out for 96 in the first innings. Fortunately for India though, multiple interruptions on account of bad light, rain, and storms had forced a draw.13.37 Alastair Cook’s batting average in 2014. Cook has scored 107 runs from eight innings this year, with a top score of 28. Cook has also managed only 15 runs in the current series, placing him 19th (out of the 22) on the list of top run-scorers in this series.15 Number of times in England that both English openers have been dismissed for less than 20 against India. Interestingly, 11 of those 15 instances have been at Lord’s. To put this in context, there have been 29 occasions on which both Indian openers have been dismissed for less than 20 in England, but only six times at Lord’s.1936 The only time that India took a first-innings lead after batting first at Lord’s. Ironically, in that game in June 1936, India took a slender 13-run lead, despite being bowled out for 147. Including games where India have batted second, there are only four instances where India have taken a first-innings lead. Overall, India has conceded a lead in 12 out of 16 previous Tests at Lord’s.5 Number of times since 2001 that spin has been introduced by India only after at least 40 overs have been bowled in the innings. Out of these five instances, two have now been at Lord’s, with the previous instance coming in 2007.41.4 Number of overs in which England got to their first 100 runs. This is the slowest hundred of this series. Their second hundred was slightly faster, coming in 35 overs.56 Number of dismissals effected by MS Dhoni in India-England Tests. This is the most dismissals made by any keeper in India-England encounters. Dhoni started the innings on 53 dismissals, and overtook Alan Knott, the previous record holder with 54 dismissals, by taking three catches to dismiss Cook, Sam Robson and Gary Ballance. On the all-time list of most Test dismissals by a keeper, Dhoni is currently joint sixth with 269 dismissals. One more dismissal will take him to fifth.158 Number of bowlers to have taken at least one Test wicket while playing for India. M Vijay became the 158th when he picked up the wicket of Moeen Ali. Out of these 158 players, 21 players (excluding Vijay and Vinay Kumar) finished their Test careers with a solitary wicket. Vijay will be hoping to add to his tally on day three.3 Number of hundreds that Ballance has scored at Lord’s in as many first-class games. Apart from today’s century, he also scored a Test hundred here against Sri Lanka last month and first-class ton for Yorkshire against Middlesex.

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Feb-2015Ian Bell was more circumspect, gathering runs at a much slower pace.•Getty ImagesThe 172-run partnership was England’s best opening stand in a World Cup•Getty ImagesMoeen made 128, only the second ton by an England batsman in ODIs in New Zealand•Getty ImagesAfter the fall of Moeen’s wicket, England suffered a mini middle-order collapse•Getty ImagesBut Morgan and Buttler helped England scrape past 300•Getty ImagesEngland struck early in their defence, dismissing Calum MacLeod inside three overs•Getty ImagesScotland’s Kyle Coetzer was the only batsman who looked comfortable and scored 71 off 84 balls•Getty ImagesSteven Finn buried the demons of the previous game and wrecked Scotland’s lower middle order, taking 3 for 26, as England registered a 119-run win•Associated Press

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur17-Apr-2015When Tamim Iqbal reached an ODI hundred after more than two years, the man at the other end was likely to be forgotten. Add his burning celebration to the mix and it gets harder to keep track of anything else was happening in the match.And had Mushfiqur Rahim not scored his third ODI century, his innings could have added to the countless little gems of ODI cricket drowned out by a higher score or a more celebrated performance.Like when Mahmudullah made 103 against England in Adelaide last month and Mushfiqur’s 89 was hardly mentioned. He had come in at 99 for 4, took the attack to the England bowlers and sustained the approach during a 141-run fifth-wicket stand.Mushfiqur has played such attractive second fiddles in the past too. His career-saving 81 against Australia four years ago was trumped by Shane Watson’s 185. Anamul Haque’s 120 got more air time than Mushfiqur’s 79 against West Indies in 2012. On all three occasions, Mushfiqur’s batting was as composed as any other batsman that day and his clean striking did stand out. But he was quickly forgotten.Today too Mushfiqur’s numbers were second to Tamim. But weighing the two innings in terms of overall confidence, attractiveness of strokes and usefulness to the team’s cause, Mushfiqur’s 106 went toe-to-toe with Tamim’s 132.Mushfiqur has been in good form since the end of the 2011 World Cup, so it was not surprising to see him start quite fluently. Mahmudullah said in an interview recently that Mushfiqur doesn’t need 15-20 balls, like he does, to get set. Today, Mushfiqur reached 26 off his first 20 deliveries with four fours, and did not relent.He peppered the zone between mid-off and cover with drives and inside-out chips. He found the boundary seven times in this area, apart from the slog-sweep, his bread and butter. He swept two sixes through square leg and midwicket, apart from three more fours through that region.Mushfiqur bats with a high back-lift which gives him a bigger arc to hit over cover or midwicket. The ones through the on-side are cross batted but his form ensures that he seldom mistimes them. He raced to his fifty off only 42 balls, and as he often does, quickened his pace thereafter. He missed out on very few half-volleys or overpitched deliveries from the quicks. Spin was easily dealt with too. Both his sixes came off Saeed Ajmal in the 43rd over, but the highlight of his innings was a precisely placed cover drive off Wahab Riaz in the 36th over.Tamim’s dismissal did not slow Mushfiqur down either, as he reached the hundred with two cute late cuts against consecutive Ajmal deliveries. It was off his 69th delivery, the third-fastest ODI century by a Bangladeshi batsman.What helped Mushfiqur make a serene start was that he faced only three deliveries from a front-line bowler for the first nine overs of his stay, all from Rahat Ali. By the time Junaid Khan got a chance to bowl at him, he had moved to 36 off 31 balls. Pakistan also let him get away with a few slog sweeps early by keeping deep midwicket vacant. And there was also the dropped catch by Junaid when he was on 35.The social media in Bangladesh will be filled with Tamim’s hundred and his celebratory gestures but Mushfiqur’s consistency deserves equal, if not more, attention. Since the end of the 2011 World Cup, he has hit the most sixes and fours for Bangladesh. He has the most 50-plus scores and is equal with Anamul Haque for the most hundreds during this period. He has faced the most deliveries, has the most runs with 2016, the second-best batting average. He has been a bit part of Bangladesh’s recent consistency, something they have sought after for the 29 years they have been on the one-day scene. You could talk about that, too.

Stats highlights from the New Zealand-Bangladesh match in Hamilton

S Rajesh13-Mar-2015290 New Zealand’s score, the fourth largest among successful run-chases in this World Cup. The only bigger ones are Bangladesh’s 322 for 4 against Scotland, Sri Lanka’s 312 for 1 against England, and Ireland’s 307 for 6 against West Indies. The top five successful run-chases in this tournament have all been in New Zealand; in fact, only three out of 15 successful run-chases in this World Cup have happened in Australia.57.73 Ross Taylor’s strike rate in his innings of 56 off 97 balls. It’s the third-slowest 50-plus score in this World Cup, out of 119 such scores. The only slower ones were by Samiullah Shenwari of Afghanistan against New Zealand (54 off 110 balls) and Swapnil Patil of UAE against South Africa (57* off 100).4 New Zealand batsmen who’ve passed 5000 runs in ODIs – Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle, McCullum, and Taylor. Taylor has got there in 144 innings, the fastest of them all.8 Man of the Match awards for Martin Guptill in ODIs. Ten New Zealand players have won more MoM awards in ODIs, but among members of the current team, only Taylor (9) and Daniel Vettori (11) have more than eight.2 The number of Bangladesh batsmen who have scored consecutive centuries in ODIs. Before Mahmudullah achieved the feat today, the only batsman to get there was Shahriar Nafees, who made unbeaten scores of 123 and 105 against Zimbabwe. Those innings came in different tournaments, though – the first in the 2006 Champions Trophy, and the second in a bilateral series in Bangladesh.8 The number of batsmen with hundreds in successive World Cup matches. The others, before Mahmudullah, are Kumar Sangakkara, Mark Waugh, Rahul Dravid, AB de Villiers, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Saeed Anwar.344 Mahmudullah’s aggregate in this tournament, the fourth highest. It’s easily the best for Bangladesh in a World Cup – the previous highest before this tournament was Mohammad Ashraful’s 216 in nine innings in 2007.288 Bangladesh’s total, their second highest against New Zealand, but the best against them in New Zealand.19.47 Brendon McCullum’s batting average in ODIs versus Bangladesh. In 18 innings he has only two fifties, and a highest of 80 not out.12 Number of wickets New Zealand have taken in the first ten overs in this World Cup, at an average of 20.08. No other team has taken more than 10 in the first ten overs in the tournament so far.62 Runs scored by Bangladesh in seven overs between the 8th and the 14th; in the first seven overs they had scored only eight.