Also: who were the two uncapped players who played in the World XI in 1971-72?

Steven Lynch25-May-2021The Dutch batter Max O’Dowd just scored his third half-century in three ODIs. How many people have started like this? asked Mike Kramer from Belgium
The New Zealand-born Netherlands batter Max O’Dowd started his one-day international career with 86 not out and 59 against Zimbabwe in June 2019, and added 82 against Scotland in Rotterdam last week (his sequence ended when he was out for 8 in the next game).Remarkably, the only other man to make half-centuries in his first three ODIs also played for the Netherlands – Tom Cooper began with 80 not out and 87 against Scotland, then 67 against Kenya in 2010. The Indian opener Navjot Singh Sidhu hit half-centuries in his first three ODI innings, but that sequence included a match in which he did not bat.In the women’s game, Hayley Matthews of West Indies made 55, 89 and 60 in her first three ODIs, against Australia in November 2014. I believe there has been one first-class hat-trick in which all three victims were stumped. When was this? asked Naval Patel from India
The match concerned was a long time ago – in the early days of the official County Championship, in August 1893. During a game in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire’s amateur wicketkeeper William “Sam” Brain ended Somerset’s second innings by stumping three batters off successive deliveries from Charles Townsend, a big-turning legspinner who was only 16 years old at the time. Wisden called it “a sensational incident”, while the Times noted that “the innings was finished in a summary manner by young Mr Townsend”. Six years later, he played two Tests in the 1899 Ashes series.In all, Brain made five stumpings in the match, four of them off Townsend’s bowling and the other off WG Grace. This was Brain’s final season of county cricket, though he remained active at club level. He joined the family brewing business (which still survives), eventually becoming its chairman.Is Khokhan Sen the only player who was born in what is now Bangladesh who played Test cricket for another country? asked SM Nazmus Shakib from Bangladesh
The Bengal wicketkeeper Probir “Khokhan” Sen, who played 14 Tests for India, was born in 1926 in Comilla, which was then part of India but is now in Bangladesh. The only other male Test player I can see who was born in present-day Bangladesh appeared in the very first Test of all, for Australia against England in Melbourne in March 1877; Bransby Cooper was born in Dacca, as Dhaka was known at the time. Cooper had played county cricket in England for Kent and Middlesex before moving in 1871 to Australia, where he worked in the Customs department.The Pakistan fast bowler Niaz Ahmed, who won two Test caps in the late 1960s, played for East Pakistan before it became Bangladesh – but he was actually born in Benares (now Varanasi), in Uttar Pradesh in India.Tony Greig (middle row, third from left) and Hylton Ackerman (middle row, extreme right) had not made their Test debuts when they played as part of the World XI in 1971-72•Fairfax DigitalApparently there were two uncapped players in the Rest of the World team that toured Australia in 1971-72. Who were they? asked Chris Beckett from Australia
The World XI you’re talking about undertook a full tour of Australia in 1971-72, replacing a trip by South Africa which was cancelled owing to the political situation there at the time. Garry Sobers reprised his role as World XI captain from 18 months previously in England, but this team was not as strong as that awesome 1970 line-up. After some criticism of his side’s approach – they were bowled out for 59 in the second unofficial Test in Perth – Sobers unfurled one of the greatest innings of all in the next match, in Melbourne, spanking a memorable 254. “The innings was probably the best seen in Australia,” said the watching Don Bradman, who played a few useful innings himself. “The people who saw Sobers have enjoyed one of the historic events of cricket. They were privileged to have such an experience.”The 1971-72 touring party included two players who had not appeared in official Tests at the time. One was Tony Greig, who had played against the Rest of the World XI in 1970 in matches later ruled as unofficial Tests. Greig made his full debut for England a few months after this series in the 1972 Ashes, and went on to win 58 caps. But the other man remained uncapped, thanks to South Africa’s sporting isolation: opener Hylton Ackerman had a long career with several provincial teams at home, and spent some time with Northamptonshire. His son HD Ackerman did win four Test caps.Further to last week’s question about centuries in successive Tests, who has the similar record for centuries in the most consecutive innings? And what about five-wicket hauls? asked Adam Wilson from England
The great West Indian Everton Weekes, who died last year, is the only man to score centuries in five successive Test innings, against England in 1947-48 and India in 1948-49 – the sequence was ended by a questionable run-out decision when he had scored 90 in the fourth Test in Madras (now Chennai). By coincidence, the wicketkeeper who whipped the bails off was Khokhan Sen, who is mentioned above. Weekes recalled: “I went forward and started running but came back into my crease and watched the whole thing happen. The umpire might have thought he had seen enough of me for the series…”Jack Fingleton (Australia), Alan Melville (South Africa) and Rahul Dravid (India) all scored centuries in four successive innings.As far as the bowlers are concerned, the old Australian Charles “Terror” Turner is alone is recording six successive five-fors, all against England during 1888. Three bowlers have managed five in a row: the Surrey and England seamers Tom Richardson and Alec Bedser, and rather more recently, the West Indian offspinner Shane Shillingford.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

All the statistical highlights from the first ODI, including some records for the Bairstow-Roy pair

Sampath Bandarupalli23-Mar-20212:04

Manjrekar: Prasidh Krishna a talented bowler who has his basics right

135 – The partnership between Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy for the opening stand during the chase, the second-highest opening stand for England in an unsuccessful ODI chase. It is also England’s third-highest partnership for any wicket in an ODI defeat while chasing.9.41 – Run rate of England’s opening partnership, the second-fastest century opening stand in an ODI chase to fall on the losing side. The top spot is held by Bairstow and Roy as well, whose 129-run partnership against Scotland in 2018 came at a run rate of 10.14 but ended up in a six-run defeat.ESPNcricinfo Ltd0 – Players with four or more wickets on ODI debut for India before Prasidh Krishna. Noel David’s 3 for 21 against West Indies in 1997 were the previous best figures for India on ODI debut. Krishna had an economy rate of 6.61, the second-highest for any player with a four-wicket haul on ODI debut.26 – Balls needed for Krunal Pandya to reach his fifty, the fastest by an ODI debutant. The previous fastest fifty on ODI debut was off 35 balls, held by John Morris of England against New Zealand in 1990. Pandya’s strike rate of 187.10 is also the second-highest for any player to have scored 50-plus runs in his maiden ODI innings.ESPNcricinfo Ltd0 – ODI fifties for India against England, coming in fewer balls than Pandya’s 26-ball effort. The debutant now shares the Indian record for the fastest ODI fifty against England as MS Dhoni also hit a 26-ball fifty in 2011. Pandya’s fifty is also the quickest by an Indian in this format since 2012.9 – Wickets for Indian quick bowlers during England’s innings, the joint-most for them in a home ODI. The Indian pace bowlers had also claimed nine wickets against Sri Lanka in the 1997 Guwahati ODI and versus Zimbabwe in Kanpur, 2000.12 – Century partnerships between Bairstow and Roy in ODIs, the joint-most by an England pair in this format, alongside Eoin Morgan and Joe Root. Three of Bairstow-Roy’s 12 century partnerships came at a nine-plus run rate, the most such opening stands for any pair in the format.

Fast bowler set to equal Alastair Cook’s England appearances record with 24th Lord’s Test

George Dobell29-May-2021There may be absences; there may be new faces. But some things remain reassuringly constant.Barring a late injury, James Anderson will play his 24th Lord’s Test this week. It comes almost exactly 18 years after his first. His record at the ground – 103 wickets at an average of 23.89 with six five-fors – would please most players as full career statistics.If he does play this week, and there is every reason to think he will, he will equal Alastair Cook’s England record of 161 Test caps. It was an outstanding achievement for Cook. For a fast bowler to equal it is… well, it’s ridiculous, really.It’s not the only milestone which beckons for Anderson, either. He is also eight short of a thousand first-class wickets. In the grand sweep of history, that may not seem especially remarkable. He remains more than 3,000 wickets short of Wilfred Rhodes’ first-class tally, after all. At this rate, Anderson will need to play until he’s 100 to match that. You suspect even he might think that beyond him.But in the modern game, it is a staggering achievement. It may be that another spinner or two reaches the milestone in the coming years. But there is every chance Anderson will be the last seamer to do so. The modern schedule, dominated as it is by limited-overs cricket, simply won’t allow.Consider Rhodes’ record: in a career as a left-arm spinner that stretched over three decades, he played 17 seasons in which he featured in 35 first-class games or more. Anderson has never played more than 16 in a season and only played more than 11 on three occasions. He’s never had the chance to bowl on an uncovered wicket, either.James Anderson performed brilliantly in India and Sri Lanka this winter•BCCIAnderson is no stranger to breaking new ground as a bowler, of course. He’s shrugged off record after milestone with the same “it’ll be something that I look back on when I finish” stock answer. But even he appears struck by the magnitude of these landmarks.”1,000 wickets does seem like a lot,” he says with a touch of bewilderment. “In this day and age I don’t know if it’s possible to get that many first-class wickets any more. With the amount of cricket that’s played, there doesn’t seem to be that longevity in bowlers any more, and there’s loads of T20 cricket and whatever else going on around the world. It feels a lot.”He seems equally overwhelmed with equalling the appearances record of Cook.”It does make me feel proud,” he says. “I never imagined in a million years I’d get to this point. Certainly for a bowler to play this amount of games is… I don’t know what the word is. But it’s a bit mind-blowing to me.”I feel really honoured that I’ve managed to do it because it’s such an amazing thing to do. I absolutely love Test cricket. I’ve got a huge passion for it. Growing up, all I wanted to do is play Test cricket for England and I’m honoured I’ve been able to do it for this long.”He has, he says, been “lucky” with injuries. But, like the miracle of childbirth, it seems the good memories have served to block out the bad. Because a list of Anderson’s injuries is long and painful. Remember the stress fracture? And the broken ribs? And the side strains, shoulder issues and knee problem? We’re still waiting for the broken ******* arm but, short of that and nits, he’s pretty much had it all.James Anderson returned to action for Lancashire earlier this summer•Getty Images”I’ve been so lucky with injuries,” he says. “I think about Simon Jones, whose career was seriously affected by injury. Or people who have long lay-offs like Jofra at the minute. Touch wood I’ve not had career-threatening injuries, so to get to 38 and be in that position makes me feel really privileged.”Of course you get injuries and have to bowl when it hurts a bit but I actually get some pleasure out of that. Putting the hard yards in, that’s when it means the most. I get a lot of pleasure out of it. Bowling 10 overs on a green seamer doesn’t really do it for me. I want to put a shift in for the team when it’s tough.”No one should make the mistake that all this talk about what has been achieved has diverted Anderson’s focus from what has not. And for all the talk about ‘new faces’ and ‘rest and rotation’ it is clear that neither Anderson or Stuart Broad’s appetite for the challenge remains unsated. Indeed, Anderson admits the pair have been in contact talking about the prospect of being reunited with the new ball.”I don’t feel like I’ve played that many games,” Anderson, who appeared with his England teammates in the LV= Insurance launch video ‘In With Heart’, says. “My body doesn’t feel old or tired, it’s just incredible.”Yes. I’d love to play all seven Tests this summer. There are five Tests against India after these two Tests against New Zealand, and then the Ashes after that. So we want to start this summer well. So hopefully, if we do pick our strongest team we [Anderson and Broad] would like to think that we’re both in that. And we’d love to share the new ball together, yes.

I’d love to play all seven Tests this summer. Hopefully, if we do pick our strongest team we [Anderson and Broad] would like to think that we’re both in that. And we’d love to share the new ball together, yes.Anderson’s ambitions are undimmed at the age of 38

“Stuart and I have sent a few texts to each other saying it’d be nice if we did get to play together. Obviously it’s completely down to the coach and captain. But I think, from the team’s point of view, we want to get some momentum going into a big summer.”The rotation in the winter was completely understandable with the amount of cricket we had and the amount of time in bubbles that we were spending. It’s going to be slightly different this summer. If everything goes well, I think it will start to get relaxed. We won’t be in the sort of bubble life that we’ve experienced in the last 12 months. So there might be not as much reason to rest people”I know it’s probably not that realistic [to play all seven Tests]. Especially with the depth we have in the bowling group, it makes sense to keep everyone fresh. So it’s just a case of managing workloads. If I played the first Test and bowled 20 overs, then obviously I’d want to play in the second Test. But if it’s a game where I bowled 50 overs, then you’d obviously review that. So yes, I’d love to play this first two. I know they’re back to back, but there is a bit of a break after them.”The five Tests against India might be a different story with back-to-backs in quite quick succession. That might be where people get rotated a bit more.”There are caveats to all this, of course. It’s less than a year ago that Anderson’s second-innings record – and, in particular, his ability to maintain his level of performance towards the back-end of games – was beginning to raise questions and, even this season, he has been sidelined by a calf injury. He’s 39 in July. At some stage, Time will catch up even with him.But anyone who saw him bowl in India and Sri Lanka will be assured there is no obvious decline. Quite the opposite, really. And while Anderson is full of praise for the younger bowlers in the side – at various times, he describes Ollie Robinson as “brilliant” and “extremely impressive” – he does point out that bowling at Lord’s brings challenges.Related

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England's freak injury list: From Stokes' locker punch to Roy's bat rebound

“Once you get used to the slope, it can be a huge advantage to you as a bowler, because even when it’s flat, you feel like you’re in the game with some movement,” Anderson says. “But when you’re not quite there as a bowler, when your rhythm might be off, it can really affect you. It can push you in tight to the stumps from the Pavilion End and it can sort of make you fall away a little bit more from the Nursery End. I’ve had times where I’ve bowled too wide from the Nursery End and too straight from the Pavilion End. Once you get used to it, it’s great, but sometimes it can be a bit tricky.”This determination to play might give Chris Silverwood, the coach and selector these days, something of a headache. He has made it clear he wants to provide opportunities to fringe players and he knows Anderson and Broad have been known to react less than phlegmatically to disappointment. But he might take heart in Anderson’s long-term response to being dropped from the ODI side, in the wake of the 2015 World Cup.”I was slightly annoyed at the time,” he says with understatement. “But looking back, it’s been an absolute God-send because I certainly wouldn’t still be playing now if I’d carried on playing one-day cricket. Having the breaks between series to work on my fitness and recover has made such a big difference being.”And being able to fully focus on one format, too. I remember getting to the end of a Test series and the day after you’re practising your white-ball skills.”It can be quite difficult to switch. It affected my action a bit at times. When you’re trying to bowl yorkers, you do things slightly different with your action. You might try to bowl faster, you might lose your seam position and not swing it as much in red-ball cricket. It’s definitely helped having my sole focus on Test cricket.”England really do have an exciting crop of seamers pushing for Test recognition. And a certain degree of succession planning no doubt makes sense. But bowlers like Anderson come along very rarely. England have been lucky to have him. There may be a chapter or two of his story left to be written.James Anderson and other England cricket stars appear in the LV= Insurance “In With Heart” film celebrating England’s cricket community ahead of the LV= Insurance 1st Test against New Zealand. Watch the video here

Jonny Bairstow will find sympathy from England’s WhatsApp chat after his ‘freak golfing injury’

Andrew Miller26-May-2021 • Updated on 02-Sep-2022Cricket has a long and proud tradition of improbable injuries, from Chris Old popping a rib while sneezing, to Trevor Franklin being run over by a luggage trolley at Gatwick Airport. And as Jonny Bairstow braces for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after a “freak golf injury”, he’ll have no shortage of sympathy on the England WhatsApp group, where self-inflicted tales of woe abound…Ben Stokes (March 2014)
Incident: Punched a locker







Archer toured India despite his unusual injury•Getty ImagesSeven years on from one self-inflicted wound, Dr Doug Campbell, a hand and wrist specialist in Leeds, was peering into another. “This is going to sound like an awful conspiracy and I know what’s going to happen on Twitter straight away when I say this,” Ashley Giles, England’s director of cricket, told the BBC. “But it’s true, it’s not a conspiracy.” Yep, back in January 2021, Jofra Archer had been cleaning a tropical fish tank in the bath-tub of his flat at Hove, when it had slipped from his fingers and shattered, leaving fragments of glass embedded in his right middle finger. The injury healed sufficiently for Archer to play in two Tests and five T20Is against India, but when he flew home to undergo further treatment on his troublesome elbow, England seized the chance to clean out the wound, which appeared to have healed fully by the time he was booked back in for elbow surgery in May. That elbow, sadly, has proved more harder to resolve.James Anderson (October 2010)
Incident: Boxing match in Bavarian forest















Sidelined: Three weeksCrawley made it to the Chennai nets at the second attempt, at least•BCCIIt’s not often that the word “socks” is the stand-out detail in an injury update. But it’s surely no coincidence that the ECB chose to highlight Foakes’ woolly-footedness when confirming his dressing-room mishap, given what happened when Zak Crawley was wearing his studs indoors in India three months earlier. On the eve of the first Test at Chennai – and the eve of his 23rd birthday, for that matter – Crawley had been walking out to the nets when he lost his footing on a marble floor that one team insider likened to a “skating rink”. The team had placed towels along most of the route to the door, but evidently not enough of them, and Crawley ended up being ruled out for two Tests after suffering a sprained wrist and joint irritation.Jason Roy (August 2018)

Incident: Bat thrown to floor

Injury: Bat rebound to face

Sidelined: One matchSelf-inflicted cricket fails come in all shapes and sizes•Getty ImagesBat-flinging tantrums are two-a-penny at all levels of cricket – what better target of a workman’s ire than his tool, so to speak? And usually the damage is limited to the implement itself, or at worst, the fixtures and fittings (just ask Matt Prior). But at the Kia Oval in August 2018, Jason Roy surpassed himself in a moment of self-defeating slapstick. Surrey’s hopes of progression in the Vitality Blast were already sliding down the pan when he was done in flight by Hampshire’s Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman and bowled for a first-ball duck. In fury he flung his bat to the floor, only for it to rebound and whack him in the face, ruling him out of their do-or-die final group fixture against Glamorgan. “I’m extremely embarrassed and apologetic to my team-mates and fans for this moment of stupidity,” Roy said in a statement. In the event, his absence mattered not. Rain wrecked the group decider, and both teams were eliminated.This article was first published in May 2021, then updated after Bairstow’s golfing injury

The tournament begins on July 31 at seven venues across the USA

Peter Della Penna30-Jul-2021After initial launch plans were disrupted by the pandemic last summer, the 27-team Minor League Cricket (MiLC) T20 franchise tournament is set to kick off on July 31 at seven different venues across the United States of America. The tournament is meant to act as a feeder into the higher-profile six-team Major League Cricket (MLC) T20 franchise league which is designated for launch in 2023. That is the tournament USA Cricket wants to be on par with Full-Member-run T20 leagues around the world. Here is a rundown of how the MiLC will play out.Who’s playing?
American Cricket Enterprise (ACE), USA Cricket’s commercial partner, has already signed more than a dozen overseas players to three-year contracts with an eye on having them as anchor players for the six-team MLC, as well as putting them on the ICC residency qualification pathway to potential USA selection.These players are also available to feature for MiLC franchises and include Sami Aslam (ex-Pakistan, Golden State Grizzlies), Corey Anderson (ex-New Zealand, Irving Mustangs), Smit Patel (ex-India U-19, Manhattan Yorkers), Shehan Jayasuriya (ex-Sri Lanka, Silicon Valley Strikers), Dane Piedt (ex-South Africa, DC Hawks), Justin Dill (ex-South Africa U-19, New Jersey Stallions) and Corne Dry (ex-South Africa U-19, Atlanta Fire). Aside from these names, numerous West Indian players have also been signed as Wildcard overseas players, including Rahkeem Cornwall (Atlanta Fire).Related

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The teams were put together at a draft that took place earlier this year with squads of 16 to 18 players. According to league rules, there is a mandatory policy to include at least one U-19 and one U-21 player in each starting XI to promote development. There is also a shift to play as many matches as possible on natural turf wickets, which in the past has been one of the biggest hurdles for players attempting to transition from club cricket to international tournaments. MiLC’s first season will feature at least 11 venues using turf wickets with more planned for 2022.What are they playing for?
MiLC will feature an USD 250,000 prize pool, the largest for any tournament organised in the USA. The tournament champions will receive half of that and the runners-up USD 30,000 while the Division Champions who do not reach the final will receive USD 15,000.More than 100 matches will be livestreamed on YouTube throughout the tournament, offering more visibility to players both locally and internationally.ESPNcricinfo LtdSplit across four divisions on a regional basis
The 27 teams have been split into two conferences (Atlantic and Pacific) with two divisions (Eastern and Southern; Central and Western) in each conference. Because of the odd number of teams the schedule is slightly unbalanced. Both Pacific Conference divisions have seven teams and each will play a 15-match league slate of home and away fixtures against the other six teams within their division plus three matches against teams in the other division within their conference.The Southern Division holds six teams and will play a 14-match schedule consisting of home and away fixtures within the division plus four crossover matches with the Eastern Division. Meanwhile, the seven Eastern Division teams will play a 16-match schedule featuring home and away fixtures within the division plus four matches against teams in the Southern Division. The league phase runs from July 31 to September 19 with matches played on weekends to ensure player availability in a competition featuring both professionals and amateurs. In some instances, teams will be playing a morning-and-afternoon double-header on the same day.Eight-team playoffs
Playoffs qualification will be determined on a divisional basis. The top two in each division advance to the playoffs where the division winner will play the second-place team from the opposite division in their conference (i.e. Western Division champion vs Southern Division runners-up) on September 25 and 26 in a best-of-three round. The winner of each quarter-final will advance to the championship weekend on October 2 and 3 at Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina.That weekend will be a straight knockout. The two teams advancing from the conference semi-finals (i.e. Western Division champion vs Southern Division champion) will play each other in a national semi-final on October 2 before the conference champions square off in the tournament final on October 3.

The England quick entered the Lord’s honours board for the seventh time on Friday, four of those when India have been the opposition

Andrew Miller13-Aug-20213:08

Harmison: Anderson phenomenal even on a placid pitch

2007

5 for 42, match drawn
It might not have been apparent at the time, but this was the moment that Anderson the modern great was born. His official second coming would wait until the following winter, when he and Stuart Broad were recalled in Wellington to begin a partnership that has scarcely been interrupted since. But after another chastening winter tour, including bit-part roles in three of England’s five defeats on the whitewash tour of Australia, Anderson was conferred an early glimpse of senior status at Lord’s, with the absence of three of England’s 2005 Ashes heroes – Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard. He seized it with a display of new-found discipline, bowling within himself after a stress fracture of the back had persuaded him to ditch England’s efforts to remodel his action, and focussing instead on the guile that would become his watchword. A stunning outswinger to Rahul Dravid was a reminder of his 90mph heritage, however, as a new-look attack of Ryan Sidebottom, Monty Panesar and the debutant Chris Tremlett left India clinging on nine-down when rain and bad light (and MS Dhoni) saved them. It was a critical reprieve, as India would win the Trent Bridge Test and with it the series, but for the new head coach Peter Moores, a seed had clearly been sown.ESPNcricinfo Ltd2011

5 for 65, England won by 196 runs
A magical occasion for the 2000th Test overall, and the 100th between England and India. The sun beat down for five days, and the performances flowed throughout – foremost among them a stunning double-century from Kevin Pietersen, and a first notch on the Lord’s honours board for Dravid, 15 years after he had made 95 on debut at the same venue in 1996. England, in their absolute pomp after victory in Australia the previous winter, held the upper hand throughout the match, including a first-innings lead of 188, which had been extended to an improbable target of 458 by the time Matt Prior had muscled a second-innings century from an awkward 107 for 6. But Dravid and VVS Laxman carried India to 80 for 1 at the close, to set the stage for one of the iconic days in Lord’s history. A people’s Monday, with queues stretching for miles down Wellington Road, as scores of fans lined up for the prospect of history – with Sachin Tendulkar, seeking his 100th international hundred, set to make his final appearance at the ground. Anderson, however, was on hand to apply the heartbreak, pinning Tendulkar lbw for 12 with a nipbacker, having already scalped the overnight batters to set up a 196-run win.2014
4 for 60, India won by 95 runs
The one that got away, for England as for Anderson. This Test was the absolute nadir for Alastair Cook during a besieged year as England captain. He had been routed in the Ashes – another 5-0 as Mitchell Johnson breathed fire all over a champion team – and scorched in the media too, after the sacking of Kevin Pietersen had triggered a schism among England’s supporters. A proud home Test record had already fallen that summer too, with Sri Lanka taking their two-match series 1-0 after a nailbiter at Headingley, with Anderson breaking down in tears after being last man out from the penultimate ball of the match. After a drawn first Test at Trent Bridge, he had gone some way to atoning with first-innings figures of 4 for 60 at Lord’s, as England secured a slender lead of 24. But after M Vijay’s 95 had been bolstered by some unexpected late resistance from Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma swarmed on to centre stage. England’s resolve collapsed in a diet of happy hooking, as Sharma swept up with figures of 7 for 74 – the last five of which came in an eight-over spell either side of lunch, and each one to the short ball. Somehow Cook found the resolve to cling on as captain, and England would turn the series around 3-1. But they had touched the void in that session.3:18

Steve Harmison dissects James Anderson’s excellent bowling

2018

5 for 20, England won by an innings and 159 runs
Blink and you might have missed this one. A turkey shoot under grotesquely rain-laden skies, as stereotypically dank and English as any Test match in recent memory. The first day was lost to bad weather, and when England won the toss on the second, Anderson’s first over effectively sealed the game. A surging, seething outswinger, hooping late with the seam canted to fine leg, splattered Vijay’s stumps for 0, and unleashed an air of unshakeable pessimism in India’s dressing room. Their mood was not helped by the timing of two lengthy rain delays – the first moments after Anderson’s second wicket had left them 11 for 2 in the seventh over, and the second after Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara had combined for a run-out off the last of the 12 balls possible in the middle session. Shortly after 5pm, the innings resumed at 15 for 3. And two hours later, India were all out for 107, with Anderson cleaning up with 5 for 20 in 13.2 overs. Chris Woakes, of all people, would show how it was done with his maiden Test century in England’s only innings, before Anderson sealed the innings win with match figures of 9 for 43.2021

5 for 62, result tbc
This contest began with the presumption that England were about to take the field without either of their attack-leaders for only the second time since 2007. Broad had already been ruled out of the series with a calf tear, while Anderson missed training on the eve of the Test after reporting a niggle in his quad. But after a scan had given him the all-clear, back he came – to the astonishment of every observer bar, it seemed, his own team-mates – to lead the line once more in an extraordinarily doughty display. He was thwarted in his first eight-over spell as Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul bedded into a 126-run stand, but when he returned in the 40th over, with his team-mates toiling to match his discipline, he came up with another moment of magic to unseat a hitherto imperious Rohit for 83. Pujara followed soon afterwards, in a continuation of his lean run of scores, but at 276 for 3 overnight, India were ominously placed. But, after Ollie Robinson’s second-ball dismissal of Rahul for 129, Anderson’s opening delivery to Ajinkya Rahane was a peach, a perfectly pitched outswinger that grabbed the edge to send him on his way for 1. And though Rishabh Pant and Jadeja guarded against a complete collapse, Anderson needed only a glimpse of India’s tail to force his way back to the honours board. Ishant and Jasprit Bumrah were extracted in consecutive overs, for his 31st Test five-for, and his first since entering his 40th year a fortnight earlier.

A deep dive into patterns of runs scored and wickets taken at halfway points of Test matches and innings

Anantha Narayanan13-Nov-2021A few years back, I wrote an article containing one of my most intriguing measures, called the Halfway Value. I have decided to revisit that theme now, and have widened its scope considerably.I have expanded the halfway concept to the wickets taken in the innings, and broadened the measure to cover entire matches, and both teams, not just one innings. This allows for greater insight. About 200 more Tests have been played since then and some of these factor nicely in this concept set.There has always been a lot of discussion about the contributions of lower-order batters. One day, during a shower, I had a brain wave, a la Archimedes – why not use the halfway score as a reference point? Fortunately, unlike Archimedes, I stayed in the bathroom. I have developed this concept further over the past few years. I can say honestly that I have never been so excited by the possibilities of a measure like I am with this one. It is also very easy to understand, and derive, for the regular cricket follower.The idea is simple. The measure, let us call it IW-HS (Innings Wickets at Half-Score), is the exact wicket equivalent of the innings when the halfway score was reached. The measure is applicable only to completed innings. Say, a team scores 410. The halfway mark is 205. When the score of 205 was reached, the fourth-wicket partnership was in progress. The third wicket fell at 180 and the fourth at 270. The IW-HS value is 3.28 (3.0 + (205-180)/(270-180)). In another innings, the team scores 283. The halfway mark is 142. When the score of 142 was reached, the eighth-wicket partnership was in progress. The seventh wicket fell at 131 and the eighth at 201. The IW-HS value is 7.16 (7.0 + (142-131)/(201-131)).Related

• How have first-innings numbers influenced the course of Tests?

• Has batting become easier in the second half of a Test?

• Which team is the best of them all away from home?

• Are late-order batters contributing to team scores more today?

Let me define IW-HS in simple terms. A team scores “rrr for ww”, in a completed innings. If the halfway mark is “hhh”, the IW-HS is defined by the phrase “hhh for IW-HS”, with IW-HS being the exact wicket value, in decimals.This measure, a ridiculously simple one indeed, packs a punch. It is a clear indicator of how the innings progressed. A lower IW-HS values indicate that there have been collapses in the middle and late order. A higher IW-HS values indicate recoveries by the late-order batters. Let me illustrate this.Let us say that the IW-HS is 0.91. There was a terrific first-wicket partnership, which exceeded the halfway score mark. Soon after the first wicket fell, there was a huge collapse and the last nine wickets contributed less than half the score.Say, the IW-HS is 2.42. The top order performed quite well and the team reached the halfway mark, two wickets down. There was a collapse of sorts and the last seven wickets did not contribute a lot, well below half the score.If the IW-HS is, say, 6.91 instead, there was loss of top-order wickets and the halfway mark was reached six down and the seventh wicket was lost soon afterwards. However, the last three partnerships saved the day and added nearly half the final score.If the IW-HS is 8.75, it tells us there was a huge collapse and the ninth wicket fell soon after the halfway score was reached. The last wicket pair played outstandingly well and helped reach the final score. And so on.For this article, in the first place, I have extended the concept to wickets also. What was the score reached at the fall of the fifth wicket (not forgetting that we only consider situations where all ten wickets have fallen in an innings)? The only requirement is that this is not a number like IW-HS. It was possible for IW-HS to be fixed as a number because the total number of wickets was fixed (at ten). In this case, since the final score could be just about any number up to about 700, the IS-5W (Innings Score at five wickets down) is a percentage value.Here are a couple of examples taken from the England-India Test played at The Oval in September. In their first innings, England reached 290, after losing their fifth wicket at 62. The IS-5W is 21.3%. In their second innings, India reached 466 after being 296 for 5. Their IS-5W is 63.5%.A reader may raise a valid query: Aren’t both measures the same? Shouldn’t the results be similar? Surprisingly, no. The collection of Tests that are featured are quite different. I have checked the collections of featured Tests and there is almost no common Test between these. That is because the innings dynamics change considerably when we look at different aspects, especially the middle-order partnerships.I will present the results with a brief coverage of the top few Tests in each category. I leave it to the readers to look at the other Tests and derive their own conclusions.In the second part, I will look at Tests as a whole. If I set a minimum limit of 40 wickets, only wins by runs will be included, which is wholly inadequate. It is also clear that innings wins have different dynamics and should be excluded. If the winning team bats first, it is a high score followed by two low scores and the halfway stage will perforce be somewhere in the first innings. If the winning team bats second, it is low-high-low and the halfway stage will appear in the second innings. It is also true that teams are chalk and cheese in their batting in such matches. As such, I have to exclude all innings wins and also ten-wicket wins. This is done by the simple method of fixing the minimum cut-off at 31 wickets. A total of 1266 Tests (of the 2433 played to date) qualify.In the analysis of Tests, I will look at the same two things. However, in this case, both measures will be percentage values since both the total match runs and total match wickets vary between Tests. The runs could be anything and the wickets will range from 31 to 40. The first measure, let us call it MW-HS (Match Wickets at Half-Score), is the exact wicket equivalent in the innings when the halfway score was reached. This could be in any innings. The second measure, let us call it MS-HW (Match Score at Half-Wickets), is the runs accumulated until the fall of the halfway wicket. It could be in any innings but the first.I recently analysed pitches using Pitch Quality Index (PQI) values. This measure is similar but it offers a lot more insights since it straddles the two teams and recognises the primacy of the pitch. The PQIs are innings-dependent and the two teams could have been chalk and cheese.Finally, I look at the Test as a whole, but from the innings point of view. What were the IW-HS values reached and what was the mean for the Test? This highlights the Tests in which in almost every innings there was a either a significant recovery or a significant collapse.Anantha NarayananA feature of the IW-HS table above is that the top is almost totally dominated by recent matches. There are eight Tests played before 1982 and eight after 2000, indicating that late-order batters have come to the party in a significant manner recently.In the first Test featured, at Trent Bridge in 2013, Australia collapsed disastrously to 117 for 9 and then had a last-wicket partnership of 163, well over half the score. Philip Hughes and Ashton Agar staged this recovery. The IW-HS value was an incredible 9.14. Agar was unfortunately dismissed for 98.In November 2011, it was a different sort of recovery for Australia. After having taken a big lead in the first innings in Cape Town, they slid dramatically to 21 for 9 – five runs short of the all-time low score. Somehow, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon managed to add a “whopping” 26 runs to the total, which let Australia finish at 47. That South Africa won comfortably is another matter. The IW-HS was only a fraction lower than for the first entry on the table – at 9.11.England were in a similar predicament against New Zealand in Auckland in March 2018. Batting first in a day-night match, they managed to go past 26 but slid to 27 for 9 before Craig Overton and James Anderson took them total past 50. The IW-HS was 9.06.A year later, Ireland, playing in Dehradun against Afghanistan, slumped to 85 for 9 before recovering to 172 with a good partnership between George Dockrell and Tim Murtagh. The IW-HS was 9.01.In August 2019 in Antigua, chasing 419 to win, West Indies collapsed dramatically to 50 for 9 against India. Their last-wicket pair, Kemar Roach and Miguel Cummins, put on 50 runs, leading to an IW-HS value of exactly 9.0.Anantha NarayananIn the table above we see the other end of the spectrum as far as the IW-HS is concerned: amazing collapses after excellent starts. It is dominated by matches between 1980 and 2010.The first of these matches contained, in some ways, the strangest innings ever played. When Adrian Griffith and Sherwood Campbell had taken the score to 276 for no loss in Hamilton in December 1999, their captain, Brian Lara, must have had visions of a 500-plus score and an innings win. Instead, West Indies collapsed to 365, losing all ten wickets for 89 runs, and New Zealand won by nine wickets. After 276 for 0, West Indies lost 20 wickets for 186 runs. The IW-HS was an amazing 0.66 – all of two-thirds of a wicket.At Old Trafford in 1946, Vijay Merchant and Mushtaq Ali were sitting pretty at 124 for no loss before an avalanche of wickets, and India could only reach 170. They managed to hold out for a draw, but the IW-HS for the first innings was a measly 0.68.Against West Indies in Karachi in December 1997, Pakistan reached 298 for no loss, courtesy Aamer Sohail and Ijaz Ahmed, but could add only 119 more before being bowled out by West Indies. That Pakistan still won comfortably is another thing. The IW-HS for Pakistan was only 0.70.That figure was emulated by Zimbabwe against West Indies in December 2001. They were over 400 runs behind on the first innings, but Dion Ebrahim and Alastair Campbell launched a fightback with 164 for no loss. However, the inexperienced West Indian attack ran through the line-up for a mere 64 runs more.In October 2018 in Dubai, Australia collapsed to 202 all out after being 142 for no loss against Pakistan. The IW-HS was 0.71.Anantha NarayananFour centuries and two 450-plus scores did not prepare anyone for what happened on the fourth day of the Ahmedabad Test between India and New Zealand in November 2010. India’s top order – Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Suresh Raina – was back in the pavilion, with the score reading 15 for 5. But VVS Laxman scored a magnificent 91 and Harbhajan Singh an unlikely 115 to take India to 266, an amazing recovery indeed. The IS-5W was an unbelievable 5.6% (15/260).A few decades earlier, India had performed a similar escape at The Oval, in 1952. Their top order, led by Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy, scored 5, 0, 0, 1 and 0 and slid to 6 for 5. Then they recovered to 98 all out and, aided by heavy rain, managed to draw the match. India’s IS-5W was 6.1%.Sri Lanka set Pakistan an imposing target of 357 in Sialkot in September 1995. The hosts slid disastrously to 15 for 5 before Moin Khan played one of the great retrieving innings and took Pakistan to a respectable 212 – an IS-5W value of 7.1%.On the opening day of the Colombo Test against Australia in August 2016, Sri Lanka slid to 26 for 5 before recovering to an excellent 355, thanks to hundreds by Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva. The IS-5W was 7.3%.Bangladesh were down in the dumps in Harare in February 2004, at 14 for 5 before reaching a respectable 169 – the IS-5W being 8.3%.Anantha NarayananThis is the other end of the five-wickets-down situations, in which the last five batters did very little before returning to the pavilion.In Melbourne in March 1979, Pakistan claimed one of their most memorable victories, defeating Australia by 71 runs, through arguably the greatest bowling spell in away matches – Sarfraz Nawaz’s 9 for 86. Australia, who were set 382 to win, were well placed at 305 for 5 when they lost their last five wickets for five runs. The scores of the batters who were dismissed from Nos. 6-11 were 0, 0, 0, 0, and 0. Australian IS-5W value was an amazing 98.4%.Pakistan had inflicted a similar assault in Wellington in January 1965. New Zealand were sitting pretty at 261 for 5 when the bottom gave way and they were dismissed for 266. The IS-5W value was an imposing 98.1%.In the Boxing Day Test at the MCG in 1990-91, England, having secured a first-innings lead of 46, were well placed at 147 for 5, when lightning struck a few times. They could add only three more runs and Australia won the Test comfortably. The IS-5W was 98.0%. These are the fewest runs added for the last five wickets.At Trent Bridge in 1953, Australia moved from 244 for 5 to 249 all out. England nose-dived from 493 for 5 to 507 all out in Karachi in February 1962. The IS-5W values for these two Tests are either side of 97%.Now I will move on to the new idea incorporated into this article. The idea of half-score or half-wickets, taking the entire match into consideration. This offers great insights since it’s across teams.Anantha NarayananFirst, let me take a look at the half-score state in the match. For this purpose, the total runs is the match aggregate runs. Since there is no other consideration, this helps tell us how the pitch performed across the two halves. In this table, I will feature matches in which there was a great recovery in the second half since the pitch improved dramatically.When India played New Zealand in Wellington in February 2014, the match aggregate was a huge 1476. However, when the 738th run was scored, the match scoreline was New Zealand: 192, India: 438 and New Zealand: 108 for 5. A huge innings defeat stared New Zealand in the face before Brendon McCullum, BJ Watling and Jimmy Neesham rescued them. New Zealand finished at 680 for 8 and India rattled up a quick 166 for 3. The wicket value was 25.04 (out of 31) and this resulted in an amazing 80.8% MW-HS value. Here, even the wicket count is a percentage value since the total number of wickets varies from match to match.When West Indies toured Pakistan in 1974-75, the match aggregate in the Lahore Test was 1044, which meant that the halfway mark was 522. After two low first innings, of 199 and 214, Pakistan were floundering at 58 for 3. The halfway mark was reached at a match wicket value of 23.6 and this represented an MW-HS value of 76.3%. Then Mushtaq Mohammad, Asif Iqbal, Len Baichan and Clive Lloyd produced valuable innings and the match finished in an eventless draw.A total of 1348 runs were scored by Sri Lanka in Pakistan in Colombo in July 2009. The halfway point was 674. The match scoreline was 299, 233, 425 for 9 and 391 for 4. It took 23.7 wickets (out of 33) to reach the halfway mark, which gives this match an MW-HS Rating of 74.6%.The highest value of MW-HS when all 40 wickets have fallen comes in a match much later in the table. The match scoreline of an Ashes Test at the MCG in 1901-02 tells a resounding story: 112, 61, 353 and 175. The halfway mark of 350 in a low-scoring Test was reached when 28.2 wickets had fallen – an MW-HS value of 70.4%.Anantha NarayananNow, on to matches in which the pitches turned square as the match progressed. Pakistan and West Indies scored 1348 runs in Dubai in October 2016. The halfway mark, of 674, was reached just after the fall of the fifth wicket and the MW-HS value is 15.8%. The scores tell the story – 579 for 3, 357, 123 and 289. A sea change in the pitch, for certain.At the WACA in December 2009, Australia scored 520 for 7 and West Indies responded with 312. Then Australia collapsed to 150 but won, dismissing West Indies for 323. The halfway mark of 652 runs was reached around the fall of the first West Indies wicket; 8.0 wickets, out of 37, leads to an MW-HS of 21.5%.In the Pallekele Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh earlier this year, the match scoreline was 493 for 7, 251, 194 for 9 and 227. The halfway stage was reached at 7.9 (out of 36) and the MW-HS was 22.1%.In matches where all 40 wickets were taken, the highest value of MW-HS is in an Ashes Test – at The Oval in 1934. The scores were 701, 321, 327 and 145 – leading to a monumental 562-run win for Australia. The halfway stage, of 747 runs, in a high-scoring match was reached with as few as 10.4 wickets taken, leading to an MS-HW value of 26.1%.Anantha NarayananNow, we move on to the half-match-wickets analysis. The main difference between this and the corresponding Innings analysis is that there the numbers were fixed at ten and five respectively. However, here the total number of wickets varies from 31 to 40. So, the halfway mark is fixed at 50% of the total wickets. It is variable. If the total number of wickets is odd, say 35, the exact score is calculated by adding half the partnership value for the 18th wicket.Eighteen wickets fell on the first day of the Delhi Test between India and West Indies in November 1987. India scored 75 and West Indies could only take a 52-run lead. In the second innings, India made 327 and West Indies chased down the target of 276 with some difficulty. Only 124 runs were scored at the fall of the 17th wicket (match total 35) and this represented just 18.7% of the match total of 805 runs – that being the MS-HW value.Going back nearly 100 years from then, to the MCG Ashes Test in 1894-95, the first-innings scores were almost identical to the Delhi match – England 75, and Australia 123. Then the pitch improved and England, with a second-innings total of 475, managed to win comfortably by 94 runs. The match wicket aggregate was 40. This meant that the first two innings could be taken to determine the MS-HW value rather easily – 198 runs out of 1006 comes to a MS-HW value of 19.7%,.The first two innings of the Centenary Test, between Australia and England in Melbourne in March 1977, were miserable efforts – 138 and 95. Then came two virtually identical 400-plus totals and Australia’s first-innings lead gave them a 45-run win. The match total was 1069 runs and the first-two-innings’ total was only 233, leading to a MS-HW value of 21.4%.Still in Melbourne, for the New Year’s Ashes Test in 1936-37 – the two first innings were forgettable but tactically brilliant efforts – 200 for 9 and 76 for 9. Then Don Bradman came in at 97 for 5 (having reversed the batting order to deal with a drying pitch) and played one of the all-time great innings, of 270. England were set 689 but could not get even halfway there. The match aggregate was 1163 runs and the first-two-innings’ total was only 276, leading to a MS-HW value of 23.7%.Anantha NarayananNow on to situations in which the pitch got considerably worse. When West Indies played in Mirpur in November 2012, the two first innings were huge 500-plus run-bonanzas, for only 14 wickets. The next two innings were contrasting efforts – 273 and 167 – and West Indies won by 77 runs. The total runs scored at the fall of the 17th wicket were 1295, which formed a huge MS-HW value of 85.0% of the total match aggregate of over 1500 runs.When South Africa toured England in 1951, Trent Bridge showed its Jekyll-and-Hyde qualities. The two first-innings scores were 483 for 9 and 419 for 9. Then there were two miserable efforts – 121 and 114. South Africa won the topsy-turvy match by 71 runs, mainly because of their first-innings lead. The MS-HW is a rather high 80.4%.When Pakistan toured Australia in 1972-73, the MCG Test again proved to be a yo-yo match. Australia declared at 441 for 5 but saw Pakistan take a lead of 133. The hosts stitched together an excellent third innings of 425 and then won by 92 runs. All this meant that at the halfway mark of 16 wickets (out of 33), the MS-HW was 79.8%.Anantha NarayananIn this concluding part, I have taken the IW-HS as the base and looked at Tests as a whole. This has allowed me to identify Tests in which both the teams either recovered superbly or collapsed dramatically. Only Tests in which there were three or more such occurrences are considered. And all IW-HS values should be greater than 5.0. Let us first look at the recoveries.In the 1999 Edgbaston Test, there were three good recoveries. First, New Zealand came back from 104 for 6 to 226 (IW-HS of 6.11). Then England fell to 45 for 7 before making it to 126, leading to an IW-HS of 7.26. New Zealand slumped disastrously to 52 for 8 before getting to a three-figure score. The IW-HS was a huge 8.04. This Test had the highest IW-HS average of 7.13.In Kanpur in 1983-84, India lost by an innings to West Indies. All three innings had excellent recoveries. First, West Indies, from 157 for 5 to 454. Then India, from 90 for 8 to 207, and in the follow-on, from 43 for 5 to 164. The three IW-HS values were 5.46, 98.11 and 5.62 respectively.At the SSC in Colombo in 2005, West Indies slumped to 113 for 5 before scoring 285 (IW-HS 5.37). Then Sri Lanka reached 227 after being 113 for 7 (IW-HS 7.02). Finally West Indies slid again, to 48 for 6, before crossing 100, although still losing the Test by a large margin.There are two occurrences of all four innings exceeding IW-HS values of 5.0. The first was in Lahore in November 1996. The four values were 5.50, 6.19, 5.39 and 6.74 respectively. Pakistan and New Zealand recovered from five-down and six-down situations. In 2015 at the SSC, India and Sri Lanka posted five-plus values of IW-HS in all four innings. Sri Lanka’s recovery from 47 for 6 to 201 was the most noteworthy one.Anantha NarayananFinally to Tests in which both teams suffered collapses. All IW-HS values should be lower than 3.0 to qualify.In Antigua in July 2012, New Zealand reached 223 for 2, yet managed a total of only 351 (IW-HS of 2.47). Then, West Indies were 304 for 1 and could add only 218 more (IW-HS of 1.13). Finally, New Zealand were 170 for 1 and could put on only 102 more (IW-HS of 1.72). The average was a very low 1.78.West Indies went from 114 for 2 to 216 (IW-HS of 1.98) in December 1997 in Karachi. Then it was Pakistan’s turn to fritter away a good start of 298 for no loss to 417 all out (a very low IW-HS of 0.70 – this innings was featured earlier). In their second innings, West Indies were doing reasonably well at 140 for 2, but could only reach 212 (IW-HS of 2.71).At the SCG in January 1968, Australia could not capitalise on a start of 219 for 2, and reached only 317. India responded in kind, converting a good position of 178 for 2 to 268 all out. In the third innings, Australia were sitting very well at 222 for 2 (a bogey score indeed) and could only add 70 more. To complete the sorry tale, India reached 120 for 1 but were dismissed for 197. This is the only Test featured in which all four innings had sub-2.50 IW-HS values (2.27, 2.34, 1.63 and 1.43 respectively. The average was an incredible 1.92, across all four innings.Calling for an all-time XV
In 2013, I ran a readers’ poll to determine a group of 15 players to be considered for an all-time World team. There was excellent response and the results were very insightful and interesting. I now call for submissions again, since new contenders have emerged, as also new measures for selection. You can email your entries through one of the three routes below, with the subject “All-time XV – 2021”.- Send an email to my personal mail id, if you have it
– Send an email to the email id at the bottom of this article
– Send an email to the Talking_Cricket group, more on which is below.When sending in your XV, provide your name, place of residence, and your list of 15 players (no more, no less). The team must be an all-terrain one. A manager/coach is optional. If you send multiple entries from one email id, I will consider the last one sent. Thus, you have the opportunity to change your selections. You don’t have to justify your selections; I prefer short emails. The entries should reach me by November 30. I will write a summary article, which will probably be published in January. The entry that matches the final selection or comes closest to it will be acknowledged.- eight batters/allrounders
– one wicketkeeper
– four pace bowlers
– two spinnersTalking Cricket Group
Any reader who wishes to join the general purpose cricket-ideas-exchange group of this name that I started last year can email a request for inclusion, giving their name, place of residence and what they do.

All the stats and records from the 2021 T20 World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand

Sampath Bandarupalli14-Nov-20213:12

Moody: Credit to Langer and Finch to galvanise this Australian team

6 – Out of the seven men’s T20 World Cup finals, six were won by the team winning the toss, including this time. In Dubai, the venue of the 2021 final, all the ten matches in the tournament played under lights were won by the teams batting second, including nine of them by the teams winning the toss.173 – Target chased down by Australia is the second-highest successful chase in a men’s T20I final. Pakistan’s 184-run chase against Australia in the 2018 tri-series final in Harare remains the highest. Before the Australia-New Zealand final, only one team crossed the 160-run mark in the men’s T20 World Cup finals – 161 for 6 by West Indies in 2016 against England while chasing 156 to win.Cricket on ESPN+

Match highlights of the Men’s T20 World Cup final is available in English, and in Hindi (USA only).

31 – Number of balls Mitchell Marsh needed for his fifty, the fastest in a men’s T20 World Cup final, pushing Kane Williamson’s 32-ball effort during New Zealand’s innings to second. The fastest fifty in the finals of the previous six editions came off 33 balls, by Kumar Sangakkara in 2014, and Joe Root in 2016.85 – Williamson’s score against Australia. No player has scored more than him in a men’s T20 World Cup final. Marlon Samuels also had an unbeaten 85 during West Indies’ successful chase against England in 2016.39 – Runs scored by Williamson off Mitchell Starc, the most by a batter off Starc in any T20 game. The previous most was 32 runs off 11 balls by Virat Kohli in a 2011 Champions League T20 game. Williamson struck seven fours and a six off Starc in the 12 balls he faced. No batter has hit more boundaries off a bowler in a men’s T20 World Cup game.David Warner raises his bat after his match-winning innings comes to an end•ICC via Getty Images289 – David Warner’s run-tally in this tournament, which is the most for Australia in an edition of men’s T20 World Cup. Warner surpassed Matthew Hayden’s 265 runs during the inaugural 2007 edition. Kevin Pietersen (England, 2010) and Warner (Australia, 2021) are the only players to win the Player-of-the-Tournament award at the men’s T20 World Cup from a title-winning side.627 – Runs scored by Marsh in T20Is in 2021, the third-highest behind Mohammad Rizwan (1033) and Babar Azam (826). Marsh’s total runs this year are also the highest in men’s T20Is in a calendar year for Australia.60 – Runs conceded by Starc in his four overs, the second-highest by a bowler in a men’s T20I for Australia. Andrew Tye conceded 64 runs against New Zealand in 2018. Starc is one of the five bowlers to concede 60 or more runs in a men’s T20 World Cup match but the first to do so in a final.

“As a man, it’s kind of frowned upon to show mental weakness or a bit of softness,” he says after a ‘very special’ knock in Christchurch

Firdose Moonda25-Feb-20222:48

Sarel Erwee: ‘I was a phone call away from calling it quits’

Sarel Erwee was going to quit. It was the summer of 2019, he’d been playing cricket for a decade, was approaching his 30th birthday and thought his dreams of being an international cricketer were over. He had reason to. Erwee had gone almost two years and 30 innings without a first-class century and averaged 28.63. Even before that, his average across 75 matches hovered just above 35. He had just had enough.”I was a phone call away from calling it quits,” he said after becoming South Africa’s newest Test centurion in Christchurch.But then came an intervention. “I had huge support, when I sat down with my family, with my parents and they picked me up. I saw a sports psychologist and we worked through it daily. It was a hard slog to try and get motivated again, to give my best after wanting to give up,” he said. “All the years of hard work felt pointless and worthless at one stage.”Until they didn’t and the sessions Erwee went to worked.He went on to score two hundreds in two matches in early 2020 and to double his average to 54.80 in the last two years. He was selected for the South African squad to play Sri Lanka at home, then to tour Pakistan, West Indies and against India at home and, despite Aiden Markram’s waning form, didn’t get a game. It was only when Keegan Petersen contracted Covid-19 and was forced out of the visit to New Zealand and Markram was granted the concession of moving to one-drop, that Erwee got his opportunity and two Tests in, he has made the most of it.

“As a man, it’s kind of frowned upon to show mental weakness or a bit of softness. There’s a lot of work still to be done. I am in that process every day, every week, every month, where I am trying to better my mental wellbeing.”

He is the first South African opener to score a century in a year, since Markram in Pakistan. He shared the highest opening stand in 18 innings and helped the team score more runs on one day than they did in the entire first Test. His was an innings defined by the discerning leave – Erwee did not play at a third of the deliveries bowled to him – and the well-timed drive, and it was an innings that played out in front of his sister, Chantelle, who has not seen him for four years.Related

• Sarel Erwee: 'England is where you learn Test cricket as an opener'

• Dean Elgar: 'My character as a leader is not to take the easy way out'

• Away from home and written off, Dean Elgar's South Africa showcase resilience of the good old days

• The Test hundreds may not be there, but Bavuma is close to being SA's best batter right now

• 'You need to score runs', Dean Elgar's stern message to 'vulnerable' Aiden Markram

Erwee “got a lump in my throat,” and wiped a tear from his eyes when he was asked what it was like to score a century alongside the batter he is likely to replace in the medium-term, Markram, and with a member of his family in the audience.”It was extremely special. They (Dean Elgar and Markram) are two good guys. They’ve taken me under their wing and helped me through this journey. It was lovely to be there with them and lovely to celebrate and get that hundred in front of my family. My sister lives here in New Zealand,” he said, as his voice cracked. “Sorry, I’ve got a lump in my throat here. She’s been through a tough time here, so it’s nice for her to have something to smile about.”Honest emotion, heightened by the global pandemic that has kept people away from each other for the last 24 months, is still rare in professional sport, especially among men. But Erwee has spent too long and worked too hard to hide his feelings. In the same week that a well-known South African rapper, Riky Rick, died by suicide, Erwee put mental health in front and at the center of the conversation and asked for it to be given more attention.Sarel Erwee struck his maiden international century•Getty Images”It’s a big thing and I don’t think we focus on it enough in South Africa, not just in cricket but in all sports,” Erwee said. “And in general life. As a man, it’s kind of frowned upon to show mental weakness or a bit of softness. There’s a lot of work still to be done. I am in that process every day, every week, every month, where I am trying to better my mental wellbeing. It’s a big part of my life and probably will be for a long time.”For someone in their second Test match, who has just achieved a century, to demonstrate the composure to discuss a topic so serious spoke about Erwee’s maturity, as a person and a player, and provides a reminder that Erwee is no overnight sensation. He is 32 and has done years in the often-overlooked-and-under-rated domestic game and maintained that it is a satisfactory training ground for the biggest stage.”You’ve got to get on with it at domestic cricket. You’ve got to prepare yourself. Whether it’s your first year or your sixth year, you’ve got to prepare yourself for international cricket if that’s what you want to do,” he said. “You’ve got to front up and show up every single day and make sure you get better. I am very fortunate that I had a year to settle into the squad and find my feet preparation-wise, and find out what it takes to do half decently or do well at this level. That’s just the help from team-mates. Preparation and fronting up is key.”Elgar also used the words “front up,” when he explained his decision to bat first – the only captain in 11 Tests to make that choice. On a pitch with less bounce than the first Test and strong winds making it difficult for the bowlers, his top three have so far proved him right but for Erwee, it’s not so much conditions as it is mindset that fueled South Africa’s performance. “We are here to win a Test match. We want to be one-all leaving the shores here. You’ve got to front up and that’s what we did today. We’ve got a goal in mind. If that means you have to bat first on a greenish wicket or a wicket that does something, so be it. That’s the nature of this game.”

From Sydney Thunder to Delhi Daredevils, here are the teams that have suffered an unenviable T20 run

Yash Jha18-Feb-2022Karachi Kings have had the worst ever start to a season in the Pakistan Super League, losing their first eight games. There have been comprehensive defeats – to Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi, in particular – and there have been nail-biting ones: none more so than the one-run loss to Islamabad United.The only common theme has been the sense of gloom around Babar Azam’s unit. Add their defeat in the PSL 2021 eliminator to Zalmi, and the Kings are now one defeat away from becoming just the sixth side to lose ten in a row in men’s franchise T20 leagues.Here’s a look at the five longest losing runs. (Note: England’s T20 Blast and New Zealand’s Super Smash not included)Sydney Thunder: 19(Big Bash League, 2011-12 to 2013-14)Thunder lost the third game of the inaugural BBL season, and wouldn’t win again till their seventh game of the tournament’s third edition – their eight-out-of-eight reversal in 2012-13 remains the only instance of a team losing every game of a BBL campaign.Daniel Smith, Chris Rogers, Michael Hussey (and even Chris Gayle, for two games) were at the helm through the barren run of more than three years, with Gayle and Martin Guptill featuring as overseas stars in the first two seasons, and Tillakaratne Dilshan, Eoin Morgan and Ajantha Mendis part of the setup for 2013-14.Fortunately for Thunder fans, better days lay ahead: they evaded the wooden spoon for the first time in 2014-15, and went the distance the next time around to win their only BBL title.Sydney Thunder lost a record 19 times between 2011-12 and 2013-14•Getty ImagesSt Lucia Zouks/Stars: 14(Caribbean Premier League, 2016 to 2018)St. Lucia – last name Zouks, at the time – had a decent run in CPL 2016 before going down to Trinbago Knight Riders in the eliminator. They had to wait over two years for their next win.They changed their name to Stars for the next edition, but saw the lights go out on them in devastating fashion: nine losses and one no-result, in what remains the only winless campaign in CPL history. By the time the elusive victory arrived – in their fifth game of 2018 – a second campaign had gone out of Stars’ reach.Ironically, they were led by Daren Sammy – the only man to win two T20 World Cup crowns as captain – through most of the horrid run, and even had Kieron Pollard take charge in 2018.They reverted to Zouks as their kicker for the next season, and did manage to make the top four in 2020, before another rebranding to Kings for CPL 2021.Not much went right for Pune Warriors in 2012 and 2013•BCCIPune Warriors India: 11(Indian Premier League, 2012 to 2013)The Warriors didn’t really set the stage on fire through their three-year existence in the IPL – their win-loss ratio of 0.363 (12 wins, 33 losses) is nearly twice as worse as any other team in the competition’s history – but in 2012, even by these standards, they hit their nadir.Sourav Ganguly’s side started quite brightly with three wins in their first four games (and four in the first seven) before it all unraveled spectacularly. Deccan Chargers had lost five in a row and seemed destined for the bottom spot, but even they did the double over the Warriors – two wins in six days, in fact – and by the end of it, Warriors pipped Chargers to the wooden spoon.While they were without the services of Yuvraj Singh as he recovered from cancer, the Warriors were far from short on resources: Steven Smith, Jesse Ryder, Angelo Mathews, Marlon Samuels and Michael Clarke were among their overseas contingent, while Robin Uthappa and Ashish Nehra provided experienced Indian heads.Delhi Daredevils: 11(Indian Premier League, 2014 to 2015)It may seem a distant memory given the highs of the Capitals era – three consecutive playoff finishes, including a maiden IPL final in 2020 – but the end of the Daredevils years made for painful watching from Delhi: six successive editions outside the top four, four of which saw them sit in the bottom two.The period from 2013 to 2015 was when they hit absolute rock bottom, winning just ten games out of 44. In the midst of that phase came this spell from hell, starting from the India leg of IPL 2014.Two wins out of five in UAE were followed by nine losses on the bounce, all nine under the leadership of Kevin Pietersen. It was, much like the Warriors, a reasonably-well assembled unit – Jean-Paul Duminy, Ross Taylor and Imran Tahir provided overseas weight along with Pietersen, while in Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay, Manoj Tiwary and Mohammed Shami they had a fair domestic core – but it just never clicked for the Daredevils.The streak spilled over to IPL 2015, where they lost their opening two games, before Mayank Agarwal and newly-acquired record buy Yuvraj helped the Daredevils snap out of it against Punjab.Antigua Hawksbills: 10(Caribbean Premier League, 2013 to 2014)In their brief CPL existence, not much went the way of the Hawksbills – they only won three times in 16 games spanning two seasons, before being replaced by the St Kitts and Nevis franchise for CPL 2015.Their contingent for the 2014 edition, where they suffered eight of the ten losses making this streak, was led by Marlon Samuels and included the likes of Carlos Brathwaite, Rahkeem Cornwall and Sheldon Cottrell, who would all go on to make a name for themselves in the near future. Overseas recruits David Hussey, Brad Hogg and Saeed Ajmal brought with them sizable T20 expertise.Antigua were most hit by the lack of support to Samuels in the batting department; the skipper scored 374 runs at 53.42 (SR 141.66) through this ten-match run, but no other batter touched 150 runs and no one who batted more than twice averaged even 20.