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ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from Colombo

Alan Gardner in Colombo07-Dec-2014The statement shot
It had been over a year since James Taylor played for England, more than three since his debut, so his cautious start was understandable. He moved to 11 from 29 balls when he decided there was something about Thisara Perera’s medium pace that he liked. The delivery was maybe a touch full and wide of off stump, allowing Taylor to skip nimbly out of his crease and cart the ball over wide long-on with a heavy bottom-handed swipe of the bat. It was the first boundary of his innings and his first six in international cricket.The stretch for the line
Throughout his innings, Taylor had a few tricky moments with his running, particularly to mid-on, where he took a number of sharp singles. In the 19th over, he pushed Jeevan Mendis firmly towards mid-on and took off down the pitch before changing his mind. Joe Root was at the non-striker’s end and he had to first get out of the way of the ball, then respond to the call, then attempt to regain his ground having lost footing on the pitch. With a desperate, outstretched arm, he got his bat back.The intimidation
A couple of times during the partnership between Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, Chris Jordan supplemented his get-down-really-close-to-the-batsman follow through with a feint at throwing at the stumps. He didn’t actually go through with it – in fact, once he failed to actually pick up the ball – but for what was perceived as an unnecessary attempt to intimidate Sri Lanka’s batting heroes, Jordan felt the full force of a Colombo crowd derisorily hooting him down. As the chase got tighter and Angelo Mathews took Sri Lanka towards victory, Jordan tried it again and got an even bigger pelting.The new toy
Sangakkara cruised past 50 for the 109th time in a one-day international, putting him three behind Ricky Ponting in second place. He won’t be catching Sachin Tendulkar’s 145 50-plus scores, with retirement from at least the ODI format expected after the World Cup, but he has learned one of the old master’s tricks. Leaning back to a Chris Woakes bouncer, Sangakkara put his dukes up and uppercut the ball directly over the head of the wicketkeeper – a classic Tendulkar stroke but seemingly a new addition to Sanga’s armoury.The carefully-baited trap
England barely got close to touching Sangakkara, discounting a mistimed drive at Joe Root that fell just short of extra cover. But Eoin Morgan sometimes has a touch of magic about his captaincy and just when it looked like Sangakkara would be heading off into the sunset with the match in his pocket, his confidence got the better of him and he crashed an aerial cut shot straight to the man set back towards the cover boundary. So that’s what England were playing for, the old deep point trap.

Spinners in the Ranji Trophy are bowling less and taking far fewer wickets than they used to, and this could have troubling consequences in the long term

Karthik Krishnaswamy13-Jan-2015Some 20 or so faces were pressed to the main gate of the KSCA Stadium in Hubli. All peered at the Karnataka bus, which was slowly filling up at the end of day two of the team’s Ranji Trophy game against Jammu & Kashmir. The crowd at the gate recognised everyone, and called out their names. When Shreyas Gopal carried his kitbag up the bus steps, a chant went up.”Junior Kumble! Junior Kumble!”It’s a massive comparison for someone who is only playing his second season of first-class cricket, but at surface level, there’s something to it. Shreyas finishes his action in a manner vaguely reminiscent of Anil Kumble, plays for the same state side, and has picked up his first 38 wickets at an average of 18.10. When Kumble was first selected for India, he had played one season of first-class cricket, in which he had taken 24 wickets at 19.62.Dig a few inches below the surface, however, and it becomes clear that Shreyas and Kumble are entirely different kinds of cricketer.In his debut first-class season of 1989-90, Kumble bowled 196.4 overs in five matches, or close to 40 overs per match. Shreyas, so far, has bowled 183.5 overs in 11 first-class matches, or a little under 17 overs per match. He has barely had an opportunity to bowl extended spells or set up dismissals.His wickets, instead, have come in clumps. Where Kumble needed to bowl 48 overs to claim his maiden five-wicket haul, Shreyas only needed 16, against Uttar Pradesh in last season’s Ranji Trophy quarter-finals. His second five-for was even quicker: 9.5 overs, in the Irani Cup match against Rest of India, where his last three wickets came in a hat-trick.This season, Shreyas has picked up six wickets at an average of 19.50, but he’s only bowled 37.1 overs in seven innings. There’s plenty to like about Shreyas’ bowling. He seems to give it a rip, and he doesn’t seem to bowl too many bad balls, but he has had little chance of showing whether he can sustain his bite and accuracy over a long spell.It’s hardly a unique situation. The role of spinners in the Ranji Trophy has shrunk significantly over the last ten seasons. They bowled 47% of the overs delivered and picked up 42% of the wickets taken in the 2005-06 season. Since then, both those numbers have undergone a steady decrease. This season, both those numbers have hit bottom for the decade: an overs share of 36% and a wickets share of 32%.The influence of spinners has waned over the last decade of the Ranji Trophy•ESPNcricinfo LtdAccording to Murali Kartik, the former India and Railways left-arm spinner, the primary reason for the waning influence of spin is the pitches.”Since 2011, when we had that 8-0 drubbing in Australia and England, there’s been this diktat of a minimum of 4mm [of grass]. Or at least people say there’s been no diktat from BCCI but if that’s the case why would every ground leave a minimum of 4mm? In that process, obviously in the first two innings the spinner doesn’t come into play.The use of the heavy roller negates any wear and tear, Kartik adds, and rules out any assistance for spinners even on days three and four.”The spinner is not coming into play even on the fourth day. It’s because of this minimum 4mm, and then people use the heavy roller. By the last day there’s nothing left for anybody, there are no spike marks, so where will the spinner come into play? Without natural wear and tear it just becomes a flat wicket, come day three, day four, with all the heavy rollers being used. It nullifies the effect of the grass. It just becomes well rolled-out grass.”He goes back to the 2012-13 season to provide an example, from Railways’ home game against Gujarat in Bhubaneswar.”I won the toss. We blew them away for [117]. We used the heavy roller, obviously, because it’s allowed to be used, because we don’t want to face the same green track, no? So we get [308]. They again used the heavy roller, at whatever time. The effect of the grass is still there, it’s still functioning, because obviously the game is moving fast.”We get them six down, and then seven down, actually. Then [Manpreet Juneja] and [Rush Kalaria] get [hundreds]. Why? Because it’s like mosaic right now. The ball isn’t swinging, the ball isn’t spinning, anybody could bat on it. It’s live grass on day one, then it just gets rolled and rolled and rolled, so it’s just a beautiful even sheen on the surface.”This season, the statistics support Kartik’s argument. Spinners have picked up 350 wickets in the first and second innings at an average of 34.65. In the third and fourth innings, when they are traditionally expected to perform better, they have taken 164 wickets at 37.51. Spinners, with no real window in which to come into play, have become marginal figures.”Last season, as a captain I bowled [71] overs in [seven] games,” Kartik says. ” England [I’ve never bowled so few overs even in England, where the pitches are green].”Rahul Dravid pointed out recently that Shreyas Gopal has bowled [37.1] overs in four games. Why? Because everywhere they are saying green wicket, green wicket. You pack your team with three seamers, and every team has got the likes of [seam-bowling allrounder] Stuart Binny or somebody, then obviously you won’t be bowling.”And the SG Test [ball] starts [reverse] swinging around the 30th over, so they come into play again. So the spinner just gets to do a holding job where they are bowling for five-seven overs, ten overs, and then thank you, see you later, come back again. It’s just a holding job, [Don’t give runs, bowl for a little while]. Everywhere the same thing is happening.”Aakash Chopra, the former Delhi, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh opener, says the SG ball, while being a “wonderful ball for the spinners”, also keeps seamers in the game right through a day’s play.”Seam bowlers tend to get swing right till the 80th over, and by that time the second new ball is due,” he says. “So if the seamers stay relevant, there is this temptation to have a seamer bowling from one end, and possibly from both ends, as long as it’s possible. But at the same time the SG ball is conducive to spin bowling also, because of its pronounced seam, and if it’s shining and it’s swinging it’s also going to drift if you deliver it properly.”But that drift has gone out of the game completely. Nobody is even trying to do that. What’s happened is, teams are inclined to go towards seam-bowling options, because the ball is conducive to swing bowling till the 80th over, and then, of course, you have the pitches, and why would you not have that? If seamers are your stronger suit, you will make sure they are relevant till the 80th, even the 90th over, they are there the whole day. If your spinners are just going to do a containing job then good luck to you, what can be done? Then you’ll have to bat well to make sure you stay in the team.”Whether it’s out of necessity or it’s just a coincidence, Indian cricket has seen a spurt of spin-bowling allrounders. Shreyas is an example of this trend. He was a batting allrounder through the junior levels, but has mostly batted at No. 8 or No. 9 during his first-class career. After a slow start, he’s done very well in those positions – he has made scores of 145, 18 and 58* in his last three first-class innings.Shreyas, in short, is an allrounder playing as a bowler who doesn’t really bowl that much. The fact that he has picked up wickets whenever he has been called upon is probably a bit of a bonus for Karnataka.In that match in Hubli, the J&K side included only one spinner, Parvez Rasool, who batted at number five and bowled nine wicketless overs in a Karnataka innings that lasted 103 overs. Given the greenness of the surface, J&K played a fourth fast bowler. Given the value Rasool provides with the bat – and given the fact that he captains them – they left out the left-arm spinner Waseem Raza, who had picked up 11 wickets at 27.27 till then. Rasool had picked up six wickets at 58.66.In his first-class career, Rasool averages 34.62 with the ball and 38.45 with the bat. Those are pretty good returns for a batting allrounder at No. 5 or 6. He fulfils that role while playing for his state side, but his place in the India side or on its fringes has generally been that of a specialist offspinner. When he picked up 7 for 45 for the Board President’s XI against the Australians in 2013, he batted at No. 8.

Spinners bowled 47% of the overs delivered and picked up 42% of the wickets taken in the 2005-06 season. Since then, both those numbers have undergone a steady decrease. This season, both those numbers have hit bottom for the decade: an overs share of 36% and a wickets share of 32%

In the next tour game, Jalaj Saxena picked up five wickets for India A. Saxena is a batting allrounder who usually opens the batting for Madhya Pradesh – he averages 36.82 with the bat in first-class cricket and 34.61 with the ball – but in that game against the Australians, he batted at No. 7. Like Rasool in the previous game, he was a batting allrounder picked more for his bowling.Since Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha – who made their debuts in 2008 and 2009 respectively – India have given Test caps to three other spinners. All three can bat. Not all three were picked for that reason, of course, but it’s still interesting to note that R Ashwin averages 35.68 with the bat in first-class cricket, Ravindra Jadeja 46.44, and Karn Sharma 25.46. All three were in the Test squad in Australia, and when India lost Jadeja to injury, they flew in a like-for-like replacement in Akshar Patel, with a first-class batting average of 42.25.Why does it seem to have become imperative that spinners bat?”Depends on how good a spinner you are,” says Amol Muzumdar, the former Mumbai, Assam and Andhra batsman. “When I talk about a spinner, you have to be really confident about spinning the ball. None of the guys I’ve seen have really been spinners. They’ve just been rollers, coming in and putting it on a spot, just for the captain to maybe tie one end down or tie things down, and give a little breather to his fast bowlers, which was really unthinkable probably 10-15 years back. There used to be seam bowlers who used to do that job, giving a break to the spinners. It’s become completely the reverse.”Chopra argues that the lack of quality of spinners has caused the proliferation of green pitches.”What came first is something that needs to be deciphered,” he says. “A lot of people will tell you [about] this 4mm grass being a norm, and you can’t take wickets on these greenish pitches, but I don’t think it’s the only reason. It’s a result of inferior quality of spinners around and hence teams are now opting for seamer-friendly pitches.”For example at Rajasthan we would happily play on greentops and play four fast bowlers, because the spinner that we had in the side was not even good enough to plug the flow of runs, let alone take wickets. Same was the case with Delhi. When I was there for 10-12 years we would happily go to Roshanara and not play at [Feroz Shah] Kotla because Roshanara provided the greentop for us. Punjab is the same case once again.”In Himachal Pradesh, I didn’t have enough spinners in my team to prepare a turner. You talk about Delhi, you talk about Rajasthan, you talk about Himachal Pradesh, you talk about Punjab, you talk about Madhya Pradesh. Add Bengal to it. I can’t see a decent spinner in Bengal. And there are enough states whom I don’t know yet. So there aren’t enough good spinners available. So what do you expect?”Both Kartik and Chopra suggest that Twenty20 cricket could be a reason for spinners losing their sting.”You look at all the old bowlers, they were used to bowling long spells,” Kartik says. “You learn your craft on good wickets, you learn your craft against good batsmen by bowling long spells, and you also practice that way. The more you bowl, that’s the way you become. It is not T20 games where you have to bowl one over and another one over and another one over where a consistent length is supposed to be really bad. You can’t allow a batsman to line you up. That can’t happen in first-class cricket, no? If I bowl five different lengths the batsman is going to hurt me.”Any kid you go to, everywhere in schools cricket, what are they playing? It’s T20 cricket. All the old players including myself – not that I’m old – have been brought up on schools cricket which was two days, three days. I was brought up on league cricket in Madras which was three days against the best of opposition so you had to prise them out, you had to bowl well. And there was not just one game, you had to play 16 games. Which meant you were getting quality practice against the best.”Chopra says he doesn’t see spinners beating batsmen in the air anymore. This, he says, could be because of habits carried over from Twenty20 cricket.”In T20 cricket, spinners are challenged, they are pushed,” he says. “Unless you have already matured and know your game inside-out, there is a good chance, the moment you get in the shorter format, that you’ll start bowling flatter, you bowl straighter, you compromise on spin.”If I hit you as a batsman, the bowler’s first reaction is to bowl fast and get away. But spinners at times have to bowl slow. But that variation comes to your mind only if you are a complete bowler already. A Daniel Vettori will not start bowling darts. But a young left-arm spinner, the moment he’s hit, he says okay, lets start bowling darts.”It’s nobody’s fault, I’m not blaming the format, but the dynamics are such that spinners are challenged, and if spinners are challenged they will have to find a way to stay relevant and the easiest way is to lower the trajectory and bowl fast. And compromise on spin because you need more accuracy. So that is your natural tendency, and that needs to be addressed, because young spinners don’t really know about spinning the ball and beating the batsman in the air.”Sairaj Bahutule, the former Mumbai and Maharashtra legspinner, says spinners find it difficult to adjust between formats.”In Twenty20, I’ve seen bowlers of international repute bowling just short of a length, not a good length, which it demands, but when the format changes, you bowl the same length,” he says. “[Maybe] we [can] make a pool of spinners only for Ranji Trophy and Test matches, and some allrounders who can do a job for T20 and one-dayers.”Muzumdar doesn’t think Twenty20 is much of a factor in young spinners developing the way they are.”Again it all boils down to the quality of that man,” he says. “If that guy has immense quality, he would be useful in Twenty20, one-day cricket, and Test match cricket. It’s easier to say Twenty20 cricket has spoiled that. If you have a spinner who rips it in the air, he would be the most sought-after player in the IPL auction, I can guarantee that. If that boy spins the ball like a top.”You have to go really deep into it. You have to work on the psyche of a spinner right from Under-16. Under-19 or Under-23, they are already finished products. The raw material is the Under-14s and the Under-16s. Not many play IPL or Twenty20 at that age. If the raw material is bad, then the finished product will be bad. If they put revolutions on the ball, I’ll be on my guard in my crease. But if that ball has no revolutions, I know this guy will go for plenty. If he cannot beat me in the air, off the surface, I know I’ll take him for a ride for six hours.”Chopra says a good spinner should be able to take wickets anywhere.”If you are not beating batsmen in the air, if you are not turning it off the wicket, why should I prepare pitches where you are going to get wickets? Rank turners, you’ll get a bagful of wickets, but that is not a true reflection of who you are.”This is precisely what makes it hard to assess the merits of the spinners who have been taking wickets this season.Of the ten highest wicket-takers among spinners this season, three – Malolan Rangarajan, Aushik Srinivas and Rahil Shah – play for Tamil Nadu. All three were part of their bowling attack in their three home games, in which the quicks barely played a part. L Balaji played the first two games, and bowled a total of 24 overs. In the third, against Railways in Chennai, Tamil Nadu didn’t select a single specialist seamer.In those three home games, the three spinners combined to pick up 42 wickets at an average of 21.21. In the two away games, Malolan and Aushik – playing as the lone spinner against Karnataka and Bengal respectively – took a total of five wickets at 49.80. How is a selector supposed to judge their performances?Baroda’s Swapnil Singh is the highest wicket-taker among spinners this season, but bowled only four overs across two innings in seam-friendly conditions in Gwalior, where Baroda made Madhya Pradesh follow on. Delhi’s Varun Sood picked up 10 wickets in the match against Gujarat at the Feroz Shah Kotla, but only got to bowl 6.2 overs in his next game, against Haryana in Lahli, where he picked up three tail-end wickets.The established names, meanwhile, have struggled for various reasons. Harbhajan Singh has two wickets this season at 74.50. Piyush Chawla has been almost as poor, with seven wickets at 49.00. Mishra, playing for a Haryana side that plays its matches on the greenest pitch in India, has bowled 42.1 overs in four innings. Ojha has been banned from bowling.Spinners with bagfuls of wickets in recent seasons have also struggled to maintain their consistency. Vishal Dabholkar, who took 39 wickets for Mumbai last season, was dropped for their last three matches. Shahbaz Nadeem, who took 42 wickets for Jharkhand in 2012-13, has picked up 13 wickets at 21.15 this season, but has done this against Group C opposition. KP Appanna, who took 28 wickets in the Elite tier in 2011-12, hasn’t played all season for Karnataka. Bharghav Bhatt, who took 47 wickets with his left-arm orthodox in 2010-11, has played only one game for Baroda.The pool of spinners in Indian domestic cricket, then, is both shallow and murky, filled with good bowlers who are barely getting a bowl, average bowlers who are getting by on their batting, and a collection of established but fading names.

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Mar-2015Michael Clarke guaranteed they would “celebrate hard tonight,” and suitably enough liquid was sprayed around with gusto, the preferred targets being coach Darren Lehmann and the captain•Cameron Spencer/Getty ImagesThat it was Clarke’s farewell ODI game wasn’t forgotten amid the frenzy, and Australia’s leader was given an emotional guard of honour•Ryan Pierse/Getty ImagesThere was some unintended mirth as well, as a cameraman, engrossed in capturing Australia’s lap of honour, tripped and fell•Quinn Rooney/Getty ImagesNot sure if they were singing ‘Under the Southern Cross’, but the mateship that Australia’s cricketers swear by was on ample display•ICCAfter a gruelling campaign, it was also time to bond with the family; partners and children were part of the celebrations•Ryan Pierse/Getty ImagesClarke dedicated the victory to “our little brother” Phillip Hughes, and said “winning in our own backyard” made it a wonderful achievement•Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

The most beguiling attraction in the Waikato Museum in Hamilton is the , an exhibition put together to celebrate the history of the Northern Districts Cricket Association

Sharda Ugra in Hamilton11-Mar-2015There are eight women, grouped together as a team of some sort, looking into the camera, wearing the gowns of the day. The top of what look like boots are glimpsed from under the hem of a very long skirt. They are wearing elaborate hats and the woman in the centre is obviously the leader among them. She is holding two bats, smiling with amusement at the photographer, who has gathered them together. Next to her is a woman of colour. Maybe Maori? Maybe not.Everyone has hands folded on their laps, except the one at extreme left, younger, with a grim, slightly foreboding expression. In her right hand, there rests a cricket ball – she’s the bowler.Who were these women? Where did they come from? What team did they form? Nobody knows. This photograph was found in the attic of the Northern Districts Association as they went about a burst of renovating in the lead-up to the World Cup. It belongs to Hamilton and has been dated circa 1920.It is perhaps the most beguiling exhibit in the Waikato Museum’s , an exhibition put together to celebrate the rich, unexpected and dispute-ridden history of the Northern Districts Cricket Association.A drinks tray from the 1950s is one of several delights to be found at the exhibition•ESPNcricinfo LtdIt is only right that the photograph of the women begins the exhibition, which has run from February 6 and will last until the end of the World Cup on March 29. The exhibition’s curator, Salima Ghazally, is by profession a specialist in curating displays around science. She was given the cricket exhibition without any background of an interest in cricket or in its history. In putting The Perfect Pitch together, Ghazally brought to it a new way of seeing the game.”I came to it with a blank canvas,” she said, starting out originally with the thought of pursuing the science of the sport. “I was interested to see the science and physiology involved, things about health, safely, the virtual eye in broadcasting, those kinds of things.”Yet, once she fell into cricket and was soon enraptured by the story of Waikato and its neighbouring regions, the need to “tell a regional story took over”. Ghazally began collecting information and artefacts about the history of cricket in the region which crossed conventionally segmented divisions of cricket history. “As the objects were coming in,” she says, “I realised I must have a more emotional, sensitive and human story to tell.”So while there are bats, balls, stumps, trophies and blazers, there are also enormous surprises and delights to be found around every corner. The photograph of the women cricketers is only one of them. There is a drinks tray from the 1950s, the luggage players carried on seaward voyages to do with cricket, the wheel of the ship that was chartered to bring in spectators from around the region when the first cricket match here took place – between a team of 11 Englishmen and a “Twenty Two of Waikato” on January 31, 1882. There are poems, paintings, photographs and an interactive cricket “dice” game called “Owzthat”, which was created by soldiers in the First World War, who carved long dice out of pencils as a mean of leisure in the camps.An announcement of the first ever match in Hamilton, in 1882•ESPNcricinfo LtdSeddon Park, which has held three World Cup matches, was created out of swampland, and the exhibition also traces, through letters, scorecards and newspaper headlines, the long and fairly familiar story of Northern Districts’ fight to get recognition from the other traditional centres of the game in New Zealand. It was the last of the New Zealand regions to attain first-class status, in 1956-57. A familiar pattern of exclusion and alienation will be recognised by cricket associations everywhere in the world struggling for relevance and acknowledgement.In a tribute to the modern, in the middle of the exhibition, next to the blazers of the region’s famous players, male and female, stands a replica knight in full armour, helmet, visor, sword et al.The current Northern Districts team are nicknamed Northern Knights and the colour of their short-format uniform could actually be called fuchsia. Before there is sniggering, remember this: five of the 15-member New Zealand dream team that is coasting its way through the World Cup, belong to Northern Districts. That’s one-third. Who’s laughing now?

ESPNcricinfo staff31-May-2015But their 115-run stand came to an end when Azhar was run out four short of his fifth 50-plus score in five games•AFPHafeez was next to go, trapped lbw by Sikandar Raza. However, his run-a-ball 80 had left Pakistan well poised on 134 for 2•Associated PressSome brilliant fielding helped Zimbabwe dismiss and Sarfaraz Ahmed before Pakistan crossed 200•AFPBabar Azam became the 10th Pakistan batsman to score a fifty on ODI debut•Associated PressBut Zimbabwe were able to exert good control with their spinners through the middle and final overs•AFPChris Mpofu took an expensive 2 for 50 in six overs, a result of Anwar Ali’s late surge of 38 from 23 balls that took Pakistan to 296 for 9•AFPZimbabwe’s openers put on a brisk 68 runs in nine overs, but what started off as a floodlight failure was followed by a dust storm and then a drizzle developed into a heavy downpour, forcing the match to be called off. Pakistan take the series 2-0•AFP

Statistical highlights from the third day of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka in Galle

Bishen Jeswant14-Aug-20158 Catches taken by Ajinkya Rahane in this Test, the most for any fielder in Test history. Five fielders had previously taken exactly seven catches.13 Tests in which Dinesh Chandimal reached 1000 runs as a wicketkeeper, the fastest for any keeper in Test history. Chandmil bettered the record previously held by AB de Villiers, who scored 1000 runs as a keeper in 14 Tests. Chandimal reached this mark when batting on 110 during his second-innings century.162 Runs scored by Chandimal in the second innings, the second-best score by a Sri Lankan keeper in the second innings of a Test. The only Sri Lankan keeper to post a higher score is Kumar Sangakkara, who made 185 against Pakistan at the SSC (Colombo) in 2006.4 Test centuries scored by Chandimal, the second-most for any Sri Lankan wicket-keeper after Kumar Sangakkara (7). Each of the Chandimal’s three previous centuries came against Bangladesh.10 Wickets taken by R Ashwin in this Test, the sixth ten-wicket haul by an Indian spinner in an away Test. The last time this happened was also in Galle, when Harbhajan Singh returned figures of 10 for 153 in 2008.6.6 Ashwin’s average against left-handed batsmen in this Test. He bowled 105 balls at them, conceded only 46 runs, and took seven wickets. Ashwin averaged a significantly higher 38 against right-handed batsmen, conceding 114 runs from 147 balls and taking only three wickets.0 Previous instances of a 100-plus target being achieved in the fourth innings in Galle. Such a target has been set on 13 previous occasions, with the chasing team losing nine of those Tests and drawing four. The highest target successfully achieved in Galle is 99, by Sri Lanka against Pakistan in 2014. India are chasing 176 to win this Test.49 Runs scored by Jehan Mubarak in this innings, his highest Test score. Mubarak is yet to post a half-century from 21 Test innings. His previous highest Test score was 48, against South Africa in 2002.

Stats highlights from the Sharjah Test where Pakistan wrapped up a 2-0 win over England

Bharath Seervi05-Nov-201520 Number of Tests Pakistan have won under Misbah-ul-Haq. Among captains from the subcontinent, only MS Dhoni (27 wins) and Sourav Ganguly (21) have won more Tests than him.0 Number of Test series Pakistan has lost in the UAE since 2010. They have won four and drawn four of the eight Test series they have played.1 Number of overseas Tests England have won in their last 15 matches. That was against West Indies at St George’s, Grenada, in April earlier this year.950 Deliveries faced by Alastair Cook in this series; only two other England batsmen have faced more deliveries in a series of three or fewer Tests in Asia. Geoff Boycott played 1079 balls in a three-Test series in Pakistan in 1977-78, and Mike Atherton faced 989 balls in a three-Test series, also against Pakistan in 2000-01. Cook’s 950 balls are the second-highest by a visiting captain in a three-match Test series in Asia after Mark Taylor’s 981 balls against Pakistan in 1998-99.3 Number of times Cook has been out stumped in Tests from 218 innings. The last time he was dismissed in this manner before Sharjah was in the 2012-13 Kolkata Test. Among England openers, only Tom Hayward, who was out stumped six times in his career, has more such dismissals. Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton and Mark Butcher are the other England openers to be dismissed stumped three times in Tests.7-59 Shoaib Malik’s bowling figures in this Test – his career-best figures. His previous best in a Test was 4 for 94, against South Africa in Lahore in 2002-03. Also, these are the best match figures by a Pakistan bowler in his final Test match.51 Number of wickets Zulfiqar Babar has taken in Tests. At 36 years and 326 days (at the start of the Test), he is the oldest Pakistan bowler to complete 50 Test wickets. Mohammad Hafeez, who took his 50th wicket at 34 years and 243 days, was the previous oldest.8 Number of wickets that fell in England’s second innings while Cook was at the crease; Cook was the ninth batsman to be dismissed. It’s the first time Cook has batted this deep into a Test innings. It was also the first time that he batted with Stuart Broad in the 87 Tests that they have played together.76 Number of wickets by Yasir Shah after 12 Test matches. Only Charlie Turner, the Australian seamer who played in the late 1800s, had more wickets after 12 Tests – 80. Tom Richardson, the England fast bowler from the same period, also had 76 wickets after 12 Tests. That makes Yasir’s haul the best among spinners after 12 matches.

Stats highlights from a comprehensive Australian win at the MCG

S Rajesh29-Dec-20158 Test defeats for West Indies in 2015, which equals the most for them in a calendar year: they also lost eight in 2004 and in 2005. However, they have played only ten Tests this year, compared to 11 in 2005 and 12 in 2004. In terms of percentage of matches lost, only once have they fared worse: in 1928 they lost three out of three, compared to eight out of ten this year. Australia, on the other hand, have won eight this year; only five times have they won more Tests in a calendar year.106.99 The difference between the batting averages of the two teams in this series so far: Australia have averaged 131.30 runs per wicket, compared to West Indies’ 24.31. The difference is the second-highest ever for a series of two or more Tests: the only higher difference was when Bangladesh toured England in 2005 – England averaged 162.50 compared to Bangladesh’s 17.17, a difference of 145.33.2012 The last time before this game when West Indies batted 80-plus overs in both innings of an overseas Test. That was at Lord’s in May 2012, when they played 89.5 overs in the first innings, and 130.5 in the second. They lost that game by five wickets.3 Instances in West Indies’ Test history of their top five all getting out between 19 and 37, as they did in the second innings in Melbourne. The only earlier instances were against South Africa in Centurion in 2014, and against India in Chennai in 1967. This is also the 20th instance in all – and the fourth since 2000 – of their top seven batsmen scoring 15 or more in a Test innings.48 Test wickets for Nathan Lyon in 2015, the third-highest among spinners, after R Ashwin (62) and Yasir Shah (49). Lyon is also the second-highest wicket-taker in Tests for Australia this year, after Josh Hazlewood, who took 51. Lyon has 98 wickets in home Tests, the fifth-best among Australian spinners.2 Man-of-the-Match awards for Lyon in Tests: his first was against India in Adelaide last year.26.51 Marlon Samuels’ Test average since the beginning of 2013; in 19 Tests during this period he has two centuries and five fifties, but has been dismissed below 20 on 20 occasions. His average of 26.51 is the lowest among the 45 batsmen who have batted at least 25 times in the top six during this period. It is marginally lower than Lahiru Thirimanne’s average of 26.68 in 30 innings.15 Number of Test innings between 50-plus scores for Denesh Ramdin. His last such score was 57, against England in North Sound in April this year. Between these two 50-plus scores, Ramdin had scored 201 runs at an average of 14.36.20.72 Ramdin’s batting average in 17 Tests since the beginning of 2014. His highest score in 30 innings during this period is 59, which he scored today. In the two previous years – 2012 and 2013 – he had averaged 44.29 in 14 Tests, scoring three centuries in 22 innings.38.49 Darren Bravo’s strike rate in this Test match: he scored 102 runs over two innings off 265 balls. Of the 21 times he has faced 150 or more balls in a Test, this is the seventh instance of his strike rate staying below 40.12 Results in the last 13 Tests at the MCG; the only draw was against India last year. Each of the 12 other Tests have been won by a margin of at least eight wickets or 120 runs, or an innings.4/61 Mitchell Marsh’s figures in West Indies’ second innings, his best in Tests, and the first time he has taken more than three in an innings.

Plays of the day from the fifth ODI between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in Sharjah

Nikhil Kalro06-Jan-2016Six and outThe fifth ODI witnessed a different type of this form of dismissal, widely known in backyard cricket. Luke Jongwe was looking for quick runs in the 49th over, but Dawlat Zadran, who was generating impressive pace, went for the quick bouncer. Jongwe saw an opportunity and went deep in his crease to hook but did not see too much after that. Hurried by the shorter length, he took his eyes off the ball and completed his attempted hook. The pace took the ball flying over the fine leg boundary, but Jongwe went so deep in the crease that he was forced to step on the stumps. Jongwe became the first person to be dismissed hit wicket against Afghanistan.The same-card trickGulbadin Naib chose a fuller length to Hamilton Masakadza early in his innings. In the 10th over, Masakadza creamed a drive into the ground to extra cover with such power in one swift motion, that the fielder claimed the catch. Bump ball. Masakadza’s concentration broken, Naib went with a gentle outswinger again next ball, inviting the drive and it almost worked. Beaten. Naib persisted on that length with a similar delivery off the next ball, but Masakadza picked it early. Six over long-off.Clean sweepBatting at No. 4, Richmond Mutumbami displayed positive intent from the start of his innings. He used the sweep and lofted drives to garner boundaries, even as the Afghanistan bowlers started to re-find their lost lengths. Amir Hamza, bowling in the 30th over, tossed one up in Mutumbami’s half and bore the brunt of a connected slog sweep. Not only was it well placed but it went so far that it cleared the sparsely-populated midwicket stand and left the ground.Heat and iceDespite creaming five boundaries in his 25, Mohammad Shahzad had not yet had enough. While watching his colleagues continue Afghanistan’s chase of 249 in the taxing heat of Sharjah, Shahzad resorted to ice cream to cool himself down. He still was not done. A few deliveries later, cameras panned to Shahzad tucking into a second cup of ice cream.Premature joyGulbadin Naib was drafted into Afghanistan’s ODI side after 11 months. He returned that trust with a sensational knock that lifted his side to a memorable series win. However, he showed his joy a tad too early. With three needed off four balls, Naib squirted a delivery to midwicket and raced back for the second, a run that he believed gave Afghanistan the victory. He removed his helmet, pumped his fists in celebration and ran the length of the straight boundary, completely unaware that he had only leveled the score. The remainder was just a formality though, as he thumped the following full toss to the roof of the stand at square leg to spark wild celebrations among his team-mates.

The country has turned its attention to a group of young boys who have taken the Under-19 World Cup by storm

Vishal Dikshit04-Feb-2016Cricket has not taken over Nepal completely yet. An impasse over their first democratic constitution is leading to political turmoil. The country is still recovering from the earthquake of less than a year ago. And when it comes to sports that take the focus away from these issues, it is mostly football that takes over.In Bangladesh, a group of 15 boys from Nepal are creating waves similar to the ones two years ago when the senior cricket team made it to the World T20 in Bangladesh. That team did not go past the first round to compete against the Full Member sides. This side, the Under-19s, however, has won its first two matches to make it to the knockouts.When other Under-19 teams were preparing for the qualifiers and Full Member sides were coming out of the World Cup, Nepal was ravaged by an earthquake last April. The Nepal Under-19 team had a tournament coming up in June – the ACC Premier League – featuring five other Asian teams even as the country struggled in the aftermath of the calamity.The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) managed to hold a 12-day camp in Kathmandu, but it was not going to be enough. They then requested the ICC and the BCCI to let them practise in India. Soon, Delhi became Nepal’s new base. They played on college grounds, travelled across the city, and played against local club cricketers to get up to speed.In June, they went to Malaysia for the Under-19 ACC Premier League and won four of their five matches, finishing behind only Afghanistan. Left-arm spinner Sushil Kandel took with 11 wickets at an economy rate of 1.68, easily the lowest in the tournament.In October, they headed to Malaysia again for the World Cup Qualifiers. Only one out of five teams could join the other 15 for the main event. Nepal emerged unbeatable. They routed Papua New Guinea for 48 runs, Uganda for 71, USA for 109, and restricted Ireland to 184. Clearly, bowling was their forte.”Our team has been together for five months for two-three tournaments,” coach Jagat Tamata says. “And our main factor is hard work. Every day we practise for six-seven hours, that’s why we are here today.”The team held another camp in Nepal before heading over to India again on December 30, this time to Dharamsala. And soon it was time to board a flight for Bangladesh, for the warm-up matches.Now, nearly 10 months after the earthquake, fans at home are gearing up to cheer for a group of teenagers who are the first in this World Cup to make it from the qualifiers to the quarter-finals. Several hours of load-shedding are not going to deter them. Generators have been arranged, movie halls have been booked to screen the matches, and school children will get together on a Friday morning to watch.”The first two matches weren’t live but now there is a big craze back home for the upcoming matches on TV,” vice-captain Aarif Sheikh says. “The fans are thinking, ‘How have they beaten New Zealand, how have they beaten Ireland?’ So all over the country, they are focusing on the big match.”At the Shere Bangla Stadium too, Nepali fans will throng the ground to match the local spectators, in decibel levels if not numbers. There will be massive flags, Nepal Cricket Fan Club T-shirts, and banners waving in support for the clash against Bangladesh. Plenty of young Nepali fans – most of whom study in Dhaka in different colleges – are planning to take the day off or exchange their interning shifts on Friday for what is probably the biggest cricket event for them since the World T20 participation.Happy times: the Nepal Under-19 players celebrate their win against New Zealand with a team selfie•International Cricket CouncilRam Thapa Chhetri, an MBBS intern who was at the Shere Bangla for the India match, says: “We are supporting our team everywhere. We are appearing in every venue.” When asked what his seniors thought of him giving cricket priority over work, he happily adds: “They are sitting there, two rows above me.”The Nepali college community in Bangladesh, who mostly study medicine and engineering, are between 3000 and 5000 strong, according to Chhetri. They connect using a Facebook page for days like these. They are helped by the team manager, Sudeep Sharma, in arranging for tickets, and they travelled to Fatullah, outside the city, to encourage their side in the wins against New Zealand and Ireland. They came in big numbers and took over the Grand Stand at Shere Bangla against India, cheered for every single run, and have big plans for Friday.”If we win the quarter-final and make it to the semi-final, then more Nepalis will come,” Chhetri says. “And we can win the final []. Nothing is impossible in cricket.”A lot of Nepali football fans also came to Dhaka recently for the Bangabandhu Gold Cup, organised by the Bangladesh Football Federation earlier in January, and decided to extend their stay in the euphoria after Nepal lifted the trophy.Subir Khadka is not among them. He works in Kathmandu and booked tickets for Dhaka after the U-19 team won two matches in a row. He got only a couple of days off and does not regret the fact that he cannot stay for the quarter-final.”This team needs more support,” he says. “The senior team has already made it big by playing the T20 World Cup. These boys were playing against India and I decided to come here only for this match.”Nepal have taken the World Cup by surprise. They are lucky Australia pulled out, says their coach, but they have put their hand up too. Legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane came up with a hat-trick, and other spinners closed the door on opposition teams one by one, but their batting needs to come together stronger to beat the hosts on Friday – which even some of the strong senior sides have found tough lately.”Our aim was to make it to the second round, anyhow, and we have achieved that,” Tamata says. “We assigned responsibilities to the players and they have worked very hard. Now we are challenging ourselves more. We won’t feel any pressure, we will face Full Members but we will keep things simple. It’s a golden opportunity for our boys. If you do well here, you will go to the senior side.”We need to improve in our batting. We got 238 against New Zealand but we were 10-15 runs short. Our target was to score 250 there.”The team has the skills and they go above and beyond physically. “Self-belief is very important. It’ a very inexperienced side. Only players like Aarif and Raju [Rijal] have some experience. The other guys are very new, they are working hard every day, skill-wise and mentally.”Normally we say to boys, enjoy yourself. That’s one of the first things. We tell them to not think about who the opposition is, just focus only on your game and play and watch the ball. Keep it simple.”Aarif says there is a “vast difference” in facing sides in a World Cup, be it in batting, fielding, pace bowling or body language. Tackling Bangladesh at the Shere Bangla Stadium on a Friday will show him and his team another side of cricket, which visitors sides have found hard to cope with lately. But if they can overcome that, cricket will take another big step back home.