The story of the 2019 World Cup final, in the words of those who played in it

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

A new documentary throws fresh light on perhaps the finest game of ODI cricket there ever has been

Mark Nicholas07-Nov-2022July 14th, 2019: the day England won the men’s cricket World Cup, Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix, and Novak Djokovic squeaked past Roger Federer – who nervously relinquished two match points – in the longest Wimbledon final ever played. I am one of 28,000 people who can say they were there – at Lord’s that is, watching one of the most astonishing cricket matches ever played.This week, England have the chance to double up by winning the T20 World Cup as well and become the first team to hold both trophies at the same time. It is a staggering turnaround from the desultory performance at the 50-over World Cup in Australia seven years ago.In Simon Hughes’ excellent and often moving new film, , which reflects on England’s famous win, there is a moment right at the denouement – a moment watched by much of the UK and a fair chunk of the global cricketing firmament – when Mark Wood, the non-striker and England’s last man standing, is shown running out to the pitch for the final ball of the tournament. On camera, he explains: “I ran out there, like, if I’m warmed up, I’ll be ready to sprint because that’s all I’m gonna do. I said to Ben, ‘Right mate, I’m just gonna run, but honestly, his eyes were just so glazed…'” Ben Stokes remembers it differently. “I told him what I’m doing, he knew the exact plan.”Related

'The best white-ball game of all time!'

If cricket were to end tomorrow, at least we'll have this game

Look ma, no fingernails

Why count boundaries to determine who wins a World Cup? Here are three better ways

Redemption is 'not a word I'll ever use': Ben Stokes on 2019 World Cup final glory

So now we know. In the unbearably tense moments before the last ball of the 2019 World Cup final, from which England needed two runs to beat New Zealand, there was a plan. Batting had not been easy for either team but Stokes, who was not far from wasted after two hours at the crease, had transcended the pitch and mastered the opponent. He was 83 not out; in short, he was the game… and he had a plan.Stokes’ stripping back of this extraordinary situation explains a rare quality in anyone, let alone the man upon whom victory and the Cup depended: the ability to make the right decision under extreme pressure. He figured that an attempt to go for the boundary was compromised by the level of risk; instead, with the fielders back as far as they could go, he chose to knock the ball into the vast space wide of mid-on and sprint the two that were required. Such was his focus, and such is the power of adrenaline, that he timed the ball too sweetly, which brought the boundary rider, Jimmy Neesham, into play. Neesham was equal to the herculean task of a clean pick up and accurate throw. Wood, Stokes’ last partner, barely made the frame, never mind the popping crease.Spare a thought for Kane Williamson and New Zealand, who did everything right but still ended up losing•Getty ImagesThe match was tied. Stokes was furious with himself. Trent Boult’s final ball had been a knee-high full toss that Stokes would usually plant into the stand, but it might have been a perfect yorker. A gentle pat to deep mid-on was the very least of his capabilities, which makes the decision he took all the more remarkable. Not only was it the right decision, to search for two, not four or six, it was a decision made with both humility and clarity at a time of “desperation”, as Eoin Morgan was later to call it.The film uses a number of the players and digs deep into the resource of their minds for the earthy stuff that makes these documentaries better than a highlight reel. Hughes is a natural journalist, with a turn for asking personal questions in an easy manner. He has written for most of the broadsheets, as we once knew them, is the author of numerous books, the best of which, , is a cracking read, and worked as something of an oracle as the Analyst on Channel 4’s award-winning coverage of cricket in the UK between 1999 and 2005. Like yours truly, he then switched to Channel 5’s highlights coverage of all England’s home matches but was unkindly and unceremoniously dumped from the final two years of the network’s relationship with the game. Since then, he has forged on as a freelance, a life that included editing the magazine for a while. Bravo him. traces the backstory of a number of key England cricket people who had skin in the tournament, not least Andrew Strauss, the former captain, who made the most of his job as managing director of England cricket by appointing Morgan captain in the short forms of the game, and Trevor Bayliss, a straight-talking Australian, coach in all forms. Their mission was to turn England’s white-ball cricket from a mess when Strauss took over in the spring of 2015 into the miracle that took place at Lord’s in 2019. They did, and how!After an inconsistent start to the tournament, England, the favourites, were in danger of an early exit as they headed to Edgbaston for the must-win group game against India. Morgan called a meeting. “In teams I’d previously played [in], the guys worried about telling the truth in front of each other. But if you don’t have that trust within a team, you can’t move past the weight everyone is carrying.” In this case, they were to discover, the weight was anxiety and the consequent fear of failure. With that collective and shared admission came a return to the free spirit that had characterised their play since Strauss had taken the reins and encouraged Morgan to follow his instincts. Jonny Bairstow made a brilliant hundred and England beat India by 31 runs.Party like it’s 2019: fans watch the action on screens in Trafalgar Square•Getty ImagesIn the semi-final against Australia, they were back at Edgbaston and again won comfortably. There was no fear of failure now; in fact, there was an argument they had gone too gung-ho in the other direction. Bayliss took a dim view of the fancy celebrations and immediately we cut to the dressing room to watch him tell the blokes to pull their heads in. “I’ll put my Australian cap on now and tell you why Australia thinks England don’t win finals. You win a semi-final and think you’ve won it. We haven’t won anything yet. The next game is the most important one, so let’s make sure we’re 100% for that.” The camera then holds a tight shot on Stokes: “S***, yeah, good point,” he says, with a hint of guilt.Strauss stood down from the job when his widely admired wife, Ruth, became seriously ill with a rare cancer. She was to die at home in Australia, with both her families alongside her, immediately after Christmas 2018. This meant that Strauss watched the tournament in 2019 almost tangentially, and one imagines he will always wish Ruth had been there to share the winning moment with him. The close-up shots of his face as he explains some of the narrative – being husband and father as the world around this tight family was caving in, and all the while, boss of the England cricket teams – are, if not excruciating, then certainly edgy. Hughes knows him well; the Strauss synergy in this film is a real strength.Others who give us a great deal are Morgan and Bayliss. Stokes, of course (“I’ve always said the people in sport… if they say they’re not nervous about a big occasion, then they’re talking out their a***. How you handle nerves is the thing that counts”). Bairstow, who lost his father when he was eight years old, and whose mum, Janet, suffered from breast cancer (“I’d describe my character a someone who doesn’t take no for an answer. Resilience is embedded and ingrained in the family”). Kane Williamson, New Zealand’s captain, whose calm appraisals waste no words. And Adil Rashid, who we come to find charming and informative.Act one: Tight game from first to last on an awkward pitch, scores tied. Among the many scenes that confirmed the Mark Twain proverb about truth being stranger than fiction was Boult, as safe a catcher in the deep as there is, stepping on the boundary rope in the penultimate over when catching Stokes.Stokes: “You’ve got a sense as a batter, you just know as soon as you’ve hit it that it’s six or out. As soon as I hit that, I knew I was out.” Which he wasn’t. Over to Ian Smith, the former New Zealand wicketkeeper turned commentator and the world’s best caller of live action, whose heart was in his mouth as the ball hung in the London sky – “Now then… is this it… He’s got it!!”The end of the Super Over: Buttler runs Guptill out•Tom Jenkins/Wisden/MCCMorgan: “I thought, ‘We’re really f***ed.'”Pause, as we all watch Boult stumble backwards and step on the boundary.Smith again: “Awrrgghh, you’re kidding me. It’s six!”Morgan: “I could not believe it. That just does not happen.”Act two: The last over. Fifteen runs required off six balls, bowled by guess who? Boult. Over to Strauss.”It was just too much. I couldn’t see how we were going to do this.”It began with two dot balls as Stokes turned down two singles that led us all to squirm. Fifteen needed off four now. After which he thumped the next one high into the grandstand for six, followed by another six runs – for overthrows when the ball ricocheted off Stokes’ bat to the pavilion boundary as he dived to make his ground for the second run.Smith: “I do not believe what I’ve just seen.”Three now needed off two. Stokes goes big and mishits, Rashid is run out in the knowledge that whatever the sacrifice, Stokes has to get back on strike. Which is when Wood arrives, England nine wickets down, one ball left, two to win. He didn’t make it.Act three: The Super Over, which was tied too. The England boys didn’t win the match or its follow-up, they won the boundary count. The Black Caps were screwed by a clause in the playing conditions – talk about the devil being in the detail – saying that if the winners couldn’t be decided by the Super Over, it would come down to which team had hit more boundaries. Well, England hit 26 to New Zealand’s 17: the reward of derring-do, I suppose. Nobody knew this. I was in the Lord’s committee room with a senior fellow from the ICC and he didn’t have the faintest, so he got on the blower to an academic statto type who told him. Then the players and crowd found out, after which all hell was unleashed upon Williamson’s team.A tie! Thought I was done with those after school•Getty ImagesThose Black Caps will be forever in our hearts for the way they coped. So too Morgan for the way he acknowledged their miserable luck and the part they had played in a famous day. Morgan is a great friend of New Zealand and he was at ease offering their players his hand. Even Federer, Djokovic and Hamilton couldn’t match this level of emotional drama, and they do it pretty well.My memory of the Super Over is sparked by the part played in it by Jofra Archer. England batted first and made 15. As I say, none of us knew that New Zealand could make 15 and England would still win. I wonder if Archer did. When he tapped Morgan on the shoulder before England went out on the field, he said, “It’s me, isn’t it?” Morgan replied, “Yes mate, it’s you.” First World Cup, 14 ODIs total in his career, first month or two as an England cricketer out of Barbados. His mother was terrified for him. He didn’t bowl it very well, but as Morgan says, “I could see a couple of the bowlers and they weren’t looking me in the eye.” The fact is, Archer bowled it, and after the worst start – wide first ball, eight off the next two – he managed to hold Neesham and Martin Guptill to five from four balls.It is here that I have my gripe with Mr Hughes. The fifth ball of the over doesn’t make the edit. It was not a ball of any note but it was worth a crucial run and at no stage is it mentioned. Nor is there a snapshot of the equation remaining at any time in the over. I’ll remind you myself: two are needed from the final ball, one to tie – same as at the end of the 50 overs. The ball goes to Jason Roy at midwicket, who returns it to Jos Buttler to beat the sprinting Guptill. The rest is history. Thrilling history.New Zealand made 15. Super Over tied. England hit 26 boundaries. (Hughes and his team should have explained that formula too.) England win the World Cup. At last.It’s a terrific watch, atmospheric and revealing. Ashley Gething, the highly rated director whose portfolio includes television and film work with such luminaries as Professor Brian Cox and Simon Schama, brings a detached and forensic eye to the insight we had not heard or seen, and the personalities we did not know. Best of all, after three years on the job he has given us an affirmation of 50-over cricket in this age of sniping at a game that has been a backdrop to many of our lives. If the ICC does anything, it should ring-fence this format, keep it for World Cups and market the hell out of its special qualities. The ebb and flow, high and low of this memorable and fortuitous day at Lord’s is testament to that idea.

How will South Africa face the future?

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

This World Cup exit – after losing to Netherlands – beats all their previous exits, and the recovery is going to be tough

Firdose Moonda07-Nov-20222:36

Moody: Regardless of captaincy, Bavuma shouldn’t be in this format

Tomorrow doesn’t exist. Not in South African cricket. After their worst World Cup exit, there are no thoughts of tomorrow, or next week, or the next tournament. There is only the pain and the puzzle of now.How did it happen that South Africa, who flew so far under the radar that they weren’t mentioned as favourites when the tournament began, but then became talked about as the team who could win it, crashed out after being beaten by Netherlands? No disrespect to them but the Dutch are not a team that on an ordinary day – even when T20 cricket reduces the gulf between sides, and one over, one crazy catch like Roelof van der Merwe’s, one person, can change everything – South Africa should lose to. Sunday was no ordinary day. It was a day that will scar a generation of players.Related

  • SA20 aims to bring light to dark times

  • South Africa's T20 WC fiasco: 'Questions have probably been left unanswered,' says Parnell

  • England's transformation into ruthless white-ball assassins is giving us the warm fuzzies

  • Temba Bavuma battling a sea of uncontrollables

  • Shock defeat ends South Africa's World Cup as Netherlands script famous win

Disappointment at major tournaments is something some teams become used to. West Indies have gone from two-time T20 champions to Super 12 exiles. New Zealand have never won a World Cup despite reaching the last three finals. South Africa are also in that bracket and the nature of their exits means they are more storified and more in the spotlight than others. Each tournament exit somehow builds on the one before, spiraling them through a narrative of doom.They hear of 1992, though most of the current squad were only young children with no memory of what 22-off-one-ball is about, and of 1999, which some of them may have watched on television with the same disbelief as teenagers, who watched them against Netherlands. Then the wheel of misfortune starts to spin faster. Rain in 2003. Being 27 for 5 against Australia in 2007. Shahid Afridi in 2009. New Zealand in 2015Something died in South African cricket after that last one, and every one of the current squad saw it. Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Rilee Rossouw and Wayne Parnell experienced it first hand. The players felt betrayed by their administrators who interfered in selection on the eve of the match and the golden thread of trust in the system snapped. If you think there’s an exaggeration in this analogy, think again. In recent weeks, players involved in that 2015 episode have spoken about how difficult it was to get over. Dale Steyn did not talk to anyone about the pain of that day for more than a year. Faf du Plessis in his recently released autobiography wrote that it took the squad more than 18 months to just start to rebuild. Things have never been the same.The 2015 debacle was about transformation, which has always been one of tenets of the new South Africa. The need to change had come up many times before and affected starting XIs but never in a more consequential match than on that day. It has dominated the cricket conversation since and has reared its head at the most inopportune of moments.Temba Bavuma was named South Africa’s white-ball captain in March 2021. He had only played six ODIs and eight T20Is at the time but averaged 55.83 in 50-over cricket and 35.57 in T20Is. He spoke with the calm of a softly-flowing river and the confidence of the great ocean. With no-one else to lead South Africa, following the failed de Kock experiment, Bavuma seemed the sensible choice. His form in Tests has long been a talking point because he is yet to score a second century, but his T20 numbers only really became a discussion point this year, and only after he missed the England tour with an elbow injury and fellow opener Reeza Hendricks reeled off four half-centuries in succession. The conversation was about runs but, because it’s South Africa, it was soon also about race. Bavuma went into the T20 World Cup with the weight of being the country’s first ever black African captain and being out of form. That is an intersectional burden very few players will ever understand the heaviness of carrying. He struggled through the tournament, but South Africa’s failure to reach the final four is not his fault.Not what the South African fans were expecting to see – a loss versus Netherlands•ICC via GettySome will say, once again, that the administrators are to blame. Should they have made the bold call to drop the captain despite the optics? Or should they have explained their decisions better? Should they have communicated a little more with their coach Mark Boucher, whose last assignment is this World Cup and who resigned with a year left on his contract? Should they have persuaded, perhaps even begged him to stay, given that his departure only casts more uncertainty over an already shaky set-up? And what are they left with now?Malibongwe Maketa, who has a good rapport with and the respect of players from his time as Ottis Gibson’s assistant, will take the team to Australia for the three-Test series over the festive season and then the job is set to be split. A red-ball coach will work closely with the first-class set-up and the Test side; a white-ball coach will be in charge of the limited-overs teams and therefore World Cups.Cricket South Africa is due to advertise the posts imminently but the board is likely to find a dearth of responses. Several high-profile coaches, including former South African national players contacted by ESPNcricinfo, have said they are not interested in the position. There are several reasons for that: concerns about the CSA administration, which has only just pieced itself together after falling apart, a lean FTP which has only Ireland and Zimbabwe playing fewer bilaterals than South Africa in the 2023-2027 cycle, and worries about depth in the system. Although South Africa continues to produce exceptional sportspeople through its school system, it does not have the resources to entice all of them to stay in the game. Some leave for other countries, or leagues where the money is better; others pursue different careers, where the heartache is less.Much hope is pinned on the SA20 to change that but the franchise league kicks off with a dark cloud looming over it. Bavuma and South African allrounder Andile Phehlukwayo went unsold at the auction and only six black African players were picked up by the six teams. Tested in the open market, 30 years of transformation failed. What does that say about a system set up to provide opportunities that were ripped away from the majority of the population for hundreds of years by racial segregation? Maybe just that it needs more time.Will Dewald Brevis take South African T20 cricket forward?•Titans/ Gallo ImagesWhile that happens, teams around the world improve and innovate. The T20 game of 2022 is not the T20 game of 2007. It’s dynamic and unorthodox. It doesn’t follow scripts (and South African cricket loves a script, even though it often can’t read) and requires skills that are sometimes lacking in the South African set-up even though several players are regulars in overseas T20 franchise leagues, where they are exposed to modern tactics. Batting line-ups need to be flexible (why can’t Hendricks bat in the middle-order?), and bowlers versatile. One example is slower balls, which Lungi Ngidi has mastered but he, and to a lesser extent Anrich Nortje, are just about the only ones. South Africa have upskilled in various departments but their T20 blueprint is stodgy and that has to change. They have to change. And for that to happen, they have to get over the pain of losing to Netherlands.They didn’t look as broken as they have before, which could be a good thing, but they seemed resigned, which is not. Bavuma said the younger players such as Tristan Stubbs and Marco Jansen would be shielded from the disappointment and hopefully he is right. Neither were part of the XI that lost to Netherlands but Stubbs played in four other matches and underwhelmed. Jansen may have escaped as he was only part of the squad – roped in as an injury replacement for Dwaine Pretorius – and did not play at all.Perhaps the luckiest thing to come out of all this is that South Africa’s next big thing, Dewald Brevis, was left at home. The day before the senior side crashed out of the T20 World Cup, Brevis failed in the CSA T20 Challenge final but his team still won. He has experienced both individual and collective success and hopefully he holds on to that. Brevis plays T20 cricket, albeit only at domestic level, in a way that suggests he can take the game forward, and not chase it. South Africa need to find more players like him, but also avoid turning him into a messiah.No one person – administrator, coach or player – is going to take South Africa into tomorrow. Collectively, they will have to crawl their way there and stand up again.

South Africa secure atonement as Paarl warms to the World Cup party

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Hosts make up for failings against Sri Lanka to give home support a night to remember

Firdose Moonda13-Feb-2023South Africa knew South Africans deserved better than the performance they put on in the World Cup opener at Newlands.They said so privately, at a team meeting they held immediately after their three-run loss when they discussed “everything and decided we’ll leave it there,” as Chloe Tryon revealed and they said it publicly, with an emotionally-charged tweet from Marizanne Kapp that read almost like an apology.”We spoke about it just after the game. We sat up in the changing-room and we spoke about everything and we said we’ll leave it here,” Tryon added. “We have a quick turnaround and we know we’ve got to go and make sure that we’re doing the right things. Everyone came with the mindset that today we’re just working really hard.”Everyone including the Paarl faithful. Even though they numbered little more than half the 8,000-plus that turned up in Cape Town for the first match, they made more of an impression with a passionate display of patriotism that started on the grass banks and ended in the president suite with a group of women singing a victory cry to the tune of Bonnie Tyler’s “It’s a heartache”. That may sound confusing, but you need to hear the lyrics. So hum the tune in your head and sing (with translation):They could belt that out at the end, but for large parts of the match, South Africans were fairly worried.Their top four continue to struggle, both with the fluency of their run-scoring and their ability to form partnerships. Captain Suné Luus is the only one to have passed 20 – and she’s done so in both matches – and they appear to be over-reliant on a middle-order that may still come to regret not having Dané van Niekerk or Mignon du Preez in it.

Enter Chloe Tryon.The team’s vice-captain warmed up for the tournament with a series-winning half-century – her first in T20I cricket – against India and has accepted the responsibility of finishing innings. They want someone in the top four or five to bat as deep as possible and today that was Tryon. She arrived in the seventh over, and was dismissed at the end of the 19th. “We need to bat longer, get those partnerships and bat to the end,” she said. “I still felt the way we were getting out was a bit silly. It’s just small things for us.”Tryon admitted that she thought South Africa were 15 to 20 runs short and the SA20 first-innings par score of 150.4 this summer would agree with her. Those numbers, however, know nothing about the way South Africa took the field.With the day’s last light fading and the temperatures cool enough for people to sit comfortably on the grass banks, South Africa defended their under-par total with “fire burning in everyone”.Related

Failing fitness tests by seconds is not a simple numbers game

Australia favourites but can anyone rattle them in Group A?

Capsey and Ecclestone give England net-run-rate boosting win

England keep their game-faces straight despite distractions of WPL auction

South Africa storm back into contention as hapless NZ face meek elimination

They also made the right decisions. On a slow, dry, turning track, Luus went back to left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba, who had opened the bowling 18 times in the 22 matches she had played prior to the World Cup opener, but was dispensed with at Newlands. She put in a career-best performance with two wickets upfront and one in her return spell to underline why she is the No.2-ranked bowler in the world. “I like how she sets the tone with the ball,” Tryon said. “I feel like as a unit, we really thrive off that. I’m happy to see that she’s doing so well. She’s 22 years old, a young girl, so it’s really nice to see her blossoming in front of me.”Apart from Mlaba, South Africa were also energetic and uncompromising in the field. Behind the stumps, Sinalo Jafta took every chance she got and in the outfield, bodies were thrown around in what seemed like desperation to not let the hope of a semi-final spot slip away.”If you looked at our tri-series before this, our fielding started off really well and we kind of let it slip towards the end,” Tryon said. “And then warm-up games as well, we still felt that we could have done a little bit more in the field. In the Sri Lanka game, we had about 25 – 30 runs that went past us. So we said just put bodies on the line.”All three of South Africa’s WPL buys showed their worth with the ball as Shabnim Ismail, Kapp and Tryon shared five wickets between them and exploited a New Zealand line-up that has yet to come up with its best combinations. “We didn’t go searching for anything. I just think we bowled really well and it just came,” Tryon said.As for the Paarl crowd, who cheered the team off the field with a spirit that said the World Cup dream remains alive, Tryon had these words: “I’ve always loved to play in front of people. We’re playing in front of our home crowd and to have that backing, to have the supporters out there watching women’s cricket, is amazing to see. They were with us every single ball, which is fantastic. And we’re happy that we can get that win for them today.”Boland Park got some of what Newlands deserved and St George’s Park will hope for the rest. South Africa’s next opponents are Australia and it’s another crucial game. “We know we have to play our best,” Tryon said. “We want to win it. We want to go into Bangladesh very confident and have a big crowd as well with the band playing.”Over to you, Gqeberha.

Sandeep Sharma: 'If I bowl a yorker and it backfires, I'll still take it'

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The Rajasthan Royals fast bowler went unsold this IPL season and only found his way back as a replacement player, but he’s grabbed the chance to make an impact

Shashank Kishore12-May-2023″Learn to bowl yorkers and come next year. [Or you’ll get thrashed by the batters]”Virender Sehwag was point-blank in his assessment of Sandeep Sharma in 2014.Sandeep, then all of 21, had gained a reputation as a swing bowler. Two years earlier, he was an Under-19 world champion. Adam Gilchrist, his first IPL captain, at Kings XI Punjab, had spoken glowingly about this young kid who could hoop the ball around.Related

Sandeep Sharma, the metamorphosis man

Royals hold off Dhoni and Jadeja in grandstand finish

Rahane, Chawla, Mishra and others with surprise comebacks at IPL 2023

Royals stick to the sexy but their yorker plan goes bust, as it often does

Sehwag wasn’t as generous, and his brutal honesty shook Sandeep. The joy of picking up 18 wickets in a season in which Kings XI finished runners-up quickly dissipated and he was back to the drawing board.”There’s nuance, skill, reading the batter’s mind, understanding your own limitations, so many things,” Sandeep, now 30, says. It’s a day off for him, but Sandeep has got a rundown of plans he wants to immediately discuss with Lasith Malinga, the Rajasthan Royals bowling coach.This season almost didn’t happen for Sandeep. He went unsold at the auction last December, and only found himself in the Royals camp because fast bowler Prasidh Krishna was ruled out of the league this year with a lumbar stress fracture.”It’s all about preparation,” Sandeep says. “Whatever I’ve been able to do so far this season is because of preparation.Sandeep defended five runs off the final ball to defeat CSK in Chennai, but couldn’t replicate the feat against Sunrisers Hyderabad a few matches later•R Parthibhan/Associated Press”It was a rude shock to go unsold, but I knew if my chance comes, I shouldn’t be in a position where I am not considered due to my fitness or rhythm. When I got a call from Sanju Samson [Royals captain] asking if I’d be available to join the camp so that they could assess me, I was very confident. That was what I’d been training for.”In only his second game back, against Chennai Super Kings, Sandeep was thrown into the cauldron. He was defending five runs off the final ball against MS Dhoni. He had just been mowed for two sixes off low full tosses in the over, but he held his composure to deliver a pinpoint yorker and win the Royals their first game at Chepauk since 2008.”When I stood at the top of my mark, I told myself, ‘You’ve bowled so many yorkers. If you bowl some other ball and it goes for six, you’ll be very angry.’ If I bowl a yorker and it backfires, I’ll still take it because I’ve worked hard to master it. I had that clarity.”Memories of that night seem quite long ago now. A playoff spot that seemed a very real possibility after six games is suddenly uncertain – Royals are in a mid-table logjam and clutching at straws.Last week Sandeep thought he had delivered another final-over masterclass, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, his former team. With five to defend, he thought he’d bowled a fine yorker off the very last ball to close out the game when the no-ball siren went off. Sunrisers were gifted a free hit that Abdul Samad walloped for six, and Royals lost a game that was in the bag only moments before.Deflated as he was by that loss, Sandeep is looking to accentuate the positive. “It’s all about how you’re made to feel in the team,” he says. “They didn’t look at me as a replacement player. The camp is positive, the management people are good. Sometimes in a tournament like this, you will lose games from winning positions, you will win games from situations where nobody gives you a chance.In his six seasons with Punjab Kings, Sandeep picked up 73 wickets, 40 of which came in the powerplay and 20 at the death•BCCI”If you can remain balanced, it helps. Whatever happens, if you have a management that always keeps the dressing room positive, and the vibes are good, it works wonders. That’s what this management has done. They’ve kept things very positive.”Having been called on to bowl the final over often, is it more satisfying to deliver at the death than at other times in the innings?”No, no, powerplay,” he says decisively. “Every team is coming hard at you. If you do well in those overs, it’s very satisfying. I’ve bowled so many overs in this phase; it’s very hard, especially if you’re playing in Bangalore or Mumbai. On those grounds, it’s even harder.”Sandeep’s 55 wickets are the second most in the powerplay after Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who he spent considerable time with at Sunrisers. This, Sandeep believes, has led to a perception that he is largely a powerplay specialist.”In the first five years with Kings XI, I mostly bowled two overs upfront and two at the death. But when I moved to Sunrisers, Bhuvneshwar was at his peak, we had Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan. Then there was Rashid Khan, who would invariably come into the game in the second half.”Over time this perception [of being a new-ball specialist] kept getting stronger, even though at a personal level I was as confident of delivering in the death as I was with the new ball. This year, I’ve been fine; I won’t say I’ve been great. It’s just that the death bowlers ahead of me in the queue were so good that I didn’t have a chance then. I’m getting those chances now.”

He hasn’t always had things easy. There have been back injuries and shoulder problems that have hampered his career. It’s hard to remember now, but he is an India international, having featured in two T20Is on the tour of Zimbabwe in 2015. He returned from that tour to a world of X-rays, scans and rehab schedules after a shoulder injury left him on the sidelines.Luckily for him, Bharat Arun and R Sridhar, India’s bowling and fielding coaches until not long ago, were just a call away. They had worked with Sandeep during his formative years at the National Cricket Academy and had been coaches of the Under-19 World Cup-winning class of 2012 of which Sandeep had been a key member.”With bowling, I discuss everything with B Arun,” Sandeep says. “Whenever I’ve been down mentally, I’ve called R Sridhar. He always reaffirmed positivity. Slowly it went into my head that I should not get disheartened with what I don’t have, and I should look at it the other way, where I need to make sure I perform with what I have. That mindset came in and I feel I’ve done fine with the limited resources I’ve had in my bowling.”So what went wrong?”The muscle in my bowling arm lost its mobility and strength,” he says. “After surgery, I lost more than 10kph pace. Just to bring it back to 130 klicks, it took me a good four-five years. But I had to be in this league and play cricket. I had to do things with my bowling to give me an edge, because I had to overcome lack of pace.”So I started developing variations like the knuckleball, slower bouncer. I worked really hard on my yorker. Even at 125kph, if you can nail it, it’s still a hard ball to hit. I worked more and more on execution. I feel now I’m back to that old rhythm, can feel within the next year I’ll be back to 135kph.”Sandeep says he feels “blessed and lucky” to spend considerable time talking to Malinga. “He’s given me a perspective that’s hard to find,” he explains. “It’s important to read batters, what they’re trying to do, what they’re thinking. Mali sir talks about that as well. There are very few coaches who talk about those things.”It’s about reading batsmen, what they’re trying to do, and outfox them – I’m trying to learn that art from Malinga”•BCCI”In T20 cricket if a batter is thinking you’re going to bowl this [particular] ball, you should execute that perfectly. The other way around is, if the batter is thinking something and you end up doing something else, even if it is a bad delivery, you sometimes end up escaping. It’s about reading batsmen, what they’re trying to do, and if you can fox them, that’s very important. I’m trying to learn that art from him.”Sandeep cites an example from earlier in the season, in the Gujarat Titans vs Delhi Capitals match, when Ishant Sharma outfoxed Rahul Tewatia in the final over after Tewatia had dispatched Anrich Nortje for three consecutive sixes the previous over. Ishant had set fields for the wide yorker but dug one into the pitch to cramp Tewatia and had him caught at cover.”Tewatia’s initial movement seemed as if he was lining up to play a scoop, but he was slightly late on a slower length ball that dug in, just because Ishant played with his mind,” Sandeep explains. “That’s how I read it while watching it on TV.”In our own game against Lucknow Super Giants, I set fields for a slower ball or yorker, but ended up bowling a bouncer to dismiss Marcus Stoinis. He didn’t expect it, and Mali sir later said no one in our dugout expected that either. If I can learn more such things, it’ll help me in the coming years.”The one striking aspect about Sandeep is his clarity. He admits it wasn’t always the case, but Sehwag’s assessment that day in 2014 taught him the importance of being a step ahead of the batter.”So many of them ask what you learnt from this bowler or that bowler. If you ask me, if you can talk to a batter – what they think of you, how they feel they can score against you, and what balls they’re uncomfortable with – you can make better plans,” Sandeep says. “Obviously, you learn from bowlers, but I talk to batters as well to learn a lot about what they’re thinking. That’s been a game changer.”

Royals dare to dream as Jaiswal's emergence amplifies Buttler's threat

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Royals were perhaps overdependent on Buttler during his monster 2022 season, but he has a proper sidekick now

Shashank Kishore08-Apr-20232:17

Tait: ‘Royals’ investment in Jaiswal paying off’

A message flashed on the giant screen in Guwahati on Saturday afternoon, when Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler were making a competent Delhi Capitals attack look pedestrian. “Jai and Viru of the Rajasthan Royals”.The reference here was, of course, the two iconic characters from the Hindi blockbuster Sholay. In Indian pop culture, these words signify a special partnership, and that’s exactly what Buttler and Jaiswal have forged at the Royals.Of the ten most prolific opening pairs in the IPL since the start of the 2022 season, Buttler and Jaiswal have the second-best run rate (9.51), behind only Prithvi Shaw and David Warner (9.81). Look at the names trailing in their wake.On Saturday, Jaiswal played proper cricketing shots to begin with. Except they were all flying to the boundary, with Khaleel Ahmed despatched for five fours in the first over of the day. It started with a whip over midwicket, followed by a slap over square third. Then a bludgeon over extra-cover followed by a fluent lofted drive down the ground. He ended it with a caress over short third.No inhibitions, no treading cautiously to gauge the surface. It was clean, instinct-driven batting, and he was reacting to the ball, not the bowler.In the next over, Buttler showed scant respect for the pace of Anrich Nortje, reeling off one off-side boundary after another. Within no time, the pair had reeled off eight fours in the first two overs.It was almost as if the two were competing shot for shot, until it got to a point where Buttler backed off after a reprieve by Nortje at mid-on when he was on 18, and allowed Jaiswal to take centrestage and bring up a 25-ball half-century.When the Royals lost Jaiswal and Sanju Samson in successive overs, Buttler allowed his experience to kick in, holding back slightly until he got a half-tracker from Axar Patel in the 13th over. Out came a savage pull into the stands to raise a 31-ball half-century. As he so often does, Buttler was showing he has all the gears while still scoring quicker than most others in his role.This transformation into an IPL beast didn’t happen overnight. It took shape in 2020, when he opened in his first seven innings of the season, and reached double figures six times while only going big once, scoring a 44-ball 70 against Mumbai Indians. When Ben Stokes, who was backed to be an opener, joined the Royals later in the season, Buttler requested a switch to the middle order to take back the role he had played for the bulk of his T20 career.A finger injury ruled Stokes out of IPL 2021, and Buttler had the opportunity to open once again. This time he didn’t look back, and finished the season with a maiden IPL hundred. The following season, 2022, brought even more sumptuous returns – a chart-topping 863 runs at an average of 57.53 and a strike rate of 149.05, with four hundreds.Buttler’s runs propelled the Royals all the way to a runners-up finish, which was perhaps a fair reflection of a sense that they were perhaps overdependent on him. So far this season, Jaiswal has matched Buttler shot for shot and score for score, with both scoring two fifties in three innings. It’s still early days, but the Royals may just believe they now have the firepower to reclaim the trophy they defied the odds to win a decade-and-a-half ago.

Miller: 'I've really enjoyed challenging myself against the PSL death bowlers'

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The South Africa batter on taking mental-health breaks, data-driven analysis, his attachment to Multan Sultans, and more

Danyal Rasool14-Mar-2023December is perhaps the busiest time of year for an international cricketer, the festive season throwing up fixtures around the world in all formats and numerous franchise leagues, but that month in 2022, David Miller was nowhere to be found on a cricket field. On Christmas Eve, he posted a picture of himself unwinding at a nature reserve in his native South Africa, while the South African side was gearing up for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, and the Big Bash League, where he once played for the Hobart Hurricanes, was picking up steam.Since South Africa’s elimination from the T20 World Cup in November, Miller had largely kept himself away from cricket, aside from an 11-day stint at the T10 League in Abu Dhabi. Despite being one of the most in-demand players on the T20 circuit, Miller has developed and nurtured interests outside the game, fishing and photography among the more prominent ones. The break he took at the backend of last year, spending time with family and friends was much-needed, because the months that would follow were to be among the busiest in his career.He had been named captain of the Paarl Royals in the inaugural season of the SA20, and was to link up with the Multan Sultans in the PSL just days later; there were just five days between the SA20 semi-finals in Johannesburg and his first game in Multan at the PSL. Having only ever played three PSL games before – for Peshawar Zalmi in a truncated season in 2021 – he was given a baptism of fire, thrust in chasing 10 runs an over at the death against a Lahore Qalandars bowling attack that included Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Zaman Khan. It posed different challenges to the SA20, particularly in a league where he had almost no experience.Related

David Miller: 'As you get older, you understand your game a lot better. You think more clearly under pressure'

When David Miller is comfortable with his hitting, he's not going to stop

Miller 'certainly not bitter' about not being named South Africa's T20I captain

Pollard and Cottrell blow Lahore Qalandars away

Aqib Javed: 'We wanted the best bowling unit, everyone else is after the best hitters'

But Miller has worked out ways to cope with the schedule, and the varying demands each tournament poses. “I think it’s all mental,” Miller tells ESPNcricinfo. “It’s about being prepared for what’s coming ahead. I knew I was coming to the PSL after the SA20. I knew mentally I was going there all along, and you mentally prepare yourself with that journey for the next couple of months. I took December off with family and friends, took a really nice break and felt I was refreshed for the next six months. It can be challenging going from one place to another, but as long as you’re mentally prepared beforehand, it makes it a lot easier to perform for those competitions.”There’s a lot of cricket nowadays, internationally and leagues. Your schedule can get quite busy. I just listen to my own body, especially at this time of my career. I don’t want to play so much cricket I’m feeling mentally fatigued. It’s just about listening to your body and knowing when you need a break. And just to be honest about that. There’s a lot of money involved in cricket nowadays. So it’s important to make mature decisions about whether you really need a break or if you can keep going.”We’re at by the swimming pool at the luxury Pearl Continental Hotel in Lahore on a pleasant early March afternoon. As a heavily guarded, fortified compound, it’s the venue of choice for all PSL teams, as well as any visiting sides since international cricket trickled back to Pakistan in 2015. In some ways, he could be anywhere – India, South Africa, Bangladesh – as the T20 franchise circuit blends into a blur of airports, hotels, glitzy opening ceremonies, boundaries and wickets. In an earlier interview with ESPNcricinfo, his international team-mate Rilee Rossouw said it was like being a “T20 gun for hire”.Miller acknowledges that characterisation, but still calls himself a “team player”. “The way leagues are going now, lots of teams are buying other teams around the world,” he points out. “So you do feel attached to certain teams. I’ve always had a mindset of playing to the best of my ability whoever I play for. I’m a team player and I do quickly get attached to a team. I enjoy all the teams that I play for, and it’s just about contributing for that team at that moment.”

“I’m not a massive one on analysis. I definitely will sit down and kind of go through a certain bowler if he’s got a different action or a different craft with the spin”

Even so, Miller knew there were certain ways the PSL stood out, and he wanted to challenge himself. His previous stint at the PSL comprised just three games in a Covid-hit season with Zalmi, though the signs had been encouraging, and he had scored 116 runs at 140. Days before we speak, he’d clobbered a 25-ball 52 against Islamabad United, setting up a big win over the two-time champions.”My experience in Pakistan is the wickets are actually pretty good. I think maybe the bounce might be a bit different to other countries, where it’s a little bit lower. It’s not that steep sharp bounce. If you can get used to the bounce, you can hit through the line and make sure your body position’s a bit lower. That’s one of the key areas.”I’d watched bits and pieces of the PSL over the years and what I’ve taken from that is the bowling is really good. Pakistan always produce really good fast bowlers. They’ve also got world-class spinners. An overseas player coming in as a batter, it’s a good competition to be a part of. It challenges you in many different ways. That definitely makes the PSL a stand out for me with the kind of death bowling that they’ve got and the pace they’ve got as a nation. It definitely does challenge you and I’m really enjoying the fact that I can be in that position to challenge my skill.”” I enjoy all the teams that I play for, and it’s just about contributing for that team at that moment”•AFP/Getty ImagesMiller’s come into the PSL at a time when one battle of ideas has already been won and lost, and he now plays for a side that was at the forefront of winning it. In the early years of the tournament, Islamabad United were among the pioneers for an analytics-heavy, data-driven approach to squad recruitment and in-match decision-making, prioritising batting fluidity and ideological flexibility to optimise match-ups between certain batters and bowlers.It appeared to bear results, with United winning two of the first three years; they remain the only multi-trophy side in the league. The Sultans, who came into existence in 2018, picked up the analytics baton, and have made the final each of the last two years, winning the title in 2021. By now, nearly all teams use that sort of forensic date for decision-making, even Lahore Qalandars, who in the early years would have been top of the table in their opposition to favouring information over feel and instinct. However, they were bottom of the actual table each of the first four years, so a change was inevitable. They are now the defending champions.Many players, however, are famously lukewarm about the role of data in their individual decision-making, and Miller is no different. “I’ve been playing around the world for some time, he says after a long pause. “You kind of understand what different players can do on the field. I’m not a massive one on analysis. I definitely will sit down and kind of go through a certain bowler if he’s got a different action or a different craft with the spin. It takes some time to look through that, but generally I feel most bowlers are the same in terms of their action and the height the ball comes from. Unless it’s something drastically different, in which case I’ll take some time to analyse. I think it is important just to know what you’re up against in a game.”Captaincy’s a bit different. For me to know exactly what the opposition have I’ll do a lot more analysis in that sense, as there’s a bit more responsibility on decision-making. If something goes really badly for the bowler, that’s where I step in and give them different options as I know where their strengths and weaknesses are as a captain.”Multan are now in the playoffs for the fourth straight season, as are his old side Zalmi. Miller won’t be part of the final charge, leaving to link up with South Africa’s ODI squad for a series against the West Indies. Ask him which of the two PSL sides he’s enjoyed his experience with more, and that answer comes back fairly quickly. “Multan Sultans.”He does get attached to teams fairly quickly, after all.

In Litton and Rony, Bangladesh have found what they've always desired

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

The experienced duo, now together as openers, are transforming Bangladesh’s white-ball batting approach

Mohammad Isam29-Mar-2023Litton Das sped to 54 at the end of the sixth over on Wednesday. Bangladesh were on 83 for no loss, two runs more than what they made at this stage of the first game on Monday. The Ireland bowlers was already looking ragged. Rony Talukdar, Litton’s opening partner, though was yet to make his mark on this partnership.At the start of the seventh over, he went down on his knees to hit legspinner Gareth Delany for a six over long-on, followed by another over midwicket. The Delany over went for 16 runs, before Litton completed the century partnership with a reverse sweep, off the first ball of the eighth over.The unlikely batting pair, which only came together couple of weeks ago during the T20I series against England, was attacking from both ends. This is really, genuinely unique. It is not something the Bangladesh fans are used to seeing from their T20I openers. For those who have followed the number of opening pairs. Bangladesh have tried – in the last 12 months – and know very well the frustration attached to the search.The selectors’ faith on Mohammad Naim or the hope carried by Parvez Hossain Emon and Munim Shahriar, have all ended up as disappointments. Even Mehidy Hasan Miraz was tried a few times as an opener. As with everything else in his career, Mehidy tried his best but an opening spot was never going to be Mehidy’s permanent role. So the search continued. Soumya Sarkar’s career was resurrected during the T20 World Cup last year, but that plan, too, fell through.Litton and Rony added 124 runs in the second ODI, making it Bangladesh’s biggest opening partnership. They did it in just 9.2 overs, also making it Bangladesh’s fastest 100-plus stand for any wicket. In just five partnerships, Litton and Rony have reached 300 runs together, something that has taken the other three pairs at least 13 innings to achieve.

“I don’t think about records. It is a good feeling to get the fastest fifty, but I would have felt better had I scored a hundred.”Litton Das after getting Bangladesh’s fastest half-century

Three things have immediately stood out about the Litton-Rony partnership. This is a busy pair, in not just hitting fours and sixes. They conceded only six dot balls during the 124-run partnership. In the first T20I, they played out seven dot balls in a 91-run stand.Secondly, they are matured openers who know how to use the circle during the powerplay. The pair’s individual powerplay numbers are quite impressive. Litton has the best strike-rate in the world (142.57) among those who have faced at least 700 balls in the field restrictions. He is a shade above Quinton de Kock (141.51) and Mohammad Shahzad (140.47) and a few more points ahead of the likes of Alex Hales and Rohit Sharma. Litton’s T20 batting has always been effective for Bangladesh, but it would usually come in patches. When his form hit top gear in 2022, it improved his T20 consistency too.Rony Talukdar is enjoying a purple patch following the BPL•AFP/Getty ImagesRony, making a comeback after nearly eight years, is matching Litton’s strike-rate in the last two T20I series. He has come into the senior side on the back of a strong BPL campaign for Rangpur Riders, so form is also on his side.Litton said that the change in opening partnership has brought Bangladesh better performances. He said that it may not go so well every day, but they are enjoying each other’s company. He said that it didn’t take both too long to figure out how they were going to bat in the second T20I.”It (the opening pair’s performance) changed because the partner changed,” Litton said. “I think we added the highest opening partnership. There’s nothing like it, but this won’t happen every day. We can’t hit like this all the time. There will be a period of struggle, but I am really enjoying batting with him. You get the feel after facing one or two balls. We both had the same ‘feel’ that we can go after the bowling today. We took advantage of that.”He said that he wasn’t aware of breaking Mohammad Ashraful’s 15-year old fastest fifty record for Bangladesh, but believed that had he tackled with a bit more patience towards the end, he could have got his maiden T20I hundred.”I don’t think about records. It is a good feeling to get the fastest fifty, but I would have felt better had I scored a hundred. I think was rushing it. Their spinners were bowling well, taking advantage of the wicket. If I played their pacers a little more, I could have scored a hundred instead of scoring 83,” he said.The other critical factor about this pair is the handover they have in terms of big hitting. It’s not just one-way traffic. After Litton has taken a big over, Rony doesn’t relent at the other end by merely taking a single to give Litton back the strike. Rony tries a few big hits himself, to continue piling on the pressure.Their powerplay numbers in the last two T20I series is their best in ten years. But Litton was quick to warn that they cannot be expected to do this in every game.”We are playing well as a group. Batting, bowling and fielding. I don’t think one can play better than this. We will try to hold on this level consistently, which will give us good results. It is difficult to expect better cricket than this. You won’t score 70-80 in the powerplay of a T20 every day. If we can get 60, that’s also good,” he said.But an opening pair that has already done so well against a world champion side and the side that beat the world champions only recently, there will certainly be high hopes. Rony and Litton are mature characters who understand the responsibility of those expectations. Litton is regarded as the best batter in the team who is excelling in all three formats. Rony is thriving after an unlikely second chance in the Bangladesh team, something that he probably didn’t considered even three months ago. This random mix could just be the key that unlocks Bangladesh’s T20I fortunes.

Stump Mic – Dissecting India's Asia Cup squad

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Making sense of Tilak Varma’s selection, Yuzvendra Chahal’s non-selection, Rohit Sharma’s explanations, and more

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Aug-2023In the latest episode of , Nagraj Gollapudi joins Kaustubh Kumar and Vishal Dikshit to discuss India’s Asia Cup squad. Why was Yuzvendra Chahal left out? How close is Tilak Varma to a World Cup spot? What did Rohit Sharma mean by “flexibility”?Tune in to find out answers to all those questions, and a lot more.

Shining, shimmering, splendid – the rise and rise of Matheesha Pathirana

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

How long the ride lasts is anyone’s guess, but for now, the new slinga in town is doing everything in his power to prove he belongs

Andrew Fidel Fernando01-Sep-20231:48

Jaffer: Pathirana uses his variations smartly

At what point during your carpet ride into the clouds do you stop to pinch yourself?Or does stopping to take a breath slow the ascent?Maybe when you’re 20, and you are on the manic adventure that Matheesha Pathirana is on, reflecting on how far you’ve come is not even a thought that occurs.Still, the last few years must have seemed a blur, right? They have to have. Scouted first from Ranabima Royal College, about six kilometres east of Kandy, Pathirana moved to Trinity College in the city in his mid-teens. Boasting alumni such as Kumar Sangakkara, there is no greater producer of top cricketers in the province than Trinity.Related

Sri Lanka look to seal Super Fours spot as Afghanistan await in batter-friendly Lahore

Malinga: 'I want to make this guy even better than me'

'Pathirana shouldn't even get close to red-ball cricket'

'We should have batted better' – simple as that, Shanto says after Bangladesh's sub-par show

Pathirana, Asalanka lead Sri Lanka to vital opening win

The next few years are even more outrageous. A whirl of spectacular pace, yorkers clattering into wickets, and batters’ backs arching backwards to get out of the way of steepling bounce coming from that round-arm action. There are two trips to Under-19 World Cups, searing overs in the Abu Dhabi T10 league, Thilina Kandamby marking you out as a star, Darren Bravo taking notice. And ok, wow, the break to cap a breathless run of breaks – MS Dhoni, basically a demigod as far as you’re concerned, learning you exist, believing you can change matches at the elite level, his franchise team flying you out into the most glittering annual show in your sport.Already this is pure fantasy. Sri Lanka greats have been overlooked at the IPL. In one year, the only Lankans at the tournament were coaching staff. A teenager from Kandy getting a gig at one of the great franchises? Get out of here!Late in the 2022 season, Adam Milne gets injured, and Pathirana replaces him in the Chennai Super Kings squad, making an impression in the few games he gets. The year 2023 is a fever dream. Pathirana walking back to his mark to bowl another death over. The Chepauk stands heaving. Thousands are screaming for him. Around his shoulder the arm of one of the great white-ball strategists, telling him where to bowl, how fast, how to outwit the batter.Even the IPL organisers unwittingly helped power his rise by introducing the Impact Player rule. At present, Pathirana’s action is so low, it is lower even than that of Lasith Malinga – the godfather of round-arm bowlers, and the man he has modelled his action on. This means he doesn’t get the outswing Malinga often managed with the new ball.

What Pathirana does have are the unhittable yorkers, bouncers that chase batters like a mugger through an alleyway, and the slower ball that Malinga himself helped teach him. All this makes him a terrific death bowler, so he can deliver four over-spells at the back of an innings. The Impact Player rule means someone else mostly bowls with the new ball.Pathirana’s ride doesn’t stop.It didn’t stop on Thursday, when he played his first international match in Pallekele, near enough to Kandy. A rapid bouncer got him his first wicket, in his first over. Shakib Al Hasan was so late on a dab he could only glove it to the wicketkeeper. With another quick bouncer, he dismissed the other experienced batter in Bangladesh’s middle order – Mushfiqur Rahim not quite managing to catch up with a head-high ball outside off, sending it only into the hands of deep third.In between the wicket-balls, there’s his most controlled ODI spell so far in his short career. Before this match, Pathirana’s economy rate in ODIs was 6.48. Here, he strung together tight overs of mostly length balls. On tracks better suited to batting, and against an opposition who had lost more wickets, perhaps he would have been put under more pressure.But then if Dushmantha Chameera and Dilshan Madushanka had been fit, Pathirana likely would not have made the playing XI at all. And if Chameera and Lahiru Kumara had not become injured in Zimbabwe, Pathirana may not have played in the World Cup qualifier either.Matheesha Pathirana finished with figures of 4 for 32•AFP/Getty ImagesIf this is all part of Pathirana’s carpet ride, he is making the most of it.”I think this performance has been coming for a while now,” Sri Lanka coach Chris Silverwood said of Pathirana. “He’s had a great experience at the IPL and then he came to the World Cup qualifier with us, and we did a lot of work on how to bowl with the new ball. It wasn’t to do with his action so much. It was more to do with his run-up. We just gave him more access to the stumps and we found he got more control through that.”He absorbs information very quickly, and he’s very quickly able to apply that to his game. He does it his way. It won’t be long till he’s got the new ball in his hand.”In this match, his first over had been the eleventh of the innings.Towards the end, against the tail, Pathirana was predictably good. Taskin Ahmed, understandably uncomfortable against Pathirana’s pace, prodded him aerially to cover. Mustafizur Rahman was undone by an expertly delivered offcutter that would have hissed into middle stump. And five ODIs in, Pathirana had his first four-wicket haul. The average dived to 24.12. Having conceded only 32 from his 7.4 overs, the economy rate dipped below six for the first time.How long the ride goes is difficult to tell. Round-arm fast bowlers don’t seem the type to play out predictable careers. But so far, Pathirana is clinging to whatever it is that powers his ascent, undaunted by how high he has flown in so short a time.

Old mistakes haunt Pakistan and Babar in mediocre World Cup campaign

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Add to that board dysfunction, a key injury and a few out-of-form players, and that would sum up why Pakistan struggled at the tournament

Danyal Rasool13-Nov-20232:33

Do Pakistan leave the World Cup with any positives?

Babar Azam was set, and there was a certain inevitability to the ease with which he’d brought up the 50-run partnership with his trusty team-mate Mohammad Rizwan at the other end. Pakistan’s semi-final hopes were over, but there was still a World Cup game to be won, and Pakistan’s captain would need to be there if that was to happen.Gus Atkinson, the least experienced international cricketer in England’s squad ran in and banged one in short. Adil Rashid had been stationed at short midwicket to put Babar off the pull, and yet Babar pulled anyway. His timing was nowhere near good enough, and just like that, off his 45th delivery, Babar’s World Cup campaign ended with a whimper. Pakistan’s campaign overall, too, would end equally meekly, as they succumbed by 93 runs to a side that had been beaten by all but Bangladesh and Netherlands.Babar had begun the tournament with that dismissal, falling to Netherlands’ Colin Ackermann, and Adam Zampa had laid the same trap Babar would walk headfirst into halfway through Pakistan’s campaign. Perhaps fittingly, in a tournament that has seen Pakistan repeat old mistakes, their captain would epitomise that, ending the tournament as he started it.Related

  • Explainer – Making sense of Babar Azam's unexpected resignation as Pakistan captain

  • Morne Morkel resigns as Pakistan fast-bowling coach

  • The price of being Babar Azam

  • Pakistan are low on power and behind the times

  • Arthur backs captain Babar: 'We have to allow him the time to grow'

Comparing any ICC event to the 1992 World Cup has become a cultural touchstone of Pakistani cricket, though by now, that comparison is invoked more in jest than in earnest. As Pakistan began to drop down the table after a historic four successive defeats early on in the tournament, Excel sheets and probability trees were passed around, Pakistan’s improbable path to the semis clearly delineated. It couldn’t, could it?It couldn’t indeed. Pakistan’s median age is under 21 years old; more than half the population wasn’t even born when New Zealand last missed a World Cup semifinal, let alone remembering this side’s magical run to the 1992 title. What they could remember more distinctly, however, was a tournament much more recent, much more relevant. Similarities with 1992 might be coincidental glitches, but those with 2019 aren’t quite explained as easily.

****

The field was understandably up; Pakistan needed just one run to win in 11 balls. Dilshan Madushanka bowled something of a half-volley, and Rizwan only needed to lean into the drive, placing it through a gap as it raced away for four. The ball hit the rope, but the game was already over before that. Rizwan and Iftikhar had jogged across for a single, and it was one, not four, that counted in the record books – and, more importantly, in the net run rate (NRR) calculations.It may perhaps have been inconsequential, but for a side that missed out on NRR in 2019, one might have expected them to take advantage of every possible marginal in that department. Especially since New Zealand, the team who pipped them that year, had begun the World Cup by smashing England in a win that gave their own NRR an early headstart, something they’d prioritized after it became apparent victory was certain. After the final drinks break, they smashed 49 off the last 20 balls, winning with 82 balls to spare. It was the first game of the World Cup, who knew how important NRR would be? For a side that had seen it prove to be their saving grace in 2019, they were taking no chances.And in the end, it was recent rather than ancient history which would repeat itself. In a World Cup where realistically, only five teams mustered up enough of a challenge to qualify for the semi-finals, all that mattered was ensuring not to finish bottom of that little mini-group. And with India, South Africa and Australia pulling away, perhaps it wasn’t so surprising that New Zealand and Pakistan were left battling it out for fourth again. And while New Zealand had cared for their NRR like a first-born child, Pakistan treated it as their spare early on. Just like 2019, that cushion Pakistan had allowed them to build was just enough to keep Babar Azam’s side at bay.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe fallout from an early World Cup exit will never be measured or proportionate in Pakistan, particularly while the board itself finds itself in a farcical wrangle between two opposing political factions that have few ambitions for Pakistan cricket but huge ambitions for their own selves. It was evident in a statement the PCB issued while the team was at a particularly low point halfway through the campaign, effectively hanging Babar and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq to dry. At the same time, they would distance themselves from any operational calls made towards assembling the team, promising that “looking ahead, the board will make decisions in the best interest of Pakistan cricket”.But if board dysfunction could explain all on-field performances, Pakistan cricket would have no achievements to call its own. The core of this Pakistan squad is the same as the one that so narrowly missed out in 2019 – Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar, Shadab Khan and Shaheen Afridi – are all four years more experienced, and close to their primes. It was not unreasonable to expect that to reflect in performances, especially now that Babar is, considering how brief Pakistan captains’ stints tend to be, a fairly experienced leader.And while some things – like Fakhar’s sudden loss of form, Babar’s inability to convert his starts, Haris Rauf’s distinctly ordinary World Cup, or Naseem Shah’s injury – could arguably be put down to bad timing, the stagnation in evidence is also getting harder to deny. Imam is that rarest of things, an ODI specialist, but though his consistency of accumulation matches up to most of his contemporaries, he remains one-paced to the extreme.He has faced more deliveries with the first 10 overs’ fielding restrictions than any Pakistan batter besides Fakhar since he made his debut, and boasts a lower strike rate in that period than Abid Ali, Fakhar, Haris Sohail, Babar, Abdullah Shafique or Shan Masood. The last time he struck at over a run a ball came in March 2022. Throughout his career, he has achieved a strike rate in excess of 100 just five times in 71 innings, two of them against Zimbabwe. None of those innings came in a World Cup match, either in 2019 or 2023, and his average dropped in the last World Cup to 38, more than ten runs below his career average, and to 27 this one.ESPNcricinfo LtdShadab also may find his ODI career at a crossroads. It is possible he may never develop into an ODI spinner of the quality of Adam Zampa or Adil Rashid, but comparisons with the two previous ICC events he played illustrate how precipitous the decline has been. His showings in the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup are reasonably faithful to his overall numbers in terms of economy rate and average, but at this tournament, the average ballooned to nearly 120, and the economy rate to nearly a full run over his career average. And the eye test arguably looked worse; where his next ball would land was something of a prediction lottery, long hops and full tosses peppering the occasional balls that found lengths legspinners usually find success around.Pakistan did have the foresight to take an extra spinner and the courage to use him, but found little luck with Usama Mir either. It combined to make Pakistan the worst spin-bowling side in the tournament; only Sri Lanka took fewer spin wickets than Pakistan’s 12, and while no other side’s spinners conceded more than a run a ball, Pakistan’s combined for an economy rate of 6.20. Pakistan supporters insisted Abrar Ahmed should have been in the squad, but as Shadab pithily put it, “whoever’s not in the side becomes a great player.” Abrar might indeed have cleared the low bar of outperforming his legspin counterparts, but for a man who has played just 12 List A games, the last of which came in March 2022, this is a prediction based very much on vibes.Shaheen’s lack of early menace hasn’t helped either, though a few crossroads moments make you wonder how easily the tournament could have gone differently. David Warner being dropped by Usama early on in an innings that would ultimately overwhelm Pakistan stands out for its importance, though Pakistan’s woeful showing in the field means there is no shortage of examples to pick from. His loss of pace may have underlying fitness issues, though it is worth noting his left-arm contemporary Trent Boult, too, has generally struggled for early breakthroughs this tournament, and the window in which the ball moves around is vanishingly small at the top.Ultimately, though, if blood in the water is smelled, it is Babar who needs to be checked for scrapes and bruises. Speculation around his captaincy is only likely to become more fevered, and though he told Michael Atherton after the England defeat he wanted to lead the Pakistan rebuild, that decision may well be taken out of his hands. As the visible face of Pakistan’s disappointing time in India, he may come in for more heat than is fair, though if people were hoping he was evolving as a captain, it didn’t show at the World Cup.In-game management, and the ability to stem the tide of momentum once it shifts, remains something Babar shows little evidence of becoming sharper about, something that was on display most conspicuously in the losses to Australia and Afghanistan. As captain for more than three years, it may be the right time to give way as Pakistan rebuild for the 2025 Champions Trophy, though with few obvious uniting presences to take over from him, merely anointing someone else is unlikely to bring transformational change.For a side that was ranked atop the ODI charts just a few weeks ago, Pakistan are finding that the drop down is always quicker than the climb up top. At a World Cup they entered with such initial optimism, they will now see teams they looked down the table at contest for the prize it was all heading towards. And now, perhaps, they face their greatest challenge of all: a rebuild that is constructive rather than vindictive.

Game
Register
Service
Bonus