All posts by h716a5.icu

Also, Tamim’s share of Bangladesh’s runs, run out for a duck on debut, most Test wickets against Pakistan, and 40-year-old captains

Steven Lynch26-Aug-2014Mahela Jayawardene made half-centuries in his first and last Test innings. How many other people have done this? asked Nirmal Mendis from Sri Lanka
Mahela Jayawardene scored 66 in his first Test innings, as part of Sri Lanka’s Test-record 952 for 6 against India at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo in August 1997, and he bowed out of Test cricket with 54 in his final innings, against Pakistan at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo last week. He’s actually the 22nd player to do this: the first was Australia’s Alick Bannerman, who made 73 in his first innings, against England in Melbourne in 1878-79, and 60 in his last, at Old Trafford in 1893. Famous names on the list (only first and last innings, not first and last match) include Walter Hammond, Ian Redpath, Clive Lloyd, Greg Chappell, Sunil Gavaskar and Mohammad Azharuddin. Those 22 names exclude current players but include New Zealand’s Rodney Redmond, who scored 107 and 56 in his only Test, against Pakistan in Auckland in 1972-73.I think three players have been dismissed for 99 on Test debut. But did anyone score 99 in his last Test? asked Jamie Stewart from Canada
The only man to score 99 in his final Test was the South African Bruce Mitchell, against England in Port Elizabeth in 1948-49. It was the last of 42 Tests spread over 20 years for someone typecast as a defensive batsman, and this innings was typical: Wisden reported that “Mitchell was so dogged that he spent six hours 37 minutes over 99.” It wasn’t obvious this was his last Test, even though he was over 40: Mitchell was surprisingly overlooked when Australia toured the following season. The three men who made 99 on their Test debut were Arthur Chipperfield, for Australia against England at Trent Bridge in 1934, Robert Christiani for West Indies v England in Bridgetown in 1947-48, and Asim Kamal for Pakistan v South Africa in Lahore in 2003-04. Chipperfield and Christiani did later make Test centuries, but Asim Kamal never did.Tamim Iqbal scored 37 of Bangladesh’s 70 against West Indies – does this effort put him in any list? asked Khaleed Waleed from Saudi Arabia
Tamim Iqbal’s 37 against West Indies in Grenada last week amounted to 52.85% of Bangladesh’s miserable total of 70. That’s well down the overall list, but is the fourth-biggest percentage for Bangladesh – a list headed by Tamim himself, with 125 out of 228 against England in Mirpur in 2009-10. The biggest percentage of all remains 69.48%, by Viv Richards in scoring 189 not out in West Indies’ 55-over total of 272 for 9 against England at Old Trafford in 1984. Note that this table only includes innings that were all out, or in which the full allocation of overs was used up: this qualification rules out some fine performances, like Brendon McCullum’s 80 not out in New Zealand’s 95 for 0 (84.21%) in six overs against Bangladesh in Queenstown in December 2007, and Shane Watson’s 185 not out in Australia’s 231 for 1 (80.08%) in 26 overs against Bangladesh in Mirpur in April 2011.Rilee Rossouw was run out for 0 on his one-day debut. How many people has this happened to? asked Savo Ceprnich from South Africa
South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw, who was run out in the first over against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo last week, turns out to be the 24th debutant to suffer this fate in one-day internationals. The previous one, little more than a month previously, was also in Bulawayo – Afghanistan’s Sharafuddin Ashraf, although this time it was in the final over of the innings. The first man to suffer this fate was Dayle Hadlee, for New Zealand against Pakistan in Christchurch in 1972-73. Other sufferers include Roger Binny, Asanka Gurusinha and MS Dhoni. For the full list, click here.I noticed that Kapil Dev took 99 Test wickets against Pakistan. But has any bowler taken 100 or more wickets against a single country? asked Joel Pojas from the Philippines
There’s a long list of bowlers who have taken 100 wickets against a particular country. For a start, 19 men have done it in England-Australia Tests, with Shane Warne leading the way overall with 195; Dennis Lillee took 167 and Glenn McGrath 157, before the top Englishman Ian Botham with 148. Curtly Ambrose took 164 wickets against England, Courtney Walsh 145, Malcolm Marshall 127, Garry Sobers 102 and Lance Gibbs 100; Muttiah Muralitharan claimed 112 English wickets in only 16 Tests. Walsh took 135 wickets against Australia, Ambrose 128 and Gibbs 103; Richard Hadlee took 130, and Anil Kumble 111. Warne also took 130 against South Africa and 103 against New Zealand, while Murali took 105 against India and 104 against South Africa. McGrath took 110 against West Indies. Kapil Dev is the only man to take 99 wickets against one country, and no one has taken more against Pakistan. As far as the other countries are concerned, Murali took 89 against Bangladesh (Daniel Vettori is next with 51) and 87 against Zimbabwe, while Anil Kumble took 74 against Sri Lanka.Misbah-ul-Haq was over 40 when he captained against Sri Lanka recently. Who was the last 40-year-old to captain in a Test? asked Brian Cooper from Australia
Misbah-ul-Haq was the 22nd man to captain his country in a Test when past the age of 40, but the oldest from Pakistan, whose previous-oldest captain was Imran Khan (39 in 1991-92). The only man to captain in a Test since when older than Imran was Graham Gooch, who was three days past his 40th birthday on the final day of his 34th and last Test as captain, against Australia at Headingley in 1993. Goochie probably didn’t celebrate too much: he resigned after England’s eventual defeat, and on his actual birthday (the second day of the match) Australia took their score to 613 for 4. The oldest captain in any Test was WG Grace, who was nearly 51 when he led England for the last time, against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1899. Next come England’s Gubby Allen (45 in West Indies in 1947-48) and Walter Hammond (43 in 1946-47), and Australia’s Warren Bardsley (43 in 1926). Nelson Betancourt played only one Test, aged 42, but captained West Indies in it – against England in Port-of-Spain in 1929-30.

Stats highlights from the fourth day of the second Test between Pakistan and New Zealand, in Dubai

Bishen Jeswant20-Nov-20143 Number of Test centuries for Sarfraz Ahmed in 2014. The only wicketkeeper to have scored more hundreds in a calendar year is AB de Villiers – four in 2013.667 Runs scored by Sarfraz in 2014, from eights Tests, at an average of 74.11. This is the most runs scored by a Pakistan keeper in a calendar year. The next four spots are occupied by Kamran Akmal.4 Number of wicketkeepers who have made 500-plus Test runs in a calendar year at an average of 70 or more; Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower has done this twice.1 Number of Pakistan players who have been involved in two tenth-wicket partnerships of 75 runs or more – Rahat Ali is the only one. He added 81 with Sarfraz for the tenth wicket during Pakistan’s first innings, to take them just ten runs shy of New Zealand’s score of 403.89 Brendon McCullum’s first Test wicket came in his 89th Test, second only to Alastair Cook’s 105-Test wait, when he dismissed Ishant Sharma at Trent Bridge in July 2014. McCullum took a catch off his own bowling to dismiss Sarfraz for 112.18 Hundreds scored by Pakistan’s batsmen in 2014. Batsmen from no other team have scored more than 12 hundreds this year. The only year where Pakistan scored more hundreds was 2006, when their batsmen made 20 hundreds.77 Runs scored by Ross Taylor in New Zealand’s second innings, his highest score this year. Prior to this Test, Taylor had scored 239 runs from ten innings in 2014, at an average of 26.6, with just one fifty.

Sachin Tendulkar has won Man-of-the-Match in three out of five World Cup games against Pakistan, but he won’t be around to help India out on Sunday

S Rajesh14-Feb-20155-0 India’s World Cup record against Pakistan, having beaten them in 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2011. The only other team against whom India have a perfect World Cup record, with a minimum of three matches played, is Kenya (4-0). For Pakistan, South Africa is the only other country against whom they’ve played more than one World Cup game without winning any (0-3).72-50 Pakistan’s overall lead in ODIs against India. India are 4-3 ahead in matches played in Australia, though, and won their only previous match-up in Adelaide by 48 runs.1 The number of hundreds scored in India-Pakistan World Cup games. Saeed Anwar is the only one to get a hundred: he scored 101 in Centurion in the 2003 tournament. India’s highest is Sachin Tendulkar’s 98, in the same game. India have seven 50-plus scores in these matches, though, compared to four by Pakistan.24.02 Pakistan’s batting average in these five matches against India, which is their lowest against a team they’ve played at least three times in the World Cup. India’s average against Pakistan is 37.23, which is their second-best with a similar qualification.49.86 The average runs per wicket for Pakistan’s fast bowlers since the beginning of 2014, easily the poorest among all teams (with a cut-off of 15 ODIs). Their economy rate of 6.01 is also the worst, jointly with West Indies. The India seamers average 29.06 over the same period, which is second among all teams, after South Africa’s 26.55. Even excluding the series in Bangladesh in June last year, when India’s seamers got plenty of wickets in favourable conditions, they average a respectable 31.74 during this period.3 Number of Man-of-the Match awards won by Sachin Tendulkar in World Cup games against Pakistan. He is the only player to have played in all five of these games, and his scores in those matches are: 54*, 31, 45, 98 and 85 – 313 runs at an average of 78.25. No other batsman from either team has touched 200. Sunday’s game will be the first India-Pakistan World Cup game which won’t feature Tendulkar.4 Number of tosses India have won, in five World Cup games against Pakistan. The only one they lost was in 2003 in Centurion. The team winning the toss has always batted first in these five matches.14-11 India’s win-loss record in ODIs since the beginning of 2014, which puts them in fifth place, after Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Pakistan have a 6-12 record, which is the poorest among the top-eight teams.83 Aggregate runs Virat Kohli has scored against Pakistan in eight of his nine innings, at an average of 11.86. In the other innings, though, he scored 183, in the Asia Cup match in Mirpur in 2012, which gives him an overall average of 33.25 in nine innings.699 Ahmed Shehzad’s ODI aggregate since the beginning of 2014, the highest among Pakistan’s batsmen. Shehzad has averaged 38.83 during this period, with two centuries. No other Pakistan batsman has scored 500 runs during this period.

The match-up between Ireland, a team on the rise, and West Indies, one on the slide, could potentially prove to be the defining contest of the tournament

Andrew McGlashan in Nelson15-Feb-2015The laid-back vibe of Nelson, nestled on the north coast of South Island – ocean to the north, hills and mountains to the south – does not instil a feeling of pressure. But make no mistake, that will be a key ingredient come Monday.Day three of a World Cup is early to make this call, but the match between Ireland and West Indies at Saxton Oval has the potential to be a defining contest of the tournament. There is much criticism, most of it valid, about the structure of the event as the group stage could become a long, drawn-out, affair with the expected eight teams making the quarter-finals.An early upset (or two) would do wonders at keeping at least one group alive. In 2011, England’s fluctuating form – coupled with Ireland’s monumental chase in Bangalore – made that half of the draw compelling viewing. Even though England were ultimately among the quarter-finalists with the seven other leading nations, it was never a foregone conclusion.Ireland’s first World Cup was 2007 in the Caribbean, when they stunned by beating Pakistan and progressing to the Super Eights. That meant in 2011 expectations were higher and now they have grown again; the team is better resourced, has had a longer preparation period than ever before and has a new position in the ODI rankings which has grouped them and Afghanistan above other Associates.Warren Deutrom, the Cricket Ireland chief executive, has said that it would be a failure if Ireland did not reach the quarter-finals. That is a significant change in mindset – and in a very short period of times, eight years since their World Cup debut – and it suggests there will be consequences if it does not happen.William Porterfield, Ireland’s captain, has been there from the start of Ireland’s World Cup history and though he acknowledges the changing emphasis with each tournament, he believes the players can cope with the pressure.”We’ve played a lot of cricket, a lot of county cricket. There is a lot of experience,” Porterfield said. “When youngsters come into the side, there is a lot more knowledge of cricket. When we grew up in Ireland we didn’t have that. We played a lot of club cricket but didn’t travel around the world. Eight years ago, players were glad to make the squad to gain experience but now they come into it with that instead.”Conversely, expectations for West Indies have rarely been lower. Even while their Test fortunes have slumped, the limited-overs game has been seen as a source of solace. Now increasingly it is looking like success is limited to only the T20 arena, which leaves the new captain Jason Holder battling against the perception of a team in endless crisis.The last six months have included walking out on a tour of India, being heavily beaten in South Africa (although that is no disgrace) and the ongoing controversy over the omissions of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard from this tournament.”Everything is done and dusted, we’ve moved on from it. It’s beyond on our control and are ready to go,” Holder said. “It’s not that hard. You go through tough times and it’s important you move on and take what you can. We are starting a new campaign.”Porterfield, meanwhile, had little interest in being drawn into debating West Indies’ problems. “There are a few lads who have missed out,” he said. “Whatever happens with their squad I don’t really care, I’m happy with how we’ve gone about our stuff.”He may be happy with Ireland’s preparation, but it has not been entirely convincing. The victory against Bangladesh was a strong full stop on the warm-ups having been previously lost to Sydney club side Randwick Petersham and then to Scotland. Porterfield did acknowledge one issue, the number of wides his bowlers are conceding, but was less willing to admit any worries over the top order: Ireland’s last ODI hundred was Porterfield himself against England at Malahide in 2013.”We’ve laid some platforms and then lost wickets in clusters which isn’t great, but it’s not a major concern for me,” he said.Still, Ireland are one-up on West Indies in that they have a victory under their belt since arriving for the tournament. If it had not been for Andre Russell’s penultimate over against Scotland, West Indies would have added another defeat after being rolled over by England. Holder, though, insisted it had not led to any drastic rethinking.”I wouldn’t say they haven’t gone to plan,” Holder said. “We’ve set plans within our team and wanted to see players in different roles.”Both captains were playing it cool, but there will be some contrasting emotions tomorrow evening.

New South Wales batsman Ryan Carters reads Aldous Huxley, backpacks in Central Asia, and is passionate about helping less fortunate youngsters complete their education

Will Macpherson14-Apr-2015You’ll read plenty about Ryan Carters over the next few years. Sure, you’ll read about his cricket, which continues to tick along very nicely indeed, but many of those column inches will be about Carters himself. They will present the young Australian wicketkeeper-batsman as different. Different to modern cricketers, different to the sportsmen whose macho exploits and muddled platitudes fill the back pages, different even to other “normal” young men in their mid-twenties with their normal jobs and normal interests.And it’s true. So far, Carters has had led a cricketing life less ordinary. An on-field career started in his hometown Canberra before a move to Victoria and then, when Matthew Wade’s presence provided few opportunities, a swap from Melbourne to Sydney, home to Brad Haddin and Peter Nevill, Australia’s first-choice glovemen.A curious move, but one that has paid off, not behind the stumps but in front of them as an opening batsman. In New South Wales’ victorious 2013-14 Sheffield Shield season, Carters managed three centuries in his 861 runs opening the batting. The season just ended was less spectacular for state and player – a third-placed finish and 448 runs at 32 – but did contain one gem of an innings, 198 against Queensland shortly before the Shield broke up for its Big Bash holidays. The guy can clearly play and, as those moves suggest, is pretty fearless.

“It’s always been Nerds versus Julios in Australian cricket and I’m definitely on the nerds’ side of that equation”

So, off the field. Why is he different to the rest? In the course of our 45-minute chat at the SCG, we cover ground over which my professional career had not yet taken me: Aldous Huxley’s experimentation with mescaline and subsequent recollections in ; the culture of Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan; and the Australian gambling culture. For the record, the first is what Carters and his book club have just finished reading, the second is where he’ll spend his off season travelling and exploring, and the third is the reason he feels his charity, , has enjoyed success so far. It’s not, to say the least, all telly and Tinder, Nando’s and nightclubs.”Dougie [Bollinger] calls me ‘the philosophy major’,” Carters laughs, when asked whether he is a little different to his team-mates. “Which is actually false… because I’m majoring in economics!”Indeed, away from the field, the studies that followed his cricket from Melbourne University to Sydney after a top-of-the-class school career, the philanthropy, and love of reading place him firmly in the “bookish” category alongside – among others – his friend Eddie Cowan and Cambridge grad Mike Atherton, who famously mistook the letters “FEC” graffitied on his Lancashire locker to mean “future England captain”, when in fact the second letter stood for “educated” and the first and third were as coarse as the English language can muster.Carters on his way to 198 against Queensland in the 2014-15 Sheffield Shield•Getty Images”You get a few jokes about being educated,” says Carters, smiling effortlessly but incessantly the whole time. “It’s always been Nerds versus Julios in Australian cricket and I’m definitely on the nerds’ side of that equation. I have a lot of interests that maybe aren’t typical of sportsmen my age but I reckon a cricket team is basically a cross section of the different young men you encounter in society. Not everyone is some kind of jock and not everyone is from the same background.”Whatever his interests and whether they are similar to those he works with, it’s clear that Carters has a pretty broad view of the world that filters into his cricket.”Cricket provides an interesting and unusual schedule and this off season I’m going to take advantage of that. Every second week we’re away playing a match interstate but now we have a load of time off. Usually I’ve used this period to study but this is the first time in the last five years that I’ve decided to get away from it all. First, I’m visiting Nepal, where worked last year. They’re holding a tribute match to Phillip Hughes there in April [Carters’ side, Team Red, won by one run], then in June and July, I’m playing club cricket for Oxford in the UK.”But between that I’ll take a month completely off the grid for the road trip through central Asia, just driving and camping. It’s an important thing to do, to just reset, see where you’re at away from daily demands. It’s not the classic travel spot for guys our age but that’s one of the reasons it appeals. We [two school friends] went to Mongolia two years ago and fell in love with that part of the world, so thought we’d try something else off the beaten track. You don’t really know what you’re going to encounter, which is exciting.”

“The common theme of our projects is educating young men and women who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity, as I believe education is the way to help people out of poverty”

He admits that the breadth and depth of his extra-curricular interests mean he hasn’t much time for cricket when he’s not playing, which seems healthy. For all the book-worming, he doesn’t read about cricket (although Cowan has recommended CLR James’ ) and doesn’t watch much cricket.”I love the game, of course, but so much of my life is taken up playing and being involved in cricket that I spend more of my time outside of that doing other things rather than in the cricketing world. Watching cricket is not a chore, but is just not something I do every day. Off the field, I try to avoid thinking about the game, and I think that’s a blessing.”I’d be surprised if anyone could honestly say, ‘I haven’t made runs for four games but it’s not affecting me psychologically’, but the best I can do is get away from it for a while, re-engage with other aspects of life, come back feeling fresh and looking forward to playing cricket, as opposed to becoming consumed with it and getting stuck in that cycle of negative thinking. That’s the theory behind this break, to be hungry again by September, when the Sydney Sixers have the Champions League. I reckon a break from the game will be conducive to getting the best out of myself.”As talk turns to Carters getting the best out of himself, it’s impossible not to avoid , which this BBL season raised $102,431 for the education of young women in Mumbai, after the Sixers hit 47 sixes, with $2,179 pledged by donors for each one. A year earlier, Carters’ old team, Sydney Thunder, had raised more than £30,000, used to build the three classrooms at Heartland School, Kathmandu, which Carters visited this month. These are impressive numbers but he’s already looking at ways in which to expand his fundraising.Carters (standing, third from left) with his Team Red at the Phillip Hughes’ Tribute match in Kathmandu•AFP”Last time I got away from the game, on my trip to Mongolia, I wanted to start a charity initiative to partner my cricket to promote a cause that I care deeply about and use the stage that I’m at in my career, the people that we know, to find an opportunity to reach a big section of the public. The common theme of our projects – which change annually and are linked to the LBW Trust – [Learning for a Better World] – is educating young men and women – usually at a tertiary level – who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity, as I believe education is the way to help people out of poverty.”I learned a lesson that if you have an idea that you’re passionate about, people will jump behind it – my team-mates but also donors from around the country who have been very generous in their donations and kind in their messages of support. It’s certainly making every six the Sixers hit feel that bit more special!”Carters, evidently, is ambitious in every sense of the word; in his charity work, in his embryonic plans for life after cricket, which one senses is likely to follow philanthropic, not political (as some have suggested) lines. He’s clearly a cricketer apart, but speaking of his hopes, dreams and ambitions, both as boy and man, is a reminder that he’s not that different at all.”Growing up my dreams were all cricket-based,” he says, grinning again. “I played loads with my brother and Dad in the backyard and loved watching cricket and always dreamed of being a Test cricketer, like so many others in Australia. Sure, I got more interested in the world, how things work, especially as I got older; politics, economics, philosophy, reading, but cricket was the one.”I’ve achieved being a pro cricketer, which is awesome, and I’d be amazed by that if you’d told me that as a 12-year-old. But the Test cricket box isn’t ticked, and that – along with remembering how lucky I am and to enjoy the game – is what’s driving me.”Deep down, he’s just like the rest of them.

Plays of the day from match between Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Raipur

Devashish Fuloria09-May-2015Warner’s first fall
The last two times David Warner played on this ground in Raipur, he went back with Man-of-the-Match awards for scoring unbeaten half-centuries. His 117 runs had come off just 67 deliveries. Warner must have felt lucky again; he earned a four and a six off thick outside edges. But he disappeared after a scratchy 17. The difference: his last two innings had come for Delhi Daredevils, but this time, he was on the other side.The open country
Both captains at the toss had mentioned the size of the ground. It was made immediately obvious in the first three overs of the match as Warner and Shikhar Dhawan picked up threes on the off side. Later, Moises Henriques picked up three consecutive twos to the deep in the 16th over. There were plenty more. It was a refreshing change from the afternoon match of the day, in Kolkata, where the outfield was as usual extremely quick.The seven-ball trick
Coming into the game, Shreyas Iyer was the leading run-getter for Delhi Daredevils, but he was made to look inadequately equipped to handle Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He received three incoming deliveries from Bhuvneshwar in the first over, then got two outswingers in the next, both beating the outside edge. If Iyer thought the next ball was an incoming one, he was wrong; it was a bouncer. The inswinger, and a fast one, came next ball, hurried the batsman on a pull and the top edge lobbed back for the bowler. Iyer returned for a seven-ball duck.The turned-downed single
Quinton de Kock really wanted the single after chopping the first ball from Karn Sharma to short third-man. He had taken a few steps down the pitch, and as the fielder fumbled, he gestured frantically towards JP Duminy, asking him to push on. But Duminy wasn’t moving. De Kock went back into the crease with a smile. Next ball, he stepped out and was late in getting back again. The ball was with the wicketkeeper this time after de Kock had missed the slog, and he quickly flicked the bails off.

Five members of the current Australia squad were present when James Anderson and Monty Panesar defied them six years ago and it was an outcome that set the tone for more than just one series

Daniel Brettig in Cardiff07-Jul-20154:11

Jimmy and Monty save England

In 1996, Newcastle United had played the perfect season. They led in the Premiership, and hosted Manchester United in a game that could snuff out the challenge of their nearest rival. After a first half in which the Red Devils were battered, bruised and beaten out of sight in general play, the St James’ Park scoreboard read 0-0. As he addressed the players at halftime, Kevin Keegan could feel the confidence of his men draining away.”The most difficult halftime team talk for any coach,” he said some years later, “is when you’ve played fantastic and you’ve got no reward. You’re saying things and you can see the players looking right through and thinking the things you’re thinking in the back of your mind, like ‘we can’t play any better, we haven’t scored, I’ve seen these games before, they’ll get a scrappy goal’.”You’re telling them all to ‘go out and do it all again lads’ but even as you talk and they listen, you’re all thinking ‘hang on, I’ve seen games like this before’…” Manchester United won 1-0, and would go on to be champions.Six years ago in Cardiff, Australia’s cricketers felt a similar sinking feeing. They played what Ricky Ponting called “the perfect game” and somehow found a way not to win. Many think that it was Cardiff that changed the course of recent Ashes history, allowing England the room to find themselves, while consigning Australia to three consecutive defeats. The former coach Tim Nielsen has said of it: “I look back at 2009 and still can’t get my head around Cardiff. That’s the one that kills me.”This time around, there are five members of Australia’s squad who were present for that match. Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle all played, while Shane Watson ran the drinks. Ask them about the match six years on and their reactions differ. Clarke cannot remember too much, and simply wants things to be different this time. Siddle’s recollections are fuller, but he too has his eyes on the present. Johnson views the whole series as a lesson in technique and concentration. Most vivid are the recollections of Haddin, behind the stumps, and Watson, from the boundary’s edge.For Clarke, the match and series were an important step in his rise to replace Ponting as captain. He was Australia’s leading batsman in the series, making two polished hundreds and another pair of sparkling innings besides – four Australians made hundreds in Cardiff, but Clarke’s 83 lost little by comparison. On the final day, he was eager as ever for Ponting to hand him the ball for an over or two. But as typified an occasionally prickly relationship between captain and deputy, Marcus North was preferred.”I remember we didn’t get the last wicket,” Clarke says. “It was a different wicket then, and two very different teams as well. Let’s hope if it gets that close this time we can find a way to get that last wicket.”Haddin was playing his first Ashes Test, having started in Test cricket the year before. His hundred on the fourth day was a freewheeling affair as the Australians tried to build their lead, and looked a psychologically heavy blow to England when they made a poor start to their second innings. Haddin admits he thought on more than one occasion that the match was won.”It was a painful Test match,” he says. “We thought we got ourselves into a position that we deserved that win, but as you see in Ashes campaigns – they’re never over. The games throw up so many curveballs and people do different things in Ashes cricket, than they normally would do. That was a wonderful Test match, it would have been great for the spectators. But the result wasn’t exactly what we wanted.”We thought we were over the line. They did well. But Ashes cricket throws up a lot of different characters and people respond differently to these big occasions. It was no surprise that England held on that time – it’s different cricket and it brings out a lot of different emotions. And some odd batting talent that I didn’t think Monty Panesar had.”At the critical moment on the final afternoon, Ponting declined to throw the ball to Johnson. In the context of what he had achieved in South Africa a few months before this seemed like madness, but Johnson was in the midst of a spiral that would bottom out at Lord’s. Afflicted by concerns both personal and technical, his ability to focus on the stumps at the other end had been clouded by many things, and his bowling action was about as reliable as a Caribbean airline timetable. Occasionally he looks back on this match and the following Test at Lord’s, as a reminder of how not to operate.”It doesn’t get me angry, it just frustrates me that stuff,” he says. “It’s just looking more at my bowling action, to see what the difference was from then to now. I even go back to when I first started to see my action then to what it is now, the big changes with my load up, the front foot stride, my run-up and those kinds of things. I’ve moved on from that and I’m really excited this time.”Instead of Johnson, it was Siddle who charged in at Panesar and James Anderson. First ball he very nearly coaxed an outside edge from Panesar, but grew increasingly frustrated as the last pair survived. On his first Ashes tour, it was a lesson in patience and poise.”There was a lot of disappointment,” he says. “Eleven overs needing one wicket and not getting it. We’ve got something to prove playing here and it is true, if we’d started off well there it could have been a different series. So yeah we know that. It’s a nice place to play – I enjoyed that Test match other than the last hour!”Like the 15,000-odd spectators who watched with growing anxiety as the day dragged on, Watson was in a position to see a broader tableau than the men on the field. He regards it as one of the most important, and damaging, Test matches Australia played during the period, with obvious flow-on effects like the loss of the second Test at Lord’s, and wider ones like the drain of self-belief that would seep through three subsequent Ashes series defeats.”Just knowing we’d played so well and dominated the Test match but not being able to come out 1-0 up going to Lord’s, knowing that going to the next Test match we’d have to play even better to be able to win the Test match, no doubt it dampens your spirits a little bit,” he says. “You’re willing to go out and do all the hard work again but knowing you’ve done all the hard work to set the game up and not being able to close it out, it’s always a challenge to be able to get yourself up and going again and unfortunately we didn’t.”That was unfortunately the start of things to come through the next two Ashes series that we played, just not being able to close out that game at that moment. It’s something we are certainly much better at now closing out Test matches especially when it gets close. We’ve got the calibre of bowlers now and so many different options now to be able to really capitalise. Certainly it was a moment we all think turned, not just that Ashes series, but the next one or two as well.”Keegan’s Newcastle never did have another chance to get as close to the Premier League title, and his era is seen as one of great excitement but also of promise unfulfilled. Clarke, Watson, Haddin, Johnson and Siddle are now in the more fortunate position of being able to atone for what happened here in 2009, to do it all again. They are intent on making Cardiff a Test cricket venue remembered for something other than a thwarted Australia.

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2015Hamish Marshall was stumped down the leg side off Gareth Batty…•Getty Images…who was clearly pumped up•Getty ImagesGeraint Jones, in his final professional match, tried to revive Gloucestershire•Getty ImagesIn his first one-day game for than a year, Azhar Mahmood bowled his 10 overs for 28 and bagged two wickets•PA PhotosDernbach finished the innings in dramatic style with a hat-trick – just the third in a Lord’s final•PA PhotosJames Fuller removed Jason Roy early in the chase…•PA Photos…and also claimed Steven Davies to give Gloucestershire some hope•PA PhotosKumar Sangakkara eased to a half-century to break the back of the chase•Getty ImagesRory Burns also struck a fifty but after he and Sangakkara fell to Jack Taylor, Surrey’s chase began to stutter•Getty ImagesAzhar Mahmood was stumped off Tom Smith as Surrey slipped to 191 for 6•Getty ImagesTaylor picked up his third wicket when Tom Curran was lbw trying to reverse sweep•Getty ImagesOnly Sam Curran seemed able to keep his head as time ticked away…•Getty Images…but he fell to David Payne in the final over as Gloucestershire won by six runs•Getty ImagesGloucestershire captain Klinger holds aloft the Royal London trophy•Getty Images

Stats highlights from the second day’s play in Mohali where R Ashwin took yet another five-wicket haul.

Shiva Jayaraman06-Nov-201529 Tests taken by R Ashwin to pick up 150 wickets – the least by any India bowler. Before Ashwin, Erapalli Prasanna and Anil Kumble were the quickest to this milestone, having got there in 34 Tests. Ashwin is also the joint second-fastest spinner to take 150 Test wickets. Clarrie Grimmett took one lesser Test to get to the landmark. South Africa’s offspinner Hugh Tayfield and Saeed Ajmal also took 29 Tests. Overall, Ashwin has taken 150 wickets at an average of 27.84.13 Five-wicket hauls by Ashwin in Tests in the subcontinent – the joint highest by any bowler in his first 20 Tests in Asia. Only Waqar Younis had as many five-fors in his first 20 Tests in the region. With one more innings in this Test still to go, Ashwin has taken 126 wickets in Asia – also the most by any bowler in his first 20 Tests in Asia – at an average of 22.36.100 Wickets Ashwin has taken in only 16 Tests at home; this is the least matches taken by any bowler to complete 100 wickets in Tests in India. Before Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, who took his 100th wicket at home in his 19th Test, was the quickest. Ashwin is the tenth bowler to taken at least 100 wickets in India.0 Number of wickets Ashwin had taken from his previous and only Test against South Africa before this one, which was in Johannesburg in 2013-14. Ashwin had sent down 42 overs without taking a wicket. He bowled 24 overs to get his first five-for against them in this innings.5 Number of fifty-plus scores AB de Villiers has hit in eight innings on this tour including his 63 in this Test. De Villiers has accumulated 491 runs at 70.14 with three hundreds and two fifties. Overall, this was his sixth fifty-plus score in 23 innings in Tests against India. He has made 928 runs at 42.18.6 Number of times before this India had taken a first-innings lead in a Test after making 201 or fewer batting first. The last such instance came against West Indies in Barbados in 2011 when India took a lead of 11 runs after making 201. There are only six other instances when India have managed to take the first-innings lead despite scoring fewer than the 201 they scored in this Test. The lowest such total for India is the 99 they had put up before dismissing New Zealand for 94 in Hamilton in 2002-03.4 Instances when South Africa have made a first-innings total in Asia lower than the 184 they scored in this match. The last such instance came in 2008 when they made 170 in the first innings of the Dhaka Test.4 Pairs by India openers before Shikhar Dhawan’s in this match. The last India opener to get a pair was Virender Sehwag, against England at Edgbaston in 2011. In the last Test Dhawan played in Mohali, which was also his debut in 2013 against Australia, he had stroked 187 runs from just 174 deliveries.14.10 Runs per wicket India’s spinners averaged in South Africa’s first innings, taking all the ten South Africa wickets to fall in the 54 overs they bowled. This is the best India’s spinners have averaged in the first innings when they have taken all ten wickets of the opposition. Their previous best had come in the 1977 Bangalore Test, at an average of 15.20.374 Cheteshwar Pujara’s runs in his last three Tests against South Africa including the 63* in India’s second innings. He has made at least one fifty-plus score in each of these three Tests. Overall, Pujara has made 405 runs against South Africa at 50.62. Also, Pujara’s fifty in the second innings was his first fifty-plus score in the last nine occasions when he has batted in India’s second innings. His last such fifty had come against England at Trent Bridge last year when he had made 55.*0400 GMT: The stat on Ashwin’s 100 Test wickets in India was added to the piece

The new Phillip Hughes biography is a warm retelling of his early life in rural Australia, and how he dealt with the ups and downs of his short career

Daniel Brettig28-Nov-2015Were the authors of to have searched for a more evocative title, they might easily have settled on calling it . It feels like an uncompleted work, because that is exactly what Hughes’ life turned out to be.As leading Australian cricket writers – and accomplished authors – Malcolm Knox and Peter Lalor relate in their introduction: “The Phillip Hughes story is without a happy ending. In the way stories are told, it does not have a proper conclusion at all… When Australia grieved for Phillip, a part of its sorrow was for the loss of possibility, as if the country had been absorbed in the first pages of a book, only to find that the rest had been ripped out.”Knox and Lalor were commissioned to write the Hughes story with the cooperation of his family, and by extension that of the great and good of Australian cricket. That kind of imprimatur has benefits but also drawbacks. The access, naturally, is extensive, but there are also the restrictions of taste and personal preference. Also of note was the timing of the book’s production – in the days and months leading into and during this year’s Ashes series; as the one-year anniversary of Hughes’ death has shown, emotions and memories are still something for many to wrestle with.As such, this is not the book to dissect the whys and wherefores of Hughes’ death. Nor is it a totally unvarnished portrait of a young man who had his share of rough edges. Instead it is a warm retelling of his early life in Macksville, a tribute to his extraordinary will power to succeed as a batsman, and a strong insight into matters of selection, from the perspective of a cricketer who was fighting to return to the Test team for the sixth time at the moment his life was so shockingly ended.

A short essay entitled “I predict when I am 30 my family will be as follows” will cause a lump in plenty of throats

A theme running through the early pages is somewhat surprisingly one of catharsis, as the Hughes family open up about his early life in a most intimate way. Lalor took responsibility for covering the early part of Hughes’ life, and spent more than a week in northern New South Wales with dad Greg, mum Virginia, brother Jason and sister Megan. What he found were countless “boy from the bush” tales that weave into something approaching for their sun-drenched illustrations of Hughes’ talent.These stories are interwoven with a rich selection of family photos of mementos like a Tonka truck, or early school assignments (his handwriting was neat). Such images provide an insight into the world Hughes grew up in, all the while offering tremendous poignance: a short essay entitled “I predict when I am 30 my family will be as follows” will cause a lump in plenty of throats.With each page, cricket begins to emerge as it took a more prominent place in the Hughes household. His brother Jason recalls: “I started taping the ball up and I used to nick him off all the time.” It was a secret Jason kept to himself, as school, club and representative runs mounted up, drawing talent scouts to invite Hughes along to countless trials. These trips and many others for playing the game played havoc with Hughes’ schooling: one seven-week period in year nine saw him at school all of seven days.Knox takes up the tale when it moves into Sydney, and the formative influence of Neil D’Costa comes into the picture. The coach is described as “ebullient and fast-talking”, and his influence on Hughes can be summed up in one of his sentences: “I knew what he could do, but the question was, could he get comfortable in Sydney, could he stay out of trouble?” Others remember Hughes as a young player thinking constantly of the now and the future rather than history or statistics. It is noted that he found the adjustment from junior ranks to Sydney club cricket among the hardest of his career.Pan Macmillan AustraliaWhat follows in first-class cricket is a pattern of heavy scoring and even harder work. His seismic century in the 2008 Sheffield Shield final is recalled in detail, as is a match on a Bellerive greentop where he made 201 in two innings out of a combined NSW total of 345. All of this demonstrated the ability the national selectors recognised in choosing him for South Africa in 2009, where Hughes both stunned and thrilled team-mates and spectators.The basic plot is well known, from the heights of South Africa and an early- season stint with Middlesex to the depths of England and the numerous battles to come back into the national team that followed that 2009 Ashes tour. Most valuable and enlightening are untold stories, such as of the time Peter Siddle went after Dale Steyn with short balls after overhearing South Africa’s spearhead indicating they would have liked to hit Hughes on the body a few times before he was out in his first Test innings. “You want to hit my mate?” Siddle screamed. “I’ll hit you!”Over the next six years, Hughes grew wiser and a little more worldly. He moved to South Australia, which in its smaller community appeared to suit him better than Sydney’s bright lights. Once more a pattern emerges, of heavy first-class scoring, moments of promise in the Test arena, then another dose of hard medicine when he is dropped.By the time of the 2013 Ashes series, Hughes is showing increasing signs of maturity and self-knowledge. His partnership with Ashton Agar at Trent Bridge stands as the exemplar of what Hughes could have become. Agar’s depiction of how Hughes guided him through that innings is a beautiful and valuable reminder of how a partnership is formed, even if this one was a most outlandish example of them.Equally vivid is the feeling of dismay among many members of the team when Hughes is dropped after one more Test match. Having been through it all before, Hughes knew it was coming, telling Usman Khawaja, “You watch, they’ll drop me”, but his outward even temper hid mounting frustration, as Ed Cowan articulated: “They were talking about how there was no batting coming through, but we had a guy who could be the best batsman in the world and they kept doing him over.” Cowan offered to front coach Darren Lehmann about the apparent hypocrisy, but Hughes talked him out of it.In all, Lalor and Knox spoke to some 85 people about Hughes, with only Brad Haddin and Steven Smith among those who declined, given the book’s tight time frame and crossover with this year’s Ashes. What is left is a portrait of Hughes that offers numerous worthwhile lessons. Perhaps, in time, there may be the chance for another account that looks further into elements only hinted at here. But in the circumstances, and with the aforementioned blessings and curses of the official seal, this is a fine production. An unfinished one, as it must be.Phillip Hughes: The Official Biography
By Malcolm Knox and Peter Lalor
Pan Macmillan Australia
336 pages, A$45