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Stats highlights from the World T20 match between New Zealand and Pakistan in Mohali

Bharath Seervi22-Mar-201610 Partnerships of 50 or more between Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill in T20Is, the most between any pair. They went past David Warner and Shane Watson who had nine such stands in 37 innings, compared to just 18 innings for the Guptill-Williamson pair. No other pair has more than six such stands. Out of ten such stands in 18 innings, eight have come in the last ten times they have batted together – all when opening. Against Pakistan, they have shared partnerships of 171* in Hamilton and 57 in Wellington before adding 62 in this match. They have the second-most partnership runs by a pair (995) at an average of 58.52.174.53 Guptill’s strike rate in T20Is in 2016 – the best among 60 batsmen who have faced 100 or more balls. He has never scored at such a rate in any calendar year. In 2014, he had a strike rate of just 97.22 in seven innings and 142.42 in four innings in 2015. His average of 53.85 is third-best among 200-plus run-scorers behind Virat Kohli (107.50) and Hashim Amla (83.66). He has also hit the joint-most sixes as well this year.66 Runs scored by Pakistan in the Powerplay, which is the most for them in a World T20 and joint-most in all T20Is against top-eight teams. They had the same amount of runs against England in Bristol in 2006. They have scored more than this three times – twice against Zimbabwe (72 and 71) and once against Bangladesh (61).0 Boundaries hit by Pakistan in the last five overs, when the required run rate was 11.60. They scored just 35 and lost the game by 22 runs. This is only the fourth instance of a team not scoring any boundary in the last five overs (16th to 20th) having played all those overs while chasing. The previous three instances were: Sri Lanka against New Zealand at Colombo in 2009, England against Pakistan in Dubai in 2012 and Zimbabwe against Bangladesh in Bulawayo in 2013. Pakistan had hit 10 fours and a six in their first five overs, and four fours and a six in the next ten overs.7 Man-of-the-Match awards for Guptill in T20Is – joint-most for New Zealand in T20Is with Brendon McCullum. Guptill has got those in 60 matches compared to McCullum’s 71. This was the first for Guptill in 20 World T20 matches.376 Runs accumulated by Guptill in T20Is against Pakistan – third most by a batsman against any opposition in T20Is. Guptill has also scored 424 runs against South Africa, while JP Duminy comes second with 378 against Australia. Guptill’s runs against Pakistan have come in 12 innings at an average of 34.18 and strike rate of 144.61. His 80 in this match was his third half-century against them. He had made unbeaten 87 and 42 in his previous two innings against them.188.00 Sharjeel Khan’s strike rate in his 25-ball 47, which is the second highest by a Pakistan batsman in a World T20, after batting 25 or more balls. Only Imran Nazir’s 36-ball 72 had a higher strike rate (200).10 T20Is for Pakistan without an opening stand of 50 or more, before Sharjeel Khan and Ahmed Shehzad added 65 in this game. Their last such stand came against England in Dubai in November 2015 when Ahmed Shehzad and Rafatullah Mohmand shared a 51-run stand.39 Wickets for Shahid Afridi in World T20 matches in 33 innings – most by any bowler in the tournament’s history. He overtook Lasith Malinga’s tally of 38 wickets in 31 innings. He is already the highest wicket-taker in all T20Is with 97 scalps in as many matches.10.25 Mohammad Amir’s economy in this match, which is his worst in a T20I when bowling all his four overs, and the third-worst overall.

By reaching 10,000 Test runs, Alastair Cook has scaled a summit that 623 England players who made their Test debut before him couldn’t.

Shiva Jayaraman30-May-2016Alastair Cook has scaled a summit that 623 England players who made their Test debut before him couldn’t. By reaching 10,000 Test runs, he joins a pantheon of batsmen as the youngest among them to reach that milestone. Tendulkar – the quickest before Cook – had scored his 10,000th run at the age of 31 years and 327 days. Cook has taken 170 days fewer than him. He is also the quickest from debut – by over a year – to get there, having taken just ten years and 88 days.England’s predilection for Test cricket – they have played an average of 12.5 Tests a year since Cook’s debut, more than any other team – has obviously helped Cook in getting there quicker than any other batsman. However, to his credit, Cook has both kept himself fit and kept his contributions – with the bat and the captaincy – significant enough to play in 128 of the 129 England Tests since his debut. In fact, he has played in 126 consecutive Tests since his one and only absence – he missed the third Test of his debut tour to India in 2006 due to a stomach bug. That is the second-longest continuous streak by any player for any Test team. Only Allan Border’s streak of 153 consecutive Tests for Australia is longer than Cook’s.Besides his patience and determination, Cook’s fitness is one of the key reasons for his huge tally of runs, for he doesn’t score quickly and so has to stay on the field longer to get them. Among batsmen with at least 5000 runs since the turn of the century, Cook’s strike rate is the third lowest. Right from the start of his Test career Cook has preferred to dig in to score runs – as a 21-year-old on debut in Nagpur, he made a 243-ball unbeaten 104 in the second innings. Since then, there have been 30 more innings of at least 200 deliveries. The last of those came against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi when Cook batted 836 minutes for a 528-ball 263 – the third longest individual innings of all time.These marathon innings demand patience, and Cooks clearly has it in spades. The one aspect of his batting that epitomises this is his ability to leave the ball. By the end of the Chester-le-Street Test against Sri Lanka, Cook had offered no shot to 4,465 deliveries, which is 20.6% of the balls he has faced in his career. In terms of percentage of balls faced since Cook’s debut, only Shivnarine Chanderpaul has left alone a higher share of deliveries among modern batsmen in the 10,000-club.

Highest percentage of balls left in Tests since Cook’s debut

Batsman Deliveries left alone Deliveries Faced %ageShivnarine Chanderpaul 2788 13062 21.34Alastair Cook 4465 21658 20.62Jacques Kallis 2256 11134 20.26Sachin Tendulkar 1829 10193 17.94Kumar Sangakkara 2659 15554 17.10Cook is eighth on the list of batsmen who have faced the most deliveries in Tests in the last 20 years. He has faced an average of 94.57 deliveries per innings, which is the sixth highest by any batsman with a cut-off of 100 innings.What stands out, though, is Cook’s ability to construct these marathon innings in Asia – conditions that have usually challenged non-Asian batsmen. Cook has batted an average of 122.8 deliveries per innings in subcontinent conditions (including the UAE) which are the highest for any batsman, Asian or otherwise, to have played at least 30 innings in the last 20 years.

Most deliveries per innings in Asia since 1996 (min 30 inns)

Batsman Balls faced in Asia Inns Balls/InnsAlastair Cook 5035 41 122.80Azhar Ali 6208 53 117.13Hashim Amla 4195 39 107.56Jacques Kallis 4672 44 106.18Rahul Dravid 16856 160 105.35Cook’ 2,252 runs in Tests in Asia are the most by any overseas batsman. Jacques Kallis is the only other batsman to aggregate 2,000 runs. Among the 63 non-Asian batsmen who have scored at least 5,000 Test runs, Cook’s 22.4% runs in Asia are the third highest contribution to career runs after Hashim Amla’s 24.7% and Carl Hooper’s 23.8%.

Top %age of runs scored in Asia, overseas batsmen (min 5000 Test runs)

Batsman Runs in Asia Career Runs %ageHashim Amla 1819 7358 24.72Carl Hooper 1373 5762 23.82Alastair Cook 2252 10042 22.42Marcus Trescothick 1306 5825 22.42Stephen Fleming 1571 7172 21.90Cook’s game is at its dogged best in his back-to-the-wall second-innings efforts, such as the ones at the Gabba, in Ahmedabad, and in Galle. His second-innings numbers don’t look extraordinary on the outset – 3,952 runs at 44.40 with 13 hundreds. But nine of those 13 hundreds have come with England facing a second-innings deficit. Only Sachin Tendulkar has made more centuries while trailing in the second innings. Sunil Gavaskar, Kumar Sangakkara and Brian Lara too made nine such centuries, but in 75, 83 and 93 innings, respectively, to Cook’s 72. Cook has made 2,942 runs in second innings when faced with a deficit, which is 29.30% of his career runs. This is the second highest for any batsman in the 10,000-club after Gavaskar, who made 33.65% of his career runs when facing a second-innings deficit.

Most centuries facing deficit in second innings

Batsman Inns Runs Ave 100s %age runsSachin Tendulkar 113 3649 46.18 11 22.91Alastair Cook 73 2942 47.45 9 29.29Sunil Gavaskar 75 3406 55.83 9 33.64Kumar Sangakkara 83 3248 50.75 9 26.19Brian Lara 93 3224 39.31 9 26.97The quality of stubborn resilience that Cook has displayed in bailing out England on so many occasions has helped in his career too. Starting in 2013, he hit a rough patch in which he managed just 638 runs at 23.62 and went without a century for 27 innings. But, with the clamour for dropping him as England’s Test captain at its loudest following England’s loss to India at Lord’s in 2014, Cook made use of the luck that came his way in the next Test in Southampton to score 95 and 70 not out. His next hundred took another eight innings to come, but Southampton marked a revival in Cook’s batting career: in 30 innings beginning with that Test, Cook scored 1,625 runs at an average of 58.03 with three hundreds and 11 fifties. In the subsequent year, Cook scored 1,364 runs at 54.56 – the fourth highest by an England batsman in Tests in calendar year.Cook has scored 900 or more runs in a calendar year eight times already in only ten complete years of his Test career. One could argue that’s not a big achievement considering he gets to bat enough every year to get there. But in six of those years he has averaged at least 45. Only two other batsmen – Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara – have had seven years when they have scored 900-plus runs at an average of at least 45. Admittedly though, batsmen from Asia do not play as many Tests every year as those from England or Australia. But the next best England batsmen in this list are Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Mike Atherton who had three such years each in their careers that lasted eight, nine and 12 years respectively. Ricky Ponting is the nearest Australia batsman to Cook in this roster, with five such years in a career spanning 17 years.

900-plus runs at 45-plus average in a calendar year

Batsman Years Career spanKumar Sangakkara 7 15Sachin Tendulkar 7 24Alastair Cook 6 10Brian Lara 6 16Rahul Dravid 6 16Jacques Kallis 6 18Cook is only the second regular opener after Sunil Gavaskar to make it to the 10,000-club. In all likelihood, he will be the first batsman to get 10,000 Test runs purely as an opener too: Cook needs 536 more runs to get there and 144 to go past Gavaskar as the highest run-scorer among openers in Test history.He has ticked most of the boxes that batsmen who have long careers usually do. Cook is one of the only 12 batsmen to make centuries against all the eight (or nine) teams he has played against. He just needs five more runs against South Africa to become only the third batsman – after Tendulkar and Dravid – to make 1000 runs against seven Test teams. He has also hit at least one Test hundred in all the nine cricketing countries he has played in. The fact that only one batsman in Test history has managed that in more countries than him – Dravid hit centuries all the ten countries he played in – should confirm Cook as one of the most adaptive batsmen in Test history.

Sanjay Manjrekar on the various contributing factors to India’s comprehensive victory in St Lucia

14-Aug-2016Captain Jason Holder’s middling skills with bat and ball are a cause for concern, and West Indies need to take some tough decisions regarding him, says Sanjay Manjrekar.2:26

Manjrekar: Holder providing an illusionary benefit to the team

‘Young WI batsmen are not trained to be Test players’A T20 and ODI mindset is plaguing West Indies batsmen, and they need specialist Test batsmen if they hope to improve on their performances.2:36

Manjrekar: Young batsmen are not trained to be Test players

‘Familiar issues resurfaced’Manjrekar expected West Indies’ fight from the second Test to be carried forward in this series but it was not so in St Lucia.2:00

Manjrekar: Familiar issues resurfaced for West Indies

‘Kohli’s leadership was instrumental in this win’India captain Virat Kohli’s aggressive mentality rubbed off on his team, which led to victory in the third Test against West Indies.3:23

Manjrekar: Kohli’s leadership was instrumental in this win

‘Kohli happy to make adjustments for Rohit’Kohli is ready to take a gamble and include Rohit Sharma in the Test side.

03-Aug-2016But Sohail Khan, playing his first Test in five years, struck early, inducing an outside edge from Hales to end the opening stand on 36•AFPSohail accounted for Joe Root in his next over, getting him to edge to first slip•Getty ImagesAlastair Cook held firm, however, and struck eight boundaries in a brisk knock•Getty ImagesCook’s resistance ended when Rahat Ali trapped him lbw with one that nipped back in. When he fell, Cook had made 45 of England’s 75 runs•Getty ImagesJames Vince and Gary Ballance then kept Pakistan’s bowlers at bay for 7.4 overs as England went into lunch on 100 for 3•AFPVince continued fluently after the break and played some delightful strokes•Getty Images… until Sohail struck for a third time to end Vince’s 69-run fourth-wicket stand with Ballance•AFPVince departed for an attractive 39, but it was another insubstantial score•AFPSohail then made it four when Jonny Bairstow was caught behind•AFPBallance dug in for a gritty 70•AFP… before becoming Yasir Shah’s first victim of the innings•Getty ImagesMoeen Ali then rallied the tail with an important half-century•Getty Images… and played his strokes to fine effect•Getty ImagesSohail then completed his maiden five-wicket haul as James Anderson unsuccessfully reviewed his lbw•AFP… and celebrated with ten press-ups, with a clap between each•AFP

Pakistan’s first ever day-night Test, against West Indies in Dubai, will also be their 400th match in the longest format. ESPNcricinfo looks back on their storied history

Alagappan Muthu12-Oct-2016First TestAlmost to the day, 64 years ago, Pakistan played their first Test against India in Delhi. They had a man who would become a legend opening the batting – Hanif Mohammad – and a man who was quite possibly the first of the long line of irresistible Pakistani seamers – Fazal Mahmood. The magic wasn’t instantaneous though. Pakistan lost by an innings and 70 runs.Fazal Mahmood was unstoppable on a matting pitch in Lucknow•Getty ImagesFirst winThe swiftness with which Pakistan bounced back in the second Test made it seem like they were playing possum in the first. India were missing three of their players – including Vinoo Mankad, who had picked up 13 wickets in Delhi – and the visitors capitalised. A mere 15 minutes into the fourth morning in Lucknow, they had wrapped up victory by an innings and 43 runs.First centurionNazar Mohammad faced Pakistan’s first ball in Test cricket. Eight days later, in the Lucknow triumph, he had completed their first century. “He carried his bat for 124 not out in eight hours 35 minutes and set up an innings victory,” the says. “He was the first player to be on the field throughout a Test. A domestic accident damaged his arm and ended his career. He became a coach, selector and one of Pakistan’s best cricketing raconteurs.”The close-catchers tended to be everywhere when Fazal Mahmood came running in•Associated PressFirst ten-forFazal Mahmood’s performance against the MCC in 1951-52 helped convince Lord’s to grant Pakistan Test status. He was the first to pick up 10 wickets in a match – five in the first innings and seven in the second – to seal India’s fate in Lucknow. He was the first from Pakistan to 100 Test wickets. And he would captain them too. Tall and handsome, with wavy black hair, he even snapped up ad deals from Brylcreem; he was Pakistan’s first poster boy.The Hanif Mohammad defence. Nothing got through•PA PhotosFirst triple centurionDespite it being 58 years since Hanif Mohammad made 337 from 970 minutes at the crease, it remains the longest innings in Test history. One of the bravest too. With a lead of 473, West Indies had made Pakistan follow-on in Barbados. It was only the second day and back then Tests were played for six. It was in this setting that the legend of the original Little Master gained steam. “He turned cricket in Pakistan from the preserve of the Lahore educated elite into the mass sport it is today,” wrote Scyld Berry.Imtiaz Ahmed made the first double-century by a wicketkeeper in Tests•Getty ImagesFirst series winIt didn’t take too long. Three years after their introduction to Test cricket in 1952, Pakistan trounced New Zealand in Karachi and Lahore to claim the three-match series. Offspinner Zulfiqar Ahmed bowled 83 overs while maintaining an economy rate one and bagged 11 wickets to boot in Karachi. Imtiaz Ahmed became the first wicketkeeper to hit a double-century in Tests in Lahore as Pakistan’s final four wickets added a whopping 450 runs.Intikhab Alam was the top-wicket taker in New Zealand•Getty ImagesFirst series win overseasThey had to wait 20 years for this. But it may well have been worth it. In conditions vastly different to their own – Wellington, Dunedin and Auckland – Sadiq and Mushtaq Mohammad – brothers of Hanif – proved run-making ran in the family. Intikhab Alam, until recently a beloved Pakistan team manager, couldn’t give away 20 runs without picking up a wicket; the legspinner topped the charts. Four of the top-five run-scorers in the series were Pakistani.Imran Khan led Pakistan to back-to-back series wins away from home in 1986-87•PA PhotosFirst time at No. 1It was a two-month reign in August and September 1988. But it was special. It was recognition of the fact that they had never been beaten in a series for three years. Imran Khan led them to India and beat India for the first time in a series. He led them to England and beat England for the first time in a series. He was just getting started.

Jharkhand didn’t taste too much success on the field on the first day of their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Gujarat, but they were perked up by the presence of a rather famous mentor

Shashank Kishore in Nagpur01-Jan-2017At lunch on a leaden day in Nagpur, policemen and security personnel generally not used to being called in for a Ranji Trophy game were wondering what the fuss was about. Three hours after they reached the venue, they realised it would be a day’s pay well earned.MS Dhoni, who arrived in a chartered aircraft at 11.30 am, drove straight to the Civil Lines stadium to join his state side Jharkhand on day one of their semi-final against Gujarat. People from the neighbourhood thronged the gates of the pavilion to get a glimpse of India’s limited-overs captain. One of the stands filled up quickly, with close to 300 fans chorusing Dhoni chants.Dhoni, whose arrival even caught a few of the Jharkhand player by surprise, entered the playing area only after being handed a Players and Match Officials accreditation so that he could – like any other player, match official, or member of the support staff – enter the dressing room.He got the team together in a huddle five minutes before lunch, and watched the entire second session beside the boundary rope along with the former India fast bowler Subroto Banerjee, who in the past has worked as head coach and bowling consultant with Jharkhand.”The plan at the start of the season was that he will be a mentor for the team. Of course we wish he had more time so that he could spend more time with the team, but he’s busy with his cricket too. He’s spending as much time as he can and sharing his views and thoughts, which is a big help,” Rajiv Kumar, the Jharkhand coach, said. “He interacts with all the boys, makes everyone comfortable.”He listens to everybody and then he gives his view. His work ethic is good, so when you have a senior who is a role model, as a coach it becomes very easy to explain to the others what you should do. So him being there is a big help to everybody, even me.”At the tea interval, Dhoni was chatted lengthily with Jharkhand’s captain Saurabh Tiwary and their senior left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem. At that stage, Jharkhand had been toiling to break what was eventually a 139-run stand between Priyank Panchal and Parthiv Patel.”When it’s a big partnership, what can you do and what needs to be done? He just spoke about that, about the different situations and what the options were,” Rajiv said. “He was trying to explain what we can do when there’s a big partnership – which bowler to use, how long to wait.”Dhoni is expected to stay with the team through the course of their semi-final. It is likely that he could meet the national selectors here before the Indian team for the limited-overs series against England is picked. Jatin Paranjape, one of the national selectors, is in Nagpur, while MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors, is expected to arrive on Sunday evening.

India’s decision to go with four bowlers meant each of them had to step up – a job they did and would have felt happier about had the match situation been different

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Bengaluru05-Mar-2017Ishant Sharma began day two of the Bengaluru Test with a half-volley on David Warner’s pads, and when he sent down another boundary ball in his second over – short, punched through cover point – Australia moved to 50 for 0, Warner to 28, and everything looked ominous for India.India had lost the first Test and followed that up by getting bowled out for 189 on the first day of the second. They were one more bad day from losing the chance to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. They had only picked four specialist bowlers for this game, and couldn’t afford even one of them having an off day. They could rely on their spinners not to have off days, but they couldn’t be quite as sure about Ishant or Umesh Yadav.Now, Ishant wasn’t making the greatest start to the day.He ran in again, with Warner standing at least a foot outside his crease. The speed gun said 141kph, which doesn’t sound particularly lightning, but bouncers always clock less than full balls, and Warner was certainly slow to react as the ball spat towards his right ear. His head ducked sideways, and his glove went up instinctively. He was lucky the ball missed everything and whizzed over his right shoulder.From there on, everything was different. It was as if that bouncer had transformed the mood of the match. Having conceded two fours in his first 10 balls of the day, Ishant would bowl a further 98 balls and concede only one more, Matthew Wade edging past the diving wicketkeeper.Ishant ended the day with figures of 1 for 39 from 23 overs. Umesh ended it with 1 for 57 from 24. This was India’s best day of the series, and the two fast bowlers were as much at the forefront as R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja.Ashwin hardly gave anything away – particularly while bowling over the wicket and into the rough outside the left-handers’ leg stump – and went to stumps with figures of 1 for 75 from 41 overs. He did not get the ball to misbehave with the frequency of Nathan Lyon on day one, which could have had something to do with his style – he does not put as much overspin on the ball as the Australian – or the fact that the pitch had gotten a little lower and slower, without the first-day dampness that Lyon profited from.Kohli’s sparing use of Ravindra Jadeja brought three wickets to the spinner•AFPStill, Australia hardly scored off Ashwin, and that, coupled with the fast bowlers’ unexpected frugality, probably caused them to play more shots against Jadeja than they otherwise might have. In a curious reversal of roles, Jadeja ended up profiting from the other bowlers’ economy, with two of his three wickets – Renshaw jumping out too early and getting stumped down the leg side and Peter Handscomb failing to clear midwicket – coming from batsmen taking chances.For once, though, Jadeja bowled fewer overs than India’s other specialists. On a dry, cracked surface that caused the odd ball to keep low or jag sideways, Virat Kohli kept going to his two quicks – it took until the 47th over of the day for the spinners to bowl in tandem – and Ishant and Umesh kept running in and asking questions, and could well have ended up with more than just a wicket each.Umesh found Matt Renshaw’s edge four times in two overs, and none of them carried to the slips. Three streaked to the third man boundary, and Kohli could have caught one of them had he not risen too early from his anticipatory crouch.Then Umesh had Shaun Marsh caught behind off the glove. It was given not out, and Wriddhiman Saha, whose appeal was the most vociferous of all the Indian players, did not persuade Kohli to call for a review. When Umesh had Marsh adjudged lbw shortly after tea, a review saved the batsman – an inch the other way and the ball would have hit his pad in line with off stump.Ishant then nearly had Marsh lbw too. Replays suggested the umpire had every reason to give it out had the bowler not overstepped.It was that kind of day for India’s bowlers, their frustrations amplified by the match situation. On its own, keeping high-quality opponents to 197 for 6 in 90 overs would represent a highly satisfactory day’s work, but by the end of it Australia were already ahead by 48 runs. On an absorbing second day, India chased the game as well as they probably could have, but by the end of it were fully aware they were still chasing it.

Kane Williamson is the spine of New Zealand’s batting, and the glue in the middle-order, but he can’t always be the solution

Melinda Farrell in Cardiff06-Jun-2017It may be unusual for teams to breath a sigh of relief after losing a vital match in a major tournament but New Zealand can take some comfort out of their loss to England: at least they’ll have their captain for their final group game against Bangladesh, a game they now must win to have any chance of progressing to the semi-finals.Kane Williamson narrowly avoided suspension for a slow over-rate but was fined 40 percent of his match fee after officials ruled New Zealand were two overs short of the target. Considering they had bowled just 45 overs by the stipulated interval, it was hardly surprising that, immediately after the match had finished and before the ruling was announced, Williamson admitted to having his “fingers crossed” and joked he would “avoid the umpires for a couple of days”.Should New Zealand progress, Williamson must also avoid another slow-over offence in this tournament; a second will be met with a two-match suspension. He was fortunate there were enough time allowances in this match – which included a minute’s silence for the victims of Saturday’s terrorist attack in London – to reduce the offence to two overs.While Williamson’s team-mates were fined 20 percent of their match fees, it’s easy to imagine they would rather take a hit to the hip pocket than lose their best batsman, leader and talisman. With a well-rounded bowling attack, sharp fielders and ODI batsmen of the calibre of Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor, no one could accuse New Zealand of being a one-man team. But the fact his dismissals in both matches have precipitated a batting collapse (7 for 37 against Australia and 8 for 65 against England) shows just how important Williamson is to a batting line-up where the middle order appears somewhat brittle.Partly because of injury, partly because of form, New Zealand have shuffled and tinkered with their batting line-up in the past six months – in the 12 ODIs leading into the Champions Trophy, eight different players have batted at five, six and seven – and the overall batting order has changed for virtually every match, hardly an ideal lead-in for a major tournament.And in fairness to players such as Neil Broom, Jimmy Neesham and Corey Anderson, it was fiendishly difficult to get in as England’s bowlers exploited variable bounce in the pitch with some excellent cross-seam bowling.It was this very combination that accounted for Williamson: Mark Wood, hitting the deck hard and catching the edge of the seam, extracted extra bounce and the ball grazed the glove of a surprised Williamson as he tried to adjust his shot.When Taylor departed three overs later, picking out midwicket when he tried to take on Jake Ball, a difficult chase quickly became impossible.”It would have been nice for Ross and myself to be able to take it further and maybe sort of bring it down to that 10-an-over mark where anything can happen,” said Williamson. “A credit to the way England bowled. They got a lot out of the surface. They bowled a very good area, very consistent, and made life difficult for us with the bat.”It looked difficult, even for the sublime talents of Williamson, who could probably make a dirty slog look handsome enough to ask out on a date. The batsmen were not only contending with a bowling attack offering little respite on a challenging wicket – both Williamson and Taylor were struck on the helmet in one Liam Plunkett over, the ball to Taylor spitting up off a back-of-a-length delivery – the blustery winds added another level of discomfort. A bail blew off the stumps twice, the boundary rope was blown askew in two corners of the field and, several times, the electronic advertising hoardings clattered over, one by one, like cascading dominoes.But no matter the conditions, New Zealand will struggle to go all the way in this tournament if the middle-order topples in a similar fashion. Williamson may be the glue, he may be the spine, but he can’t always be the solution.”I guess that’s kind of what Kane comes with,” said Corey Anderson. “Obviously he can do his thing and he’s one of the best players in the world but, if he has that day when he does fail, then we’ve got to make sure we stand up as a team and try and get around him.”Even though it’s great to have Kane scoring runs, we’ve got to make sure we stand up on the day if he doesn’t as well. It gives other guys the chance to step up as well.”Of course, even if the entire team performs brilliantly against Bangladesh, and wins easily, it may not be enough to go through to the semi-finals. New Zealand would then have to rely on England beating Australia in their final group match at Edgbaston on Saturday.But thoughts of that match are premature. Bangladesh are the first obstacle to overcome, a team that beat New Zealand – albeit without several key players – in Ireland last month.There could hardly be a more opportune time for New Zealand’s middle-order to click into place behind their captain.

Experienced domestic batsmen should come in handy for a Kolkata Knight Riders squad that is light on bench strength

Sreshth Shah03-Apr-2017Likely first-choice XIGautam Gambhir (capt), Robin Uthappa (wk), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Woakes, Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Trent BoultReservesBatsmen – Sheldon Jackson, Darren Bravo, Chris Lynn, Ishank JaggiBowlers – Ankit Rajpoot, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sayan Ghosh, Piyush ChawlaAllrounders – Colin de Grandhomme, Rovman Powell, Sanjay Yadav, Rishi DhawanStrengthsKnight Riders’ strength lies in their roster of experienced domestic cricketers, especially with the bat. Read: Gambhir, Uthappa, Pandey, Suryakumar. A measured start, with wickets in hand, followed by a late flourish from their allrounders has been the tested winning formula for the two-time IPL champions. And they have quite a few power-hitting allrounders to do that for them this time too: Yusuf, Shakib, Rovman. Knight Riders also have three spinners – each of whom have their own style – in Narine, Kuldeep – who will be raring to go after a memorable domestic season that culminated in a Test debut at Dharamsala – and Chawla. The spin-bowling department possesses variety that can unnerve even the best.WeaknessesTheir bench strength is not the best, with the only experienced, big names in the reserves being Lynn, Coulter-Nile and Bravo. Furthermore, Knight Riders’ bowling remains over-dependent on Narine’s spin. The West Indies bowler has been crucial to the franchise’s successes and failures, and his average show last year – 11 wickets, at an economy of 7.12 – corresponded with his team’s moderate performance. In addition, Umesh’s absence for the first couple of weeks is likely to affect the team dynamics early on in the campaign.Where they finished in 2016, and what’s different this year?Lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator after finishing fourth in the league.Knight Riders have preferred to be sparing with their team changes, but will be forced to make some alterations this year. They have already had to make one with Colin de Grandhomme being called up to replace Andre Russell, who, considered “irreplaceable” by Gambhir, will miss the IPL after a doping-code violation ban. Lynn’s top form at the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League and Big Bash League, along with other new allrounder reinforcements in Woakes and Powell, might put pressure on Shakib – currently the world’s best allrounder across all formats. Boult, currently recovering from injury, is another new entrant and will spearhead Knight Riders’ pace-attack on a relaid Eden Gardens pitch that offered seamers more help in the recent India-New Zealand Test there than it would have previously.Kolkata Knight Riders will hope Kuldeep Yadav’s fine form continues•BCCIWhat have their players been up to? Chris Lynn – Having been on and off in the Knight Riders XI, Lynn’s superb recent form in T20s might get him many more opportunities this season. In the most-recent BBL season, he scored 309 runs in five games – including unbeaten knocks of 85, 84 and 98 for Brisbane Heat. He was also the 2016 CPL’s highest run-scorer. Rovman Powell – With comparisons to Andre Russell already made, Powell has big shoes to fill for Knight Riders. With a penchant of hitting more sixes than fours, Powell was crucial to Jamaica Tallawah’s CPL title-win, and Knight Riders will look for more of the same from the young allrounder. Kuldeep Yadav – A successful season where he took 35 wickets in the Ranji Trophy, Kuldeep also stood out with the bat, top-scoring for Uttar Pradesh with 466 runs, including a maiden first-class century. His Uttar Pradesh and Knight Riders team-mate Piyush Chawla’s presence in the squad might challenge Kuldeep for a first XI spot, but then his consistent performances helped him force his way into UP’s XI for the pink-ball Duleep Trophy, where he was the tournament’s highest wicket-taker. Yusuf Pathan – Yusuf’s ability to change a game within a few deliveries keeps him relevant in the IPL year after year. Last year, he finished with an average of 72.20 and was Knight Riders’ third-highest scorer with 361 runs. Despite a lacklustre domestic season, Knight Riders will be hopeful Yusuf maintains his ability to not lose his wicket: last season, he was dismissed only five times out of the 13 times he batted.Overseas-player availabilityTwo of Knight Riders’ overseas players have international commitments during the IPL. Shakib’s commitments in Sri Lanka will see him miss Knight Riders’ opening match against Gujarat Lions on April 7, while the Ireland-Bangladesh-New Zealand tri-series in May will see him and Boult leave the tournament before Knight Riders’ final league game against Mumbai Indians on May 13.Home and away record in 2016With four victories out of seven matches at the Eden Gardens, Knight Riders fared better at home than away, where their win-loss record stood level at four each in eight matches. Out of the eight times they won, six of them were while batting second.PollTest your KKR knowledge

They have the self-proclaimed fastest bowler in the world, and the ICC’s No. 1 bowler too and are set to go far in the 2017 World Cup

Firdose Moonda24-Jun-2017The biggest battle of the South African Women’s World Cup squad has already taken place. It happened before the tournament, between themselves.”Our pace bowlers are loving it here. They’ve hit us in the nets quite a few times. I think I am still hurt. All our batters are. Shabnim Ismail and Marizanne Kapp and Moseline Daniels – I don’t know if it was a joke between them – but they tried to hit us as much as possible in the net we had,” Dane van Niekerk, the South African captain said, three days before their game against Pakistan.Despite nursing some bruises, she wore the biggest smile of the eight captains present at the glamorous opening event at Whitehall Place – a members’ club so exclusive the women’s teams would not have been let in a few decades ago. Van Niekerk believes on English pitches, under English skies and in English air South Africa have an advantage over all their opposition.”I think we’ve got the best pace attack in the world,” she announced. “Stats have shown that. We’ve got five top pace bowlers and we pride ourselves on that.”The leader of the pack is the deceptively built Ismail. She looks thin, almost wisp-like, but insists she is the “fastest bowler in the world”. And when she pushes the speed gun up towards 140 kph, it is hard to argue. Van Niekerk certainly doesn’t. “I will back her to the end of the world on that,” she boomed in support of Ismail’s claim. “She is brilliant. With that small body, the aggression she shows, I love it.”That fiery demeanor has not always been helpful. Ismail has been suspended from the national academy, and more recently from the national team, for almost three months alongside Trisha Chetty, for what were described as “repeat offences.” Although the pair’s wrong-doings were never made public, it was an open secret that Ismail’s living on the wild side was in breach of CSA’s code of conduct.Shabnim Ismail is a fiery customer•Christopher Lee/ICC/Getty ImagesBut that did not really stain her reputation. It may well have enhanced it. Women’s cricket finally had its own bad girl. Besides, Ismail adds great value as a player to this South African team. In her absence, they lost to Australia 4-0, and van Niekerk admitted to “dearly” missing her spearhead. But on return, Ismail took her 100th ODI wicket – the only South African to have reached the milestone – and helped her team win six out of eight matches in a quadrangular series with India, Zimbabwe and Ireland.Van Niekerk said Ismail “has been brilliant and couldn’t fit in better,” since rejoining them but she’s still up for a fight, even if it is with her own team-mates. The latest spat, a friendly one, is with No.1 ranked bowler Kapp over what roles they play on the field. “They’ve sorted it out,” Niekerk said. “Kappie says she is a swing bowler and Shabnim says she is a fast bowler. I’m glad I didn’t have to be the mediator of that one.”Kapp is among the most sought after women’s cricketers around. She played in the Women’s Big Bash and in addition to her bowling, has an ODI hundred to her name. She would give South Africa the confidence that they can beat the best, because she is among them. “She is a workaholic, she just wants to work and she gets better by the day,” van Niekerk said of Kapp. “She frustrates me sometimes because she just wants to speak cricket but that’s the type of player she is.”With left-armers Daniels and Chloe Tryon and a fifth seamer in Ayabonga Khaka, South Africa’s pace potential will headline their tournament and could put their spinners in the shadows. “In the spin department, it’s not gripping as much as we want it to,” van Niekerk said. “We’ve got to make a few changes to our lines and lengths and how we want to go about things here.” Still, she expected everyone to play a part in what she has called the “best,” South African team she has been part of. “The skill and the variation in our group is immense.”In addition to being the No. 1 bowler in the world, Marizanne Kapp also has an ODI century to her name•Getty Images and Cricket AustraliaSo too is the mental shift they have made since van Niekerk took over. Last June, when Mignon du Preez gave up the captaincy, the squad could easily have broken down in the lead up to the World Cup. Instead, they solidified under a new captain and allowed du Perez to focus on leading by example with the bat.”Mignon and I had a chat before everything got announced and she told me she was stepping down,” van Niekerk said. “She left the team in a very healthy state. I was sad when I heard she was not going to be captain because she is a great leader on and off the field but I’m glad the decision paid off for her personally. She has scored more runs since that. She knows what she needs. It was difficult to find out she was stepping down but we trust her. She thought it was for the betterment of the team, she felt, and you get a lot of points for that.”In the year since du Preez has been playing as a batsman only, she has scored a century and four fifties. With 18-year old Laura Wolvaardt, who made a stellar 149 in May, and the experienced Lizelle Lee, South Africa have all the ingredients of a team that can go far in this tournament. And even though we have heard it all from South African sides countless times before, it sounds a little different when it’s said by the women. “I’ve said it a thousand times, we are coming to the World Cup to win the World Cup,” van Niekerk said. “You don’t come to compete and say you want to be fourth, you come to win and that is our expectation.”