Live Report – South Africa v England, 4th Test
All the best stats, graphics and chat from the Johannesburg Test with ESPNcricinfo’s live blog
Valkerie Baynes24-Jan-2020
All the best stats, graphics and chat from the Johannesburg Test with ESPNcricinfo’s live blog
Valkerie Baynes24-Jan-2020
Mark Wood’s management may provide blueprint for handling of fellow quick going forward
ESPNcricinfo staff10-Feb-2020Chris Silverwood concedes that England may need to manage Jofra Archer’s workload in a similar way to that of Mark Wood if he is to preserve his prime pace-bowling assets.With Archer facing three months on the sidelines recovering from a stress fracture in his right elbow, questions have been raised over the demands placed on a prized bowling talent who only made his international debut nine months ago.Come the 2021-22 Ashes series in Australia, Silverwood wants to be able to rotate his quicks so that he has at least three fit and firing at any one time.”The life of a fast bowler is hard. Injuries are going to happen. You won’t stop that,” Silverwood said. “But the international calendar is now absolutely cram-packed so, to talk about smart cricket, from a managerial point of view we’ve got to be smart with how we handle our assets too.”My dream, my ideal is to have three fast bowlers fit at any given point so we can rotate them, so they’re not always playing, and at any given point I’ve got one sat with his feet up full of energy, waiting to go.”I would love to have those for the Ashes, because we all know we get judged on the Ashes, so how can we give ourselves the best chance of succeeding? If I have three of them fit there … then it would be a great advantage for us.”Wood’s history of injuries means he has increasingly had to have his workload managed carefully, although an argument could be made that England are still learning how to “be smart” with his handling after he noticed his formidable speed dipping during a six-over spell late on the fourth evening of the third Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth.Wood was named Man of the Match in England’s 191-run fourth-Test victory in Johannesburg, having been a doubtful starter on the first morning after pulling up sore from the previous Test, his first match since the World Cup final in July. Had Archer not felt pain in his elbow during the warm-up, it is questionable whether Wood would have played at all.Archer’s injury, along with that of another paceman, Olly Stone, who has a stress fracture in his back, can only highlight the importance of workload management and the message seems to be hitting home slowly.While Joe Root this week denied suggestions that Archer had been overbowled since making his international debut ahead of the 2019 World Cup, the fact is he played four out of five Ashes Tests, bowling 44 overs on his Test debut at Lord’s, and then 42 in one innings at Mount Maunganui on England’s New Zealand tour in November.Having featured in the first Test in South Africa, taking his third five-wicket haul in seven appearances, Archer missed the rest of the series with elbow soreness. But Root said the amount of cricket Archer had played in his career to date, including in various franchise leagues, had likely taken a toll.Silverwood said Wood’s role in South Africa may provide the blueprint for managing Archer’s load in future.”We managed Woody through the Test matches he played by bowling him in short, sharp spells,” Silverwood added. “Would we look to do that with Jofra from now on? Yes, we could be looking at that.”Archer’s injury means he will miss the two-Test tour to Sri Lanka in March, with Moeen Ali also expected to miss out as he maintains his break from Test cricket.”He’s still a very valuable asset to the Test side, always has been and always will be,” Silverwood said of Moeen. “Mo, when he’s ready to come back, will give us some really good headaches which I’m really pleased about.”My longer-term outlook on this is, if we can give Mo some time now and respect his wishes and support him, then long term we might have him back for longer.”England begin their three-match T20I series against South Africa at East London on Wednesday with Wood set to return after resting during their three ODIs. Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler are also likely to play the T20s with England targeting the World Cup in Australia later this year.”I would like to put the best XI out each time,” Silverwood said. “We want to make sure we are fine tuning now and bringing the team together that we feel can win that World Cup.”
Allrounder says coronavirus outbreak “makes you realise what you love” and would play a Test “tomorrow”
ESPNcricinfo staff18-Apr-2020Moeen Ali, the England allrounder, has indicated that he is ready to return from his self-imposed Test exile as soon as the coronavirus outbreak allows.Ali has not played a Test since being dropped during last summer’s Ashes. He subsequently lost his Test central contract – receiving a white-ball only deal – and opted out of the tours to New Zealand and South Africa, saying he needed a break from the longest format.Instead, Ali spent his winter taking part in T20 leagues such as the PSL, and was set to return to the IPL before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. With the English season currently on hold, Ali said that he had taken time to reevaluate things and would be open to playing “a Test match tomorrow” if the situation allowed.”I think I’d probably be ready now, to be honest,” he told the . “Clearly I would have to be playing well and win a spot back on merit but in terms of being available – and obviously I’m speaking hypothetically – if there was a Test match tomorrow and I got the call, I’d say ‘yes’. We’re all missing cricket right now and the coronavirus makes you realise what you love. It could take out the whole summer and that would be a big thing.”ALSO READ: Tom Curran admits enforced break is a ‘shock to the system’ after non-stop winterEngland had been due to play West Indies and Pakistan in Test series this summer, but there is no certainty about how much cricket may be possible once government rules on social distancing are relaxed. The start of the season has been postponed until May 28, with an expectation that could slip further.Having written previously in his newspaper column that he felt his “bad days in Test cricket get amplified or singled out more than other players”, Ali said that he would be looking to start afresh when the game does resume.”This current break has made me realise that when you find yourself surrounded by a few negative comments, somehow it’s all you can focus on,” he said. “You have to be mentally stronger and filter more of it out.”With so much happening in the world right now, this has been time to reflect. You realise you don’t know how long you are on earth and so what people might say about you really doesn’t matter. If that’s someone in the media talking about your cricket, they’re just doing their job and there is no point getting affected.”It’s almost been a case of forgiving anyone who has ever said anything I didn’t like and now looking to start afresh when we get back playing. I may have felt like a scapegoat at times in the past but I’m over it now. It’s time to move on.”
Richard Thompson says ECB and counties will have to be “creative” in staging fixtures
ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-2020Surrey chairman Richard Thompson says that the possibility of finishing the county season in the UAE “has to be considered”, after ESPNcricinfo revealed that Abu Dhabi Cricket will offer the ECB its facilities to use between October and January.Abu Dhabi has avoided the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic so far, with infection and death rates low following a strict lockdown, to the extent that much of the UAE could return to work as early as next week.ALSO READ: Abu Dhabi to offer ECB use of facilities in order to extend English seasonThe Sheikh Zayed Stadium – which has previously staged Pakistan internationals, IPL and PSL games, and multiple county pre-season tours – has two support ovals alongside it, creating the possibility that several games could be played in a single day. The ground is broadcast-ready in terms of equipment, and costs could be reduced since it is effectively state-run via a partnership with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council.Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s programme, Thompson said that stakeholders in English cricket needed to be “creative” in finding ways to stage games, with all professional cricket in England and Wales on hold until at least July 1.”We’re in extraordinary times, and extraordinary times call for extraordinary decisions,” Thompson said. “I don’t know how this will play out, but if that’s a possibility it’s clearly something that’s got to be considered.”Abu Dhabi have made it clear that they could host matches if the season were to be extended. There are some challenges there, because you’ve got the T20 World Cup in Australia and some T20Is and ODIs that England should be playing in India around that time, but Abu Dhabi and Dubai are very well known to English cricket.”A lot of pre-season matches have been played there, a lot of other matches have been played there, so if the season had to be extended, Abu Dhabi I know have made this offer to the game, that if the season needed two months to finish the competitions, then they could potentially host it. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility.”Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, said that there had been “multiple” offers to potentially take English cricket overseas in the coming months.”It’s not limited to Abu Dhabi,” he said. “We’ve had informal offers from multiple boards as far away as New Zealand and Australia about hosting ECB cricket. Everything is on the table. The discussion around the FTP, the T20 World Cup, the IPL… there’s a huge number of moving pieces and our winter is already congested. We don’t have enough knowledge right now but it’s fair to say there will be changes to the FTP.”While the costs of flying squads to the UAE and putting them up in hotels would be significant, counties are used to travelling overseas for pre-season tours – the majority of which were aborted this year due to the pandemic. Surrey travelled to Dubai for pre-season in 2018 and 2019, and were due to return this year.And there is a growing acceptance at the ECB that it will be difficult to stage any cricket in front of paying spectators this summer. The UK’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty said this week that it was “wholly unrealistic” to think a return to normal life would be possible any time soon, with some form of social-distancing measures likely to continue beyond the end of the English season and into 2021.”I’d rather [T20 Blast games] were staged in this country purely because of the gate receipts, but then if social distancing exists for another six to 12 months, and if it’s behind closed doors, then frankly it doesn’t matter,” Thompson said.”Broadcasters are crucial to this. No governing body wants to breach an agreement with the broadcasters, so as long as it can deliver the product, it doesn’t matter where it delivers it from.”Obviously there’s a significant cost to ship 18 counties to one location and play a tournament that way, but if that’s the only option – and I would say the Abu Dhabi option would only be looked at if there is no possibility of playing in this country – then you’ve got to be creative.”
England arrived in Southampton on Tuesday ahead of West Indies series
George Dobell23-Jun-2020The ECB does not currently have contingency plans in place should Pakistan’s tour of England be cancelled, but will “adapt” as required, according to Ashley Giles.10 members of Pakistan’s touring party have so far tested positive for Covid-19. While officials from both Pakistan and England have insisted the tour will go ahead as planned – the squad are expected to arrive within a week – the number of positive cases has inevitably raised concerns over the tour’s viability.With several other international teams – Ireland and Australia, as well as Pakistan, while West Indies are already in Manchester – scheduled to arrive in England in the coming weeks, there could be some consideration given towards extending the limited-overs series against Ireland and Australia into Test series.ALSO READ: Giles ‘concerned’ by Pakistan’s positive Covid-19 testsGiles, the ECB’s managing director for men’s cricket, said there are no such plans at present. But he accepted they will “look at” the need for such measures if the Pakistan tour is cancelled.”If the majority of the Pakistan squad are negative we would be hopeful they could be the advance party and carry on,” Giles said. “Perhaps other players would follow.”We do not currently have a contingency plan. As has been the case throughout this situation, we have to be agile and adapt to these situations. We would look at that if that happened.”The England squad arrived in Southampton on Tuesday to start their behind-closed-doors training programme. While the government announced a gradual easing of lockdown guidance on Monday, Giles suggested the squad would have to maintain much stricter standards. That will apply, in particular, to times when the team are allowed out of their ‘bubble’ to visit family. Joe Root, for example, is expected to leave the training camp to attend the birth of his second child.”At some point we could have protocols within the bubble that are very, very different from protocols in the general population,” Giles said. “It is just about removing as much risk as we can.”We could be in a situation where we have a very secure bubble during the second and third Tests of the series and the rest of the world is operating at a new normal – it’s not going to be totally normal – where restaurants and pubs are opening again. Our main responsibility is to get this series on the road and keeping everyone safe, especially including the West Indies team who have done so much to come here.”We haven’t talked about banning players [from pubs and restaurants], but I think we ask them to be sensible and they have been throughout this whole process of the last three months.”Anyone who thinks this is going to be holiday camp is going to be seriously mistaken. There could be an opportunity for the guys to play golf on the course next door. But apart from that and two sessions of cricket and some gym work, they will probably be spending a lot of time on your own and observing social distancing and the wearing of masks. It’s not a lot of fun and I think it is a bit of a culture shock.”We are keen to get Joe back into the environment after the baby is born. It is very much about moving people from a safe environment to a safe environment. We need to do it with the cooperation of the West Indies team and the government and be sensible. We are all very aware that during the series we are going to have to find opportunities to get guys out of the environment and get them home.”Ashley Giles addresses the media•Getty Images
Giles accepted that the training environment would not be ideal in readying players for international cricket, but reasoned it was the same for both sides and that, once the series starts, the adrenaline will flow.”It will be very difficult to replicate in training that same intensity you see in Test cricket,” he said. “Even going into a Test when there’s no crowds, that’s going to be very challenging”But it’s the same for both sides. It’s the circumstances we face and there’s a bigger picture than perfect scenarios and being perfectly prepared. And that is the business of cricket around the world. It’s very important to everyone that we get back to playing Test cricket.”I’m sure when it comes down to it that when someone is trying to knock your head off at 85-90mph you’ll find a way to get your intensity up pretty quickly, from experience.”Meanwhile, Giles expressed his cautious optimism that Australia’s limited-overs tour to England – currently pencilled in for September – would go ahead and that England’s multi-format players, including Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, could be available for the series.”We had a really good conference call with them last week,” he said. “Australia have been one of our strongest partners for years and it continues that way. It would be great to have them here.”Clearly if you were an Australian cricketer or member of staff out looking in at the moment, there would be some nervousness. But we are doing everything to allay as many of those fears as we possibly can to get them to the country.”Again September is a long way away right now and a lot could change in that time. But are we confident? Yes, quietly confident. But there’s a lot of water to pass under the bridge yet.”Giles also offered his support for the return of domestic cricket, though he did not commit to which formats might be played.ALSO READ: Counties won’t face sanctions if they fall under salary collar“Ultimately we are here to play cricket,” he said. “If there is an opportunity to play cricket we should take it but we have to do it in a way that is within the guidelines and safe. So, it’s important we have cricket whatever that cricket looks like.”The priority is getting cricket on for these players some in the last year of their contracts – about 130 of them – and cricket on that can be viewed if not in the ground then on TV or live streams. We feel like we are moving towards a place where we are going to see some [county] cricket.”
Fourteen wickets fall at Chester-le-Street as Yorkshire steal a march on Northern rivals
Paul Edwards at Chester-le-Street01-Aug-2020
A bright August morning at Chester-le-Street; a morning of pitch inspections, warm-ups and applause for callow first-team hopefuls; a morning like any other; Well, not quite, of course. It is 310 days since Essex won the title at Taunton in 2019. This season is well-advanced yet it is just starting and no Yorkshire or Durham cricketer had a first-class run or wicket to his name this summer until Alex Lees pushed Ben Coad’s third ball of the match into the covers and scrambled a run with Sean Dickson.In normal times such an opening to a match might prompt courteous applause from the White Rose enclaves at Chester-le-Street. But these are nothing like normal times. The unpeopled stands at the Riverside, even the smaller one below the dressing rooms, seem as vast and austere as the Piazza San Marco. Scorecards were printed this morning albeit there was no one to buy them. Teams were revealed even though most of those in the ground knew what the sides were anyway. Cricketers announced things to themselves. And this will be our pattern for a while as cricket copes with an imperilled world. “And so each venture is a new beginning,” wrote T S Eliot in “East Coker”.Like others around the country on this curious day, the game featured debutants of various types. Lees was playing four-day cricket against Yorkshire for the first time since his departure in 2018 and his scuttled single foreshadowed over four hours in which Durham’s batsmen tried to chisel runs from the visiting quartet of pace bowlers but instead were bowled out for 103 in 58.4 overs. Gareth Harte, who made an unbeaten 33, was one of only three men to make double figures.Yet any thought that this Riverside pitch is shielding demons was quickly demolished. Yorkshire’s batsmen halved the deficit for the loss of Adam Lyth, caught at slip by Dickson off Chris Rushworth, whose first three overs had cost 27 runs. It even appeared that Steve Patterson’s batsmen would have a lead by the close but instead something of the lustre was removed from Yorkshire’s day by the loss of the three wickets in 11 balls just before the close. Two of these fell to Paul Coughlin who bowled Tom Kohler-Cadmore for a pleasant 41 and three balls later had Patterson leg before. Coughlin’s time at Trent Bridge was marred by so many serious injuries that no one could now wish him ill. He has already changed this matchAnd the game may even have been even been galloping towards a two-day finish had not a morning shower interrupted the cricket after half an hour and drenched the Riverside before the players had their boots off. That took care of play before lunch. The umpires made a couple of inspections but there was no irate member exhorting them to “bloody well get on with it”. Play resumed at 1.10, not that it brought Durham’s batsmen much comfort.Indeed, any encouragement they took from surviving the opening half hour proved illusory almost at once. Having survived a few leg before appeals from his former colleagues, Lees was pinned in front by an inswinger of very full length from Matthew Fisher. Nearly five overs later Coad nipped one away very late to Dickson, who edged to Jonny Tattersall. These successes would have been greeted with satisfied murmurs and even the odd cheer from travelling supporters but Yorkshire’s players had to make do with the rather quieter acclamation of two Headingley panjandrums.The Kirkstall Road folk missed an afternoon they would have enjoyed. Jordan Thompson replaced Coad at the Finchale End and enjoyed immediate success when he nipped one away from Cameron Steel, who edged a catch to Tattersall. Four overs later it was 41 for 4 when David Bedingham clipped Thompson dexterously off his ankles, only to see the ball skim straight to long leg where Fisher scooped up a fine low catch. Jack Burnham grafted away for 42 minutes in scoring seven runs but then lost both patience and his off stump when attempting a loose drive.Yorkshire’s bowlers allowed no reprieve. Patterson’s tactics followed the simplest of patterns: first Coad and Fisher bowled straight and full; then he and Thompson did the same. It brought Yorkshire three lbw decisions either side of tea as home batsmen took liberties which, while not diabolical, were certainly unwise. Mathew Potts helped Harte put on 17 for the ninth wicket but then clipped Coad to Fisher at square leg. Rushworth misdrove his third ball back to Coad and Harte was left unbeaten after battling away for over two hours, his innings marked mainly by grimy application but also by fours either worked through the slips or driven past the off-side field.When Yorkshire had hit as many boundaries in 11.2 overs as Durham had managed in their entire innings, the shape of the game looked clear. But now there is far more doubt about the matter, especially if Dawid Malan can be removed early on the second day. Like this truncated season itself, the match is in the hazard. “Every attempt is a wholly new start,” Eliot said, before adding gloomily, “and a different kind of failure.” Many batsmen around England would already nod in grim appreciation this August evening. Let us hope ECB officials are not also doing so before the leaves turn brittle and coppery.
Says they “haven’t been where we need to be in the world rankings and been as consistent” in the 50-over format
Andrew McGlashan26-Aug-2020Aaron Finch, the Australia limited-overs captain, has used the extended downtime created by Covid-19 to map out a plan to take Australia into the 2023 World Cup. He wants to start implementing it on the England tour which will mark their first cricket for more than five months.While Australia have moved to top of the T20I rankings with nine wins in their last 11 matches – and would have been one of the favourites going into the now-postponded T20 World Cup on home soil which was due to take place in October-November this year – their ODI cricket has again been uncertain after they reached the semi-finals last year in the UK.ALSO READ: Glenn Maxwell eyes ODI all-round role and T20 finisher’s job on Australia returnAlthough the next T20 World Cup will now be in India in 2021, with the Australia event in 2022, Finch said before leaving for the England tour that he did not think it would need any drastic rethinking.Instead, Finch has focused on what needs to be done over the next three years leading into 2023, which he has also earmarked as his retirement date. He is eager for the players to get used to a style of play that will carry them into that tournament. Although they reached the semi-finals last time their team and tactics came together at the 11th hour, Finch wants a more controlled longer-term vision.”One-day cricket we haven’t been where we need to be in the world rankings and been as consistent,” he said. “We’ve been doing a lot of work on that over the last couple of months as management, with myself involved in that as well. We feel as though we have a style that can win us that World Cup and to keep implementing that over a long period of time and becoming second nature will be really important.”In the T20I format, Australia will expect to challenge England although the hosts may bring back some first-choice players who were involved in the Test side such as Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer.”Having got to No.1 in the world in T20 cricket we want to stay there and keep improving on our game,” Finch said. “We feel our game plan has been really solid for quite a while and we’re really comfortable how that looks for various conditions and opponents.”The first couple of days of Australia’s tour mostly involved a spot of golf on the outfield, a Covid-19 test and then watching the rain fall, but Finch expects the squad to show “high intensity” when they begin their inter-squad warm-up matches in Southampton on Friday.After a 19-hour journey on a chartered jet via Colombo and Dubai into East Midlands airport which arrived on Monday morning, Australia settled into their short-term base at the County Ground in Derby. Greeted by sunshine they underwent their first Covid-19 swabs of the trip – having all been tested before flying out – while the groundsman laid out some mats to allow them to hit a few golf shots within the bio-secure bubble.Then they opened their curtains on Tuesday to a deluge leaving them to use the indoor school to shake off the jetlag. On Thursday the squad will relocate to the Ageas Bowl following the conclusion of England’s Test series against Pakistan and begin the serious build-up with their first of five practice games.The matches – one 50-over game and four T20s – won’t follow the exact model of the Ashes trial game last year (at the same ground) when two sets of players faced off to secure the remaining spots in the Test squad, but putting together a collection of cricketers who haven’t played a match in more than five months is likely to be competitive.”Coming off such a long layoff – it’s going to be really important for us to get together again and have a real high intensity hit out,” Finch said. “Between myself and [vice-captain] Pat Cummins, we will sit down and pick a couple of sides later today.”First up it’s about getting a little bit of rust out, we haven’t played a competitive match for five months. I know guys will be feeling their way back so we have to understand that, but so long as we keep improving and every opportunity we get to perform that we learn from that…then we’ll be on the right track.”With 21 to select from – an extra player is expected to come from the Hampshire staff for the warm-up matches – there will be no shortage of options for the final XIs when the internationals come around. The T20I side will be strengthened by the return of Glenn Maxwell who is likely to slot in at No. 5, possibly in place of Matthew Wade, who played the series against South Africa in March.It is also likely that Maxwell will return to the ODI middle order with Australia still trying find the ideal balance to their batting order. Their first-choice pace attack of Mitchell Starc, Cummins and Josh Hazlewood is very strong while Adam Zampa plays a key role with his legspin. Wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Philippe, left-arm seamer Daniel Sams and quick bowler Riley Meredith are the three uncapped players.
All the buzz from the game between David Warner’s Sunrisers Hyderabad and Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore
Sreshth Shah21-Sep-2020
The Indian quick hasn’t played top-flight cricket since 2018 because of injuries
Sreshth Shah20-Sep-2020There are four parallels that can be drawn between Pat Cummins and Kamlesh Nagarkoti.The first one is that they achieved fame as teenagers, the Australian as an 18-year-old Test debutant in 2011 and the Indian as an 18-year old at the 2018 Under-19 World Cup. The second one is that both are right-arm fast bowlers. Thirdly, they are part of the Kolkata Knight Riders, and finally both have had to deal with injuries after breakthrough outings.After suffering a stress fracture to the back, Cummins had to wait for nearly six years before he would play Test cricket again for Australia while Nagarkoti hasn’t played top-flight cricket at all since February 2018, having suffered ankle and back injuries. When Nagarkoti was undergoing rehabilitation in Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy, Rahul Dravid, who had coached him in the Under-19 World Cup, would often cite the example of Cummins – currently the world’s No. 1 Test bowler – to motivate him. Now that both men are sharing the same dressing room at Knight Riders, Cummins has some advice for Nagarkoti, who prepares to feature in his first IPL, having been sidelined since he was bought before the 2018 season.ALSO READ: Russell ideal for ‘last ten overs of a T20 game’ – McCullum“The big one that all the coaches and ex-players would advise you is a simple thing – you need to be patient,” Cummins told , when asked what advice he would like to give Nagarkoti. “It is really an easy thing to say and think of but an 18-year-old missing games is actually a very hard thing to live with.”You just need to have the trust that you might miss a season or two at the start of your career but you might end up playing till the age of 36 or 37, as opposed to 31 or 32. Everything that you do during this time, sets up the foundation block for a long and healthy career. Even when I was not playing, I used to hang out with my team-mates. 90% of the time I love cricket is because I can hang out with my mates.”Getty Images
For a kid growing up near the Blue Mountains and getting his New South Wales debut at 17, the initial stages of Cummins’ career had seemed rosy. He said “everything happened so quickly” at first, progressing from giving his school exams to playing first-class cricket a couple of weeks later. But the injury, too, came out of the blue, and it left him spending valuable summer days on the sidelines, while his friends and team-mates played cricket.”It was certainly a few tough years,” Cummins recalled. “Since I was six years old, summers for me would mean cricket. I will spend weekends and every day after school playing cricket. And then suddenly, I was a professional cricketer but I wasn’t playing any cricket during summer. It was all weird.”There were these great games at SCG I would feel like playing but I was injured. It was so close but because I was injured, I couldn’t even go and play backyard cricket. In terms of the schedule, just at the start of the Aussie summer, I would get injured and by the end of the summer, I would just be starting to get right. That’s how I would go and play overseas and again at the start of next summer I would get injured.”So, it was tough because I felt I was wasting so many years. But yeah, I again got back to my 100%. So, it was not like I felt I would never be able to bowl at the top level again. It was more of frustration for all the cricket that I was missing out on.”IPL 2020 will be Cummins’ second stint with the Knight Riders; he had been part of the set-up between 2014 and 2015 as well. He played only seven games across those two seasons, but would have a greater role to play this season as the most expensive overseas player in IPL history. He was sold for 15.5 crore (then approx. USD 2.1 million) in December 2019; Ben Stokes was the highest-paid overseas player before Cummins, having been picked up by Rising Pune Supergiant for INR 14.5 crore.Cummins is excited about bowling in different phases in T20 cricket. “The thing I love about T20 cricket is it’s ultra-attacking, or at the death, it’s ultra-defensive,” he said. “There is no middle ground. So, in T20 cricket, if you are an all-out bowler, you get to bowl any time of the match. That’s why I love the format.”
Wins for both sides take them one step closer to the playoffs, but it does not confirm a final-four spot
S Rajesh27-Oct-2020Finally, after the 48th match of the season on Wednesday, a team will reach 16 points when the Mumbai Indians play the Royal Challengers Bangalore – both are currently on 14. This is most matches it has taken the first team to reach 16 points in an eight-team IPL season; the previous record was 46 matches, in 2016. Here is a look at what a win or a loss on Wednesday will mean to the two teams.The IPL points table after match 47 of IPL 2020•ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Mumbai: Played 11, Points 14, NRR 1.252
If they win
Mumbai’s fantastic net run rate of 1.252 means they will almost certainly be through to the playoffs if they win. That is because only five teams can get to 16 points, and one of them is the Kolkata Knight Riders, who have a terrible NRR of -0.479.Just how far ahead Mumbai’s NRR is, will be clear from this example. Assume the following:
Even if these improbable results happen, Mumbai will still have an NRR of around 0.32, compared to 0.25 for the Knight Riders. Thus, a win will clearly be enough for playoff qualification, though Mumbai will be aiming for much more than that.If they lose
Even if Mumbai lose to the Royal Challengers, they will qualify if they win one of their last two games. However, in the unlikely scenario that they lose all three, then other results will come into play. The Delhi Capitals, the Royal Challengers, the Knight Riders and the Kings XI Punjab can all reach 16 and eliminate Mumbai.Royal Challengers Bangalore: Played 11, Points 14, NRR 0.092
If they win
The Capitals’ crushing defeat on Tuesday has put the Royal Challengers in second place, but their NRR of 0.092 is some distance behind Mumbai’s. Even so, a win on Wednesday and 16 points will still leave them well-placed for the playoffs. Let us do a similar simulation of results as we did for Mumbai:
If these results happen, then the Knight Riders will sneak ahead on NRR. It is not quite as far-fetched as Mumbai’s scenario, but it will still require several things to go wrong for the Royal Challengers to slip below the Knight Riders if they win on Wednesday and reach 16 points.If they lose
As long as they keep the defeat margin within reasonable limits and win one of their remaining matches, the Royal Challengers will have a good chance of making the playoffs. If they lose all three, though, then things will get tough as seven teams can still potentially make it to 14 points.