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The absence of DRS meant there was extra focus on the on-field umpires. As many as ten errors, including four on the final morning, with Zimbabwe battling to save the Test, did them no favours

Firdose Moonda in Bulawayo10-Aug-2016″Guys have seen the replays but its one of those things. It can happen to any team,” said a crestfallen Graeme Cremer after Zimbabwe went down to New Zealand by 254 runs to concede the series 2-0 in Bulawayo. “It would have been nice going into the last hour with a couple of wickets but these things happen.” The disappointment was palpable considering Zimbabwe were at the receiving end of a few howlers during the series. ESPNcricinfo examines them:Sean Williams, first innings, first Test Neil Wagner hit Sean Williams on the helmet off his first delivery and broke his grille. A second bouncer followed. Williams, clearly hustled for pace, attempted a pull which lobbed off the helmet to Ish Sodhi at short midwicket. Williams stood until umpire Paul Reiffel gave him out. He walked off disappointed, but not before he gestured to his helmet in explanation.Prince Masvaure, first innings, first Test After saving Zimbabwe’s blushes with an 85-run ninth wicket stand with Donald Tiripano, Prince Mavaure would have been eyeing a maiden Test fifty. But his hopes were dashed when he played across the line to a Tim Southee delivery. Replays suggested the ball would have missed leg stump, but Reiffel didn’t feel so.Craig Ervine, second innings, first Test Three balls after reaching his maiden Test fifty, Craig Ervine played inside the line to a Boult delivery that reversed back into him. There was a noise and Ervine was given out caught behind. But replays showed there was no nick. The ball was not close to the bat and the sound likely came from the bat hitting the pad. Debutant umpire Michael Gough made that call.Graeme Cremer, second innings, first Test Zimbabwe’s captain saw Sean Williams through to a century and had faced 130 balls himself, for 33. Cremer was picking the spin well until he tried to flick an Ish Sodhi legbreak but missed. He was hit above the knee roll and the ball would have sailed over the stumps, but Reiffel didn’t think that way.Donald Tiripano, first innings, second Test His first Test efforts proved Donald Tiripano could bat, but his resistance was cut short in the second Test. Neil Wagner pitched a ball just outside leg, Tiripano missed an attempted nudge and was hit in front of leg stump. Reiffel gave him out despite the ball pitching outside the line of the stumps.Chamu Chibhabha, first innings, second Test The only time Zimbabwe benefitted from a decision was off the second ball on the third morning. Chamu Chibhabha and Tino Mawoyo had made sure they had not lost wickets the evening before, but Chibhabha should have been out when Boult got one to pitch in line, tail in late and hit him on the pads. Reiffel said not out even as the New Zealanders watched in dismay.Donald Tiripano, second innings, second Test For the second time in the match, Tiripano was at the receiving end of a poor call. He had batted 70 minutes of the final morning in an effort to save the game and was dealing well with seam and spin when Mitchell Santner, the left-arm spinner, bowled one that drifted in towards leg stump. The ball skidded on, without turning and would have missed leg stump. Umpire Reiffel clearly didn’t see it that way.Craig Ervine, second innings, second Test At the stroke of lunch on the final day, Ervine seemed set to see out the session. Kane Williamson looked to get rid of an over by giving Martin Guptill a bowl. Ervine lunged forward to defend but missed a ball that turned. There no contact between bat and ball, although the bat may have hit the pad and made a sound. Reiffel gave Ervine out.Graeme Cremer, second innings, second Test Cremer had not managed to plant roots as he did in the first Test, but still had some hope of batting time, despite Zimbabwe being seven down after lunch. Guptill was turning the ball significantly and Cremer inside-edged one onto his pad. He was given out lbw by Reiffel.Prince Masvaure, second innings, second Test At the other end, with Zimbabwe in complete disarray, Prince Masvaure got down to defend a Sodhi ball the beat the inside edge and hit him on the pad. The ball lobbed up to Taylor, who claimed the catch at slip, and Masvaure was sent packing by Gough. Even assuming it was for an lbw, the ball would have comfortably missed leg stump.

Dale Steyn believes that for his team to win a third successive Test series in Australia, they have to take down captain Steven Smith

Firdose Moonda in Perth30-Oct-20162:19

Attacking the captain key to tripping up Australia – Steyn

Whether Dale Steyn sees the Australian team as a snake or a ship, his intention is to stop them simply by stopping Steven Smith.”If you can cut off the head of the snake, the rest of the body tends to fall,” Steyn said at the series launch in Perth. “We’ve done that in the past. We’ve tried to attack the captain because he is the leader and if we can cause a bit of chaos there, sometimes it does affect the rest of the guys.”Targeting the opposition captain has long been an Australian trick. Mitchell Johnson did it to Graeme Smith. Shane Warne did it to Hansie Cronje and Shaun Pollock. But Steyn has already begun to turn the tables. The batsman he has dismissed the most in world cricket is Michael Clarke – nine times in 14 matches although not all of them when Clarke was captain – and now he has Smith in the firing line as South Africa seek a third successive series win down under.”Aussie captains lead the attack. From history, you look at guys that are great players like Steve Waugh, he stands out. I don’t think many people can name a team underneath him but you remember Steve Waugh,” Steyn said, forgetting Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Glenn McGrath and Warne.”You can remember Ricky Ponting, and Michael Clarke and then Steven Smith falls into that bracket. The moment you can get hold of your captain, the rest of the players rely heavily on him. He leads the ship so when you pull the plug on that kind of ship, and he’s holding it, you can sink it. It’s not very easy but there’s a way to sink it.”In 2012, South Africa felled Australia by frustrating Ponting. He was limited to 32 runs in three Tests, his waning powers picked at by everyone. Ponting was dismissed twice by the short ball, twice by the swinging one and finally by Robin Peterson, whom he flattered by playing for turn that was never going to be there.’They are probably a little bit hurt’ – Dale Steyn on Australia after they lost 0-5 to South Africa after losing 0-3 to Sri Lanka•AFPSmith, who has enjoyed some of the best form in world cricket in the last two years, is unlikely to prove as soft. But there are weaknesses in his captaincy as a Test whitewash in Sri Lanka and an ODI whitewash in South Africa might suggest. South Africa are looking to exploit that.”They are probably a little bit hurt after Sri Lanka and especially after coming to South Africa and losing 5-nil,” Steyn said.Although he did not go as far as to say South Africa have a clear edge over Australia, Steyn was comforted by the team’s record at the WACA – unbeaten after three matches – and their extensive preparation.”When it comes to being on top of the Australians, you never quite feel like that. Even if you’ve beaten them for 365 days in a row, come the 1st of January the next year, they are up for it,” he said. “But the mood in the camp is really good. The guys are comfortable, we’ve been here for almost two weeks.”That much preparation is unheard of considering how packed the cricket calendar is. Some might even think Australia have been particularly generous to their opposition, providing two practice matches before the start of the series on November 3. But one of them was to allow South Africa to learn about the pink ball ahead of the day-night Test in Adelaide on November 24. And the other was against an under-strength opposition with most of Australia’s Test specialists playing the first round of the Sheffield Shield.Having spent two weeks, in which time they played two practice matches, ahead of the Tests, South Africa are feeling confident•Getty ImagesNevertheless, it gave South Africa enough time to acclimatise. Batsmen Stephen Cook, Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, both spinners Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada are on their first Test tour of Australia. But Steyn thinks at least one of them is more than ready.Rabada, who debuted against Australia in a T20 series two years ago, is the man Steyn thinks could be the difference between the two sides.”It doesn’t feel like KG has been in this team for a long time but it’s actually almost three years now so he’s learned a lot and he’s an incredible talent,” Steyn said. “He’s always looking to learn and his record is pretty amazing for such a young guy, especially a bowler. You only see bowlers tend to come into their stripes at maybe 26 or 27, especially fast bowlers. I think he’s got about 10 years of experience in three years which is really great. I’m excited to see what he can do because in Adelaide the other night he was bowling really quick and he was landing the ball exactly where he wanted to.”Rabada led South Africa’s attack in Steyn and Vernon Philander’s absence last summer and was one of very few positives in an otherwise disappointing season. But South Africa do not see themselves as a team that has tumbled to No.1 to No.7 (and who have now crawled back up to No.5). They see themselves as a team that has had success in Australia and are using that to spur their youngsters on.”The guys who have never played any cricket here in Australia, who are on their first Test tour, are coming here with a good feeling because the other guys that have been here have done well. Its not that feeling that in the past where we feel like we’ve been donnered (beaten up) and have our tails between our legs. We come here with some good history.”Australia have better history overall though, and Smith will be well aware of that. He will know that successful Australian teams have been successful because their leader was strong and that if he can counter South Africa, his men may be able to do the same.”I think they are going to come hard in terms of cricket. Their bowlers are going to be hitting hard lengths, coming past the nose, their batters are going to be in our face, they are going to be on the front foot, try and show their dominance,” Steyn said. “If we go fist to fist, let’s just see who can fight the longest and then you will find your winner.”

India have looked comfortable batting against England’s spinners, which is down to hard work, the captain’s example and a little help from the coach

Alagappan Muthu in Mohali25-Nov-2016At an optional practice session on Friday, Ravindra Jadeja took first strike against the spinners. He treated them with roughly the same kindness Daffy Duck is used to.Considering how all their best-laid plans backfired – tossed-up deliveries were biffed straight, quicker ones cut away and even the good-length balls were turned into half-volleys and dispatched – it was entirely disappointing that none of the bowlers accused Jadeja of being “dithpicable”.Then a 46-year-old man took the ball and bounded up to the crease. Oh boy. Where was this going to go? Slog-sweep to midwicket? Over the training area at the back and into main ground?Jadeja planted his front foot forward, but realised he couldn’t reach the pitch and was forced to defend. Eight years after his retirement, it still wasn’t easy to play Anil Kumble.The sequence continued. Jadeja attacked the rest, but he had to be watchful against his coach, slowly building up to a back-foot punch along the ground through the covers. Kumble had basically grabbed Jadeja by the ear and led him into a tutorial on how to play quality spin.Not that he is a bad one, mind you. Jadeja plays a lot of his first-class cricket on rank turners. He had been one of India’s most important contributors in the last home season, when they played on pitches that spun from day one. His lower-order runs against South Africa were often vital in securing leads. Now he was in Mohali again – scene of his Man-of-the-Match winning comeback from a shoulder injury.It was here also that Virat Kohli admitted to the team’s problems against slow bowling, after they lost four wickets to the genial left-arm spin of Dean Elgar. Before that they had lost a Test to the genius left-arm spin of Rangana Herath.Kohli took pains to say the issue wasn’t technical. He felt India were giving away too many wickets in clumps. He would be pleased to know, then, that only one of England’s three slow bowlers – Adil Rashid – has a strike-rate under 50 on this tour.Kohli himself has played a big part in that. He has read them out of the hand, tried to play late and off the back foot, trusting the slowness of the pitches and the quickness of his wrists. Even balls that stay low haven’t been spared from his wrath and barring the time he was hit-wicket in Rajkot, his methods have been flawless. His stats against spin from this series are: 83 singles, 19 twos, one threes and 15 fours that make up 185 runs in 332 deliveries.

Moeen Ali got a lot of wickets against India in 2014 but this time he has been made to work a lot harder because Kohli and company have learnt to rate him better

Cheteshwar Pujara has been even better. He has been collecting four runs per over of spin and averages 163 against it. A lot of those numbers are a result of his confidence in playing a spinner. He loves coming down the track, so much that he wouldn’t think twice about doing so for a whole over. He did so quite early against Kumble in the nets on Friday, unleashing an on-drive against the turn, all along the ground. And he’s no slouch on the back foot either, as the bowler finds out when he makes the adjustment and flattens his trajectory. It is because of his vast range of shots versus spin that Pujara is often happy to defend or take blows from the fast bowlers. He knows he can prosper later.M Vijay is quite similar, only he takes the aerial route, and tends not to give any warning of those intentions. His hundred in Rajkot was replete with such shots that caught the slow bowler off guard. R Ashwin has become a rock-solid No. 6 at home and he has tackled spin off the back foot with the late cut as his cheat code. None of these strengths are new though. They are just being used a little better and some of the credit for that must go to Kumble. India were bound to improve their batting on turning pitches with one of the greatest spinners in the history of the game in charge.The one area that they clearly have done better is in making sure they are set before dominating a spinner. Moeen Ali, at home in 2014, got a lot of wickets with the Indians going after him blindly. This time, he has been made to work a lot harder because Kohli and company have learnt to rate him better.”Not taking anything away from Moeen, I think he is a pretty terrific bowler,” Kohli said. “He makes an impact in England as well, so he understands which lines and lengths to bowl, what speed to bowl at. Even Adil, I payed against him at the Under-19 level and I told him in Rajkot I was surprised he didn’t make it to the England squad in the next two years. When we played back in 2006 he was that good even then.”So we understand the quality these guys bring to the table for England. Not everyone plays for England in Test matches. We respect that but at the same time, we understand and we believe that we are good enough to counter that. You saw in Rajkot, they put us under pressure with their quality and we respect that and we are still going to find ways to keep countering what they throw at us.”The surfaces India have played on this season have been considerably less extreme and that helped the batsmen as well. But the self-belief that India’s captain spoke about may just have a lot more to do with it.

Trent Boult speaks about his partnership with Tim Southee, his favourite Test wins and the challenge of playing in all three formats

Interview by Mohammad Isam12-Jan-2017You’ve been bowling with Tim Southee for a number of years. Can you describe what it is like to be one half of one of the best bowling pairs in the world?
Tim and I have grown up together from an early age. We have been mates and played in the same team since the age of 14-15. It is well into a decade of bowling together, I guess. We are good friends and we enjoy doing what we do out on the bowling crease. I think our skills complement each other, in regards to him obviously bowling outswing and myself bowling inswing. I feel we can create pressure to both left- and right-hand batsmen. I think we have probably gone on well but we have been light of late with how we bowled together. But we will be trying to put in couple of strong performances here in the Test series.I saw you yesterday going together to bat in the nets. Do you hang out off the field as well?
New Zealand is so small that you are not far away from anyone at the best of times. He is from the same province, Northern Districts, as me. We are literally down the road from each other.You have a Test match coming up. When do the two of you start planning for opposition batsmen?
When it comes to strategy, it is more of a bowling-group thing. It is definitely not just me and Tim. I suppose with how much cricket there is lately, the planning is going on constantly, really. There’s definitely not one plan for each batsman. It is nice to get in couple of days before a Test, have a good workout, bowl, get the body right, get the mind right and get into it on match day.

You need to listen to your body and be smart with when to peak and when to take the downtime. It makes it a hell of a lot easier when you love it so much

You are playing in the same period as great bowling pairs like Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, and Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. Is there a competition with those guys?
Firstly, it is nice to be recognised in the same calibre as those guys. Me and Tim are just enjoying it and putting our best performances in. And we are enjoying it with our mates. We are definitely not competing with any other partnership around the world. We are just going out there, doing our thing. We love doing it and hopefully more good times will come.What stands out in your bowling partnership?
When it comes to me and Tim, I wouldn’t say we are that quick. We are definitely not in the same category as Steyn and Starc, bowling at 150kph. We skin the cat a different way. We look to bowl up and swing the ball. Obviously we use any grass that’s on the wicket, especially in New Zealand conditions.There’s definitely no one method that works. I think that’s the beauty of cricket. Everyone brings something different to the table. It proves that different actions and styles of bowling are effective all around the world.Is it more about how many games you win for New Zealand?
In a way. It doesn’t really matter how you do it but it is how you get it done. Guys look to bowl fast and put the fear in batsmen, blow them out. Some people bowl short and set smart fields and others, like myself and Tim, look to pitch the ball up and swing. The challenge is, when it is not swinging what plans do you have up your sleeve? That’s one thing that is still a learning in progress.Has your international career panned out as you’ve wanted?
I started playing cricket when I was probably 11 or 12. I managed to play through the school and club teams. It is funny how it evolves and you get opportunities to represent your town, city and province. I have literally followed the ladder and loved every part of it. I am hoping for many more good times ahead and hopefully that is alongside all my close mates Tim, Kane [Williamson] and Corey Anderson.With Southee (left) and Grant Elliott: “I hope when I am 60-70 years old and well and truly retired, I am still in touch with these guys that I have played with and still getting along with them”•Getty ImagesDo you have a number in mind when you think about potential achievements?
Just as many as possible, you know. I have never really sat down and said I want 400 Test wickets. I just want to make the most of every game that comes on.How challenging is it to stay fit in international cricket?
I think it is becoming ever more challenging, really. For a player to play all three formats, the constant time on your legs and in the nets training and playing each format, is tough. You need to listen to your body and be smart with when to peak and when to take the downtime. It makes it a hell of a lot easier when you love it so much.Does it help that you and Tim have been playing together for a long time?
It is a combination of a lot of things. As long as the enjoyment is there, in my opinion, it becomes a lot easier. I love what I do with Tim and there are good mates in the team. A good collection of guys who have played age-group cricket together, and literally followed on. So we all love doing it together.How do you see yourself in ODIs and T20s?
I want to play as many games as I can. I have always said that Test cricket is the real pinnacle of cricket. It is the one that means the most to me. It is the one that I want to strive and excel in. It is possibly the sole focus, but it is exciting with all these different competitions in different formats.

I would definitely like to see Test cricket untouched and remain how it is

What has been your favourite Test win?
I have been thinking about it before. There’s been a few. My first game was a Test win for New Zealand. I probably didn’t understand how special and significant they were until they came along. Any Test win that we have had overseas, especially in conditions that are foreign to us, are ones that stand out. Beating the West Indies in West Indies was a good one. And the Sharjah Test we played against Pakistan was a good one as well. Hopefully there’s lot more to come. They definitely don’t come around too often.When you see a pitch as green as the one in Wellington, do you feel bad for the batsmen?
Amazing how you can’t see it two days before the game! It plays really well. It is the nature of the game when you are in New Zealand. There should be a bit of movement in the first couple of hours. It definitely pans out to be a good batting surface. The ball bounces nicely, it carries. There’s been some great games here and obviously some big runs scored. So yep, the batsmen will get used to it.There was a plan to host a day-night Test during this series but it didn’t happen in the end. Do you see a pink-ball future?
I was a bit reserved about it. I didn’t like the fact that we were touching Test cricket and changing it in a way. The one experience I have had with it was an amazing occasion – 50,000-plus crowd turned up at the Adelaide Oval each day. Full crowds, lots of noise. It was very exciting. I am not too sure where it goes from here. A lot of work needs to be done to the ball. But I would definitely like to see Test cricket untouched and remain how it is.What is the most enjoyable thing in cricket for you?
I think the mateship and the relationships you grow over your career. Not just with your team-mates but also the opposition. The ability to play all over the world against different type of people. The friendship you grow out of the game is exciting. I hope when I am 60-70 years old and well and truly retired, I am still in touch with these guys that I have played with and still getting along with them. Representing your country is a huge honour for me but the mateship you grow out of it is very cool as well.

James Faulkner’s eclipse as a member of Australia’s top echelon parallels that of Simon O’Donnell, another allrounder who found himself suddenly out of the picture

Daniel Brettig24-Apr-2017In the bowels of the MCG following a Sheffield Shield match, Simon O’Donnell’s voice wavered as he came to terms with his omission from Australia’s 1992 World Cup squad. Less than a year before, he had seemed indispensable, after being judged International Cricketer of the Year for a string of powerful displays, despite not playing Tests.But an ODI series won without him in the West Indies was followed by a niggling shoulder problem, and all of a sudden O’Donnell found himself dealing with the effective end of his international career. Having played in the same Shield game, players like Merv Hughes and Mark Taylor celebrated their own Cup inclusions within earshot. Hughes would go on to tag himself and Taylor “the Kon-Tiki brothers” for barely playing a part in the Cup.Twenty-five years on, it appears that James Faulkner, perhaps the cricketer most like O’Donnell in how he has contributed to Australia’s limited-overs cause over the past four years, has similar reason to wonder if his international days are over. Little more than two years ago he was accepting the Man-of-the-Match award in the World Cup final at the MCG, arguably one of the very first players picked for both that team and the squad it was drawn from.Now, however, Faulkner has been handed the news of losing not only his place in the ODI squad but also his offer of a Cricket Australia contract. The board’s recent rhetoric about domestic players “not contributing to financial returns” will cut particularly deep with Faulkner, for who else over the past four years has brought more Australian ODI crowds to their feet than he has?Right now Faulkner is taking part in the IPL for Gujarat Lions, though to date he has played only one match. O’Donnell was 29 when the curtain fell on his career, and Faulkner is only 26. But what is he to make of Moises Henriques and Marcus Stoinis, two players both comfortably older than he is, slipping into his Champions Trophy spot?Not so long ago, James Faulkner was Man of the Match in the World Cup final at the MCG•ICCIt was at the same ICC event, in the same country, that Faulkner first rose to prominence in 2013. Tough-hewn from playing club cricket as a Launceston teenager, he won a committed ally in Shane Warne with Melbourne Stars, and at the Champions Trophy that served as Mickey Arthur’s final gig as Australian coach, Faulkner stood out for his composure with both bat and ball in an otherwise woebegone campaign. He also showed the sort of combative streak that led one team-mate to term him “a great bloke, if he’s on your side”. As Faulkner put it during the tournament: “I suppose you can say it is easy to puff your chest out on the ground. I’d say the good players can do both. They can puff their chest out and play good cricket. There’s no point puffing your chest out and not playing good cricket, because you’re going to be looked at as a bit of a dill.”For the next 20 months, Faulkner did both in spades. With the ball he offered left-arm consistency and variation built on his teenaged infatuation with wristspin, which made back-of-the-hand slower balls a strong weapon after the fashion of O’Donnell, Steve Waugh and Ian Harvey, while also lessening concerns about his lack of a classical inducker to right-hand batsmen.With the bat he offered the power of Andrew Symonds but also the calculation of Michael Bevan, never better shown than in a pair of heists: in Mohali against India and then at the Gabba against England. A sobriquet of “The Finisher” was grandiose but fitting, and a Test appearance at The Oval earned him a baggy green. Six wickets and useful runs merited further chances, but Mitchell Johnson’s whirlwind left him 12th man throughout the home Ashes.By the time of the World Cup final, Faulkner’s was quite a startling ODI record. Though he was not required to bat that day, his seamers and slower balls clogged up New Zealand’s middle order to such effect that he earned the match award, then took a central role in Australia’s rowdy celebrations – much as O’Donnell had done in 1987. To that point, Faulkner had churned out 814 runs at 42.84, and 60 wickets at 30.08 in 44 ODIs, figures made all the better by a propensity to deliver when most required. He was still a young cricketer but played like a senior one.All things being equal, Faulkner should have expected to at least double all the aforementioned tallies. But as with many things in life, they were not. The sociable streak led to a drunk-driving offence while playing T20s for Lancashire, and summary suspension from Australia’s next limited-overs series in England. This seemed a most inopportune time to be missing, as the team was in transition. By the time Faulkner returned, he was no longer a young cricketer in an old side but a mature player in a new one.Despite a bad knee, Faulkner’s bowling numbers have improved ever since his return from injury•AFPWhatever the effect of losing ODI team-mates like Brad Haddin, Johnson, Shane Watson and Michael Clarke, another factor was starting to hurt Faulkner, in this case literally. A chronic knee problem required constant management, and scratched him from assignments in New Zealand and South Africa. When he did manage to get back to fitness, Faulkner’s training seemed geared as much towards preserving his body as pushing it – an “old-school” tendency increasingly at odds with CA’s increasingly high-performance direction.All these elements seemed to contribute to a loss of confidence with the bat in particular. Certainly his performances since the suspension went into free-fall: 174 runs at 17.4 with a top score of 36 in 23 matches are not the returns of a No. 7 or 8 batsman, even if his bowling performances – 35 wickets at 29.8 – actually showed marginal improvement over the corresponding period, bad knee and all. Faulkner himself seldom showed signs of being perturbed by this, putting it down mainly to a lack of chances for long innings.Most hurtful to his chances of going to the Champions Trophy, though, was the fact that in recent times his inclusion has not led to victories. His two most recent limited-overs outings for Australia, in New Zealand and then at home to Sri Lanka in T20 matches, resulted in series defeats. At Eden Park, an Australian collapse offered Faulkner the chance to bat time and mount a rearguard, but it was Stoinis who did so instead.Four years before, Faulkner had shown clear-headed prescience in summing up his value to the national team. “Every time you play for Australia, you’re playing as a team, and I know personally I’m not looking at how well I go,” he said. “The ultimate goal is to win games of cricket. I don’t look at it as keeping my spot, I just want to do as well as I can and the end result will be keeping your spot.”Those recent defeats thus opened the door for others, including Stoinis, Henriques and John Hastings, all of whom have eyed the consistent opportunities Faulkner became used to. In the wash-up to Australia’s failed 1992 World Cup tilt, many pined for a bit of the old O’Donnell magic. Faulkner, and the selectors who cut him, will now wait to see whether the 2017 Champions Trophy squad moves on more effectively.

England’s batsmen have hogged the limelight, but today it was the bowlers’ turn, not least Mark Wood, whose solitary wicket may have sealed the win

Andrew McGlashan in Cardiff06-Jun-2017Was a match of 564 deliveries and 533 runs decided by one ball? On a surface becoming increasingly tricky for batting, Kane Williamson was closing in on back-to-back centuries. It was less serene than his innings against Australia, but he had come through a rattling blow to the helmet from Liam Plunkett to steer his side to the 30-over mark of their chase. The requirement certainly wasn’t easy – 155 needed off 20 overs – but Williamson had the bit between his teeth.Then came Mark Wood. A bowler who has had three ankle surgeries in a year and has an ODI bowling average of a tick under fifty. He’s also in possession of a central contract which indicates, even when he had doubts about whether the ankle would allow him to return, there was a huge amount of faith and hope invested in him.And this was why. Banging the ball in back of a length with a cross seam, exploiting some variable bounce which had developed during the second half of the game, he made a delivery rise and nip back at Williamson, cramping the New Zealand captain and taking the glove to Jos Buttler.”He’s a very good bowler, unique in the fact that he bowls at such good pace, off maybe a five-metre, 10-metre run-up, which you don’t see too much around the world,” Williamson said. “And he’s performed very, very well for England over a period of time, especially coming back after injury on very good surfaces. So certainly a strength of their bowling attack.”It was not the first time this summer that Wood had claimed a kingpin of the opposition. During the first ODI against South Africa, at Headingley, Hashim Amla had been leading a strong chase. He had dominated Wood early on with a collection of beautiful drives, but Wood then cannoned one into his pads as he shuffled too far across. From there South Africa faded away. The same was true of New Zealand after Williamson’s departure.”Guys like him are so valuable to the team,” Eoin Morgan, England’s captain, said. “I think given games that we’ve played against South Africa recently where we’ve turned games around, the game in Leeds where Amla and Faf [du Plessis] got going, and we managed to take two wickets quite quickly, and the Southampton game where we pulled it out of the bag out of nowhere, it breeds a bit of confidence.”Wood’s delivery was the match-seizing, semi-final securing, ball but there was collective excellence around him. The England attack battled a buffeting gale which, while helping push the showers quickly across the ground, was also strong enough to blow over the electronic sponsors’ boards on the boundary edge, repeatedly blow off the Zing bails, and also send Bruce Oxenford’s hat flying towards long-off.Mark Wood claimed the prized wicket of Kane Williamson for 87•Getty ImagesIt was a bowling line-up which took a different shape than may have been expected. After all the pre-match talk of England having not played two spinners here last year, they recalled Adil Rashid, who responded with an impressively accurate ten overs, although in the end it was still just a one-spinner innings with Moeen Ali not called upon because of the impact of the quicks. Rashid was a beneficiary of Ben Stokes’ improving fitness, which would have allowed him to bowl his full ten overs if needed.”I thought they did an outstanding job. They were truly the highlight of the day,” Morgan said. “Our batting performance was probably par or below par. So pretty average. So I thought the bowlers today as a collective unit were brilliant, really.”The tone was set by Jake Ball who began the innings with back-to-back maidens and whose performance was a reward for faith from the captain and selectors. He was named Man of the Match for his 2 for 31 off eight exacting overs. It’s the outcome England are hoping will pay dividends for Jason Roy, although he has yet to turn the corner having battled to lay a foundation before walking across his stumps at Adam Milne. After this bowling display, Roy remains the only significant negative facing England, and one they appear willing to continue to absorb.Ball had been looking like a weak link in the pace attack after conceding more than 80 in three of his last seven outings. Steven Finn, the man he pipped to the final spot in the original squad because of a greater variation to his bowling, could justifiably have come straight into the team, or David Willey for his left-arm angle.Instead, they stuck with Ball and promoted him to the new-ball vacancy created by Chris Woakes’ injury. He did not concede a run until his 18th delivery – and that because of a misfield at backward point – finding zip which had been lacking against Bangladesh, albeit on a very docile Oval surface. The pick of his early deliveries was the fourth ball, a sharp nip-backer which whistled through the gap left between Luke Ronchi’s bat and pad to remove middle stump.”It was a settler for me,” Ball said. “The little bit of rain we had in the break just juiced the pitch up a little and there was a bit there for the bowlers. The cross-seam [deliveries] and the rain made the pitch a little more uneven, a few balls jumped up and fortunately they found the edge today.”Ball would later return and follow Wood’s dismissal of Williamson, removing Ross Taylor when he clubbed a catch to midwicket towards the end of a three-over spell for 11 runs that helped build the pressure on New Zealand. When allied with Liam Plunkett’s hostile bursts – he cleaned up the lower order to claim his second consecutive four-wicket haul – and the growing confidence in Stokes’ workload, it was a day that ticked a lot of bowling boxes for England.And that was timely. The omission of Rashid from the opening match and injury to Woakes had brought some scrutiny despite the convincing nature of the victory against Bangladesh. The plaudits for this side are so often centred around the batting, to the extent that a total of 311 felt a little underwhelming, but today it was the bowlers who should take the acclaim.

Was Joe Root’s 190 the highest score by a batsman in his first Test as captain?

Steven Lynch11-Jul-2017Moeen Ali reached 2000 runs and 100 wickets on the same day at Lord’s. Has anyone done this before, and how many have completed this double at all? Harmeet Singh from India
Moeen Ali passed both 2000 runs and 100 wickets on the second day of the Lord’s Test against South Africa. He was the 28th player overall to complete this particular double and, in 38 Tests, the fifth fastest, after Shakib Al Hasan (31 matches), Trevor Goddard (36), and Keith Miller and Tony Greig (both 37). No one else has completed this double on the same day before, although Ravi Shastri did so on successive days during his 44th Test – India’s tie against Australia in Madras in 1986-87. Moeen was the seventh to complete the double for England after Greig, Ian Botham (42 matches), Andrew Flintoff (43), Wilfred Rhodes and Trevor Bailey (48), and Stuart Broad (67). Among the famous names from other countries who needed more Tests than Moeen was Garry Sobers, who took 48 Tests: Moeen joked modestly that “In my garden I was better than Sobers.”Was Joe Root’s 190 the highest score by a player in his first Test as captain? asked Brian Robinson from England
Only three players have kicked off their Test captaincy careers with higher scores than Joe Root’s 190 against South Africa at Lord’s last week. Graham Dowling hit 239 for New Zealand against India in Christchurch in 1967-68, Shivnarine Chanderpaul made 203 not out for West Indies v South Africa in Georgetown in 2004-05, and Clem Hill 191 for Australia against South Africa in Sydney in 1910-11. Only Hill (191) scored more runs than Root (184) on his first day in charge. Remarkably, while only two of England’s first 76 Test skippers – Archie MacLaren with 109 against Australia in Sydney in 1897-98, and Allan Lamb with 119 against West Indies in Bridgetown in 1989-90 – started their captaincy careers with a hundred, the last four have all done it: Andrew Strauss in 2006, Kevin Pietersen in 2008, Alastair Cook in 2009-10, and now Root.Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook all scored hundreds in their first Tests as captain•AFP/Getty ImagesFour South Africans reached 50 in their first innings at Lord’s, but no one made it to 60. Is this unique? asked Dean Hamilton from South Africa
Rather to my surprise, this has happened before in Tests – twice! At The Oval in 1992, Pakistan’s 380 against England included 59 from Javed Miandad, 55 from Shoaib Mohammad, and 50s from Asif Mujtaba and Rashid Latif. There was a near-miss too – Aamer Sohail was out for 49. Then in Hamilton in 2010-11, New Zealand’s 275 against Pakistan featured 56 from Brendon McCullum and Tim Southee, and 50 from Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson. The South African quartet at Lord’s was Temba Bavuma (59), Dean Elgar (54), Vernon Philander (52) and Quinton de Kock (51). In all there were seven innings ranging between 50 and 59 at Lord’s, equalling the Test record set by Sri Lanka (four) and West Indies (three) in Galle in 2010-11.There were 19 wickets on the fourth day of the first Test. Was this a record for Lord’s? asked Michael Carpenter from England
The 19 wickets that fell on the frenetic fourth day of the Lord’s Test against South Africa was still some way short of the overall record, set in the Ashes Test of 1888, also at Lord’s. On a rain-affected pitch no fewer than 27 wickets tumbled on the second day for just 157 runs, as Australia (116 and 60) overcame England (53 and 62). Wisden reported that “There had been so much rain within a few hours of the start that it was impossible the ground should be in anything like condition for good cricket” and added “the ground was altogether against batsmen”. The feared bowling pair of Charles “The Terror” Turner and Jack Ferris shared 18 wickets as the Aussies completed only their second Test victory in England.Apart from that rain-affected game, though, there has been only one day on which more than 19 wickets fell in a Lord’s Test: in 2000, 21 clattered (ten English and 11 West Indian) on a second day which featured part of all four innings, a unique occurrence in Test cricket at the time. There are two other instances of 19 at Lord’s – on the fifth day of a soggy draw between England (nine wickets) and Pakistan (ten) in 1954, and also in 2003, when 19 Zimbabwean wickets tumbled on the third day.I’m seeing quadruples: Arthur Fagg is the only batsman to make two double-hundreds in a first-class match•Getty ImagesWho is the only player to score two double-hundreds in a first-class match? asked Ricky Dooley from Costa Rica
The only man to achieve this particular feat is the Kent player Arthur Fagg – later a Test umpire – who followed up 244 against Essex in Colchester in 1938 with an unbeaten 202 (in 170 minutes) in the second innings. “He had strokes all round the wicket,” noted Wisden in Fagg’s obituary, “and, being a fine hooker, was particularly severe on fast bowling.” Two batsmen – Graham Gooch with 333 and 123 for England against India at Lord’s in 1990, and Kumar Sangakkara with 319 and 105 for Sri Lanka v Bangladesh in Chittagong in 2013-14 – have scored a triple and a single century in the same match.Leave your questions in the comments below

The fifth day in Abu Dhabi produced one of the rarest reversal of fortunes in Test history

Shiva Jayaraman02-Oct-2017Sri Lanka successfully defended the smallest target they have ever set in Tests. This was thanks to Rangana Herath’s 6 for 43, during the course of which he became the first left-arm spinner to take 400 Test wickets. Pakistan were bowled out for just 111 chasing 136 – the lowest target they have failed to chase. Only once has a team lost – Australia at Headingley in 1981 – while chasing a lower target after scoring 400 plus in the first innings.

Sri Lanka, who made 419 in the first innings, also suffered a similar slump in the Test having been bowled out for 139. In other words, while the two teams managed a combined score of 852 runs for 20 wickets in the first innings, they lost 20 wickets in the process of scoring just 252 runs in the second innings. The 1951 Test between England and South Africa at Headingley is the only other instance where both teams have been bowled out for under 200 after posting 400-plus runs in their first innings.After four days of dull cricket, this match saw a frenetic fifth day when 15 wickets fell for just 183 runs. In Test matches scheduled over five days, this is just the tenth instance when 15 wickets have fallen on the fifth day. Among these 10 instances, 11.43, the average runs scored per wicket, in Abu Dhabi Test is the lowest.

This turnaround in the pace of the match though was brought about by the spinners’ effectiveness. While Herath struck for Sri Lanka, Yasir Shah lit Pakistan’s prospects with figures of 5 for 51 in the second innings, in the process becoming only the fifth legspinner to take five-fors in four successive Test matches (Richie Benaud, BS Chandrasekhar, Mushtaq Ahmed and Anil Kumble are the others to achieve this_ In all, spinners from both teams took 16 wickets at a combined average of just 9.87 in the second innings. This average of spinners in the second innings of the match is the second-lowest in Test history when they have taken at least 15 wickets. The only match that ranks higher is the Mumbai Test involving Australia in 2004-05 when the spinners took 17 wickets at an average of 9.52.

This Abu Dhabi Test, however, was different from most other matches owing to the contrast in spinners’ numbers between the first and the second innings. In the first innings, spinners had taken 10 wickets at a modest average of 46.50. This difference of 36.65 in spinners’ averages between the two innings is the second highest for any Test where spinners from both teams have a combined wickets tally of at least 10 wickets. The only match that ranks higher is the Mumbai Test of 2011-12 involving West Indies. On that occasion though, a large part of the damage was done by the India spinners.

At the end, Sri Lanka ended up winning by 21 runs, the lowest run-margin they have won a Test match by. Their previous lowest too, incidentally, had come against Pakistan in Faisalabad (42-run win) in 1995. In terms of matches won by margin of runs, this has been one of the closest Tests in recent times. Only three other Tests in the last decade have ended with a lower win margin. New Zealand won the Hobart Test in 2011-12 by a margin of 7 runs and England had won 2013 Ashes Test at Trent Bridge by a margin of 14 runs. More recently, Bangladesh had beaten Australia by a margin of 20 runs in Mirpur.

Trying to understand Rajasthan Royals’ baffling approach to the chase, and how they lost even though they had the best of the conditions

Srinath Sripath23-May-2018What was Ajinkya Rahane doing?
Powerplay: 26 off 18 balls, four boundaries
Middle overs: 20 off 23 balls, one boundary
ESPNcricinfo LtdRahane batted until the 15th over, steering the chase in a crucial knockout game. A captain leading from the front?Not quite. He had a strike rate of 112.19 and actually cost Rajasthan Royals seven runs in the context of the match, according to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats, our new metrics to understand T20 cricket. Rahane was only the second wicket to fall in the chase but Royals were in a deep hole they had dug for themselves.In all, Rahane cost his side 51 runs through the tournament, the most among all batsmen going into the last two games. In the IPL, a team that loses only four wickets in a chase wins about 94% of the time. Rajasthan Royals were not one of those teams on Wednesday.Stuart Binny batting ahead of K Gowtham?
ESPNcricinfo LtdAfter his slow innings, Rahane was in the dugout when Sanju Samson was dismissed with Royals needing 44 off 19 balls. And in came Binny at No. 5, ahead of Gowtham. Data sometimes fails to explain tactics, and it did so tonight too.

Noooooooooooooooo !!!!!

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) May 23, 2018

Gowtham has won games for Royals from difficult positions at the death and has actually earned his side 44 runs according to Smart Stats, while Binny has cost them seven. Gowtham needs less than four balls on average to hit a boundary, while Binny needs about 10.With Heinrich Klaasen struggling against wristspin, Royals needed the other batsman to succeed. Binny made 0 off 3 balls, and left Royals and Gowtham needing 40 off 12, too demanding an ask.Popular opinion on ESPNcricinfo’s live blog concurred: 28 out of 29 voters felt Gowtham should have batted ahead of Binny.ESPNcricinfo LtdRussell the first-innings hero
Andre Russell has been in outstanding batting form when setting a target, as compared to his form in the second innings. With Dinesh Karthik polishing off KKR’s chases, Russell’s failures have not hurt the team that much, but when batting first he does a great job.On Wednesday, he got going when his team-mates struggled for form on a slow Eden Gardens pitch. Once Russell got past five balls of legspin from Ish Sodhi, he went after the Royals seamers and scored 48 off 20 balls off them. Overall, his runs were worth 20 more in the match context, as per Smart Stats.

From the USA, the action moved back to the Caribbean this past week, and there was a lot of movement on the CPL points table

Sreshth Shah30-Aug-2018Andre Russell bludgeons a pull•Getty ImagesTallawahs brush away their American nightmareThe Central Broward Cricket Stadium in Florida was meant to be Tallawahs’ home ground, but there was no such home advantage served up to Andre Russell’s men as they succumbed to Steven Smith’s heroics against Barbados Tridents to finish their ‘home’ stint with a disastrous 0-3 record. Big-hitters Rovman Powell and Russell did not face a single delivery as Tallawahs failed to chase a modest target of 157 despite losing only three wickets.Their fortunes, however, improved as soon as they left the USA, when they picked up consecutive victories against St Lucia Stars and Barbados Tridents in Gros Islet and Bridgetown to move to the top of the CPL points table. However, they’ve played two games more than second-placed Trinbago Knight Riders. Lessons learnt from the Tridents defeat in Florida have forced the Tallawahs to push Russell and Powell higher up the order with the latter smashing a 37-ball 64 and a 27-ball 35 at No. 4 since the move.Kieron Pollard pulls•Getty ImagesStars down, but not yet outVictory over Guyana Amazon Warriors on Friday has ensured that St Lucia Stars – last year’s wooden-spoon holders – are still alive in the competition. They started off with a four-game losing streak, but an inspired show from their captain Kieron Pollard keeps them in the hunt for the semi-final spot.They looked like their old selves against Amazon Warriors, losing their way in a chase of 141 in Gros Islet, but Pollard’s 18-ball 41 – including a 30-run over off compatriot Devendra Bishoo – earned them an important two points. A 21-run defeat at the hands of Tallawahs followed, but with two games left against fourth- and fifth-placed Patriots and Tridents to follow, the Stars would look to finish strong and secure their first semi-final spot since 2016.Martin Guptill goes big•CPL T20/ Getty ImagesBatsman of the weekIt came in a losing cause, but Martin Guptill’s 60-ball 73 for Tridents against Tallawahs takes the prize for the week’s best batting performance. With no one in the Tridents top-six reaching double figures, Guptill held the fort as he hit four fours and three sixes to propel his team to a respectable total. It would’ve been a match-winning performance had it not been for Johnson Charles’ 33-ball 53 in the Tallawahs chase.Mohammad Irfan celebrates a wicket•Getty ImagesBowler of the week4-3-1-2. It’s a bowling performance that’s unlikely to be repeated any time soon, as Tridents’ Mohammad Irfan delivered 23 dot balls in a row, before eventually conceding a run off his final delivery to finish with the most economical T20 bowling figures of all time. Like Guptill’s fifty, it came in a losing cause against Patriots on Saturday, but Irfan toyed with the opposition batsmen in a spell of bowling that comes once in a lifetime.Irfan bowled four overs on the trot, dismissing the dangerous pair of Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis in his first two overs, before the middle-order batsmen simply failed to get bat to ball for most of the last two overs. Nothing worked for the Patriots, up until the final delivery of Irfan’s spell, when a Brandon King mis-hit to mid-off spoiled Irfan’s chance of achieving bowling nirvana.Steven Smith shadow practices on his way out to bat in a CPL match•Getty ImagesSmith, Warner watchOver the past week, Steven Smith began bowling for his team and produced spells of 2 for 19 and 1 for 4 against Tallawahs and Knight Riders, after remodeling his action after Shahid Afridi’s. In fact, his 2 for 19, coupled with a match-winning 63, earned him his second Man-of-the-Match award of the season against Tallawahs, in a game where he was dismissed under bizarre circumstances – out hit-wicket and caught at long-on off the same delivery, while trying to accelerate towards the end of the innings.David Warner, the Stars opener, didn’t convert two excellent starts with the bat this past week – falling for 23 and 42 against Amazon Warriors and Tallawahs – but provided the early impetus that his team needed on both occasions. He looked more assured after a string of single-digit scores to start the CPL season, but has still not produced a match-winning performance so far.