Thakor’s two-wicket burst and Deepti’s all-round game proved to be the difference between the two sides on the day

Firdose Moonda08-Mar-2024If looks were deliveries, Saima Thakor would have had a wicket with her eighth ball. It was on the back of a length; Shafali Verma came down the track to try and smash it away but was too hasty and ended up pushing it straight back to the bowler. Thakor collected, mock threw at the stumps and gave Shafali a stare-down that said, “I’ve got it in for you.”And she did. Two balls later, Shafali tried to advance on Thakor again, the ball kept low and snuck past the bat to find offstump. Shafali looked up at Thakor in disappointment and was met with the same stare, only more triumphant. As Thakor gave Shafali a small send-off (and Shafali responded with some words of her own), the contest between these two teams, which on form and history is a no-contest in favour of Delhi Capitals, ignited.It was Meg Lanning who tried to put it out. She took three boundaries off Thakor’s next over to make it clear who was in charge of this game, and Capitals did not need to look back until Deepti Sharma forced them to.Related

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It wasn’t just that Lanning struck four after four; it was the ease with which she did it. The first was a tickle fine off a shorter ball, the second was a silken cover drive off a fuller delivery and the last was a vicious cut through backward point. The message to Thakor was clear: you can’t bowl too short, too full or too wide, you can’t miss your length or your lines, not even a tiny bit, or you will be punished.Still, Capitals were behind after the powerplay – 35 for 1 compared to UP Warriorz’s 44 for 1 – but Lanning was there. Gouher Sultana, Deepti and Rajeshwari Gayakwad all erred by going too short and Lanning dispatched them all. By the halfway stage, Capitals had caught up to where Warriorz were and had the advantage of wickets in hand. They were 63 for 1, with only Lanning’s opening partner dismissed; Warriorz were 63 for 3 with all of Kiran Navgire, Alyssa Healy and Tahlia McGrath out.Crucially they still had Deepti at the crease and the move to promote her to No.3 could prove a masterstroke. Deepti has only batted at No.3 four times before in her 160-match T20 career and only once in the last six years. With Vrinda Dinesh injured and Chamari Athapaththu out of the XI, she got the opportunity to play in that position today and showed she can pace an innings from that position. She took Warriorz to a competitive total with a second successive fifty and though it remains to be seen how they will manage her if they choose to bring Athapaththu back, they would have seen the value of having a player like her there. In this match, it brought the kind of stability Warriorz have envied a team like Capitals for having, and they even had glimpses of it today.Thanks to Lanning the chase was set up and she seemed set to get them there and rack up some accolades along the way. When she raised her bat to fifty, Lanning became the first batter in WPL’s short history to hit three successive half-centuries and two of them have come in winning causes.Meg Lanning’s 60 was in vain for Delhi Capitals•BCCIIn the last week, Lanning struck 55 off 41 when Capitals scored 163 for 8 and then 53 off 38 when they posted 192 for 4 against Mumbai Indians. Capitals defended both totals. Then, in the first time they’ve been asked to chase in Delhi, she finished with 60 off 46 on Friday. It’s an impressive run which speaks to what she said earlier about the pleasures of being freed from the expectation of the international game. If runs were words, her performances are doing the talking. But they’re not the only ones she has.In the immediate aftermath of the game, Lanning admitted to the host broadcaster that she was “frustrated,” that the innings that took her to the top of the batting charts did not come in a winning cause and took the responsibility of the defeat on her shoulders. “My wicket played a part in it,” she said. “I was the set batter and I put pressure on the other batters coming in.”She may have been unnecessarily harsh on herself because players of the quality and International experience of Jemimah Rodrigues and Annabel Sutherland are also used to handling tense situations. In the end, it came down to who could hold their nerve and it was Thakor who did.She was brought back to bowl the 18th over, took pace off to Rodrigues and denied her the ability to generate any power. Rodrigues hit the ball to Sophie Ecclestone at long-off and a team that has dropped 13 catches through the tournament so far, held their breath. Ecclestone held on.That wicket opened Capitals up and even though it was Deepti’s hat-trick and eventual four-for and Grace Harris’ defence of nine runs off the last over that won the game, Harris herself paid tribute to the work Thakor did, in her opening spell and later on. “It was Saima, really – when she got up and about against Shafali,” Harris said to the broadcasters when asked what she thought the difference between the two sides was. “She bowled exceptionally well today and kept the stumps in play. It was just us jumping on the back of that energy.”

The KKR seamers bowled 22 slower balls, conceding only 20 runs off them and picking up three wickets

Hemant Brar30-Mar-20241:41

Did RCB get their bowling plans wrong?

In a match where multiple bowlers clocked above 145kph, the slower balls had the biggest say as Kolkata Knight Riders became the first away team in IPL 2024 to register a win. They beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by seven wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, and Andre Russell, who had played an unbelievable knock here in 2019, once again had a key role, but not with the bat.Playing the second of their three back-to-back home games, RCB laid out a fresh pitch for Friday’s game. It had some loose cracks. When RCB’s batting coach Neil McKenzie was asked about the wicket on the eve of the match, he had said, “It should be a good pitch with some pace in it, which should probably suit our team”.That did not turn out to be the case, though. After being sent in, RCB posted 182 for 6, which KKR chased down with more than three overs to spare. The hallmark of their victory was how quickly they read and adapted to the pitch, both while bowling and batting.Related

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In the first innings, the ball was stopping quite a bit on the pitch, making it difficult for batters to play their shots. Russell was the first to realise it. In his opening over, the ninth of the innings, he bowled two slower balls into the wicket, one to Virat Kohli and the other to Cameron Green. Both batters went for the pull, only to under-edge it towards the wicketkeeper.Russell doubled the dose in his next over and bowled four slower balls, off which he conceded only one bye. He duly passed on the information to the other seamers in the team. Mitchell Starc, who had bowled at full throttle in his first two overs, sent down plenty of slower deliveries in his last two. Harshit Rana, too, did the same, and with good success.After 15 overs, RCB were 134 for 3. In the next three, they managed only 19 and lost two wickets. Even a set Kohli struggled with timing.As per ESPNcricinfo’s logs, the KKR seamers bowled 22 slower balls, conceding only 20 runs off them and picking up three wickets. “We knew if you try to bowl fast on this track, it becomes easy for the batters,” KKR bowling coach Bharat Arun told the host broadcaster during an in-game interview.It was only because of Dinesh Karthik’s late hitting that RCB crossed 180. Given the conditions, both teams felt it was a par total. After all, in the previous game here, albeit on a different pitch, Punjab Kings had almost defended 176.For the second innings, RCB had planned to bring in legspinner Karn Sharma as their Impact Player. But after seeing how the pitch had behaved, they changed their mind.Andre Russell’s pace variations deceived RCB batters often•AFP/Getty Images”It felt like someone who could bowl a really good slower ball was probably the most difficult bowler to face on this pitch,” Faf du Plessis, the RCB captain, said after the match. “When KKR bowled, they did it really well. Dre Russ probably bowled 80% of his balls as cutters.”So RCB went with Vijaykumar Vyshak, who has a good knuckle ball. However, their seamers did not find success despite following the same tactics. The 21 slower balls they bowled went for 47 runs and fetched one wicket.The reason for that was as the match progressed, dew started setting in. While it was not so heavy to transform the ball into a bar of soap, it did quicken up the pitch. As a result, the batting became easier.Sunil Narine and Phil Salt gave KKR a start of 86 in just 6.3 overs, after which Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer took over and shut the door on the opposition.Among the RCB seamers, only Vyshak was effective, and finished with figures of 1 for 23 from his four overs. The others – Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph and Green – went for 133 from their combined ten, and picked up just one wicket.”There was one end, the far end, that was still tricky,” Venkatesh, who scored 50 off 30 balls, said. “From there, the ball was stopping. It was slightly two-paced, and there was double bounce.”That was the end from where Vyshak bowled all his overs.”But the other end certainly got better,” Venkatesh continued, “and the communication was to target the bowlers from that end.”This was the first loss for a home team this season after nine straight wins. Given RCB’s record at the Chinnaswamy, it was no surprise they were on the receiving end.

With 87 not out off 47 balls against West Indies, the England opener showed he could bat deep and finish the game for his side

Matt Roller20-Jun-2024

Phil Salt soaks in the winning moment•ICC via Getty Images

Phil Salt played a walk-on role in England’s T20 World Cup win in Australia two years ago but is a leading actor in their bid to become the first men’s team to retain the title. After a series of false starts, this was where England’s tournament began and Salt was the protagonist, walking off unbeaten with 87 not out off 47 balls to his name.Until recently, Salt was a man for a good time, not a long time; a powerplay dasher who could be relied on for a lightning-fast start but not much more, rarely pushing on beyond the tenth over. It took until last year – the eighth of his T20 career – for him to face 50 balls in a single innings. Even the best canapés still need a main course to follow.But in St Lucia, he showed how he has evolved as a player. He played high-impact innings throughout the IPL, with the Impact Player rule and the cushion of a deep batting line-up allowing him to tee off. But with England lighter than usual on batting and their finishers short on recent gametime, he recognised that his role was to bat through.Related

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Salt raced to 35 off 20 after six overs, hitting towering sixes off Andre Russell and Alzarri Joseph. He has struggled in the past against left-arm spin but largely negated the threat of Akeal Hosein, albeit surviving an early chance when Nicholas Pooran dropped a difficult toe-ender behind the stumps.Rather than passing the baton to the middle order, Salt recognised the opportunity to take the chase deep and win the game himself. With the field spread and West Indies’ fingerspinners taking over, he hit 14 off 17 balls from overs seven till 15, letting Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow take the risks while he knocked the ball about.And when it was time to go, he went hard: every ball of Romario Shepherd’s 16th over went to – or over – the boundary, turning an equation of 40 off 30 balls into 10 off 24. It was stunning hitting, launching balls over cover, long-off and upper-cutting over Pooran. Once, Salt was a leg-side slogger; now he looks like a complete package.Phil Salt: “To play an innings like that alongside Jonny and come away with a win is a great feeling”•ICC via Getty ImagesThe dimensions at St Lucia played a significant role on the night: the square boundary towards the grass banks and the party stand measured 63 metres; the longer one towards the Johnson Charles Stand was 72 metres. There was also a stiff breeze blowing across the ground from the north-east, meaning hitting towards the pavilion was downwind.Salt has spoken extensively to Kieron Pollard since he linked up with England’s squad at the start of the month, and has tapped into his vast experience of playing T20 in the Caribbean. They have talked about targeting bowlers from one end when the dimensions and the breeze line up like this.”We’ve spoken a lot about taking eights from one side to take 12s from the other – and that’s 200,” Salt said. “It sounds so simple to say it, but [it was about] putting that into action. I knew I had slowed down. I knew I hadn’t got much strike, but I knew that if I just got through that period, we would be in a good position and I could have a good dip, [take a] good calculated risk at the seamers.”Salt’s splits were even more marked than Pollard suggested. When he stood at the pavilion end, with a long leg-side boundary and the breeze blowing towards him, he scored 27 off 22 balls (7.4 runs per over); when he was at the media centre end, hitting downwind with a short leg-side boundary, he belted 60 off 25 (14.4 runs per over).

“We’ve spoken a lot about taking eights from one side to take 12s from the other – and that’s 200”Phil Salt on his discussions with Kieron Pollard

He attributed his success to feeling comfortable in the side. Salt was privately seething last year when he missed out on England’s squad to face New Zealand in four T20Is towards the end of their home summer, but won back his opening spot for December’s Caribbean tour and made himself undroppable with two hundreds in that series.”The more you play, the more you feel secure in yourself and in your game,” he said. “It’s probably one of those things that you feel more confident to do. I feel like when you’re new to a side, you’re thinking, ‘what if I get out now?’ but I feel like once you’re a little bit more settled, you can play that role and take the onus on your own a little bit more.”There was another telling sign that Salt has grown up. In the 13th over, with Pooran chirping in his ear, he twice backed away before Gudakesh Motie could release the ball and asked him to stop. But rather than losing his temper, or letting Pooran bait him into a loose shot, he simply brushed it off. “I’m not sure if it’s some sort of mind game… but it’s nothing big at all.”Bairstow’s innings – 48 not out off 26 balls, his highest at a T20 World Cup – was vital for Salt, vindicating England’s decision to bat him in the middle order. He took Hosein and Joseph on in the 14th and 15th over and almost single-handedly turned a ten-an-over equation into a much more manageable required rate of eight.But this was Salt’s night, and his chance to show off to the world just how good he has become. “To come here against a very strong side that are riding that wave of momentum and in their own conditions and with their home crowd, to play an innings like that alongside Jonny and come away with a win is a great feeling,” he said.

The pick of the stats from an enthralling second Test between England and West Indies at Trent Bridge

Sampath Bandarupalli21-Jul-20241 England registered their first-ever instance of 400-plus totals in both innings of a Test match with 416 and 425 at Trent Bridge. There had been 11 previous instances of a team posting 400-plus totals in both innings of a Test match, with India’s effort against England in Rajkot in February this year being the recent most.2 Number of Test totals by West Indies, higher than their 457 on the losing side. West Indies made 526 for 7 against England in 1968 at Port of Spain, which they lost by seven wickets following an aggressive second-innings declaration. They were bowled out for 463 against India in Kolkata in 2011 while following on with a first-innings deficit of 478 runs.1441 Runs aggregated by England and West Indies at Trent Bridge are the third-most for a Test match since 1980, where all 40 wickets fell. The 2015 Lord’s Test between England and New Zealand saw 1610 runs, while there were 1553 made between England and Pakistan in the 2006 Leeds Test.10 Number of Test matches with three 400-plus totals, including the Trent Bridge Test. The last of the previous nine was the 2009 Ahmedabad Test between India and Sri Lanka.20y 279d Shoaib Bashir’s age coming into the second Test. He is now the youngest England man to bag a five-wicket haul in a home Test. James Anderson, who retired last week, was the previous youngest, at 20 years and 296 days old, going into his Test debut in 2003 against Zimbabwe, where he took a five-fer in the first innings.3 Number of five-plus wicket hauls for Bashir in the five Test matches he played, all at the age of 20. There have been only three Test five-fers in total by other England players under the age of 21 – one each by Bill Voce, Anderson and Rehan Ahmed.2013 The last instance of West Indies getting bowled in a session before Sunday was against New Zealand in December 2013. West Indies were bowled out for 103 in 31.5 overs in the post-tea session on the third day in Hamilton.In contrast, the 457 all-out in the first innings by the West Indies was their first 450-plus total in Tests since September 2014.241 West Indies’ losing margin at Trent Bridge is the second-highest in terms of runs despite a 400-plus total in the match. India lost to England by 247 runs in 1990 at Lord’s despite a 454-run first-innings total.There have also been 16 instances of a team losing by an innings margin despite a 400-plus total in the match.

He is the first Indian in men’s internationals to get to his hundred with three back-to-back sixes (where data is available)

Sampath Bandarupalli07-Jul-20241 Abhishek Sharma became the first Indian to complete his century in men’s international cricket by hitting three consecutive sixes (where data is available). Shubman Gill has done something similar, but his back-to-back-to-back sixes took him to 200 in an ODI against New Zealand in 2023.46 Balls Abhishek needed for his century, the joint-third-fastest for India in men’s T20Is. Rohit Sharma’s 35-ball century in 2017 and Suryakumar Yadav’s 45-ball ton in 2023, both against Sri Lanka, are the two fastest tons for India, while KL Rahul also had a 46-ball hundred against West Indies in 2016.2 Innings Abhishek needed to score his maiden hundred in T20Is. No one from a Full Member country has got that landmark out of the way so quickly. He joins Evin Lewis, who like Abhishek, has a duck and a century as his first two T20I innings, while Richard Levi’s maiden ton also came in his second innings.65 Runs Abhishek scored against the Zimbabwe spinners, the most for India in a men’s T20I, going past Yuvraj Singh’s 57 runs against Pakistan in 2012 in Ahmedabad. Abhishek scored those 65 runs off 28 balls at a strike rate of 232.14 with six sixes and four fours.ESPNcricinfo Ltd317.39 Abhishek’s strike rate after being dropped in the eighth over. He scored 72 runs off his last 23 balls, with seven sixes and five fours. Abhishek’s first 24 balls fetched only 28 runs with three boundaries.2 Players before Abhishek to score a century in men’s T20Is in Zimbabwe. Aaron Finch’s world-record 172 against Zimbabwe in 2018 came in Harare, while Steven Taylor scored an unbeaten 101 against Jersey in Bulawayo in 2022.234 for 2 India’s total in Harare is now the highest by any team against Zimbabwe in men’s T20Is, surpassing Australia’s 229 for 2 in 2018. It is also the second-highest T20I total by any team in Zimbabwe, behind the 236 for 5 by Zimbabwe against Singapore in 2022.161 Runs scored by India in their last ten overs on Sunday, the third-most by any team in a men’s T20I innings, where ball-by-ball data is available. Nepal scored 192 runs in the final ten overs against Mongolia in 2023, while Japan scored 161 against China earlier this year.

The hosts have retained their core from this year’s T20 World Cup in a bid to become “championship-winning”, while the visitors are looking to create some depth in their ranks

Firdose Moonda22-Aug-20242:04

Sammy: ‘We want to become a championship-winning team’

No points on the line. No imminently looming World Cup to prepare for. Sport for sport’s sake, who’d a thunk?The three-match T20I series between West Indies and South Africa is a contextual anomaly on the cricket calendar because there does not seem to be any reason for it – other than that it was scheduled to take place. While fans may see it as an opportunity to just be entertained, neither side’s coaching staff was willing to take that approach. Instead, they’ve already begun a narrative of using these matches as a first step on the road to the T20 World Cup in 2026, even as the memories from the 2024 event have barely receded.West Indies hope to lay foundation for futureFor West Indies, the failure to reach the semi-finals of their home tournament – after defeat against South Africa – confirmed to white-ball coach Daren Sammy that they need to work on their tournament-play. “I want to become a championship-winning team. Right now, we are a series-winning team,” Sammy said. “We beat one team over a three- or five-game period and we know what to do, but I want this team to become a championship-winning team – where you can find and play a different opposition in a tournament, and be able to come up with the goods every single game.”Related

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In the lead-up to this year’s T20 World Cup, West Indies came out on top in four out of five T20I series, including two against South Africa and one against England. At the tournament itself, they were unable to beat either side in the Super Eights, when it mattered most. Whether another series against South Africa can help West Indies overcome this issue is debatable, but it does allow Sammy to keep his core group of players together – 11 of the 15 who were part of the World Cup squad are in this one – and hope the younger ones like Alick Athanaze and Sherfane Rutherford can learn from the likes of Johnson Charles and Rovman Powell.”Those guys of 2016 [the T20 World Cup West Indies won] are now the senior players,” Sammy said. “It’s a combination of youth and experience. And by the time you look at the next 16 months, hopefully the game plan we put in place, the roles and personnel we have will tick all the boxes, and the championship mentality we are looking for can come to fruition.”South Africa look to develop depth in talentSouth Africa have taken the opposite approach, and brought only six of the 15-member squad that reached their first men’s World Cup final as they try to create depth around the big names and among players who don’t always feature in T20 leagues. Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi have all been given the series off, with recalls for experienced names like Rassie van der Dussen, and call-ups for promising youth like Under-19 World Cup’s breakout star Kwena Maphaka.With several regulars given the series off, there was a recall for Rassie van der Dussen•Associated Press”It’s 18 months away from the 2026 World Cup. We’ve got nine series from now until then, which leaves us with around 32 to 36 fixtures before that World Cup,” Rob Walter, South Africa’s white-ball coach, said. “In terms of giving guys international opportunities and playing against quality T20 sides – not every one of our players is a marquee player in the league – we have to use these opportunities to play against strong opposition. We need to grow the base of our players that are competing at this level.”For me, the importance of fixtures like these are massive. The leagues and the congestion is a challenge, but actually it can be a positive for us in that we’ve got a broader group of players that are playing competitive cricket.”Walter will also be looking for some level of consistency as he builds the squad. Before the 2024 T20 World Cup, South Africa had not won a T20I series in six attempts since beating Ireland in August 2022. They went into the tournament with only two wins from their previous 11 games, though it’s worth remembering that they pulled off a stunning run of eight successive victories to reach the final.Batters to watch: Nicholas Pooran and Reeza HendricksThe highest T20 run-getter so far this year is Nicholas Pooran, who has played 54 matches and scored 1628 runs, including 11 fifties. He was also West Indies’ highest run-scorer at the T20 World Cup, with 228 runs in seven matches. Pooran is known as one of the biggest hitters and best finishers in the game, and will be after a three-figure score to top off a stellar 2024.Nicholas Pooran is the highest run-getter in T20s so far this year•AFP/Getty ImagesJust 181 runs behind him this calendar year is Reeza Hendricks, but the least profitable of South Africa’s top six at the T20 World Cup. Hendricks scored 113 runs from nine games in the competition and, after missing out on playing even a single game despite being a part of the squad at the 2022 tournament, may have a sense he did not fulfil his potential, especially as he just turned 35. But Walter is backing Hendricks to keep going, and Hendricks will know the expectation is that runs will come.”In my opinion, 35 is not too old. There’s many guys who are playing at older than that, and they’re playing the best cricket of their life,” Walter said. “We are cognisant of age and building for the future, but also of wrapping younger guys with experience. We want to get the balance right.”Bowlers to watch: Kwena Maphaka and Obed McCoyTo that end, Kwena Maphaka, who was the Player of the Tournament at the Under-19 World Cup this year, could get his first international cap. He has already played first-tier provincial cricket for Lions, and two matches for Mumbai Indians at the IPL, so he has had some taste of the big time. Walter has yet to see Maphaka bowl in the flesh, but likes what he knows about him so far.”He’s a wonderfully calm young guy, and seems to have his head screwed on very well,” he said. “He’s done some incredibly amazing things for a very young guy, and seems to have a really cool perspective on it all. We see him as a strong potential for the priorities moving forward, and it was an ideal opportunity to just get him on tour and get him into the system.”Kwena Maphaka was the Player of the Tournament at the Under-19 World Cup this year•ICC/Getty ImagesWest Indies will also be relying on their younger quicks, with all of Alzarri Joseph, Jason Holder and Andre Russell rested. That puts responsibility on Obed McCoy as the senior seamer, and he has experience to lean on. McCoy has played more T20Is against South Africa and India than any other opposition – nine matches each – and had also bowled West Indies to a 3-0 series win against South Africa in May. He has also spent time in the SA20, so his knowledge of the South African batters could prove crucial for West Indies’ think tank.The venue: Brain Lara Academy, TaroubaThe ground staff at the Brain Lara Academy are still smarting from news that the surface they prepared for the T20 World Cup semi-final between South Africa and Afghanistan was deemed unsatisfactory by the ICC, and will be keen to do better. As a reminder, South Africa bowled Afghanistan out for 56 and chased the score down inside nine overs, with the low scores being put down to uneven bounce and excessive seam movement. But happily, that’s not the norm here, and in 35 completed first innings in the CPL, the average first-innings score is 145, which, in the last two seasons, has increased to 158.On the weather front, there may be some nerves as well after rain washed out most of the first Test, which was held in nearby Port-of-Spain. But the news is better for the T20Is. There are morning showers forecast for Friday and Sunday – the days of the first and second match – which should clear by the afternoon. The third game, on Tuesday, might be in some danger of being affected, but downpours are not expected to be constant, and a three-hour playing window should be possible. All three matches will start at 3pm local time.

England’s greatest batter picks off more landmarks in his march towards the summit

Vithushan Ehantharajah29-Aug-2024Joe Root had never spent more than five balls stuck on 99. But as he inside-edged over his stumps, wore one on the front pad and found fielders instead of gaps, a palpable anxiety swelled around Lord’s.The crowd “ooohed” and “aaahed” through 12 balls of stasis. Some were for the sake of it, others genuinely fearful this could be an insurmountable bump in what had been an otherwise smooth road. It had the feel of a pantomime, all told. But with typical impish nonchalance, Root showed the only thing behind him was the deep-third boundary, which he found with a neat dab through a thinly stretched cordon for his 33rd Test century.If your tally of hundreds equals your age, you’re not just doing something right, you’re doing something great. Considering Root had just 17 when he turned 30 on December 30, 2020, it has been quite the run of form. Not since Michael Caine became a staple of Christopher Nolan’s work has someone looked so at ease embarking on a blockbuster run in the latter part of their career.As with all of Root’s centuries, the ensuing celebration offered context. There’s always a clenched fist involved, but his other antics tend to reflect the circumstances in which he’s just delivered. When that fist is extra tight – pumped at first, then swung overhand and back to himself once more – you can tell he’s just produced a slump-busting knock. When he’s turned the tide of a contest with one of his worldies, there’s often a skip involved. And then there’s the more subdued pump before raising his helmet and bat to the balcony with barely a smile across his face. That’s when you know there’s more business to tend to.This time, it was different. A single hand in the air as he ran towards the Pavilion as those two overs’ worth of tension were broken with some serene timing and a hint of “what you worried about?” It looked like he was playing to the gantry. But Root was worried, too.ESPNcricinfo Ltd”I was a little bit twitchy,” he admitted at stumps. “You can’t not hear the crowd. It was there, definitely… but there is an element of relief once you cross the line and you can concentrate on what’s important.”What was important was giving England their strongest position, which was going to take a bit of work given how things had begun. The top three’s donation of their wickets to Sri Lanka was unnecessary. Dhananjaya de Silva neither looked up at the blue skies nor down at the freshly shaved pitch when he decided to bowl first. It looked a peculiar choice, before Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett gifted him varying degrees of vindication, all of which Root steadily had to reclaim.He did not think much of being out there in the 10th over at 42 for 2. Or rather, he saw it as no extra burden or a situation requiring a hero. He never does. Throughout his career, his work has come with a sense of civilian duty.But, of course, it’s different with him. Just as Clark Kent can do all the things Superman does without having to ditch his spectacles, Root can hit world-class levels without shedding his everyman disposition. It felt prescient that even as Duckett, Harry Brook and Jamie Smith showed their qualities alongside Root in stands of 40, 48 and 62, respectively, the newer kids on the block were left to admire the master in their midst scale peaks they will probably never reach. Peaks Root did not even consider possible when he started out back in 2012.”I just remember walking out in my first Test thinking ‘if this is my one and only opportunity to play for England, I’d be extremely proud’,” Root said. “It’s nice to be sat here having achieved what I’ve achieved, but I feel like there’s still quite a lot more to do. At some point I’m sure I’ll look back on it all and try to take it all in, but there’s more to come hopefully.”That Root equalled Alastair Cook’s tally of 33 centuries and jumped ahead of his former captain’s volume of runs in England felt particularly valuable on this occasion. Thursday’s near-full house did not seem to know what to expect and buzzed accordingly, almost indifferent to what was unfolding in front of them until Root offered them this latest slice of history.Root kept his innings simple as England shipped wickets in the first half of the day•Getty ImagesSri Lanka’s valiant performance in the first Test, while welcome, felt like their ceiling. This place usually hums with idle conversation, but those seemed a little louder and more distracted once the early tuts had subsided. It was the breaking for the odd “Roooooooooot” to mark his 18 boundaries that kept them involved.Root did not just provide comfort for the dressing-room and those at the other end – Gus Atkinson being the latest example with a maiden Test fifty that could morph into something greater on day two – but he served the masses his usual brand of entertainment, which is bankable at this ground. His name will now feature on the honours board for a sixth time.Root’s longevity is reflected in the fact that since that first cap at Nagpur in December 2012, he has played 145 Tests – more than anyone else, and 30 more than Stuart Broad in second. Of course, England do play the format more than anyone else – to a fault, really – but it is as much a measure of his mental and physical robustness as his talent.The three runs from Atkinson’s tuck down to fine leg that took England to 301 was down to Root’s willingness to sprint in the 75th over. And his dismissal was, ultimately, down to his desire to shift up a gear before the close. The only shame was that Root’s demise came through the infamous ramp shot.Milan Rathnayake was there to been taken advantage of, particularly with the shorter hit over the shoulder, down towards the Allen Stand. The stickers met the ball rather than the middle, with Pathum Nissanka taking a straightforward catch at point.The new ball was 2.3 overs away. Sri Lanka were weary. What were you thinking, Joe?”Look, I’ve got out to it a few times and I know you look a bit silly but it brings a lot of runs. We were in a period of the game where they’ve got three seamers. If you can put one of them under a huge amount of pressure going into that second new ball, it makes life very difficult for the last hour.Related

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“I tried to look at things as an opportunity, not as a threat, and if it goes for four or six then it’s on for the last hour to cash in.”Thankfully, Atkinson and Matthew Potts did just that. Their unbroken stand of 50 has England coming back on Friday on 358 for 7, still on course for a bumper first-innings total.No doubt there will be plenty bemoaning the shot, a week after he sconed himself in the helmet with a similar effort in Manchester. But he does seem at peace with the failures. “Sometimes you get a good one and you have to take it on the chin!” he joked at first when addressing the dismissal.More pertinently, Root is on the cusp of becoming the standout batter in English history, and he has his sights set on more. “It’s nice to be sat here having achieved what I’ve achieved but I feel like there’s still quite a lot more to do.”Discourse never dies, but brilliance endures. And Root wants to endure.

All the statistical highlights from India’s win in the tri-series final against Sri Lanka in Colombo

Namooh Shah11-May-20257-2 – India’s record in the finals in women’s ODIs. Only Australia have more wins in ODI finals than India, having won eight out of the 11 they have played.342 for 7 – India’s total in the ODI tri-series final is the highest ever in women’s ODIs in Sri Lanka, going past their 337 for 9 against South Africa last week. Four of the six 300-plus totals in Sri Lanka in the format came in this ODI tri-series.2 – India’s total is also the second-highest in a knockout game in women’s ODIs. Australia’s 356 for 5 against England in the World Cup final in 2022 is at the top. It is also the second-highest total conceded by Sri Lanka in ODIs.11 – Hundreds for Smriti Mandhana in ODIs are the third-most by a woman, with Meg Lanning (15) and Suzie Bates (13) ahead of her.ESPNcricinfo Ltd4 – Number of 300-plus totals for India in 2025, the joint-most by a team in a calendar year in women’s ODIs, alongside New Zealand, who also had four such scores in consecutive matches in 2018.7 – Fifty-plus partnerships between Mandhana and Pratika Rawal in eight matches in 2025, the joint-most by an opening pair in women’s ODIs in a calendar year, equaling the record of Belinda Clark and Lisa Keightley who also had seven in 2000.1 – Mandhana’s 11th ODI hundred was her first in Sri Lanka, the sixth country where she has a hundred in the format. Lanning, Sophie Devine and Bates also have scored ODI hundreds in six countries.116 – Mandhana’s score on Sunday is the third-highest in a women’s ODI tournament final.

Brendon McCullum hoped to lift his spirits but it seems Jos Buttler could not stir himself for another voyage of discovery

Andrew Miller28-Feb-20251:35

Buttler: ‘Right time for me and the team to have a change’

Ten long years ago, almost to the day, England’s cricketers suffered a humiliation greater even than their Champions Trophy exit at the hands of Afghanistan. It was meted out by none other than New Zealand’s then-captain, now England coach, Brendon McCullum, and it would soon prove to be the most consequential defeat in their white-ball history.The venue was Wellington, during the 2015 World Cup, where McCullum’s eviscerating 18-ball fifty rushed through the breach that Tim Southee, armed with Test-match slip cordons and a Kiwi crowd baying for blood, had blown with his career-best 7 for 33. England’s eight-wicket loss was completed with a stunning 326 balls of the entire match left unused – more than a single 50-over innings.Though we did not know it at the time, that was the beginning of England’s Bazball journey. Legend has it how, by degrees, the fates of England and McCullum would entwine and interlock: first, through his close personal friendship with his counterpart Eoin Morgan, who would adopt and adapt his mentor’s aggressive methods to glorious effect for the 2019 World Cup, and then, in 2022, with the relaunch of the Test team under McCullum and Ben Stokes – essentially a transfusion of that new unfettered attitude from white ball to red.Jos Buttler was not only an integral factor in the Morgan reboot, he had been a cause célèbre in the original 2015 meltdown. He made 3 from 7 balls from No. 7 in the Cake Tin crushing, having once again come to the crease below the likes of Ian Bell, Gary Ballance and James Taylor, tasked with an outdated “finisher” role in an innings that, at 104 for 5 in the 27th over, was already as good as over.Related

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As if to demonstrate the madness of this misallocation, Buttler’s solitary hundred up to that point had come from a near-identical starting point: 111 for 5 in the 29th over against Sri Lanka at Lord’s the previous summer, whereupon he blazed an astonishing 121 from 74 balls but still ended up on the losing side. The path to redemption was plain to see. More power up top, more faith throughout, and a more central role for the best white-ball batter of his generation. In June 2015, in the opening game of the team’s new era, Buttler himself made 129 from 77 balls (against New Zealand, inevitably) to lift England to their first 400-plus total, and it was as if a prophecy had been fulfilled.And yet, throughout this decade of close alignment – and despite McCullum himself speaking warmly of their friendship on the day he came full circle as England’s white-ball coach – Buttler had never before felt the direct effects of that legendary dressing-room influence. Until, that is, this brief and gruesome alliance that has spanned barely six weeks. Nine defeats in ten matches would have been thin gruel in any context. Add to the mix another global-trophy disaster, and the captain’s position was untenable. It’s little wonder that McCullum’s overriding emotion, as he sat with his captain at his resignation press conference, was “sadness” that their partnership had never stood a chance.In part, Buttler has been a victim of circumstance, as McCullum also implied. All things being equal, he would have been a glorious addition to the core of generational greats – Stokes, Joe Root, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Jonny Bairstow – without whom the original Bazball project could never have got off the ground. Instead, he remained at arm’s length from their capers, charged instead with the solemn duty of upholding the white-ball team’s standards, following Morgan’s sudden retirement in June 2022.Jos Buttler and Brendon McCullum were only briefly in harness with the white-ball teams•Matthew Lewis-ICC/ICC via Getty ImagesLest it be forgotten amid the navel-gazing, Buttler did achieve that aim magnificently at the first time of asking. And yet, even as he piloted England to the T20 World Cup in 2022, there were doubts as to whether he had placed his own stamp on the team that Morgan rebuilt, or simply pressed the right buttons and got the requisite response from men that he had already gone the journey with: Stokes and Adil Rashid chief among them.These doubts were redoubled in 2023, when England’s bid to get the 2019 band back together came such a spectacular cropper at the 50-over World Cup in India. And since then, even though McCullum’s arrival as all-formats head coach implies a renewed focus on white-ball cricket, this winter’s Ashes is surely the more pressing reason for the realignment. Irrespective of the setbacks in the short term, the consistency of messaging to the likes of Harry Brook, Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett, not to mention England’s cohort of hard-worked fast bowlers, could yet be crucial in a legacy-defining campaign.Where then, did Buttler sit within all that? All under-pressure captains must surely ask themselves the question that he articulated on Wednesday night: “Am I part of the problem, or part of the solution?”. But whereas Morgan in 2015 would have looked first in the mirror, and then at an underutilised generation of hungry young thrusters – Buttler, Stokes, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow among them – and realised that all they needed was a chance, England’s situation right now merits a significantly more pessimistic outlook.

“There have been few players of Buttler’s generation whose performances have seemed so dependent on his mood. His famous bat-handle message has long been a prop to remind him to snap out of it, but his innate pessimism was even in evidence in the Afghanistan defeat”

By the time of his ODI debut in February 2012, Buttler was already a star of the county one-day scene, having amassed 854 runs at 71.17 in his first two seasons with Somerset, including two Lord’s finals. In an early example of the ECB’s fretting about attention spans, the format back then was 40-overs not 50, and yet, as Matt Roller and Tim Wigmore noted in White Hot, their book about England’s white-ball renaissance, this had the unexpected benefit of drawing out the players’ aggressive tendencies, but not at the expense of technique and endurance.By contrast, the advent of the Hundred has taken all such long-haul considerations out of the picture, and with it the very best players. Brook, Buttler’s heir apparent, had not played a single List A game since May 2019 until his ODI debut against South Africa in 2023, and while Smith averaged 63.00 in Surrey’s run to the One-Day Cup semi-final in 2021, his elevation to Hundred marquee status means he may never again feature in a competition that ticks over as a county development project in those overshadowed summer weeks.It’s hard, then, to blame Buttler if he has struggled to greet the advent of “white-ball Bazball” with anything like the same enthusiasm and optimism that Stokes dredged up for the red-ball project. There’s next to no reason for a player who has achieved as much as he has, and with such a stellar cast alongside him, to believe that the best really is yet to come. Of his 2019 team-mates, only Rashid is performing at anything like the requisite level, and he is already 37. Buttler himself has made three fifties in 15 innings across formats since November, having missed five months with a calf injury.What’s more, if the Bazball philosophy is, at its heart, a confidence trick – a mindset with which to park the consequences of your actions and just go out and have a go – then Buttler was always an awkward frontman for such a project. For all of his mighty deeds, there have been few players of his generation whose performances have seemed so dependent on his mood. His famous bat-handle message has long been a prop to remind him to snap out of it, but his innate pessimism was even in evidence in the Afghanistan defeat, when he scratched along to 12 from 24 balls before finally nailing a six that briefly snapped him back into the zone.But it also, perhaps, casts a new light on McCullum’s determination, at his unveiling at The Oval last September, to cheer up his “miserable” captain. It seemed a flippant comment at the time, but it was perhaps a more desperate plea than anyone realised. As indeed, was McCullum’s suggestion on Friday that this might prove as serendipitous as Root’s Test captaincy resignation.Neat though the parallels may be, if Buttler, of all people, could not be persuaded to suspend his disbelief at the outset of this alliance, then who realistically could fill such a void? Ten years on from that tide-turning loss, this time England’s standards may simply have sunk along with their skipper.

The region has a rich cricketing history, and has produced the likes of Mahmudullah and Mosaddek Hossain. The BCB’s recognition is long overdue

Mohammad Isam12-Aug-2025The BCB’s decision to include Mymensingh as a first-class team is long-awaited reward for a region where cricket has thrived for more than a century. It was regarded as the cradle of the game in undivided Bengal, as cricket clubs were formed there as far back as in 1898. First-class recognition brings renewed hope to Mymensingh, which has produced a large number of international cricketers in the last four decades.Mahmudullah, the former Bangladesh Test and T20I captain, is the biggest name to come out of the region. He spent his formative years in Mymensingh, before playing age-group and league cricket in Dhaka. Mahmudullah, whose 430 international matches across formats is currently the third-highest for Bangladesh, often returns to Mymensingh, where he has his ancestral home.The region was rich in cricketing heritage much before Mahmudullah was born. Mymensingh Mohammedan Club (1898) and Pandit Para Club (1910) are some of the oldest clubs from undivided Bengal. (landowners) would patronise these clubs, with healthy participation among the general population. After Bangladesh’s independence, Mymensingh’s left-arm spinner Ramchand Goala became a popular name in the Dhaka league, churning out overs even into his early 50s.Related

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Harunur Rashid, the feisty opener, was the first from Mymensingh to make his ODI debut for Bangladesh, in 1988. Pace bowler Saiful Islam and allrounder Sanuar Hossain, who were in Bangladesh’s 1997 ICC Trophy-winning side, were among the bigger names who played cricket in Mymensingh in the 1980s and 1990s. More recently, the region has produced the batter Mosaddek Hossain.It was curious that the BCB held back first-class status from Mymensingh despite this rich tradition. The government had made Mymensingh Bangladesh’s eighth administrative division in 2015. Rangpur began playing the National Cricket League (NCL), Bangladesh’s domestic first-class competition, from the 2011-12 season, less than two years after the government made it the country’s seventh division.Mymensingh’s sports organisers requested the BCB for a team on numerous occasions in the last ten years, but to no avail. Earlier this year, Md Mokhtar Ahmed, Mymensingh’s divisional commissioner, the highest-ranking government official in the region, wrote a letter to the BCB in this regard. The decision from the BCB came on August 9 during a board meeting in Dhaka. Akram Khan, the BCB’s tournament committee chairman, welcomed Mymensingh into the first-class fold.”They really deserve it,” Akram told ESPNcricinfo. “Firstly, they are a division for ten years. So if Rajshahi, Chittagong and Barisal can play NCL, why can’t Mymensingh? They also have cricketing heritage. They have a sporting culture that goes back to many, many years. I played with [the former India player] Raman Lamba in Mymensingh in the 1990s. They always had good cricketers, including, Belayet Hossain and Goala, who played in Mymensingh the 1970s. They continued to produce plenty of cricketers for Bangladesh too.”Could Mahmudullah turn out for his hometown team? Sanuar Hossain certainly hopes so•ICC via Getty ImagesAkram said Mymensingh has a strong base of homegrown players already.”I think they will be able to form a good first-class team. Look, the selectors have often sent players to Barisal as Barisal have struggled to make their [own] first-class team. I am sure that Mymensingh or any other first-class team will get that help [as well]. In any case, Dhaka Division and Dhaka Metropolis used to split players from the Dhaka region. So I am sure the same arrangement [for splitting players] would be made for Dhaka Division and Mymensingh.”Mymensingh native Sanuar, who played nine Tests and 27 ODIs, was delighted with the BCB’s decision. Sanuar is a senior figure in Mymensingh cricket, organising T20 tournaments in the region whenever he finds time away from his busy schedule as a flight steward.”It is a huge achievement for Mymensingh,” Sanuar said. “It was long overdue, given the region’s cricketing heritage and also if you consider that we have been a division for almost ten years.”

“We have two very good facilities in Mymensingh that can be developed. Now, with the first-class team, we will have more impetus to develop quickly.”Former Bangladesh batter Sanuar Hossain

Sanuar felt first-class status would help Mymensingh improve its facilities. Mymensingh does have a stadium, but cricket is mainly played at the historic Circuit House ground, which is surrounded by all the club houses. The Brahmaputra river is quite close to the ground, making it a local attraction.”I think after an inspection last year, they found out that facilities were not up to the mark,” Sanuar said. “We have two very good facilities in Mymensingh that can be developed. Now, with the first-class team, we will have more impetus to develop quickly.”Sanuar was also confident Mymensingh could form a good first-class team with mostly homegrown players, and hoped Mahmudullah could turn out for them.”We have a number of established cricketers from Mymensingh. It is our advantage,” Sanuar said. “Many are already playing for Dhaka Division or Dhaka Metropolis. I want Riyad [Mahmudullah] to play at least the first season for Mymensigh. He has been our biggest source of pride over the years. I am sure he would love to play for his home team. Mymensingh will become more organised with Riyad in the team.”Mymensingh can pick players from the Jamalpur, Mymensingh, Netrokona and Sherpur districts, with the BCB allowing players not belonging to that particular region to play in the NCL.Dhaka Division beat Dhaka Metropolis to win the 2023-24 NCL title. Now the city will only have one team•BCBTo include Mymensingh, the BCB has decided to discontinue the Dhaka Metropolis team to ensure there remained an even number of teams in the NCL. Dhaka Metropolis’ last tournament will be the NCL T20s next month. The team started participating in the NCL from 2011-12, when Rangpur became a first-class team – that decision too was made to ensure an even number of participating teams.In theory, players born and based in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital city, would be playing for Metropolis, while the Dhaka Division team would be made up of players from Dhaka’s 16 other districts. This was the case for much of Dhaka Metropolis’ time in the first-class scene, but the selectors found it increasingly hard to pick a team with just players from the capital.For all its size and might, Dhaka hasn’t produced too many top cricketers in recent decades. Taskin Ahmed and Saif Hassan are the only cricketers of note to emerge from the city in the last 15 years. The rest have mostly come from the outskirts or other districts. Dhaka Metropolis have won and lost 23 matches each out of 87 matches in the NCL. They have never been champions of the NCL.Meanwhile, Mymensingh, who will replace Dhaka Metropolis, are quietly confident they can make a fist of their long-awaited opportunity. The prolonged monsoon has kept cricket away, but once the weather clears, expect the Circuit House ground to be packed with hopefuls. Cricket has a long tradition here, and this latest chapter could be the most exciting one yet.