All posts by h716a5.icu

England have had success by pretending results don’t matter. Can they keep it up and still win the Ashes?

Vithushan Ehantharajah15-Jun-20231:58

How crucial is the state of Ben Stokes’ knee for England?

“Once you in it, you in it. If it’s a lie, then we fight on that lie. But we gotta fight.”Everyone who has watched has a favourite speech, and there’s every chance it is this one from Slim Charles in season three. Stringer Bell, a key figure in Baltimore’s criminal underworld, has just been killed. His senior ally, Avon Barksdale, having heard the news, sits alone in a room, contemplating a previous conversation with Stringer about leaving the drugs game for more above-board business practices. Slim reminds him that he – heck, all of them – are in too deep. And whatever reservations there may be, it’s too late to doubt what has taken them this far or comprehend another way. The lie is there is no other life to lead, and fighting on that lie is the only way to ensure it remains their sole truth.On Thursday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the start of his first Ashes as England captain, Ben Stokes fought once more on a lie he has perpetuated onto his team. The engaging style of play, with its 11 wins out of 13 of the Tests since last summer, has come through not worrying about the result. If they are to best Australia over the next five Tests, beginning at Edgbaston on Friday, it is a lie they will have to scrap on more than ever.Related

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“We want to win the Ashes,” Stokes said. “I want to win the Ashes. But not being a results-driven team takes away from the end result and you just focus on the here and now. And if we play to the capabilities we know we’re capable of, then I know we are able to beat any team.”That this is a contradictory ethos is not lost on Stokes. Nor that the profile of this upcoming series far outstrips anything this group have come across and is, therefore their most significant challenge to date. The war for England is not with the pace cartel, Nathan Lyon or the recent history in Australia’s favour. It is internal – a conflict within each of them reared over a lifetime, to know nothing matters more than this.The last three days in Birmingham have been promising. Brendon McCullum’s wireless speakers blared out house-party hits while everyone netted intensely. Media engagements ranged from confrontational (Harry Brook) to comically self-deprecating (Moeen Ali). Rob Key and Luke Wright, managing director and national selector, respectively, joined in with the Wednesday morning kickabout. At times you had to double-check the countless posters here to remind yourself something big was coming up.Over the next few days, we will find out which individuals were the most successful at embracing the falsehoods. By the end of July, we’ll know if enough did so to bring the urn home for the first time since 2015.If you’re an England fan, it might be worth pausing here, to take stock on this Thursday evening. Because it’s worth reflecting on the last year because this could all unravel from tomorrow. Not the results or the performances but the connection. Have you ever felt closer to an England Test team in your life?Ben Stokes attempts to shrug off the pre-Ashes hype•Stu Forster/Getty ImagesSomething about how they have operated has prised open a gate-kept format. Maybe it’s the way they have essentially played the game like your mate who doesn’t really like cricket suggested – trying to hit every ball to the boundary and take a wicket with every delivery. Maybe it’s how they get snapped orchestrating elaborate human chains in kebab shops when pissed out of their minds after celebrating a win. Maybe it’s the bucket hats.All this has probably permeated your world beyond cricket. One of your colleagues has asked you about this new thing the England cricket team are doing. Someone a table over from you at the pub is talking about how they’re the best team in the world right now. Your nan is wondering if the head coach is called Barry.They approach each match yearning for the same micro satisfactions all those weekend warriors on parks and greens know. They get that this is supposed to be fun. They get that life, ultimately, is for living. And they get that Test cricket is brilliant and deserves to be shared. Not that they’re going to save it, of course. Speak to the board about that one. But they certainly won’t be responsible for letting it die or worse – fashioned into some kind of knock-off Wimbledon, the most soulless of the Great British sporting events.Yes, it is true – over the next two months we will find out how good Bazball is. But take time to appreciate what we know it to be.It is not having call times but everyone being on time. Optional training sessions where everyone is busting a gut. No team meetings but somehow everyone being on the same page. Doing right by yourself by being good to those around you. Not being afraid to lose, but only doing it twice in 13 Tests. Empowering youngsters and liberating load-bearing pros. Treating the most traditional format respectfully while making it more accessible than ever before.Even if this does not work against Australia, Stokes and his charges enter their biggest fight on a lie that has already provided so much. Urn or no urn, 2005 redux or no 2005 redux – this has already given more of the game to the masses. And that might be the most important truth of all.

Having fallen off the back of a golf cart, the allrounder returned to action with big hits at the Wankhede nets

Vishal Dikshit06-Nov-2023Glenn Maxwell is standing diagonally behind the Australia team nets. Arms folded, his body straight, the cap worn backwards on the head, dark shades covering the eyes which are presumably fixed on what’s going on in the nets.He has watched Josh Inglis and Marcus Stoinis smash the ball around. He has seen enough of Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne take throwdowns. And the way he is holding his pose only a few steps away from the nets with a dead-pan straight face, it would seem as if he is barred from batting and has been punished further by watching his team-mates smother the ball in the nets, especially given the amount of runs that could again be on offer at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.Soon comes Maxwell’s turn. Before you can say “Glenn”, he has turned around and padded up with the same rush with which you dress up when you come out of the shower in the winters.The net Maxwell enters is to face four local spinners. There are two right-arm legspinners, one left-arm wristspinner and one left-arm fingerspinner. They all don’t replicate the variety and threat of spin bowling Afghanistan’s spin attack will pose for Maxwell and Australia on Tuesday, but it’s decent preparation they can manage for a game in which they will face at least three spinners, maybe four, all of different kind.Mind you, Maxwell had already batted once in the nets roughly an hour earlier before he padded up again. It’s Maxwell after all, a man not in form but in uber-form this World Cup. And he has been away from action for over a week now because of an off-field concussion. He is itching to get back and dispatch the ball to different parts of the ground. He must still be high on the fastest World Cup hundred he smashed recently and he is also scoring runs quicker than anyone this tournament (minimum 80 balls faced).Related

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Afghanistan have themselves reached dizzying heights this World Cup especially because of their spin attack which is not heavily reliant on one or two individuals, and has collectively taken the second-most wickets as a unit this tournament, only behind table-toppers India.So out comes Maxwell under his helmet. The length ball from the left-arm wristspinner is a bit too full and Maxwell swoops low for a slog-sweep deep into the leg side of the ground from the left-most training pitch on the off side. The legspinner pitches one too short and Maxwell pounces on the pull with such force that by the time he has finished his follow through, his bat is behind him, his body twisted with his stance open, his legs facing deep square leg and his torso is turned towards long leg.Maxwell, we already know, defies the laws of physics while executing his outrageous shots. Have you seen him bat in the last 10 overs this World Cup? His strike rate is a whopping 220.33, and unless you are Aiden Markram or Quinton de Kock, you can’t score quicker than him. Come Tuesday, he could easily face a lot of spin in that phase because Afghanistan are bowling more spin than anyone this World Cup.Maxwell prepares for the next ball. It’s pitched up, doesn’t matter which arm the bowler has released it with, if he was a finger or wristspinner, bowled a wrong’un or stock ball. Maxwell packs so much power into it, before it can turn either way, to flay it down the ground that his body has twisted again because of his quick and whippy swing. The legs are alright this time, but the upper half has bent and run away to the off side, almost perpendicular to the bottom half with his head pointed towards deep point. The bat’s face is towards the leg side. The ball? It had vanished a while ago.Whether the subsequent balls were pitched up or short, outside off or in line with the stumps, Maxwell would only use hard hands combined with his open stance to swing big and dispatch the ball high and far from his net. The lofted drives on the up, the fierce scythe over point, the aerial reverse laps and reverse sweeps, the pull full of disdain, the slog sweep packed with force. There was only one way he was batting, and it seemed like that was the only way he would bat on Tuesday.4:10

How did he do it? Maxwell’s blow-by-blow account of the mayhem

It was only once earlier in the day during his first batting stint that Maxwell had looked a little different. He had warmed up with some defensive strokes and use of soft hands, naturally so because he is coming back from a concussion and missed one game. And it was only once that he was beaten completely, while attempting a reverse sweep against the left-arm fingerspinner, when he missed his swing and lost his off stump.Maxwell won’t worry about that though. One dismissal surrounded by countless lofted strokes doesn’t mean much, that too against a left-arm spinner which Afghanistan don’t have. What Afghanistan do have, though, among their four spinners is an offspinner in Mohammad Nabi, and Maxwell didn’t get to face an offspinner in the nets on Monday. That won’t worry him either because have you seen Maxwell’s match-up against Nabi in ODIs? It’s 42 runs off a mere 20 balls with just one dismissal, studded with four sixes and two fours. The sample size is small but it translates to a boundary every three balls or so.The way the Wankhede has dished out sixes more frequently than any other ground this World Cup (55 in three games) and the way it has been so unfavourable to spinners in recent times, Afghanistan will probably hope that Maxwell ends up bowling more spin than facing it on Tuesday.

No other team carries the baggage South Africa do in World Cups, but they must shrug it off it before they face Australia in the semi-final

Mark Nicholas14-Nov-202313:33

Steyn: If South Africa win the semi-final, they can go on and dominate the final

To understand this fully, you have to revisit three scoreboards. The first, at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1992, which read “South Africa to win need 22 runs off 1 ball”. Ridiculous – blame the mathematicians. Though South Africa’s slow over rate had tipped the equation so firmly in England’s favour.The second, at Edgbaston in 1999, when just one run was required off the final four balls of the match with the unbeaten player of the tournament, Lance Klusener, on strike. More of that in a minute.The third, at Kingsmead in Durban in 2003 – which, to be fair to the South African protagonists, was a tight Duckworth-Lewis job – showed one run required off one ball when the batters in the middle thought none were required of one ball. Mark Boucher safely blocked it, believing his straight bat had seen his team through to the knockout stage, only to find it had eliminated them from the tournament.Related

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The first two of these were World Cup semi-finals, the third a decisive pool match. From these cock-ups has come the single word which haunts South African cricket: “chokers”. Add in a feeble response to Glenn McGrath across the first 40 minutes of the semi-final in St Lucia in 2007; a bizarre collapse against New Zealand in Mirpur in 2011, and the grim reality of the previously unimpeachable Dale Steyn’s final over in the 2015 Auckland semi-final and the picture is clear: South Africa’s cricketers find this stuff difficult.Oh god, the Klusener one. History has had the temerity to call it the greatest ODI ever played, at least until the 2019 World Cup final, when a challenger emerged. Frankly, most South Africans would prefer that ’99 semi consigned to the bin, not the books.Lessons from ’99: Do or do not. There is no tie•PA PhotosIn the press box that day, or more precisely outside it, in the overflow seats among the vast and confused crowd, not even those of us who were supposed to know knew what had happened. Klusener – or Zulu as the lads called him – attempted an impossible run that left Allan Donald, his already stung partner from similar chaos the ball before, run-out by half the pitch. The scores finished level, two fine cricketers had lost their minds, and the disbelieving Australians had won the match courtesy a higher placed finish in the Super Sixes stage of the tournament.This really won’t do; the South Africans are better than such error-strewn calamity. It’s time to get this thing sorted. Let’s all meet at Sourav Ganguly’s place in Kolkata on Thursday to watch the de Kocks and Markrams, the Rabadas and Maharajs sort it. They must. The joke, that tag… enough now.If it wasn’t Australia, I’d say “Yup, I’m in.” But it’s Australia and the tea leaves don’t read well. Perhaps surprisingly, South Africa hold the advantage in ODI cricket, 55 wins to Australia’s 50 in the matches played against one another. If you go by World Cup matches only, it’s even.Both sides would prefer to bat first, and especially at Eden Gardens, where the ball seems to hold more in the pitch the longer the match goes on. South Africa took a pounding there a week last Sunday when, batting first and while making his 49th ODI hundred, Virat Kohli guided his team well past the 300 mark, before the Indian bowlers went about the South Africans’ batting with a sledgehammer.These South Africans would prefer to bat first, full stop. There are two reasons for this. One, their record doing so this past year is incredibly good; two, their record not doing so isn’t. From September 12 to November 1 this year, South Africa won seven of eight games against strong opposition by huge margins when batting first. The only blip in this otherwise flawless run came with a pusillanimous chase against Netherlands in Dharamsala. The same jitters were on show when they crept over the line to beat Pakistan by a single wicket in Chennai; in truth, they hardly leapt over that line against Afghanistan in Ahmedabad late last week.Clear heads, steely hearts, steady hands – the ingredients to South Africa’s recipe for World Cup success•ICC/Getty ImagesIt’s a problem, but it shouldn’t be. The same guys have chased brilliantly in the past, but the game gets to parts other games don’t reach. It all happens so slowly, there is so much damn time to think, and the signs are unmistakable. The cameras zooming in on thin-lipped faces and narrowed eyes; the tension in the shoulders; the sudden and inexplicable inability to find or even see a gap in the field; the fun those fielders are having chipping and chirping away; the daft shots; the great catches; the ridiculous boundary saves; the increasing required run rate; the lack of strike; the maiden overs; those bloody cutters into the pitch; that DRS; the history, the reputation, the tag. Wherefore art thou my free spirit, my clear head, my resting heart rate, my steady hand, my quick feet, my 120/80 blood pressure.Somehow, should the toss go against them, these players must find the head that bats first and apply it to batting second. Sounds simple, but it never is. It’s like standing over a high-tariff golf shot and telling yourself you’re on the practice ground. Make that swing, you say, the one that works like clockwork when there is nothing in the moment; the one where you barely watch the ball, you just swing. Be, just briefly, Glenn Maxwell. Let it flow and see it fly because you have nothing to lose. In short, hit it like it doesn’t matter, because in the end, it doesn’t damn well matter.Except, it does.Of course, winning the toss does not a winning performance make, but doing so vastly improves most of the players’ mental health. Whatever the toss, you must play well to win and the trick will be to stay in the moment, not wander back in time and find the fear, or forward to meet the expectation. Play the ball and the situation; play everything before you and nothing else. Play the whole match, however hard. Take it to the tape if need be, but don’t fall short of the tape. The deeper you go, the more the opponent feels your breath upon his neck.South Africa has its complications. Sport has suffered from apartheid, affirmative action, and quotas. Rugby has coped well and after defending the World Cup title they won four years ago, the captain, Siya Kolisi, spoke of his team’s ability to relate to the nation without prejudice.In Siya Kolisi’s world-beating rugby side, South African cricket has a blueprint for the future•AFP/Getty Images”There is so much going wrong with our country. We are basically the last line of defence. There are so many people who come from where I come from, who are in homeless situations. There is so much division, but we show, as people with different backgrounds, that it is possible to work together not just on the rugby field but in life in general. Look at what the sport did in 1995 [when they first won the World Cup, in front of Nelson Mandela] and we can’t go away from that. Without it, I wouldn’t be here. There are people before me who fought for the opportunity for us to play in this team. I’ve got a job to make sure I give everything I can to the jersey to inspire the next generation.”And that’s it for the cricketers, whose team has often been compromised by the political demands of selection, whose credibility at the highest level is challenged and whose ability to perform under pressure is often questioned. Eleven South African cricketers are two matches away from immortality. Now is their time. Relate to the nation, guys. Cricket is a situation game, play the situation. Inspire the next generation.The talent is there, so much of it. Probably, the balance is light on allrounders but we’ve been saying that since Jacques Kallis hung up those size 10s about a decade ago now. In the last four matches between the sides – three in World Cup warm-up matches in South Africa and one in the event proper in Lucknow – South Africa have won by margins of 111, 164, 122 and 134. These are results to crow about, but it is not the South African way. Modestly, perhaps too modestly, they plough on.The point, though, is this: the South Africans should walk out at Eden Gardens on Thursday with chests out and heads held high. There is nothing to fear; there is only opportunity. Forget the choker tag, it’s an irrelevance. Most of these guys weren’t born when Brian McMillan pushed Chris Lewis’ apologetic dobber to midwicket and trotted the single that meant nothing. Sydney 1992 has nothing do with the South African cricketers of this day; neither has Edgbaston, Durban, St Lucia, Mirpur or Auckland. Forget it lads, not your problem. Your problem is 2023: go solve it by giving everything to that jersey and the inspiration of a nation that has seen its rugby players refuse to lie down. This is your time.

A man who wasn’t even supposed to be at the ground ended up delivering one of the all-time-great Test-match spells

Andrew McGlashan28-Jan-20242:13

McGlashan: The game now has a new superstar

“I’m not putting down this ball until the last wicket falls,” Shamar Joseph tells his captain Kraigg Brathwaite on the fourth day at the Gabba.

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On Saturday evening, a yorker crashes into the toe of Shamar, who ends up writhing in agony on the floor. He is forced to retire hurt and is helped off the ground. His Test match looks over. A scan clears him of a fracture, but he’s in such pain during the evening that he can barely sleep, before eventually drifting off at around 4am.Shamar is not expecting to take the field and doesn’t even initially bother heading to the ground on Sunday morning before deciding to go and support his team-mates in their victory push.Related

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The team doctor gives him some pills and Brathwaite tells him he’s going to take the field. But he’s only come to the ground in his training kit and hasn’t even brought his whites. A member of the support staff is hastily dispatched to the hotel. He says at one point he was stood in the dressing wearing his shoes, cap and a pair of boxers. In the meantime, he borrows Zachary McCaskie’s top and has to tape over the name and number to be allowed to field in it. A short while later he quickly changes his top on the boundary. Now, in every way, Shamar Joseph is ready to go.

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A year ago Shamar hadn’t played any first-class cricket. His rapid rise to the national side, from his origins in the small village of Baracara in Guyana, which is 225km by boat from the nearest town and only got internet in 2018, had already been one of the stories of the summer.His Test captain, Brathwaite, hadn’t even met him before this tour. “From speaking to him, I knew he was special,” he says.

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Ten overs into the fourth day at the Gabba, Steven Smith and Cameron Green have taken Australia to 93 for 2 and the target of 216 starts to loom into view. A patched-up and painkiller-laden Shamar comes on from the Vulture Street End. Green slashes at his fourth ball and it flies just over the slips, and then a pristine drive rockets to the fence to bring up Australia’s 100 in ominous fashion.Few could have foreseen what would unfold when this happened to Shamar on Saturday•Getty ImagesIn Shamar’s next over, Green late-cuts him through backward point. It’s 113 for 2 – 103 runs needed for victory. The next delivery climbs at Green who is in a decent position to defend it, but the ball deflects down off his elbow into the stumps.Next comes a pinpoint yorker that gets through Travis Head to inflict just Australia’s third king pair in Test cricket after Ryan Harris and Adam Gilchrist. It means that the last four deliveries Head has faced in Tests at the Gabba have dismissed him.Mitchell Marsh is looking to be aggressive, the manner that has defined his return to the Test side, but a ball after he dispatches Shamar behind point he edges a rising delivery into the slips. The chance is parried by Alick Athanaze but Justin Greaves is there to take the rebound. West Indies have caught very well in this series.Then it’s Alex Carey, who had brought Australia back into the game on the second day, as he’s bowled by a full delivery. Each time, whatever pain Shamar is feeling from his toe, which is still bleeding as it pounds through the crease, disappears as he sprints off into the Gabba outfield.Mitchell Starc lives dangerous and quickly whittles the runs required down to under fifty alongside Smith, but his luck runs out when he carves high into the off side to give Shamar his fifth wicket.Alex Carey has his off stump knocked back by Shamar Joseph•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesPat Cummins helped Australia to a thrilling victory at Edgbaston last year and just a couple of days ago made his career-best score to save his side from a huge deficit. He’s asked to play his part in another rescue act. Despite his injury, Shamar is able to generate significant pace and it doesn’t drop throughout his spell. His quickest ball is against Smith – 149.6kph – and the next delivery he has Cummins edging behind.The umpires offer Brathwaite an extension to the session, which he accepts, meaning Smith has to make an abrupt about-turn when almost off the ground. He and Nathan Lyon survive four overs through to the dinner break, with Australia needing 29.

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Shamar leads the team off with figures of 10-0-60-6 as though it’s some wild one-dayer. He’s clearly limping. He politely declines a request for a snap TV interview as he leaves the field. In his place Kavem Hodge does the duties. When asked what is keeping Shamar going, he says “special juice”, and hopes there’s some more left.

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Alzarri Joseph bowls the first over of the middle session. Lyon glances a boundary and is then given a life from a tough return catch. Shamar is living every moment down on the deep third boundary. Then Lyon bottom-edges a pull. West Indies need one wicket. Shamar takes the ball.Smith hammers a pull through midwicket then fends a vicious rising delivery off the glove which causes him pain. By now he is farming the strike, allowing Josh Hazlewood two balls at most in an over.’I can’t remember anything [after the winning wicket], just that I ran all the way to the boundary’•Getty ImagesHe brings out an extraordinary scoop for six off Alzarri, then leaves Hazlewood two balls (which becomes three due to a no-ball). Twelve runs are needed. Will Smith do it in sixes? He takes three runs off the first four balls of Shamar’s next over. Two left for Hazlewood.Shamar only needs one. From around the wicket, Hazlewood’s off stump is flattened. In the blink of an eye Shamar has almost reached the boundary in celebration and his team-mates have just about caught up with him. Smith and Hazlewood are briefly motionless.”Two deliveries to Hazlewood, I knew either would have got him,” Shamar says a short while later. “I can’t remember anything [after that ball], just that I ran all the way to the boundary. Just know that I’m really happy and proud.”

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Brian Lara is almost crying. There are clear tears from Carl Hooper in a video posted by ABC Radio. The emotion is obvious from Ian Bishop as well.”A real dream come true for ‘Joseph the Deliverer’, for the West Indies,” Bishop says on Channel 7. “There will be felicitations from Kingston to Georgetown to Guyana. This is just the beginning of a storied career but it’s hard to find any in the history of the game, perhaps, to top this.””Twenty-seven years to beat Australia,” Lara says on Fox Cricket. “Young, inexperienced, written off – this West Indies team can stand tall today. West Indies cricket can stand tall. Today is a big day in West Indies cricket. Congratulations to every member of that cricket team. What a wonderful occasion.”A few minutes later, as the players start to gather for the presentation, Shamar is arm-in-arm with Cummins. “He’s had a hell of a start,” Cummins says. “He bowled the house down.”

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Brathwaite and Shamar sit together at the press conference. Stood towards the back is Lara, beaming with pride and filming it on his phone. “It was amazing to do it in front of Ian Bishop, Carl Hooper and Brian Lara,” Shamar says. “It’s amazing. I can’t explain it. Having people who believe in you, that gives me a lot of confidence.”Questions turn to Joseph’s future and the lure of T20 cricket. He already has a deal in the ILT20. The phone will now be ringing hot.Shamar Joseph takes a bow after being names the Player of the Match•Getty Images”I will always be here to play Test cricket for the West Indies,” Shamar says. “I am not afraid to say this live. There will be times when T20 might come around and Test cricket will be there … but I will always be available to play for the West Indies no matter how much money comes towards me.”Lara applauds him.It is mentioned to Brathwaite that he is not one to show much emotion, although he had been pointed in his criticism of comments made by former Australia quick Rodney Hogg. “When you have a guy disrespecting West Indies, and us players that are playing, it is hurtful,” he says.”It means everything to do it in front of the legends like Brian Lara and to win in Australia, a place we haven’t won in [in] a number of years. And to do it with this young group with seven uncapped players is nothing but amazingly special.”Everyone loves the West Indies and for us to come and do it against the number one team in the world here in Australia…it is great. We have won one Test match and this is a new beginning for us but we still have work to do. Once this group has the belief and plays with heart we can do anything.”Lara waits for the press conference to finish, then walks with Brathwaite and Shamar back to West Indies’ dressing room with two bottles of champagne in hand. It’s been a 27-year wait, drink it in.

Special talents need additional resources to get the most out of them

Ian Bishop19-Apr-2024Everybody agrees that Mayank Yadav is a special talent. It’s very rare to have someone who can consistently bowl around 145kph and go up to the mid-150s. Mayank’s got something that you can’t buy: pace and control.But he also has an injury history, and in this he is not unique. We have seen a number of Indian fast-bowling talents break down. Rohit Sharma, I remember, had expressed his frustration about bowlers picking up injuries frequently.Mayank’s body needs management and it needs great strengthening. How do we ensure his talent gets the chance to blossom fully?Related

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I am a big American sports fan and I particularly follow the NBA, where the top players (or their teams) invest in themselves to the tune of millions of dollars in terms of having support staff and systems. Tennis players, too, do the same. I believe it is time for cricket to go that way – for the top franchises and national teams to preserve special talents like Mayank and support their growth.Pat Cummins is a very good example of someone who came in as a teenager and found that the stresses of the game were too much for his particular technique and his body. He had to come out, rehabilitate, make himself different technically, and return a few years later. And as we’ve found out, Cummins has managed to build an exceptional career, where he has developed into one of the best fast bowlers and captains.It would be a good idea for Mayank at the start of his career to have the inputs Cummins found he required. Whether it’s Lucknow Super Giants, Mayank’s IPL team, or the BCCI, they can undertake a project – not an experiment, mind you – to say, “This guy is a diamond. Let us see if we can allocate some sort of funding and see where this goes.”Give him a personal strength-and-conditioning trainer for, say, a year. Attach that person to him, not just have the player fly somewhere every six weeks for those resources. Maybe have another medical person on the panel as well. And perhaps a dietician too. Build him up.

You don’t have to tell a guy what to do right. But I can tell a guy what to do because I have made the same mistake. I can tell him what to do to avoid that. We don’t have to leave a lot of these things up to players finding out through trial and error

Mayank will still be playing cricket through this, to be clear; just that this person is attached to him. See how that pans out after a year. You have the resources for an effort like this.Whether in the future Mayank plays a lot of red-ball cricket, whether he plays all formats, or whether you keep him as a white-ball option you will be able to know after a year or two. So it is a worthwhile project, not only for India and LSG, but for the world game. This young kid, who is 21 now, by the time he’s 23 or 24, when his body has matured, he can give you almost a decade of excellent fast bowling. That’s one thing I’d like to see happen.Alongside the physical development, it is also imperative that young fast bowlers like Mayank get to hear the right voices. I came through at a time when the great Malcolm Marshall was around. While I thought Marshall was one of the greatest tactical fast bowlers that I interacted with, I could only talk with him when we were on the field together or when we were in the dressing room together. Had I been able to access his insights more often, and while I was younger, it would have expedited my learning curve. I have no doubt about that.So I get a little frustrated that icons like, say, Jasprit Bumrah, are not made to interact frequently with young fast men. When we hear Bumrah speak, we know that he understands the game. He’s clear in his thinking and he’s a great communicator. For the next generation, the Under-19 guys, and even for those who are playing alongside him, you could organise some formal Zoom meetings and have him share his wisdom with them. Bumrah doesn’t have to fly everywhere; just utilise technology.Let him talk through formal bowling plans, preparation, what he would do in certain situations. Let him talk through variations in pace and lengths, and how he sees the game. Expedite that learning curve. It doesn’t have to be something that happens every month – half-yearly or quarter-yearly should work.Jasprit Bumrah is too good a cricket brain to not be taking lessons from•Getty ImagesMS Dhoni is a similar example. Excellent captain. If you want to bring in your next generation of leaders, why not tap into his expertise? I’m not saying that these two gentlemen are the only people to talk to, but you get the drift.I picked up something always from talking to Wasim Akram when Derbyshire played Lancashire at Old Trafford. I picked up a lot from Marshall, as I said. Michael Holding, when I met him briefly early in my career, gave me something that I had to sift through and that I could hold on to. You can give players a lot of inputs without overloading them with too many different opinions. This is like a university of fast bowling. Why not formalise it?Kartik Tyagi might run into Bumrah after an IPL match and he might stand and talk to him for five minutes. We could do more than that. I thought Tyagi was someone who could have pushed on, but he has had injuries.You don’t have to tell a guy what to do right. But I can tell a guy what to do because I have made the same mistake. I can tell him what to do to avoid that. We don’t have to leave a lot of these things up to players finding out through trial and error.Let us not only leave these things to playing a lot of first-class cricket and learning as you go, but let us supplement it from the outside as well. Let them play, but also let us help them with knowledge. It is time to start being a little bit more precise and determined in our development of players, especially if you have the resources for it.

Left-arm spinner, who returned to the England fold earlier this year, gave it “one more shot”, and earned a World Cup ticket for the UAE

Valkerie Baynes04-Oct-2024When Linsey Smith received the call to say she would be heading to another World Cup six years after her last appearance at the tournament, the emotion washed over her. After wondering whether, at the age of 29, the opportunity had passed her by, she had her second chance.”I was just over the moon to be honest – a little bit emotional,” Smith told ESPNcricinfo from England’s pre-tournament training camp in Loughborough last month. “Six years ago was when I got the first call, so it’s been a tough road. But I’m just so happy that I get the chance to represent England at a World Cup again.”Smith fell out of England’s reckoning during the summer of 2019. During her five years in the wilderness, self-doubt abounded, along with thoughts of giving up the sport, and financial struggles, as she came to terms with losing her rookie contract with England, and tried to juggle coaching and playing domestic cricket.Related

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“It was pretty tough,” Smith said. “You obviously doubt yourself, and I guess when I was in it, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be a certain way and play a certain way, and it just ate me up, really. I felt like I almost didn’t deserve to be in an England shirt with how I was playing. So coming out of it was tough.”You never want to give something away that you’ve wanted to do since you were a kid, really, but I was in a pretty dark place and I wasn’t enjoying my cricket. There were mornings of games where I’d wake up, check the weather and see, ‘Oh, it’s not raining today, damn it, I’ve got to go and force myself to get out on that pitch’, which is awful to say now.”What kept Smith going was her pure love of the game, so that’s where she went.”I sat down and thought, ‘Is this what I want to be doing anymore?’ The kid in me – all I ever wanted to do was play cricket for England – was finding it really tough,” she said. “So I thought I either give it up now or just try and go back to what made me start cricket in the first place, which was playing with my mates, and having fun and being competitive. So I just came out of that thought.”I’ll just try again here, start from fresh, not put too much pressure on myself and see how it goes. I’ve always loved playing cricket, and I was terrible in school. So I couldn’t go and find an office job. So I thought I’ll just give it one more shot and just try and enjoy myself, [and] not take it too serious. And that’s worked for me quite nicely.”So when Smith was called up to England’s squad for their tour of New Zealand at the start of this year, it marked a fresh start.”I feel in such a better place than what I was when I played for England before,” she said. “So I guess that burning desire was always there, but I’d think: ‘Are they going to go for someone who’s 29 now? Who are they going to look at – someone younger?’ So you always dream that it would happen, but you [are] never quite sure if it really will.”My mindset has completely flipped in terms of what it was six years ago to now. It’s just about having fun, being really clear on what my role is, and doing what I do well, [and] not trying to play like someone else or be someone else. Just getting those competitive juices flowing and backing myself that what I’ve done for the last five years is good enough.”During this year’s Charlotte Edwards Cup T20 domestic competition, Linsey Smith took 13 wickets at 14.76•Getty ImagesSmith joins part of a four-pronged spin attack that also includes fellow left-armer Sophie Ecclestone, legspinner Sarah Glenn, and offspinner Charlie Dean. It’s a formidable trio, but Smith brings something different again. Her strength is her relentlessness in the powerplay, along with a low, skiddy trajectory delivered from her diminutive five-feet-two-inch frame which batters find difficult to get under.”I’m not your traditional spinner that’s going to get dip and turn and nice flight, but that’s not something I’m trying to be,” Smith said. “Just being at peace with what I do and how I bowl. Actually, 29 is really not that old. I feel like I’m in my prime. I feel like I’ve grown a lot mentally more than anything. Being really clear on what my role is and how to take on those challenges of playing for England, I feel in a much better head space to do that.”Jon Lewis, England Women’s head coach, has been impressed by what he has seen of the new version of his old spinner, who he is backing to thrive in conditions in the UAE, despite initially viewing her as a key option for Bangladesh, where the World Cup was originally going to be staged.In Sharjah, where England play their first match of this World Cup on Saturday against Bangladesh, the pitch has revealed itself to be low and slow with good turn on offer. In the first two matches of the tournament there on Thursday, both low-scoring affairs, Bangladesh beat Scotland, and Pakistan’s spinners defended 116 in a 31-run victory over Sri Lanka.”I think the opportunity has reinvigorated her ambition, and she has really loved it,” Lewis said. “When you get someone in an environment they really love and they think, ‘Okay, I really like this, this is good fun, and I feel valued and I feel important’, then funnily enough, they improve.”So Linsey was a selection back in January, [or] February, definitely, with the World Cup in mind in Bangladesh. Her style in those conditions, I think, can be incredibly effective, and similarly in the UAE, I think she could be a really effective bowling force.”

“We’ve got to find a way to potentially get her into the team, but also at the same time, she’d be a really good back-up… We’ve got three really effective spinners, but Linsey in particular could be a really effective opening bowler”England head coach Jon Lewis on Linsey Smith

During this year’s Charlotte Edwards Cup, a T20 domestic competition, Smith took 13 wickets at an average of 14.76, and an economy rate of 4.92, with best figures of 3 for 9. Fitting her into the England attack isn’t necessarily easy, given the quality of their spin stocks, but having been unafraid to play three spinners during the home summer, Lewis sees a place for Smith, particularly in the powerplay.”Linsey has shown in the course of probably quite a long period of time now how effective she is in the powerplay,” he said. “If we look at her numbers in the powerplay in particular, they are outstanding – up there with the best in the world.”So we’ve got to find a way to potentially get her into the team, but also at the same time, she’d be a really good back-up. We’re more than likely going to play three [spinners] – we’ve shown our hand a little bit over the summer. We’ve got three really effective spinners, but Linsey in particular could be a really effective opening bowler.”

England went down 2-1 in their ODI series against West Indies, extending a dismal record in the format. Alan was joined by Miller and Vish to pick through the pieces

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2024England lost the series decider in Bridgetown on Thursday to extend their lean run in ODIs. With Jos Buttler set to make his comeback from injury in the T20Is, there are plenty of issues to work through. On this week’s pod, Alan Gardner, Andrew Miller and Vithushan Ehantharajah discuss where things have got to with the ODI side. Has ECB neglect undermined England’s 50-over cricket? Can they fix things in time for the Champions Trophy? And which of the youngsters have impressed under duress?

The legspinner wasn’t required during Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign but is now the second-leading wicket-taker in the WBBL

Tristan Lavalette20-Nov-2024After being benched through the recent Women’s T20 World Cup, watching on helplessly as Australia’s title hopes fell apart on the spin-friendly surfaces in the UAE, Alana King seemingly has a point to prove.Her eye-catching numbers in the WBBL suggest this is a determined cricketer wanting to make a statement to the national hierarchy.Bowling with a lot of energy, spinning the ball hard in trademark style, King has taken 17 wickets from eight matches to be the fulcrum of an inconsistent Perth Scorchers side fighting for a finals berth.To be clear, there is natural disappointment at her omission in the UAE, which extended an absence in the format that stretches back to the previous World Cup in South Africa. “Not playing a game, obviously it was disappointing. But it’s a pretty tough team to break into,” King told ESPNcricinfo. “It was tough watching, but I still trained really hard.”Related

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King, however, doesn’t hold grudges even though it would be tempting to ponder what could have been. It’s not hard to envisage her sharp legspin, with King having that unparalleled ability to really rip it like her hero Shane Warne, and general exuberance sparking a wheezing Australian team at the business end of the T20 World Cup.”There’s nothing to prove. I think the Australian selectors and the coaching staff know what I’m capable of doing,” King said.Itching to return to the field, King didn’t have to wait long with the WBBL season starting just a week after the T20 World Cup. Any resentment she may have felt in the previous weeks were gone. Playing with seemingly a permanent smile, King kept it simple.”For me, it was more so just getting back out there and having fun,” she said. “I play cricket because I have fun no matter what colours I’m putting on. I was just excited to get out on the park and play with my team-mates.”I’m back doing what I love doing, and that’s ripping a few leggies. It’s not all carefree, but I took a pretty easy approach to the WBBL to be honest.”King started the season in style with a three-wicket haul as Scorchers successfully defended 122 for 8 against Melbourne Stars at the WACA. It was the blueprint for Scorchers’ early season success as King’s composure under pressure helped her team defend several low totals.King has been the go-to for skipper Sophie Devine with her flexibility at bowling through the phases proving invaluable. She opened the bowling on one occasion, while King has been clutch at the death underlined by a career best 5 for 16 to stifle Brisbane Heat’s chase of 143 at the WACA.

The commentary box has been marveling at Alana King's bowling last night, so the truck decided to put this split screen togetherpic.twitter.com/6vcka89cPl

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) January 3, 2024

“I just want to keep getting better with my skill-set and getting exposed to different situations and stages of the game,” she said. “This isn’t just about the Scorchers, this is hopefully going to help me for Australia if they need me for certain roles or to bowl in specific phases.”I’m getting exposed to that in the WBBL and hopefully that can translate into giving me more options in the Aussie colours.”King has been particularly outstanding at the WACA, a ground traditionally regarded as a graveyard for spinners. But the surface’s extra bounce can be beneficial for spinners, particularly taller bowlers like Western Australia men’s offspinner Corey Rocchiccioli who has dominated on the ground for several seasons.

It’s been a little bit challenging, but that’s the way T20 cricket works. You’ve got to be adaptable and the best bowlers adapt the quickestAlana King on having a tougher time on the road

The fairly diminutive King has seemingly mastered WACA conditions at her adopted home ground having made the move to the country’s west coast four years ago. She has taken 11 wickets at an average of just 5.36 in three WBBL matches at the ground this season as Scorchers successfully defended scores of 122, 142 and 108.Among her repertoire, King cunningly loops the ball high in the air leading to baffled batters often misjudging off the wicket. “I’m not a tall person by any means, so having that extra bit of bounce has helped me get different modes of dismissals,” King said. “It’s helped bring the slip into play a bit more and getting a few caught and bowls because the batters are probably not used to the bounce that I’m getting over there. I absolutely love bowling at the WACA.”Being in the WA and Scorchers set-up has also given her access to WA men’s spin coach, and former Test wristspinner, Beau Casson, who has become a mentor. “We make sure that I’m having good rhythm through the crease, that’s probably the biggest one,” King said. “We just make sure that my alignment is all going towards the target.”Just making sure that all my preparation is what I need it to be to feel fresh, feel good, and everything is smooth when I’m going into a game.”Perth Scorchers face a fight to reach finals: “We know our best can beat any team. The vibes are still high.”•Getty ImagesKing, mirroring her team, has had less success on flatter east coast surfaces. She had the unflattering figures of 1 for 89 across a three-game swing against Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder, where batters were more comfortable taking her on. King did rebound with 3 for 29 off four overs to rein in Adelaide Strikers at Karen Rolton Oval.”I hold myself to pretty high standards in making sure that I keep going back to a length that I’m comfortable bowling,” King said. “It’s been a little bit challenging, but that’s the way T20 cricket works. You’ve got to be adaptable and the best bowlers adapt the quickest. That’s what I’m trying to do.”King’s stellar WBBL season should see her in the frame to return to international cricket with Australia playing three-match ODI series against India next month, followed by a tour of New Zealand, before the Ashes begins in January and culminates with a day-night Test match at the MCG.”It was obviously quite a quick turnaround between the World Cup and WBBL, so we haven’t reviewed the World Cup yet as a group,” King said. “But Dan Marsh [Australia assistant coach] has been in contact with me. He’s been happy. He sends me messages and bowling reports from every game, so the feedback has been good.”King also has her sights on the upcoming auction of the Women’s Premier League, which she has yet to crack previously. “I’d love to be part of it. From what I hear, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great tournament,” she said. “But that’s out of my control. What will be, will be.”In the meantime, King is focused on lifting a slumping Scorchers into the finals. “We’ve shown that we can be a team to be reckoned with,” she said. “We know our best can beat any team. The vibes are still high.”