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.

He played his shots during his run-a-ball 48 as he looks to bounce back from a poor Test series in South Africa

S Sudarshanan12-Jan-2024The last time Shreyas Iyer played a first-class match for Mumbai, he was yet to play Test cricket, back in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy. The Iyer that walked out to bat in Mumbai’s latest Ranji Trophy match on Friday is a different person. He has played regularly in all three formats for India, and though he was left out of the T20I squad for the ongoing series against Afghanistan, he is the incumbent No. 5 in Tests.Which is why this game, against Andhra, is significant for Iyer.He had a tough tour of South Africa, where he scored 31, 6, 0 and 4 not out. The two Tests there were his first in over nine months, part of which he was out because of a back problem that required surgery. The match against Andhra gives him a chance to get into his groove ahead of the home Tests against England starting January 25.Related

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Mumbai were asked to bat on a greenish surface on a sunny morning. The openers added 69 in a steady start before Jay Bista and Ajinkya Rahane, the No. 3, fell off successive balls. Bhupen Lalwani, the other opener, and Suved Parkar, the No. 4, then took Mumbai to lunch, giving Iyer some more time.He walked to the nets just outside the playing area with batting coach Vinit Indulkar, left-arm spinner Atharva Ankolekar, and a throwdown specialist in tow. He started slowly, but raised the tempo as time went on, and finished his close-to-25-minute stint with aerial shots in all directions.When Iyer walked in with Mumbai 130 for 3 in the 43rd over, it did not take him time to get going. He is known to be a quick scorer in the domestic circuit, which his first-class strike rate of 78.48 attests to. He is also known to be an excellent player of spin. He put away two full deliveries from the quicks – a flick through midwicket and a loft over mid-on – to get his boundary count going.Andhra mixed it up against Iyer by bowling pace from the dressing-room end and spin from the media end. Medium pacers Penmetsa Raju first, and then his replacement Nithish Kumar Reddy – the most impressive Andhra bowler on the day – bowled from around the wicket to test him. But Iyer’s feet moved nicely, and he kept out the good length and full balls, with a push to the off side or a flick towards midwicket. He was also ready to take on the short ball and punish it, like he did off Raju to beat long leg to his right in the 56th over.Shreyas Iyer had a poor Test series in South Africa, scoring 31, 6, 0 and 4 not out•AFP/Getty ImagesBut nothing perhaps showed that Iyer was switched on and up for the fight like in the 54th over, bowled by Raju. With two fielders deep on the leg side – forward square-leg and long leg – and a backward short-leg in place, he played the perfect pull shot all along the ground for a four. The very next ball was shortish but had just enough width for Iyer to crash it over the covers.This prompted Andhra to go all-out on the mean bouncer – Iyer’s perceived weakness. They had a six-three leg-side field with midwicket, forward square-leg, backward square-leg, long leg, third and point all out on the boundary. There was also a forward short-leg under the lid. That would, however, not prevent Iyer from taking a third four off the over – another pull that sent the ball rolling past backward square-leg – perhaps his best shot of the day. In all, Iyer scored 25 in the 14 balls he faced from Raju, including five fours.Reddy went on to dismiss him caught behind, after he wafted at a fullish ball angling away from around the stumps. Iyer would trudge back with a run-a-ball 48 against his name. But in only his second domestic red-ball game since his Test debut, he had signalled his intent, and readiness.

Mitchell Santner is only the second NZ spinner after his hero, Daniel Vettori, to 100 ODI wickets

Deivarayan Muthu18-Oct-20232:46

India ‘look pretty tough to beat’ – Santner

Mitchell Santner grew up idolising Daniel Vettori and switched from left-arm seam to left-arm fingerspin after watching Vettori make bowling look easy. On Wednesday, when Santner pitched one on middle and leg and got it to rip away past Mohammad Nabi’s outside edge to hit the top of off stump, he became only the second New Zealand spinner, after his hero Vettori, to 100 ODI wickets.”Yeah, it’s obviously nice to get to that milestone,” Santner said after New Zealand thumped Afghanistan and sealed an NRR-boosting win. “Yeah, I guess I wasn’t thinking about it too much leading into the game; it’s just [about] trying to perform my role and do a job out there just like every other game and I think I’m 200 odd wickets behind him (laughs), so it’s going to be a tough challenge to get there.”But yeah, I obviously watched a lot of him do his thing over a long period of time. And I guess with the absence of T20 cricket, they played a lot of one-dayers, so it might be pretty tough to get there now.”Related

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Santner pushed his ODI career tally up to 102 and tournament tally up to 11. He is currently the highest wicket-taker in the World Cup, with his team-mate Matt Henry just behind him, with nine strikes. Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson have also contributed handsomely to New Zealand’s unbeaten run so far. Santner shared the spotlight with the seamers.”It’s obviously nice to come here [India] and see the ball spin a little bit,” Santner said. They’re kind of far, you don’t really get those [pitches] in New Zealand. So, yeah, I think as a whole, the bowling, we’ve been bowling in partnerships, that’s what we talk about.”I mean the guys upfront today – [Trent] Boult and Matt Henry did an exceptional job in getting that run rate up and then it kind of makes them [Afghanistan batters] want to play bigger shots. I think as a partnership, as a unit, we’ve been bowling pretty well and I was lucky to chip in today for a few, but I think the way the seam [attack] has kind of set that up was massive for us.”ESPNcricinfo LtdSantner was also involved in what was arguably the play of the day and a bonafide contender for the catch of the tournament. He leapt across to his left from short midwicket and pulled off a sensational one-handed catch to dismiss Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi and rouse the Chepauk crowd.Chennai is Santner’s home base in the IPL, but the crowd here isn’t used to seeing Santner in full flight, as Super Kings haven’t been able to accommodate both Ravindra Jadeja and Santner in their XI regularly. On Wednesday, 15,525 spectators soaked in every bit of Santner and cheered him on with gusto.”Yeah, it’s obviously nice to be playing here,” Santner said. “Obviously, watched a lot of games here and played the odd one, and speak for Dev [Devon Conway] as well, it’s pretty cool to play in front of some loyal fans. Downplaying that catch a little bit, but it was pretty good.”Santner, also the leader of New Zealand’s spin attack, was pleased with the progress of Glenn Phillips, the bowler. In the injury-enforced absence of Michael Bracewell, Phillips has slotted in as New Zealand’s offspinner and emerged as a partnership-breaker though he went wicketless against Afghanistan.”He’s been bowling a lot, works on his bowling all the time,” Santner said of Phillips. “And it’s actually been very important for us, especially not having Michael Bracewell here, that kind of offspin option, along with me and Rachin [Ravindra].”So yeah, I think trying to get a few overs out of three of us at certain times through the innings has been [good] and he’s been a bit of a golden arm of late, which is always nice to have.”

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.

****

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.

Captain calls for improvement as five wins in 13 Tests paints the Bazball era in a less flattering light

Vithushan Ehantharajah09-Mar-2024Arriving in Dharamsala, England’s message was consistent, clear, and, ultimately, simple: 3-2 is a better way to lose the series than 4-1. By succumbing to an innings defeat in just over two and a half days, they somehow found a worse way to lose 4-1.The scoreline reflects the gulf between the two sides, because that’s how scorelines work, as much as England might protest. They have had moments since victory in the first Test, namely in Ranchi and Rajkot, that could have given this game a little more meaning. And yet the scale of this defeat ladles on the unwelcome context for a team that has gone beyond winning, flattering to deceive in defeat, and is now just losing.The caveat is that no visiting team has won a series here in almost 12 years. But India, for all their quality, did not have to be at their very best for most of this series. Since defeat at Hyderabad, they have not needed to seize all the 50-50 moments that presented themselves to restate their dominance, even with superstars absent and debutants in each of the last four Tests.That was until these last three days at the HPCA stadium. Their skill and superiority dwarfed even the Himalayas. Most damning for England is that the last 48.1 overs of the series was a gross mismatch. They were bullied, roughed up and, at their most vulnerable, several individuals were forced to hand over a few of the principles they have tried so desperately to hold dear these last eight weeks.Ben Duckett, who had not come down the pitch to the spinners all series, and had never done so against Ashwin in any previous meeting, decided the second over was the time to break the habit out of desperation. He charged, yorked himself, bat swishing past the outside of the ball, which rattled his off stump.Zak Crawley, in the midst of a Jasprit Bumrah-enforced scoreless stop, could not produce the sort of counterattacking burst that had made him England’s most reliable run-scorer on this trip. A tentative push around the corner to backward short leg – brilliantly taken by Sarfaraz Khan – gave him a 16-ball duck.Ollie Pope, praised by Rahul Dravid for the best “exhibition of sweeping and reverse-sweeping ever” after his 196 in the victorious first Test, then produced the worst example of either. A steady decline since that innings culminated in a panicked reaction to a claustrophobic close-in field, as he took on a delivery that may have bounced more with Ashwin’s over-spin but was certainly too short to be swept.Ben Foakes was one of several players whose dismissal went against type•Associated PressJust like that, England’s top three runscorers coming into this final innings were done and dusted within 56 deliveries for just 36 runs. From then on, an under-firing middle order played to type, with some additional bum notes.Jonny Bairstow peppered long-on before being trapped in front by Kuldeep Yadav, though not before starting an argument with Shubman Gill. It led to the now 100-cap batter asking Gill how many centuries he had made “full stop”. Four is the answer, with eight more needed in the next 10 years to match the 34-year-old’s tally.Ben Stokes wasn’t trapped on the crease this time, but was still turned inside-out by Ashwin’s drift from around the wicket. The captain’s average of 19.90 is the lowest of his 16 away tours and comes with the ignominy of having faced just 367 deliveries – just five more than Kuldeep, who has batted in four fewer innings. Ben Foakes lost his usually ironclad sense of self, bowled attempting a slog-sweep, handing Ashwin a ninth dismissal to mark his century of caps.The end, in particular, carried a unique sadness. Two veritable English greats in Joe Root, defiant for 84, and James Anderson, hours after notching 700 Test wickets, together as the final pair. The two survivors from 2012 in Nagpur, when Root, then on debut, was instrumental in fashioning a draw in the fourth Test to seal India’s last home series defeat.Ever since that success, Root and Anderson’s experience over in India has been a succession of physically wearing, emotionally taxing tours. Ones that have not just made English teams reconsider what they are about, but put their entire professional system in the dock.The difference this time is that the County Championship has not yet been served its papers. But an ethos that, for a period, brought the fun times back to English Test cricket, has now gone three series without a win. A style that lends itself to entertaining play has, since the start of 2023, entertained opponents more, winning just five of 13 Tests.India celebrate their 4-1 win over England, a scoreline that looks very similar to most other recent visits•Getty ImagesWhile positivity has radiated in press conferences, much to the bemusement of local journalists unfamiliar with the “everything is awesome” tact, and the building frustration of England fans, Stokes finally let the shutters up on Saturday afternoon. The introspection and annoyance behind closed doors was brought into the public domain: “If we weren’t disappointed, if we weren’t frustrated at how the series has ended up, I don’t really know what other emotions you could have.”With no next match to move on to until July 10 against West Indies at Lord’s, the England captain asked his players to channel the pain that they are currently feeling – both from grafting for so long and coming away with nothing and, worst of all, having to wear the ignominy of crumbling in precisely the manner that they had set out avoid. He certainly will.”Use it as fuel,” Stokes urged. “I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs–that’s what playing 100 Test matches throws at you. I’m making sure that I use those down moments that I have had to maybe work even harder than I thought I was.”It has been a damning 13 months for English cricket. Since the last six months of 2022, which began with Stokes and McCullum coming together in such spectacular fashion, and included that winter’s T20 World Cup win, things have taken a turn. The Test side fumbled a first series win in New Zealand since 2008, then a shot at reclaiming the Ashes for the first time since 2015, and now nurse a defeat against India that looks on paper to be no different to their previous dud efforts. In between whiles, too, there was a humiliating defence of the white-ball team’s 50-over title.Related

• Stokes gives England a glimpse of what might have been

• Live Report: India vs England, 5th Test, Dharamsala – Ashwin takes five, India win

• Ben Stokes: 'We're man enough to say that we've been outplayed'

• 'We've always found people to step up' – Dravid looks back at a famous series win

• Ashwin bags nine in his 100th Test as India cruise to innings win

Transitions are incoming across both formats. The difference is, while the white-ball side faces an overhaul of youth after this summer’s T20 World Cup, the red-ball side must embark on an evolution with many of the same faces. Thus the onus is on those involved over the last two months, many of whom have been ever-presents of the Stokes-McCullum regime, to dig deeper.It was fitting that, after all the critiquing of how England have gone about things on this tour, Stokes grabbed the nettle on a topic that has been a nuisance to many.”The media name Bazball – everyone says ‘what is it?’ In my opinion it’s wanting to be a better player. In the face of defeat and failure, Bazball will hopefully inspire people to become better players and become even better than what we are.”Of all the definitions ascribed to a term that had previously been rejected by the England dressing-room since its inception, this is the one they must embrace.

Australia will want David Warner to get back to playing attacking cricket ahead of the T20 World Cup, for which Spencer Johnson is also making a case

Alex Malcolm22-Apr-20244:30

How to bowl to Travis Head?

Head’s hot streak bodes well for World Cup

Travis Head has IPL bowlers shaking in their boots right now. In the past week, he has smashed a 39-ball century against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and then 89 off 32 balls against Delhi Capitals to help Sunrisers Hyderabad to two wins while shattering scoring records and threatening to break the 300-total barrier.Head feels empowered by Australia and Sunrisers captain Pat Cummins, and Sunrisers coach and Australia assistant coach Daniel Vettori to go out and tee off without fear. He spoke glowingly of Cummins’ leadership in terms of allowing him to stop worrying and play his way. Earlier, Head’s name was only pencilled in to open in the T20 World Cup, and there was little doubt that wouldn’t happen. But his name is in permanent ink now, and he looms as a key match-winner for Australia – just like he was at the ODI World Cup last year.Related

• When Head stopped worrying about his career and turned a corner

• 'Everything's happening so quickly' – Fraser-McGurk on his rapid rise

• Maxwell signs with Washington in MLC, clarifies IPL self-omission

Fraser-McGurk fires to get selectors thinking

Jake Fraser-McGurk made an impressive IPL debut ten days ago to give Indian audiences a glimpse of what he had already shown domestically down under, and in his initial ODI appearances. However, even with that innings, he remained a fair way down Australia’s pecking order in terms of Australia’s World Cup 15.But what he has done in the last week will make Australia’s selectors consider whether he could be of value. He smashed 20 from ten balls against Gujarat Titans, and then a 15-ball half-century – including seven sixes – against Sunrisers Hyderabad to finish with 65 off 18.Jake Fraser-McGurk clattered a 15-ball fifty•Associated PressWhat would have made the selectors sit up and take notice was Fraser-McGurk’s treatment of the in-form Cummins, thumping him for a six and a four. But more impressively, he launched six of his seven sixes off the spinners Washington Sundar and Mayank Markande. Admittedly, it was on a pristine batting strip. But he was able to take down Markande outside the powerplay three times with five men out before he holed out trying for a fourth as Capitals briefly gave themselves a chance to chase down even 267.Australia’s top three for the World Cup is set, with Head to open with David Warner, and Mitchell Marsh to bat at No. 3. But the one glaring area of weakness in that top three, outside of Warner, is spin hitting. Fraser-McGurk has not played a T20I yet, and it would be unlikely that he would make Australia’s squad for the World Cup, as using a slot on a spare specialist top-three batter with no international experience would be a risk, given the selectors will prefer versatility on the bench. But he’s still making a case.

Warner wobbles; Maxwell’s unusual move

While Head and Fraser-McGurk are making statements, two of Australia’s best T20 batters in Warner and Glenn Maxwell aren’t in peak form. But any suggestion that Warner’s World Cup place is under threat due to a slightly lean IPL would be ill-conceived. He was controversially dropped by Sunrisers in the lead-up to the 2021 T20 World Cup and had his position questioned, only to come out and be named as the Player of the Series as Australia won the title.Warner’s form at present isn’t alarming, and he is still recovering from a finger injury that caused him to miss the match against Titans despite playing in Capitals’ most recent match against Sunrisers. But there’s no doubt Australia’s hierarchy would like him to recommit to the aggressive, fearless method he had in the ODI World Cup last year. Warner has not played an innings in this year’s IPL where he has struck at more than 149, in a tournament where the average scoring rate is above 150. In his last three innings, he has scored just 19 runs off 20 balls, including 12 dots, and been dismissed three times.5:49

Why did Glenn Maxwell ask to be dropped by RCB?

Meanwhile, Head is striking at 216 for the tournament and Fraser-McGurk is going at 222. Maximising the powerplay at the T20 World Cup is going to be crucial. Warner knows how to switch it on for the big occasion, and Australia would like him to get back to that brand at the back-end of the IPL.There also aren’t many concerns in Australia over Maxwell’s decision to drop himself from the RCB side last week due to a horror run of form. He did clarify that he wasn’t seeking an extended break due to fatigue, given he has had two extended three-week breaks from cricket already this calendar year.Maxwell wasn’t selected again on Sunday night against Kolkata Knight Riders when Cameron Green was recalled to bat at No.5. With RCB’s tournament all but over, it will be intriguing to see if Maxwell can find his way back into the XI or whether they choose to use the remaining matches to develop some younger talent. But both Maxwell and Australia would almost certainly feel more comfortable ahead of the World Cup if he got some more game time and found a little bit of confidence with the bat.1:17

Moody on Mitchell Starc’s final over against RCB, which went for 19

Starc’s roller-coaster IPL continues; Johnson shows promise

It appeared that Mitchell Starc had turned a corner at the IPL with three solid outings following his difficult start. But his last two games in the past week have been poor. He conceded 50 from four overs against Rajasthan Royals, as Jos Buttler peeled off an unbeaten century to run down 224. Starc then conceded 55 in three overs on Sunday night against RCB – including 19 off the final over – but somehow survived as he had 20 runs to play with.He spoke last week of not being tactically up to speed with T20 bowling after not playing the format for 16 months prior to the IPL. Execution is now the issue for Starc as he continues to bowl the hardest overs on batting-friendly pitches. KKR are still playing well despite his fluctuations in fortune. He will have seven games plus the playoffs, if KKR get there, to get his execution where it needs to be for the World Cup.Meanwhile, with Starc’s recent form, Spencer Johnson could edge into Australia’s final 15 given he has been playing regular cricket for Titans, while Nathan Ellis hasn’t for Punjab Kings. Australia will want a left-arm pace option in their XI at the World Cup. Johnson has been much more economical than Starc across the tournament, although he has been playing on lower-scoring pitches. His overall bowling impact is only marginally better than Starc’s according to ESPNCricinfo’s Smart Stats.

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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When Mayank hushed the Chinnaswamy

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.