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Middlesex have focused on creating the right environment – which includes enrolling players in part-time degrees – to help sustain their on-field success

Will Macpherson13-Apr-2017″They’re not really that kind of group,” says Angus Fraser, Middlesex’s director of cricket. He is talking about the club’s first title defence, and whether the players are the sorts to become too big for their boots. “If they did… they’d get a kick, a reminder that lots of sides have burnt brightly briefly,” he says. “I saw that as a journalist, say, with England in 2005. There was a long development culminating in an amazing win, and then suddenly everyone stopped giving the same way. We won’t be allowing that to happen here.”Middlesex spent their extraordinary summer of 2016 – a far cry from the mess of 2008, when Fraser took over – talking about “the Middlesex DNA”, the identity that defined their work; for the defence, Fraser’s catchphrase is “humble and hungry”.”We’ve spoken about this a lot,” Nick Gubbins, the opening batsman, says. “Now we have to put it into action. I’ve noticed a few flash new cars in the car park since we won the title. Does that count as humble and hungry?!”Middlesex are a peculiar, unique county – they are debt-free but do not own their ground, and are likely to be hit hard by the new T20 competition (they have now come out against the ECB proposals), which would see Lord’s requisitioned while they play at outgrounds. A financial loss in 2015 became a profit in 2016 and the title win has been a shot in the arm, leading to a busy winter for Rob Lynch’s commercial team: a rebrand, an upgrade of kit supplier (Nike stepped in when MKK went bust), and a raft of new sponsors, including Etihad as airline partner.On the field, continuity is the watchword. A fast bowler (although not Mitchell McClenaghan, as in recent seasons) will join Brendon McCullum in the overseas ranks for T20, while James Franklin continues as four-day captain. There has been one addition to the coaching team, with Daniel Vettori in as a T20 specialist; McCullum will be captain for the nine games he plays to best exploit the pair’s long-standing working relationship.The Middlesex players celebrate their 2016 title on the balcony at Lord’s•Getty ImagesDespite Gubbins’ jokes, there is a clarity of ambition and identity, led by Fraser, and a steely determination to go back to back. It’s the same resolve seen in the famous wins at Taunton, Scarborough and, of course, Lord’s last year, as well as in Abu Dhabi in March, when John Simpson, county cricket’s patron saint of squeaky-bum finishes, turned on the style again.”The approach is very ‘Gus-like’,” Gubbins says. What he means is uncomplicated and unflashy. He remembers being in the academy and being invited into the home dressing room at Lord’s, where the waiting Fraser “explained what we were getting involved in”. Gubbins was also asked to pack (in good humour) then-captain Chris Rogers’ bag on his first day with the big boys. Gubbins, who at 23 and following a 1400-run season is not such a kid any more, says: “The senior players mould the rest of the squad. And when the senior players are guys like Ollie Rayner, Tim Murtagh and Toby Roland-Jones, you’re going to be called out if you’re not pulling your weight or are not being a good bloke to play with.”Stevie Eskinazi, who arrived in 2013 as a total unknown from Perth on a recommendation from the former England batsman Chris Smith, agrees: “As a side, we were towards the start of the journey. It was immediately clear what Gus’ team was all about. Work hard, nose down, be a good bloke, perform and you’ll fit in well. Since then that has just grown. There really is total buy-in to the team’s ethos. And the guys who haven’t have been swept away.”Eskinazi reckons the second team is a vital cog in the Middlesex wheel. After making plenty of runs in the twos, his chance came against Yorkshire at the end of the 2015 season, when, batting at No. 5, he found himself in at the end of the game’s first over, with three wickets already to Ryan Sidebottom’s name. He waited until 2016 for another chance, but all that thumb-twiddling was worth it, as his next two games brought centuries.”Gus-like”: Angus Fraser oversees things on and off the field at Middlesex•Sarah Williams”We must be one of the only clubs that if we fielded a full side then professionals would miss out on the second team,” he says. “We have 26 on the staff and that creates an environment where you’re always being challenged. Everyone’s gunning for your spot.”He cites the example of Ryan Higgins, who is yet to play a first-class match, but “scored 140 on a green top against Durham with [Chris] Rushworth and [Graham] Onions” in a warm-up at Merchant Taylor’s earlier this month. “That guy is more than ready to thrive in Division One,” Eskinazi says, “and he’s not getting a look in. What a great problem to have.”Why, then, are players’ feet not getting itchy? At Middlesex, as has been seen with James Harris, Harry Podmore and Max Holden this season (and possibly, so he hopes, Higgins soon) they seek a loan, to get miles in their legs and return to push for a place at home, not a permanent move away. Harris and Podmore are bowlers who would make most county attacks; they do not want to leave the club for good, but appreciate they are behind Steven Finn, Roland-Jones, Murtagh and the fit-again Tom Helm in the pecking order, while England Lions’ James Fuller is also loitering. Middlesex, it seems, are hell-bent on proving there is no such thing as too much bowling depth.This is where the other side of Middlesex’s strategy comes in. They want to win trophies – and the appointment of Vettori testifies that Championship success is not their only focus (Richards Scott and Johnson, and Dave Houghton, are outstanding coaches but played nine top-level T20s between them) – but, as Fraser puts it, “we want to produce the best young people too”.Richard Goatley, the chief executive, describes their outlook in different, but similar, terms. “We want to be the best employers in cricket,” he says. “If we can make them more rounded people, we will get benefits on the field. It’s also about setting them up for life after cricket, helping them become secure.”The winter saw a vast step forward in this regard. In January, ten players enrolled in a business and sports management degree at Hertfordshire University, joint-funded by Middlesex and the PCA, with a small input (around £400 per annum) from the cricketers themselves.

“We want to be the best employers in cricket. If we can make them more rounded people, we will get benefits on the field”Middlesex chief executive Richard Goatley

It is distance learning, but close enough for them to pop up to the campus, and it is tailored to the players’ needs; some, like Gubbins, already have a degree, while Eskinazi and Fuller have been able to carry over credits from previous uncompleted degrees; others, like Harris, are experiencing higher education for the first time. They are one module in (they hope to tick another off this summer) and in all, it should take four to five years to complete. “The degree is solely for professional sportspeople,” Eskinazi says, “so they get how and when we are busy. First month of the season or on tour? We aren’t getting much done. There are plenty of extensions flying around…”Fraser’s own experience helped mould this strategy. “I’ve been extremely fortunate,” he says. “I retired as a cricketer because I was offered the job at the . Then this position became available and I was lucky enough to get that too. I’m one of the lucky few. It’s not going to be like that for everyone, and you have to make sure they are as well-armed as possible so that when their careers end they can make a decent fist of life.”Cricket is a wonderful sport to play, but there are also some unpleasant statistics that follow the game as far as post-cricket lives go. You live in a little box, like a family, you’re well looked after, and then – bang – you’re out in the big wide world and it’s no longer there, you’re middle-aged trying to fend for yourself and you’re not financially secure. You want to lead a similar lifestyle but you’re not earning enough money.”Harris, who completed A-Levels simply because he promised his parents he would, but did not go to university as he was already playing for Glamorgan, admits that “like a lot of the boys, I have no idea what I want to do after cricket. Hopefully you play into your mid-30s and then you have half your working life left.” The club also arranges sponsor days – when players mingle with sponsors – which he says are particularly well run and helpful. “There are some nice gifts, but it’s not just a jolly and a freebie for us. It’s all building relationships for the future and helping our lives across the board.”Stevie Eskinazi and Nick Gubbins are among ten players enrolled in business and sports management degrees jointly funded by Middlesex and the PCA•Getty ImagesThe man pulling the strings is Ed Griffiths, an administrator with more than two decades’ experience. In 1995, he was the young chief executive of the South African Rugby Union when the Rainbow Nation was united and the Springboks won a home World Cup shortly after readmission. More recently he spent seven years as CEO of Saracens, a period in the club’s history in which they moved to their own stadium and established themselves as a dominant force in European rugby. Between times he was involved in his native South Africa’s successful bid to host the football World Cup. He is a former journalist and broadcaster too.Griffiths, who became involved with Middlesex following a chance meeting with Goatley last March, is a fascinating figure, operating in the shadows. Austere, uncompromising and shy of speaking on the record, he has quickly become the players’ counsel; a familiar sight during the Champion County match was of him ambling laps of the boundary with individual players, chewing the fat and clutching his notebook.”Ed’s got a load of us actually getting on with things we’ve always wanted to do away from the game,” Harris says. “I’d always planned to study, but Ed’s just come straight in and facilitated it.” Gubbins’ experience was similar: “In my free time I play a lot of Fifa and a lot of golf. Ed gently suggested that I might want to make what I do a little more worthwhile. Cricket, cricket, cricket can get quite on top of you.”

“You never know, if it’s pouring it down, the guys might get their laptops out and tap away at an assignment rather than reading the paper or doing a crossword”James Harris

Griffiths is the 11th member of the students’ WhatsApp group “The Ten Degrees” and arrived with a strong record for such initiatives at Saracens but believes the scale of this – ten professional sportspeople studying together, facilitated by the club – is unprecedented. In rugby, of course, the chance of an instant career-ending injury, and thus the need for more than one string to the bow, is greater, but as Fraser says, “there’s a performance side to this too. It’s important for them to have interests away from the game. Looking after cricketers does not just mean paying them right.”The hope, too, is that studying might foster a bit of competitive spirit in the group (some are already lagging behind, one player is quick to point out) and Harris paints a rather funny picture: “You never know, if it’s pouring it down one day, hopefully the guys might get their laptops out and tap away at an assignment rather than just reading the paper or doing a crossword, wasting that time…”Middlesex, for now, are leading the way on and off the field, but as Fraser says of the first team, there won’t be any resting on laurels yet. “We’re pushing a car up a hill,” Goatley says. “We have pushed it pretty hard and it’s going pretty well but if we stop, it’ll start slipping down… Sport has a funny way of kicking you where it hurts just when you think you’ve made it.” Humble and hungry, it seems, is a pretty good fit.

A wishlist from players from each of the top eight teams after a very successful World Cup

Interviews by Shashank Kishore and Annesha Ghosh17-Aug-2017What we thought of the reception to this World CupKatie Perkins, New Zealand batsman: After the match against India, I interacted with fans and ended up photobombing a selfie that my friend Veda Krishnamurthy was taking with some Indian supporters. By coincidence, those same supporters were sitting just in front of me at the final at Lord’s. They recognised me and showed me the photo taken at Derby a week earlier and shared the photo with me, which was pretty cool.Mignon du Preez, South Africa batsman: For the first time, we had all our matches televised on SuperSport. Till now, most fans had only read about us in a small corner of the newspaper. Now they could associate faces to the names and see the brand of cricket we played at the World Cup.Chamari Atapattu, Sri Lanka batsman: The inaugural dinner, where all captains and teams mingled, was a great experience. It was great to see so many journalists and TV people wanting to speak to us and cover women’s cricket.When I opened Facebook and Twitter after my innings against Australia, it was great to see legends of the game appreciate my effort, especially my heroes Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara. Family and friends tagged me in photos. Those friends who didn’t follow cricket were glued to our matches. They were giving me a list of records I broke after my 178 not out. I was so happy.To enlarge the talent pool and increase grass-roots participation, more women’s games need to be televised, and they need to be played at major venues•PA PhotosWhat we want going forwardPerkins: Get the best umpires and match officials for all international matches. At World Cups we get some of the best umpires on the circuit, but this needs to apply to the ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) rounds as well.Atapattu: An Under-19 World Cup. It will boost the confidence of young players coming through.Du Preez: Bigger venues. Imagine turning up at Wanderers or Eden Gardens to watch a women’s game sold out fully? Yes, smaller venues give you a sense that it’s full even when just a few thousands turn up, but Lord’s, to me, was the real deal. I’d like to see bigger venues being slotted in to host big games.Veda Krishnamurthy, India batsman: More bilateral series. The situation we faced in the World Cup final – had we played more games and had more close contests, probably we would have had an idea of what to do.Beth Mooney, Australia batsman: The WBBL is in a good space right now, but we need more one-day games in our inter-state tournament. We play only six one-day games a year, as opposed to the T20 format, where we play 14, which is not enough when you’re trying to win a 50-over World Cup.Diana Baig, Pakistan medium-pacer: More international matches.Hayley Matthews, West Indies allrounder: The WICB has been trying to improve things; you can’t get things worked out overnight. Getting some more regional cricket on – just playing some more games and playing more often can help us. Sometimes we end up having only a 50-over regional tournament or a 20-over competition a year. If we could play both in a year and maybe also a three-day game, that could do good to our ODI performances.How the game should capitalise on the World Cup’s successDu Preez: By ensuring a bigger talent pool. Young girls are motivated by our performances, and that has come about because of live coverage. Going forward, hopefully there will be more such games televised and not just our World T20 or World Cup games.Atapattu: The schools system needs to improve for women’s cricket in Sri Lanka. Right now, domestic cricketers play for two months maybe. Domestic cricket should expand and we should play more matches.Top-quality umpires at every international game, please•IDI/Getty ImagesPerkins: Investment by the ICC and national bodies in the promotion and marketing of each IWC and a big focus on the upcoming T20 World Cup next year. As many matches as possible during the IWC rounds need to be played at grounds where a large crowd can be attracted to come and watch. And, of course, televising games is key.What we want for the 2021 World CupDu Preez: Uniformity in rules would help. In this World Cup, the availability of DRS was lopsided. Our only game where DRS was available was washed out.And I’d like to see them continuing with this format instead of having two pools and then a Super Six, like the 2013 edition. It makes the tournament a tad long, but at least all sides have equal opportunities.Atapattu: Two new balls across 50 overs, unlike now, could see bigger scores.Perkins: A third umpire and DRS in all games. We saw how influential the ability to go to a third umpire or use DRS was in a number of games, with the opening match of England v India a prime example!What we’d like from the broadcasters and the mediaKrishnamurthy: The media must do their bit to sustain this interest. The standard of the game has really improved from what it was ten years back. I think it will be good entertainment for the fans, so I would just want them to continue supporting us.Alex Hartley, England left-arm spinner: Televise the entire Kia Super League, and not just a few games at the back of the men’s. The World Cup has proved that women’s games can be broadcast individually. We’ve had support from many male cricketers – across countries – such as [Virat] Kohli, Joe Root, which has helped widen the fan base for women’s cricket. I hope in the future women’s cricket will have an independent identity.Headliner: Anya Shrubsole’s six wickets in the final will inspire a generation of cricketers to come•Getty ImagesBaig: Without watching Pakistan women’s cricketers play, how many young girls would consider playing cricket? We may not have had the best campaign, but it’s important the media keep the people informed about what we’re up to, stay with us through thick and thin, just like they do with the men’s team.Matthews: . It would help next year’s World T20, which is going to be held in West Indies, if we could continue the momentum with the coverage and televise, at the least, 50% of every bilateral series we play here on – home and away.Perkins: This success of the final was punctuated the next morning, when every mainstream newspaper I saw in London had Anya Shrubsole and the English girls plastered all across the front and back pages.Mooney: Opportunity for people to see not just the game, but the players in a marketable fashion. The more they can promote the game and put our names out there, every time there’s an international or a domestic game, the public is going to be right behind us. It takes a lot of time and effort to get to that level so I hope the media can get that done.What we’d like to tell cricket fansHartley: Women’s cricket can be engaging and entertaining. The World Cup bore evidence. That should be reason enough for fans to flock the stands.Baig: Earlier, our margins of defeat would be bigger. It has narrowed considerably over the past ten to 12 months. For any player donning the national jersey, nothing can hurt more than not being able to win for your country. I would only suggest that the fans treat us objectively, but not lose faith in us.Matthews: The women’s game will be even more competitive in the next couple of years than what we’ve seen at the 2017 World Cup. It deserves be treated as an independent entity. It’s not fair to compare it with men’s cricket.Krishnamurthy: If we have people coming and watching an international fixture, that would be the best encouragement for us. With that, I think the domestic games could also attract people to the grounds.Mooney: If the fans can relate to women’s cricket different from the way they do to men’s cricket, I think they’ll feel more invested in the women’s game. Whether it’s a franchise or or an international side, they’d support us more and be more positive about it. The next five years is going to be huge for women in sport, and hopefully cricket will be at the front end of that.

With the final round of matches in the Intercontinental Cup set to kick off on November 29, it will be the last time these two new Test teams will feature in Associate cricket’s most important multi-day tournament

The Preview by Peter Della Penna in Abu Dhabi28-Nov-2017On June 5, 2015 in Scotland’s city of Stirling, few signs portended Afghanistan’s future status at the end of their opening-round match of the Intercontinental Cup. The team had mostly sat through dreary, wet conditions over the course of the previous four days before slipping to 94 for 8, eventually conceding a 98-run first-innings lead to Scotland in a drawn match.Afghanistan were just two months removed from their first World Cup appearance, where their lone win came in a one-wicket thriller against Scotland in Dunedin, and still struggling – at times – to assert themselves consistently against Associate competition. Later that same summer, at the World T20 Qualifier in Scotland and Ireland, losses to Oman and Hong Kong put them in a precarious position: needing to finish on top in a must-win encounter against Papua New Guinea at Malahide, failing which they would miss out on the 2016 World T20 in India.Two and a half years later, things are much sunnier on the eve of the final round of I-Cup in Abu Dhabi than they were in Stirling, both on and off the field. Afghanistan have had five straight wins in the I-Cup, including four on the trot by an innings. They have turned into demons in the shorter forms as well, using victories over Zimbabwe and West Indies at the 2016 World T20 to catapult themselves past Ireland as the pre-eminent Associate. That is, until Afghanistan was granted Test status and Full Membership along with Ireland by the ICC in June.Round seven fixtures starting November 29

Hong Kong v PNG (Sharjah)
Ireland v Scotland (DSC , Dubai)
Namibia v Netherlands (ICC Academy, Dubai)
UAE v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi)

The next four days are Afghanistan’s swansong on the Associate-cricket scene. Currently first on the I-Cup table, 12 points ahead of Ireland, a win over UAE will give them their second I-Cup title. It would be the perfect finish before they begin to fully embark on Test cricket.”It’s been quite a good journey the last six or seven years starting from 2010, I-Cup games,” allrounder Mohammad Nabi said on the eve of the match while reflecting on Afghanistan’s journey. “We played our first game against Zimbabwe A and we enjoyed that. It’s quite good memories over the years, quite good wins as well. The first time we played the I-Cup, we won the title as well.”People think that Afghanistan just plays the T20 game well, but I know Afghanistan team plays four-day and Test very well because of quality spinners and quality fast bowlers. We have the kind of batsmen that can play four-day and Tests.”Though they won the 2009-10 I-Cup and had a strong record over the course of the 2011-13 I-Cup campaign, Afghanistan were beaten convincingly by Ireland in the final. It showed they still had a learning curve to work their way through. Their next cycle that started in 2015 got off to an inauspicious start, but part of their dominance – since that damp week in Stirling – can be traced to the emergence of a new wave of talent.Nawroz Mangal is carried around the field by his team-mates•Peter Della PennaNowadays, it’s hard to imagine life without Rashid Khan in an Afghanistan shirt but he was still many months away from making his senior team debut when the draw wrapped up in Scotland. In left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan, Afghanistan have found a solid foil for Rashid, creating a left-right one-two wrist-spinning tag team to keep opposition batsmen constantly under threat in multi-day cricket.Nawroz Mangal’s retirement has opened the door for the next generation of batsmen too. Nasir Jamal and Ihsanullah Janat have ensured there has been no drop-off in scoring since coming into the team, easing the pressure off captain Asghar Stanikzai and Nabi.But this round is not just about saluting Afghanistan into the Full-Member world. Ireland, too, have a point to prove, that they merit their promotion to Full Membership not just on past glories but on current form. Unlike the conveyor belt of talent coming through the Afghanistan pipeline, Ireland have struggled when age and injuries have caught up with them.Ed Joyce, Ireland’s finest-ever batsman, has been laid low for much of the past six months by a series of ailments and appears to be hanging by a thread to be able to take the field for the maiden Test against Pakistan in May 2018. Boyd Rankin has similarly been troubled by the injury bug, exposing a lack of depth and variety in the pace bowling department.The umpires wait for wet weather to clear in Stirling•Donald MacLeod / Cricket ScotlandRegardless of whether or not Ireland field a full-strength side in Dubai, Scotland will be raring to knock them off in an effort to make a major statement that the promotion of Associates to Full Members should not stop at Ireland and Afghanistan. Their recent four-day record is deceiving. The most snake-bitten team weather-wise, Scotland have four draws – all three home matches were heavily affected by rain – in six matches plus an abandonment against Hong Kong when all four days were wiped out in Mong Kok. Even their one result, a loss to Netherlands, had the entire first day lost due to a wet outfield in Voorburg.Yet, Scotland were finalists in 2010 and over the past year have shown signs in other formats that they are narrowing the gap with Ireland and Afghanistan. After reaching the semi-finals of the Desert T20 Challenge to start the year, they recorded 50-over wins against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe during the home summer. A win over Ireland would be another feather in their cap in an impressive 2017.Netherlands are also looking to firm up third place with a win over Namibia. Finishing right behind Ireland and Afghanistan in the four-day competition, coupled with a possible first-place finish in the WCL Championship (to earn a spot as the 13th team in the proposed ODI league) would go a long way to enhancing their claims for more opportunities against Full Members beyond the guaranteed matches that would come via the ODI league.But more than anything else, this week is Afghanistan’s opportunity to bask in Associate glory one last time. Six months ago, they would have needed a win in this final match to give themselves a shot at Test cricket. The ICC’s decision in June to grant them Test status took that pressure of a win off them.However, this is a prideful team. They are proud of their Associate roots, proud of the opportunities they have earned through the merit-based Associate pathways, and proud to claim one more piece of Associate hardware before heading out into a brave new world as a Test nation.

Hashim Amla put on a special act at the Wanderers but needed some support. He found it in unlikely quarters

Firdose Moonda in Johannesburg25-Jan-2018It’s so tough batting at the Wanderers that only one South African batsman got into double figures, and not without a fight. Hashim Amla had to adjust his technique, shuffle across his stumps to minimise the probability of being dismissed lbw, and he survived three reviews and a blow to the ribs in compiling 61 runs in a mixture of fortune and finesse. And while it’s true that Amla held South Africa’s innings together, he did not do it on his own.Two South African bowlers also got into double figures and their efforts cannot be put down to luck. Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander dragged South Africa to a slender advantage on a surface that is smouldering for batsmen on both sides. Between them, Rabada and Philander spent more time at the crease (205 minutes) than all South Africa’s other batsmen put together aside from Amla (152 minutes), and faced more balls.Ordinarily, that might be put down to circumstance, things like an old ball, tired bowlers, the opposition losing focus, a flattening pitch. Not this time. The pair were in the thick of things, against a swinging ball, lively bowling, an Indian attack that sensed an opportunity to get their own back, and a pitch that is not becoming any easier to bat on with cracks widening and uneven bounce.Rabada batted from the third over, when Aiden Markram was dismissed on the first evening. The first ball he faced swung away from him, the second moved in and struck him high on the pad and he still had to face eight more before he the day was done. Rabada’s job, however, was not.Technically, if Rabada only lasted a few minutes on the second morning, no one would have had too much to say. Realistically, after Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivered an opening over that squared Dean Elgar up once and beat him four times with seam movement away, if Rabada had hung his bat out and edged, no one would have had too much to say. But Rabada was made of sterner stuff.He watched an Ishant Sharma ball whistle past him and knew that he couldn’t quite catch its tune. He watched another pitch outside leg and then pass over middle and off. Maybe he didn’t watch that as such. Maybe it just caught the corner of his eye. He watched a third aimed at his off stump and got his bat down in time to keep it out, but then watched the ball take the edge and zoot past third man. He probably watched his own chest rise and fall as his heart beat faster knowing he was still there. And it would not have slowed down.Rabada was beaten three more times in an over by Ishant before he was able to leave with some certainty but there was never a stage of his innings where he was allowed to settled. Ishant continued to beat him, even with an offbreak on one occasion, before Bhuvneshwar tested him with a fuller length. The slip cordon predicted Rabada would not last long. They were wrong. Somehow, he batted until 11.53, seven minutes before lunch, taking his total time in the middle to two hours and 10 minutes. That’s more than a session. And in that time, Rabada played four of the best shots by anyone across the last two days – a flick off the pads, a strong square drive, a whip through midwicket and a loft over extra cover. Even Amla was impressed.”He doesn’t bat for as long as that ever, so he got to a time where he was like, ‘What do I do now?'” Amla said when asked if some of Rabada’s classier shots were influenced by him. “On a wicket like this, an element of fortune comes in and there are plays and misses all the time. We saw a few flair shots towards the end there. He had good intensity. If there was a bad ball, he tried to hit it.”Exactly the same can be said of Philander, and we should hardly be surprised. With seven Tests fifties to his name, Philander has done enough to be considered an allrounder. He pulled the third ball he faced – a bouncer meant for his chest, delivered by the bowler that had beaten his captain for pace, for four.Philander played with more intent than Rabada and, in so doing, dispelled some of the recent discontent that had been swirling around him. Despite being exceptionally skillful in his execution of seam movement, Philander has been criticised for the fitness concerns that became particularly problematic in England, when he fell ill at The Oval and then missed the deciding Test in Manchester with back spasms.Then, Graeme Smith said that unless Philander concentrated on his conditioning, his career would be in danger of waning fast. Today, Smith, gave Philander the highest praise when he compared his back-and-across to Jacques Kallis’. “I saw the comparison with Jacques Kallis on the screen, and we do call him ‘Woogie’ [Kallis’ nickname],” Amla said. “He prizes his wicket and he has matured into a good batsman.”Philander’s most eyecatching stroke was the high-elbowed back-foot drive but his best moment was two overs’ earlier, when he was struck on the glove. Philander required on-field treatment and carried on; the Philander who had been in Smith’s firing line might have required more assistance, maybe not even carried on. This Philander, the Philander playing in his 50th Test, had the right kind of guts and played an innings of great value for his team.Ultimately, Rabada and Philander’s runs may be needed as much as what they might do next. India are already 42 runs ahead and have already had lower-order efforts of their own. Though India don’t know what a safe target to set may be, given that neither side has topped 200, anything much more would be a tough ask. Amla remained positive but if South Africa are to chase something more significant, he will need a lot more help to get there. “It’s evenly poised. Anything can happen tomorrow morning. Even if we have to chase 300, that’s fine, we are going to do our best to get there,” he said.

What does Arjun Tendulkar do? What has he done to merit selection? Here’s an explainer on Sachin Tendulkar’s son who was named in the India Under-19 team for the two four-day matches in Sri Lanka

Shashank Kishore07-Jun-2018What skills does Arjun Tendulkar have?Unlike his illustrious father who initially aspired to be a fast bowler, Arjun is close to becoming one. He is a tall left-arm quick who gets the ball to swing late. He is also primarily a lower-middle-order batsman, but is working hard on what his coaches believe is his “secondary skillset” currently.Who are his coaches?For the last two years, Arjun has been closely working on his bowling action with Atul Gaikwad, a Pune-based coach and biomechanics expert. Arjun’s action has had to be remodelled after he suffered from two stress fractures that ruled him out of age-group cricket for close to 10 months in 2016-17. While Gaikwad doesn’t have any first-class experience, his expertise and inputs have been valued, so much that he’s also been used by the National Cricket Academy (NCA).Apart from Gaikwad, Arjun also works on a one-on-one basis with former India fast bowler Subroto Banerjee, who, till recently was a bowling consultant with the Ranji Trophy winning Vidarbha side. Banerjee has previously been credited for his work with Umesh Yadav and more recently Rajneesh Gurbani, Vidarbha’s leading wicket-taker of the 2017-18 season.With designated India Under-19 coach Rahul Dravid away with the India A team in England, Arjun will work closely with former India batsman WV Raman, who is in charge of the Under-19 side for the tour of Sri Lanka.What has Arjun done to merit selection?Arjun has been a part of an ongoing residential camp conducted by the NCA in Dharamsala, where he is understood to have impressed the junior selection panel, headed by former India spinner Aashish Kapoor, during intra-academy matches held in Una, Himachal Pradesh. ESPNcricinfo understands his performances in Mumbai’s age-group circuit also played a part. Arjun picked up 19 wickets in five matches, including two five-wicket hauls, for Mumbai Under-19 in the 2017-18 Cooch Behar Trophy.In September 2017, Arjun was picked in the one-day side for the JY Lele invitational tournament in Baroda. Although not a BCCI tournament, the performances there paved way for his eventual inclusion in the Mumbai Under-19 set-up.What are the factors that have contributed to Arjun’s rise?Exposure internationally, something not many of his peers are used to. He has already been a part of a number of representative clubs in India and England, he trains at the indoor academy at Lord’s and has even bowled to members of the England team in the nets.Last year, he landed a yorker on Jonny Bairstow’s toe to give him an injury scare ahead of the South Africa Tests. He is also a regular net bowler for the Indian team, whenever they play in Mumbai and also bowled to the India women’s team ahead of their World Cup final against England at Lord’s last year.In January this year, Arjun represented a Cricket Club of India XI against a Hong Kong-based side at the Bradman Oval in Adelaide, where he made a 27-ball 48 as an opener apart from picking four wickets. In July 2017, he was part of an MCC squad that played two matches against Namibia Under-19 in England. In his first outing, he picked up four wickets to bowl Namibia out for 49. MCC XI won both matches.Does his selection mean he has a good chance to play at the next Under-19 World Cup?No. Arjun would be 20 years and five months when the 2020 edition kicks off in South Africa, which will automatically rule him out of contention. However, he will gain valuable experience and match time in the interim, along with the experience of working with Dravid.

From being viewed as an injury risk to becoming one of the CPL’s best fast bowlers, the 27-year-old from Ohio has seen his career graph soar

Peter Della Penna06-Sep-2018On June 3, even as USA’s selection panel was focusing on regional trial matches in New York, there were a few who had their eye on the player draft of the Global T20 Canada. The interest stemmed from the rules – each team had to pick at least one Associate player outside the minimum four to be selected from within Canada.This elicited interest among USA cricket circles, for there was a chance a number of their players would be picked. Of special interest were those who were acquired at the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) draft in March. Ali Khan wasn’t one of them, after Guyana Amazon Warriors let him go in part due to persistent fitness issues. But Winnipeg Hawks felt otherwise by making him their ninth-round pick, unusually high for an Associate player.A number of USA players and officials present at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx were confused at the selection, unsure that it was “the same Ali Khan” who kept getting injured. Was Ali Khan a domestic cricketer from Pakistan who just happens to share the same name?Over the next few hours, it was established it was the Ali Khan, the injury-prone Ali Khan. There may have been doubters, but one man – Pubudu Dassanayake, the USA head coach – always had the belief. “His talent really came through in the Global T20 Canada,” he says.Ali Khan, the 27-year-old fast bowler who resides in Ohio, elicited further interest after his solid campaign with Hawks when he got called up for a CPL gig with Trinbago Knight Riders as a replacement player. As the tournament in the Caribbean reaches its business end, Ali Khan is now in the race to finish as the leading wicket-taker of the season.”When you get someone that comes in for their first big tournament so to speak, there’s always going to be a bit of pressure on them but he’s handled it really well and I think he’ll get better with the exposure,” Trinbago coach Simon Katich, who also serves as batting coach for Kolkata Knight Riders, told ESPNcricinfo. “There’s going be a lot of awareness [around Ali Khan] now and it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a fair bit of awareness when it comes around next year to the IPL auction.

“Ali is a world-class bowler. [Last year] I stood at slips and watched the way he ran in, the way he bowled … and I said to my brother, ‘This guy is a very talented player.'”Dwayne Bravo

“If he continues this form throughout the tournament, I’m sure that he’s caught the eye of a number of franchises. Because he’s got a tough role bowling with the new ball in the Powerplay and then at the back end of the innings. He’s got raw ingredients there with pace, with good control, but he’s also been clever about how he’s bowled. In this format, if you’re not clever with how you bowl, you pay the price. He’s prepared to do the homework and he trains hard.”Ali Khan has been a model of consistency this CPL season. He has taken a wicket in seven out of eight matches for a total of 13 overall to put him just one behind joint-tournament leaders Andre Russell and Oshane Thomas of Jamaica Tallawahs. His economy rate of 8.09 in 28.4 overs is seventh best among fast bowlers in a list that has Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Obed McCoy, Carlos Brathwaite and Thomas. So what’s the secret to this success for someone who featured in just one CPL game in two seasons prior to this one?Ali Khan simply puts it down to the team environment. “From coach to the owner Shah Rukh Khan to [CEO] Venky [Mysore] sir, the manager, every team-mate has welcomed me,” he said. “I feel relaxed there, I feel at home. I’m just happy to be there and the results are coming out good because they make me so comfortable and they made me part of the family since day one.”It also helped that Dwayne Bravo, his captain at Trinbago, was also the leader at Hawks. “It was a great experience there playing with him. He gives me a lot of confidence when I go out there and bowl. I had a good outing in Canada and now I’m continuing that in CPL. Hopefully I can finish it all the way and win the title.”Ashley Allen – CPL T20 / GettyBravo is one of Ali Khan’s biggest supporters within the set-up. The Trinbago captain first saw Ali Khan bowl at a T20 tournament called the US Open, at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. Bravo is among many West Indians who have featured at the annual event involving US club sides, which has a USD 100,000 prize pool. Last year, Bravo was a guest player in Ali Khan’s team, and, before long, he was mighty impressed.”Ali is a world-class bowler to me,” Bravo said. “I remember playing last year in the US [Open] tournament. I stood at slips and watched the way he ran in, the way he bowled, the skills that he has especially with the old ball coming back and I said to my brother, ‘This guy is a very talented player.'”It’s sad that he’s in the US obviously where he doesn’t have much exposure. As soon as the opportunity came about to get him in our squad [as Ronsford Beaton’s replacement], straightaway I grabbed him. When there was the Canada tournament, I picked him in my team as well. So he’s somebody that I will take anywhere. If I have the opportunity, I would love to have him in my team.”Bravo aside, Ali Khan also found a strong endorsement from Chris Lynn, his closest ally during the 2016 CPL season at Amazon Warriors. Lynn could even be seen helping his American mate with some batting tips during a recent Knight Riders training session in Florida. Such support has helped him not just enjoy life when times are good but also get past some bumps in the road earlier this season. Despite taking three wickets against Jamaica Tallawahs in the second match of the season, Ali Khan wound up being the villain for dropping Andre Russell and then seeing him blast an unbeaten century in a record chase.He wasn’t hung up on the drop, though, returning strongly to finish with a three-for in his next outing, against St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. “It definitely hurt me a lot because I dropped him on zero but he played a very good innings after that,” Ali Khan said. “After the game, I was a little disappointed, but coach Simon Katich, bowling coach Carl Crowe and DJ Bravo, I spoke to them and they said whatever happened just put it behind you.”Aside from his skillset, which includes being able to bowl consistent yorkers at 145 kph, Katich says Ali Khan’s mental toughness in overcoming that incident has stood out. “You can do all the planning you want but if you don’t have the skills to back it up then it doesn’t matter on game day,” Katich said. “He’s got the pace, the swing with that new ball and the ability to hit the yorker when he needs to under pressure.”He’s had great learning so far in this tournament. Obviously he’s had a couple of tough games where we’ve had guys like Andre Russell or Kieron Pollard get away from us at the end. But that’s all part of his development as a player.””We have our bowlers meeting the day of the game and one thing that he’s done religiously every game is his homework. He’s looked at the footage with us the coaches and our analyst and planned really well. One thing that he said recently after one of the games is that he feels he’s done well because he’s done the work off the field and in his thought process and planning. That doesn’t guarantee success but what it does do is it probably means you go in fully prepared mentally.”As the CPL playoffs approach with defending champions Trinbago in pole position, the interest around Ali Khan will continue to grow. Dassanayake believes his significance in franchise leagues can have a ripple effect in USA, much like how it has been in Afghanistan after Rashid Khan’s rise. Now, they have a number of other next-gen spinners picked up by T20 franchises in Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Qais Ahmad and Zahir Khan.”This tournament is just the start of his career and he can be playing in every premier league in the world now,” Dassanayake said. “He’s good enough and it’s just about performing in every tournament and growing from there. They’re playing with top players and when they perform at that level, definitely the same top players playing in the other leagues will recommend them, they’ll support them to be in the other leagues.”Ali is already on that route. That gives a picture of USA cricket to the world, the talent that we have. Definitely we have a good pipeline. We are not short of any talent, it’s just about grooming them properly here and if they have an opportunity to play in top leagues I think it’ll be fantastic for USA cricket.”

The allrounder has become one of the most effective Powerplay spinners and has his sights on international honours

Matt Roller20-Dec-2018You’ll probably know the story about the legspinner from Afghanistan who made his international debut at 17 and became the world’s best T20 bowler while he was still a teenager. You might also know about the boy from Nepal who was spotted by Michael Clarke in Hong Kong. Rashid Khan and Sandeep Lamichhane are the human representations of the democratisation that has come from T20’s globalising effect on cricket; the Big Bash is yet another chance for the pair to shine.But do you know the one about the Durban-born spinner with a British passport, who captained Guyana in the Caribbean Premier League final and hopes he is on the cusp of Australia selection despite never having played a first-class game?If you’ve watched Sydney Thunder in the last few years, chances are you’ll have seen Chris Green play. Not that you’ll necessarily have noticed him: Green has scored 149 runs and taken 22 wickets in his 27 games for them, while finding his niche in an unglamorous role.”Bowling in the Powerplay is something that I started doing in the Big Bash in the last two seasons, bowling those tough overs,” Green tells ESPNcricinfo. “I enjoy the challenge. I guess that’s the way the game’s changing – when it started, everyone thought T20 would be the death of spinners and wouldn’t suit them. But now teams are more willing to pick spinners and bowl them more. At the Thunder, we’ve played three spinners and two quicks at times in the past couple of years.”Green’s flat, fired-through offspin is anything but eye-catching; when he opened the bowling in last season’s Big Bash curtain-raiser, one punter tweeted: “Always look forward to the first over of the Test summer, watching the best quicks run in and bowl the first ball. The BBL equivalent is Chris Green bowling part-time offspin. Give me Test cricket any day.”But it is no exaggeration to say that Green is up there with the best in that role. Since the start of the 2015-16 BBL, his economy in overs one to six is just 6.39, leaving him the second-tightest spinner in that period, sandwiched between Rashid and Sunil Narine. He impressed in the same role in the T10 tournament in Sharjah, which his Northern Warriors side won. His method holds little mystery, relying on subtle variation, changes of pace, and a deceptive dip thanks to his unusual height.”My goal from the outset is always to stay a step ahead of the batter,” he says. “As a right-arm offspinner against a right-handed batter, you’re up against it before you even bowl a ball just because of their mentality. So I always try to use that to my advantage – the tendency is for the batter to be a bit overzealous. You just play on their mindset, their ego, try to do the best you can in building pressure.”While Green’s is not a rags-to-riches tale like Rashid or Lamichhane, his career shares the characteristic that its trajectory would have been almost unimaginable ten years ago. For all the resentment that the old-school fan might hold about his seemingly innocuous bowling, his glistening smile and slick hair, his perfectly curated Instagram feed, and his jet-setter lifestyle, Green’s ability with the new ball, in the field, and his potential as a finisher has helped him forge a reputation on the back of T20 performances alone.Green’s first full BBL season was the Thunder’s victorious 2015-16 campaign, and the challenge of being thrust onto the biggest stage for a man whose professional experience had been limited to three Matador Cup games was lessened thanks to his veteran team-mates.”I was so privileged to be playing alongside some of the greatest players and leaders ever – Jacques Kallis, Mike Hussey, Shane Watson,” he says, “so to use them, lean on them as my mentors while I was playing with them was amazing for me. I still keep in contact with them – I was chatting a lot to Mike Hussey this winter, just talking him through how I was going, what my thoughts were, and picking his brain as much as possible.”The BBL has opened up a new pathway. It’s presented me with amazing opportunities. It’s a great experience, it’s a lot of fun, and you’re thrust into that ‘adapt-or-die’ scenario on the field with both bat and ball. It’s such a great learning environment.”While the aphorism that living out of a hotel room in a foreign city can make the life of a T20 gun-for-hire a lonely one holds some truth, for the younger players on the franchise scene, the chance to train and talk cricket with the greats is an enticing one. So despite never making it onto the pitch in his spells at Lahore Qalandars and Quetta Gladiators, Green credits much of his early development to sharing hotels and dressing rooms with his heroes.”I count myself so lucky to have spent two seasons in the Pakistan Super League,” he says, “even though I haven’t played a game in it. I’ve been rubbing shoulders with the best in the business, both in the teams I signed for, and in the opposition teams too. It’s the nature of the modern game – that culture of knowledge-sharing is very open between players. I got to sit at breakfast with Kumar Sangakkara, Brendon McCullum, and Kevin Pietersen, and absorb as much information as possible.”Chris Green was handed the captaincy of Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / GettyAnd while bowling is Green’s strongest suit, it was an innings of 49 off 27 balls in the Sydney derby that secured him his contract with Guyana. One of the bowlers on the receiving end that day was the Sixers’ Johan Botha, and when Cameron Delport withdrew from Botha’s squad, he gave Green – who had spent the winter in the UK playing for Surrey’s 2nd XI and Sunbury, via a stint in the Norwegian Premier League – a call.”He’d seen what I can do with the ball over the past few years, and then saw my potential with the bat first-hand. It helps to impress first-hand, and that’s the nature of the game at the moment. You’re one game away or one innings or spell away where a coach or an owner is watching and says ‘hey, I really like what this guy can do’.”I was over the moon to get the opportunity to show off what I could do outside of the Big Bash and outside of Australia on another big stage, and the added excitement of captaining the last four games into the final was an amazing opportunity and experience for me.”It wasn’t expected or planned – the management made a decision to drop Rayad Emrit, and I woke up the morning of a game and they sat me down and said ‘you’re our captain tonight and for the rest of the tournament’. It could have turned our form on its head and been detrimental, but it worked in our favour in the end. Unfortunately, things didn’t go our way in the final, but it was a great experience. I learnt an immense amount about myself and about my game.”Green hopes to get more of a regular chance with the bat this season, after facing barely four balls per game in his Thunder career thus far, but is unequivocal when asked what his long-term goal might be.”To play for Australia, definitely. At the moment, my game is more suited to T20, and that’s the path that a few players are on: that’s where I’m most likely to get picked before Test cricket. David Warner opened that idea up; that you can play T20 first, do really well there, go to one-day cricket, get some opportunities, and more onto the Test arena as you start to understand your game really well. I’d love to be able to put my hand up for selection for the T20 World Cup [in 2020], and achieve that boyhood dream.”

The Kings XI captain might have ended up on the losing side, but he did make a big statement on his return to Chepauk

Deivarayan Muthu in Chennai06-Apr-2019When Luis Figo returned to Camp Nou as part of the opposition in 2002, the same fans who had once worshipped him were back, this time to jeer him. They even threw a severed pig head at his feet. While club loyalties don’t run as deep in cricket yet, the return of R Ashwin, the original Chennai Super King, to Chepauk was the theme of the evening on Saturday.He pulled off one trick after another to hush his former franchise and their fans. Briefly, at least. He was even on a hat-trick at one point and throttled MS Dhoni with proactive field placements, but the crowd was firmly behind their .As it turned out, Dhoni didn’t face a single delivery from Ashwin, but the duel between the offspinner and the rest of the Super Kings was fun to watch.Ashwin took the new ball – like he used to do for Super Kings earlier – and Shane Watson greeted him “home” with a rasping slog-sweep. Ashwin then took himself out of the attack, and watched Faf du Plessis ping a four over his head at mid-off. Andrew Tye and Sam Curran also copped punishment, but Ashwin egged them on.Super Kings were 55 for none in seven overs. Kings XI needed a wicket, and Ashwin brought himself back and delivered the breakthrough by flicking a carrom ball to have Watson hole out to deep midwicket. Ashwin took flight and punched his fist animatedly. It was not just a celebration. It was a statement.Ashwin then briefly paused in his action and darted one wide outside off. Suresh Raina skipped back and slashed a single to sweeper cover, but it was enough to draw cheers from the crowd.He then rolled out a surfeit of experiments. It was coming, wasn’t it?After all, Chennai has been the laboratory for his experiments. He mastered the carrom ball at the Super Kings nets, and more recently he worked on bowling legspin with his friend and coach VRS Guru Kedarnath at his academy Gen-Next. A few local reporters even claim that Ashwin has bowled left-arm all-sorts in lower-division cricket here.He bowled right-arm all-sorts in his second over on Saturday. He sent a seam-up ball to du Plessis, hit the bat harder than du Plessis had expected, and then did a Kedar Jadhav. He went wide of the crease and unleashed a low-arm slider against Raina, but it turned out to be an off-side wide.At the other end, Ashwin’s understudy and namesake Murugan Ashwin, a former Super Kings net bowler himself, kept attacking the stumps and ramped up the pressure on the hosts.Just when du Plessis was set to kick into a higher gear, Ashwin got him with the carrom ball – a variation du Plessis might have tackled several times at the Super Kings nets but wasn’t good enough for on the day. The next one was a slider from around the wicket, and Raina was bowled. Ashwin was on a roll, but there was an eerie silence in the stands.The fans found their voices briefly when Ambati Rayudu kept out the hat-trick ball. Chepauk then raised itself to a massive roar when their favourite son Dhoni strode out.Immediately, Ashwin packed the infield: four men on the off side and two on the leg side, including a short midwicket and a mid-on. Dhoni’s favourite leg-side jab was cut off, and look who was at short midwicket: Chris Gayle, who has been outsmarted quite a few times by Dhoni and Ashwin – most famously in the 2011 IPL final.Dhoni got off to a typically slow start – he was on 14 off 15 balls – but with Ashwin (4-0-23-3) out of the way, he tore into Curran. The crowd got what it wanted: some big hits from Dhoni. Ashwin got what he wanted: a telling impact against Super Kings on his return to Chepauk.

He’s been MS Dhoni’s go-to man at the start, but the injures at Super Kings have meant there’s a role for him at the end too – and he’s practiced for it

Deivarayan Muthu in Chennai10-Apr-20193:26

What makes Deepak Chahar so effective?

Before the game against Kings XI Punjab on Saturday, Deepak Chahar had not bowled a single ball in the death overs since his IPL debut in May 2016. He had established himself as Chennai Super Kings’ Powerplay specialist – since IPL 2018 no bowler has taken more wickets than Chahar’s 17 – but an injury to the side’s designated death bowler Dwayne Bravo forced Dhoni hold an over of Chahar back for the death.Kings XI Punjab needed 39 off 12 balls in a chase of 161. Dhoni tossed the ball to Chahar, but the seamer made a mess of the back-of-the-hand slower ball in dewy conditions and instead sent down two beamers, the first of which was ramped over backward point. The second was slashed over the same fielder, and just like that the equation was reduced to 31 off 12 balls.Dhoni was livid with Chahar’s back-to-back lapses and walked up to him, asking him to change up his pace and lengths. Chahar then redeemed himself with a brace of near-perfect yorkers and three tighter slower balls. He capped the over with a full, straight ball that knocked over David Miller’s leg stump.Chahar gave Scott Kuggeleijn the cushion of defending 25 in the final over, and the New Zealand seam-bowling allrounder secured victory for Super Kings on IPL debut.”I’ve got thousands of messages asking the same question [What did Dhoni tell you after bowling two beamers?]. I think he was angry,” Chahar said. “If I was the captain, I would have been angry also at that situation, bowling two beamers. They needed 39 runs and suddenly needed only 30 [31] off 12 balls. He was angry at the selection of the ball. It was a wet ball and that ball was not good. So, I went and bowled other balls.”Last season, Chahar found movement in the air and also off the helpful Pune track to subdue the opposition. The Chennai track hasn’t been as helpful to the seamers, but Chahar has adjusted by venturing a variety of slower balls.ESPNcricinfo LtdChahar said that he had trained for the tired Chepauk surface by bowling a lot of slower balls in the lead-up to the IPL. Earlier, he had developed the knuckle ball during his injury-hit stint with Rising Pune Supergiant(s) in 2016, and then introduced it to the world at Chennai Super Kings last season.”Last year we played a lot of matches in Pune,” Chahar said. “The conditions were very helpful for seam bowlers. There was lot of swing and seam [movement], but this year I knew we will be playing a lot of matches in Chennai. So, we practiced that way, and length is very important. When the ball is swinging, you can get away with bad lengths, But, when the ball isn’t swinging, the length and line need to be very accurate.”So, I’ve practiced that way. I have worked on the slower ones and slower bouncers. I was prepared for it. Obviously, I’m a better bowler now than I was last year because at this level, you need a lot of confidence. Last year I performed well, so I had a lot confidence. Playing for India has also helped me.”Chahar’s knuckle ball hasn’t made an appearance yet in IPL 2019, but he pinned Robin Uthappa with a 120kph offcutter in Super Kings’ victory over Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday. Uthappa briefly found his groove with back-to-back boundaries off seam-up balls from Chahar. Dhoni then brought fine leg inside the circle and whisked midwicket to the boundary.Chahar got a short offcutter to stick into the pitch and had Uthappa splicing a catch to Kedar Jadhav, who had just moved to deep midwicket. Dhoni and Chahar executed the plan to perfection and left Knight Riders at 24 for 4 in the fifth over. There would be no way back for them.”Obviously, it [Uthappa’s wicket] was a plan,” Chahar said. “The ball only swings one or two overs and after that the batsmen are looking to line up the ball. And there you have to bowl a lot of variations. I’ve practiced a lot of variations like the knuckle ball, but it’s very difficult to bowl with the wet ball. So the option is yorker, or slower bouncer on this wicket. So, we set the field according to that because we are going to bowl this ball.”In the two overs he has bowled in the death in the past two matches, Chahar has done fairly well, giving away 19 runs while claiming a wicket.David Willey (personal reasons) and Lungi Ngidi (injury) have both been sidelined from the entire IPL 2019. Bravo has now joined Ngidi on the injury list and might not be available until the end of April. Chahar said he was ready to dig deeper into his reserves and embrace the responsibility of bowling at the death.”I don’t think I have any pressure,” Chahar said. “I like when responsibility is given to me. I was happy, and I always wanted to bowl at the death. Obviously, we miss Bravo because he’s an asset to the team and you can’t replace a bowler. Because you need a batsman and a bowler in place of him. As far as I’m concerned, I was happy to get the opportunity to bowl at the death. Proving myself as a death bowler will help me in my career because it makes me a complete bowler.”

The way the World Cup final ended highlighted the deep sense of New Zealand’s loss and the cruelty of it all

Osman Samiuddin at Lord's 14-Jul-2019Kane Williamson is a beautiful man, we are all agreed on this. He is also, possibly, not human. Who knows how long it was after the end of a World Cup final that he and his side didn’t lose, twice, that he turned up to try and make sense of a game that may never make sense to anybody, not those who played it, not those who witnessed it, and not those tasked to document it? But he tried, which is what makes him not human.Because if he was like you and I, he may not have turned up for a start. Why would you when you have not lost a World Cup final and are still not the world champions? Forget the boundary rule that deemed England to be world champions because that came long after all the things that happened meant New Zealand didn’t win the match outright. No, he turned up, smiling, and refused once to use the word most responsible for New Zealand not being world champions. He played all around the word, like he almost never does a ball with bat in hand. He went this way, by calling it “the uncontrollable”. He went that way with “thin margins”.”Just one of those things.””One of those days.””Reeling from those thin margins.””It’s a fickle game, parts where as hard as you try, cards don’t fall your way.””You have small margins like that, other human decisions that can go one way or another. Number of other parts in that match that could’ve snuck our way.”One of those things, Kane? One of those things? The word he didn’t use was ‘luck’ and luck is really the only reason Williamson and New Zealand are not world champions right now. Because, if it isn’t luck that a little white leather globe no more than nine inches in circumference thrown from the deep midwicket boundary 60 to 70 metres away hits a moving piece of willow that may be no more than 38 inches in length and no more than 4.25 inches wide held by a human being diving to the ground and deflects off it, with enough speed, to an area of the field that is not patrolled by one of 11 men and goes for four, then what really is luck? And if it turns out that it should’ve been five runs instead of six because one umpire interpreted a rule concerning precisely such acts incorrectly? What is it?

You can plan, analyse, mine crazy data that helps you understand so much more but you can’t do jack about luck. Luck happens to you, you don’t happen to it. The harder I practice the luckier I get? Tell that to New Zealand tonight and see how much weight it holds

That doesn’t happen, and England need seven off two to win and not three off two. This is a massive planet, and there’s a hell of a lot of sports played out there and a hell of a lot more moments of luck that go into deciding contests within those sports. But if there has occurred a single bigger slice of luck to decisively change the fortune of such a massive game, in a global tournament, so late in the game, then it didn’t occur on this planet. Or this universe. Or this galaxy.If ever there was a day to believe in the randomness of life, that things just happen and they don’t necessarily happen for a reason, this was that day. S*** happens and, at the end of it, it’s lucky for someone and unlucky for someone else, and sometimes it’s nothing for nobody and passes by unnoticed.We make sense of it – we simplify it as much as we can actually – by doing the only thing we can, which is to articulate it in words and call it luck. And luck is not discerning. It is random. We strive most of our lives to eliminate luck from it. Professional sport is actually a collective and organised pursuit basically of eliminating luck and this pursuit is carried out knowing it is impossible, ultimately, to eliminate it totally.Athletes prepare their entire lives to be elite. Those hours in the gym, those hours away from family, those broken bones and pulled muscles and those hours – all of this is to eliminate luck as much as possible.So near yet so far for Kane Williamson and New Zealand•Getty ImagesYou can analyse events down to their minutest detail. This happened because he did this and he did that and next time he did this and he did that and something else happened. You can plan, analyse, mine crazy data that helps you understand so much more but you can’t do jack about luck. Luck happens to you, you don’t happen to it. The harder I practice the luckier I get? Tell that to New Zealand tonight and see how much weight it holds.Tell that to New Zealand about the umpires call from Marius Erasmus that didn’t go their way off the very first ball of the innings they bowled. Or about the incorrect call by the same umpire that saw the back of Ross Taylor.Tell that to Matt Henry for those magnificent opening overs of his, in which he beat the bat repeatedly but only found an edge that carried to the wicketkeeper once because it is luck that separates an edge found from an edge missed. Another day, Shaheen Shah Afridi beat the bat nearly as often against New Zealand and found the edge thrice. Another day, semi-final day in fact, Henry beat the bat as often and found the edge multiple times.Tell that to Jimmy Neesham and Lockie Ferguson, whose slower balls lobbed up in the air off the bats of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, without control, but landed in areas between two fielders. Tell that to the entire New Zealand attack who found the inside edge or inside half of English bats at least six times but found that inside edge to hit the stumps just once.You know who did use that word? Eoin Morgan, in his very first response. It meant everything to his team and everybody who had been planned to win the tournament, the planning, the hard work, the dedication, the commitment. “and the little bit of luck today really did get us over the line”.After the win, Adil Rashid told Morgan that Allah was with them. Morgan said it was the rub of the green, which, primarily, underlines the happy diversity in that dressing room. And it takes nothing away from England’s triumph, but only underscores the deep sense of New Zealand’s loss and the cruelty of it all. That and also that the beneficiaries of luck have the luxury of calling it whatever they want.