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It is rare, bordering on unprecedented, for New Zealand to enter a global event with such expectations. Something the rugby union team live with, but not the cricketers

Andrew McGlashan in Christchurch13-Feb-20150:29

McCullum looking forward to ‘pure wickets’

That is an extract from the newspaper following New Zealand’s 37-run victory in the opening match of the 1992 World Cup. Twenty-three years later and New Zealand have the honour of launching the latest edition of the tournament, when they take on Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval in Christchurch, a few hours before fellow hosts Australia face England at the MCG.However, beyond the similarity of having the first ball bowled in New Zealand is where most comparisons can end. In 1992 the match was at Eden Park, this time it’s in Christchurch. Whatever the result of the contest on Saturday, it is unlikely to have a “profound effect” on the tournament – although a defeat for the hosts would test the upbeat feeling that prevails New Zealand, both from players and supporters. And many would also argue that this World Cup, for the most part, is unlikely to be a “compelling contest” although surely there is room for pre-tournament excitement, too.The most significant difference, though, is the state that New Zealand find themselves in. It is rare, bordering on unprecedented, for them to enter a global event with such expectations. Something the rugby union team live with, but not the cricketers. The phrase ‘dark horses’ is often bandied around, but on this occasion that does Brendon McCullum’s side a disservice. It suggests they could sneak up and surprise. No, instead they should be bracketed alongside ‘favourites’.”I don’t know if we are favourites, but everyone is saying we have a good shot,” Luke Ronchi said. “We have to think that way, you don’t want to doubt yourself. We know we can beat any side on our day. If we perform the way we can we have a big chance.”They, along with Australia and South Africa, have been the standout teams in the lead-up period of one-day international cricket. Nine matches at home against Sri Lanka and Pakistan brought six victories – most comprehensive – and just two defeats. You can also add to that a commendable come-from-behind victory against Pakistan in the UAE when they were at far from full strength.”We go in with no excuses, we’ve had a great preparation and we’re ready to go,” McCullum said.It has been the development of the depth in New Zealand’s squad which makes them such a compelling force going into the World Cup. In the matches over the last six weeks, they have given all their players a chance and significantly, the team has never looked weaker for any changes. The squad appears fully interchangeable, especially among the pace bowlers.Beyond Tim Southee, the leader of the attack with white and red ball, it is difficult to find complete agreement on those who should operate alongside him. Trent Boult is a wonderfully skilful bowler, Mitchell McClenaghan was joint second fastest to 50 ODI wickets, Adam Milne is generating rare excitement as New Zealand’s fastest bowler since Shane Bond and Kyle Mills brings vast experience. Then there’s Corey Anderson’s strapping left-armers.TIm Southee-led bowling group is one of New Zealand’s strongest ever•Getty ImagesGiven the depth of batting possessed by most sides in this tournament, taking wickets rather than just restricting will be vital and New Zealand should be well served. Whether they know the ideal combination for the death remains a question (they are not alone in that) and the margins of victory of late have meant the pressure has not been at its greatest.New Zealand’s pace-bowling resources are as strong as they have ever been but the style of their cricket has been instilled by the man at the top of the order – captain McCullum. He does not possess a defensive thought. There were times during the matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan when it seemed wasteful, but the belief is that when he comes off the result can be devastating and if he does not the remaining batsmen have rarely failed as a collective.Kane Williamson is one of the form players in the world, Ross Taylor has regained his touch in recent weeks while the recall for Grant Elliott is looking a particularly shrewd selection, when it could have been viewed as a backward step as it meant Jimmy Neesham was overlooked. And Ronchi is as dynamic as they come at No. 6 or 7.Yet while New Zealand’s very recent form has been so encouraging for them, the path can be traced back much further – two years of building from when McCullum took charge of the team in a cut-throat decision that could have split New Zealand cricket down the middle. For a short while, as his predecessor Taylor took some time out, it threatened to do so. But piece by piece McCullum pulled his team together, by force of personality as well as performance.Weak links were weeded out, tough selection decisions made and only players who fitted the mould of the side – or would buy into the ethos – were considered, the most notable example being the ultimate decision not to consider Jesse Ryder for the World Cup. The end result is that, on the eve of the tournament, New Zealand have put together what is now being considered as their finest one-day team.But, a word of caution, too. New Zealand’s batsmen have been plundering some average bowling. Without Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka were a shadow of their best team while Pakistan were, largely, woeful during the early days of their time on the road. The value of the runs scored and confidence gained should not be written off, but they do need context.”We are going to have some tough days at some point so we just have to make sure we remain level-headed and stay down to earth,” McCullum cautioned.When New Zealand faced a higher quality attack they lost 2-0 to South Africa last October. In consecutive matches they were 68 for 5 and 134 for 9, albeit in early-season conditions. They face England and Australia in the middle of their group stage, which will be an insightful test of the batting line-up.First up, though, it’s Sri Lanka again and Malinga’s return, alone, is enough to derail any team if the yorkers are on target no matter what has gone before. But this New Zealand side should not fear anyone. An opening-day victory would certainly not be “against so many odds” like 23 years ago. This time, the country expects.

A World Cup 2015 composite XI as selected by ESPNcricinfo staff

Sidharth Monga30-Mar-20151:35

Watch – The composite World Cup team

Twenty-five of ESPNcricinfo staff voted for the team of the tournament. Thirty players got at least one vote. There was no set combination: some teams had only one specialist opener, a few went for two spinners, and one of the nominated XIs didn’t pick a spinner at all – if the champions can do it without one, why not this XI? Mitchell Starc and AB de Villiers were the only two unanimous picks. Mushfiqur Rahim, Hashim Amla, Shaiman Anwar, William Porterfield, MS Dhoni, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Umesh Yadav drew one vote each from those looking beyond the obvious names.The dead heat was for the No. 7 spot, between Corey Anderson and James Faulkner who were tied at 12 votes each. The two did seem to cancel each other out because most of votes seemed to reduce it to a face-off between them whereas Glenn Maxwell enjoyed a free run with 21 votes at No. 6. A special allowance was made for Anderson and Faulkner with a XII being named as opposed to an XI. Other close calls were Martin Guptill edging Shikhar Dhawan out as the second opener by 11 votes to nine. Wahab Riaz and Daniel Vettori sneaked past South Africans Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir, making it all-left-arm attack.

Brendon McCullum

24 votes, 328 runs at 36.44, four fifties, strike rate 188.50The leader of the side. Intent will drip off his frame: mouth chewing gum, smile on face, big forearms without an armguard. He will place attacking fields, chase down every ball, take unbelievable catches, do everything within his powers to keep the opposition down to a low target, and then go chase it before the supper break. If the target does happen to be big he will take a big chunk off it in the first five overs.

Martin Guptill

11 votes, 547 runs at 68.37, two hundreds including a double-hundred, one fifty, strike rate 104.58Highest run-scorer in the tournament. One to take the singles when McCullum is going, and try to play deep, as he did against West Indies in scoring the highest score in a World Cup match, 237. Watch out for the big sixes once he is in, with his head looking down at the pitch and not where the ball has gone, just like Roger Federer playing one of his backhand winners.

Kumar Sangakkara

21 votes, 541 runs at 108.20, four hundreds, strike rate 105.87, five catches, three stumpingsFour ODI hundreds in a row. Behind only Guptill in runs aggregate. Team’s oldest member, and their most stylish batsman. Apart from playing those long innings, will sledge the hell out of the opposition, and hoodwink an umpire or three.

Steven Smith

21 votes, 402 runs at 67, one hundred, four fifties, strike rate 91.57Slightly more old-fashioned in his strike rate, he will drive teams to distraction with his shuffle across the stumps and shots into the leg side from wherever he wishes. He will play the big innings in big matches. His last five efforts (most recent first): 56 not out, 105, 65, 72, 95. Also you need somebody with super hearing powers to review edges no one has heard.

AB de Villiers

25 votes, 482 runs at 96.40, one hundred, three fifties, strike rate 144.31Fast hands AB. Ambidextrous AB. One of the only two unanimous picks. Missed out on fastest World Cup hundred, but added to his collection of fastest ODI fifty and hundred with the fastest 150. Will demolish attacks when given a platform, doubling 35-over scores. Will also bowl an odd over full of bouncers here and there.

Glenn Maxwell

21 votes, 324 runs at 64.80, one hundred, two fifties, strike rate 182.02, six wickets at 36.33, economy rate of 5.73If AB doesn’t get you Maxi will, with his fast hands and ambidexterity. Sometimes they both will. How will anybody set fields if that happens? Maxwell fell one ball short of notching the fastest World Cup hundred, but did enough to help his side win the World Cup. There won’t be any shortage of confidence with him around.Glenn Maxwell fell one ball short of notching the fastest World Cup hundred, but did enough to help his side win the World Cup•Getty Images

Corey Anderson

12 votes, 14 wickets at 16.71, economy rate of 6.47, 231 runs at 33, two fifties, strike rate 108.45or

James Faulkner

12 votes, 10 wickets at 19.70, economy rate of 4.70Both bowl in Powerplays, both pick wickets, both can score crucial runs down the order. Clutch players both. Anderson a better batsman than bowler, Faulkner the other way around. Anderson has better numbers having played the whole tournament, Faulkner took wickets in big matches, and brings with him promise of nerveless finishes with the bat. Not surprisingly both are tied and make it to the XII.

Daniel Vettori

12 votes, 15 wickets at 20.46, economy rate of 4.04Has pipped the more aggressive options in Tahir and R Ashwin. Will provide control if the ultra-aggressive pace attack begins to go for runs. One-handed overhead catches at third man come as a bonus. If a last-over yorker has to be squeezed out for four in a tense finish, Dan is your man.

Wahab Riaz

11 votes, 16 wickets at 23, economy rate of 5.56, one fifty with the batEdges out Morne Morkel despite most voters’ knowledge that his selection will make it an all-left-arm attack. Their logic: haven’t seen question marks against all-right-arm attacks. A true left-field pick. Bowled with pace and aggression, including the fastest ball of the tournament and its most rousing spell.

Mitchell Starc

25 votes, 22 wickets at 10.18, economy rate of 3.50One of the two unanimous picks. Easy job. Ask him to bowl four overs at the top and take a wicket, bowl two in middle overs if there is a partnership, bowl two in the batting Powerplay, and make sure no team scores quick runs in the final few. He will deliver, and he will deliver booming yorkers at 150kmph.

Trent Boult

23 votes, 22 wickets at 16.86, economy rate of 4.36More orthodox new-ball swing bowler, but will surprise you with that pace from that wiry frame. Ask Sangakkara about his yorkers. Will show endurance in bowling long spells. Will carry with him a copy of should there be a nap enthusiast in the side looking for a pillow.

Reserve players

Shikhar Dhawan, 9 votes
Imran Tahir, 8 votes
Morne Morkel, 7 votes

Duds XI

Quinton de Kock, Tamim Iqbal, Ahmed Shehzad, Eoin Morgan (capt), Umar Akmal, Angelo Mathews, Shahid Afridi, Stuart Broad, Vernon Philander, James Anderson, Kemar Roach.

A short quiz to test your IPL 2015 quotient

27-May-2015

If they can come good in one more ODI, they will win a series against South Africa and claim another entry into great performances in Bangladesh cricket history. If they don’t, it wouldn’t be the end of the world

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong14-Jul-2015″Aren’t you going to join us? We are just going to play for ten minutes.” It was the day before the first ODI in Mirpur and Shakib Al Hasan was trying to catch the attention of Bangladesh’s captain Mashrafe Mortaza and Mushfiqur Rahim, who were in deep conversation.Mashrafe was animated, with his hand around Mushfiqur, who simply listened and sometimes replied. Five minutes later the mini-meeting broke as if something had been decided between the two.What it was, however, is still not evident. Mushfiqur made 24 in the first ODI and didn’t get to bat in the second one. It has been 13 innings since his last fifty in any format. When questioned about Mushfiqur’s form, Mashrafe told the critics to be patient. There may be some concern about the dip in runs, but it is not viewed as loss of batting form. Besides, there is that finger injury to take into consideration and publicly it has been said Mushfiqur will be the one who takes the call about giving up the gloves.Mushfiqur’s last slump was from December 2011 to November 2012 – 18 innings in which he averaged 22.53. He has gone through spans of 20 (March to December 2010), 22 (December 2008 to August 2009) and 33 (July 2007 to October 2008) innings without a fifty across formats. But back then, he used to bat lower down the order and so had limited opportunities to bat in any case.Mashrafe has also had to tackle other issues: his decision at the field in the first ODI (he looked irritated and said it was pointless talking about the toss all the time), their Champions Trophy 2017 qualification (“It is becoming too much for us”), the BCB president’s sudden sermon before the second ODI (which delayed training by 75 minutes) and some friendly fire on social media towards Tamim Iqbal.What all of that has done is hide the fact that only Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah tackled South Africa’s pace attack properly on Sunday. But in the first ODI, Mahmudullah missed a straight ball and Soumya popped a catch cover. Litton Das’ injured right hand is no longer a concern, but his penchant for short knocks is. The basic problem has been that their footwork hasn’t been effective. Tamim tried to overcompensate by running at the bowlers, but he has only five runs from two innings.This after the make-up of the bowling attack had to be compromised to accommodate the extra batsmen. It doesn’t help that Bangladesh don’t pick up as many singles as they should. Even after watching Faf du Plessis use them to make a match-winning contribution in the first T20.Mashrafe too said his tactics as a fielding captain was to stop the opposition from getting ones and twos. He thought it helped a batsman settle better than hitting boundaries. It may well be a veiled message to his own batsmen, who tend to be too reliant in finding fours.Bangladesh are at the end of a long season. They have put together a pretty strong run since October 2014; one of their longest periods of sustained success even. If the batsmen can come good in one more ODI, they will win a series against South Africa and claim another entry into great performances in Bangladesh cricket history. If they don’t, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. They will just have to work that extra bit harder next time.

Pakistan’s confusion over their opening batting positions was no closer to being resolved when Azhar Ali, previously a figure of stability at No. 3, made nought on his return

Umar Farooq01-Nov-2015Pakistan have tried 13 different opening combinations in the last five years with only Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar, who played 35 innings together, giving any indication of permanence.The slot has been the weakest link in a settled Pakistan batting line-up, and in Sharjah they once again experimented with a new combination. Azhar Ali was dislodged from his normal No. 3 slot to open in place of the dropped specialist opener Shan Masood. Azhar’s innings lasted all of 12 minutes in Sharjah; he scored a duck off seven balls.Pakistan’s opening partnerships in the ongoing series read 5, 3, 51, 1 and 5. The years of transition with nine different opening batsmen have led them no nearer to a solution, and highlights their fragility looking ahead to their next Test series in England next year. Pakistan might have scored more heavily overall in the past year, but the opening slot has remained as uncertain as ever.The cloud of uncertainty has now extended to the No. 3 spot, making the entire top order a muddle as Azhar, who gave a sense of stability at first-drop, was displaced by Shoaib Malik. Azhar missed the first two Tests due to injury and then a bereavement, but returned for the third in Sharjah only to open with Hafeez.It can be argued that Azhar, who nicked James Anderson in uncharacteristic fashion, should have been rested as he had suffered not only physical injury but also a psychological trauma with the death of his mother-in-law, and needed time to regain focus. His selection looked hasty and another failure in the second innings could dent his confidence ahead of the ODI series.Mushtaq Ahmed, Pakistan’s spin bowling coach, argued that Pakistan’s team management wanted to experiment with Azhar for the opening slot. “I think you can experiment for one match with the team combination,” he said. “Sometimes you have to see if your No. 3 batsman is solid enough to go and open the batting and that was the idea. The positive approach is to experiment on a settled member of the team and not on someone you don’t have that much trust in.”

Mushtaq blames ‘soft dismissals’

“I think we didn’t perform to our expectations today,” Mushtaq said after Pakistan, who chose to bat, were bowled out for 234.
“We lost wickets at crucial times and that’s why we are in this situation. The outfield is very slow here. But even then I think four or five of the wickets we lost were soft dismissals.
“I personally believe the wicket will slow down as the game goes on. On the first day, there is a bit of dampness in the pitch so there was sharp turn.”

Malik was originally brought in as cover for Hafeez, not only as a top-order batsman but also because of his comparable ability as an offspinner to counter England’s left-handers. By scoring a double-hundred with the bat at No. 3 on his comeback in Abu Dhabi, he ended up creating a conundrum. Malik has thereafter scored 0, 2, 7 and 38. He picked up two wickets each in two innings in Abu Dhabi but was wicket-less in Dubai.Pakistan’s top-order transition has centered around Hafeez, who has been regarded as the most reliable opening option. He has been paired with as many as eight batsman since Misbah-ul-Haq took over the captaincy after the spot-fixing saga in 2010. Pakistan, though, have lacked resolve in sustaining a regular opening pair. The 23-year-old Ahmed Shehzad, who made his debut less than two years ago, seemed an opening batsman Pakistan could invest in. He averaged 43.05 in his 11 Tests, but was dropped amid whispers of an irresponsible approach.With Pakistan’s next confirmed Test series not until July in England, the ongoing Test in Sharjah was the last chance for Pakistan to gain clarity. The top-order shuffling has raised questions on Pakistan’s long-term planning, in not giving youngsters the time to settle and establish themselves in the Test team. Both Shehzad and Masood might not have been consistent, but the team management could have been more patient.

India find themselves a batsman short with modern ODI cricket calling for five bowlers, but Suresh Raina’s offspin could help them solve that conundrum

Rachna Shetty19-Oct-20151:39

‘Raina needs to give himself more time on the crease’ – Dhoni

Since the start of 2013, India have tried 10 batsmen at the No. 7 slot in the ODI line-up. Ravindra Jadeja has batted at No. 7 in 52 of the 78 ODIs in this period, while Stuart Binny has occupied the slot 10 times. Axar Patel has featured in just five matches in that role.It was a role MS Dhoni used to say Jadeja was being groomed for, one which suited him over time. Jadeja is not the most correct batsman around, but his ability to play the big shots gave the other six batsmen some freedom to play with. Now, Dhoni doesn’t have Jadeja, who has suffered a dip in his bowling form. No. 7 seems to be emerging as a clear problem area as the team tries to find balance between the needs and roles of its bowling attack and the amount of pressure the batting line-up can absorb in case India choose to play five specialist bowlers.Dhoni’s words are telling in this instance. Frequently in this series and the T20I series preceding it, Dhoni has brought up the side’s need of a bowler who can bat whenever he has faced questions about Amit Mishra’s exclusion. It came up again after India’s 18-run loss to South Africa in Rajkot, except this time the side had shuffled its batting line-up in a chase that became tougher on a pitch that kept getting slower.”As I said, I’ve explained it, we want Virat to bat at 3, but at some point we’d love to have a look at him at 4,” Dhoni said. “Usually the No. 4 batsman will get to play 30 overs, and 30 overs is a good number of overs to score a hundred. It also adds depth to our batting, not to forget we are still looking for somebody at No. 7 who can play the big shot and if that doesn’t happen, the extra pressure has to be absorbed by the top six batters. So you have to find people who fulfil that job. You also have to play with five bowlers because the part-timers find it slightly difficult to bowl full quota of 10 overs. So there are a lot of things that you have to manage and accordingly decide which person suits the position the best.”On Monday, when India’s selectors met to pick the squad for the remaining two ODIs, they made only one change. S Aravind, who made his T20I debut in Dharamsala, replaced Umesh Yadav. Jadeja, meanwhile, was recalled to the Test side.In December 2014, soon after Jadeja suffered a shoulder injury that ruled him out of the Australia series, Dhoni had spoken about the assurance Jadeja provided at No. 7. He is not available for the rest of this ODI series, which means India will go into these matches in the deficit, with one of their bigger combination questions still unresolved. Play a stronger batsman and the bowling side is weakened because of the lack of a part-timer who can relieve the frontline bowlers without letting the opposition run away too far. Play an extra bowler, and the top six are denied the cushion of a No. 7 to guide the innings at the finish or overcome a collapse.Compare that to South Africa, who have batting allrounders at numbers six and seven in JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien, followed by their four frontline bowlers. Between Duminy and Behardien, South Africa manage to clean up their fifth bowler quota without too much damage. Their frontliners too can usually be counted on to finish their quota of 10 overs, which cannot always be said about the Indian attack.Duminy takes the lead here. In the 97 occasions he has bowled for South Africa in ODIs, Duminy has bowled five or more overs 47 times, consistently pitching in with seven to eight overs, with Behardien’s military-medium making up the rest. That has added depth to an already robust batting line-up.

Bolstering the side with a strong lower-order batsman at No. 7, and getting Raina to take on more bowling responsibilities could add more utility to the ODI side

The last time India opted for a four-bowler, seven-batsman combination on a consistent basis they had Yuvraj Singh’s left-arm spin available to make up a chunk of the fifth bowler’s quota. In the current scenario, however, if India do play an extra batsman at No. 7, Suresh Raina is the closest they have to a Duminy-like option, which would mean he would have to shoulder extra bowling responsibilities.Both Duminy and Raina have bowled in the same number of ODI innings – 97. The South African allrounder has pitched in with 449.3 overs, with growth in bowling duties over the last three years. In comparison, Raina has bowled 344.2 overs. Surprisingly over the last couple of years, his bowling duties have plateaued.On the recent Bangladesh tour, for instance, Raina bowled in all three matches, unlike the frontline attack, and ended up bowling more overs than Dhawal Kulkarni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav, at an economy rate of 4.95, second only to R Ashwin’s in the series.
Batting often at No 6, Raina finds himself in situations where he is required to find the big shots from the start and doesn’t often face as many deliveries as the batsmen preceding him. Despite those factors, his recent slump in form – his scores in this series so far have been 3, 0, 0 – has been worrying because it puts more pressure on the No. 7, who Dhoni has admitted is not the strongest link. Bolstering the side with a strong lower-order batsman at No. 7, and getting Raina to take on more bowling responsibilities could be a way of alleviating this problem.If India do persist with the bowler-who-can-bat option at No. 7 – and depending on their outlook towards Jadeja’s place in the ODI side – they might have to look at options other than Axar. Punjab’s Gurkeerat Singh presents one option in the current squad. He averages over 45 with the bat in List-A cricket and 31.10 with his offspin, with an economy rate of just under five.A couple of years ago, the four-fielder cap outside the 30-yard circle in the non-Powerplay overs forced teams to field five bowlers. The new rule changes which came into effect this June – five boundary fielders are now permitted in the last 10 overs – have somewhat restored parity for the bowlers, but made it harder for the No. 7 batsman. India need to find a way to cope.

A disappointing Johannesburg Test in 2013 meant Ashwin was dropped, perhaps unfairly, from the team for six matches. Two years and a tweaked bowling action later, he has emerged as one of India’s best impact players

Sidharth Monga07-Dec-20151:40

Manjrekar: Spinners will finally get the credit they deserve

Johannesburg and Delhi are important signposts on R Ashwin’s journey as a Test bowler. On December 22, 2013, Ashwin went wicketless for 36 overs as India tried to bowl South Africa out in four-and-a-half sessions for what could have been one of India’s greatest Test wins. He was dropped from the side after that for six Tests, and then when India went to Australia, he was not picked for the first Test of the series. Ashwin was hurt, but he went into the nets and during that Adelaide Test, he says, something clicked in his action, which has changed him as a bowler.Ashwin felt staying out for so long was a little harsh, but it was not as if he was letting himself take it easy this time. Six years ago, in Delhi, at the Palam Ground, about 20km from Feroz Shah Kotla where he capped off a fantastic series on Monday, Ashwin had had his domestic Johannesburg moment. It was the quarter-final of the Ranji trophy in 2009-10, and Tamil Nadu had scored 463 in the first innings. The onus was on Ashwin to get Tamil Nadu the first-innings lead, but a Delhi side full of domestic stalwarts crawled its way to a lead and into the semi-final. Ashwin bowled 62 overs for 116 runs and picked up just two wickets. He says he took the easy route back then, and consoled himself saying the pitch was completely flat. That did not repeat in Johannesburg.For a final icing on this cake, Ashwin had to come back to Delhi. He was already on his way to being the Man of the Series, but he had hardly been challenged in the first three Tests of this series. Now he was up against a pitch going slower and lower by the minute and stalwarts who were hanging on for dear life. Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis – masters of such blockathons earlier too – were leading this effort where no bat would be raised in anger, where the bowlers would be given no chances by way of poor shots, because there would be no shots.India had enough time, you would think, but the way South Africa went about their job, something special was needed with the ball. It was the perfect time for Ashwin to find some redemption from memories of those two matches. It had generally been a difficult week for Ashwin with his home city Chennai flooded, and his parents out of communication channels. While Ashwin batted in the first innings, his wife tweeted they had not heard from Ashwin’s parents in more than a day.And here there was a Test to be won. And what a test it was for the Indian bowlers. The first wicket had come easy, but when Amla and Temba Bavuma dead-batted everything, you knew it would need something extraordinary from somewhere to get a wicket. The man who came closest was Ashwin, nearly getting Amla with a legbreak. He followed it up with a perfectly pitched offbreak that did not turn as much as expected to get Bavuma out.India needed something special with South Africa dead-batting everything, and Ashwin delivered•BCCIThen, Amla and de Villiers began to dead-bat. It seriously looked like they could score the runs drip by drip in four days if this were a timeless Test. Except that it was not. Time was running out for India. Not fast, but fast enough to possibly refresh the demons from Johannesburg and Wellington. Ashwin then bowled another legbreak. Bear in mind he is an offspinner. He has to show to the batsman he is bowling finger-spin, then change the grip at the last moment and land the delivery. This one to de Villiers drifted in and dipped late. Shane Warne would have been proud of it. It drew a false defensive shot from a batsman so intent at not making a mistake.Twice Ashwin came close to doing the sort of thing that immortalises bowlers, but perhaps magic was not what was going to give India the win. There was more hard work in store. On the fifth day, after waiting for eight overs with the old ball, Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were back on for the hard toil. They kept bowling ball after ball in that zone. Ashwin kept changing the trajectory to possibly play around with the batsmen’s shape as they defended everything, while Jadeja kept using the crease and variations in pace. Not much worked except for when Jadeja found just the right amount of turn so as to not miss Amla’s off stump when it missed the edge.Ashwin had to wait longer. He tried tricks. He went through the repertoire. Except for a wrong’un, he tired everything. He even tried running in funny, cutting across between the umpire and the stumps, the way some left-arm spinners do. Who knows, he might even have thought of bowling left-arm. Who knows, he might actually be really good at left-arm spin.As important as it was to break through the resistance, it was also important to burst through a door left ajar. Jadeja did so for him with du Plessis’ wicket, and Ashwin now knew he could get Duminy. He spread the field for de Villiers, who might have made the mistake of letting Ashwin bowl to Duminy. It took Ashwin six balls to set him up with offbreaks before trapping him lbw.When he got de Villiers – 297 deliveries for just 43 runs later – with his first ball after tea, Ashwin had sealed his status as the biggest impact man in the series. Almost invariably, he struck when South Africa embarked on something new: innings, day and session. Thanks to Ashwin, those awkward minutes when a team starts an innings minutes before an interval became torturous. In Mohali, he struck in the evening, in Nagpur he did so twice, in his first over in Bangalore, he broke what looked like a solid opening partnership. When made to work hard in Delhi, it was great to watch him find a way.

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-2016That partnership was broken when Rahane played the ball back to R Sathish, who found Smith backing up too far and ran him out•BCCIAlbie Morkel and Thisara Perera provided Supergiants with some impetus, hitting three sixes between them in their cameos•BCCIRahane anchored the innings with another fifty. His 52-ball 67 featured four fours and three sixes•BCCIMS Dhoni finished the innings with a flourish, his brisk 23 off 12 lifting Supergiants to 160 for 5•BCCIAlbie Morkel got Supergiants’ defence off to the perfect start, trapping Uthappa lbw in the first ball of the innings•BCCIGautam Gambhir was run out soon after, attempting a second run. Knight Riders’ largely untested middle order was exposed•BCCIBut Suryakumar Yadav, promoted to No. 3, produced a counter-attacking half-century to get Knight Riders’ chase back on track•BCCISupergiants chipped away at the wickets and soon reduced Knight Riders to 119 for 5, with 42 required off 25 balls•BCCIHowever, Andre Russell struck two sixes in his quick 17 to bring the contest back in Knight Riders’ favour•BCCIWith five needed off four, Umesh Yadav struck a meaty blow over long-on to seal the win, and push Knight Riders to the top of the table•BCCI

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2016Masood was caught at second slip by Joe Root•Getty ImagesRain caused an hour’s delay on the third morning at Old Trafford•Getty ImagesMisbah-ul-Haq was Pakistan’s mainstay as the top-order crumbled•Getty ImagesStuart Broad removed Asad Shafiq to a catch at point•Getty Images… before Ben Stokes removed Sarfraz Ahmed for 26•Getty ImagesSarfraz was also caught at second slip by Root•Getty ImagesIn the final over before lunch, Misbah had his helmet broken by a Woakes bouncer•Getty Images… before Woakes went to the break with the wicket of Yasir Shah•Getty ImagesMisbah, however, dug in for a gutsy fifty•Getty Images… with Wahab Riaz supporting him in a career-best 39•Getty ImagesUmpire Rod Tucker had to intervene as Stokes and Wahab renewed their rivalry•Getty ImagesMoeen Ali eventually ended Misbah’s vigil on 52•Getty ImagesAlastair Cook declined to enforce the follow-on, in spite of a massive lead of 391•Getty ImagesInstead he and Alex Hales came out to build on England’s lead•Getty ImagesTheir progress was interrupted by rain during the evening session•Getty Images

Nepal captain Paras Khadka talks about the road ahead for the game in his country

Alan Gardner26-Jul-2016Paras Khadka is sitting in the away changing room at Lord’s, wiping the sweat and dried-on sunblock from his face. He smiles wearily after accepting congratulations for his team’s performance, having closed out victory over MCC in their first appearance at cricket’s most famous ground. Looking out through the balcony windows as his team-mates bustle about their post-match business, Nepal’s captain savours the moment.Khadka is entitled to feel a little bushed, having directed his players in the field for the past three hours, as London stewed on one of the hottest days of the year. The sort of captain who leads with word and deed, Khadka made 30 batting at No. 4 – the second highest score in Nepal’s 217 for 8, including their only six – before chipping to mid-on, and then opened the bowling, reeling off six straight overs of accurate medium-pace with the new ball.After the final MCC wicket fell, one of three for Basant Regmi, the players went for a walk around the outfield to acknowledge the boisterous support of several thousand Nepalis. It was a different sort of tour to the one Khadka took at Lord’s a couple of years ago, and one you imagine he will remember for much longer.”Playing at Lord’s, you don’t get this opportunity often, but I threw away my wicket. But as long as the team wins, I’ll take it,” Khadka says. “I came here in 2014 to do the tour of the ground – never thought I would get to play, so this is one of the dreams that has come true.”As well as praising the efforts of his team-mates, he is quick to acknowledge the crowd. Although only half of the stands were open for use, around 5000 packed into the south side of Lord’s on an otherwise quiet weekday to watch what amounted to little more than a friendly against the selection of club cricketers and former pros picked to represent MCC.”Brilliant – the supporters are unbelievable. Anywhere we play in the world we get massive support, it’s almost like playing in Nepal. Thank you, thank you to everybody,” Khadka says.If the opposition were not of the highest rank, the occasion certainly was, and Nepal were grateful for another chance to grab positive headlines in their push for greater recognition. With MCC streaming the match live on YouTube, the visitors were made to feel at home at the Home of Cricket.”It’s set us in front of the global cricketing platform once again, because any game at Lord’s, there’s attention from all over the world,” Khadka says. “We’re representing our country and we’re very privileged and proud and very lucky that we got that opportunity. The boys have always put in very good effort throughout the years, so we just need to keep pushing ourselves.

“I think Nepal has all the resources. We’re still young for Test cricket, I have to admit, but you see the kind of passionate fans we have, the people around the game”

“Our goals moving forward are to become an ODI nation, and hopefully in the next 15-20 years become a Test-playing country, so a lot of things need to be sorted, but matches like this definitely help you promote the game.”Nepal’s last competitive fixtures were against Namibia in April, and their tour of England comes as part of preparations for two more crucial World Cricket League matches away to Netherlands in August. Khadka says the challenge “moving forward is to be more consistent as a team”; their record after Lord’s, against opposition as varied as Indian Gymkhana CC and Eastbourne CC, was five wins from five matches.With the 2019 World Cup set to be a ten-team event, chances for the Associate nations to qualify are slim. Nepal’s first aim is to try and finish in the top four of the WCL Championship – they are currently sixth – and make sure of a place at the 2018 World Cup Qualifier, although Khadka has been intrigued by talk of the ICC expanding the number of teams in a future ODI league. The possibility of another World T20 being inserted into the calendar in 2018 is also encouraging; Nepal made their major tournament debut in 2014 but missed out on qualification for this year’s edition in India.Asked whether he had been following developments at the ICC, he replies with a smile: “Yeah, of course, very closely. There has been news of Nepal, Ireland, Afghanistan being discussed for a second tier. I think Nepal has all the resources. We’re still young for Test cricket, I have to admit, but you see the kind of passionate fans we have, the people around the game. We just need to sort out our management issues, then we have the players, the talents – it’s just about setting up the structure back home. Domestic cricket has to be the first and foremost thing. Once we set up that and manage our resources well, I’m sure Nepal cricket’s going to do fantastically well.”A Nepali band plays by the Nursery Ground during the interval of the match at Lord’s•Getty ImagesThe game in Nepal currently consists of “random tournaments”, Khadka says, organised without any formal structure, which is something he wants addressed. However, the situation has not been helped by administrative issues at the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), which led to the Nepali board being suspended by the ICC earlier this year.”There are things that we need to sort out,” Khadka says. “It’s very, very important that all of us sit down and set our egos aside, and all the administrators sit down and think about the game seriously. They have to be as passionate as the cricketers. I think it’s about time the administrators did this – the players have put in their lives – players even before us – and haven’t got anything out of it, but now the game has grown such that everyone follows cricket back home, people really love the game. We need to manage all of this properly.”The uncertainties at CAN contributed to Pubudu Dassanayake stepping down as coach last year – although the ICC has arranged for his continued involvement as a consultant – but Khadka remains the team’s guiding force. He was impressively statesmanlike as Nepal’s most prominent ambassador at the 2014 World T20, despite being only 26, and has been at the forefront of their achievements, as captain and star allrounder, over the last decade. Does he ever tire of the weight of responsibility? Despite another long, hot day in the dirt, he seems refreshed for the challenges ahead.”The team comes first. As long as I keep performing and the team does well, that’s good. As a captain it all comes down to how good the boys are doing and how good the team spirit is. I’m very glad and fortunate that I’ve had a great bunch of boys who have been very dedicated, and it has been very easy for me. So hopefully I will continue and go on as long as possible, as long as we keep doing well.”