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Stats highlights from the opening day of the series in Chittagong

Bharath Seervi20-Oct-20167 Bangladesh players to take a five-wicket haul on their Test debut, including Mehedi Hasan. Incidentally, four of those have been in the last five years. No team has had more than three five-wicket hauls by debutants in this period. Across all formats, Bangladesh bowlers have taken seven five-fors in debut in last five years, again the most for any team, by a distance.1 Younger Bangladesh bowler to take five-wicket hauls in Tests, than Mehedi who was 18 years, 361 days. Enamul Haque Jnr had taken three five-fors at a younger age than Mehedi’s in 2005. Overall, Mehedi is the fourth-youngest bowler to take a five-wicket haul on Test debut.1 Number of players to score 1000-plus runs in a year in Tests batting at No. 6 or lower. Jonny Bairstow became the first to achieve this in this year. The previous most runs by any player at No. 6 or below was 984 by VVS Laxman in 2002. He was also the first player to go past 1000 Test runs this year.6 Partnerships of 50 or more runs between Bairstow and Moeen Ali in Tests this year for the sixth-wicket – most by any pair for wickets six or lower in a year. Four pairs had five such stands including Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones for England in 2004. The 88-run stand is the fourth consecutive 50-plus stand between Bairstow and Moeen and the sixth consecutive for England by any pair.21 Runs added by England’s first three wickets, is their lowest in the first innings of any Test in Asia. Their previous lowest was 22 runs in Galle in 2007-08. However, their next four wickets each added more than what their first three wickets could add in total and thus they finished at 258 for 7 at the end of the day.68 Runs scored by Moeen in this innings – his highest score in Tests outside England. This was his third fifty in an away Test and averages 23.85. His home average is 40.96 with three hundreds and five fifties.142 Tests missed by Gareth Batty between his last Test and this come-back Test – most by any player. Batty’s last Test was more than 11 years ago, also against Bangladesh, in June 2005.133 Previous most Tests played by an England player, by Alec Stewart. Alastair Cook appeared in his 134th Test in this match to become the most capped England player. Stewart held the record for England since 2002 when he went past Graham Gooch’s 118 Tests.2008 Last time Bangladesh fielded three or more debutants in a Test before this match – three against New Zealand in Dunedin. Since their inaugural Test, this was the fifth time they played three debutants in the same match and first in a home Test.

The story of a Pakistan collapse isn’t new. But this one saw them getting hit on helmets, struggling under lights, and they didn’t lose their heads, they gave them away

Jarrod Kimber at the Gabba16-Dec-2016Matthew Wade almost loses his head. While Sami Aslam might not have had a problem with Mitchell Starc’s fourth ball of the innings, as it is full and wide down the leg side, when it goes past the batsman it flies up at Wade’s head, swinging back at him. There is no actual danger to Aslam, but it is inferred, and this was not going to be like facing the Pakistan attack. Starc showed more menace in a rubbish ball than Pakistan had mustered for most of their first day. The Pakistan bowlers bowled well on day two but compared to them, Starc looks like a sexual tyrannosaurus – a furious beast.

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Josh Hazlewood gets straight and short, Aslam turns his head and lets it hit him in the helmet. Hazlewood asks if he is ok, Aslam waves him away. Aslam does not take the helmet off, or even seem overly worried by the substantial hit; it’s either manly stupidity or he’s in a bit of shock. His face, that solid chunk of granite that rarely changes and makes him look a decade older, seems to say, “I ain’t got time to bleed”.  It is the umpires who come in to check on him, make him check his helmet, but still, he bats on. A few overs later he sweeps one into his helmet off Nathan Lyon. Much like Pakistan, he is under attack from outside and within.

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Somehow, in the minute it takes Younis Khan to make it out to the middle, it suddenly feels much, much darker. The man who was born before day-night internationals started, who is walking out confidently for his 202nd Test innings, is now coming out to face under lights, against a pink ball, just as the Australian bowlers smell blood. For a man who has seen everything in a 16-year career, this is different, this is dangerous, this is brief.

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Misbah-ul-Haq tries a forward defence, a shot he was playing long before Hazlewood was born, and this time it hits his pad before he is even ready to play the shot. He laughs, not because he is happy, but at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. Misbah is more pragmatist than others, and when life is like this, others might get concerned, but he laughs. The next over he is hit on the gloves by Bird by a ball that he cannot get away from. Soon after he will be prodding at a ball outside off stump that he would have been just as close to if they turned the lights off. Aslam gets hit in the head again, and again he shrugs it off in just as silly a way as he keeps playing the short ball. Like he is telling Australia to keep coming at him, old painless is waiting.

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Jackson Bird induced outside edges, strangled Sami Aslam down the leg side and threw in a few bouncers•Getty ImagesThe team 50 is brought up by Asad Shafiq off his first ball, on the last ball of the 27th over. It is not a landmark you usually notice, the first 50 runs, but this one seems like the only one Pakistan will see today, this innings, and if you are a true pessimist (read Pakistan fan) this game. Starc looked dangerous in the nice light, bowling friendly balls down leg, now Pakistan seemed to be hoping he missed them and their edges. But Aslam keeps plugging on. He has faced 89 of the 162 deliveries; he has 12 runs, three hits to the head, and he has dug in deeper than an Alabama tick.

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Aslam greets Sarfraz Ahmed to Pakistan’s world of hurt; Sarfraz is too busy to notice. Straight away he is not edging to slip, but getting an eager leading edge off through the covers, and scampering through. Aslam is not one who scampers, he is like a small tense ball of muscle that has out-batted his entire top order, and is more interested in surviving than runs. He shuffles across the line of his stumps to protect his wicket so much he has not seen how far he has gone, and instead of protecting his wicket, he accidentally gives it away. After all the pain, the fight, the trouble, he loses his wicket to a leg-side strangle.

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Bird bowls a bouncer to Wahab Riaz; it is outside off and safe, but Wahab can’t see that as he closes his eyes, ducks his head and backs off for square leg. By the time he stops moving backwards, it takes him six steps to get back to the crease.

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The scoreboard, so surprised at the quick nature of the wickets, still has Pakistan at six wickets down. It is the only respite Pakistan get. Even Lyon coming on to bowl feels intense, as the crowd cheers each ball like it’s a hat-trick ball.Pakistan make it to the end of the day only eight wickets down. Only. Sarfraz plays his typical innings, of complete and utter disregard for the conditions, the situation and life in general, Mohammad Amir stays with him.The rest of the Pakistan batsmen sit around and think of how they just got completely smashed by Australia. And how, that despite the hits on the head, the balls flying through, and the darkness, they lost their wickets mostly through a series of limp pushes at length balls. It was tough out there, but Pakistan were not. They didn’t lose their heads, they gave them away.

Fabian Cowdrey has brought the Cowdrey line to an end at Kent by retiring, disillusioned, at 24, to support his brother’s singing career

Jack Wilson05-Apr-2017Fabian Cowdrey, the assumption went, was born to play professional cricket. His grandfather Colin was the first to play 100 Test matches, won a campaign for the spirit of cricket to be included in the Laws of the game, was awarded a knighthood, and finally became the first cricketer to be made a life peer for services to the game.To supplement the fame of Lord Cowdrey of Tonbridge, Fabian’s father Chris captained Kent and even led England once in the infamous year of five captains in 1988. Uncle Graham was a solid county pro who extended the Kent line yet further.Now at the age of 24, and less than four years after making his Kent debut, Fabian has had enough. He has retired from cricket – the game that made his family’s name – to help his reality-TV-star twin brother Julius become a global singing superstar.The Kent spectators turning up at Canterbury – where the Cowdrey Stand honours the family name – for the opening Championship match of the season against Gloucestershire on Friday will be in a state of mild disbelief when they hear Fabian tell that his love for the game has diminished.”My love for the game is gone, my heart’s not in it,” Fabian says, a week after his Kent contract was mutually terminated. “I remember looking out the school window and looking forward to the weekend so I could play cricket – not now. I’ve been waking up each morning without having the motivation or drive to get the best out of myself, and it’s not fair. I didn’t want to be around the squad if I wasn’t completely immersed in it.”Instead, he wants to devote his career to his brother Julius, who is in the limelight for different reasons, having become a star in , a BAFTA award-winning UK reality show centred upon the lives of affluent young people in West London.The show’s website proudly heralds Julius as “coming from cricket royalty”. He is a handy allrounder too, at club level and also as a singer-songwriter. The eyes are now on him – not Fabian.

“I’ll continue to play recreationally and maybe my love for the game will come back. But it’s the last thing on my mind”

“I was made up for him when he got the chance on ,” Fabian said. “It’s an interesting way to go and promote himself. He’d been offered to go on and to promote his music – but he turned them down. Then came around and it was a chance for Julius to promote himself as a person, as opposed to relying on Simon Cowell.”Sidelined at Kent due to injury for much of last season, Fabian filled the summer playing the role of Julius’ personal songwriter. The pair had worked together on tracks before, but with a reality-TV career thriving, Julius now had a leg up on his career path. And for Fabian, hitting the right notes off the pitch proved to be more fun than on it.”With cricket, it just wasn’t working. Success didn’t fill me with fulfillment, and things didn’t quite add up,” he said. “There were games at The Oval, where I did well, in front of packed houses, but the self-satisfaction wasn’t there.”I wrote the lyrics to Julius’ debut single, ‘7 Roads (I See You)’, which now has more than 500,000 plays on Spotify. I watch him perform and it’s fun. He’s on a UK tour now and he’s got a real hardcore set of fans who follow him wherever he goes – girls throwing jewellery at him once he’s finished. I enjoy watching him and I’m dead chuffed for him. He always wanted to become a singer. Now it’s more of a reality.”The Cowdrey name had been ever present as Fabian built his cricket career. In his final year at Tonbridge School, he broke his grandfather’s record for most runs in a school year. Like Colin, he went on to university (Colin at Oxford, Fabian at Cardiff) with the primary intention of playing cricket. Neither was awarded a degree. He once related the story that, at three years old, he had supposedly whispered to his mother that he wanted to play cricket for England.Instead, Fabian played 72 games for the county where his dad and grandad are legends, a practical if not outstanding cricketer who found a niche in the shorter forms. He took wickets at crucial times with his slingy left-arm spin, though his batting potential was never fulfilled. He scored bags of runs at second-team level but was often shunted up and down the order in the senior side, without ever making a spot his own.Fabian’s twin Julius, the beneficiary of his brother’s songwriting skills•Getty ImagesIt was his inability to hold down a spot in the County Championship team – he played just 12 matches – that hurt him most. Unhappiness started to creep in 18 months ago and he describes being “mentally cooked” at the end of 2015.Yet still he traipsed off to play club cricket in Australia. It was the country where Colin played his first and last of his 114 Tests. The country where, as a 22-year-old, he took a century off Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller that his tour-mate Tom Graveney hailed for its “unbridled genius”. The country where two decades later he bravely withstood barrages from Lillee and Thomson after an emergency summons to a final Ashes tour. There Fabian captained the former Australia Captain Michael Clarke for Western Suburbs, but by that point the pleasure had gone.”I went to Australia and played for the second year in a row and I shouldn’t have,” he reflected. “I should have recharged my batteries, as cricket had become too much. My love for the game had gone, my heart wasn’t in it. For a year and a half it’s not provided me with much fulfilment or happiness at all.”Now he has rediscovered passion, rediscovered drive. He has a new career, and a family name to make proud – away from the sport.”I write the songs for Jules and I love doing it, I always have,” he says. “Kent have given me five or six years of playing cricket and they’ve made my dream come true – but it’s time to move on.”In the press release about my retirement I refer to my ‘darkest moments’. One of them was not breaking into the Championship side full time. I’ll continue to play recreationally and maybe my love for the game will come back. But it’s the last thing on my mind.”

Double-strikes, double-drops, and triple-strikes feature in the plays of the day from the second T20I between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at the Khettarama

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo06-Apr-2017The slower-ball salvo
Lasith Malinga is the only bowler to have claimed three ODI hat-tricks. So, perhaps, it is only fitting he should have one in the format for which he is most famed. It has been a while since he was at his fastest, or his fittest, but what he lacked for firepower, he made up for in wiles. Mushfiqur Rahim was first to be dismissed – bowled by an offcutter that evaded his slog sweep and shaved off stump. Mashrafe Mortaza was also bowled by a delivery that dived on him. Having watched Malinga bowl four slower balls in succession now, debutant Mehedi Hasan perhaps expected the quick one, but was done in by another slow dipper – the ball hitting him on the pads in front of the stumps. When the umpire raised his finger, Khettarama broke into raptures.The fumble
Mashrafe had largely had an unremarkable final match and in the 14th over missed the chance to shut the door on a struggling Sri Lanka. Chamara Kapugedara had hit the ball to fine leg, taken the first run quickly and was halfway down the pitch for the second, when Seekkuge Prasanna sent him back. Mushfiqur collected the return throw and attempted to relay the ball to Mashrafe at the non-striker’s end, but though Mashrafe was in position, and the throw came in adjacent to the stumps, Mashrafe leaned over the wickets and attempted to take the ball in front of the stumps and fumbled it. Kapugedara was allowed to live on – if only for a few more overs.The first-up double-strike
Mustafizur Rahman has turned many a match for Bangladesh in the past two years, and he bowled a definitive over again in this match, claiming two wickets off his first two balls off the evening. The first one was angled across Asela Gunaratne, and though the batsman struck the ball well, he hit it straight to the cover fielder, at throat height. The next ball was slightly overpitched again, but this time to left-hander Milinda Siriwardana. He ventured a square drive, but picked out point.The double-drop
Having largely fielded well in the last two matches, the drops returned to Sri Lanka’s cricket on Thursday. Both of these chances were tough, but they would be telling. Shakib Al Hasan was on four off five balls when he slammed Seekkuge Prasanna towards deep square leg, only for Vikum Sanjaya to fail to hold on to a difficult running catch. Two balls later, he top-edged another one towards deep midwicket, which the advancing Dilshan Munaweera failed to cling to. Shakib would go on to top-score for Bangladesh with 38 off 31 balls.

Joe Clarke’s graceful batsmanship overflows with England potential and the chance to challenge Notts’ treble ambitions at Trent Bridge offers the chance to adorn an in-and-out season

Vithushan Ehantharajah04-Sep-2017For most of Joe Clarke’s professional career, his name has featured in prospective XIs for future Ashes and World Cup squads. Now talk is of higher honours here and now, in a period where England’s Test side has as much continuity as the Mad Hatter’s tea party.Worcestershire’s visit to Trent Bridge to face a Nottinghamshire side chasing the treble, as they seek to add the Division Two title to victories in the NatWest T20 Blast and Royal London Cup, is an ideal opportunity for Clarke to restate his potential.Notts have prospered on seaming pitches all season. Worcestershire, lying second, are the side most likely to trip them up at the last, and the presence of R Ashwin, the Indian spinner, in their line-up guarantees extra spice.But Clarke is warier and wiser for letting that sort of chatter get into his head. He has been burned before.”I’ve been guilty of getting ahead of myself in the past. I suppose I was fast-tracked in terms of England Lions and I read something a while ago about how ‘Joe Root was fast-tracked and so was Clarke… He’s the next Joe Root!'”Being likened to his favourite player got his mind working overtime.

At times while talking about Duckett’s winter, he struggles to hide his annoyance

“I thought, ‘Oh yeah, this could be it. If I have a good Lions tour, I could be in!’ It became about ‘if I get three hundreds in a row, I could get picked’. Then I’d get nought and think ‘I’m further away from it now’. This year, I’ve said to myself, ‘Don’t even think about it. Just score the runs.'”He also has seen, through the experiences of his good friend Ben Duckett, that life at the top, in the international spotlight, can take more than it gives. Duckett’s story of three fifties in the first portion of his international career in Bangladesh, followed by a rough ride in India and a disappointing 2017, is one with which Clarke sympathises. At times while talking about Duckett’s winter, he struggles to hide his annoyance.”He came to Dubai with a lot of the England boys, taking a break from the India tour during the Test series. We met up there and had dinner. He just said there’s nothing that can prepare you for it. The way the media and everyone start digging into your technique.”The other night, he got bowled by Jeetan Patel. And the first thing the commentators said was, ‘Oh yeah, he’s got an issue against off-spin’. To a ball that pitches middle and leg and takes the top of off! And you just think, he had an unbelievable season last year, in all three formats. Then in India he got dropped down to four when I thought he did very well in Bangladesh.”As for now, Clarke’s future at Worcestershire is as much a talking point as a prospective England career. He has a year left on his deal, but 2017 has shown just how brittle county contracts can be. His former team-mate, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, beat a hasty exit to Yorkshire mid-season.Joe Clarke in action for England Lions against UAE in Dubai•Getty ImagesThe crux of the issue seems to be his desire to keep wicket; a fear that he needs something extra to his bow so as to be not labelled a one-dimensional cricketer. In that regard, being stuck behind Ben Cox, the best keeper in the county, doesn’t help. Underpinning all of this is Clarke wanting to show that he is more than just a glint in the eye of selectors, a man to bat at four in a Procrastinator’s XI.Clarke is a walking advertisement for cricket on Free-To-Air television. More young eyes on the sport leads to more exposed to and inspired by a game they may have never thought twice about. At the very least, it produces a casual fan. At the most, in Clarke’s case, a potential future star. For now, let’s focus on the latter.The scene is a house in the market town of Oswestry, Shropshire, not too far from the Welsh border. The year? 2005.A usually football mad household, a family friend who had spent most of the summer coming around to kick a ball, asked if they could put the cricket on.”It was the Ashes,” says Clarke. He was 10 at the time and admits he “literally didn’t have a clue what cricket was.”Football was his sole focus as he moved from club to club across the Midlands. Good enough to get a trial but not good enough to stay put.”We’d usually play football when my mate’s brother would come around. Then one day he came in – it must have been during the second Test – and asked to put the Ashes on. My first reaction was, ‘what is that?’ Later, he’d come around and we’d start to play cricket as well. For Christmas that year, my brother got the DVD boxset. I reckon I’ve watched it about 50 times.”A year after Ashes fever, an honest conversation with his dad, who played football at a semi-professional level, centred around changing his focus. “Maybe try cricket. You seem to enjoy that more.” And how.Clarke’s story has only just started, but the early chapters should excite you: a wristy middle-order batsmen who makes all the right shapes to play memorable drives and whips from outside off-stump. A first-class record that boasts an average of 44.36 from 67 innings – nine centuries in there, too – was set-up by early dashes of style and is now being reinforced by some proper substance.

‘I know I’m labelled as someone ‘with potential’… I’d rather put performances out there and be seen as someone who is doing it all. Right now.’

Last summer, he was entrusted as Worcestershire’s No. 4 and responded by leading the club charts with 1,206 runs. So far in 2017, he has 759, with three games and potentially six innings still to go. Yet, somehow, despite the obvious disparity – he’ll need a heck of a finish, even by his standards, to better 2016’s tally – he has more trust in his game and his approach right now.He explains: “Even though last year I scored a thousand runs, I was either sort of none or I’d get a hundred. There weren’t consistent scores. This season, I started with a lot of twenties and thirties, which in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t look too bad now that I’ve put together a couple of hundreds and a few scores past fifty.””Before I got two hundreds in the game against Kent here [one to hand Worcestershire a first innings lead, the second to chase down 399] I was averaging mid-twenties, but I always knew a score was around the corner.”The change, he says, is a technical one. Clarke’s dominant bottom-hand, a strength when playing through the leg side (his coach Steve Rhodes likens that element of his play to Mohammad Azharuddin) got him into tangles and opened him up to a wide array of dismissals.He spent the winter with the England Lions and, while he didn’t play much, he was able to spend his time ironing out those kinks with Graham Thorpe.To many of an English persuasion, Thorpe was a hero: responsible for some of the most tough-minded England innings ever played. To Clarke, he has been a mentor – albeit one he had to Google after he first met him three years ago. In a conversation with his dad about an upcoming Lions tour, Clarke mentioned that Thorpe would be travelling as the team’s batting coach.”My old man isn’t really a cricket fan, but he was like, ‘Thorpe’s an England legend’! I had to search and see what he had done for England. He played 100 Tests!”Clarke admits that he’s now more up to speed, largely thanks to the throwback highlights often aired during the rain delays of a Test match.”Karachi in the dark”, a Thorpe classic, was proposed as one Clarke might have watched. Not so. It was a clip of a particular bit of “fielding” from the 1994-95 Ashes series. “The funniest thing is that clip of Thorpey dropping one at slip and booting it past cover! I brought that up with him a few times this winter.”He would love to set off on a similar path.”I know I’m labelled as someone ‘with potential’. But it’s always like, ‘ah, maybe he’s not ready because he’s young and it’s just potential.’ I’d rather put performances out there and be seen as someone who is doing it all. Right now.”

The Ashes has always got people talking and the players are no exception – the rivalry once memorably been described as “a contest between bat, ball and mouth”.

Alan Gardner30-Nov-2017“Sorry, Doctor, she slipped.”
WG Grace was rarely short of a word or two on the pitch, but he was put on the back foot both physically and verbally by Ernie Jones back in 1896. When the Aussie quick unleashed a short ball during the Lord’s Test, it went straight into WG’s beard and out again (in the manner of Richie Benaud’s “confectionery stall”). Grace’s bristles doubtless bristled but Jones was ready with a snappy reply.“Okay, which one of you bastards called Larwood a bastard instead of this bastard?”
The “Bodyline” series of 1932-33 didn’t lack for quotable moments. Douglas Jardine was hell bent on neutering Bradman and regaining the Ashes – a plan which succeeded, but at great cost. When Jardine went to complain about abuse of his strike bowler Harold Larwood, he was met by Vic Richardson (grandfather of the Chappell brothers), whose question to his team-mates in the Australia dressing room seemed to settle the matter.“Leave our flies alone, Jardine. They’re the only friends you’ve got here.”
It’s not just your opponents on the field you have to watch out for in Australia. Jardine’s status on that same tour was summed up by a sledge from the stands, credited to “Yabba” (Stephen Gascoigne), Sydney’s famed heckler on the Hill. A statue of Yabba remains seated in the SCG today.Douglas Jardine and Bill Woodfull toss ahead of the fiery Adelaide Test•The Cricketer International“How’s the hand, which one was it?”
“It was my right.”
“That’s a shame, we were aiming for the left.”
Ian Chappell’s concern for Derek Underwood after he was hit by a bouncer in 1972 was revealed as another chance for a sly dig – but England had the last laugh, as the left-armer’s ten-wicket haul on a fungus-affected Headingley pitch ensured they retained the Ashes.“Take a good look at this arse of mine, you’ll see plenty of it this summer.”
David Steele – aka. “the bank clerk who went to war” – was 33, bespectacled and grey of hair when he made his Test debut at Lord’s in the 1975 Ashes. Having been chirped by Dennis Lillee on his way out, Steele supposedly turned to Rod Marsh behind the stumps and told him to get used to the sight. He was true to his word, averaging 60.83 against the Australians and winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, too.“No good hitting me there, mate, nothing to damage.”
The English line of self-deprecation was impishly embodied on the cricket pitch by Derek Randall. Felled by a Lillee bouncer during the 1977 Centenary Test, he rose to his feet and doffed his cap (no helmets back then) to the bowler, adding for good measure that a glancing blow to the head was unlikely to have done him harm anyway.“When in Rome, dear boy…”
England were battling to save the Sydney Test in 1990-91, when Mike Atherton declined to walk after an appeal for an edge behind. “You’re a f****** cheat!” barked Ian Healy. Atherton, in typically phlegmatic fashion, carried on regardless.“Mate, if you just turn the bat over, you’ll find instructions on the other side.”
Merv Hughes was such a pest he was given the nickname “Fruitfly”. His sledging repertoire knew few bounds but he could be creative as well as crude, as this acid putdown to Graeme Hick – England’s latest great batting hope – during the 1993 Ashes emphasised.Merv Hughes prepares to let one rip•Getty Images“Oi, Tufnell, lend us your brain. We’re building an idiot.”
Another crowd contribution, from the 1994-95 tour, but one Phil Tufnell has played in his favour during a post-playing career as a loveable TV personality and broadcaster. Four years earlier, even the umpires were getting in on the act: when Tufnell asked Peter McConnell how many balls were left to be bowled in the over, he received the reply: “Count ’em yourself, you Pommie c***.”“Mate, what are you doing out here? There’s no way you’re good enough to play for England.”
“Maybe not, but at least I’m the best player in my own family.”
Jimmy Ormond’s Test career may not have been particularly memorable but his response to Mark Waugh’s trash talk during the 2001 series will go down in history as one of cricket’s great rejoinders.“Get ready for a broken f***** arm.”
The sledge that finally won many Australians over to Michael Clarke. Referred to (disparagingly) as a bit of a “metrosexual”, Clarke showed his ocker Aussie inside when instructing Anderson to face up to Mitchell Johnson, who by the end of the 2013-14 Brisbane Test was well into his England-demolishing stride. Anderson had supposedly been threatening to punch George Bailey, fielding at short leg, but it was Clarke’s salty intervention that set the tone for an England hammering.

Everything you need to know about the Pakistan Super League’s new sensation: Ibtisam Sheikh

Umar Farooq in Dubai09-Mar-20183:03

‘Really like Ibtisam’s body language’ – Mohammad Akram

How did Ibtisam Shiekh make his way into the spotlight?A baby-faced 19-year-old legspinner bowling to a man whose career alone is longer than 19 years – Kumar Sangakkara – will get anyone’s attention. Brimming with confidence, he conceded only five off his first five balls, ending up with figures of 0 for 31. In the next game against Islamabad United, he bowled a remarkable spell, picking up three wickets to set up victory for Peshawar Zalmi. He took a stunning catch in his third match against Karachi Kings, running forward from third man, drawing more attention to himself.Where is he from?He was born in Hyderabad, a city with a hot desert climate with warm weather round the year. The town is situated 150 kilometres away from Karachi and is the second-biggest city in Sindh – after Karachi. The city has produced only one Test cricketer in Sharjeel Khan, but has hosted a few notable cricketing games. Until 1991, it held a record for the highest partnership for the third wicket between Javed Miandad and Mudassar Nazar. The city last hosted a Test in 1984 and the game was Test cricket’s 1000th match, with Pakistan and New Zealand playing out a draw.The first match of the 1987 World Cup kicked off in Hyderabad, with the opening game between Pakistan and Sri Lanka also hosted at Niaz Stadium Hyderabad. The city also witnessed the first ever hat-trick in ODI cricket – by the Pakistan fast bowler Jalal-ud-din. Previously, legspinner Rizwan Ahmed and batsman Faisal Athar, who, too, hail from the city, went on to play for Pakistan in one-off ODIs.How has he done in the domestic circuit?He began playing with a tennis ball in a small school ground in front of his house and picked up hard ball cricket at the age of 13. He got into the inter-district Under-19 in 2014 and took 41 wickets at 11.97 finishing his first competitive domestic cricket tournament as the third leading wicket taker. He reappeared in the inter-district Under-19 in 2015, picking up 37 wickets at 8.72. He earned a promotion to inter-regional level, and played one-day and two-day events, picking up 13 one-day wickets at 12.53. He was taken on by Faisalabad team during a draft for the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, Pakistan premier fist class tournament. He played two first-class matches last season, taking 4 wickets.What made him take up legspin ? He started playing hard-ball cricket, at 13, as a fast bowler, but his coach Mohammad Shafqat Baloch transformed him into a legbreak bowler. “It was tough for me to pick up legspin, which is the most difficult thing in cricket after wicketkeeping. But I bowled with control, and I started to enjoy it,” he said. “I didn’t have much inspiration growing up, as I was just keen on being a batsman, but with legspin, I started watching the best in the world – Shane Warne. I was too young and have blurred memories of him [right now]. But the more I saw him, the more he became my idol. I started watching his videos, picking up everything he used to do with the ball. He was cool, and I enjoyed watching him.”How did he make the cut into the PSL?He was warming the bench throughout the first-class season. As Mohammad Akram, Peshawar Zalmi’s head coach was out scouting for a legspinner, he saw Ibtisam in Islamabad and asked him to bowl a few overs in the nets. He was spotted there and they decided to give him a go. Previously, Peshawar had also spotted Hasan Ali – who went on to represent Pakistan, and became the top bowler in the ICC ODI rankings within the space of one year.Is he an immediate prospect for Pakistan?Not really. He might have shown a glimpse of his talent but it may take some time for him to develop further. Akram has promised a follow up on his progress, and hoped to take him under the wings of the National Cricket Academy. “I want to see myself playing for Pakistan in the next two years,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “You play cricket,, hoping to represent your country at the highest level. It’s all about opportunity and here I am. Two years ago, I was just a player playing my cricket with no eyes on me. I know I have to keep on performing and I believe I will be there some day.”

The 17-year old broke a 21-year-old record and is the youngest ever to score a double-century across formats in men’s or women’s internationals

Gaurav Sundararaman13-Jun-2018Awesome AmeliaAmelia Kerr entered the record books by scoring the highest individual score in women’s ODIs. She broke a 21-year-old record, going past Belinda Clark’s 229 that was scored in 1997 against Denmark in Mumbai. Kerr also became only the second woman to score a double-century in ODIs. She reached her double-century in just 134 balls. Before this series, Kerr’s highest ODI score was 30 and she had scored 174 runs overall in her ODI career. Kerr’s innings on Wednesday consisted of 31 fours – the highest in women’s cricket and second highest behind Rohit Sharma’s 33 during his 264.Youngest to a double-centuryKerr also became the joint third-youngest (17 years and 243 days) woman to score an ODI century when she was promoted to open the innings for the first time in her career. Mithali Raj holds the record for the youngest to an ODI century when she got to that feat at 16 years and 205 days, also against Ireland. Three of the top five centuries scored by the youngest players were scored against Ireland. Kerr also became the youngest ever to score a double-century across formats in international cricket. The previous youngest was Javed Miandad in Tests when he scored a – double hundred at 19 years and 140 days.ESPNcricinfo LtdNew Zealand pile on the miseryJust like Kerr, Leigh Kasperek also batted higher than her normal position to score her maiden ODI century. Kasperek’s previous highest ODI score was 21. No. 3 Kasperek and Kerr together added 295 runs, making it the highest second-wicket partnership in women’s ODIs. New Zealand women also became the first team in men’s or women’s ODIs to score 400 or more runs in their third consecutive match.

Have you even heard of John Davison’s 17-wicket haul against USA in 2004?

Peter Della Penna03-Jun-20184:16

Former Canada captain John Davison looks back to 2004, when he took 17 wickets against the USA in the ICC Intercontinental Cup

Fourteen years ago in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, suburb of Cooper City, one of cricket’s most extraordinary individual performances in the game’s oldest international rivalry took place.On Memorial Day weekend 2004, Canada captain John Davison top-scored with 84 in Canada’s first innings before almost singlehandedly wiping out one of USA’s best ever batting line-ups twice in a 104-run win in the first year of the ICC Intercontinental Cup. He also finished with 17 wickets, the biggest match haul in first-class cricket since England offspinner Jim Laker took 19 in the 1956 Ashes Test at Old Trafford.”He basically was a one-man team,” says Lauderhill Mayor Richard J Kaplan, looking back. “The Canadians are a good team but he made that team so much better, far stronger than the USA team. If it wasn’t for him, the USA team would’ve won.”The lead-in began a few months earlier, at the ICC Six Nations Challenge in the UAE. Canada arrived on the back of a World Cup campaign where they beat Bangladesh handsomely and ran Kenya down to the wire, before being wiped out for 36 by Sri Lanka in what remains the second-lowest completed score in the history of ODI cricket.Then, in spite of Davison’s 66-ball century, they lost to West Indies, and subsequently to South Africa and New Zealand in lopsided fashion. Still, they finished above winless Full Member Bangladesh to avoid the wooden spoon, commendable for an Associate nation playing in their first World Cup since 1979.USA had never been to a World Cup, but with the recent addition of ex-West Indies opener Clayton Lambert, they were a formidable outfit. Under the coaching guidance of former captain Faoud Bacchus – himself another former West Indies batsman, who moved to Florida after being shunned at home for his participation in a rebel tour to South Africa – USA won the ICC Six Nations Challenge to clinch a spot in the 2004 Champions Trophy.In their showdown against Canada in Dubai, Canada were bundled out for 126 (Davison was absent), before USA wicketkeeper Mark Johnson bashed 67 off 51 balls to clinch victory with 26 overs to spare.”We had a whole lot of good cricket at that time that both teams were playing,” said Johnson, a Jamaican who had moved to south Florida via New York in 1989. “For me that was probably one of the better times of playing with the USA team in terms of success. It was fierce playing against them. Going onto the field there was always something to prove.”We were gelling at that time. They were more established than us because they were World Cup players. We hadn’t gotten to the World Cup but we were playing good cricket.”Prior to USA’s stunning performance in the UAE, there had been a growing movement among a group of Florida politicians and businessman to put together a plan to bid for 2007 World Cup games to be played in the region. A part of that was a proposal for a new cricket stadium in Lauderhill. Once USA had legitimised itself on the field as a top Associate, with the possibility of potentially playing in the World Cup if they claimed one of five berths available for Associates at the 2005 ICC Trophy, those plans were kicked into gear.”At the time, we were still trying to get the attention of [USACA president Gladstone] Dainty and trying to get the bid for the World Cup and the stadium built, all at the same time,” recalls one of Mayor Kaplan’s staffers, Leslie Tropepe. “We were trying to show we could do events and we could do cricket. So we offered to sponsor the games and produce the games on behalf of USACA.”South Florida was home to a thriving cricket scene and less than a year earlier, a turf wicket had been put in place at the sprawling at Brian Piccolo Park. Named after one of Fort Lauderdale’s most famous local heroes who went on to play for the NFL’s Chicago Bears before tragically dying of testicular cancer at age 26 (as recounted in the Hollywood film , in which Piccolo is portrayed by James Caan), the park has six softball fields, two baseball fields, three soccer pitches, basketball and tennis courts, and a velodrome.It was a popular location to attract crowds. As part of the efforts to “make our bid for hosting World Cup games more legitimate”, according to Kaplan, the city of Lauderhill paid to fly Sir Everton Weekes up from Barbados for the match. He and fellow West Indies legend Lance Gibbs, a longtime local resident of Miami, came to the middle of the pitch to “bless the wicket” ahead of the first international to be played at the ground.John Davison talks spin with USA players•Peter Della PennaVery little was actually known about how the wicket would behave, but Davison was licking his lips at the toss. “I remember being pretty excited by the look of the wicket,” he says. “It looked like a clay court in tennis and I knew it was going to turn.”Davison won the toss and chose to bat on day one, when it was 89°F (31.6°C) but the 91% humidity made it feel far more oppressive – even for someone who came up through the Australian system, as Davison had. Midway through the opening session, he retired ill on 26. Not long after, he was doubled over in the Canada bench area.”I remember him throwing up,” said Canada batsman and former captain Zubin Surkari, who also played with Davison at Toronto CC. “With the heat, he wouldn’t have eaten anything for awhile. He was dry-heaving and puking up some fluids and bile. It couldn’t have been too comfortable.”Canada soon found themselves in trouble. Surkari replaced Davison and lasted just 11 balls before he was caught behind off legspinner Nasir “Charlie” Javed. Promptly, Ian Billcliff and Ashish Bagai too fell cheaply to Javed and left-arm spinner Zamin Amin to make it 69 for 4.Javed gained significant assistance in the opening session. “It was doing a whole lot of stuff,” USA wicketkeeper Johnson said. “Keeping wicket to Charlie, I got hit in the face. It wasn’t just that it was turning, it was bouncing. The ball was popping up from right under your bat, right under your eyes. There were a lot of close catches, but we also dropped a lot of those catches close in.”Nicholas de Groot and Hani Dhillon steadied things before de Groot fell to medium-pacer Donovan Blake on the stroke of lunch, at 106 for 5. Having rested, Davison felt okay enough to come back out in the second session. He was also fuelled a bit by an unintentional jibe: he was used to having people call him “Davidson”, but the ground announcer at Brian Piccolo Park kept introducing him as “David Johnson”.With a clear head, Davison knuckled down and forged an 88-run stand with Dhillon. Lambert’s part-time offies eventually claimed Dhillon, opening up the tail for Javed, who ran through it. Davison was ninth out, run out, and Canada finished on 221 at tea, but any hopes USA had of driving home an advantage before close of play quickly evaporated.”Our opening bowler got hit for 8 or 10 off the first over of the match, and I said, ‘That’s it, I’m on at that end,'” says Davison. “I just locked myself in for the game that end. Sunil Dhaniram bowled at the other end, left-arm orthodox, bowled really economically and built pressure. So I benefited from that in terms of my wicket haul.”Johnson was out leg-before for a golden duck to Ashish Patel’s medium pace early in USA’s reply, but it was Davison who claimed six wickets in the 34 overs before the close of play. After Johnson, not a single wicket fell bowled or lbw. Taking a page out of USA’s field settings for Javed in the first innings, Canada crowded USA with close-in catchers.”If you have a bowler of his quality, who has unlimited overs on a pitch like that, with his knowledge and experience, never mind five wickets, you’re looking at six or seven,” Surkari said. “I don’t think anyone expected eight or nine in an innings, but on a day like that, anyone with that ability could pull it off. He was an underrated spinner.”In 45 first-class matches in the Sheffield Shield for Victoria and South Australia, Davison had only taken five twice. He claimed two more wickets the next morning to finish with 8 for 61 in the first innings, but even with a night’s rest he was still suffering physically from dehydration in the heat.”As the match wore on, I started to cramp up pretty badly,” Davison said. “Whenever I turned around and got down to appeal for lbw, the cramping would get me. I’d hit the ground and it was hard to stand back up.”Instead of opening Canada’s second innings, he opted for a bit of rest. He didn’t get much, though, because Canada were soon 45 for 5, and he needed to come in at No. 7. Davison lasted just eight balls before USA captain Richard Staple nabbed him with more part-time spin.Dhaniram, who had a long first-class career with Guyana before he migrated to Canada, entered at the fall of Davison’s wicket and produced a vital 65 not out, before Javed, Lambert and medium-pacer Howard Johnson worked their way through the tail at the other end. USA were set a target of 231.Leon Romero fell midway through the final session, caught behind off left-arm spinner Zahid Hussain, and Staple was out in the next over, to Davison. Forty-year-old Johnson reprised his excellent form from the win a few months earlier in Dubai, in a valuable stand with 24-year-old future USA captain Steve Massiah.Davison during his record-breaking hundred against West Indies in the 2003 World Cup•Getty Images”When Steve and myself were batting, we figured we’d take it as it comes because it got easier as we went along,” Johnson says. “Leave alone most of the balls and take whatever was in your half to score, as opposed to the first innings, when we wanted to just hit and score and the false strokes lost our wickets.”USA ended the day on 87 for 2, their confidence high. Word started to get around for fans to show up on Sunday, the final day of the match, on Memorial Day weekend. About 500 turned up, big by USA standards, though Tropepe says she was confused by the hype among the locals.”Everyone was trying to explain to me, because I was the new girl. They were saying, ‘This is a big deal, Leslie. This is going in the record books. This is history!'” says Tropepe, an Italian-American who was attending her very first cricket match, in her role as Mayor Kaplan’s director of public relations and cultural affairs.”For perspective, I come from the championship days of UM [University of Miami],”she says. “The 1991 championship was my freshman year. I graduated with Warren Sapp and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. So understand that when I hear, ‘Things are gonna be great.’ But they were excited to see USA v Canada in Florida, to see their guys at home.”Johnson came back out to bat on day three but only added four to his overnight score before he fell to Davison, bowled in what he says were controversial circumstances. “It was a slog sweep, trying to hit to midwicket. I think the ball came off the wicketkeeper’s pads onto the stumps. I walked. They said I was bowled, but something didn’t seem right, but you couldn’t do anything. I guess in the spirit of the game you just walk, but in retrospect, I think I should have stood my ground.”Johnson’s wicket triggered a collapse. The match didn’t make it to lunch. Davison took 9 for 76, and USA were all out for 126. Johnson was the only one of Davison’s 17 wickets out bowled. The rest were all caught, the majority of them taken by close-in fielders. It remains the second-best haul in an international first-class match.”I don’t think anybody knew the significance of it, no,” Surkari says. “I knew about Laker, I remember watching clips of him, but I didn’t know it was going in the same first-class statistical records, and I don’t think anyone thought anything of it.”I think it probably gets overlooked because everyone always thinks about [Davison’s] [World Cup] hundred. It was on television against the West Indies. Everyone forgets that he’s got the best first-class record in a match since Laker. Those who were there [in Florida] would remember it fondly.”The two teams went on divergent paths after the match. Canada went on to qualify for their second straight World Cup a year later, at the ICC Trophy in Ireland. USA were throttled by New Zealand and Australia in their two Champions Trophy matches later that summer in England, and then finished tenth out of 12 at the following year’s ICC Trophy to fall well short of reaching the World Cup. The first of three ICC suspensions for poor governance came before 2005 was over.The proposal to play World Cup games in Florida also fell through, though approval was later granted to build a scaled back version of the originally planned $70m cricket stadium at the Central Broward Regional Park. It hosted its first T20 international in 2010, between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. After more visits by West Indies, India and now the CPL, Kaplan copyrighted Lauderhill as the “Cricket Capital of USA”.”In the long run, considering what happened with the 2007 World Cup games [in terms of the financial loss], they probably did us a favour,” he says. “We could’ve lost a lot of money.”Leslie Tropepe is now Leslie Johnson. She met USA wicketkeeper Johnson on the first day of the 2004 game, where she was organising the squad’s transportation to Brian Piccolo Park. Five years later, they were married. So for Johnson, the game is much more memorable than for Davison’s 17 wickets. He still smiles when thinking about his old sparring partner from Canada.”I always liked him, even though he was a cocky son of a gun,” Johnson says, laughing. “He did so much for Canada cricket. He took it to a level which was good.”Davison continued to play for Canada for another seven years, retiring after the 2011 World Cup and going back to Australia, where he has since become a spin-bowling coach in the national set-up. He remembers his days with Canada fondly, and though he will always be known best for his World Cup hundred against West Indies, the Intercontinental Cup win against USA is a very fond memory.”It was probably one of the funnest games I’ve played in terms of an individual performance,” he says. “To have that sort of impact on a game was great.”

The India captain prized ‘control’ the most on the final day in Adelaide, and his bowlers delivered that for him

Sidharth Monga in Adelaide10-Dec-20182:06

Key moments: Pujara Starc lesson, Australia’s first-innings fail

Thirty-one is a lot of runs in the fourth innings of a Test. India should know, having failed at what are seen in popular parlance as “tight” chases. And yet such was the drama, and the lack of having experienced such wins, that emotional fans kept believing Australia would somehow pull off a miracle. Even India coach Ravi Shastri, a broadcaster of at least 25 years, forgot the tenets of broadcasting and described his emotions in a totally and utterly beep-able fashion.On the field, though, nothing got near any mouth. Except maybe some gum, some zinc cream, some flies and the sweet taste of a 1-0 series lead. India began the day knowing they had enough on the board despite a slowed-down pitch and only four bowlers to call upon. They knew from their own experience of how difficult it gets in fourth innings that they didn’t need to do anything other than stay disciplined. Australia got partnerships in, but India’s fast bowlers kept bowling accurately and fast, and R Ashwin went at under two an over, which is precisely what Virat Kohli wanted from his bowlers.According to Cricviz data, with an average pace of 141.4kmph and 50.6% deliveries pitched on a good length and line – good line being roughly between third and sixth stump – India’s fast bowlers had their best Test by both measures across games in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia over the last 12 years. That gave Kohli what he loves the most as the captain in the field: control. He doesn’t want opposition batsmen to play with positive intent, something that he as a batsman himself understands brings wickets.ALSO READ: Kohli reveals how the no-balls ‘pissed off’ Ishant“If Australia had been 4 for 50, we would have gone with our strike bowlers straightaway and could have afforded to give away a few runs,” Kohli said of his plans. “The fact that we went with Ashwin and Ishant [Sharma] this morning was because we had a template where they were scoring at 1-2 runs an over max. And then we build on that to gain momentum and be positive from ball one. As batsmen you understand that if you are not playing with positive intent, you can nick off at any stage. And that’s exactly what happened with those guys who were not ready.”Maybe Travis Head was not expecting Ishant to suddenly go short on him, and we just wanted to create that zone where our bowlers were in a good rhythm and bowling consistently. And even with the second new ball we gave it to Ashwin, and we thought he will get more bite with it. It is very important to keep an eye on the scoreboard and how many runs you have, where the game is heading and how the batsmen are playing as well. So I keep looking to improve on that because in the past there have been sessions where we have given too many runs in one go, and as captain I have sat down and tried to plug it. In this Test, we were pretty balanced in that regard, we never gave away a session where they got away from us so we just have to remember that and make that balance again according to situation of the game and be more aware. It is awareness that counts in those situations.”Australia batted 23.4 overs more than India did in this Test, but India made it home comfortably in the end, which is what will vindicate Kohli’s tactics. At least within the team group if not to the wider world. There might have been a case for attacking Australia more on the final day, but, on the day, with the Australian batting uncertain and India under no pressure to make the big play, this conservative approach worked for them.Having said that, it did take a lot out of the fast bowlers, who kept coming back for spell after spell even as Ashwin tied up one end. “Especially with the Kookaburra, we have not been able to sustain that pressure long enough in the past,” Kohli admitted. “But the fact that they [the bowlers] are fitter and they have more pace on the ball for longer periods, and their job at certain times is just to contain… I think to pick 20 wickets with four bowlers, away from home, especially with a ball that does not offer you that much is something we can be proud of.”Virat Kohli celebrates with his team-mates•AFPWhat of Ashwin then? The only spinner in the side, he provided India the initial breakthroughs in both the innings, but there might be criticism for him that he didn’t land the knockout blow. He ended up India’s joint-highest wicket-taker – with six, along with Jasprit Bumrah – but there might be comparisons with Nathan Lyon. However, on a pitch that had slowed down, Kohli was satisfied with Ashwin’s work on the final day.”He was given a specific role, yes,” Kohli said. “I think he was very economical and bowled in the right areas, just to create enough chances and keep one end tight, because we didn’t want to go overboard wanting him to attack too much because that would have opened up scoring options as well.”Actually, if you look at the whole day, they were playing with a mindset where they knew they were up against it, and they were just looking for an opening where you get 50-60 runs in an hour and then you start putting the opposition under the pressure. We never wanted that to happen. If this was the case in the first innings, where there was that much assistance or these many spots, Ashwin would have been more aggressive with hitting those spots, but the fact that he controlled the game nicely and kept us in the game, not letting it drift away too much at any stage. I think he did his job perfectly. So I think that’s a good start for him, he hasn’t started that well in Australia before and I think he can build on that. He did his role perfectly in the second innings.”The challenge now for India bowlers is to get ready for Perth in three days’ time, which might include one intense nets session in which to figure out what lengths to bowl there. It is a tough ask on bowlers from either side; they will both be desperate to get an extra day off if their captain can win the toss and choose to bat.