Australia’s captain really could use some help with his sledging game

Andrew Fidel Fernando31-Jan-2021Sledging round-up
Over the course of two India tours, Tim Paine’s behind-the-stumps gabbing can be put into two broad categories. The first category is elite hospitality.- To Rishabh Pant in ’18-19: “Beautiful town, Hobart. Get you a nice apartment on the waterfront. Have you over for dinner. You babysit?”- To R Ashwin in ’20-21: “Can’t wait to get you to the Gabba, Ash.”But then Paine also seems extremely sensitive to any fractures within the India team. This is category No. 2.- To M Vijay in ’18-19: “I know [Virat Kohli’s] your captain, but you can’t seriously like him as a bloke.”- To R Ashwin, ’20-21: “At least my team-mates like me, d***head.”He’s had two years to work on the routine, and still keeps treading the same ground, so get some new material, amirite? Maybe he could do with some sledging lessons from Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella, who in the second Test against England, reminded Jonny Bairstow that although he’d been “dropped” (or rested, as the official ECB line will be) from the India tour, he would still be available for the IPL. Shortly after, Bairstow edged a ball into his pads and was caught at slip.Almost more impressive was Joe Root’s sledge to Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain Dinesh Chandimal from slip. Having watched Chandimal slog-sweep the previous ball for four, Root chirped: “Come on Chandi, throw your wicket away.” Attempting another almighty heave, Chandimal obliged, seconds later.But does Paine have a point about Kohli?
No. He doesn’t. Because agreeing that he did would constitute internet suicide. I would never suggest that the likeability of the India team that won in Australia was even slightly due to the absence of Kohli, who is not only one of the greatest cricketers of the age but also the most magnetic and marketable, not to mention really handsome.Punishment for racist spectators

Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah reported hearing racist abuse from the SCG crowd in the third Test. A group of spectators was later removed from the ground, following a complaint to the umpires from Siraj. But is being escorted out really enough of a deterrent for racists at cricket grounds? Alternative punishment: shoot the racists out of cannons, over the grandstands and out onto the streets outside cricket grounds, preferably in sync with stadium music, with confetti and streamers going off around the ground.How to motivate a batsman over ten years
Congratulations are in order for repeated Pakistan selection panels, who collectively refused to pick Fawad Alam for Tests for over a decade in order to get him perfectly primed for this roaring comeback, in which he has now hit two hundreds in the space of four innings. Nothing like being told your technique is too weird to succeed at the top level, during part of which time you watch Shivnarine Chanderpaul scuttle his way to 11,000 Test runs, or Steve Smith become the best batsman on the planet, while you yourself rack up over 12,000 first-class runs, to really make you serious about your batting.Is this what we waited for?
Thanks to the pandemic, there had been no Test cricket in Sri Lanka since August 2019. And I do mean to the pandemic on this one. Because although Sri Lanka fans of the longest format were initially excited to watch their team play England in Galle, any positive feelings were vomited into their face masks as they watched Sri Lanka’s batsmen get out for 135 in their first innings of the series, before in their final innings, Sri Lanka produced a collapse that was feeble beyond imagination, tumbling to 126 all out.These collapses were so unwatchably bad – batsmen hitting wide long hops straight to point, or slog-sweeping against the turn en masse to be predictably caught off top edges – that it was a mercy to spectators that no one was allowed at the ground. Somebody should sell “I was not there” T-shirts.Next month on The Briefing:
– Kohli will return to the India team for the England Tests, and they will absolutely be every bit as supportable, his on-field gesticulations and generally aggressive demeanour not doing a single thing to dent their likeability.- Pakistan selectors realise their long omission of Alam worked so brilliantly, they have no option but to drop him again for several years.

That aside, what makes Kieron Pollard such a successful captain?

Matt Roller23-Oct-2020
Was Dhoni right about the lack of ‘spark’?
MS Dhoni was ridiculed by Kris Srikkanth – and many others on social media – after suggesting that the Chennai Super Kings’ young players had not pressed their case for inclusion or shown the “spark” necessary this season.On Friday night, he gave opportunities to two young domestic batsmen in Ruturaj Gaikwad and N Jagadeesan, who slotted in as opener and No. 4 respectively. But they only managed to prove Dhoni’s point: Gaikwad was set up with three outswingers by Trent Boult before being trapped lbw by a booming inswinger, while Jagadeesan edged Jasprit Bumrah to slip first ball. Between them, they contributed 0 off 6 balls.ALSO READ: Five wickets in six overs and other sorry Chennai Super Kings talesWhy did Bumrah open the bowling?
Despite enjoying more success in the powerplay than at the death this season, Bumrah had only opened the bowling once before in this season’s IPL – against the Rajasthan Royals, when he dismissed Steven Smith with the fourth ball he bowled. The Mumbai Indians have otherwise given James Pattinson the second over – Boult has always had the first – but with his replacement Nathan Coulter-Nile better suited to the middle overs, stand-in captain Kieron Pollard decided to give it to Bumrah.In Pollard’s only previous game as the Mumbai Indians captain – against the Kings XI Punjab in 2019 – he had also given Bumrah the second over, and watched him cause Chris Gayle and KL Rahul some problems with the new ball. Tonight, the move could hardly have worked better: he took two wickets in two balls to leave Chennai 3 for 3, bowling an immaculate line in the off-stump area.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhy did Curran drop down the order?
After three games at the top of the order as a pinch-hitter, Sam Curran was pushed back down the order to No. 7, where he made a valiant rearguard half-century after seemingly being asked to bat the overs out.While it might have seemed like a harsh call to move him back down the order given his relative success at the top – 53 runs in three innings – he had struggled against high pace, against Jofra Archer in particular, in the Super Kings defeat to the Royals on Monday night. With Boult and Bumrah operating in the powerplay, there was plenty of logic in Dhoni’s call to end the opening experiment.Chahar vs Chahar
Double first cousins Rahul and Deepak Chahar have been playing against one another in the IPL since 2017, but have only rarely bowled to one another: that is perhaps no surprise, given they are both lower-order batsmen and neither bowls much at the death.Before tonight, Deepak had bowled four balls to Rahul, dismissing him with one of them, but Rahul had never bowled to Deepak. He did so as early as in the seventh over tonight, starting with two dots, and then dismissed him with the fourth ball he bowled to him, with Quinton de Kock completing a straightforward stumping. Deepak is unlikely to bring this game up at the family dinner table.Ishan Kishan hit his second half-century of the season•BCCIWhy did Kishan, rather than Suryakumar, open for Mumbai?
In the absence of the injured Rohit Sharma, Mumbai promoted Ishan Kishan to open the batting alongside de Kock. It was a move that worked brilliantly, as he hit 68 not out off 37 balls to propel them back to the top of the table, but it perhaps came as a surprise to see him walk out rather than Suryakumar Yadav – whom ESPNcricinfo’s Live Report readers had voted as their choice to open during the interval.Indeed, this was the first time that the Mumbai Indians had ever opened the batting with two left-handers. It was a move that they would have been unlikely to consider if the Super Kings had fielded an offspinner, given their emphasis on match-ups, but without one in their side, there was no need to worry about anyone taking the ball away from the bat.Could Tahir have come on earlier?
After spending the whole season on the bench, this was not the ideal return to the side for last year’s Purple Cap winner Imran Tahir – despite his useful contribution with the bat from No. 10. Perhaps, given his record against the Mumbai Indians openers, he might have come on earlier: he had dismissed Kishan five times out of five, all of them attacking shots, and had got de Kock twice in the 15 balls he had bowled to him.But with the Super Kings fielding two new-ball specialists in Chahar and Josh Hazlewood, he found himself coming on in the sixth over, with the score already 47 for 0 and any lingering hope of a come-from-behind win extinguished. Similarly, it was surprising that Dhoni did not give Curran a single over, given his knack for picking up important wickets.Does Pollard have the magic touch?
Pollard’s second game as captain in the IPL resulted in his second victory, making him the only man with a 100% record as skipper to have captained more than one game in the competition. He has now won 15 games in a row as captain, after leading the Trinbago Knight Riders to the CPL title with 11 wins from 11 after three consecutive wins skippering West Indies at the start of the year.The last team to have beaten a Pollard-led side was Ireland, back in January, when a remarkable partnership between Kevin O’Brien and Paul Stirling led them to a four-run win. It is hard to imagine there is a team worldwide with such a well-qualified vice-captain.

“The plan was to keep things simple, be patient and put the balls in the right area”

Mohammad Isam13-Feb-2021Rahkeem Cornwall generally does not react to a lot of things, but when Jermaine Blackwood dropped Nayeem Hasan, the Bangladesh No 10, he let out a moan. Blackwood had, earlier in the over, expertly moved to his left as Liton Das shaped to play the lap sweep, and intercepted the catch. It was a vital breakthrough, and gave Cornwall his fourth wicket.Related

West Indies find subcontinent weapon in Rahkeem Cornwall

West Indies stretch lead despite wobble after Rahkeem Cornwall five-for

When Hasan edged his regular offbreak, Blackwood couldn’t quite hold on to the straightforward chance. Next ball, however, Blackwood made amends with another sharp catch coming off the batsman’s top edge. The moment of taking his second five-wicket haul in Tests saw Cornwall pump his fist and look towards the sky in ecstasy.Cornwall’s five-for was building up during the Test series. He was the only bowler being talked about in Bangladesh’s press conferences ahead of the Chattogram Test, particularly after his five-wicket haul in the practice match at the MA Aziz Stadium. He bowled steadily for 42.2 overs in the first innings in Chattogram before briefly bursting into life during the second innings when he removed Tamim Iqbal and Najmul Hossain Shanto in his first over.The bounce in the Dhaka pitch has helped Cornwall, who delivers from up high, against relatively shorter batsmen. He had Mominul Haque’s number in the second day, giving him just one run off 14 balls before having him caught behind with one that jumped slightly off a length. Cornwall also preyed on the patience of Mohammad Mithun and Mushfiqur Rahim in the second morning. Mithun could take only five runs off his 22 balls before chipping one to midwicket, while Rahim got out to a strange looking reverse sweep after surviving a top-edged sweep shot the ball before.”I had a meeting with the bowling coach this morning, to ask him what he thinks,” Cornwall said. “He told me to ‘back your skills and put the ball in the right areas for a long period of time to be successful’.”The spin is not what I expected but the ball bounced a bit more. I think, getting that bounce, I fed off it, created the energy and put the ball in the right area.”The ball bounces a bit more in Dhaka. There was not much bounce or spin in Chittagong. I got a bit more purchase here. I worked with what I get, with whatever pace I get out of the wicket, I use it as my strength.”Cornwall said that he had to be patient to pick up the wickets, backed by the 400-plus first-innings total.”It is always a good feeling to take five wickets. I helped put the team in a good position to win the team. The plan was to keep things simple, be patient and put the balls in the right area. I think the way our batsmen set up the game the day before, we knew that the bowlers had to do a good job today.”Cornwall said that West Indies’ job is not yet done, as they must now score another 250 runs on the fourth day, to give Bangladesh a formidable 400-run target in their fourth innings.”I think we are slightly in the driver’s seat. Tomorrow is an important day for us. We just have to bat well in the first hour. We have to be in a reasonable position at lunch so that we can set a reasonable target for Bangladesh. We can have a run at Bangladesh in the end (of the day). Anything over 400 will be comfortable for us.”

Six things we learned from the first Test between England and New Zealand

George Dobell06-Jun-2021

Ollie Robinson has what it takes

If we ignore, for a moment, the off-field issues, Ollie Robinson enjoyed a hugely impressive debut. Only two England bowlers this century have claimed more than seven wickets on Test debut, while only Rory Burns scored more runs in England’s first innings. Robinson’s 42 played a significant role in helping England avoid the follow-on.But bowling is his primary skill. And it was the excellent, probing length he hit, combined with the ability to nip the ball both ways that bodes particularly well for the future. He gained more swing than any of his colleagues in the second innings and, even with New Zealand looking to accelerate, conceded under two-an-over. He looked a captain’s dream, really. On the pitch, anyway.But, after the furore of the first day, he did show strength of character in being able to compartmentalise things and retain focus on the job in hand. None of this makes what went before OK, but it does show he’s a cricketer with a future at this level. You’d think he’d quite enjoy Australian pitches, too. In fact, he found the MCG quite fun with England Lions last year. Whether he gets a chance to experience them again… well, that’s another issue entirely.Ollie Robinson is jubilant after dismissing Devon Conway•AFP/Getty Images

England’s young batters have much to prove

New Zealand’s declaration was intriguing. It wasn’t so much that it was generous – it wasn’t, really; not on a surface going up and down and against a line-up which has lost their last three Tests and is missing Ben Stokes and co – but that it suggested they really didn’t rate the England batting.And you can understand that. In the first innings, England’s five young middle order batters – from Zak Crawley to James Bracey – contributed 24 runs between them. Three of them (Sibley, Bracey and Dan Lawrence) were out for ducks. None of them average more than Ollie Pope’s 31.76 with Crawley having scored nearly 40% of his Test runs in one innings. Given that he has now had 22 innings, that is a worry.But it might be unfair to expect too much more. This was the youngest top seven England had fielded in a home Test in history. It’s is probably inevitable they will take time to come to terms with the higher quality bowling.Related

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• England hold out for draw with Dom Sibley's unbeaten fifty

• Ollie Robinson suspended from all international cricket

• Joe Root defends England's final-day approach, says chasing wasn't 'realistic'

Still, some of the shot selection – Crawley pushing at balls in both innings and Lawrence trying to thrash a wide one without foot movement – will be a concern to the England management, as will the technical issues which saw Pope fall over to the off side and Bracey leave a gate wide enough to let through a cow.It’s been almost a decade since England produced a specialist batter who has been an undisputed success at Test level with Joe Root making his debut at the end of 2012. The likes of Pope, Crawley and Lawrence really are just about the best options England have from county cricket. But they’ve a lot to do to prove they can make it at this level.

Mark Wood can be a point of difference

New Zealand were 288 for 3 at one stage in the first innings. A total of well over 400 seemed likely. But then Mark Wood, on a slow pitch and against set batters, made the breakthrough. His spell helped England claim four wickets for six runs. His pace (over 150kph at times), skill and control combined to test the batters in a variety of ways and the manner he was able to sustain his effort underlined the impression that, since he lengthened his run-up and recovered from his latest bout of ankle surgery, he has the stamina to at least rotate with Jofra Archer and Olly Stone in the fast-bowling role. England are blessed in terms of fast-medium bowlers who can provide control and dominate in conditions where they have some assistance. What they have not had, until recently, were a batch of fast bowlers who can provide a point of difference in the attack and perhaps get some life out of the sort of pitches in India and Australia on which they have tended to struggle. Wood offers that.Mark Wood offers something different•PA Photos/Getty Images

They are half the team without their allrounders

It goes without saying that England missed a player of Stokes’ ability. But they missed Sam Curran, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali, too. Without them, it’s almost impossible to balance their side to ensure the requisite amount of batters, seam and swing bowlers. In this match, they opted to go without a spinner but there was no perfect option. Had they picked Jack Leach, they would either have had just three seamers – an issue when one of them is 39 and another has a bit of a dodgy fitness record – or one fewer batter. And you can understand why they wanted to bolster that batting line-up; it looks disconcertingly brittle. If nothing else, this match was a reminder of the incredible value of Stokes to England cricket.

England’s openers have value

Rory Burns and, in particular, Dom Sibley are going to divide opinion. For some, they will appear appallingly negative. For others, they provide the old-fashioned determination which builds a platform on which the more fluent middle-order can attack. Few would pretend they’re in the class of Boycott and Gooch or Atherton and Trescothick. But after years of England struggling with poor starts, Sibley and Burns at least hint at more solid contributions ahead.Rory Burns sends one to the leg side•AFP via Getty ImagesBoth men played huge roles in England saving this match. Burns’ first-innings century – the only score in the innings above 42 – ensure his side did not have to follow-on, while Sibley’s second-innings half-century ensured England claimed a draw. There will be days, no doubt, when Sibely’s pace of scoring causes some frustration. Indeed, you could feel that from the crowd at Lord’s on Sunday. But with a middle-order as fragile as England’s, some old-fashioned grit is probably rather valuable. And remember: a day of this match was lost to rain. It wasn’t, perhaps, England’s tactics as much as the weather that caused the frustration.Both men have work to do to cement their places. Burns’ previous eight Test innings had realised just 78 runs (including three ducks) while none of Sibley’s previous eight had reached 20, but Burns has now made three Test centuries.

English stadiums need a roof

Had this game not lost a full day, it could have developed into a classic. Instead it petered out into a bit of a dull draw.Is it really so fanciful to suggest a ground with a roof could be built in England? A new ground if it’s too expensive to alter an old one. It’s happened in Australia, after all. Surely, in a country where it seems to rain relentlessly, it makes more sense to do so here.An MCC member takes an early lunch as the rain falls•Getty ImagesNo doubt the costs would be vast. But have you seen how much money English cricket has spent in recent times? The MCC, for example, have just spent in excess of £50m to add a couple of thousands seats to the capacity at Lord’s and, not so long ago, spent £25m on a Warner Stand which has poor visibility in some seats.And then we come to The Hundred. Rather than gambling more than £50m a year on a competition which nobody was calling for, couldn’t the ECB have used the reassurance a roof might provide to TV schedulers to increase the value of broadcast deals?

Australia became the first team to lose a T20I match after needing less than 50 runs in the last 10 overs

Sampath Bandarupalli10-Jul-20210 Number of times a team failed to chase less than 50 runs in the final ten overs of a T20I before the St Lucia T20I. The previous fewest target runs unachieved in the last ten overs was 53 by New Zealand, also against West Indies in 2006. The game ended in a tie, but New Zealand went on to win the bowl out.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 Australia are the first team to lose a T20 match despite the required rate being under five in the last ten overs after scoring 100-plus runs in the first half (where ball-by-ball data is available). Australia raced to 105 for 4 by the end of the tenth over but fell short of the 146-run target.16 Overs batted by Australia, the fewest by any team before getting all out in a T20 chase, inside 20 runs of the target. The previous lowest was 16.2 overs by Tamil Union CAC against Colombo CC in 2015, bowled out for 148 while chasing a target of 165 runs.

Australia had a win probability over 90% until the 13th over! Here's how they went downhill in the chase as per @ESPNcricinfo's Forecaster. #WIvAUS pic.twitter.com/mebOdQScxD

— ESPNcricinfo stats (@ESPNcric_stats) July 10, 2021

2.92 Ratio between the powerplay totals of Australia and West Indies during the first T20I. Australia scored 70 runs during the powerplay phase, while West Indies got only 24 runs. Only one losing team had a higher multiple of the winning team’s powerplay total in T20Is – 3.18 by Netherlands, who scored 54 runs during the powerplay against Scotland in 2017 but lost by seven runs. Scotland, who batted first in that game, had only 17 at the end of the sixth over.ESPNcricinfo Ltd47.9 Percentage of the 146-run target that Australia wiped off by the end of the powerplay. It is the highest proportion of the target any team that achieved inside the powerplay in a T20I chase before going on to lose. The previous highest was also by Australia, who scored 72 in the powerplay while chasing a 158-run target against Sri Lanka in 2011 but ended up with only 149.19 Runs added by Australia while losing the last six wickets, their second-lowest aggregate for the loss of the last six wickets in a T20I game. Australia lost their last six wickets for only ten runs during the 2010 T20 World Cup game against Pakistan, also held in St Lucia.

Skerritt explains the bidding process and logic behind picking the hosts for the ICC tournaments from 2024 to 2031

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi19-Nov-2021Fourteen hosting venues for eight men’s events in the next rights cycle. How big is that for the ICC and cricket?

There are three themes. One is to show the extent to which the ICC has committed to spread its major events geographically across the world. All the Full Members are involved in hosting in this next eight-year cycle from 2023-31 except Afghanistan, and three Associate members factored in, in some of the partnerships – Scotland, Namibia and USA. Remember, just not so long ago, when I became a member of the ICC board, there was this very strong perception that only three countries could host any events – the Big 3 (India, England and Australia). The Big 3 story was hammering the ICC by the media. So I would say that this venue allocation is a statement that’s very powerful in a new direction of inclusiveness.Related

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But the biggest story of that would be the West Indies partnership with USA for the obvious reasons and the multiplicity of strategic objectives that it would tick. So it’s about the balance and about the outreach to grow the game, and about the obvious, inevitable, I would say, move into the US and whether this is going to be a big step or a small step that depends a lot on how we all work together, including internal forces in the USA.What was the process to finalise the hosts?

There was an events hosting sub-committee put in place to review the bids. There were several bids that were basically expressions of interest with some depth of why me. That’s how it works generally. [The bidder says] I would like you to consider me and my board and my country, my venues, and here’s what we have, and here’s why we think that we can help you meet your various objectives by bringing a particular event in a particular year or particular time of the year. The bids were not final documents. Even with the present decisions, there’s still a period up until March next year [2022], when venue agreements will have to be sort of hammered out.What were the parameters used to determine the hosting country? We know India remains the commercial driver for world cricket. So you would want the marquee tournaments in India. But can you explain the process?
It is not by accident that in the eight years, India is involved with three events. But you see that two of the three events are in partnerships: India and Sri Lanka [2026 T20 World Cup] and India and Bangladesh [2031 ODI World Cup]. So economic returns on media rights and commercial investments was clearly one of the criteria. The four key objectives we used were:

• Geographic spread
• Alignment with the ICC strategic objectives, which includes growing the game
• Distribution of events in Asia
• Commercial outcomes

Other considerations like time zones matter. The USA-Caribbean time zone is one of the weaker time zones, but geographic spread and strategic objectives would have overpowered that. You will note, for instance, that the Australia-New Zealand event and West Indies-USA event – we’ve sort of broken them into two four-year event cycles. These are the two weaker markets so to speak. So the two couldn’t be too close together in terms of the economic yield.

“I could tell you from the new leadership in Pakistan [at the PCB] and its neighbours, and from a cricket perspective, there’s a growing desire to support the sustainable return of international cricket in Pakistan”

When it comes to having the USA as a hosting venue, what were the factors considered? Did the Olympics play a role?

This move to actually bring USA Cricket and Cricket West Indies in a bid partnership is historic. It came about primarily because of the kind of attitude that we saw from the new leadership in the USA Cricket. The first time I met Paraag Marathe and Iain Higgins [USA Cricket chairman and then CEO respectively] was in England at the ICC meetings in July 2019. It was my first meeting at the ICC board as CWI president and so too theirs. We began to talk about how we could do some meaningful stuff together. Then, just before the pandemic hit, Johnny Grave [CWI CEO] and myself actually travelled to the USA to have some further discussions with USA Cricket. We all agreed that it was an opportunity to go after an [global] event. We were committed to doing something together. And you know, the rest is history.But the history has to be made now in the implementation and that is where we have to move speedily to put a more detailed structure and plan together in terms of how we are going to do this. We have a pretty good idea because we’ve already agreed on some principles. For instance, of the 55 matches, we have proposed that a third of the games will be in the USA, two-thirds will be in the Caribbean.How will organising the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA have an impact on the ICC’s Olympics dream?

I’m not into any details of the Olympics, but the process is underway. It’s now about getting support from the International Olympic Committee. It is one step at a time. But it opens up the reality that there are two or three facilities right now available for cricket in the USA, and whether USA Cricket will be able to deliver some more cricket stadiums in advance of the Olympic Games. We have been told that there are three grounds that can be made ready for the T20 World Cup.All the men’s ICC events between 2024-2031•ESPNcricinfo LtdYour committee also finalised Pakistan as the host for the 2025 Champions Trophy. It is a major decision considering Pakistan has not hosted a global event since the 1996 World Cup and then the Asia Cup in 2008?

We fitted Pakistan in the most pragmatic spot in a way in which Pakistan can meet its own objectives while the ICC meets its own. We are aware of the special circumstances that have surrounded Pakistan, but I could tell you from the new leadership in Pakistan [at the PCB] and its neighbours, and from a cricket perspective, there’s a growing desire to support the sustainable return of international cricket in Pakistan.I can’t speak for either of them [the BCCI and the PCB], I could just tell you my observations. But when you bring past cricketers together in leadership positions, they have a lot of respect for each other, and they’re not going to undermine each other in ways that can derail these kinds of possibilities. So we’re very excited at our committee that we were able to achieve this because it was an objective that we put in place – that we want to spread the Asian component. India was going to be the No. 1 priority. I have no hesitation to say that India is the commercial backbone of cricket. And that will continue. But we wanted to spread that as much as we could in Asia.Was there any hesitation with respect to Pakistan at all?

Not in our committee. Not at all. Not at the ICC board as well. When we presented it, the board received it with great support. Let me put it this way, we were committed from day one, to spread ICC events in Asia. And getting Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh involved were key objectives of the committee. Remember, we had the mandate to take the received bids and rearrange them, with some discussions with the bidder, and to suggest the formation of partnerships where it could help the success of the bid. We were not too worried about who was competing against who. We were prepared to get partners together where necessary.

And what’s the biggest partnership between a player on debut and another playing his last Test?

Steven Lynch15-Feb-2022In the second ODI between India and West Indies, 12 bowlers were used, and they all picked up a wicket. Was this a record? asked Siddhartha Bhattacharya from India

That match between India and West Indies in Ahmedabad last week was indeed the first one-day international in which each of the 12 bowlers used took a wicket. There are four further instances of 12 different bowlers taking a wicket in the same ODI, as this list shows, but all of those featured more than 12 bowlers, one or two of whom did not manage a wicket. Two of those came in little more than a week in the same competition in Sri Lanka in 2001.What’s the biggest partnership between someone in his last Test innings and someone in his first? asked Chris Butters from Norway

That’s an interesting one. It turns out that the biggest such stand is 168, between Saeed Anwar (in his 55th and final Test) and Taufeeq Umar (in his first), for Pakistan’s first wicket against Bangladesh in Multan in 2001. There are three other hundred partnerships that fit the bill: Vic Stollmeyer (in his first and only Test) and Kenneth “Bam Bam” Weekes (third and last) put on 163 for West Indies’ fifth wicket against England at The Oval in 1939, while in the 1977 Ashes at The Oval Max Walker (34th and last Test) and Mick Malone (only cap) put on 100 for Australia’s ninth wicket. In the other instance, Ricky Ponting and Stuart Law added 121 for Australia’s fifth wicket against Sri Lanka in Perth in 1995-96 – both of them were making their debuts, but Law never played again so it was his last Test too.If you broaden the query to allow a partnership during a player’s last match and another’s first (not necessarily their first and last innings), there are three other century stands. Brendan Taylor (in his 34th and avowedly last Test) and Takudzwanashe Kaitano (debut) added 115 for Zimbabwe’s second wicket in the first innings against Bangladesh in Harare in July 2021 (they both batted again in the second innings); Nasser Hussain and Andrew Strauss put on 108 for England’s third wicket in the second innings against New Zealand at Lord’s in 2004 (both had batted in the first innings); and Maurice Turnbull (ninth and last Test) and Harold Gimblett (debut) shared an unbroken partnership of 108 for England’s second wicket to win the match against India at Lord’s in 1936 (both had also batted in the first innings).Recently I spotted that India were bundled out for 54 by Sri Lanka in Sharjah in October 2000 – but oddly no one was out for 0. Was this the lowest ODI total that didn’t include a duck? asked Lakshmanakumar Sankar from India

India’s 54 in the final of the Champions Trophy in Sharjah in 2000-01 – Sri Lanka had made 299 for 5, so won by a whopping 245 runs – is easily the lowest all-out total in one-day internationals which does not include a duck (there were nine single-figure scores, although only Zaheer Khan was out for 1). Chaminda Vaas (5 for 14) and Muthiah Muralidaran took 8 for 20 between them. Next comes South Africa’s 83 all out against England at Trent Bridge in 2008 (no one was out for 0, but Makhaya Ntini finished with 0 not out; Stuart Broad took 5 for 23). There are five further all-out totals of less than 100 in ODIs that did not include any ducks.The Test record is Australia’s 75 against South Africa in Durban in 1949-50, when their scorecard included six 2s, one of them not out. Despite a first-innings deficit of 236, Australia actually won that match, knocking off a target of 336 for the loss of only five wickets. The record for T20Is is Bulgaria’s 60 (three scores of 1) against Romania in the Balkan Cup in Ilfov in October 2020. There were also no ducks in Australia’s 62 against Bangladesh in Mirpur in August 2021.After Brian Lara’s 375 took West Indies to 593 in Antigua, England matched it, the highest instance of matching first-innings scores•PA PhotosI came across a scorecard of a Test in which both sides scored 240 in their first innings. Is there a higher matching first-innings? asked Murtaza Hussain from Canada

The match you’re talking about was between West Indies and Australia in St John’s in 2002-03, when both teams made 240 in their first innings. Australia added 417 in their second, only for West Indies to pull off the highest successful chase in a Test.There have been seven other Test matches in which both teams made the same first-innings score. The highest total involved also came in St John’s, in 1993-94, when England made 593 after Brian Lara’s 375 had powered West Indies to 593 for 5 declared. The highest in which both teams were all out is 402, by New Zealand and Pakistan in Auckland in 1972-73. In a match that started only a few hours later, in Kingston, West Indies made 428 after Australia amassed 428 for 7 declared.Which bowler took the highest percentage of his wickets lbw? asked Pete Fisher from England

Given a minimum of 50 wickets in Tests, the leader here is the Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis, whose 70 victims included 27 lbws (38.57%). Currently second, with 32 lbws out of 90 (35.55%) is the Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas, whose record might yet change. In third place – or top if you raise the bar to 100 wickets – is Australia’s Terry Alderman, whose 170 wickets included 58 lbws (34.11%), most of them (or so it seemed at the time) being Graham Gooch. Just behind Alderman is the Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal, with 59 out of 178 (33.14%).Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

All the interesting numbers about the close finishes, scoring rates, and more from the Women’s World Cup 2022

Sampath Bandarupalli05-Apr-20225:47

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The tournament of close games
One of the biggest talking points of the tournament was how a number of matches went down to the wire. Teams batting first won five times by a margin of fewer than ten runs, while the chasing teams got over the line in the final over four times. Nine of the 30 completed matches in this edition were either won in the last over by the chasing side or by a margin of fewer than ten runs. Before the 2022 Women’s World Cup, there have been only 12 such results, and no more than three in any edition.Related

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The only previous instance of a team either reaching the target on the last ball of the chase or winning with only one wicket in hand at a World Cup was by Sri Lanka in 2013 against England, when they reached the 239-run target on the last ball of the 50th over, having lost nine wickets. In the 2022 edition, there were two similar results – England beating New Zealand by one wicket at Eden Park, and South Africa completing a chase on the last ball against India in the final league game.Australia’s dominance
Australia started the tournament as clear favourites on the back of an impeccable record in the format since the previous World Cup. Between the 2017 and 2022 editions, Australia won 31 of the 33 ODIs they played, including a record of 26 consecutive wins. Their performance was no less than the expectations from them, as they ended up winning all nine matches on their way to the seventh ODI World Cup title.