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The one-day series offers India’s batsmen a final chance to shine on this tour and one of their youngsters has a key part to play

Nagraj Gollapudi at Chester-le-Street02-Sep-2011These days the media asks questions to Virat Kohli as if he is a senior member of the Indian squad. He does behave like one. Kohli’s answers are clear, measured and forthright. The best part is Kohli listens, before speaking his mind. He is the same in the nets and on the field. If you see him in training Kohli is constantly egging, encouraging, offering insights to his team-mates. And he is not shy to express himself whether it’s to Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Parthiv Patel or any of the coaching staff. Kohli to get involved. He enjoys it.At Chester-le-Street, having finished with his first round of batting in the nets, Kohli stood eagerly waiting for Dravid to finish facing the throwdowns from Trevor Penney, the India fielding coach. Suddenly he realised Parthiv had jumped the queue. “PP, I am going after Rahul ,” Kohli said confidently and walked into the net. Parthiv, Kohli’s senior in terms of experience, just moved aside. Such simple things sometimes do show the hunger within.Penney started off with a wide. “Wide start, scared of you,” he joked with Kohli, who did not respond. He had come into the net with a purpose in mind and he did not want lose the intensity. Penney’s job was to make sure the youngster would not get carried away, to make Kohli play the percentage shots instead of going for the broke.For the initial two overs Kohli’s focus remained mainly on whether he was getting his body position correct. But steadily he started to play his strokes. But when Penney bowled short at his body or over his head, Kohli went for the pull off both the front and back foot. At first instance it seemed he did not want to be dictated to.Virat Kohli is a key part of India’s future and the one-day series against England is another chance to develop•Bipin PatelMS Dhoni, who was to the left of Kohli, batting in the adjacent nets, had been quietly observing his younger team-mate. The fact that Fidel Edwards and Ravi Rampaul had troubled Kohli during his debut Test series in the Caribbean in June had not been lost on Dhoni.After he finished his batting Dhoni went and stood behind Penney, speaking to the Zimbabwean after every ball for nearly ten minutes. After a few short deliveries, Penney had a quiet word with Kohli, asking him to stay calm and not hit every short ball. “Twenty20 is a different format. In a one-dayer I know I have to play steady and get 15-20 runs before playing such a shot,” Kohli replied to Penney, who felt one of Kohli’s favourite shots, a pull over midwicket, was loaded with risk.”You don’t play that,” Penney said a few balls later, as he walked in hastily towards Kohli before delivering the message in soft yet fatherly tone. Kohli had decided to play forward to a delivery that was seaming away having pitched on length on the off stump. It was a similar sort of delivery Rampaul had bowled him in his debut Test innings at Kingston which Kohli had gone chasing, ending up only edging to the wicketkeeper. “I had done this once,” Kohli said.Dhoni stood there at a distance, seemingly unperturbed. He was joined by Tendulkar. Suddenly Kohli was under the scanner. The reason his seniors were restraining Kohli was because they, and even Kohli, knew the England fast bowlers will not wait long before testing him with the short ball. Penney’s, and effectively Dhoni’s, suggestion was to pick your bowler and the situation. You do not play the shot just because you can.Kohli is one of the most improved India batsmen and has shown his maturity in high-pressure situations in the past like the World Cup final. His 83-run partnership with Gautam Gambhir after the fall of the opening pair of Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag was one of the turning points in the match. Back at the nets Kohli improvised steadily if not readily and he impressed Penney when, after top edging an attempted pull, he played the next one with soft hands.”To win a one-day match you need batsmen to bat through 20-25 overs and if given a chance, or if the situation allows, we would all like to take up the responsibility,” Kohli said at the media conference before the training began. “It’s about believing in yourself that you can win the game single-handedly and if we go out with that mindset, we are going to put up a really strong challenge.”He was asked if some of the Indian batsmen’s technique against the short ball, which has been attacked and exposed by various bowling attacks, could provide an opening for an England bowling attack full of confidence following the 4-0 whitewash in the Test series.”It’s all about thinking in your mind how you deal with it,” he said. “If you want to be scared of it and run away from it, you will end up being nowhere. I am pretty much up for it, I am very positive in my mind and I don’t think I have any problem facing it.”Back at the nets, Kohli urged Penney “mix it up brother”. He was steadily warming up for the duel with the England quicks. At the same time he needs to acknowledge he can’t rush. As Penney threw his final ball, another short one, Kohli played it far from fluently. “Your positioning is not correct for that shot,” Tendulkar made clear. Kohli nodded. He has a lot to learn and he is not afraid.

Abhinav Mukund has no illusions about replacing Virender Sehwag’s brilliance, but is aware that India will expect him to imbibe the most crucial ingredient in their rise up the world rankings – the ability to rebound

Sharda Ugra at Trent Bridge27-Jul-2011As MS Dhoni and his not so merrie men made their way on to the field at Trent Bridge, all comments about India’s pathologically slow start to overseas tours was being given symbolic affirmation. The white wooden frame of the visitors’ dressing room was being painted to ensure that Nottingham’s beautiful, cumulus cloud of a cricket ground would actually be ready in time for Friday’s storm and fury.India must find a way to be ready too, and only the wettest of blankets will believe the series is already over. Just like ‘mental disintegration’ was part of the Australian template, the ability to absorb and respond to shock or setback is India’s. It has become a part of their DNA in the last decade, fundamental to their climb up the Test rankings and their particularly good performances in the last two tours of England.Nine years ago, India had lost the first Test at Lord’s and Sourav Ganguly, their unperturbed captain at the time, met Indians on the street who mournfully told him they were going to be returning home. “Why so soon? Stick on, we’re going to level the series.” A draw was eked out in the second Test at Trent Bridge, and victory arrived in Headingley. India batted first in bad-tempered weather, on a green wicket and piled up a big score to set up the win. In 2007, India were rescued by the rain at Lord’s but came to Nottingham and found both jelly beans and Zaheer Khan’s swing. The match and the series was eventually won.

Status quo on Zaheer fitness front

According to the India team manager Anirudh Chaudhary, there has been “a considerable improvement” in Zaheer’s recovery from the hamstring injury he picked on the first afternoon at Lord’s. Zaheer was expected to bowl in the second innings, at least according to the update sent by Chaudhary on the second day, but was only spotted walking in and out of the gymnasium.
At Trent Bridge today, Zaheer did not join the rest of the squad at their complete nets but instead underwent a light training in the company of the team physio Ashish Kaushik. Initially both men walked around the ground, followed by a steady jog. Kaushik then put Zaheer through the paces while he timed him. Zaheer then did some stretching in the gymnasium.
After the Lord’s defeat, MS Dhoni had stated that he would not rush his premier fast bowler if he was not 100% fit. Chaudhary indicated that the chances of Zaheer returning for the second Test were positive. The lines continued to be blurred.

Lord’s 2011 is now lost, England are rampant and India are left with their totem Zaheer trying to race back into the contest. If the state of a team’s best players is ever meant to imply a squad’s comfort zone, India are well out of it. They must deal with a set of circumstances that may sound like the partnership of doom and gloom. They must find a way to transform it into the spark plugs that can turn their engine on.The last decade in England constantly offers them patterns. The success of the opening combination in 2007 was marked down as one of the central pillars of India’s first series win in England since 1986. It was not the result of India’s most settled opening pair – Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Sehwag had been dropped from the team following a train-wreck of a 2007 World Cup and Gambhir was not yet a gleam in the selectors’ eyes. India opened with Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik, who averaged 53.67 per stand in 2007 and produced the first century opening stand for India in England since 1979. In 2002, it was opener-allrounder Sanjay Bangar’s survival with Rahul Dravid in Headingley that set up the first Test win in England in 16 years.So when rookie opener Abhinav Mukund turns up to bat in India’s first innings, it will not be surprising if he carries neither baggage nor reservations. His view from the inside could be construed as just the circulation of PR spin; it is more a pointer to how the Indians choose to handle what is on their plate. India will regroup after Lord’s, Abhinav said with complete composure, because of what it had taken them to become World No. 1. “We have conquered a lot of challenges on the way here,” he said. “A lot of the players are experienced enough and have played in these conditions. We have come here to take up the challenges and will definitely give it a good fight.”Abhinav Mukund and Gautam Gambhir can derive inspiration from the Trent Bridge air: here’s where Virender Sehwag struck his first Test century as an opener•Getty ImagesWhen Abhinav and his partner Gautam Gambhir set off in Nottingham’s most English of conditions, they would do well to think less of what the wicket holds than of what one man made of it. Sehwag’s absence for the first two Tests is seen as one of India’s biggest woes, but the two left-hand openers should keep in mind that this is where he scored his first Test century as a makeshift opener before going on to become a great of the modern game.Abhinav answered a question about being a replacement for Sehwag by speaking slowly and clearly. “First of all, if you are looking at me as one of the persons to replace someone like Sehwag … it’s going to be big boots to fill … I don’t want to replace Sehwag or play like he does, because it’s not possible. I just want to go out there and play like I know and if it comes off, it’s good for the team. Any team requires a start from their openers, I don’t think it’s anything new.”Zaheer’s possible absence from this Test as well would not, Abhinav said, mean a toothless bowling line-up. “It’s not that we have a depleted attack, but when you lose a fast bowler in the game, it’s a completely different scenario.” India’s quick bowling options on offer, he believed, were more than adequate, “Zaheer has been our strike bowler for a long time, but I think Ishant Sharma has being bowling really well too. He was Man of the Series in the West Indies, Praveen Kumar has taken five wickets and Sreesanth is waiting in the wings.”Sreesanth’s arrival on the field of play could immediately signal the advent of another tussle between his bowling skill and his love for performance art. However, if he and his more reasoned team-mates live up to their reputation for bouncing back, Nottingham could once again become the venue where the slow start gives way to series-turning momentum.Rahul Dravid, well-schooled in the art of the turnaround, was given a break from the nets this afternoon. The Indians finished their practice with Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh having a bat, their shots heading towards the painters on the scaffolding. One of the workmen called out to the other wondering whether they were ever going to get their job completed. The men going to occupy the balcony they were painting would have told them not to worry and that the ‘well begun is half done’ philosophy is over-rated. All that matters at the end is the finished product. Abhinav said, “Obviously we were all disappointed. We do not want to look back. We’ll take the positives and move on… It is a four-match series.”

With no victories in their last 14 Tests, Sri Lanka have earned their underdog tag. But South Africa have not won a home Test series in three years and also have a point to prove

Firdose Moonda in Centurion 13-Dec-2011The last time Sri Lanka played a Test in South Africa, Twenty20 cricket was not a recognised format of the game, even at domestic level, the ICC rankings had only just come into being and Gary Kirsten was part of South Africa’s top order. That was nine years ago, in the summer of 2002.Then, Sri Lanka were expected to lose the series. When they showed signs of tenacity in the second Test and Dilhara Fernando almost bowled them to victory, they were heralded. Pat Symcox, who had criticised Sri Lanka’s Test performances before, wrote on ESPNcricinfo that Sri Lanka had proved their Test credentials.This time, things are vastly different, but also, curiously, the same.Sri Lanka’s underdog tag is not an exaggeration. They have not won a Test match since July last year, when they beat India at home. Their last away win came 19 months before that, in Chittagong. The batting, formidable on paper, has floundered in the middle, and their bowling has been beset by injuries. Add to that the fact they have never won a Test in South Africa and it’s clear that the visitors will need to punch above their weight – quite hard – to compete here.But South Africa also have something to prove. They have not won a Test series in 18 months, with their last three being drawn. Although they are still ranked third in the ICC Test rankings, South Africa will want to demonstrate that they are not simply a competitive outfit but convincing winners too.There would be no better place to do that than at home, where they last won a series three years ago, against Bangladesh. In conditions that are created to favour them, South Africa will have nowhere to hide if they do not capitalise this time. For the last two seasons, the pace and bounce in the pitches has worked as a double-edged sword, assisting both the hosts’ quicks and the opposition’s. With Sri Lanka struggling in the pace department, it is expected that the local surfaces will finally be a clear advantage for the local team, although South Africa have been cautious not to announce their desire to create havoc on green tops as loudly as they did against India last season.Big talk like that has not translated into big action for South Africa in the recent past. Their inability to close out series and turn advantages into results is a growing concern. Kumar Sangakkara quietly reminded South Africa that they have not “even come close” to beating Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka; their most-recent trip there yielded a 2-0 thrashing. With the number of potential matchwinners in their squad – from Hashim Amla to Dale Steyn – the general feeling surrounding the South Africa team is that they need to start winning more matches.They have kept experimentation to a minimum in the squad, making it clear that it is consolidation they are after. From a batting perspective, two areas will come under the microscope – the opening partnership and the No. 6 position. Alviro Petersen is back in the squad and may return to partner Graeme Smith, which will leave Jacques Rudolph to compete with Ashwell Prince for a middle-order spot.Prince faces pressure from within the squad and outside of it, where Dean Elgar is waiting for his first national call-up. Prince will have to find the balance between protecting the tail and either building on the top order’s platform or rescuing the team from trouble. With tours of New Zealand, England and Australia to come, the No. 6 role is a pivotal one that South Africa will need nailed down, and Prince has this opportunity to prove that he is the man to fill it in the next 12 months.South Africa’s bowling has a settled look, with Vernon Philander establishing himself as the best candidate for the third fast bowler’s role. Jacques Kallis will have to play a containing role with the ball, and will have to be carefully managed as he enters the end stages of his career. The spotlight will also be on Imran Tahir, the legspinner who made his debut against Australia.Sri Lanka’s challenge is to put up tough enough resistance, and carve out a series of upsets to turn around a dismal period for them. Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Dilhara Fernando and perhaps even Tillakaratne Dilshan could well be on their last tour of South Africa, with the next one scheduled for 2016, and would cherish leaving with a victory.They will have to blend their roles of ushers in the side’s transition period with the need to perform individually and create foundations on which victories can be built. The senior players will have to guide the younger members of the squad, including vice-captain Angelo Matthews, as Sri Lanka look to find a group that can serve them well in the next few years.Sri Lanka’s inexperienced bowling attack is expected to be the deciding factor in the series. The gulf between the performances of both teams’ bowlers in recent times is vast. If Sri Lanka’s bowlers can make use of conditions and be effective, the series could turn from what is expected to be a one-sided affair into a real battle.The performances of the two Sri Lanka spinners, Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis, could prove to be decisive. With one a seasoned and consistent performer, and the other bringing an element of mystery with his variations, they may well outshine their pace attack and puzzle their opponents. Spinners are not usually expected to play a leading role on South African pitches but for Sri Lanka, Herath and Mendis hold the key to taking 20 wickets.Off the field, both teams have had significant administrative issues. Cricket South Africa’s ongoing bonus scandal has damaged the reputation of the game in the country but it has not had the same effect on players as Sri Lankan cricket’s financial crisis. South Africa don’t have sponsors, Sri Lanka don’t have salaries.The South Africa team has escaped boardroom shenanigans, while the Sri Lanka team has often been a victim of them. It may not amount to much during the matches, but it is the background that this Sri Lanka team looks to rise out of. They will have to rise extremely high, but if they do it would make a great story.

An analysis of individual batting and bowling performances in the World Twenty20 2012

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan09-Oct-2012Marlon Samuels is the best batsman of the World Twenty20 2012 according to ESPNcricinfo’s performance analysis•Associated PressMarlon Samuels, the Man of the Match in the World Twenty20 final, and Ajantha Mendis, the highest wicket-taker in the tournament, have emerged the best batsman and bowler according to ESPNcricinfo’s analysis of individual performances in the World Twenty20 2012. Samuels, who has been consistent across all formats in the last year, extended his run through the tournament and ended it as West Indies’ highest run-getter (third overall). Mendis, who had struggled with injuries in the last few months, started the tournament with an extraordinary performance against Zimbabwe and ended it with 4 for 12 in the final against West Indies. The study also ranked Brendon McCullum’s superb 123 against Bangladesh as the best batting display and Mendis’ six-wicket haul against Zimbabwe as the best bowling performance.McCullum became the first batsman to score two centuries in Twenty20 internationals when he smashed the Bangladesh attack in New Zealand’s opening game. In a game where the other batsmen managed to score at just over a run a ball, McCullum’s strike rate of 212.06 stood out. Samuels rescued West Indies in the final after they were struggling at 14 for 2 at the end of the Powerplay. His effort is ranked high not just because of the strike rate (139.28) in a low-scoring game but also because the runs came against a high-quality Sri Lankan attack in a crunch game. Luke Wright figures twice in the top ten for his knocks of 76 against New Zealand and 99 against Afghanistan. Two other stand-out performances (both in defeats) in the top ten include Eoin Morgan’s 71 against West Indies and Faf du Plessis’ 65 against India in the final Super Eights game. Watson, the Player of the Tournament, did not make it to the top ten but ended with two performances in the top 15. It is interesting to note that apart from the West Indies (three in top ten), no batsman from the other three semi-finalists features in the top ten.

Mendis’ 6 for 8 is certainly not a surprise at the top. Although the performance did not come against a higher-ranked team, the economy rate (2.00) and strike rate (4.00) are phenomenal. Mendis figures in second position too for his 4 for 12 against West Indies in the final. His wickets included those of the dangerous Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, who had both combined to put the game beyond Australia in the semi-final. Harbhajan Singh’s four-wicket haul against England was one of the few bright spots for India in an otherwise disappointing tournament. Two West Indian bowlers slot in at four and five. Ravi Rampaul bowled an aggressive spell in the semi-final against Australia and finished with figures of 3 for 16 that included the wickets of Cameron White and David Hussey. Sunil Narine conceded just nine runs off his 3.4 overs in the final and dismissed Mahela Jayawardene before returning to halt Sri Lanka’s fightback by picking up the wicket of Nuwan Kulasekara. Lasith Malinga, who went for 54 runs off his four overs in the final, had a below-par tournament by his standards. However, his performance against England (5 for 31), which is ranked ninth, stood out because all five of his wickets were those of top-seven batsmen.

Samuels scored three half-centuries in the tournament and ended with 230 runs. None of his knocks, however, was as crucial as his stunning performance in the final which lifted West Indies from a hopeless 32 for 2 at the end of ten overs to a competitive 137 at the end of 20 overs. Gayle, who comes in second, hit the most sixes in the tournament (16). In the semi-final against Australia, he played a highly responsible knock batting through the 20 overs pushing West Indies to a huge total of 205. Watson was in exceptional form early in the tournament, winning four consecutive Man-of-the-Match awards. He ended the tournament as the top run-scorer (249 runs) but came up short in the last two matches against Pakistan and West Indies. McCullum, the highest run-getter In Twenty20 internationals comes in fourth ahead of Virat Kohli, who was India’s best batsman by a distance. The top ten is rounded off by Michael Hussey, who was dismissed only twice in five innings in the tournament while scoring 155 runs.

With 15 wickets at an average of 9.80 and economy rate of 6.12, Mendis ended the tournament as the best bowler. Narine, who came in second, had an even better economy rate (5.63) than Mendis but did not pick up wickets with the same regularity. Samuel Badree, who is third, played a vital role for West Indies in the latter stages of the tournament ending with a healthy economy rate of 5.56. Fifth-placed Watson’s all-round skills were on display throughout the tournament as he finished with 11 wickets at an average of 16.00. Raza Hasan, Pakistan’s left-arm spinner, maintained an exceptional economy rate of just 4.93 despite operating during the Powerplay overs. The top-ten list is completed by Saeed Ajmal, the leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 internationals, and Dale Steyn, who had the best economy rate (4.82) among all bowlers who bowled 15 or more overs in the tournament.

For the performance analysis of Twenty20 internationals, click here.

Bangladesh have been more inexperienced than they would prefer at the start of the ODI series with West Indies but their senior players have done more than lead from the front

Mohammad Isam in Khulna02-Dec-2012The contribution of Abdur Razzak and Mashrafe Mortaza in Bangladesh’s 160-run win is four West Indies wickets. Their other major say in the 2-0 series lead has been their self-confidence and its spillover on to the rest of the team.Bangladesh are unusually more inexperienced in this ODI series with four players making their debut in the first game, making it important for the senior players to not just walk the walk but to also maintain a settled dressing room.The afternoon when Bangladesh had lost the Test series, Mashrafe had already arrived ahead of the rest of the players picked for the ODI series. He had seen a glum camp and immediately made plans for a trip to Narail, his home district which is nearly 100km north of Khulna. The players went two days before the first ODI, had a relaxed time in his house, and in their boat rides in the Chitra River. Whether that helped the team is another matter but Mashrafe’s exuberance has won over many a dressing room.”That disappointment is why I took them to Narail,” Mashrafe told ESPNcricinfo. “It is important to talk to the younger players. I often speak to them about various aspects of the game. At the same time, it is not just the talking but the performance afterwards that matters too.”Ahead of the second game, Mashrafe pointed out the importance of making good starts with bat and ball, and it actually panned out like he had said. Bangladesh lost two early wickets in the morning but Anamul Haque and captain Mushfiqur Rahim held sway from the 7th over while with the ball it was Sohag Gazi and Mashrafe who ensured a sound start to the defence of 292.”This time different players are performing, not just the one or two usual faces,” Mashrafe said. “In the first game, Tamim and Naeem scored runs while today you saw Anamul and Mushfiqur making the important runs. To have a number of contributors is a major improvement in our team and I like the way these youngsters have come through in the first two games.”He also explains to the bowlers in Bangla after the coach has spoken to them in English in their separate bowlers’ meetings, just to make sure everyone is in the same page and has understood what has been said. Apart from these little things, Mashrafe does a fine job with the new ball. Although he hasn’t reached the fitness levels to play the longer format, his value as a one-day bowler is quite high. In the first game of the series, his first spell of seven overs kept Chris Gayle and Lendl Simmons quiet in the first ten overs, the latter falling to his in-ducker in the 11th over. Mashrafe did a similar job in the second game, but here his first spell did more damage as he removed Gayle despite getting hit – and not just for fours and sixes.

The team is fortunate that they have had Mashrafe and Razzak to keep speaking to teammates who need a bit of direction in international cricket.

It set the scene nicely for Razzak and Gazi who then ran through the middle-order, taking three wickets each. Razzak, the country’s highest wicket-taker in ODIs, removed the big-hitting Dwayne Smith with a leg-before decision that could have gone either way but went in Razzak’s favour. He straightened one to Darren Bravo an over later which caught his outside edge and Mushfiqur juggled and completed the catch. Devon Thomas was sent back two balls later, a beauty of an arm ball that went through bat and pad.Razzak, like Mashrafe, is from the southwest, a town called Bagerhat which is 30km south of Khulna city towards the Bay of Bengal. He has also been a figure that has stabilised the team, particularly adding much-needed balance to the spin attack in the absence of Shakib Al Hasan. He has the knack of controlling one end with a very straight line of attack, the variations coming to his aid when he wants to take a wicket.Despite the proximity of their hometowns, they have taken different routes to the national team. Razzak is a graduate of the Bangladesh Institute of Sport who turned into a Dhaka Premier League star through bags of wickets. Mashrafe is younger than Razzak but had started playing for Bangladesh three years earlier when he shot to fame in an age-group tournament and was slotted into the Test side.But both need to feel comfortable in the team environment, and this time they seem happy. Mashrafe’s relationship with Shane Jurgensen has made him feel at ease. Previously he has had communication gaps with coaches who saw him fleetingly due to his injuries. Razzak, meanwhile, has thrived in the confidence of his 43 wickets from five first-class matches this season.The difference between Bangladesh teams of old and the ones in this decade is that they listen to all contributors and not just senior figures, which has often come under fire. Mashrafe and Razzak have had the wickets to back up the words, and the team is fortunate that they have it in their interest to keep speaking to teammates who need a bit of direction in international cricket.

Andrew Flintoff won his debut boxing bout and left the ring with body, mind and dignity intact. He doesn’t need to do it again

Tanya Aldred01-Dec-2012It took just a gesture, and all the old affection came flooding back. With the Manchester Arena dark and Oasis’ “Roll With It” pounding through the ears, Andrew Flintoff shuffle-bounced out of the tunnel towards the ring. And what was he wearing for this, his first professional heavyweight boxing bout? An expensive item of streetwear? A silk, be-dragoned robe? No, a red-sleeved, nylon Lancashire Lightning shirt with a number 11 on the back. “Freddie,” shouted the crowd, “Freddie”. Feel the love, Manchester, feel the love.This was Flintoff but not quite the one we knew. To start, it was definitely Freddie, not Andrew. Leaner, obviously – he’s lost three and a half stone. Gaunter around the cheeks, nose a bit squashed, everything on that handsome face a bit skewiff. His pale Preston hulk had big muscle definition. His arms, tattooed with the three lions and the names of his wife and children: Rachael, Corey, Holly, Rocky, weren’t the yeoman oaks of the cricket pitch anymore. Some serious work had gone into this transformation.But it was the eyes that got you the most. The Flintoff of Old Trafford had laughing eyes. These seemed dazed, bewildered. And why not? This was some new craziness. Twenty-two yards of dirt and grass exchanged for a square of canvas and a 17-stone man in the corner hoping to give him a good punching.Six thousand people had come to watch, not quite the 20,000 that filled the same space for the Ricky Hatton fight last weekend, but he wasn’t doing it for the numbers. Huge swathes of the arena had been cleverly hidden away with draped black cloth, so it didn’t seem empty.His old life and new life were there. His wife, Rachael, Kent’s Rob Key, the fast bowlers club: Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Darren Gough, Alex Tudor. The comedians John Bishop and Jack Whitehall from his Sky TV programme, . All were emitting goodwill.His opponent was Richard Dawson, a bearded 23-year-old from the streets of Oklahoma. Two fights fresh, only boxing for two years; he’d been handpicked by Flintoff’s trainers. There was something of the roly-poly pudding about him. His physique hinted not at hours of dedication in the gym but the bakery. “You fat bastard,” shouted the crowd unkindly. Flintoff, if he’d tuned in, might have permitted himself a wry smile.Four rounds of two minutes were what had been prescribed. At the bell, Flintoff charged at Dawson, a great bear pounding after an irritant bee. His legs seemed extraordinarily lengthy, his long reach caught Dawson around the chops. A few flurries at mid-air followed, and all the time accompanied by roars from 6000 voices. It went okay, just.Round two, hmmm, not quite so well. Dawson caught Flintoff slightly off balance with a swift left hand and he was unexpectedly on the floor. It was horrible, vulnerable. Arms and legs bickering for space, he got up quickly. The referee counted to eight, the crowd couldn’t look, but the fight was to go on.Rounds three and four involved a lot of wrestling and stumbling around. Flintoff had his head jerked back and then had Dawson faltering on the ropes. At one point he looked over to his corner to say, “What next?” A sharp uppercut from Flintoff and the final bell. It was all over.There were hugs all round. The referee took both the fighters’ hands and announced the winner: Flintoff, by 39 points to 38. He looked overcome, then thrilled. The eyes came alive again. He dropped to his knees in a wicket-taking pose and then, the other side of the ring, swept an imaginary six into the crowd. They lapped it up. You can take the man out of cricket, etc. Irish former featherweight champion Barry McGuigan, neat and tiny, did a delighted jig about the canvas. Flintoff bear-hugged Barry’s son Shane, who had trained him, off the ground. And then he went over to Dawson, draped a sympathetic arm over him and had a long, affectionate chat.Afterwards, in his bare feet and Lancashire shirt, in a windowless room down a concrete corridor, he was his old easy, charming, self-deprecating self. His eyes were bright. “On a global scale, it’s obviously nowhere near [cricket],” he buzzed. “I’ve had a novice heavyweight fight and it was brilliant.

It was the eyes that got you the most. The Flintoff of Old Trafford had laughing eyes. These seemed dazed, bewildered. And why not? This was some new craziness

“When you’ve had the opportunity to represent what I think is the best county in the world, had the chance to play for England in Ashes series and be successful – I think that is massive. But this is a personal achievement and a personal battle with something that doesn’t come that naturally to me.”The fact that I’ve mentally broken down barriers every day and tried to improve at something that I don’t do has, on a personal level, been as good as anything. I won. I don’t want that adulation that we got with open-top buses and things like that, but I can go to bed tonight and close my eyes safe in the knowledge that I’ve overcome a few things in this process.”You mention the Ashes and things at international level which were amazing, but as a personal achievement I think this is better. I have had to work so hard. The feeling of being back in there in front of a crowd and winning – I can’t describe it.”He left, shaking the hands of everyone he knew, thanking everyone he could name-check.Whether he will fight again, even he is unsure. It wasn’t one for the purists. The boxing journalists were quietly despairing about the whole thing, though one admitted that if it hadn’t been for Flintoff none of the other boxers on the bill would have had a pay day before Christmas. And if it was tawdry, then so were boxing’s familiar glamour girls in downmarket lads’ mag vest-tops, pants and heels, who paraded the ring between rounds.Outside, on a bitterly cold night, the crowds were turning over trinkets in the Christmas markets and glugging back gluhwein in faux-Bavarian huts. Most will have been oblivious to what was going on metres away from them – but that was never the point.So what was left at the end? A fondness for a man who had to give up his livelihood because his body failed him; a man whose dream was to come back and captain Lancashire but instead has struggled to find a fulfilling life after cricket. Absolute respect, for someone who put himself through the training, the discipline and the thumping of the boxing ring. Relief that he left with his body, mind and dignity. And hope, that he never does it again.

From Gopal Rangachary, India
I can remember July 1st 2006, as clear as it were yesterday

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013Gopal Rangachary, India
I can remember July 1st 2006, as clear as it were yesterday. Rahul Dravid after having scored over 40% of India’s first innings of 200 on a Jamaica minefield, was compiling an even better half century in the second innings to set up another Indian test match win overseas. A performance largely ignored because it coincided with the Soccer World Cup, and happened past normal people’s bed times in India, it was probably the best bad wicket batting by an Indian batsman in 20 years, since Sunny Gavaskar signed off with that tragic 96 at Bangalore against Pakistan. As Cricinfo said “It was like a game happening on 2 pitches, one for Dravid and another for the 21 others (including Lara, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, VVS, Sehwag and co).”:Watching him bat that day, if you had come up to me and said that it would be the last significant contribution Rahul Dravid would make to Indian Test cricket, I would have directed you to the psychiatric department of a much recommended hospital. Further, he was Indian captain then, Ganguly it seemed was gone for ever, Sachin was once again out with injury , and VVS had failed to capitalize on the chance to bat at his beloved No 3 position.I used to joke that only 2 people in India knew when to quit at the top of their game, Gavaskar and Sonia Gandhi, and was sure Dravid would be an addition to that list. As I write this piece Dravid has played possibly his last Test innings (3 off 14 after a second ball duck to Jason Krezja-). In the 25 test matches since that Jamaica masterpiece he has averaged half his earlier career average of 58, has been dropped from the one day side, and will hopefully go before he is shoved from the Test team.He has endured misery in the 2007 World Cup and humiliation in the IPL, and gave up the captaincy abruptly to the great benefit of thousands of conspiracy theorists. Well, you know what, I actually blame myself for this. We hear sportsmen are superstitious, but very little has been written about the superstition of sports fans. When I moved into my apartment in Bangalore in August 2002, the first Test match I watched was the Headingley one, where Dravid’s masterful 148 led India to victory. The Jamaica Test mentioned earlier was the last match I saw in that apartment.My new house is nice, but unlucky for Dravid The aim of this piece is not to bemoan his fate , or to urge him to go, but simply to celebrate the greatest match winner (batsman) India has ever produced. Before you sharpen your knives, read the phrase again ‘match winner’.From the start of the Ganguly era through till that Jamaica game in 2006, Dravid averaged 96 runs an innings in the 17 matches India won. It gets better – he averaged 108 in the 7 overseas wins in that period, 111 in the 12 wins under Saurav Ganguly, and played masterpieces such as his double hundreds in Adelaide and Rawalpindi, 2 hundreds in the same game at Calcutta, the 148 on a Headingley green top and that epic partnership with VVS in THAT match in Calcutta in 2001. Just by comparison Sachin averaged 55 in that same period in India wins and 52 in wins under Saurav. Almost every major overseas win in that period seemed to be shaped by Dravid. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he was a better batsman than Sachin, simply one whose performances meant more.I read an article by Salim Yousuf on Gavaskar’s epic knock of 96 at Bangalore in 1986. Yousuf was the Pakistani wicketkeeper who scored the second highest score in that match (45 not out) – and he mentioned “I batted despite the pitch, played my natural game and took risks, while Sunny played the perfect game for that pitch.” So while a Sachin backed himself to hit Shane Warne over deep mid wicket, even if was bowling leg spinners into the rough from around the wicket, VVS would hit a sharply turning leg break over cover, and follow up with a flick over midwicket from an identical ball, and Saurav would back himself to beat the most populous off side cordon, Dravid would play in a risk free fashion – with a perfect technique.A Sanjay Bangar watching Dravid at the other end at Headingley, would probably feel that he could try to play the same way as Dravid. However watching Sachin collar a perfectly good ball over extra cover, would probably leave him awestruck. Dravid has the record for the maximum number of 100 partnerships, and it is my theory that a lot of it has to do with the way he bats.I also felt Dravid was a lucky cricketer. His 233 in Adelaide was backed up by the most unlikely bowling performance from Ajit Agarkar, when he scored 180 at Calcutta in that partnership with VVS, Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar bowled the Aussies out in the last session, Kumble won India the Calcutta test against Pakistan, after Dravid had scored hundreds in both innings ( and Dinesh Karthik’s 93 too).In contrast, Tendulkar has often been a tragic hero. An epic 100 at Madras against Pakistan was wasted by India’s spineless lower order, when the 4 of them couldn’t muster 15 runs between them, and many of his best innings have been lone hands. We have lost more matches than we have won when Sachin has scored a hundred.As captain, Dravid was probably a disappointment. I thought he would bring his obviously immense cricketing acumen to the captaincy, and his start in one day cricket was encouraging. He was the only captain who knew how to use power plays and super subs- and he was willing to be adaptable – The one day series against Pakistan was won 4-1 without a single over of spin being bowled, for instance.Funnily though, I have always felt that the conventional wisdom of Dravid’s captaincy was completely off the mark. We have often heard that Dravid was a ‘weak and defensive’ captain. I felt it was his endeavour to be strong and aggressive that actually cost India. Would Saurav Ganguly really have declared when Sachin was on 194? Would a defensive captain have gone in with a 5 man bowling attack and put the England in at Bombay when all India needed was a draw? What about that audacious attempt to steal the Nagpur Test against England at the end? I felt Dravid’s biggest failure as a captain was not being able to figure out when to be defensive.And finally Rahul Dravid, the man. There is so much speculation and guessing we do based on things we see on the field, but you often hear the words ‘A perfect gentleman’ said about Dravid. I will only go by what I have heard directly, and a couple of things come to mind. Firstly his practice at the end of every series to specifically thank the opposing captains and team, for either their hospitality (or their visit as the case may be), and secondly his reaction to how he felt about being dropped from the one day side early in his career. In an interview with Rajdeep Sardesai he said “A lot of people did come and say to me that I deserved to be in the side, but I knew that I had to improve my all round game.”Unfortunately in inane diatribes about ‘New India’ , we seem to feel that innate decency conflicts with the willingness to win and determination. Ask the bowlers who tried to get Dravid out in his pomp, whether his was a soft wicket. He may not have been much of a sledger, but the bowlers knew that they were in for a hard grind when Dravid was around.Dravid will not end his career with the record for the maximum matches, runs, centuries or even catches. His departure will be quiet, overshadowed by Saurav Ganguly and the exultation following the series win. People in Bangalore have never stopped trains or burnt effigies in his support. He may still have the contractual obligation to tolerate the idiosyncrasies of Vijay Mallaya and Ray Jennings. However, he will leave the game as India’s greatest match winner with the bat and conclusively proved that good guys don’t necessarily finish last.

Why West Indies’ World Twenty20 win was mucho bizarro

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013The 2012 World Twenty20 final will go down in the annals of cricket as one of the oddest matches in the game’s history. Glorious, but odd. A magnificent triumph for a West Indies team that had comfortably avoided magnificent triumphs for most of the last decade and a half. But still odd. Few textbooks on How To Win T20 Matches would suggest not scoring a run off the bat in the first 16 balls of the match, or advocate the tactical merits of being 14 for 2 at the end of the six-over Powerplay, or sagely stroke their chin before strongly advising hitting only one boundary in the first 11 overs whilst limiting your score to 38 for 2.Fortunately for West Indies, they had access to the only copy of that book, and followed its masterful strategy to perfection. Even after Marlon Samuels’ startlingly brilliant outbreak, during which he hit Lasith Malinga – a bowler rated by no less a source than the renowned cricket website and source of all truth and knowledge, ESPNcricinfo, as the most effective bowler over the history of the IPL ‒ for five sixes and a four in eight balls, they still posted a score of just 137.The West Indian bowlers had been the least economical of any of the Super Eight teams until the semi-final stage (conceding almost eight runs per over), and they had never beaten Sri Lanka in a T20 international. In all T20Is between the top eight international teams, teams defending a first-innings score of between 130 and 149 had won just 12 of 41 matches, and on the ten occasions on which they had tried to defend a score of under 150 in a T20I, they had won only two, tied two, and lost six, the most recent of those defeats being when the same Sri Lanka side they now faced chased down 130 with nine wickets and almost five overs to spare just eight days earlier. And by chased down, I mean chased down in the manner that a police motorcyclist chases down an escaped tortoise on a pensioner’s mobility scooter.It was, therefore, a surprise that West Indies won. And an eyebrow-singeing surprise that they ultimately won at a canter. Having taken 19 wickets in their first five matches, in both the semi-final and final they bowled out their opposition in under 20 overs. If the success of Sunil Narine was not unexpected, the other lynchpins of the Caribbean constriction of the Sri Lankan batsmen had been keeping their economical run-saving powder drier than the Atacama Desert through the rest of the tournament.Captain Darren Sammy, who had taken 2 for 125 in his 15 overs in the tournament, took 2 for 6 in two overs in the heart of Sri Lanka’s innings in the final. Samuels had bowled eight overs in the first six games of the tournament – and taken a less than frugal 2 for 93 (2 for 110 from nine, if you include his almost-tournament-ending Super Over against New Zealand). In the final, he took 1 for 15 from 4. And conceded zero boundaries – those other nine overs had been spanked for ten fours and five sixes.This was a match that left the cricketing world’s flabber well and truly gasted. The most devastating T20 batsman in the world scored 3 off 16 balls. The format’s most devastating fast bowler took 0 for 54 in 4 overs. It all ended with Caribbean cricketers doing a South Korean dance. (Until Sunday’s final, the only appearance of “gangnam” on a cricket ground had been the noise Mike Gatting used to make when chomping into a particularly appetising chicken sandwich.)One of T20’s weaknesses as a format is that there can be a lack of narrative variety from one match to the next. This final had an unexpected destination, and arrived there via a completely baffling route, as if someone had spilt scalding hot chocolate over its cricketing GPS and said: “Right, fire her up and let’s see where this takes us.”It was a grand climax to a tournament, which, after a week of phoney-war group matches, provided a ten-day frenzy of drama. A World Twenty20 has that rarest of all sporting commodities – rarity. It happens for two and a half weeks every two years, and is the only international T20 that anyone (a) takes any notice of, or (b) genuinely cares about, and is the only T20 cricket where the teams have any meaningful identity. Even if you are not especially enamoured of the T20 format itself, these factors, plus the unpredictability of the results T20 generates in any given match, allied to the format of the tournament, combine to create a heady cocktail that has rapidly become one of the highlights of the world cricket schedule.● Why did West Indies triumph? Because ‒ and only because ‒ they followed the blueprint for World Twenty20 success, outlined in my podcast at the start of the tournament. They started badly. Perfectly badly. This historically flawless campaign strategy was established by India in 2007, and successfully mimicked by Pakistan two years later and by England in 2010.This time, Sammy’s men won only one of their first five matches – in their two rain-shortened group matches, they lost to Australia, and had to settle for a no-result against Ireland, then, in the Super Eight phase, beat England, were obliterated by Sri Lanka, and tied with New Zealand. It was a textbook, beautifully orchestrated campaign, involving doing as little as possible to reach the knockout stages, to the extent that they only squeaked into the semi-finals courtesy of Tim Southee’s “Oh Whoops” Super Over.The trophy was now inevitably theirs. They wrapped it up clouting the two teams who had foolishly dominated the early stages, and who had both beaten West Indies by nine wickets, stupidly rendering their own eventual demise utterly unavoidable. The group stages in Bangladesh in 2014 should be fascinating. And Southee has taken his place alongside the likes of Ambrose, Marshall, Holding and Wes Hall as one of the most important bowlers in West Indies history.● Marlon Samuels would be a contender for the 2012 World Cricketer of The Year award, if the 2012 World Cricketer of The Year award had not already been awarded in September, with three and a half months of year 2012 still in the pipeline, including a major international tournament.His Test performances against England and New Zealand were of classical elan, and some of the purest off-side strokeplay anyone could dream of seeing. He played with explosive power in the World Twenty20, and his innings in the final was one of the most influential in any major limited-overs match. When he was out for 78 off 56 (including 52 off the last 19 balls he faced), the rest of his team had scored 26 for 5 off 47. The next highest score in the match was Jayawardene’s 33, and the 31-year-old Jamaican scored more than the other ten Sri Lankans put together, whilst sweetly clobbering six of the eight sixes in the match. It was one of the great modern innings. What was he doing in his 20s?● A quick stat. Samuels’ innings was the 58th score of 70 or more in the first innings of a T20 International. Forty-six of those scores have resulted in wins (plus one in a tie, and 11 in defeat) – an 84% win rate. Twenty of the 30 scores of 70-plus in the second innings of T20Is have ended in victory (67%). Sixty-five per cent of first-innings fifties have ended in victory in T20Is; also, 65% of first-innings 70s in ODIs since 2005 have contributed to a win. So, in summary, scoring 70 or more in the first innings of an ODI is a good idea. Especially if your team-mates are going to score only 54 other runs between them.

New Zealand finished with less than they had looked on target for in Auckland, but if England are to win, they will still have to manufacture victory

Andrew McGlashan in Auckland23-Mar-2013Eking it out. Chipping away. Manoeuvring a position. Each of them could apply to the second day at Eden Park. Except for Tim Southee’s brisk stay and Steven Finn’s swift wrapping up of the tail nothing happened especially swiftly. Yet, the Test has moved on significantly, as if by stealth, with a day of one wicket followed by a day of eleven.New Zealand could, and probably should, have made more than 443 but they gained priceless compensation in the final session when Trent Boult, finding more swing than any of the England bowlers, removed Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott. Was it his slightly slower pace through the air allowing the ball to move? Maybe it was purely the vagaries of the ball picked out of the box.There was edginess to England’s batting, especially as Nick Compton and Ian Bell blocked out the final nine overs. Remember, too, that this is a line-up now missing Kevin Pietersen, and including a cricket-starved Jonny Bairstow and a slightly out-of-touch Joe Root. What a chance this is for New Zealand. Before the game Brendon McCullum called it “a chance to create history” and, so far, that burden does not appear to have rested too heavily on his team.England need to force the pace if they are to manufacture a victory and that will be difficult with two key batsmen already gone. It will only take one bad innings for this series to be completely gone for them. The bowlers would not thank them for that. In the field, England could not have done much more on the second day.To take nine wickets for 193 on the second day was a commendable effort, as was New Zealand’s second-day return of 8 for 198 at the Basin Reserve. The conditions had not changed, but New Zealand’s batsmen started to hit the ball in the air and the catching (if not always the ground-fielding) was excellent. Matt Prior led the way with two outstanding, contrasting takes to remove Peter Fulton and McCullum – a full-length dive standing back and a reflex grab standing up.

Didn’t come here thinking it’ll be easy – Finn

Steven Finn has insisted that England have not underestimated New Zealand as they ended the second day of the deciding Test under pressure, following the loss of two late wickets.
“By no stretch of the imagination did we come over here thinking it was going to be an easy series,” he said. “We know the wickets are good, we knew we’d have to work hard to win games. Through the T20s, ODIs, and now the Tests, it has been a pretty even contest. We’ve not underestimated New Zealand, they have played some excellent cricket and have some excellent players. We know we have a fight on our hands in this game.”
Finn, who equalled his career-best figures with 6 for 125, praised the performance of Matt Prior – he finished with five catches in the innings including a stunning dive to remove Peter Fulton.
“It’s nice to know he can leap like a salmon, it’s good to have him behind. He’s up there with the best wicketkeeper-batsmen in the world, if not the best, so to have him there is fantastic. He provides the energy in the field and buzzes through. Some of those catches were as good as you’ll see.”

New Zealand were a little wasteful, as England had been in Wellington on the second day. Ross Taylor chipped a soft catch back to Monty Panesar, McCullum gave Trott his fourth Test wicket and Dean Brownlie slashed to backward point. New Zealand were never in trouble – their opening-day score of 250 for 1 had provided a cushion – but the departures of Taylor and McCullum were a blow to their hopes of pushing the scoring rate along, although Southee’s cultured innings filled some of the gap.The question, though, is can their attack conjure 20 wickets? They already have two; it took England 94 overs to get that many. Boult and Tim Southee, while not always accurate, found more consistent movement than their opposition counterparts. Another interesting comparison will be Bruce Martin, who has outbowled Panesar in this series in terms of a wicket-taking threat. He is more confident at varying his pace and strikes you as the type of bowler who will happily be lofted for a few sixes if it eventually brings reward. Already, on the second evening, he made a couple grip. He bowled the final over of the day with five men around the bat – McCullum, the steely-eyed captain, camped in front of the batsman’s eyes at silly point.England can’t win the match on the third day, but they could lose it. However, there are images of England’s visit here in 1988 in how this series is panning out. In Christchurch, England dominated the first Test but could not make up for five hours lost to rain. In 2013, read New Zealand in Dunedin. The second Test at Eden Park was a tame draw and the decider, at the Basin Reserve, was ruined by the weather. Much like now there was frustration for the England bowlers with Graham Dilley fined £250 (approx US$380) for an outburst in Christchurch, which was picked up by the stump microphones, following some contentious umpiring decisions. The DRS helps keep those to a minimum these days.None of the 2013 attack quite blew a fuse, although Finn was no doubt pretty close first ball after tea when Bairstow made a mess of a diving save a deep square-leg and conceded a boundary. Kicking the turf and standing with hands on hips was a familiar sight. Finn, however, massaged his figures with three wickets in six balls after tea even if too many deliveries still angle down the leg side – although two of those brought him wickets this time. It would be churlish to begrudge a bowler success after 37 overs of toil.Finn, and the rest of the England bowlers, would like to think they can have a couple of days with their feet up before one final attempt to break New Zealand’s resistance. At the moment, however, that is a long way from being possible.

Stats highlights from the second day at Old Trafford

S Rajesh03-Aug-2013

• Australia’s total of 527 for 7 declared was their first 500-plus score in their first innings of an away Test since Cardiff in July 2009, when they declared at 674 for 6. Between July 2001 and that Cardiff game, they passed 500 nine times in the first innings in 46 away Tests; since then until before this game, they failed to do so even once in 24 attempts – their highest during this period was 478 against India in Bangalore in 2010.
• Michael Clarke’s 187 is the highest of his five Test hundreds in England. It’s also the sixth-best by an Australian captain in England, and the best since Allan Border’s unbeaten 200 at Headingley in 1993. Clarke’s the third Australian to score 187 in a Test, after Stan McCabe and Don Bradman.
• With Brad Haddin and Mitchell Starc getting fifties as well, there were five scores of fifty or more in the Australian innings. It’s only the 20th such instance for Australia in overseas Tests, and their ninth in England.
• The 214-run stand between Clarke and Steven Smith is the highest fourth-wicket stand ever in a Test at Old Trafford – the previous-best was 189, between Mohammad Azharuddin and Sanjay Manjrekar in 1990. It’s also Australia’s fourth-best for that wicket in England, and their best since 1934, when Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford added 388 at Headingley.
• For England’s bowlers, it was five sessions of toil, as they managed only seven wickets in 146 overs. Four bowlers – James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann – conceded more than 100 runs, with Anderson finishing with none for 100-plus figures for only the second time in his career, and the first time in a home Test. The only previous such instance was in Johannesburg in 2010. These were also the same bowlers who suffered the last time four England bowlers went past 100 in a Test innings: that was at The Oval last year against South Africa, when Broad (none for 118) and Swann (none for 151) went wicketless.
• This time, though, Swann had five wickets to show for his efforts, his second five-for in two Tests at Old Trafford, and both in the opposition’s first innings: in 2010, he took 5 for 76 in Bangladesh’s first innings. That, though, was in the second innings of the match, since England had batted first. The last time an England spinner took a five-for in the first innings of a Test here was Peter Such, against Australia in 1993 – he took 6 for 67, though England ended up losing the Test by 179 runs.
• Broad bowled better than his figures of 1 for 108 suggest, but that one wicket made him the 15th England bowler to get to 200 Test wickets. His last three wickets have all been Clarke’s – before today he had also dismissed Clarke in the second innings at Trent Bridge and the first innings at Lord’s.
• Joe Root’s 57-ball 8 is among the slowest knocks by an England opener. With a 50-ball cut-off, and for matches in which balls-faced data is available, there are only ten slower innings by an England opener, the slowest of them being Colin Cowdrey’s 50-ball 3 against South Africa at Edgbaston in 1960.