Stats highlights from the fifth day of the Test at the SCG where David Warner made the fastest hundred at the ground in Tests.

Shiva Jayaraman07-Jan-201682 Balls taken by David Warner for his century in Australia’s first innings – the fastest at the SCG. Matthew Hayden’s century against Zimbabwe at this ground in 2003-04 had come off 84 balls, which was the previous quickest. This is the third time Warner has scored a Test hundred at a strike rate of more than run-a-ball.52.22 Warner’s average while opening in Tests – the fourth best among openers with at least 4000 runs. Only Herbert Sutcliffe, Len Hutton and Jack Hobbs averaged better. Warner scored his 16th century as an opener. Only Hayden and Mark Taylor have scored more hundreds while opening in Tests for Australia. Justin Langer also made 16.1999 The last time Australia failed to win the Frank Worrell Trophy, when the series was drawn 2-2. Since then, this is their eighth consecutive win. West Indies haven’t won since 1992 when they took the Trophy with a 2-1 margin.97.96 Difference in averages (runs scored per wicket lost) between the two teams in this series – the second highest in any Test series. While Australia amassed 1489 runs in the series losing only 12 wickets, West Indies lost 48 wickets and scored 1254 runs. At the top of the list is England, who averaged 145.32 runs higher than Bangladesh in a two-match series in 2005.901 Balls bowled in the entire match – the second fewest in a Test in Australia and the fewest at the SCG. Only 656 deliveries were bowled in a Test between the hosts and South Africa at the MCG in 1932, the least in Australia.12 Wickets taken by West Indies in the series including the two in this innings. The haul equals the third-least by any team in a series from 300 or more overs (or 1800 balls). Their previous lowest was in a two-Test series in New Zealand in 1999-00 when they took 20 wickets from 1913 balls. The fewest wickets any team has taken from at least 1800 balls in a series are the eight that New Zealand took against England at home in 1974-75.282 West Indies’ previous highest total in the series which they made in their second innings of the Boxing Day Test. Their total of 330 in this innings was their first 300-plus total in nine away innings and their highest in their last 15 away innings.375 Runs scored by Adam Voges in this series without being dismissed even once, the second highest scored by a batsman in a series without getting out. Jacques Kallis had made 388 runs from three innings in a series against Zimbabwe in 2001. Voges was adjudged the Man of the Series.276 Deliveries bowled by Nathan Lyon in the first innings – the fourth highest bowled by a spinner in the first innings of a Test at the SCG and the highest since Bob Holland bowled 282 balls against New Zealand in 1985. This is also the most balls bowled by a spinner in the first innings of a Test in Australia since Shane Warne sent down 53 overs in the Ashes Test of 2006 at the Adelaide Oval. Lyon took 3 for 120 from his 46 overs – his best figures in five Tests at this venue and the first time he has taken a three-wicket haul here.14 Number of fifty-plus scores by Denesh Ramdin in away Tests, the most by a West Indies wicketkeeper in away Tests. With a 62 in first innings at the SCG, Ramdin surpassed Jeff Dujon’s tally of 13 fifty-plus scores.2 Number of batsmen before Carlos Brathwaite who had made two fifty-plus scores batting at No. 8 or lower in their first two Tests. Australia’s Albert Trott, who got 205 of his 228 Test runs before being dismissed for the first time, and Sammy Carter have done it previously. Brathwaite had made 59 in the first innings at the MCG before his 69 in this innings.246 Deliveries sent down by Kemar Roach in this series. Roach went wicket-less in this series and leaked runs at an economy of 6.02. These are the most balls bowled by a bowler to go wicket-less in a series at an economy of 6.0 or worse. This was the first time Roach failed to take a single wicket in any Test series. In the Frank Worrell Trophy in 2011-12 he had taken 19 wickets – his highest in any series.

Players are being actively encouraged to play in the Big Bash and explore IPL options to expand their horizons – and eventually England’s

Will Macpherson10-Dec-2015This month, England’s Adil Rashid and David Willey begin stints as overseas players in the BBL. This is not a landmark as such – a number of other English players will take part, and have played in the competition before – yet it significant.Previously, players took part when not involved with England or when gaps appeared in their schedules, such as Ben Stokes’ stint with Melbourne Renegades when he was dropped from the World Cup squad. This time England have created gaps for the betterment of their players and white-ball teams.The deals for Rashid and Willey, with Adelaide Strikers and Perth Scorchers respectively, represent the change in attitude towards overseas T20 leagues that has taken place among those running the England set-up. They acknowledge that the BBL, IPL and the rest are hothouses of white-ball knowledge and meeting places for the world’s finest short-form minds, in conditions strange to English players, before vast audiences, both live and on TV. It is an admission that the England team can better themselves by stepping out of the English system and their own comfort zones.Those who have played in such tournaments have long extolled their virtues and seldom shy away from venting their frustrations with the ECB’s failure to embrace life overseas. Luke Wright has extolled the virtue of “rubbing shoulders with top players, picking the brains of top captains, learning and training with the best in the world”. Upon being made captain of Sussex’s T20 team, he used the contacts he had made to sign Mahela Jayawardene and George Bailey, and his experience of playing with and against Shaun Tait to manage similarly fragile quick Tymal Mills.

“You want your players to be exposed to different conditions, environments, coaching methods, playing with different players, learning against different opposition”Jason Gillespie

Those in charge have recognised the benefits too. Given that England are coached by Trevor Bayliss, once of Sydney Sixers and Kolkata Knight Riders, and captained by one of their most itinerant players and another strident advocate of overseas leagues, Eoin Morgan, perhaps this is no surprise.”There has been a sea-change,” Andrew Strauss, England’s director of cricket, tells ESPNcricinfo. “These leagues are a melting pot of different ideas around white-ball cricket. Look at the last World Cup, look at the semi-finalists. I think 38 out of 44 players had played in the IPL. You’re going to get great experiences of playing under pressure. Over the last decade or so we’ve been behind a lot of teams in white-ball cricket. It seems an opportunity that we cannot afford to turn down.The likely ladsGetty Images

Alex Hales
After a couple of fruitless shots at the IPL auction, Hales went to Mumbai Indians for three games this year. Didn’t play, but loved every minute. The latest through the revolving door atop England’s Test order, if he passes his trial by fire against Steyn and Morkel, he won’t be heading to India in the spring.
Jason Roy
Currently a white-ball specialist. Has three fifties and a ton in 14 ODI innings without ever looking at his best. Managed by Mission Sports, like Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara, who have the contacts and knowhow to get him a gig. Loves a big occasion. Looks very well placed indeed.
Jos Buttler
Has England’s three fastest ODI tons and is their most adaptable hitter and their finest finisher ever. On the surface, looks tailor-made, but he’s currently out of the Test side and hell-bent on getting back in. If Jonny Bairstow impresses in South Africa, Buttler’s name is far more likely to be on those auction cards.
Ben Stokes
Only returned to the Test side a few months ago, having also missed the World Cup. Has been sporadically brilliant but is said to be keen to shore his place up before taking a gamble on the IPL. Looks a match made in heaven: as a three-dimensional cricketer and a total rock star, he would be attractive at auction.
Sam Billings
Something of an unknown quantity. A dynamic and versatile batter and an athletic keeper or gun fielder, he’s well worth a punt, although perhaps for a BBL stint first. Way off the Test team, which helps. Andrew Strauss and ECB lead batting coach Graham Thorpe are massive, and influential, fans.
David Willey
A 40-ball century for Northamptonshire in the NatWest Blast quarter-final catapulted him onto Perth Scorchers’ radar, but he has impressed more with the ball for England. Has just moved to Yorkshire – who say their players cannot go – and is keen to further his Test claims, so it’s tricky to see him at the IPL this year.

“International teams tend to spend a lot of time with people from that country and speaking a certain language about white-ball cricket and a certain philosophy. You can get quite wedded to that and that can be a dangerous place to be. These tournaments allow players to see things from different viewpoints, and that’s also why we’ve tried to get someone like Jayawardene working with the team, to open up other avenues that guys might not have seen so far.”Strauss sees such leagues as a key vehicle to help prepare England for a home World Cup in 2019. “You’re an overseas player, it’s over to you to deliver, you can’t rely on someone else,” he says, also citing the personal development a player experiences living and working in an alien environment with new team-mates.Yorkshire – and Strikers – coach Jason Gillespie agrees. “You want your players to be exposed to different conditions, environments, coaching methods, playing with different players, learning against different opposition,” he says. “It helps to make them more rounded and there’s lots of sharing of knowledge.”There’s another tacit admission here: that England’s own T20 competition, the NatWest Blast, does not prepare players for high-pressure situations. After England sealed a 3-0 series sweep over Pakistan last week, Morgan could not resist a swipe, saying England wanted to see “more guys in pressure situations” with the World T20 months away. “We don’t have the privilege of a very good T20 domestic tournament, so we don’t see guys under pressure that often.”Strauss agrees. “The Blast is proving very successful – you look at attendances and there’s a lot to be said for it,” he says. But with 18 teams and the absence of a dedicated block, it means players are constantly switching formats. “It’s a very different tournament to the IPL or the BBL. I don’t think you get the same type of pressure in the Blast as you do in those tournaments.”One of the Blast’s major shortcomings is the lack of global interest; Sky will broadcast the BBL this month but the Blast’s cumbersome, stretched schedule (which seldom sees overseas stars stay for more than a handful of games) means overseas broadcasters show no interest. None of Chris Gayle’s 328 record-breaking runs for Somerset in 2015 were visible to anyone not in the ground (a maximum of 23,000 across three matches).It is not in Strauss’ remit to make changes to England’s domestic structure, and he believes that while the ECB is working on coming up with “as compelling a T20 competition as possible”, there is also “no way we can just adopt the IPL or BBL models in England. It’s very difficult to do and probably not in the best interests of the game.” As a result, the aim, where possible, is to use overseas leagues to expose England’s best cricketers to high-pressure environments.Strauss also wants English coaches to taste these competitions. Gillespie says his first season with Strikers will be “a big part of my learning as a coach”. Rich Pyrah, who retired recently to join Yorkshire’s coaching staff, will go with Gillespie, “to see first hand how the Big Bash is and impart some of his ideas, but importantly, just sit back and see how it works over there and hopefully bring something back to Yorkshire”.Sussex bowling coach Jon Lewis is set to spend time with Melbourne Stars, and Strauss is working on getting other coaches experience in the coming IPL and BBL seasons.On the playing side, flexibility rules. Opportunities presented themselves with Willey, whose England experience, Strauss says, meant “the Lions environment was probably not going to add a lot”, then Rashid, who is set to play a key role in the World T20 but wasn’t trusted as a Test spinner in South Africa. Things will continue to be judged on a case-by-case basis. “We have a big array of opportunities and we’ve got to use it wisely in each case,” Strauss says.England’s limited-overs captain, Eoin Morgan, is a vocal advocate of the value of playing in overseas leagues•BCCIThe IPL, due to its timing, remains the elephant in the room. Pietersen picked apart English cricket’s attitude towards the competition in his autobiography, concluding that the tricky relationship was down to “jealousy”, and saying that players grew “uneasy” when the topic was raised as they feared being dropped for taking part. He also famously described talking to Strauss about the IPL as akin to explaining “gangsta rap to a vicar”.Now, though, Strauss acknowledges that the IPL is the T20 benchmark. He has clarified that players will not be allowed to miss Tests (the 2016 edition finishes on May 29, midway through England’s second Test against Sri Lanka) but says some white-ball specialists will be encouraged to enter the auction.Tests remain English cricket’s Everest. No one has yet come out and said otherwise; Willey joined Gillespie at Yorkshire with the explicit aim of furthering his Test ambitions, while Alex Hales has long stated his (surely soon to be completed) desire to make the transition from white ball to red. The fears Pietersen highlighted still ring true. Joe Root, Jos Buttler – now scrapping to regain his Test spot – and Stokes are reportedly unlikely to enter the 2016 IPL auction due to the clash of interests. Pietersen, of course, forewent Sunrisers Hyderabad for Surrey when he sniffed a Test recall earlier this year, while Morgan made a similar decision 12 months earlier.

“Over the last decade or so we’ve been behind a lot of teams in white-ball cricket. It seems an opportunity that we cannot afford to turn down”Andrew Strauss

There are other barriers, too. Counties understandably want access to their best players for a vital period of grunt (the Championship will begin its seventh round of fixtures as the IPL ends), which could cause issues if those in the national set-up are granted leave. Gillespie says Yorkshire will not allow players to go, but Nottinghamshire’s Mick Newell is more flexible with the likes of Hales.”If we want Alex to play the majority of his cricket for Notts,” he says, “then we have to allow him to play for other people as well, and that hopefully means a lot of England, but also other franchise teams too. He’s not just a Nottinghamshire cricketer any more. We give him our blessing because we still want to see him play for Notts 80% of the season rather than nothing.”Players sacrifice approximately 1% of their annual county salary for every day that they miss for the IPL, which means they must command huge prices at the auction to make a two-month stint worthwhile. In previous years, high base prices have meant the likes of Hales going unsold. “We need IPL teams to bid for our players, we can’t force them,” Strauss says. “Hopefully quite a few have put their names in lights in the last six months. If we can find a way for more to be available for more of the IPL, then that’s a good place to be.”While Pietersen was derided as a mercenary for taking part, now the skills and experiences he – forever ahead of his time – so vehemently evangelised are exactly what the ECB is after when looking to build giants of the game; money and England’s own schedule and sensibilities have taken a back seat.It may have arrived frustratingly too late for Pietersen, but it appears that England’s age of insularity is coming to an end, to be replaced by the dawning of an era of more enlightened thinking.

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2015Latham, meanwhile, carried on and completed his third Test century•Getty ImagesSome quick runs were added thereafter and New Zealand declared to set the visitors a target of 405, before rain interrupted play•Getty ImagesDimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis started the chase solidly with a partnership of 54 runs•Getty ImagesThe hosts bounced back though. BJ Watling equalled the New Zealand record for most dismissals by a wicketkeeper and Udara Jayasundera bagged single digits in both innings of his debut Test•Getty ImagesMendis held one end up and made a patient 46 before he was dismissed not five minutes before…•Getty Images… a hail storm brought a premature end to the fourth day with Sri Lanka needing 296 and New Zealand needing seven wickets on the final day•Getty Images

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-2016He handed Rohit Sharma a two-ball duck, with some help from fellow fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera at mid-off•BCCIBy the time Rajitha finished his first set in international cricket, Ajinkya Rahane was also out and India were 5 for 2•BCCIDasun Shanka, known more for his batting, then cut through India’s middle order by dismissing Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya…•BCCI… and India slumped to 72 for 8 by the 14th over•BCCIR Ashwin counterattacked with an unbeaten 31, but India were bowled out for a measly 101 with seven balls to spare•BCCIAshish Nehra dismissed Sri Lanka’s openers early, reducing the visitors to 23 for 2 by the fifth over•Associated PressCaptain Dinesh Chandimal then came in and took charge of the innings with a run-a-ball 35 that took Sri Lanka past 80…•BCCI… before Suresh Raina trapped him lbw•BCCIMilinda Siriwardana and Seekkuge Prasanna, however, took the visitors home to seal a five-wicket in the first fixture of the three-match T20I series•BCCI

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2016Shikhar Dhawan finally found some form with a slow half-century•Getty ImagesVirat Kohli, meanwhile, continued his good run with the bat, scoring at brisk pace•Getty ImagesBoth batsmen added 119 for India’s second wicket…•AFP… Before Dhawan was bowled for 68 while attempting to slog over square leg•AFPAjinkya Rahane came in and played second fiddle to Kohli in their 109-run partnership, scoring a 55-ball 50•Getty ImagesKohli then went on to bring up his 24th century, in 105 balls•Getty ImagesMS Dhoni’s late blitz of 23 from 9 gave India some quick late runs, but they couldn’t get past 300. They ended on 6 for 295•Getty ImagesAustralia lost Aaron Finch early in the chase, for 21•Getty ImagesShaun Marsh and Steven Smith however set the tone for the chase with a steady 64-run stand•Getty ImagesIndia then fought back with quick wickets in the middle overs•Getty ImagesGlenn Maxwell, though, kept Australia in the game with a run-a-ball 50•Getty ImagesHe paired with James Faulkner in the death overs to add 80 for Australia’s seventh wicket•Getty ImagesMaxwell eventually fell for 96 from 83, but not before the hosts were one run short of the target. Faulkner stroked the winning run, sealing the five-match series 3-0 in Australia’s favour•Getty Images

India have somehow reached the semi-finals of a major event with four of their top five misfiring at the same time. Change could be dangerous, but it could be needed

Karthik Krishnaswamy29-Mar-20161:54

Manish Pandey on stand-by for Yuvraj Singh

Bangalore, March 23. Suresh Raina is batting on 3 off 6 balls when Mashrafe Mortaza bowls him a short ball. Raina is slow to react, and the ball is almost at his front shoulder when his bat comes around to meet it. The shot is less a short-arm pull than a short-arm flap. He doesn’t middle it, and the Chinnaswamy Stadium holds its breath when the ball hangs in the air, but it falls well short of deep square leg.It is a Raina thing, this short-arm flap. It is a sight that induces nervousness in his fans and smugness in his critics.Raina is batting on 6 off 10 balls when the short-arm flap makes another appearance. This time the ball strikes his bat a little closer to its sweet spot, and carries as far as the fielder on the deep square leg boundary, but Shuvagata Hom has to run to his right, and is only a foot or so from the boundary when his hands parry the ball over the rope.There are short balls that rise steeply and there are short balls that sit up. Al-Amin Hossain’s next ball is of the latter kind, and Raina clears his front leg and muscles the ball over the wide long-on boundary. He is batting on 18 off 12 balls now, his strike rate is 150.This is Raina’s T20 game. On his good days he times the ball beautifully and scores quickly. On his bad days, if he’s in for any length of time, he looks ugly, hits a couple of big shots, and scores quickly. Or he gets out early. Rarely does Raina score 15 off 20 balls or 20 off 25. He is a frustrating cricketer, but he is made for T20. In this match, against Bangladesh, he top-scores with 30 off 23.Raina’s scores at the World T20 are 1 off 2, 0 off 1, 30 off 23, and 10 off 7. In the last innings, against Australia, he is out gloving a pull to the keeper.***In the same match, in Mohali, Yuvraj Singh scores 21 off 18 balls. His strike rate is 116.66, which is nothing like his career strike rate of 136.95, but better than his strike rate since the start of 2014, which is 101.91. Facing the third ball of his innings, Yuvraj jumps onto the back foot to tuck Nathan Coulter-Nile off his hips. He jumps back, lands awkwardly, and twists his left foot. He hobbles through the rest of the innings, an innings rich in human drama.A lot of Yuvraj’s recent innings have been like that, battles pitting his experience and know-how against reflexes that are clearly half a step slower than they used to be. He gets beaten for pace frequently, but bowl him something in his slot and he’ll still send it soaring over the ropes. It has been fascinating to watch. But from a purely cricketing perspective, it’s hard to say if he’s still an effective enough middle-order batsman for a top international T20 side.India have kept their faith in Yuvraj. They have kept their faith in Raina. Neither has rewarded that faith, just yet. Meanwhile, at the top of the order, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have a top score of 23 between them at this World T20.Between them, Rohit, Dhawan, Raina and Yuvraj have scored 181 runs at an average of 11.31 and a strike rate of 103.87. Those four names occupy numbers one, two, four and five in India’s batting order. India are in the semi-finals largely because their No. 3 has scored more runs than those four put together. Virat Kohli has made 184 runs at an average of 92.00 and a strike rate of 132.37.After their No. 3 has dragged India into the semi-finals with one of the greatest T20 innings of them all, MS Dhoni calls on the other batsmen to step up. He says he feels India are “batting at 65% barring Virat.”That 65% includes the contribution of Dhoni, who has scored 74 runs off 61 balls while only being dismissed once in four innings. Without that, he might have said 30%.Ajinkya Rahane has not had any middle time, but has been putting plenty of work in on this shot•BCCI***Mumbai, March 29. Manish Pandey shadowing his front-foot pulls. Ajinkya Rahane is on the ground next to him, stretching one leg in front of him and bending low at the waist to touch his toes. It is a sapping afternoon at the Brabourne Stadium, and Rahane has experienced plenty of them. He was 14 when he first played a serious match here, in October 2002, scoring 5 and 13 not out for Mumbai Under-15s against Baroda Under-15s.The ground has practice pitches near both square boundaries. On one side is the West Indies squad. On the other are Rahane, Pandey, India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar, their throwdown specialist DGVI Raghavindraa, and a group of net bowlers. India’s training session is optional.Right through the World T20, Rahane has been the one constant presence in these optional sessions. In Kolkata, two days before the match against Pakistan, only Rahane, Raina and Pawan Negi showed up. In Bangalore, two days the Bangladesh game, it was Rahane and no one else.Now, two days ahead of a semi-final against West Indies, Rahane has company.***January 23 was the last time Pandey batted in any form of serious cricket. He scored an unbeaten 104 off 81 balls and steered India home in an ODI chase of 331. India have played 15 T20Is since then, and Pandey hasn’t played any of them. He isn’t part of their World T20 squad – yet. He’s here now on standby, waiting for news of Yuvraj’s injured foot. He’s at the Brabourne Stadium, which is down the road from the Wankhede Stadium, which is the venue of the semi-final.Pandey and Rahane are batting at adjacent nets. Pandey steps down the pitch and lofts a net bowler over long-off. Rahane leans back to a short, rising ball and ramps it over the netting behind him. He does it two more times in the next five minutes; he seems to have instructed Bangar and Raghavindraa to feed him throwdowns for that specific shot.It is a shot for pitches with a bit of pace and bounce in them, where the ball comes onto the bat. Like the pitch at the Wankhede Stadium.In the 2011 World Cup final at the Wankhede, Mahela Jayawardene scored an unbeaten 103 off 88 balls. Forty of those runs, and eight of his 13 fours, came behind square on the off side, a testament to how well the ball came on to his bat and how well he used the pace. The ramp towards third man featured extensively.Rahane is practising that shot. In case he is needed.Timing it right? Shikhar Dhawan has not looked out of form, but the runs have dried up a little•AFP***Dhoni has stressed, on numerous occasions, that Rahane can only come into India’s side as an opener, or as one of the top three. If Yuvraj isn’t fit to play the semi-final, it is probably Pandey who will take his place. Or Negi, who offers a vaguely like-for-like option as a left-hand bat who bowls left-arm spin. Not Rahane.If Rahane is a solution, he is a solution to a different problem. He can only come into the side if India leave out Dhawan.Dhawan has had a poor World T20, but made 60 in his last T20I before the tournament, a Man-of-the-Match performance in the Asia Cup final, and followed it up with an unbeaten 73 in India’s warm-up match against South Africa.Since then, he has made 1, 6, 23 and 13. He hasn’t looked out of touch, and has timed the ball brilliantly at times.He has often gone through spells like this, and come out of them with a big innings at an important time. India will hope that can happen at the Wankhede. Or, if they get there, at Eden Gardens.***India have somehow reached the semi-finals of a major event with four of their top five misfiring at the same time. They have got there by playing the same eleven, by backing a group of players that they believe in, though clearly not of it.Come semi-final time, do you continue backing them?It’s a hard call to make. One change could be forced on them, if Yuvraj is ruled out, but it is possibly too late for purely tactical tinkering. It will take a tectonic shift in the thinking of India’s team management to leave out Dhawan or Raina in a knockout game and bring in someone with barely any recent match practice. A counter-argument would be: having recognised that the batsmen apart from Kohli have only performed at 65%, is it not dangerous to play the same combination in a knockout game? Why have a squad of 15 in that case?Neither point of view is right or wrong, and on Thursday, India will make a decision and live or die by it. One way or another, it is utterly improbable that they will win this tournament under their current circumstances, with only one of their top five scoring runs.

India have somehow reached the semi-finals of a major event with four of their top five misfiring at the same time. Change could be dangerous, but it could be needed

Karthik Krishnaswamy29-Mar-20161:54

Manish Pandey on stand-by for Yuvraj Singh

Bangalore, March 23. Suresh Raina is batting on 3 off 6 balls when Mashrafe Mortaza bowls him a short ball. Raina is slow to react, and the ball is almost at his front shoulder when his bat comes around to meet it. The shot is less a short-arm pull than a short-arm flap. He doesn’t middle it, and the Chinnaswamy Stadium holds its breath when the ball hangs in the air, but it falls well short of deep square leg.It is a Raina thing, this short-arm flap. It is a sight that induces nervousness in his fans and smugness in his critics.Raina is batting on 6 off 10 balls when the short-arm flap makes another appearance. This time the ball strikes his bat a little closer to its sweet spot, and carries as far as the fielder on the deep square leg boundary, but Shuvagata Hom has to run to his right, and is only a foot or so from the boundary when his hands parry the ball over the rope.There are short balls that rise steeply and there are short balls that sit up. Al-Amin Hossain’s next ball is of the latter kind, and Raina clears his front leg and muscles the ball over the wide long-on boundary. He is batting on 18 off 12 balls now, his strike rate is 150.This is Raina’s T20 game. On his good days he times the ball beautifully and scores quickly. On his bad days, if he’s in for any length of time, he looks ugly, hits a couple of big shots, and scores quickly. Or he gets out early. Rarely does Raina score 15 off 20 balls or 20 off 25. He is a frustrating cricketer, but he is made for T20. In this match, against Bangladesh, he top-scores with 30 off 23.Raina’s scores at the World T20 are 1 off 2, 0 off 1, 30 off 23, and 10 off 7. In the last innings, against Australia, he is out gloving a pull to the keeper.***In the same match, in Mohali, Yuvraj Singh scores 21 off 18 balls. His strike rate is 116.66, which is nothing like his career strike rate of 136.95, but better than his strike rate since the start of 2014, which is 101.91. Facing the third ball of his innings, Yuvraj jumps onto the back foot to tuck Nathan Coulter-Nile off his hips. He jumps back, lands awkwardly, and twists his left foot. He hobbles through the rest of the innings, an innings rich in human drama.A lot of Yuvraj’s recent innings have been like that, battles pitting his experience and know-how against reflexes that are clearly half a step slower than they used to be. He gets beaten for pace frequently, but bowl him something in his slot and he’ll still send it soaring over the ropes. It has been fascinating to watch. But from a purely cricketing perspective, it’s hard to say if he’s still an effective enough middle-order batsman for a top international T20 side.India have kept their faith in Yuvraj. They have kept their faith in Raina. Neither has rewarded that faith, just yet. Meanwhile, at the top of the order, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have a top score of 23 between them at this World T20.Between them, Rohit, Dhawan, Raina and Yuvraj have scored 181 runs at an average of 11.31 and a strike rate of 103.87. Those four names occupy numbers one, two, four and five in India’s batting order. India are in the semi-finals largely because their No. 3 has scored more runs than those four put together. Virat Kohli has made 184 runs at an average of 92.00 and a strike rate of 132.37.After their No. 3 has dragged India into the semi-finals with one of the greatest T20 innings of them all, MS Dhoni calls on the other batsmen to step up. He says he feels India are “batting at 65% barring Virat.”That 65% includes the contribution of Dhoni, who has scored 74 runs off 61 balls while only being dismissed once in four innings. Without that, he might have said 30%.Ajinkya Rahane has not had any middle time, but has been putting plenty of work in on this shot•BCCI***Mumbai, March 29. Manish Pandey shadowing his front-foot pulls. Ajinkya Rahane is on the ground next to him, stretching one leg in front of him and bending low at the waist to touch his toes. It is a sapping afternoon at the Brabourne Stadium, and Rahane has experienced plenty of them. He was 14 when he first played a serious match here, in October 2002, scoring 5 and 13 not out for Mumbai Under-15s against Baroda Under-15s.The ground has practice pitches near both square boundaries. On one side is the West Indies squad. On the other are Rahane, Pandey, India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar, their throwdown specialist DGVI Raghavindraa, and a group of net bowlers. India’s training session is optional.Right through the World T20, Rahane has been the one constant presence in these optional sessions. In Kolkata, two days before the match against Pakistan, only Rahane, Raina and Pawan Negi showed up. In Bangalore, two days the Bangladesh game, it was Rahane and no one else.Now, two days ahead of a semi-final against West Indies, Rahane has company.***January 23 was the last time Pandey batted in any form of serious cricket. He scored an unbeaten 104 off 81 balls and steered India home in an ODI chase of 331. India have played 15 T20Is since then, and Pandey hasn’t played any of them. He isn’t part of their World T20 squad – yet. He’s here now on standby, waiting for news of Yuvraj’s injured foot. He’s at the Brabourne Stadium, which is down the road from the Wankhede Stadium, which is the venue of the semi-final.Pandey and Rahane are batting at adjacent nets. Pandey steps down the pitch and lofts a net bowler over long-off. Rahane leans back to a short, rising ball and ramps it over the netting behind him. He does it two more times in the next five minutes; he seems to have instructed Bangar and Raghavindraa to feed him throwdowns for that specific shot.It is a shot for pitches with a bit of pace and bounce in them, where the ball comes onto the bat. Like the pitch at the Wankhede Stadium.In the 2011 World Cup final at the Wankhede, Mahela Jayawardene scored an unbeaten 103 off 88 balls. Forty of those runs, and eight of his 13 fours, came behind square on the off side, a testament to how well the ball came on to his bat and how well he used the pace. The ramp towards third man featured extensively.Rahane is practising that shot. In case he is needed.Timing it right? Shikhar Dhawan has not looked out of form, but the runs have dried up a little•AFP***Dhoni has stressed, on numerous occasions, that Rahane can only come into India’s side as an opener, or as one of the top three. If Yuvraj isn’t fit to play the semi-final, it is probably Pandey who will take his place. Or Negi, who offers a vaguely like-for-like option as a left-hand bat who bowls left-arm spin. Not Rahane.If Rahane is a solution, he is a solution to a different problem. He can only come into the side if India leave out Dhawan.Dhawan has had a poor World T20, but made 60 in his last T20I before the tournament, a Man-of-the-Match performance in the Asia Cup final, and followed it up with an unbeaten 73 in India’s warm-up match against South Africa.Since then, he has made 1, 6, 23 and 13. He hasn’t looked out of touch, and has timed the ball brilliantly at times.He has often gone through spells like this, and come out of them with a big innings at an important time. India will hope that can happen at the Wankhede. Or, if they get there, at Eden Gardens.***India have somehow reached the semi-finals of a major event with four of their top five misfiring at the same time. They have got there by playing the same eleven, by backing a group of players that they believe in, though clearly not of it.Come semi-final time, do you continue backing them?It’s a hard call to make. One change could be forced on them, if Yuvraj is ruled out, but it is possibly too late for purely tactical tinkering. It will take a tectonic shift in the thinking of India’s team management to leave out Dhawan or Raina in a knockout game and bring in someone with barely any recent match practice. A counter-argument would be: having recognised that the batsmen apart from Kohli have only performed at 65%, is it not dangerous to play the same combination in a knockout game? Why have a squad of 15 in that case?Neither point of view is right or wrong, and on Thursday, India will make a decision and live or die by it. One way or another, it is utterly improbable that they will win this tournament under their current circumstances, with only one of their top five scoring runs.

Four young batsmen in West Indies’ lower middle order showed fight, application and skill – and perhaps provided a beacon of hope for the future

Karthik Krishnaswamy04-Aug-20162:17

Manjrekar: Chase could be consistent middle-order batsman

Jermaine Blackwood, Roston Chase, Shane Dowrich, Jason Holder. One Jamaican, three Bajans. Two beanpoles, two little guys. All of them 24 years old.On Wednesday, they made 63, 137*, 74 and 64*, and became only the fifth set of batsmen occupying numbers five, six, seven and eight to make 50-plus scores in the same Test innings. They saved a Test match for West Indies, and in doing so gave them a glimpse, perhaps, of a middle order coming together for the long term.Going into this Test match, each had a point or two to prove.Blackwood had come into the series averaging 11.14 in his last seven Test innings, and had made a pair in the first Test. Chase had only made his debut in the first Test. Dowrich had replaced a long-serving wicketkeeper-batsman who had scored half-centuries in his last two Test innings, in awkward circumstances. Holder was the gifted allrounder who hadn’t yet carved out a niche as either batsman or bowler, but had already been burdened with captaincy.Blackwood seemed lucky to have retained his place here, at his home ground, but showed, in both innings, why he has been regarded as one of the brightest batting talents to emerge from these islands in the last few years.In both innings, he went after anything remotely full, was unafraid to hit on the up or over the top, and by doing so upset the fast bowlers’ lengths. To do this successfully, a batsman needs an uncommonly good eye, and Blackwood has that. But he remains a rough diamond. It had been apparent even in the overs leading up to his dismissal, when he kept playing a long way in front of his body, both while defending and on-driving, that he was in danger of getting caught bat-pad. He still needs to learn the art of playing spin with soft hands.Dowrich already knows it. It’s an unusual way to praise a batsman, but his defensive technique against spin was best showcased when he edged the ball. Right through the series, he has used his bat like a cushion while defending, and nearly every time he edged the ball on Wednesday, it died well short of the slips. The slowness of the pitch helped, but his technique was blameless. Only once, when he tried to work Amit Mishra against the turn, did an edge threaten to end his stay. In between there were some stylish shots as well, such as a pull over square leg off Umesh, and an effortless flicked six off Ashwin.When Dowrich was given out lbw by Ian Gould, who had failed to spot a thick inside-edge onto pad, Holder walked in with a session-and-a-half still left to negotiate. He was the last recognised batsman. He had faced only 24 balls, and West Indies had only just gone into the lead, when India took the second new ball.Armed with this harder, shinier ball, Shami bowled perhaps the most testing spell from any bowler on the final day, moving the ball both ways off the seam. Holder survived it, not without alarm, and perhaps needed a bit of luck along the way, but there was skill too. He played close to his body, bottom hand loose and ready to leave the handle. His height allowed him to ride the bounce of one particularly nasty lifter and, despite taking a knock on the glove, he kept it down, short of the keeper, with ease.All the while he kept putting away the scoring opportunities, standing up to his full height to slap a short ball from Ishant to the long-off boundary with a horizontal bat, pulling Shami, and, when Ashwin came back into the attack, driving him against the turn to the left of extra-cover.That last shot took West Indies’ lead to 50. Time was running out for India.And all this while, they had seen no way past Chase, the glue that had held all three partnerships together. Tall, imperturbable, and unusually still at the crease for a batsman of his generation, he had repelled everything they had thrown at him. Right from the start of his innings, when he calmly played himself in even as Blackwood went berserk at the other end, he seemed a batsman who knew his own game intimately.Chase seemed to like the clip through midwicket, and played it at every opportunity, even when he had to take the ball from off stump, even while playing against the turn. The cover drive, however, only came out when the ball was pitched right up. Not for him the on-the-up adventures of Blackwood. Early in his innings, he studiously ignored Ishant outside his off stump, until a half-volley finally arrived; when it did, he got his head right on top of the ball and drove it pleasingly wide of mid-off.He took his time getting used to the pace and bounce of the pitch, and was watchful against the short ball early on, but began to play the pull more frequently as the day wore on and the pitch slowed down. Against Mishra, he misjudged one sweep, attempting it off a ball that was a touch too full, but played it again next ball, with no thought of what had gone before, and cleared the square-leg boundary. He had chosen the wrong length the previous ball, but what connection did that have to this eminently sweepable ball?These were glimpses of a batsman playing the game at his own pace, and not letting what was around him intrude into his headspace. He made little adjustments, such as adopting a lower backlift when Shami and Umesh targeted his stumps with a reverse-swinging old ball, but otherwise kept it as simple as possible. Hands close to body while defending, eyes locked on the lifting ball, a clear idea of the whereabouts of off stump.Trite as it sounds, it was just the basics, done well, over and over, for the best part of 269 balls. The extraordinary thing about Chase’s innings, in only his second Test, was its utter simplicity.

Plays of the day from the third ODI of the series between England and Sri Lanka

Andrew McGlashan at Bristol26-Jun-2016Half-century of the day
Liam Plunkett made his ODI debut nearly 11 years ago, against Pakistan in Lahore, so it’s fair to say he has bided his time. When he struck with his second ball to remove Kusal Perera, top-edging a swing to the leg side, it took him to 50 ODI wickets in his 37th match. In terms of time, it has taken him 10 years and 199 days – but that isn’t quite the longest for an England bowler: Graeme Swann, who played his first ODI in early 2000 before a seven-year gap, needed 10 years and 232 days. Meanwhile, Plunkett is enjoying a useful habit of striking early in a spell. At Edgbaston it was with his third delivery and when he returned for a second spell in Bristol he snaffled Kusal Mendis with his second delivery back.Unfulfilled partnership of the day
For the second game running, Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal – or the hobbling twins as they could be known given their hamstring issues – steadied the Sri Lanka innings with a solid partnership. But, again, it ended short of three figures when Chandimal outside edged down to third man. The duo now have the most runs (1272) as a pairing without a century contribution.Absent-mindedness of the day
Quite what Dasun Shanaka was thinking when he sauntered down the pitch as the ball trickled to short third man is anyone’s guess. He was rightly sent back but still paid the price … by millimetres. Jos Buttler dislodged the bails, in the opinion of the third umpire, with Shanaka’s bat on the line. It took the players by surprise, they were all back in position when the decision was confirmed, and Shanaka looked a little non-plussed by it all.Reversal of the day
Scores of 133* and 256 for 0 followed by 0 and 1 for 1 – Alex Hales, and England’s opening partnership, enjoyed distinctly contrasting fortunes 48 hours apart. After the carnage at Edgbaston, Sri Lanka extracted some revenge when Hales played away from his body at his first ball from Suranga Lakmal and edged a catch to Chandimal.

Plays of the day from the second ODI between Sri Lanka and Australia in Colombo

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Brydon Coverdale 24-Aug-2016The hat-trick
Bruce Reid, Anthony Stuart, Brett Lee, Daniel Christian, Clint McKay, James Faulkner. That is the list of Australians to have taken an ODI hat-trick, six names in total after Faulkner joined the group in this match. And he did so across two overs, his wickets coming from the last ball of the 46th over and the first two deliveries of the 48th over. First was Kusal Perera, who was lbw trying to reverse-sweep a cutter. Then it was Angelo Mathews, who drilled one down the ground and was caught just inside the boundary by Moises Henriques. And finally Thisara Perera was bowled while backing away and trying to cut. Three ODI hat-tricks were taken last year, but this was the first for 2016.The sitter
It was the sittingest sitter that ever sat. In the 42nd over of Sri Lanka’s innings, Kusal Perera got a top edge off Moises Henriques that lobbed up and straight down into the hands of Adam Zampa at short third man. And then down further, out of the hands of Adam Zampa at short third man and onto the ground. It was such an easy chance that it was genuinely baffling that Zampa had managed to drop it. Perhaps, having finished his own 10 overs and claimed 3 for 42 earlier, his concentration had waned. It was a costly enough miss – Perera was on 29 and went on to make 54.The long walk home
Dinesh Chandimal is a batsman who puts store in personal milestones. He celebrates his own with abandon, and his team-mates’ with even more abandon. So when he was out on 48, going for a Sri Lankan record of six fifties in a row, his reaction was endearingly predictable. Chandimal dropped his shoulders. Chandimal dropped his head. Dragging his feet and the bat behind him, he trudged sullenly through the outfield, like a man who had been roughed up and robbed at the bus halt, and was left with no option but to begin walking home – a brass band playing a sombre tune in the background.The opener
Nathan Lyon did not play in the first ODI but was rapidly into the action in this second match. After Mitchell Starc delivered the first over of the game, Lyon sent down the second and immediately gained some noticeable turn. For some teams it is nothing out of the ordinary to open with a spinner in an ODI, but it is a rarity for Australia. In fact, only once before have Australia used the tactic in the first innings of an ODI – when Mark Waugh shared the new ball against South Africa at the SCG on Australia Day, 1998.