Kohli to de Villiers: 'Biscotti, you are the most talented cricketer I've played with, the absolute number one'

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

With over 20,000 international runs, the South Africa batter holds the records for the fastest fifty and century in ODI cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Oct-2024To AB,It is an honour to be selected to write these words as you enter the ICC Hall of Fame.You are thoroughly deserving of your place – after all, the Hall of Fame is a representation of your impact on the game, and yours has been truly unique.People have always spoken about your ability, and rightly so. You are the most talented cricketer I have played with, the absolute number one.But what truly stood out to me was your belief in that ability. You had a crazy amount of belief that you could execute whatever you wanted to on a cricket field, and you normally did. That is why you ended up being so special.Related

  • The audacity of AB

  • De Villiers interview: 'I've let go of that fear of failing'

  • 'AB had the ability to make you feel completely helpless'

  • Alastair Cook, Neetu David, AB de Villiers inducted into ICC Hall of Fame

  • Jayawardene to de Silva: 'You were a generation ahead of your time'

There is no better example in my mind than when we were batting together for RCB in Kolkata in 2016.We were chasing 184 against an attack including Sunil Narine, Morne Morkel, Andre Russell and Shakib Al Hasan. You came in to join me with around 70 on the board and Narine was bowling.You played and missed a couple and told me during a timeout that you weren’t picking him too well. I felt I was, so I remember telling you to give me the strike and I would try and hit boundaries off him.In the first over Narine bowled after the timeout, I was ready at the non-striker’s end thinking you were definitely giving me a single. So, imagine my surprise when you back away to the leg side, Sunil follows you and you slog sweep him over square leg for a 94-metre six.I don’t know what happened in the timeout to give you the belief you could do that. I just remember saying to you, “you’re a freak!”If I have a lack of belief against someone, I’d just try and get off strike – but you hit him for a 94-metre six without picking the ball. That sums you up. You could just do things our minds were not ready to process, and then everyone thinks ‘how the hell did that happen?’.That is just one of so many fond memories I have batting alongside you, times which provided some of the most fun I have had on a cricket field.’Fielders were always under pressure when we were batting. I don’t ever remember missing a two with you or being in a position to be run out’•BCCIWhen we ran between the wickets, for example, we never called for runs. It’s a very difficult thing to explain practically but there is a feeling to it.There was a complete understanding of where the ball was going and nothing needed to be said. Fielders were always under pressure when we were batting. I don’t ever remember missing a two with you or being in a position to be run out. It was amazing, as if we understood so perfectly that we were always on the same page.Through my time playing with and against you, you always had a very clear understanding of how the game should be played and you never really veered from that, regardless of whether you were doing well or not.It was never about someone else. It was never about competing with another player. It was always about what impact you could create for the team. In difficult situations, you were the man bailing out your team more often than not.Your drive to want to be the guy to win the game for your team was tremendous and something I learned a lot from. I remember taking from you that it doesn’t matter what you have done in the last four games, it is about how you approach the game today. It is about always being positive, always taking the game on and finding a way to get the job done.You were always completely in tune with the needs of the team, which made you one of the hardest players to make plans for when we were on opposing sides in international cricket.

“You had a crazy amount of belief that you could execute whatever you wanted to on a cricket field, and you normally did. That is why you ended up being so special”

Everyone remembers your attacking shots but you would adapt to the situation. Take 2015, in Delhi, when you faced 297 balls and made 43 trying to save the Test match.There must have been a temptation at some stage to think ‘I’ve faced 200 balls, I need to hit a boundary’. But once you locked yourself into what the situation required, you just kept going on and on.AB de Villiers during his famous blockathon in Delhi, in 2015•BCCIIt all comes back to that belief in your ability. It wasn’t just about the crazy, extravagant shots. You had the ability to defend the ball and had belief in that defence. To play that way because South Africa needed you to do so is a classic example of the team player you were.A lot of players can have impressive numbers but very few have an impact on the psyche of those watching. For me, that is the highest value you can have as a cricketer and that is what makes you so special.You are in the Hall of Fame for the impact you have left on the game and I don’t think there is anything more special for a cricketer than to have that honour.Congratulations, biscotti. You are one of the greatest players to ever play the game.Virat

Could this be the closest-ever Women's T20 World Cup?

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

There isn’t a whole lot of buzz around Dubai and Sharjah just yet, but seldom has the field looked so even ahead of a major women’s tournament

Shashank Kishore01-Oct-202415:17

Runorder: Can Australia be stopped at the Women’s T20 World Cup?

“What happens in Dubai Sports City stays in…….” doesn’t quite have the same appeal as “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, does it?That unmistakable sentiment rings out loud around this township, because nothing that happens here, except when the men’s teams of India and Pakistan occasionally meet, causes ripples of excitement around town.The robust Dubai metro hasn’t yet spread its wings this far, so is it even in Dubai, they ask. Jokes aside, there’s an unusual sense of calm around the venues.If you’re expecting fanfare and hoopla around the stadiums as a marker of the buzz around the Women’s T20 World Cup, you may need to temper your expectations. The ICC certainly has.Related

'It can be tough to do both skills full out' but Kapp will do it for South Africa

After changes in lifestyle, Fatima Sana wants to be as quick as Shabnim Ismail

Catching in focus as Women's T20 World Cup enters the ring of fire

The Devine dilemma – to open or not to open?

Alyssa Healy: 'Not here to defend the title, here to win it'

An example of that is simply how affordable the tickets are; they start at AED 5 (USD 1.36 approx) for regular seating, while the premium seats start at AED 350 (USD 95 approx). The same area for a men’s India-Pakistan game at the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup cost upwards of AED 6000 (USD 1600 approx).Getting your hands on tickets may have meant hours of queuing up virtually, staying connected through every possible device you own, only to be told your payment failed because the server crashed, before you find the friendly neighbor posting an Instagram story of how a friend’s uncle’s colleague helped arranging passes.For the record, while the hospitality tickets for India-Pakistan on October 6 in Dubai have been sold out, general seating is available in plenty, as are tickets for most other big games.India have been training with balls soaked in soap solution to try and prepare for dew•ICC/Getty ImagesWhile the last-minute shift of venue from Bangladesh wasn’t ideal, and is among the reasons for the low-key build-up, there couldn’t have been a better alternative than the plug-and-play possibilities the UAE offers.Yes, it won’t quite match the pulse of a sellout Sylhet crowd dancing to the beats of (the theme song of the last Women’s T20 World Cup Bangladesh hosted in 2014), but it could yet produce compelling cricket because all the teams are about to embrace the unknown.And this perhaps, entirely by chance, could be the ICC’s cheat code to unlocking the closest-ever women’s tournament in recent memory, because no team can claim to have mastered the conditions. Picture this: none of the competing teams have ever played at the Dubai International Stadium.Acclimatising to the heat and humidity isn’t unusual for professionals anymore; what is a slight deviation from the norm is the lengths teams are going to in their preparation.England have camped in Abu Dhabi for over two weeks, training at different times of the day, including the dead of the afternoon, to tune their bodies, coming from nippy weather back home. Pakistan have played in 40-degree heat in Multan against South Africa and have continued from where they left off. Scotland and West Indies scheduled unofficial games to get used to the heat factor, long before the warm-ups.Given the advantage chasing sides are likely to have in Dubai, teams batting first may need to go hard from ball one•ICC/Getty ImagesIndia have had unusually long fielding drills to get used to the low, ‘ring of fire’ lights around the stadium. On their first training day upon arrival, the local organisers were taken aback by a rather strange request. “Lots of soap water, please” was the message. To wet the ball. They could have used plain water, but India wanted the slippery effect of soap to help their spinners simulate bowling in dewy conditions.History suggests dew could be a massive factor. In the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup, all 10 night games in Dubai were won by the chasing team. So, teams are trying to go hard from the first ball, to be able to give their bowlers, to quote MS Dhoni’s famous term, “par-plus scores.” Jemimah Rodrigues has certainly bought into that mindset. Shafali Varma, Chamari Athapaththu, Alyssa Healy and Deandra Dottin probably know no other way.And the exact opposite of what Dubai offers is likely to spring up in Sharjah. The South African men being spun out by Afghanistan on slow burners could have just been a teaser of what could follow at this tournament. It could bring out a different facet of T20 bating.The tournament as a whole has grown, as has the following, as a result of this transformation of skills in the women’s game. This has led to a massive spike in interest which wasn’t there even 10 years ago, because only the knockout games were deemed important enough to televise.The group-stage fixtures were a distant second cousin to the men’s tournament happening in parallel at A-list centers. But six years since opening up the experiment of a standalone tournament, the sport grew exponentially that March day in 2020 – raging pandemic notwithstanding – when 86,174 spectators played a massive part in spurring a revolution.Four years on, the women’s game has grown even bigger, with a greater number of dangerous teams, and endless possibilities await in what could yet be the closest-ever Women’s T20 World Cup.

The emotional rollercoaster that is Sri Lanka cricket

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

At a time when the women are celebrating their biggest ever triumph, the men are capitulating game after game

Madushka Balasuriya31-Jul-2024If you’re a keen follower of Sri Lankan cricket, hell even an occasional one, the last couple of days have been a doozy. The go-to descriptor would be emotional rollercoaster, but that doesn’t seem to quite cut it.No, this has been the emotional equivalent of being jettisoned from an aircraft only to have your parachute not work and somehow get the backup working moments before near certain death, and then be mauled by a pack of lions upon landing unharmed on the ground. Fear, excitement, relief, unbridled joy and then utter defeat. And worse still, while that analogy would result in the sweet release of death, we still have to continue watching Sri Lankan cricket.This, though, is not another opinion piece to add to the inevitable pile-on. Just this past month, Firdose Moonda published an exhaustive piece on the abuse players suffer, even in the wake of marginal defeats, let alone the sort of soul-crushing capitulations the men’s Sri Lankan cricket team have faced over the past few days.Related

  • Jayasuriya: 'Don't see a lack of commitment, but SL players have to tackle pressure better'

  • 'It's not a practice ground, it's an international game' – Rohit Sharma keeps his focus on the present

  • Cricket belongs to Chamari's Champions right now

  • Sri Lanka's latest collapse a chef's kiss on their incompetence

Suffice to say, the players know that their efforts have not been good enough, and after a certain point, there will be diminishing marginal returns on any criticism that comes their way. Even the success of the women’s team, one that ought to go down in their history as one of the greatest ever cricketing achievements, has been widely used as a stick to beat the men with.But while that comparison has largely been used as a throwaway gag, perhaps there’s something there worth diving deeper into. It wasn’t long ago that the women’s side were in a far more dire situation than they are now, with the sole shining light being Chamari Athapaththu. However, over the past year, the team as a whole have managed to shed any inhibitions they might have harboured about their abilities, and in the process strung together a series of results that have marked them out as one of the most in-form teams in the world currently.As fate would have it, the very same set of circumstances that have played a role in keeping this women’s side, and women’s cricket in Sri Lanka in general, from flourishing, might have in fact also played in their favour.A lack of depth for one which is something that needs to be addressed promptly – particularly if recent successes are to be carried forward – has also meant that selectors have had no choice but to stick with underperforming players. They were, simply put, the best available at the time. But over the past year, even if not by design, the women’s team have come out the other end of a dysfunctional, some would say broken system, with net gains no one could have predicted.4:05

Takeaways – Suryakumar the captain as funky as the batter

This, to be clear, is by no means an attempt to take away from the hard work and effort put in by the players, nor the coach and support staff that have worked tirelessly to bring them up to the level they currently sit happily on. But to recognise the fact that this is a side that has been given room to make mistakes, build camaraderie, and grow together in a way few other teams – men or women – might have been, albeit only because they were never a priority with a cricket board preoccupied by the men’s team.That men’s team, meanwhile, despite having been provided superior resources and training, have been subjected to pressure from all quarters. Social media is frequently ablaze with memes and mockery after each defeat, all while comparisons are made to the glory years of the team’s past – the same teams, mind, that only had to deal with a fraction of the pressures brought on by the advent of social media.It’s an easy out to point to intangibles such as desire, or speculate that players might have taken their eye off the ball due to the extra money in the game, or that they lack discipline because they enjoy the fruits of their wealth. But this champion India side are amongst the most well-remunerated in the game; such arguments just don’t fly.The fact is, if two sides, working within the same dysfunctional system, can have such differing results and mindsets, it’s only fair to look at the variables in play.Is there something to be learned here, something that can be bottled up and poured over the men’s side, so that similar fearlessness and clarity of mind – so gloriously exhibited by the women – can be unlocked within them?After all, Sri Lanka’s greatest ever success, in 1996, was when expectations were at their lowest. And ever since, this is a nation that has thrived in the role of underdogs. But when expectations aren’t managed, neither are the reactions to adverse results.The Sri Lanka men’s team have had a few rough days•Associated PressIt’s worth asking what if the roles were reversed?What if the growing pains this women’s side had to endure had taken place under the same media glare that the men’s team face regularly?Would these players have flourished as they have if their positions in the national squad were a part of regular post-game discourse?Would the efforts to instil confidence and self-belief in them by their coaches have stuck, if each time they opened social media they were bombarded with criticism?All valid questions, all quite impossible to answer definitively, though certainly worth pondering.Rumesh Ratnayake, the women’s head coach, has spoken about how important reframing and language can be in dispelling a negative mindset. Let’s take even these most recent defeats to India in the men’s T20Is. They were scarcely ever discussed for what they were. In the first two games, those colossal collapses were borne out of a desire to attack and capitalise on the death overs; the intent was there, the execution was not. When such planning comes off it’s lauded, but in failure, there is no room for nuance.And this isn’t something as new-age as even Bazball, this is simply Sri Lanka trying to catch up to where several sides already reside. It was only in the final game on Tuesday wherein a collapse worthy of the moniker occurred, but by then – like the choker tag that so plagues South Africa – it was on the verge of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. The narrative was set, those watching on had bought into it, and seemingly so had the players. What happened next, everyone knows.And while it is indisputable that India struggle with the glare of media more than any other side in world cricket, they have had generations of practice in effectively insulating players from public and media backlash.In that sense, is it so unreasonable that the Sri Lankan players are struggling to deal with something that we can all agree is not ideal, even if inevitable? Because as the women’s side have sadly highlighted, even a complete lack of discourse is sometimes better than a pile-on.

Australian Deitz is trying to put more West Indies into West Indies cricket

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

He says captain Hayley Matthews is thriving in the new structure, and Deandra Dottin has “fitted in beautifully” on her return

Valkerie Baynes03-Oct-2024Bringing the fun back has been a big part of West Indies’ women’s T20 World Cup preparations. It’s a simple ethos, but a much-needed one championed by head coach Shane Deitz, the Australian who is a year into his job.”There is a lot of laughter,” Deitz told ESPNcricinfo. “[It’s about] generally having fun, and being relaxed, and enjoying each other’s company, enjoying the experience of playing cricket, [and] travelling the world.”That’s one thing that, coming from other jobs where it’s a bit more serious and they want a lot of structure, it’s good that we have a bit less of those things and make it a bit more [about] backing your gut feeling and your intuition, and how you want to play and how you naturally grow up playing.Related

Injuries to Zaida James and Stafanie Taylor make bad day worse for West Indies

Sultana: 'Heartbreaking' not to play in Bangladesh, but our support here is brilliant

'I'm still World Boss' – Dottin is as hungry and competitive as ever

Powerplay podcast: Matthews on Wales, WI and World Cup plans

Deandra Dottin back in West Indies squad for T20 World Cup

“You grow up playing on beaches, in the streets – a bit more [of] that environment. Australia’s a lot more structured. So just finding that balance and how to work it into our cricket has probably been one of the things that we’re trying to learn and use that to our advantage, [and] make the girls feel comfortable that that’s how we’re going to play.”Originally from New South Wales, Deitz was a wicketkeeper-batter for South Australia from 1998 to 2008. He coached the Bangladesh women’s team in 2013-14, and was heavily involved in Vanuatu cricket as a player, a coach, and an administrator, before becoming head coach of the Netherlands women’s team immediately prior to taking up his current post with West Indies.Despite his well-travelled CV, it has been a sharp learning curve for Deitz, who took over at West Indies from Courtney Walsh, who in turn had taken over from Gus Logie.”They’ve had a lot of Caribbean, [or] West Indies legends coaching them for a while,” Deitz said. “I’m far from [being] a legend – [just] a middle-aged white man from Australia. It’s a very different culture that I’ve grown up with compared to the girls, so it was about understanding them, [and] understanding the culture, and using that as part of our cricket.”I grew up watching the West Indies cricket team, and they definitely had a style about them and the way they wanted to play. So I wanted to encapsulate that into our style a bit and use what they have in their culture, and bring it into cricket. Also, just gain their trust that I’m here for them, and I’m here to make them better cricketers, and make the team a better team. That was the main thing – just understanding them and getting the team working together.”Deandra Dottin reversed her international retirement just before this year’s T20 World Cup•ICC via Getty ImagesImmediately before this T20 World Cup, star allrounder Deandra Dottin reversed her international retirement, which she had attributed at the time to concerns about the team environment. Dottin won a place in the squad for this World Cup, and Deitz says she has slotted back in “really well”.”She’s known a lot of girls for a long time,” he said. “We’ve changed a few things off the field and how the team is set up with particularly a leadership group. We really control the culture of the team and how the team works off the field. Deandra was coming in really wanting to help the team and play well. Whatever the team needs, she’s happy to do, and she’s fitted in beautifully, and the leaders of the group have made that all work.”Similar to AFL teams, who have a captain supported by several deputies, West Indies now have five team leaders, led by skipper Hayley Matthews, elected by the players to represent them with team management. Deitz didn’t name the other leaders, but said Dottin, who returned after they had been elected, was not one of them.”We spend a lot of time with each other, so like any family or room-mates or whatever, you’re always going to have a little bit of friction from time to time,” Deitz said. “So [it’s about] just making sure we’re all together and we have open conversations. If you’ve got an issue, we just talk about it, get it out there, solve it, and move on quickly.”Shane Deitz on Hayley Matthews: “The hard thing is she wants to do everything”•Getty ImagesDeitz said Matthews was thriving in the new structure. Since becoming captain in 2022, Matthews has scored 1284 runs in T20Is at an average of 40.12 and at a strike rate of 120.45 compared to her corresponding career numbers of 25.70 and 112.88.”The hard thing is she wants to do everything,” Deitz said. “It’s trying to tell her to stop. She wants to be involved with everything and run everything. She gets bored sitting down for ten seconds – particularly at the games.”I think that’s why she bats so long. But she’s been so good off the field, and what I talked about before – about the fun and enjoyment of cricket – she does that so naturally. And her personality is really coming out [with] her captaincy, and that’s a big, big bonus for us.”In terms of building depth around Matthews and Dottin, Deitz believes things are moving in the right direction. After their 2016 T20 World Cup triumph, West Indies women’s cricket fell away sharply amid a lack of resources. But in 2021, CWI increased the number of women on retainer contracts by three to 18, and in 2023 launched the West Indies Women’s Academy.”It’s a good thing now, the Under-19 World Cup – that makes a lot of countries step up their high-performance programmes,” Deitz said. “Australia, England and India, the big three countries, have more resources, more facilities, more infrastructure, [and] everything else to produce more players. We can’t complain about that. We’ve just got to maximise what we’ve got, and in our region, what we can do to try to get to that level. It can’t be an excuse; we’ve just got to be smarter, work better.”

Stats – Bumrah stands alone for India as Australia complete trophy set

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

It was a nightmare series for top-order batters, with only two finishing with 40-plus averages

Sampath Bandarupalli06-Jan-2025

A rare come-from-behind win for Australia

Australia’s quest for the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy began with a massive defeat in Perth. However, they quickly recovered, winning three of the next four Tests. It’s rare for Australia to come back after losing the first Test of a series. Their 3-1 series victory against India was only the eighth time Australia had managed to win a Test series after losing the opening match, and only their second such win since 1970.

This was the 31st time since 1970 that Australia had lost the first match of a Test series. Of those times, only this series and the 1997 Ashes in England have ended with Australia as the series winner. Australia have lost 24 of the other 29 series, and drawn five. At home, Australia have lost the first Test nine times since 1970, and have gone on to lose the series seven times.

A tough series for the batters

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy was the most challenging Test series for batters in Australia in recent times. The batting average of 24.32 is the lowest of 38 Test series of three or more matches in Australia since the Australia-Pakistan series in November-December 1995.In that three-match series between Australia and Pakistan, the batting average was 23.74. That series and this Australia-India one rank as the two with the lowest batting averages in Test series in Australia over the last 50 series of three or more matches, dating back to December 1985.During this series between Australia and India, there were eight totals under 200, six of them achieved by India. Only two Test series in Australia have had more sub-200 totals: 13 in the six-match Ashes series in 1978-79 and nine in the five-match Ashes series in 1901-02.Jasprit Bumrah bowled 24.4% of India’s overs and took 40% of their wickets•Getty Images

Bumrah in a league of his own

Jasprit Bumrah had an outstanding series with the ball. He bagged 32 wickets across five Tests, averaging 13.06 with a remarkable strike rate of 28.3. His wickets tally is the joint highest for an India fast bowler in a Test series, and the highest for any India bowler in an away series.

Excluding Bumrah, the other India seamers claimed 40 wickets at an average of 34.82, striking every 52.65 balls. Including the spinners, India’s overall non-Bumrah bowling average in this series was 37.08, with a strike rate of 58.6. Bumrah’s absence in the fourth innings in Sydney eliminated any chance of India defending a target of 162.Bumrah’s performance stands out; the ratio between his average and that of the rest of India’s bowlers is the fifth-highest among fast bowlers with 25 or more wickets in a Test series. The highest ratio is 3.78, achieved by Richard Hadlee, who averaged 12.15 in the three-match Trans-Tasman Trophy in 1985, while the other New Zealand bowlers averaged 45.95.

Through the series, Bumrah bowled 151.2 overs, which accounted for 24.4% of all balls bowled by India’s bowlers, while his wickets tally represented 40% of the total. Only Scott Boland, who played in just three Tests in this series, had similar numbers; he bowled 15.47% of the total balls bowled by Australia’s bowlers while capturing 21 wickets, amounting to 24.71% of their total tally.

Lower orders come to the party

Throughout the series, top-order pairs struggled to form significant partnerships. Only 14 of the 92 partnerships for the first five wickets went past 50 runs, and only three reached three figures. Out of 85 Test series with 90-plus partnerships across the first five wickets, only five have recorded as few as three century stands.

The 14 fifty-plus partnerships for the first five wickets rank as the joint second-fewest, only behind the 12 in the 1976-77 India-England series and tied with the 14 in the 1905-06 South Africa-England series.

However, the middle and lower orders contributed significantly at various stages. There were 12 partnerships for the last five wickets that exceeded 50 runs, including two that surpassed 100 runs. The last five wickets contributed 1933 runs during the series, accounting for 43.84% of the total runs scored.This percentage is the seventh-highest for series runs added by the last five wickets in a five-match Test series. The partnerships for the last five wickets in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy faced 3191 out of 7664 balls – 41.64%. That’s the highest percentage of balls faced by the last five wickets in any five-match Test series where complete fall-of-wickets data is available.

Pat Cummins dismissed Rohit Sharma four times for the cost of just 11 runs•Getty Images

The match-ups that made the difference

“I was getting Bumrah-ed.” That was Usman Khawaja summing up a series in which he scored 184 runs across five Tests with an average of 20.44. Khawaja was dismissed six times in eight innings by Bumrah; no other batter was dismissed more than four times by a bowler in this series.Khawaja managed just 33 runs against Bumrah, averaging 5.50, but performed notably better against the other India bowlers, scoring 151 runs at an average of 50.33. And he wasn’t the only Australian opener to struggle against Bumrah.

Bumrah also played a role in limiting Nathan McSweeney’s debut series to just three Tests, dismissing him four times for a mere 15 runs. In contrast, McSweeney did well against the other bowlers, scoring 57 runs off 146 balls with just one dismissal. Travis Head was another who fell to Bumrah on four occasions.Related

  • Konstas, Webster and Boland, the unusual suspects in Australia's moment of glory

  • India did many good things, but the less-good things outweighed them

  • What did victory over India tell us about Australia's present and future?

Pat Cummins dismissed Rishabh Pant four times for 51 runs, having never dismissed him in Tests before this series. Scott Boland proved effective against Virat Kohli, dismissing him four times in five innings at an average of just seven.Rohit Sharma’s opposite number was the reason behind his miserable series, as Cummins took his wicket four times in four innings for just 11 runs. Yashasvi Jaiswal stood out against Nathan Lyon, scoring 63 runs off the 122 balls he faced without being dismissed.

These are the most runs any batter scored off a bowler in this series without getting dismissed, and the only head-to-head spread over 100 balls without a dismissal. Steven Smith scored 53 dismissal-free runs against Nitish Kumar Reddy and 52 against Ravindra Jadeja.Travis Head was the only batter from either side with a 50-plus series average•Associated Press

Head and Jaiswal top the batting charts

Only three batters scored over 300 runs in the series: Head with 448, Jaiswal with 391, and Smith with 314. Among the 18 players who batted in six or more innings, only Head (56) averaged over 50. Jaiswal, with an average of 43.44, was the only other player to average above 40.

With Head and Jaiswal leading the run charts, left-hand batters had a higher success rate in this series, averaging 30.75 compared to 20.79 for right-hand batters. The average of 20.79 for right-hand batters is the eighth lowest among 175 Test series of five or more matches. Only one of the top seven series has occurred since 1980, the Wisden Trophy in 2000, with a low average of 19.32.

Holding the trophy against everyone

This series marked the end of Australia’s decade-long wait for a Test series win against India; their previous victory came at home during the 2014-15 season. Since then, Australia have played four four-match Test series against India, two at home and two away, with all four series concluding with a 2-1 margin in favour of India.Until this series, India were the only opposition against whom Australia did not hold a series trophy. This marks the third instance of Australia holding the series trophy against all nine Test nations simultaneously. Australia also hold the ICC World Test Championship title alongside series trophies against all nine opponents.

Australia had initially achieved this feat in 2004 by defeating India, but their run ended in 2005 when they lost the Ashes. They regained it in late 2006 during their 5-0 whitewash against England at home. South Africa became the second team to hold series trophies against all nine opponents after winning in England in 2012, and held onto their full set until Australia defeated them in 2013-14.India also managed this in 2017 following their home-series win against Australia, but their run ended after they lost to South Africa in early 2018. India regained the series trophy against their first nine Test opponents in 2021 after defeating New Zealand at home, but their run was short-lived, as they lost their immediate next series in South Africa.

Stats: Ellyse Perry hits new highs with 72-ball century

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Stats highlights from Australia’s thumping victory against India in the second women’s ODI in Brisbane

Namooh Shah08-Dec-202420 Wins for Australia women at Allan Border Field – the most for any team at a venue without a defeat. It’s also the second-highest number of wins for a team at a ground, after New Zealand’s 28 wins in Lincoln.371 for 8 Australia’s highest ODI score against India , going past 338 for 7 at the Wankhede in 2024. This is also Australia’s third-highest total in women’s ODIs.ESPNcricinfo Ltd7000 runs, 300 wickets Ellyse Perry is the first woman cricketer to complete that double in international cricket. She is also only the fourth Australian woman to score 4000 ODI runs and the second overall with a double of 4000 runs and 150 wickets in women’s ODIs after Stafanie Taylor.72 Number of balls Perry took to score the fastest ODI century against India Women, going past Marizanne Kapp (85 balls) in Bengaluru.6 Sixes hit by Perry – the most by an Australian in a women’s ODI, going past Alana King’s five against Bangladesh at Mirpur in 2024.122 India’s margin of defeat to Australia in the second ODI is their fourth biggest away from home and the biggest in Australia by runs.1 Instances of all of Australia’s top four scoring 50-plus runs in a women’s ODI – Phoebe Litchfield (60), Georgia Voll (101), Ellyse Perry (105) and Beth Mooney (56).88 Runs conceded by Priya Mishra – the most by an Indian bowler in a women’s ODI. Renuka Singh’s 1 for 78 in the same match puts her second in the list, ahead of Gouher Sultana who conceded 72 against Sri Lanka women at the Brabourne Stadium in 2013.ESPNcricinfo LtdMinnu Mani (2 for 71) also conceded the third-most runs on debut in a women’s ODI, with Cara Murray (119) and Freya Kemp (82) topping the list.21 years 125 days Voll is the third-youngest Australian to score a century in a women’s ODI after Meg Lanning (18y 288d) and Litchfield (20y 101d).

Champions Trophy: Versatile New Zealand dream big in familiar conditions

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

There’s plenty of cream in the batting line-up and spin attack, but New Zealand’s seam attack looks a bit squishy

Deivarayan Muthu16-Feb-2025 • Updated on 18-Feb-2025How do they look?The previous ICC tournament, the 2024 T20 World Cup, was a nightmare for New Zealand in the Caribbean, but the versatility in their ODI squad and familiarity with the conditions, especially in Pakistan, has had them dreaming big once again.Since 2019, no visiting team has played more ODIs in Pakistan than New Zealand (11). New Zealand also have batting depth down to No.8, where their captain Mitchell Santner is likely to slot in, and eight bowling options in their potential XI, if you include Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell. With the bat, Ravindra and Mitchell could disrupt spin like they demonstrated during the 2023 ODI World Cup in India. Though New Zealand don’t have a wristspinner in their squad, their fingerspin-bowling allrounders – Santner, Michael Bracewell and Glenn Phillips in particular – provide them with immense balance. Among them, Bracewell and Santner himself can bowl in the powerplay.Related

Sears out of Champions Trophy with hamstring tear

Lockie Ferguson in doubt for Champions Trophy and Pakistan tri-series

Champions Trophy winners to get US$2.24 million as prize money

While there’s plenty of cream in the batting line-up and spin attack, the seam attack looks squishy. Both Lockie Ferguson, New Zealand’s most experienced fast bowler, and Ben Sears have been sidelined from the tournament with injuries. In their absence, Will O’Rourke offers pace and bounce, but he is yet to get a taste of an ICC tournament. This might leave Matt Henry with plenty on his plate.Who are their opponentsNew Zealand will kick off the tournament against hosts Pakistan in Karachi on February 19 before they will face Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on February 24. They will then travel to Dubai to meet India in the last group game on March 2.Likely best XI1 Devon Conway, 2 Rachin Ravindra, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Tom Latham (wk), 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Michael Bracewell, 8 Mitchell Santner (capt), 9 Matt Henry, 10 Jacob Duffy, 11 Will O’RourkeReserves: Will Young, Mark Chapman, Nathan Smith, Kyle JamiesonDaryl Mitchell’s sweeps and reverse sweeps could disrupt spin•AFP/Getty ImagesPlayer(s) to watchNobody typifies the more than Daryl Mitchell in this current New Zealand side. In his first ICC tournament in the 2021 T20 World Cup, in the UAE, he fronted up to open the batting and has since established himself as a middle-order mainstay. He is adept at sweeping and reverse-sweeping and pumping the ball down the ground – shots that mess with the lengths and lines of spinners. Mitchell also tends to rise to the big occasions. Cases in point: the 2021 T20 World Cup semi-finals against England and 2023 ODI World Cup semi-finals against India.Mitchell’s childhood buddy Mitchell Santner could also play a vital role with his subtle variations and leadership skills.Key statsSince the 2023 ODI World Cup, New Zealand have the best run-rate among 20 teams between overs 10 and 40. In fact, they are the only team with a run-rate of over six (6.26) during this phase.Since the 2023 ODI World Cup, Santner has picked up 26 wickets in 18 innings at an excellent economy rate of 4.57.Recent ODI formNew Zealand have won two of the three bilateral series they’ve played since making the semi-finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup. A number of the seniors missed all three series – two at home and one away in Sri Lanka – before a near full-strength New Zealand side enjoyed an unbeaten run to the tri-series title in Pakistan. They decimated Pakistan in the final in Karachi, where they will meet Pakistan once again in the Champions Trophy opener on February 19.Champions Trophy historyIn 2000, New Zealand secured their first-ever world title when they won the ICC knockout in Nairobi. The Black Caps haven’t clinched a world title since. They came close to winning the Champions Trophy once again in 2009, when they eventually lost to Australia in a Trans-Tasman final in Centurion.

For RCB, Rajat Patidar might be just what the doctor ordered

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

The new RCB captain’s coaches and team-mates are confident in his ability to be an effective leader in the IPL

Shashank Kishore21-Mar-20251:12

What makes Patidar a menace for spinners?

Chandrakant Pandit, currently coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, regards working with Rajat Patidar as one of the highlights of his coaching career. The duo has played a key role in Madhya Pradesh’s rise as a dominant force in Indian domestic cricket since 2021. Their bond strengthened in late 2024, when Pandit, MP’s director of cricket, appointed Patidar as T20 captain for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Patidar repaid the trust by leading MP to the final.Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s head coach Andy Flower and director Mo Bobat closely observed Patidar during that campaign, assessing his decision-making and leadership. Impressed, they flew to Ahmedabad in January to discuss their observations with Virat Kohli, who, while preparing for the third India-England ODI ahead of the Champions Trophy, gave his full backing to Patidar.Last month, RCB officially named him captain for the 2025 IPL.Related

  • Andy Flower 'comfortable' with RCB's spin attack for IPL 2025

  • RCB hope 18 is the charm as hunt for IPL glory continues

  • Clear-minded Patidar leads MP to SMAT final with his sixes

  • Kohli on Patidar as RCB captain: 'He will do a great job for this amazing franchise'

  • Rajat Patidar appointed new RCB captain for IPL 2025

Patidar’s childhood coach, former India batter Amay Khurasiya, was thrilled at the development. Coaching Kerala ahead of a crucial Ranji Trophy semi-final against Gujarat, Khurasiya took time off to call Patidar, who he’d seen evolve from an aspiring fast bowler who tore his ACL as a 20-year-old to one of the state’s batting stalwarts.”He has never been enamoured by positions or power,” Khurasiya tells ESPNcricinfo. “He was obviously happy, but it didn’t seem like he was overwhelmed by euphoria. He had the same poise about him that I saw all those years ago. Even as a youngster, he’d always speak of wanting to help someone less privileged than him, even though his own journey had been rocky.”When Patidar was a struggling cricketer in MP – he had a difficult time breaking into any of the age-group teams – it was Khurasiya who took him under his wings to work on his batting technique.”Not once have I heard him complain about luck or fate – no ‘kismat kharaab hai [I have no luck]’ or any of that negativity,” Khurasiya says. “He was always clear: he’ll do what it takes. If the result goes his way, he’ll accept it. If it doesn’t, he’ll find something else to be good at. That mindset from very early on made him compartmentalise cricket and life. He’ll be an empathetic leader. Not a boss. And it stems from having seen failure and rejection in his early days.”Patidar has been among the top three run-scorers for RCB in 2022 and 2024; he sat out the 2023 season injured•BCCIAnand Rajan, former MP seamer and domestic coach, has witnessed Patidar’s growth first-hand. They worked together as captain and coach at Malwa Panthers in the Madhya Pradesh League (MPL) last year. Rajan, with coaching stints at MP, Uttarakhand, and Puducherry, has also seen MP’s rise from a middling side to a domestic powerhouse, which mirrors Patidar’s journey from the periphery of the state setup to a senior player.”He doesn’t speak a lot, but his reading of the game is top notch,” Rajan says. “[He only ] gives his inputs if needed; he won’t speak just to be seen contributing to a team meeting. When he says something, people strain to hear him because he’s that soft-spoken – but the impact his words have on a group is immense.”The duration of the MPL was very short (each team played just four league games) to build long-lasting relationships. But you could see Rajat’s qualities even there. He could have gotten out in the most wretched manner possible, but if a younger player came up to him, he’d be the first to sit with him and chat, give him time and make him feel better. No one felt awkward going up to Rajat to talk.”Jalaj Saxena, a domestic stalwart, remembers Patidar’s clarity as a youngster vividly, even though it’s been eight years since they played together.In 2024, Patidar led Madhya Pradesh to their first Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final since the 2010-11 season•PTI “It was his Ranji Trophy debut, against Baroda [in 2015-16] and we [MP] had conceded a lead. But Rajat was clear he would look to dominate spin from the get-go, because he felt that was the only way to put the pressure back. He scored an outstanding century, and we set them a target we easily defended. That innings earned the respect of the entire team.”Patidar’s career soared after joining RCB in 2021. He became a household name in 2022 after smashing a century against Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator – the first by an Indian uncapped player in the playoffs – despite entering the season as an injury replacement. Mike Hesson, RCB’s director of cricket, knew then that the franchise had a player for the long haul.”He was always confident in his own skills without having to tell anyone about it,” Hesson says. “You could tell by the way he moved around the group. He would stand behind the nets watching others bat. Just watching, learning and listening and occasionally asking questions, but generally he was trying to align how his game might fit with theirs or picking up parts of everybody’s game. He was inquisitive.”Patidar’s introverted nature, Hesson says, wasn’t a deterrent.”When he spoke, he was always very clear. He’d have actually thought about what he was going to say before he said it. You could tell he processed it. It wasn’t like he would just speak, and the conversation would evolve. He would actually have something insightful to say or a question that you knew that he’d thought about before he asked it.Former captain Virat Kohli has thrown his weight behind Patidar, and sees him leading RCB for the long term•BCCI”He also has a very good sense of humour. That is a nice trait to have in an environment that’s pretty high pressure. And it’s quite subtle. It’s not the in-your-face type of humour; he’s a clever guy who thinks about what he says. I’m sure he will continue that with his leadership style.”Rajat always had a really nice balance between, ‘Hey, I’ll do my work’ and ‘Now I can offer my inputs in my own way to others.’ When he’d stand behind the nets and watch, people batting wouldn’t hesitate to turn back and ask him, and Rajat always had answers, not just to help players but for his own game as well. He was always there and willing. And I think that’s the trait you always like.”Patidar’s ability to offer solutions, stay composed, and build trust makes him a leader who leads with empathy and clarity. If he can handle the pressure of RCB’s passionate fan base and their elusive IPL title, he’ll move closer to fulfilling Kohli’s recent prediction that “he’ll lead for many years to come”.

The mystique of Kolkata 2001 is still unbeatable

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Leeds 2019 and Brisbane 2021 made strong claims to the crown, but Kolkata 2001 still prevailed among the fans as the greatest Test match of the 21st century

Karthik Krishnaswamy21-Jun-20259:15

The Greatest Test: India roar back to victory in Kolkata, 2001

What defines a great Test match? Comebacks? Close finishes? Underdog triumphs? The platonic ideal of the final session of the final day starting with all four results still in play?Yes, all that, sure, but the collective wisdom in our shortlist to find the Greatest Test of the 21st century, and the collective wisdom of our readers, have given us another answer. Eighteen of the 32 Tests that lined up at the start of this exercise involved Australia, and 12 of them ended in Australian defeat. The three that reached the final round of voting, ended, in chronological order, with Australia losing by 171 runs, Australia losing by one wicket, and Australia losing by three wickets.Sorry, Australia. Cricket fans (as events at Lord’s last week no doubt showed you) love to see you lose. In times of despair and ennui, we seek solace in your heartbreaks, streaming them play by play on our devices or minds’ eyes.It is, of course, the ultimate backhanded compliment. Australia have lost fewer Tests in this century than any of the other teams that compete in the World Test Championship – this despite playing more Tests than anyone other than England. It’s precisely because Australia have been so hard to beat that their defeats have featured some of the most stirring individual and team performances of our time. This is why 12 of Australia’s 66 Test defeats in the 21st century – that’s more than one in six – are ESPNcricinfo-certified classics.VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid relax after their 376-run partnership in March 2001•Getty ImagesWhile other candidates were unlucky to miss out on a spot in the final round – Birmingham 2005, for instance, received a surprisingly small share of your votes despite its place in Ashes folklore – the three Tests that made it – Kolkata 2001, Leeds 2019, Brisbane 2021 – fully deserved their places. They weren’t just great Test matches; they all had that transcendent quality that puts them among the greatest sporting contests of their time. Even as they unfolded before our eyes, they gave the feeling that they existed outside reality, that the field of play was inhabited by beings governed by physical laws different to those that constrain the rest of us.Any of the three finalists could have won, and the chances are that you might have chosen a different winner if the poll was designed a little differently, or conducted it a week earlier or later, or if the gods of internet algorithms had brought it to your notice in a different way, or if the demographics of our audience were a little different, or if cricket’s political economy had a different look. While voters on ESPNcricinfo – who made up nearly 68% of the total count – overwhelmingly backed the winner, Kolkata, results went differently elsewhere: voters on our X and YouTube handles put Leeds in first place, for instance, and those on our WhatsApp channel plumped for Brisbane.All three Tests made equally strong cases, so it’s apt to wonder how one of them ended up with over 49% of the votes and the other two with roughly 25% each. What did Eden Gardens have that Headingley and Gabba did not?The answer, of course, is that it’s all subjective. So let’s talk about the subjective. I was a class IX student in March 2001, and my consumption of that Test match and that series was often indirect, restricted during school hours to terse dispatches from classmates sent to the audio-visual room at intervals proportional to the teacher’s interest in cricket and generosity of spirit.”Laxman and Dravid still batting. 398 for 4.” Cheering in the classroom. Half an hour later: “431 for 4, Laxman 196.” Pandemonium. Until I got home to catch the last half hour or so, and then the highlights, it was up to my imagination to fill in the gaps.Part of the beauty of Test cricket comes from how much of it lives in our imaginations, how intensely we feel even the bits that we aren’t in a position to watch, and while this is still true today, it was truer in 2001 than in 2019 or 2021. So much of Kolkata 2001 took place in our imaginations, and so much of it, in the aftermath, has existed in the reliving, the retelling, the little tricks of memory. The drama contained in the highlights packages – Harbhajan Singh’s offbreaks spitting like cobras from a length, VVS Laxman’s feet dancing one way to whip against the turn and another to drive inside-out, Rahul Dravid gesturing angrily to the press box, the look on Shane Warne’s face when he’s duped by Sachin Tendulkar’s wrong’un – ennoble the bits that got left out. How well must Glenn McGrath have bowled, ball after ball, to finish with 14-8-18-4 in India’s first innings? Even ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball can’t help – it’s all scoring and no commentary.Leeds and Brisbane contained cricket just as breathtaking as Kolkata, but mystique? If you ask on X and reach the right eyes, someone with access to ball-tracking data might DM you the line and length co-ordinates of the Mohammed Siraj ball that Steven Smith fended to gully.Final day, fading light, and India triumph to end Australia’s 16-Test streak•Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesBut mystique isn’t the only reason Kolkata got your vote. Mystique can only get you so far when you’re up against epics that everyone, including kids who weren’t even around in 2001, followed breathlessly, like, yesterday. Mystique can only do so much when it’s up against recency bias. And it’s perfectly okay to be biased towards India’s dismantling of the Gabba’s , with an attack that had bowled all of 10 balls in Test cricket before that series taking 20 wickets and paving the way for an unforgettable fourth-innings chase. It’s perfectly okay to be biased towards England winning after being bowled out for 67, towards Ben Stokes going from 3* off 73 balls to 135* off 219, and the drama of a last-wicket stand that survived, off successive balls, a fluffed run-out chance and an lbw that would have been dead if the bowling team hadn’t run out of reviews.It’s some achievement, then, to beat Leeds 2019 and Brisbane 2021 in a poll in the year 2025 – an achievement, you might say, not unlike following on and beating an Australia team with 16 successive wins under its belt.There have been other Tests with hat-tricks, and other Tests featuring partnerships that batted through a full day’s play. There have been other Tests won by injury-ravaged underdogs, other spectacular takedowns of all-timer XIs, other Tests won from hopeless positions, and other results that snapped formidable winning streaks. Other teams have found ways to win with time running out, and other teams have won Tests with startling interventions from part-timers. Other Tests have been played on true pitches that encouraged strokeplay, other Tests on pitches with something in them for fast spin bowlers, and other Tests on lightning outfields that rewarded wristy artistry. Other great, twisty Test matches have sat in the middle of great, twisty series. Crowds of 90,000 and more have lent an electric air to other Tests at other stadiums.Kolkata 2001 contained all those ingredients. Which other Test match – from the 21st or any other century – can make the same claim?

Hit the deck, break a neck, still no cheque: the quiet sacrifice of SL's red-ball quicks

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

What must it be like to bowl fast in Tests for a non-Big Three nation? Just ask Asitha and Vishwa

Andrew Fidel Fernando25-Jun-2025If you are a seam bowler specialising in Tests, and hail from a non Big-Three nation, as Asitha Fernando and Vishwa Fernando do, you are charting one of the most difficult and least-rewarding courses in international cricket.Most difficult, because fast bowlers must put their own bodies on the altar of this sport in far more profound ways than batters, spinners, or even wicketkeepers. With every delivery there is the steaming in from dozens of metres away, the ridiculous force that goes through the front leg at the point of delivery, the shoulders, spines, obliques, groins, glutes, calves, feet, all being required to contribute some power to the occasion, and a follow-through that must be navigated safely. If any one of these sectors of your body is even slightly injured, it incapacitates a seam bowler more than similar injuries do for batters or spinners.Related

How captain Dhananjaya is turning Sri Lanka into an image of himself

Nissanka 146*, Chandimal 93 put Sri Lanka in control

Dinusha, seamers make it Sri Lanka's day in rain-hit Colombo

Let’s take Lahiru Kumara as one example. He was the highest wicket-taker against Bangladesh in the away Test series last year, claiming 11 dismissals at an average of 12.63. The man had not played a single international since his last Test in early February, but had played most of a season of domestic cricket since then, and had been in good shape to make an impact on this home series against Bangladesh. But a week out, he busted a hamstring while fielding at training, and was ruled out of the series. He doesn’t get picked in many international white-ball XIs, so this injury will be taking a pretty serious playing opportunity out of his hands. And with a further 11 months before the next Sri Lanka Test is to be played, he has to show substantial willpower to stay in the game till then.(Side note: Lankan seam-bowling hamstrings in the last two decades have had artists’ temperaments. They are capable of jaw-dropping wonders like Dhammika Prasad’s spell on the fourth evening at Headingley, or Lasith Malinga’s rip-snorters. But if hamstrings had ears or lovers, Lankan fast bowling hamstrings are the type that would cut off their own appendages, or fall apart completely after a break up. They are sublime as part of a creative flow state, but absolutely never to be relied upon.)Asitha Fernando toiled hard on a surface not suited to his style•Sri Lanka CricketLeast-rewarding because, three league stints in a year (they don’t even really have to be the fancy leagues) will probably net you more money, for way less work. Plus, you know, the promotional dinners, and the parties. Non Big-Three Test cricket tends not to have a lot of parties. Why train your body to bowl 15-20 overs a day, when you can focus on being at peak performance for four?Matheesha Pathirana, as another example, is very likely the fastest bowler Sri Lanka has ever produced. But at this stage, seems unlikely to ever to play a Test. Chennai Super Kings’ scouts got to him before the Sri Lankan cricket system really had, and CSK have genuinely played a role in developing that talent, and have essentially called dibs. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if at the end of his career, Pathirana is remembered most for his IPL exploits, he will probably have earned more money by several orders of magnitude than he would if his career ends with Sri Lanka performances being the highlight.So pretty soon, it starts to feel like bowling 15-20 overs a day in Test cricket is like getting a several-year loan to buy a reliable Toyota for your family, only for some Crypto kid to pull up next to you at the colour-light in their fully paid-for Bugatti.Cricket slavishly follows the money now, rather than any other kind of value, and yet the likes of Asitha and Vishwa are still out here doing Test cricket justice by bringing everything they have to it. Asitha has bowling figures like 0 for 110, and 0 for 77 on his record, and yet somehow his work has never felt like “toil”. The word implies a physical limpness that Asitha has simply not allowed to enter his cricketing consciousness.Vishwa Fernando struck twice on the first day•Sri Lanka CricketHe may be a limited bowler in terms of height, pace, and skill, but to watch him operate in Tests is to watch naked and more-or-less relentless ambition. He took 2 for 43 on day one, on an SSC track not especially suited to his bowling (it was a bit slow for a seamer who tends to skid it on). He had had Anamul Haque dropped before he eventually took that wicket in his second over. Late in the day, he got one to pitch on a length, seam away, and hit the top of Nayeem Hasan’s off stump. He was pumped. But then he usually is.Vishwa, meanwhile, has always had the more laidback temperament. His mode of operation has been swing and seam, and he wiled his way through day one, less physically domineering than Asitha, but no less relentless, no less intense in the challenges he poses to batters. He moved it a little into the left-handers early on, but the seam movement had disappeared by the time a ball in the channel drew Najmul Hossain Shanto’s outside edge. Vishwa, a less-than-six-feet medium-pace bowler, will point to the bouncer he bowled the previous ball as a perfect set-up delivery to the wicket-taking one. You could doubt that explanation, but there’s no doubting figures of 2 for 35 off 16 overs – that economy rate being 2.18. There is almost no scorecard in the world in which those are not good figures.Sri Lankan Test seam bowling doesn’t necessarily have so rich a tradition, only three of their quicks (Chaminda Vaas, Malinga, and Suranga Lakmal) have ever taken more than 100 Test wickets. But as Test cricket appears to be winding down in several of its markets, it feels like Asitha and Vishwa are now partakers of a separate, global club of Test bowlers, who have trained their bodies to bowl 15-20 overs a day, and find themselves less valued than bowlers who send down only four.In this group, there are players such as Chris Martin, who took 233 Test wickets for New Zealand and was taking university courses (presumably to broaden job opportunities) well into his 30s, while sharing a dressing room with the likes of Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor – each IPL millionaires. Others like Kemar Roach, owner of one of the most vicious inswingers in world cricket, has watched other careers take off into the T20 league stratosphere, while his remained moored to a middling West Indies Test side. Mohammad Abbas, Neil Wagner, Ebadot Hossain, Vernon Philander, Blessing Muzarabani – all these bowlers belong to this genre.Chris Martin leads a pack of Test fast bowlers who are valued lesser than T20 ones•Associated PressFor many in the non Big-Three sphere, it has begun to feel as if the publicity gained from “Saving Test Cricket” has become more profitable than the saving of Test cricket. This is why Bazball is able to equate the health of this format to scoring at between 4 and 4.5 per over, for example, while England has not hosted Bangladesh in the last 14 years, or Zimbabwe in more than 20 until the current summer. Australia have, in previous administrative eras, been hesitant tourists to South Asia. India’s modern top players play roughly half their Tests against the other Big Three teams. Jasprit Bumrah has played 59% of his 46 Tests against Australia and England.Still, what is happening at the SSC is Test cricket too, at least under current definitions. And increasingly Test cricket feels like a concept divorced from merit. Two of the three World Test Championship winners are sides with ailing Test programmes. Cricket has no serious will to fix that.The likes of Asitha and Vishwa will never have the chance to develop their Test-bowling skills as much as bowlers from nations that have stronger cricketing economies do. These are the margins of Test cricket that are most at-risk. If Asitha and Vishwa don’t make it, then who is going to inspire the next generation of Lankan red-ball bowlers?But at least in 2025, these two are still here, still putting their bodies through the seam-bowling rigours, and still taking important wickets. Test cricket is lucky to still have them.

Game
Register
Service
Bonus