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And have any of their first victims averaged more than Steve Smith?

Steven Lynch23-Jan-2024Shamar Joseph’s first two Test wickets were Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, who both average over 50. How rare is this sort of start? asked Brian Williams from Australia
The exciting young West Indian Shamar Joseph turns out to be the 11th bowler whose first two Test wickets were a batter with an average of 50 or above (given a qualification of at least 4000 runs at the time). His victims in Adelaide last week were Steve Smith, who ended the match averaging 57.80, and Marnus Labuschagne (52.03). The last bowler to achieve this was another West Indian, Shermon Lewis, against India in Rajkot in 2018-19. He dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli – but India still ran up 649, and Lewis won only one more cap.Pride of place has to go to the old England captain Norman Yardley, whose first two Test wickets were both none other than Don Bradman, who was averaging over 100 at the time. This was during the second and third matches of the 1946-47 Ashes series in Australia, which were Yardley’s fourth and fifth Tests (he didn’t take a wicket in the first three). Again, it didn’t lead to much joy: Bradman had made 234 and 79, and Australia went on to win the series 3-0.Three others dismissed a high-averaging opponent twice to start their careers. Neil Johnson began by removing Sachin Tendulkar in both innings as Zimbabwe pulled off a surprise win over India in Harare in 1998-99. Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews dismissed Younis Khan twice in Galle in 2009 . And Moeen Ali marked his debut for England, against Sri Lanka at Lord’s in 2014, by having Kumar Sangakkara caught behind, and got him again in the next Test at Headingley.Three men started their Test bowling careers by dismissing the prolific Indians Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid: the Sri Lankan pair of Dhammika Prasad (in Colombo in 2008, when his third wicket was Tendulkar) and Suraj Randiv (also in Colombo, but in 2010), and Australia’s Jason Krejza during his debut 8 for 215 in Nagpur in 2008-09.Jonathan Agnew, now a distinguished broadcaster, made a fine start to what was a brief Test career by dismissing the West Indians Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards at The Oval in 1984. And in India’s series in Australia in 2003-04, Irfan Pathan started with the wickets of Matthew Hayden in Adelaide and Steve Waugh in Sydney.Shamar Joseph took a wicket with his first ball in Tests. How many people have done this, and has anyone started with a batter with better numbers than Steve Smith? asked Joey Dimattina from Australia
Following a breezy 36 from No. 11 in his maiden innings in Adelaide last week, the new West Indian find Shamar Joseph then became the 23rd bowler to take a wicket with his first ball in a Test match.His first victim was Steve Smith, who had scored 9526 runs at an average of 58.08 at the time. That’s the highest average of any of the victims – Kumar Sangakkara had 8438 runs at 56.25 when he fell to Nathan Lyon’s first ball in Test cricket, in Galle in 2011. But one man had more runs than Smith: Alastair Cook had amassed 9840 (at an average of 46.85) when he fell to Hardus Viljoen’s opening delivery in his only Test for South Africa, in Johannesburg in 2015-16.I noticed that Mayank Agarwal has scored four Test centuries, all of them in India. Is there anyone whose career included more hundreds, all of them at home? asked V Mohan from India
India’s Mayank Agarwal is one of five men who have scored four Test centuries, all of them coming in home games: the others are Joe Hardstaff junior (England), Guy Whittall (Zimbabwe), and the Sri Lankans Roshan Mahanama and Arjuna Ranatunga. Agarwal’s haul includes two double-centuries; Hardstaff, Mahanama and Whittall all made one.But there are two men who made five Test hundreds, all of them on home soil. The first was the old England player Stanley Jackson. His five included two in the 1905 Ashes series, in which he captained England, won all five tosses, was the leading scorer on either side, and also took 13 wickets. All of Jackson’s 20 Tests came in England, as his Wisden obituary noted: “Unfortunately he could not go on any tour to Australia owing to business reasons, and the presence of Lord Hawke in command of Yorkshire until 1910 prevented him from ever being the county captain, though he was occasionally in charge of the side.”The second batter with five Test centuries all on home soil is Chandu Borde, whose five all came in India between 1958-59 and 1966-67. He did play several Tests abroad, and reached 93 against West Indies in Kingston in 1961-62.Neil Harvey (centre), who turned 95 last year, is still the youngest Australian to score a Test century, at 19 years of age in 1948•Getty ImagesNeil Harvey is the oldest living Australian Test player. Is he still the youngest Australian to score a Test hundred? asked Ian Hugo from France
You’re correct that Neil Harvey is the second-oldest surviving Test player as I write – he turned 95 last October. He’s currently one of 21 Test players who are still alive in their nineties. The only one older than Harvey is the South African Ron Draper, who turned 97 just before Christmas: he played two Tests – against an Australian side including Harvey – in 1949-50.And Harvey is still the youngest Australian to score a Test century – he was 19 years 122 days old when he made 153 against India in Melbourne in 1947-48. That broke the previous national record by a month: Archie Jackson was aged 19 years 152 days when he made 164 on debut against England in Adelaide in 1928-29. The only other teenager to score a Test century for Australia is Doug Walters, who was aged 19 years 357 days when he hit 155 against England in Brisbane in 1965-66.Who has scored the most runs without ever making a fifty in Test matches and one-day internationals? asked Sean Fanning from Australia
The leader on the Test list at the moment is Australia’s Nathan Lyon, who has scored 1427 runs in 126 Tests so far with a highest of 47, against South Africa in Cape Town in 2017-18. In second place is another current player, the West Indian Kemar Roach, with 1165 runs and a highest of 41.It’s not impossible that both Lyon and Roach might yet post a half-century, in which case the record would revert to Pakistan’s Waqar Younis (1010 runs, highest score 45), the only other man into four figures in Tests without a fifty.The record in ODIs is held by India’s Harbhajan Singh, whose 1237 runs included a highest score of 49. Zimbabwe’s Paul Strang made 1090 runs in ODIs with a highest of 47. And Waqar Younis is lurking in third place on this list too, with 969 runs and a highest of just 37.Just to complete the set, the the T20I record is currently held by the New Zealander Jimmy Neesham, whose 900 runs include a highest of 48 not out.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Also, KKR might delay Russell’s arrival as much as possible to see if SRH trust Vijayakanth Viyaskanth to bowl at him deep into the innings

Sidharth Monga20-May-2024Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have had the two quickest-scoring seasons of all time in the IPL. They are unlikely to give up the spots playing the Qualifier 1 in a neutral match in Ahmedabad. Motera has not been among the quickest-scoring grounds this IPL, but it is also a function of the home team choosing to play on specific surfaces. When they have gone for a flat pitch, 200 has been chased down twice, and a 231 posted batting first. In the playoffs, under a BCCI curator, expect a similar high-scoring match. These are some of the tactics which KKR and SRH could employ.Win the toss and bat
Two of the six matches in Ahmedabad have been won by teams batting first. Shubman Gill, the home team captain in Ahmedabad, has been pretty confident that the dew doesn’t play an undue role there. Both the successful defences in Ahmedabad have come in night matches.All these factors are enough to make you toss-agnostic, but one look at SRH’s record this IPL will tell you they will want to bat first. They have won just three matches when chasing: first against Chennai Super Kings when they comfortably chased down 166, one a shellacking under 10 overs when they hunted down 166 against Lucknow Super Giants, and then chasing 215 against Punjab Kings in their last league match. They have been much more comfortable batting first and scoring massively. Their run rate batting first is 1.07 higher than when batting second. KKR are more evenly paced: 10.71 batting first, and 10.30 when chasing.Related

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While KKR have a perfect record in three chases this IPL, six wins out of nine when defending is no mean feat too. In all likelihood, given their comfort doing either, KKR will like to deny SRH what they want to do.Bowl Bhuvneshwar through powerplay
Sunil Narine has been the most valuable player of the IPL so far, and not just for his batting. Among those who have scored 400 or more runs, only two batters have been quicker than Narine. Although they haven’t quite had a face-off this IPL, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has managed to keep Narine quiet in the powerplay: 31 balls, 34 runs and one dismissal.In the absence of Phil Salt, SRH can go a long way if they can neutralise Narine or at least keep him quiet in the powerplay. Bhuvneshwar will also hope to get through to Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer in the first spell: against Shreyas, he has three wickets in 49 balls for a strike rate of 89, while Venkatesh’s strike rate against him is 88 even though he has never got out to Bhuvneshwar.Vaibhav Arora has become an important part of KKR’s plans•BCCIAs a nice little bonus, Bhuvneshwar’s record against Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the likely replacement for Salt, reads: four balls, zero runs and two wickets. This happened as recently as the two matches against KKR last year.Tackling Head, Abhishek not so straightforward
If it wasn’t for Abhishek Sharma dismantling spinners, it would have been easy to say KKR should open with one of their two in-form spinners: Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. However, Abhishek has been brutal against spin, which means the spinner has to be excellent with his control if he is used against Travis Head.Will Jacks had success against Head by staying away from arc, which also holds for spinners against Abhishek. It helps that both of KKR’s spinners can bowl offbreaks. It is worth giving one end to spin, but the bowler has to be spot on against these two batters.With pace, teams have looked to contain Head and Abhishek by either placing their boundary riders at point and cover, or by placing a deep square cover and a deep midwicket, and attacking the stumps or the armpits. Vaibhav Arora’s natural length does attack the top of stumps with some movement away from left-hand batters, which makes him an important part of KKR’s plans. It is easier to shut off Abhishek with seam: bowl top of off. Head might need more defensive lines outside off.Earlier this season, Heinrich Klaasen took SRH within one hit of winning at Eden Gardens•BCCIRussell for Klaasen
Andre Russell has not bowled in the powerplay this IPL. Heinrich Klaasen, the foundation of the SRH middle order, has been explosive against spin and left-arm pace. So it follows that Russell will be saved for Klaasen. That was perhaps a mistake KKR made in the first match against SRH: Russell and Narine combined bowled just three overs at Klaasen, who went on to score 63 off 29 at Eden Gardens, and take SRH within one hit of winning.Throw Viyaskanth at Russell
Not just Russell the bowler but also Russell the batter has also been key to KKR’s success this season. His strike rate of 185 has given KKR the finishing kick they need. Russell has been in excellent form against all bowling types except legspin: 28 balls, 41 runs and one dismissal. There will be some cat and mouse game here: KKR might delay Russell’s arrival as much as possible to see if SRH can trust Sri Lanka’s youngster Vijayakanth Viyaskanth to bowl at Russell deep into the innings.

Three years after an ambitious shot had cost her the chance to score her maiden Test hundred, Shafali showed she can bat all day in a ruthless display in Chennai

Sruthi Ravindranath28-Jun-2024″She’s an aggressive batter, we all know that. I think today she just put it down and said she’s going to bat.”This was Delmi Tucker, the South Africa offspinner, speaking at the end of a hard day’s toil dominated by a double-hundred from Shafali Verma.Everyone knows Shafali can take bowling attacks apart with brute force. She can go all out from ball one, irrespective of the format. She’s capable of showing patience too, as she did during the 2021 Bristol Test against England, but she’s not always found the perfect balance.Related

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During WPL 2024, she had spoken about looking to temper her hitting and bat long.In that Bristol Test, she ended up skying one on 96 while trying to get to her hundred with a big hit. In the second ODI against South Africa last week, she had looked settled until she went for a heave across the line and was out for 20.But that wasn’t going to happen on Friday in Chennai.

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South Africa probably wouldn’t have expected India to break numerous batting records on the day, after how their first few overs went. Even if there wasn’t a lot of help from the conditions, their fast bowlers found some early swing, and kept India to 15 for no loss in their first eight overs. Smriti Mandhana and Shafali began circumspectly, despite South Africa’s new-ball bowlers often bowling full and outside off, inviting them to drive.If the pitch used during the first men’s Test between India and England here in 2021 – the last Test played on red soil at Chepauk, as this one was – was anything to go by, batting on the first day wasn’t going to be difficult. The last six men’s Tests at this venue had produced 300-plus first-innings totals, with 450 being passed three times.Shafali’s usual aggression was in full display in Chennai, but only after she had seen out the new ball•BCCIYou wondered how difficult it must have been for Shafali to curb her instincts, and ignore the temptation to drive. She resieted the temptation for her first half an hour at the crease.Then, in the seventh over, Masabata Klaas had just got her to play and miss at one that had shaped away outside off stump, luring her to drive. But the next ball was pitched right up and Shafali got on the front foot, timing her drive perfectly through extra-cover. It was her first boundary of the day.South Africa made their first bowling change in the ninth over, bringing on Nadine de Klerk. She began with a pitched-up delivery angling across Mandhana, and this one was too tempting to leave. Out came the classic cover drive, which she plays with absolute finesse. A punch off the backfoot brought her another boundary in the same over.All those off-side boundaries seemed to rattle de Klerk and Tumi Sekhukhune, who began bowling a lot straighter and sending down full-tosses: five in the six overs they bowled in tandem until the 14th over, all while bowling with a packed off-side field.The runs began to flow, particularly for Mandhana, who began peppering the boundary off both front and back foot, punching, pulling and cutting.It took until the 15th over for Shafali to fully break free. Left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba repeatedly tossed the ball up at her, and Shafali looked like she was in the mood to keep resisting. Off the fifth ball, she finally went for it, hitting against the turn, launching the ball over mid-on for her first big hit of the day.”Today, the ball was coming on well and my scores in the last three ODIs pushed me to just think one thing, that I shouldn’t get out and I should play through the day,” Shafali said after the day’s play. “So the idea was to back my strengths, take some time, and find a way to stay at the wicket.”The partnership began to flourish, and Shafali joined in on the fun, if in a calculated way, waiting for loose balls, being a little more selective than even Mandhana was. When Mlaba landed one short in the 17th over, Shafali rocked back and pulled it to the midwicket boundary. Then she clipped a full one from de Klerk in the air, through square-leg.Shafali put on 292 for the first wicket with Smriti Mandhana•BCCIAs her innings progressed she unveiled the nonchalant lofts, the ferocious pulls and even the slog-sweeps. In the 37th over, Shafali overtook Mandhana, going to 89 with her 15th boundary of her innings. Mandhana, at that point, had hit 17 in her 88.A clean hit over long-on, off Tucker, took Shafali to 96, a score with a bit of history to it.”Who forgets getting out for 96?” she asked at her press conference. “When I was on 96 today, it took me back to Bristol 2021. All I thought was to somehow score those four runs and get past 100.”And she did, in the next over, in style, finding the fine-leg boundary off Mlaba with a flick, her most productive shot of the day. A sigh of relief and a big smile followed as she hugged Mandhana to celebrate the hard-earned century, Shafali’s first in Test cricket.From this point on, Shafali batted with even greater freedom, hitting Sekhukhune, Tucker and de Klerk for the third, fourth and fifth sixes of her innings. There was no slowing down even after Mandhana was out for 146, with the openers having put on 292 in 52 overs.In the two-hour session between lunch and tea, India scored 204 in just 32 overs. Shafali took just 36 balls to go from 150 to 200, smacking three fours and three sixes in that period. Two of the sixes came off consecutive balls from Tucker, both hammered over her favourite long-on region.Those shots took her from 187 to 199.”Around my double century, thank god, the offie [Tucker] came on,” Shafali said. “, [Even more fun] as I thought I could get my 200 in a few balls.”Classic Shafali.A single through the covers off the next ball brought out all her emotions. She had more than made up for missing out in Bristol, and she pumped her fist in the air before acknowledging the Chennai crowd who rose to their feet. They had been thoroughly entertained.

Thorpe’s untimely death has unleashed a wave of tributes from those who discovered a love for the game through his defiant batting

Andrew Miller05-Aug-2024Graham Thorpe’s England career was the promise of better times, melded with the reality that they sometimes seemed unobtainable. His emotions lived and breathed through the combativeness of his strokeplay. When he was up, he was a force to rival any of the mighty protagonists in perhaps the last truly global era of Test batsmanship. When he was down, his returns were so subterranean they almost reeked of despair. Above and beyond his 100 Tests, 16 centuries and a batting average of 44.66 that was higher than, inter alia, Gower, Gooch, Cowdrey and Vaughan, his raw humanity was his defining trait, and a generation loved him for the honesty with which he projected it.Thorpe’s tragic death at the age of 55 has, quite rightly, unleashed a wave of heartfelt tributes from across the sport, spanning his former team-mates and rivals, as well as a host of the modern-day stars whose careers were moulded during his long second innings as a coach with Surrey and England. However, it’s the unseen echelons of appreciation that perhaps speak most eloquently of the adoration his career engendered. All morning long, WhatsApp groups have been bursting with reminiscence at the hope he instilled in so many lost England causes of the 1990s, and by extension the central role he played in causing so many people to fall in love with the game in the first place. But then, underpinning it all, is this shuddering jolt at the sheer fragility of existence. More than one acquaintance of mine has stated that they have never felt more affected by a non-family death. It doesn’t feel overblown to concur.What, then, was the reason for this peculiar and deep-rooted affection? The events of Thorpe’s debut at Trent Bridge in 1993 played a part, of course – after being bounced out by Merv Hughes for single figures in his maiden innings, he seemed to knuckle down and toughen up almost overnight. With inevitable defeat looming at the fall of England’s fifth second-innings wicket, he responded with a combative, indomitable 114 – making him England’s first debut centurion since Frank Hayes against West Indies a full 20 years earlier – that slowly but inexorably ground out a position from which to push for victory. Auspiciously for his narrative purposes, this was done, first, in partnership with the mighty Graham Gooch – Thorpe’s most-legitimate predecessor as England’s truly world-class batter – and then with Nasser Hussain, then another young prospect whose defiance and tenacity would come to prove so crucial to England’s steady rise in standards across the span of their careers.Related

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Perhaps fittingly, Australia’s refusal to yield (this time through Steve Waugh and Brendon Julian) would deny Thorpe and England the fairytale finish to this most uplifting of beginnings. Because, even if it only became truly apparent in hindsight, there would be something exquisitely noble about England’s struggles through the rest of the 1990s – an era blessed, lest we forget, with perhaps the most relentless churn of world-class attacking bowlers ever assembled. If it wasn’t McGrath and Warne lined up against England, it was Ambrose and Walsh. Or Wasim and Waqar. Or Donald and Pollock. Or Murali and Vaas. Tennis fans who have spent the last week coming to terms with the retirement of Andy Murray will recognise the magnificence required simply to compete in such a rarified era, let alone to deliver a clutch of the greatest victories ever compiled against the odds.For a time after his debut, Thorpe’s brilliance was visible only in snatched opportunities. The epithet “selfless” soon attached itself to his methods, most particularly on England’s subsequent tour of the Caribbean, where his twin scores of 86 and 84 were instrumental in setting up two further victory shots, in Trinidad and Barbados. And yet, the defining image of Thorpe’s personal campaign would come right in between those two efforts: his hauntingly bleak stare into the middle distance at Port-of-Spain, with his stumps shattered and the scoreboard reading 40 for 8 after Ambrose’s thrilling fourth-evening rampage. It was a look that questioned his very life choices, that telegraphed – albeit fleetingly – the futility of resistance. Magnificently he was unbowed by the time of his next second innings, a fortnight later in Bridgetown, with a pitch-perfect declaration push that ensured his team would leave a brutal tour with at least one all-timer of an upset to look back on.And yet, with England about to entrust their management to the hard-bitten “supremo”, Ray Illingworth, Thorpe’s integral importance to the team that Mike Atherton was trying to create would be under-valued for a while yet. Where his colleagues saw a man gunning only for what was best for the collective, Illingworth’s binary attitude to run-scoring saw instead a talented rookie who was too flighty to knuckle down and make the most of his promise. As an aside, if Mark Ramprakash and Graeme Hick are commonly cited as the two players of the 1990s who would have benefited most from the introduction of ECB central contracts, Thorpe would surely have been the foremost apostle of Bazball.Thorpe pulls during his 124 against South Africa in 2003•PA PhotosIt’s ironic, therefore, that having been dropped for the first four Tests of the 1994 summer, Thorpe marked his return to the team with a trio of 70s that turned the tide in another thrilling series against South Africa. In keeping with the methods that were already his calling card, each of his innings came at a strike rate significantly higher than a run every two balls, and while it may seem glib to make a big deal of such relatively dour scoring, Thorpe’s genius was not unlike that of Joe Root in the current England line-up. His tracer-like cover-driving and his all-enveloping pull shots would catch the eye when his blood was up, but the bread-and-butter of his matchcraft were the dinks and nudges – often deep in the crease, square-on to the bowler- that kept the strike rotating and the scoreboard ticking. In an age of grim survival, best exemplified by Atherton’s broad blade presented straight back down the line, Thorpe’s proactivity epitomised a willingness to keep striving for something more. His was a defiant optimism that chimed with the times, and kept his fans rapt throughout these years of adversity.Clearly, any professional sportsman needs to offer substance to back up the style, but the occasion of Thorpe’s second Test century was pitch-perfect in England’s straitened circumstances. On a typical Perth flyer, at the tail-end of a desperate tour, he arrived at the crease with Atherton and Mike Gatting dispatched in McGrath’s opening over, but surged onto the offensive in a 158-run stand with Ramprakash that felt like nothing less than the dawning of a brand-new era. In the shimmering white heat of the WACA, a vista that always seemed to be projected more viscerally into the cold of an English winter living room, out came Thorpe’s idiosyncratic wallop of his bat as he sprinted through for the landmark single, arms outstretched, before the removal of his helmet and a glimpse of his lesser-spotted white headband – a treat that always signified the attainment of a rare peak. Not even a predictable reversion to England’s mean in the second innings could taint the sense of a page turned. On the contrary, as McGrath ripped through the top-order to deliver an inglorious end to both Gooch and Gatting’s Test careers, amid a wrecked scoreline of 27 for 6, it became ever more apparent around whom England were obliged to rebuild their fortunes.And so it would come to pass. Notwithstanding the summer of 1999, when the accumulation of a decade of beatings would result in England’s slumping to the foot of the unofficial world rankings, it was possible to detect an incremental uptick in Test standards across the back end of the decade; from England’s hard-fought series win in New Zealand in 1996-97 (featuring two Thorpe hundreds) to their staggering Ashes victory at Edgbaston the following summer (featuring Thorpe’s 138 alongside Hussain’s career-best 207). When a back injury restricted his involvement in the home series win over South Africa in 1998 (England’s first in a five-Test series since 1986-87) it was partly as a consequence of him having become the first England player to feature in ten consecutive winter tours (Test and A-team) – in an age, remember, before central contracts offered any such assurances of continuity.

“Rarely in England’s history has there been an ovation to match that which greeted Thorpe’s comeback century against South Africa at The Oval in 2003, while his final winters as an England cricketer were similarly triumphant, with central roles in series wins in the Caribbean and South Africa”

Fittingly, therefore, Thorpe’s zenith would arrive at the very moment when his value to England was finally and officially recognised. The introduction of ECB central contracts in 2000 came after he had unilaterally opted out of the tour of South Africa the previous winter, amid the first stirrings of the marital problems that would gnaw away at his equilibrium in the final years of his career. But, given the chance to be fully valued by the team to whom he had given so much, he repaid the faith with the single greatest winter of his career, and one of the greatest in England’s touring history.Other wins carry more resonance: England in Australia in 2010-11, or India in 2012-13. But given where England had come from, and the distance they still had to travel, their twin victories in Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2000-01 remain extraordinary monuments to the resilience of an underappreciated generation. Thorpe himself bookended the triumphs; first in Lahore where he epitomised his captain’s call to fight with every sinew of his being in producing a stalemate-sealing century that featured just a solitary boundary. Then, after picking off the winning runs in England’s miraculous victory in the dark in Karachi, he capped his endeavours in Kandy and Colombo in the new year, willing himself to endure through Sri Lanka’s sticky, sapping heat to overcome an innings loss in Galle and land a sensational 2-1 win.The enduring image of that campaign was of a deathly pale Thorpe, eyes so hollow they might as well have been caked in mascara, willing himself back out to the middle having already won the match once with his stamina-draining 113 not out in the first innings at the SSC. When Sri Lanka collapsed to 81 all out in reply his work should have been done. Instead, England themselves tumbled to 71 for 6, chasing 74. But for his follow-up 32 not out, the day would have been lost. He was so shattered afterwards, he was unable to take any part in the team’s raucous celebrations.Thorpe with Joe Root, one of the many England batters to benefit from his wisdom as coach•Getty ImagesThorpe had another faraway look in his eyes two summers later, against India at Lord’s in 2002, when the torment of his personal life was etched into every one of his all-too-public actions. He made 4 and 1 in that contest, which was five more runs than his spirit seemed willing to offer to the occasion, and when it was announced soon after the contest that he would be taking an indefinite break from cricket, it was merely the rubber-stamping of a fact that his misery had already made clear.Not that it mattered remotely in his personal circumstances, but Thorpe’s decision meant that he would miss the 2002-03 tour of Australia, thereby leaving an incredible dent in his Ashes record; just two Tests out of a possible 15 since the end of 1997, with injury having ruled him out of both the 1998-99 and 2001 campaigns.It was not the end of his story by any stretch of the imagination. Rarely in England’s history has there been an ovation to match that which greeted Thorpe’s comeback century, inevitably in a winning cause, against South Africa at The Oval in 2003, while his final winters as an England cricketer were similarly triumphant, with central roles in series wins in the Caribbean (still unreplicated to this day) and South Africa, for the first time in the post-Apartheid era.By the time of the 2005 Ashes, however, the emergence of Kevin Pietersen – coupled with England’s determination, not unlike that which led to Thorpe’s own breakthrough ten years previously, to proceed with a new generation unencumbered by the scars of the past – meant that he dipped quietly out of international cricket with the occasion of his 100th Test, against Bangladesh in Chester-le-StreetIt was an oddly fitting ending for a man who had been destined to carry his side through adversity, and earn along the way the undying love and gratitude of those true aficionados who recognised the exquisite glory of the struggle.

India. England. High-scoring venues. Dew. No batting record will be safe over the next fortnight

Sidharth Monga20-Jan-20253:12

Axar: Shami’s return a ‘big positive’

Cricket’s economy is weird. It is run on white-ball cricket. Most of this – outside the one ICC event every year and the non-international T20 leagues – is bilateral cricket. Considering the rights for ICC events and leagues are different entities, a vast majority of the money that cricket boards make comes from bilateral white-ball cricket. And yet, what was the last white-ball bilateral series that you remember building up to?We are always anticipating the next big Test series. So much so that bilateral white-ball series are the time big players are rested so they can be at their best for the Tests, ICC events and the major T20 leagues. And yet, white-ball bilaterals practically finance Test cricket. A three-match tour from India can bring enough money from the broadcasters to keep a small board afloat.White-ball bilaterals are watched. A lot. Much more than Test cricket is. But they are also taken for granted. No anticipation, no build-up, not often the best talent. Especially in this era of split tours. Sometimes, if played at the end of a full tour, momentum is carried into the shorter formats. Right now, they just exist. Quietly dropping in like a Netflix title, but doing better than the appointment viewing in the cinema that you built up to for months.Related

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Axar hints at flexible middle order as India gear up for England T20Is

Every once in a while, though, comes a series you can genuinely look forward to. These five upcoming T20Is between India and England are one such event. The new devil-may-care India who have thrown all caution to the wind after the T20 World Cup triumph. Against England, who are now being coached by Brendon McCullum in white-ball cricket too. No batting record will be safe over the next fortnight in high-scoring venues such as Kolkata, Mumbai and Rajkot.Those who believed conservative batting was keeping India from exploring their true hitting potential will feel vindicated at what has happened since the old guard retired with the T20 World Cup last June. India have batted first in 11 T20Is since then, and have gone past 200 seven times. They have made scores of 297 and 283. They also have registered successful chases of 132 in 11.5 overs and 156 in 15.2.Highest total in a match involving full members, most runs in the middle overs in any T20 game, most runs in boundaries. These are a few of the more impressive records India have broken in this small period.England’s ultra-aggressive top order features the likes of Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell•Getty ImagesSince the World Cup, India have hit a boundary every 4.27 balls in T20I cricket. More impressively they have tried to hit one every 2.18 balls. In the year and a half before that, they were attempting one every 2.63 balls. That’s a difference of nearly 10 boundary attempts across a completed innings. And thanks to Rohit Sharma’s renewed impetus at the top of the order, they weren’t exactly playing conservative cricket earlier.And if England have ever needed a reason to attempt boundaries, their new coach and this opposition are only going to push them to play more aggressive T20 cricket. Their boundary attempts have gone up from one every 2.51 balls in the 18 months leading up to the World Cup to one every 2.32 balls. They have batted first only once since the World Cup, scoring 218, and have overhauled three targets while scoring at better than 10 an over.Take these two batting sides. Add small Indian grounds. Throw in fresh, early-season pitches, provided India don’t go for slow turners for competitive advantage. They did, after all, beat England on one such pitch in the World Cup semi-final in Guyana. Then sprinkle some dew. This series could be a T20 purist’s dream.Slow turners, such as the one in last year’s World Cup semi-final in Guyana, are the one ingredient that could prevent a hitathon•ICC/Getty ImagesJos Buttler, Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook. Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh. Then there are allrounders. Oh, and Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav are absent. If the tracks are fresh and not made slow, this series could test the limits of T20 cricket. The tactics will have to be spot-on because that one over that goes for below 10 could win or lose the match.In March 2023, West Indies and South Africa played an incredible three-T20I series over four days. South Africa lost after scoring 131 in an 11-over game. Then they chased down a record target of 259. In the finale, West Indies managed to only just defend 220. The two teams achieved a scoring rate of 12.08, the highest for any bilateral series of three matches or more. No other series comes close. The next-best to involve Full Members is 10.69, suggesting how much of an outlier that South Africa-West Indies hitathon was.This India-England series could conceivably hope to beat that record. Or, at the very least, to go past the 11-an-over mark. If a few things go right, who knows what other records will be broken and what new shackles will be broken in the way teams approach T20s.

Stats highlights from DC’s first win against CSK at Chepauk since 2010

Sampath Bandarupalli05-Apr-20252:46

Jaffer: ‘If top order doesn’t fire, CSK shut shop early’

2010 – Delhi Capitals (DC) defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk for the first time since their six-wicket win in 2010. The Delhi franchise won the first two matches against CSK at this venue in 2008 and 2010 but had lost seven in a row before Saturday.The seven-match winning streak for CSK against this opponent in Chennai is the joint-second-longest for any team against an opponent at a particular venue in the IPL. CSK’s eight-match winning streak against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Chepauk is the longest, which also came to a halt earlier this season.10 – CSK have failed to chase a target of 180-plus in their last ten attempts, dating back to 2020. Three teams have had a longer streak of failing to chase 180-plus targets in the IPL – 15 by Punjab Kings (2015 to 2021), 12 by RCB (2019 to 2023) and 11 by Sunrisers Hyderabad (2020 to 2023).Related

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25 – The run margin of CSK’s defeat on Saturday. Only four teams have suffered a heavier loss despite losing only five or fewer wickets in 20 overs while chasing a target of 200 or less in the IPL.2018 – Previous instance of CSK chasing down a target of 180 or more runs in the IPL – against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Pune, where they hunted down 180 with eight wickets in hand. CSK had a win-loss record of 9-9 while chasing 180-plus targets until that point.ESPNcricinfo Ltd9.2 – Overs batted by Vijay Shankar and MS Dhoni during their sixth-wicket stand. It is the second-longest unbeaten partnership to end up on the losing side in an IPL chase, behind the 9.4 overs of partnership by Kedar Jadhav and Saurabh Tiwary in 2015. The duo added 91 runs for Delhi Daredevils’ fifth wicket against SRH but fell seven runs short of the 164-run chase.84* – The 84-run unbroken stand between Vijay and Dhoni is the highest for CSK in the IPL for the sixth wicket or lower.120.74 – Strike rate of the CSK’s top three batters in 180-plus chases since 2020. It is by far the lowest among all ten teams, with the next worst being 139.09 by SRH. CSK’s top order averages 17.86 in the 180-plus chases since 2020, also the lowest.20.23 – Percentage of Dhoni’s runs in CSK’s wins since the start of IPL 2023. In this period, Dhoni has batted 13 times in the wins and scored 69 runs at an average of 13.80, but in defeats, he has 272 runs in 14 innings, at an average of 90.66.

Once the wall and now the architect, Gautam Gambhir oversaw the team’s grittiest draw since 2009

Karthik Krishnaswamy29-Jul-20252:09

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Within the span of eight months in 2009, Gautam Gambhir scored match-saving centuries in Napier and Ahmedabad, where India began the third innings facing deficits of 314 and 334 respectively.On Sunday, Gambhir was India’s head coach when they drew the Old Trafford Test after starting the third innings trailing by 311 runs.These three, incidentally, are the highest-ever first-innings deficits that India have defied to save Test matches while batting third. They batted out an astonishing 180 overs in Napier, 129 in Ahmedabad, and 143 in Manchester.For a generation that rarely witnesses the fighting draw, Old Trafford was a reminder of the spectacle it can be, of the technical skill and physical and mental endurance required to pull one off, and of the subplots that go into one’s making.Related

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Take the passage of play just before England took the second new ball, when Shubman Gill farmed the strike while facing Liam Dawson even though he had a recognised batter at the other end. It took millions of years of evolution, and the quirks of cricket’s geometry, for this moment to come about.Because humanity is predominantly right-handed, and because bowling happens at both ends but bowlers are allowed to choose the side of the wicket they operate from, the most scuffed-up areas on a Test-match pitch are invariably outside the left-hand batter’s off stump. Through the entirety of the 188-run partnership between the right-right pair of Gill and KL Rahul, Dawson had induced just seven false shots in 26 overs. When the left-handed Washington Sundar batted alongside Gill, Dawson, now able to make use of those scuffed-up patches, induced seven false shots in just five overs. Gill shielding Washington from the left-arm spinner was one of many smart moves India made as they battled their way to safety.Test cricket is vast enough to have space for such a passage of play even when a team is chasing a win; it’s just a lot likelier to happen during a struggle for survival, when runs are incidental.KL Rahul managed low bounce well at Old Trafford•Getty ImagesAnd when runs become incidental, viewers can immerse themselves in the mechanics and rhythms of skillful defensive batting. At times during his 90 in that third innings, Rahul seemed to be batting in a trancelike state that allowed him to watch the ball in slow motion – so inevitable did it look when he kept out the shin-high shooter that always seemed to be around the corner.It almost took until Rahul failed to keep one out, on 90, for the treachery of this low bounce to become clear. There had been something of Mark Waugh’s slip catching in Rahul’s defiance of Old Trafford’s uneven bounce, a way of making the extraordinary look effortless, bat coming down straight and unhurried, with none of the imprecise jabbing you might expect against balls behaving entirely contrary to muscle memory.For all that, this was an exceedingly flat pitch, its slowness taking away much of the sting of its occasional misbehaviour. Through the course of the third innings, India’s batters managed a control percentage of 87.8. In comparison, India had gone at 87.0 when they saved the 2009 Ahmedabad Test.The draw at Old Trafford was the fifth across 83 Tests in the last two years•Getty ImagesReturning to the aftermath of that match is an instructive exercise. dismissed most of the contest as “nothing short of a snooze-fest”. Harbhajan Singh, who bowled 48.4 overs before Sri Lanka declared at 760 for 7, suggested that pitches like Ahmedabad’s would “finish all the bowlers” and were “not fit for any kind of cricket”.If Old Trafford, a contest not dissimilar to that 2009 snoozefest, has left most of us with a warm and fuzzy feeling, it’s because of two things. There is, first of all, the tendency of the human brain to process events by turning them into stories. India lost the same number of wickets in both match-saving innings, but where they lost them after partnerships of 81, 88, 40 and 66 in Ahmedabad, they were 0 for 2 at Old Trafford and lost 2 for 34 after a 188-run third-wicket stand.Given the near-identical control percentages achieved over both innings, the vagaries of probability may have played a significant role in bringing about dissimilar fall-of-wicket patterns. There’s nothing better than an unpredictable twist, and nothing worse than a repetitive tale. And the story of Old Trafford also included the fact that the team that overcame adversity was a young visiting team striving to stay alive in the series, and the fact that one of their batters was nursing an injury that would have severely compromised his movements had he needed to bat.Ravindra Jadeja refused Ben Stokes’ offer for a draw after the 138th over•Ben Radford/AllSport UK LtdThe second thing Old Trafford had that Ahmedabad – and so many other “dull” draws that litter the history of Test cricket – lacked was rarity value. Ahmedabad was the 27th draw in 87 Tests over that two-year period. Old Trafford was only the fifth draw in 83 Tests in the last two years.Viewers, then, were perfectly placed to appreciate the best things about the draw, and downplay aspects of it that may have worried them at other times. The fact, for instance, that this was the fifth draw in as many first-class matches at Old Trafford this year. Or the idea that England’s bowlers may have looked as knackered as they did because they were playing their fourth Test of a series played on unforgivingly flat pitches – that both Headingley and Edgbaston produced decisive results may have been because they were played earlier in the series, by fresher players, with one team batting in a high-risk, high-reward way that shortened their innings. Or that India’s lacklustre display with the ball may have had something to do with selection that prioritised runs over wickets.All those things may have come into greater focus had Old Trafford been another draw in an era of drawn Tests. We aren’t in 2009, though, and we’re the better for it. The rarer draws are, the more captivating they become.But one thing hasn’t changed between 2009 and now, as ESPNcricinfo’s final-day report from Ahmedabad makes clear: “By the time the final session of the match arrived, the only question left unanswered was whether (Sachin) Tendulkar would get to his 88th international century. Kumar Sangakkara didn’t seem pleased with being kept on the field in the mandatory overs while Tendulkar moved towards the ton.”

England have been able to score a lot of runs there, but it isn’t necessarily because of bad balls

Sidharth Monga30-Jul-20251:31

What should India’s pace attack look like for The Oval?

Tempers are fraying, bodies are tiring (and falling apart in some cases), it is getting dark well before 10pm. It is still only the end of July, but we are already at The Oval with its end-of-series, end-of-summer vibes. It has been more than a month of attritional back and forth between two imperfect sides, who by now are hard to separate. India are averaging 45.55, England 42.52, a sign of a tough-to-call series.India have still dominated more sessions and days, but when they have messed up, they have done so spectacularly and before getting themselves into impregnable positions. Spinners have mostly cancelled each other out with 14 and 13 wickets. India’s spin wickets have come less dearly, but England have had Ben Stokes as the fourth fast bowler to counter that.Surrey are used to playing without a spinner at The Oval, which should suggest it is going to come down to one last push from the fast bowlers from both sides. India’s fast bowlers will feel they have bowled better overall, creating more chances and averaging slightly less, but they need to work out why they haven’t been decisively more effective than England, whose fast bowlers barring Stokes and Jofra Archer have largely looked innocuous.Related

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India have bowled better lengths for longer than England, who haven’t had that accuracy. They have swung the ball more and extracted as much seam movement as England, but still India’s fast bowlers have conceded 51% of their runs on the leg side as against England’s 47%, who have actually looked to bowl straighter on purpose with a leg slip in place. That is something the team has taken a note of as well.Again, it’s not as though India have necessarily bowled poorer lines. India have strayed down leg less often, and have been at the stumps or in the channel roughly as frequently. India have swung the ball into the right-hand batter twice as often as England but that is not at the expense of the outswinger. That is because India have bowled much fewer balls that haven’t swung. Against left-hand batters, India have swung the ball more often than England, and swung it back in less often.The difference perhaps is that the England batters have taken more risks and turned the ball to leg more often. It is borne out slightly by the control numbers: England right-hand batters are in control of 85.6% of their shots into the leg side, India 90.61%. The numbers are similar for left-hand batters. It tells you India are working only bad balls into the leg side, but England are more enterprising. It helps that the pitches have been so flat that the batters have not been punished enough for their errors.2:08

How do India’s five regulars cope with the quick turnaround?

As the series has progressed, India have taken a more pragmatic approach to batting, which is to grind the bowling down, which shows in their dropping scoring rates. It has worked for them: Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse and Archer have failed to take a single wicket in overs 30 to 80. It might not be wise to ask their batters to become more enterprising.It remains to be seen if India look to address the leg-side runs at all. It was a source of frustration at Old Trafford, where the bowling coach Morne Morkel even said he had rarely seen a wagon wheel with equal runs on the off side and the leg side. There are two ways to exert better control: either move a little wider outside off or move straighter with an extra fielder on the leg side.However, if The Oval pitch is spicier as the teams seem to expect it to be, they will need to keep repeating good lengths and looking for top of off. It is only if England get into a partnership that India need ways to slow them down. Be it the chase at Headingley, the partnership between Jamie Smith and Harry Brook at Edgbaston, or the whole innings at Old Trafford, it is when things are not happening for them that India are looking for control.When England bat well, India just want to avoid being batted out of the game. They will hope they don’t encounter such a situation at The Oval, but perhaps they need to remember that it is more a combination of selection (one strike bowler too few every time plus rushing an undercooked Anshul Kamboj), pitches, and England batters’ enterprise than what the bowlers have actually bowled.

Pakistan unravelled after Babar fell on the fourth morning, all down to a plan Harmer had in memory from a county game back in 2019

Danyal Rasool23-Oct-2025While Pakistan preferred to keep their lead left-arm spinner away from the left-handers during South Africa’s last-wicket stand, the visitors had no such qualms about spinning the ball into the batter. With Pakistan having put up late resistance on the third evening after a bruising day, they began the fourth with Babar Azam, one shy of a half-century, along with Mohammad Rizwan in the middle. Faced with two right-handers , Aiden Markram gave the ball to offspinner Simon Harmer.Harmer began the fourth morning with 996 first-class wickets. He’d bowled to just about everyone in every situation over his 16-year first-class career. That included Babar when he had a stint with Somerset in 2019, and remembered what had discomfited the Pakistan batter.”I just felt it was probably more dangerous for him and made him less comfortable when I was bowling from around the wicket,” Harmer said after South Africa’s eight-wicket win in Rawalpindi.There were more game-specific considerations, too. Pakistan had erased South Africa’s lead by now, and were mindful of the value of runs. South Africa knew they could not pack the close field with more men. “In the subcontinent, as an offspinner to a right-hander, you’ve got a lot of turn from outside the line of the stumps,” Harmer said. “So batters can easily take modes of dismissal away. We were obviously very mindful of the lead. We didn’t want it to get away from us. We were trying to attack and not leak runs. So you can’t carry extra catchers around the bat.Related

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“I felt that the ball from that end specifically was spinning from straight. So if I came around the wicket and if they didn’t want to score square, it kept the stumps in play, whereas from over the wicket they could get outside the line.”It also made it trickier for Babar to get himself onto the front foot off any length. Babar clipped the second ball of the day off the back foot into the onside to get to 50. But when Harmer pitched it slightly further up, he still went back. The ball kept low, hitting him beneath the knee roll.With Harmer starting around off, there was enough room to land the ball on middle and spin away from Babar’s bat without deviating too far out of the line of the stumps. Babar reviewed, but the DRS returned three reds. It was the 29th ball Harmer had bowled to Babar around the wicket this Test, conceding nearly a run fewer per over from that angle than from over the wicket.Pakistan’s offspinner Sajid Khan, meanwhile, does not enjoy the same comfort coming around the wicket to the right-hander. He had by far his most subdued series since Pakistan’s turn to spin tracks, taking six wickets across the two Tests and just 1 for 134 in Rawalpindi. Against right-handers, he went around the wicket for just seven balls all Test, and 11 all series. Pitted against Harmer’s experience, Sajid’s ideas for creating opportunities looked rather pedestrian.Babar’s dismissal, though, was only the beginning of a near-perfect day for Harmer. He went on to take six in the innings, getting to 1000 first-class wickets along the way. But it was all unlocked thanks to a little memory holed away from a game in Chelmsford in the late English summer, deployed to clinical effect in the early Pakistani winter.

Manchester United have kept their unbeaten run going by the skin of their teeth. The Red Devils drew 2-2 away to Tottenham Hotspur, and it took a late goal from Matthijs de Ligt to secure the point and extend the unbeaten run to five games.

Indeed, the Dutchman’s strike in the 96th minute was enough to bail his side out of yet another defeat under Ruben Amorim, although they had previously led in the game.

Bryan Mbeumo scored a header which put United 1-0 up at halftime.

However, Spurs struck back after lots of pressure in the second half. First, Mathys Tel fired home, with his effort flicking off De Ligt’s foot and into the back of Senne Lammens’ goal.

Richarlison thought he had won it in the 91st minute with a clever header, before United’s number four cancelled his goal out moments later.

It was a largely uninspiring performance from United. They played an incredibly passive game, happy to let Spurs dominate the ball. In total, Amorim’s side had just five shots, with the only two that were on target ending up in the back of the net.

Their first goalscorer, Mbeumo, continued his fine form in front of goal.

Bryan Mbeumo’s stats vs. Spurs

October’s Premier League player of the month is off the mark in November. Mbeumo has been one of the signings of the season, and now has seven goals and assists in just 12 games for the Red Devils.

His strike on Saturday lunchtime away to Spurs was one of good centre-forward play and a deft touch.

The United number 19 got in between two Lilywhites defenders, before glancing his header home into the back of the net.

That was not Mbeumo’s only positive contribution against Spurs, though. He was a constant problem for the opposition defence, having 44 touches and making three passes into the final third.

The attacker was excellent off the ball, too, and made four recoveries.

As well as the 26-year-old played against Spurs, however, there was a United player who arguably outshone him.

United’s standout player vs. Spurs

United’s draw away to Spurs was certainly frustrating. Amorim was critical of his side post-match, explaining that “we should do better, be more aggressive, feel the environment in the stadium, the three points were there.”

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

However, one player, like Mbeumo, who stood out, was Amad. It was a different role for the Ivorian from the start today, operating as the right number 10 rather than at wing-back.

However, he was his usual energetic self, posing a threat going forward and worked hard defensively.

In fact, it was the attacker’s cross from which Mbeumo scored. What a delightful ball it was, too. Amad picked the ball up just inside the Spurs’ penalty area, lifting his cross from a standing position to the back post for his teammate to guide home.

That was one of two chances he created, on an afternoon where he also played four passes into Spurs’ third.

Touches

48

Passes completed

23/32

Duels won

7

Ball recoveries

5

Passes into final third

4

Chances created

2

Assists

1

Amad’s excellent performance certainly stood out, with journalist Liam Canning saying it was an “unbelievable” showing from the Ivorian attacker, while lauding him as the actual man of the match.

There is certainly a case to be made that Amad is becoming Amorim’s new version of Bruno Fernandes. Often, it is the Portuguese attacker who has shouldered the creative burden at United. Yet, it has been different this season, with the captain’s three assists matched by Amad.

A reason for that could be the role United’s manager uses his skipper in. A number 10 by trade, Fernandes now plays deeper in the pivot, and with their number 16 operating high and wide at wing-back or in the pockets as a number 10. He is certainly far more involved in the final third.

This is not a bad thing for United, who have relied solely on Fernandes for too many years. But, Amad is certainly taking up more creative responsibility, and is slowly becoming their new version of Fernandes.

Forget Cunha & Mbeumo: "Explosive" Man Utd star is coded for the Fergie era

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