Four Englishwomen, three Indians, three South Africans, and an Australian make up our team of the tournament

Shashank Kishore and Annesha Ghosh 24-Jul-2017.1. Laura Wolvaardt – 324 runs, average 64.80, strike-rate 68.21It’s possible that the 18-year old could consider medicine over cricket, but after showing promise in the Women’s World Cup, she could perhaps do a rethink. The composure, assurance, and maturity in her game shone through while she scored four fifties and remained unbeaten twice in seven innings for South Africa. She was technically correct – with a cover drive to feast one’s eyes on – and a livewire on the field.2. Tammy Beaumont – 410 runs, average 45.55, strike-rate 76.92One of the poster girls of the Mark Robinson era in England cricket, Beaumont quashed any remnants of her post-2014 World T20 self-doubt while plundering runs at the top of the order. She validated her role as opener, stitching up mammoth partnerships including stands worth 275 and 170 with Sarah Taylor and Natalie Sciver respectively. The outcome of her obstinacy at the crease? England won the World Cup at Lord’s, and Beaumont walked away with the Player-of-the-Tournament award in front of a sell-out crowd.3. Mithali Raj (capt) – 409 runs, average 45.44, strike-rate 70.15On the eve of the tournament, she made headlines with her assertive stand on the individuality of women’s cricket. On matchdays, she grabbed eyeballs, reading books as she waited for her turn to bat. When she did stride out to the middle, she stood out with fluent strokeplay and tactical nous as captain, as her side exceeded her pre-tournament belief that making the semi-finals was a “realistic dream”. The ultimate glory, in her fifth World Cup, slipped by, but there’s no doubting that Raj has woken up a young generation of women’s cricketers. She finished the tournament as its second-highest run-getter behind Beaumont .4. Harmanpreet Kaur – 359 runs, average 59.83, strike-rate 95.47; economy rate 5.25If one performance could define the extent to which the eleventh edition of the Women’s World Cup captured the public imagination, Harmanpreet’s unbeaten 171 in the semi-final against Australia did so. Harmonster, Harmanator, Kaur-ageous, Kaur-nage – the puns on social media were as plentiful as her boundaries: 20 fours and seven sixes. A lukewarm beginning to her campaign – she scored 77 in her first five innings – made way for three successive fifty-plus scores, giving India a real shot at a maiden title.Harmanpreet Kaur smashed the highest individual score in a Women’s World Cup knockout game•Getty Images5. Ellyse Perry – 404 runs, average 80.80, strike-rate 77.54; nine wickets, economy rate 4.60Perry’s stellar run in the tournament, with bat and ball, coincided with her leapfrogging Stafanie Taylor to become the world’s top-ranked allrounder. In the lead-up to the semi-final, Perry scored five consecutive half-centuries – the joint-most in the World Cup – and moved to a career-high ranking of No.3 among ODI batsmen. She was an unstoppable force in combination with Meg Lanning, and in her captain’s absence lent stability to the middle order. In addition, Perry routinely shared the new ball with Megan Schutt and made up for the lack of a third frontline quick in Australia’s XI.6. Sarah Taylor (wk) – 396 runs, average 49.50, strike-rate 99She endured a difficult 2016, pulling out of the game due to anxiety-related issues, but her return to the set-up ahead of the World Cup couldn’t have come at a better time for England. Spectacular behind the stumps – her stumping of Trisha Chetty in the semi-final against South Africa was among the most eye-catching moments of the tournament – and adventurous in front of it, she was the driving force behind England’s eight-match winning streak.7. Natalie Sciver – 369 runs, average 46.12, strike-rate 107.58She was born in Tokyo, played professional football as a child in Poland, and tried her hand at hockey and tennis before settling for cricket. The variety shows in her game too. Her ‘Natmeg’ – squeezing yorker-length deliveries between the legs and into the leg side – became an instant hit. Her utility in the team came to the fore in the final at Lord’s, where no other England batsman made more than her 51. She chipped in with her medium-pace as well, picking up seven wickets at 28.57 while conceding less than five runs an over.The Natmeg: one of the most enduring images from the Women’s World Cup•Getty Images8. Deepti Sharma – 216 runs, average 30.85; 12 wickets, economy 4.70In the run-up to the World Cup, Raj had equated the on-field tenacity of the 19-year-old Deepti Sharma to that of her own younger self. That Deepti finished as India’s highest wicket-taker in the tournament besides chipping in with two half-centuries, effecting run-outs and taking back-pedalling catches, was testament to her potential as a world-class allrounder in the making. She picked up match-winning three-wicket hauls in India’s tournament opener and semi-final, and dug in with the bat during a 137-run stand with Harmanpreet against Australia in the semi-final.9. Dane van Niekerk – 99 runs, average 19.80, strike-rate 70.71; 15 wickets, economy rate 3.46She marshalled South Africa to their first World Cup semi-final in 17 years on the back of three four-wicket hauls, including a record-breaking 4 for 0 against West Indies. If her legspin weren’t enough for the opposition to contend with, van Niekerk played dogged knocks in the middle order. Off the field, she took pride in her bowling attack for being the “best in the world”. On it, she led them with gusto, finishing atop the wickets charts while sharing laughs and tears in a memorable journey that culminated in a final-over elimination at the hands of England.Anya Shrubsole ripped the fight out of India in the final•Getty Images10. Marizanne Kapp – 13 wickets, economy rate 4.46Kapp combined with Shabnim Ismail to form what was perhaps the tournament’s most fearsome new-ball pair. Her bustling run-up, slingy action and late outswing cast doubts in the mind of the batsmen. When she was summoned to pick up wickets at difficult stages, she delivered, and her lower-order batting and athletic fielding also contributed to South Africa’s all-round strength.11. Anya Shrubsole – 12 wickets, economy rate 4.62Until the semi-final, she wasn’t the same threat England have known her to be. She wasn’t expensive, but six wickets in eight games suggested batsmen had found ways to negate her threat. But she stood tallest when it mattered most, her 6 for 46, the best figures in a World Cup final, ripping the fight out of India. Sixteen years ago, when her father Ian played in a club final at Lord’s, Shrubsole told him she would like to play at the ground too. On July 23, she did her father and her entire country proud.(12th man) Amelia Kerr – 10 wickets, economy rate 4.48While her Tawa College mates were busy taking mid-year exams in Wellington, Kerr redefined life goals for fellow 16-year-olds and delivered masterclasses in legspin. As New Zealand’s youngest representative at the World Cup, Kerr’s control with the ball was as impressive as her ability to soak up pressure. Even the likes of Meg Lanning, Beaumont and Sciver struggled to negotiate her deft changes in pace and wily wrong’uns.

With lively pace, pinpoint yorkers and an appetite to learn, Basil Thampi has already caught many eyes in his young professional career

Akshay Gopalakrishnan26-Jul-2017April 18, 2017. Gujarat Lions are being battered by Royal Challengers Bangalore on their home turf, in Rajkot. Desperate for a breakthrough, Suresh Raina turns to 23-year-old Basil Thampi. The Kerala fast bowler is in his debut season. He has had a decent first spell, but now has the unenviable task of running in to a marauding Chris Gayle.His second ball is a searing yorker. Gayle tries to dig it out, but it sneaks through and misses leg stump. It spurs Thampi on. The follow-up delivery is another dart, flush on Gayle’s toes. He tries to flick but the ball curves in and pins him in front of the stumps. Thampi has his first IPL wicket, and it’s of a man who, less than an hour ago, had become the first to 10,000 runs in T20 cricket.Thampi would go on to take ten more wickets in the tournament. He finished as Lions’ second-highest wicket-taker and one of their finds in a disappointing season. It was with the yorker that he left a mark. Thampi bowled 23 of them during the IPL, second only to Lasith Malinga.A month after his IPL exploits, he was picked in India A’s limited-overs squad to tour South Africa.While that wicket of Gayle remains his most cherished one from the season, Thampi remembers especially fondly both of Lions’ matches against Mumbai Indians. In the first, at the Wankhede, he landed six inch-perfect yorkers against Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard, including in the slog overs of a tense chase. Then, in Rajkot, he bounced back from a 13-run first over to finish with 3 for 29, including two wickets in the 19th over, to take the match into the Super Over.

“What I enjoyed the most about him is that most of the time, you could see him in the present. He is not into ifs and buts”Monty Desai, Lions’ performance coach, on Thampi

Thampi created an impression during the Lions’ pre-season camp with his boldness to experiment, his keenness to ask questions, and his enthusiasm in approaching tasks. He honed his craft with Heath Streak, the bowling coach, by placing a coin in front of the stumps and trying to hit it.It was at a private camp in Bengaluru, a few months before the auction, that he caught the discerning eye of Monty Desai, Lions’ performance coach. Desai had already heard about Thampi’s pace from Sanju Samson, who also plays for Kerala, when the two worked together at Rajasthan Royals. Lions’ management had identified death-overs bowling as the biggest area of concern for the side, and to Desai, Thampi looked an asset.”Basil brings 100% intent in execution over his spell,” Desai says. “You see how players are able to rise to the occasion, and I thought Thampi was able to do that for Kerala. So many times you felt that the game was gone and his spell made a difference to the team.”He’s got hit for six off many of those yorkers in the IPL, but there was an effort that batsmen had to take to hit him because they could not take him lightly. I thought the slower ball and yorker skill was something special, and at the pace at which he bowls, it added up as a good complement.”Desai had had a glimpse of Thampi during the televised games of the inter-zonal T20 league. “At that point, myself and Hodgie [Brad Hodge] were just online, discussing pretty much every ball of his. One of the things you’re looking for is whether a player is a good student of the game. He is constantly looking to improve himself.Thampi has been a reliable performer for Kerala in domestic cricket•BCCI”What I enjoyed the most about him is that most of the time, you could see him in the present. He is not into ifs and buts. That gives a lot of confidence to the captain as well; he’s a captain’s bowler.”

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February 20, 2017. The day of the auction was a special one for Thampi for more than the obvious reasons. He had clocked 140-plus in South Zone matches, and word had spread to the Indian camp. Ahead of the first Test in Pune, Thampi received a call to join the team’s net session to help them prepare for the visiting Australians’ pace attack.”The video analyst told me, ‘Basil, you have been picked by Gujarat Lions for 85 lakhs’, and I was like, ‘Woo,'” he says with a laugh. The sum was over eight times his base price.Thampi comes from a small town called Iringole, near Perumbavoor in Kerala, where his father runs a small business selling chips. His initiation into leather-ball cricket came rather late, when he was 16. Growing up in a state that is known for its fondness for football, Thampi grew up playing that sport. It wasn’t until he watched a cricket match at a local ground that he made contact with Vishwajit Prasad, who was running the Perumbavoor Cricket Club.”Two days before a league game, they rolled out a mat in our ground. It was very green, which made me just want to go there and bowl,” he says.

“He told me, ‘Whatever you do, don’t let the pace drop.’ That is something I have been carrying through my career”Thampi on Jeff Thomson’s advice

Thampi’s wish was fulfilled when he was invited by Vishwajit to bowl, and he immediately impressed the coach by generating bounce. Asked if he was interested in playing cricket, Thampi said yes. “He gave me shoes and a uniform. The league was starting and I took five wickets in the first match and finished as the top wicket-taker in that tournament.”Having started out playing Under-16 and Under-17 district matches, Thampi had worked his way up to the Under-19s when he started harbouring ambitions of playing for Kerala. He got there, but somewhere along the way, he was lured into walking away from the grind of sport and settling down. At 19, Thampi, playing for Swantons in Ernakulam South, sought the security of a steady income and a normal life. He did not believe cricket could provide for him and his family, and decided that he wanted to move to Dubai and start working.It took an hour-long counselling session from CM Deepak, the Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman, who referred him to Tinu Yohannan, the former India fast bowler. “He [Deepak] said to give it two more years and then do whatever you want,” Thampi says.Thampi worked with Yohannan in Chennai for about three months. He then received a call from Kerala to play in practice matches, and subsequently made it to the senior T20 team.The time in Chennai also included a fruitful stint at the MRF Pace Academy, where he was under the eyes of Glenn McGrath and M Senthilnathan, the chief coach. “Because I came from tennis-ball cricket, with my body alignment, it was difficult to bowl,” he explains. “They didn’t touch my action that much because I naturally have pace. So what they did was correct my body alignment, running technique, and I also improved my fitness.”Not all about pace: Thampi bowls a slower ball•BCCIThampi also had an encounter with Jeff Thomson during the ten-day camp. “He told me, ‘Whatever you do, don’t let the pace drop.’ That is something I have been carrying through my career, because whether it was Thomson, Tinu Yohanan, McGrath or Senthilnathan, they all told me the same thing, which was to not compromise on pace.”Thampi still works with Yohannan, trying to learn how to swing the ball, which he admits he needs to do to succeed in first-class cricket.The IPL contract has meant Thampi has seen big money fairly early in his career, but the virtues inculcated by a middle-class upbringing have helped him stay grounded. “Whatever amount I got was okay. The main thing for me was that I wanted to play. I got a good team and good team-mates. I come from a very village-type family. My friends are all from very middle-class families. No one is very rich or very poor. They are all very grounded people. I am also like that.””I think,” he adds after a pause.Thampi is also a self-admittedly shy man. But for as long as he’s on the field and has a ball in his hand, he certainly won’t be shying away from dishing out those toe-crushers.

Two new captains will face each other at Lord’s, but while Dean Elgar is just a stand-in, for Joe Root it is the beginning of his era of English cricket

George Dobell at Lord's05-Jul-2017So, Gary Ballance is England’s No. 3 and Liam Dawson has been promoted to be the No. 1 spinner. For a man criticised for some conservative selections in his first Test squad, these are bold decisions from Joe Root. The decisions of a man who knows what he wants and has the confidence to argue for them. It is not thought there was complete consensus over the Ballance decision, in particular.There’s a certain irony in Ballance winning a recall at Lord’s. It was after the Lord’s Test in 2015 that he was dropped; a decision that hit him hard and led to a period of introspection that eroded his confidence and resulted in the somewhat nervy batsman we saw for much of the subsequent 18 months.But if the selectors lacked confidence in him then, they have shown it in him now. And he owes his recall, above all, to the faith shown in him by his old flat-mate and new captain, Root.Ballance probably was a little unfortunate to be dropped in 2015. He had a poor Ashes Test at Lord’s in July, for sure, making 23 and 14, but he was not alone there. He had also made 61 in the first innings of the Cardiff Test and added 153 with Root to help their side recover from 43 for 3. In the context of the series, that was a vital partnership. It was less than three months since he had become the third-fastest England batsman in history to record 1,000 Test runs, too.But he was probably recalled too quickly, as well. He made one eye-catching century at Scarborough against Middlesex in July 2016 and found himself back in the Test side before his confidence had returned or he had settled back into a method that he truly trusted against top-quality bowling. His subsequent struggles in Bangladesh, albeit in tough conditions, saw him dropped again. Possibly permanently.But Root’s confidence in him has seen to an early recall. And he currently looks in terrific form. He is averaging 98.55 for Yorkshire this season and, while his technique – with little foot movement – will never be to everyone’s taste, it is not so unlike Marcus Trescothick’s. He has, he says, not changed – despite advice to do so – but rather reasoned that he is better to stick to what he does – and do it better.It’s not hard to see why Root likes Ballance. He is low-maintenance, good-humoured and managed to show – on the surface at least – an upbeat demeanour on the India tour when he must have been going through some turmoil under the surface. He also has a wonderful first-class record – he averages 49.95 – and, at county level, has started to dominate in the manner that Graeme Hick once did. It will have escaped nobody’s notice, however, that Hick was rarely able to translate his domestic dominance to international consistency. But Root knows he can trust him, has seen him succeed under pressure and believes in him. In short, he is the sort of man Root wants at his side when the going gets tough.Gary Ballance knows he is unlikely to get a fourth chance to cement his Test place•Getty ImagesDescribing Ballance’s current form as “phenomenal”, Root insisted his new No. 3 was “a completely different player” to the last time he represented England in October.”I look at how he has performed this year and the amount of runs he has scored and he has been phenomenal,” Root said. “He has generally scored runs when the side has been up against it. He is that sort of character and a lot of people asked questions about the last time he played for England but I look at his game now, as do the other selectors, and he is a completely different player. He is desperate to prove a point and score some runs in this series.”A fourth recall, in this day and age, is unlikely. So Ballance will know he has to make this chance count. Root admits that both he and Ballance would probably prefer to bat at No. 4 – Ballance has batted there for Yorkshire this season and for England Lions as recently as last week – but Root has concluded, reasonably enough, that he should decide where he bats.”I think No. 4 is where I play my best cricket and where I have scored my best runs,” Root said. “Hopefully moving forward that can be settled and help the team.”Among the doubts the England management expressed over Ballance was his ability to play the short ball. In particular, they felt he needed to pull or hook more often in order to put pressure back on the bowlers and lessen their ability to push him onto the back foot. He has certainly been pulling this season, though South Africa’s attack – blessed with pace as it is – are sure to test him in that regard. If he gets runs against this attack – and a green pitch at Lord’s may have them licking their lips – he will have earned a prolonged run in the side. If not… One way or another, Ballance’s future looks set to be decided in the next few weeks.”Gary is very aware of his game,” Root said. “He has worked very hard at it and looks like he has found ways of putting pressure back on bowlers and making sure he does not waste opportunities. In terms of his defence, he looks very assured.”The other interesting nugget from Root was the suggestion that Dawson was now considered the team’s No. 1 spinner. As he claimed only 20 wickets in the 2016 Championship season – 11 fewer than his team-mate Mason Crane and three fewer than Adil Rashid managed in the five Tests in India – that is some surprise. He was not, after all, one of the four spinners England named in their original Test squads ahead of the Asian tours at the end of last year.But he bowled tidily on his Test debut – he claimed 2-129 from 43 overs – and weighed-in with a half-century. While Rashid is certainly unfortunate, it seems England have wearied of his unpredictability (and Root, as a Yorkshire colleague, will know Rashid better than most). Instead they favour – as they have so often – a spinner who can tie down an end and offer a semblance of control. It is a reminder that England are not in a golden age of spin. The harsh would suggest they may not even be in a bronze age.”Dawson bowled with great control in India,” Root said. “He looked very at home and he will complement the rest of the attack as well.”And where does that leave Moeen? England’s utility player, the man who has batted everywhere from No. 1 to No. 9, now finds himself, for pretty much the first time in his Test career, playing as a batsman. Oh, yes, his batting has kept him in the side on many occasions. But he was picked originally as a spinner; a role Root now describes as “an add-on”.”We have our seven best batters in the country in our line-up,” Root said. “Moeen is one of our best batters. He will bat No. 7 and Jonny Bairstow No. 5. Moeen’s bowling can be an add-on to that and he can be very aggressive when he gets opportunity to bowl.”These are bold calls from Root.

Seventeen-year old Mumbai opener becomes just the second batsman after Smriti Mandhana to notch up a double-hundred in women’s Under-19 cricket in India

Annesha Ghosh in Aurangabad06-Nov-2017Seventeen-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues, the Mumbai U-19 captain, smashed an unbeaten 202 in the league-phase Inter-State women’s Under-19 one-day tournament on Sunday. In doing so, she became only the second player – after Maharashtra and India opener Smriti Mandhana – to notch up a double-hundred in an Under-19 fixture.While Rodrigues’ 163-ball blitz against Saurashtra at the Aurangabad District Cricket Association Ground steered her side to a 285-run victory on Sunday, her 148-ball 178 in Mumbai’s tournament-opener on earlier in the week handed Gujarat a 262-run drubbing at the same venue.Although Saurashtra, much like Gujarat, comprise one of the weakest attack of the five teams in the West Zone, Rodrigues, Mumbai’s opener, weathered an opening burst of short-ball bowling from the opposition captain Tanya Rao. Rodrigues negated the offensive with well-calculated pulls or by taking evasive action. Having set herself up, she plundered runs down the ground on her way to a 300-run second-wicket stand with Sejal Raut.”More than anything, I am happy that I got with my mom and dad around. But there’s more to be done in the crunch games,” Rodrigues told ESPNcricinfo. Her parents Ivan and Lavita often travel to watch her play. Another man, who would’ve been proud of the knock, is Tushar Arothe, the India women head coach, who was present at the venue.The Mumbai Under-19 team pose for a photograph•ESPNcricinfo LtdRodrigues dabbled in football and basketball at school. She is also a national-level hockey player. Playing multiple sports have required her to be agile and supremely fit, a factor that has been key to her heavy run-scoring ways in difficult conditions.Her fitness has aided her running between the wickets and the ability to sustain herself through a long innings. It complements her self-assured approach to the new ball and her natural ability to time the ball. “I see my game suited to that of an opener in whichever team I play for,” she said. “I plan out my innings in terms of boundaries. So if I hit 10 of them in say 30-40 balls, I know I’ve got my fifty, and that way, a hundred too.”Rodrigues made her U-19 debut at the age of 12-and-a-half during the 2012-13 season. Two years later, she broke into the Mumbai senior team. Now, she’s the vice-captain in both the one-day and T20 formats. The 2016-17 zonals, she recounts, was an “eye-opener of sorts”, for the importance of improving her fitness hit her hard and prompted an immediate enrollment at the gym.”I realised the difference between the seniors’ fitness and mine. If I have to be in the Indian team, nobody’s going to see if I’m 17 or 25. It’s only my performance that will speak for me, so my fitness has to be at par with the best.”If facing “experienced bowlers” at the NCA camp in October – for players on the selectors’ radar for the India A series – was a “huge confidence-booster”, Rodrigues said her interactions with Arothe were equally enriching. Arothe assisted her in “making a few minute but important technical changes” to her grip and backlift.And now, after clobbering the double-ton under Arothe’s watch, it may not be surprising if she gets to hone her skills under his tutelage, during the upcoming India A series later this month.

As John Hastings is forced to retire at 33, we look at the several Australia fast bowlers who have debuted before the age of 25 and struggled with injuries

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-2017Bruce Reid played his last Test at just 29•Getty ImagesBruce Reid
Debuted at 22 years
Last international at 29 years
Games: 27 Tests, 61 ODIsIt was after left-arm quick Bruce Reid’s career ended prematurely that Australia began trying to protect young fast bowlers. Reid, who was 6.6-foot tall, became Australia’s spearhead in the mid 1980s and had an impressive average of 24.63. But his slight frame was put under too much stress by the rigours of fast bowling, and after repeated injuries, he played his last Test at just 29.Jo Angel
Debuted at 24 years
Last international at 26 years
Games: 4 Tests, 3 ODIsAnother 6.6-foot quick, Angel looked a dangerous proposition in his early career, particularly on wickets that offered extra bounce, such as the WACA, his home pitch. While it was below-par performances that saw him dropped from the team initially, it was a succession of injuries that prevented him from making a comeback. He lost some of his pace, though he was still able to have a successful first-class career.Damien Fleming picked up some strange injuries, such as a strained patella•PA PhotosDamien Fleming
Debuted at 24 years
Last international at 31 years
Games: 20 Tests, 88 ODIsDamien Fleming won a World Cup and had some memorable performances in ODIs, but in Tests, his career never took off the way some expected when he announced himself with a hat-trick on debut. Injuries were a major reason for that. When he retired, Christian Ryan wrote of Fleming, “Fleming injured body parts that sounded more like pasta dishes. A strained patella here, a swollen rotator cuff there. Then maybe a stiff neck for variety, or a broken finger, or a bout of knee tendinitis. Fleming had ’em all.”Nathan Bracken
Debuted at 24 years
Last international at 32
Played 5 Tests, 118 ODIsNathan Bracken was injured before he could even make his Test debut. He was in Australia’s touring squad for the 2001 Ashes, but had to go home midway due to a shoulder injury. He became a regular in the one-day squad, but then had to undergo knee surgery. His knee was in such bad shape, the doctor said that during the surgery the cartilage came off like “old paint peeling off a wall”. Despite that, Bracken managed a comeback in limited-overs cricket and even became the No.1-ranked ODI bowler in the world. He had to reduce his pace significantly and bowled with the wicketkeeper standing up to the stumps, relying on cutters and slower balls to restrict the batsmen and take wickets. A recurrence of his knee problems forced him to retire early.Shaun Tait’s shoulder-heavy action took its toll on his body•Getty ImagesShaun Tait
Debuted at 22 years
Last international at 32 years
Games: 3 Tests, 35 ODIs, 21 T20IsShaun Tait is one of the quickest bowlers to have played the game and bowled the second fastest recorded ball ever when he sent one down at 161.1kph in a 2010 ODI against England. But the quest for speed and a slingy, shoulder-heavy action took its toll on Tait’s body. Having played just three Tests, he quit the longer format when he was just 25. After further injuries, he retired from ODIs at 28 and focused just on Twenty20 cricket for the rest of his career.Mitchell Starc
Debuted at 20 years
Still active
Games: 36 Test, 68 ODIs, 22 T20IsAt just 27, Mitchell Starc is already being wrapped in cotton wool by Cricket Australia, rested from even series as high profile as one in India so that he can be fit for the Ashes. A list of his injuries provides explanation for the board’s caution. In his short career, Starc has injured almost every part of his right leg, his left knee and shin and sustained a stress fracture in his back. He’s been out for extended spells, the longest one being six months in 2015-16, when he underwent a second surgery on his right ankle.James Pattinson
Debuted at 20 years
Still active
Games: 17 Tests, 15 ODIs, 4 T20IsIn 2011, Australia fans had reason to feel optimistic, with Pat Cummins and James Pattinson both debuting and looking like they would form a dangerous pace attack in the ears to come. But Pattinson picked up serious injuries at an early age. In his short career, he has already spent 38 months out with injuries. A recurrence of chronic back problems ruled him out of the 2017-18 Ashes, and he only returned to playing first-class cricket this November.John Hastings suffered several injuries before a lung condition ended his career•Getty ImagesPat Cummins
Debuted at 18 years
Still active
Games: 5 Tests, 36 ODIs, 18 T20IsAnyone who watched Pat Cummins’ Test debut, against South Africa in 2011, would never have expected that seven years later, he would have played just 14 Tests. Cummins had pace and the ability to get seam movement at a young age, but injuries to his foot and back kept him out for long spells, and he did not play a second Test till 2017, when he made what he called his “second debut”. Australia were, understandably, cautious in ushering Cummins back to international cricket after his early injuries, only considering him for limited-overs games until the India tour in 2017. Since that tour, Cummins has had another back injury, which kept him out of a Test series against Pakistan in the UAE in 2018.John HastingsDebuted at 24 years
Retired from Tests and ODIs, active on the T20 circuit
Games: 1 Test, 29 ODIs, 9 T20IsJohn Wayne “Duke” Hastings started off on the Australian domestic circuit as a 24-year-old, burly fast bowler with an ability to contribute with handy lower-order runs. Hastings was not an express quick like a number of others on this list, but suffered a spate of injuries as his career progressed. Debuts for Australia in both ODIs and T20Is were followed by a serious shoulder injury that ruled him out of the entire 2011-12 season, after which he took to the county circuit, representing Durham and Worcestershire. His purple patch at the international level came in 2016, when his 29 wickets from 15 ODIs made him the top wicket-taker among pace bowlers for the year. A back injury in early 2017 led to his decision to retire from both first-class and List A cricket, and he joined a growing band of cricketers who ply their trade as T20 professionals in franchise competitions around the world. In 2018, a mystery lung condition led to his retirement from all forms of cricket.

Most of the attention on Thursday was on Afghanistan who were making their debut in Test cricket, but the opening batsman demanded his own spotlight

Bharath Seervi14-Jun-2018Most of the attention on Thursday was on Afghanistan who were making their debut in Test cricket, but Shikhar Dhawan demanded his own spotlight, becoming the first Indian batsman, and sixth overall, to score a century before lunch on the first day of a Test match. He joined Victor Trumper, Charles Macartney, Don Bradman, Majid Khan and David Warner in achieving this unique distinction. The first three instances took place before the Second World War, which means Dhawan is only the third player to score 100 in the first session of a Test in last 80 years. He went to lunch on 104 off 91 balls with 19 fours and 3 sixes. He ran only 10 of his runs.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe previous record for highest score by an India batsman in the first session of a Test was 99 runs by Virender Sehwag against West Indies in Gros Islet in 2006. Sehwag occupies three of the top five spots on this list, which is made complete by Farokh Engineer, who scored 94 runs before lunch, also against West Indies, in Chennai in 1966-67.

Habit of hundred in a session
Scoring over 100 runs in a session is nothing new for Dhawan. He did so on debut, against Australia in 2012-13, scoring 106 runs in the second session of the third day. And last year, against Sri Lanka, he smashed 126 runs in the second session of first day in Galle. Only Don Bradman – six times – has scored 100-plus runs in a session on more occasions than Dhawan. Trumper, Wally Hammond and Sehwag have also done it three times.

Dhawan’s rapid big knocks
Dhawan usually plays big knocks at rapid pace. His strike-rate across seven centuries in Test cricket is a staggering 82.79. Among 38 batsmen who have scored five or more centuries since the start of 2013, only Brendon McCullum (84.79) has a higher strike-rate when he makes a century. Overall, only a handful of players have a higher bat quicker when making hundreds: Shahid Afridi (97.67), Adam Gilchrist (96.64), Kapil Dev (91.18), Warner (84.46) and Sehwag (83.49).ESPNcricinfo Ltd

James Anderson’s rematch with Virat Kohli was the most hotly anticipated head-to-head of the summer. It exceeded all expectations

Sidharth Monga02-Aug-2018This is an extract from ESPNcricinfo’s Live Report, written midway through Kohli’s innings, and in the immediate aftermath of his epic duel with James Anderson“I’m not sure he’s changed. I just think any technical deficiencies he’s got aren’t in play out here. The wickets just take that out of the equation.”It takes a brave man to say that when the “changed” batsman has scored 655 runs in the series. These were James Anderson’s words when asked about how Virat Kohli had overcome the issues that had plagued him in 2014. India were incensed. India fans hated Anderson for it. R Ashwin had a go at Anderson on the field. As a cricketing statement, if you take out emotion, this was a fair comment: Kohli was scoring all the runs with three things absent: movement, pace in the pitch and a Dukes ball that does things even when old.Kohli v Anderson: Round one went to the Englishman at Edgbaston*till tea on Day 2•ESPNcricinfo LtdThe build-up to the series was all about Kohli against Anderson, regarding which Michael Atherton made the best comment: Kohli is four years wiser, Anderson four years older. Yes Kohli has his issue with that defensive push to balls he could be leaving alone, but Kohli is indeed a much-improved batsman. And Anderson is 36 years old. He is a 36-year-old who remembers the pasting in India. A 36-year-old who beat Kohli’s bat only four times in a whole series in India and had those words he said then to back up now. A 36-year-old with still the best release in the game. A 36-year-old who had been reunited with two of those three ingredients that were missing in India: movement and a Dukes ball.Anderson had bowled seven overs already when Sam Curran removed M Vijay and KL Rahul in the same over to bring Kohli in. Those who covered India’s tour of England in 2011 have a great story to tell. Whenever India lost their second wicket, and no matter where Anderson was fielding at the time, he would start loosening up even as Sachin Tendulkar strapped his gloves on on the balcony. Here Anderson refused to be taken off.His 15-over spell was broken by a solitary Adil Rashid over before lunch and the lunch break. That’s how badly Anderson wanted to have a go at Kohli. What a go it was. He bowled 43 balls of laser-like precision, drawing movement each way. He took four edges – three that fell short, one that was dropped – he had Kohli risking a run-out in a desperate attempt to get off strike, and even nearly bowled him.Look at the pitch map for those 43 balls. There is not one ball on the stumps, but enough with movement back in to threaten them. This is personal. There is Kohli’s ego. He doesn’t want to get out to Anderson, but for that he has to swallow his ego and forget about scoring. He even tries to dominate Anderson early on, driving at two balls, but after one edge short of gully and another mis-hit, he goes back to playing disciplined cricket. He takes his risks against other bowlers. When he can get off strike and face them, that is.Getty ImagesWith Anderson getting the odd ball to move back in, Kohli knows he has to be watchful with every leave. Even getting off the strike involves opening the face, and that is a risk. Anderson is accurate. He doesn’t have the pace of four years ago, but he is deadly accurate. He simply delivers one patient blow after another on the tree. Weakening it every ball, asking Kohli how long he can leave balls alone before he tries a risky drive.Kohli is adamant. He will not repeat that early mistake. Yet the physical and mental demands are huge. Watching every ball so closely for, first, swing and, then, seam movement can be mentally taxing. You leave, leave, leave. Defend the ones that come back in. And once you are sapped mentally, you start to flag physically. Except Kohli doesn’t. He is alert to every loose ball at the other end. He is alert to quick singles. He is physically strong enough to take them.Anderson, though, is a wizard. In the course of these 43 balls, he has thoroughly worked Kohli over. Kohli might have kept himself from driving at Anderson, but he has played on Kohli’s bigger weakness. That defensive prod to a wide ball. If you middle it, it gets you nothing. In the process you leave yourself open to outside edges. Anderson draws one every 10 balls. One falls agonisingly short of gully, and sends Jos Buttler, the fielder, to hospital for scans on the finger. Reminiscent of how Kohli knocked AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis out of the South Africa tour with his outside edge. The second one falls short of a diving Jonny Bairstow and bounces over his glove for four. The third falls short of second slip.This all happens during a spell of play in which Anderson bowls 26 straight balls to Kohli. There hasn’t been anything to get him off strike either. When he tries, he nearly runs himself out. Both of Kohli’s scoring shots off Anderson have come off edges. The 26th ball is the coup de grace. Right in the channel, drawing that Kohli defensive shot, taking a healthy enough edge, but because the edges have been staying low, third slip begins to dive in front of Dawid Malan at second. Perhaps it puts him off. Either way, he drops Kohli.It could have been Kohli caught once again at slip for 21. It could have been India 100 for 6. It could have turned out to be the defining wicket of the series. It is none of the above. This is Kohli’s day. He has all the luck. On a quicker pitch, against a better slip cordon, Kohli doesn’t get out of single digits. To say otherwise – despite the epic effort from Kohli to keep India from folding for 120 – is to deny the existence of that beautiful concept in cricket: luck. To put Kohli’s effort down to plain luck is to deny his fortitude, his mental and physical fitness, his will to be personally the best player in the world and in the process try to carry his team with him.Anderson has to put all behind him, come back for another spell, keep beating Kohli again and again without success, watch him whittle down the deficit with a bloody-minded effort in the company of the tail. He has to forget his bad luck. He has to play like he doesn’t care about these things when he knows fully well that sometimes these things matter the most.

Australia’s four-session battle to save the Dubai Test is part of a select group of such performances by teams batting last, since 2010

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-2018

Five ODIs to remember, courtesy Australia and South Africa

Liam Brickhill03-Nov-2018″It’s always interesting when South Africa play against Australia,” said Dale Steyn in the lead-up to the opening ODI of the series between the two teams that begins on Sunday, and he’s largely right. Australia and South Africa have combined to produce classic encounters across all formats, and that’s particularly true in the annals of one-day cricket. They shared in World Cup semi-final, undeniably the greatest World Cup semi to date, going neck and neck in a tie at Edgbaston in 1999. As they gear up for three important ODIs in the lead-up to another World Cup in England 20 years later, we look back at five other times when the fierce competition between them has produced truly absorbing one-day cricket.Getty ImagesMiracle at the Bullring
Seven years after that Edgbaston semi-final came a match that was even more astonishing than its famous forebear. Edgbaston had seen 426 runs and 10 wickets across two innings resulting in the first ever World Cup tie; the first innings at the Wanderers brought a world record 434 runs all on its own, while in the second South Africa buried the ghosts of ’99 to script a scarcely believable victory by one wicket, with one ball to spare, amid a thunderous Bullring atmosphere. Herschelle Gibbs bettered Ricky Ponting’s 164 with the innings of his life, a sublime 175 from 111 balls, but it all came down to the final over, just as it had done at Edgbaston. In a grandstand finish, Brett Lee removed Andrew Hall with just two needed, No. 11 Makhaya Ntini brought the teams level, and Mark Boucher sealed the result with a punch over mid-on.An indoor tie in Melbourne
Amid the novelty of cricket played in winter, under the roof of the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, South Africa and Australia reprised what would become familiar roles with their second tie in six meetings. Indeed, the teams added to their unique shared narrative with what ESPNcricinfo’s match report called “a spectacular result at a spectacular venue on a spectacularly peculiar night of sport in Melbourne”. South Africa reached a respectable 226 for 8 in the first innings, a score underpinned by a typically feisty fifth-wicket stand of 87 between Jonty Rhodes and Mark Boucher. Australia had reached 146 for 2 in the 34th over before Nicky Boje and Lance Klusener sparked South Africa’s fightback with the ball, but the masterstroke was skipper Shaun Pollock’s decision to introduce Andrew Hall as a specialist death bowler as late as the 45th over of the innings. In three overs of unerring accuracy, Hall removed Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan for his first two international wickets and gave away just eight runs. In an electric atmosphere soaked up by the 35,724 people present, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie pinched two fours in the final over but Pollock held his nerve, running Gillespie out off his own bowling and, with two needed off the final ball, denied Australia with a pinpoint yorker. The tie tilted the momentum in the series, and South Africa won the final game by eight runs as, fittingly, the series spoils were shared 1-1.Two years, three ties
South Africa were still hunting their first win of the series going into the third match of five in Potchefstroom in 2002. They seemed to have virtually settled the result when a fired-up Makhaya Ntini nipped out Shane Watson, Andy Bichel and Brett Lee in successive overs and Australia slipped to 223 for 9 in pursuit of the hosts’ 259 for 7, but Jimmy Maher and a 20-year-old Nathan Hauritz brought the teams to yet another pulsating tie – remarkably, their third in a space of just over two years. The pair came together in the 46th over with 37 still required for victory and played with remarkable nerve to set themselves 19 to win off the last two overs and 11 off the last. A high full toss from Jacques Kallis, called no-ball and hit for three by Maher, left Australia needing seven off six balls and five tense tip-and-run singles followed until two were required off the last ball. Maher had paced his innings almost perfectly with 43 from 32, but crucially he was unable to retain the strike for the final delivery. Mark Boucher came up to the stumps but was swiftly sent back by Kallis, who radared in at Hauritz’ toes to keep the teams level once again.Steven Smith comes of age
Heading into the home summer in 2014, Steven Smith was a key player in Australia’s Test side but did not yet have a clear role in the one-day outfit and started the series against South Africa out of the side. An incredible hundred in one of Australia’s finest chases changed all that. Australia had dipped to what was effectively 6 for 98, with Nathan Coulter-Nile’s hamstring injury meaning he was unlikely to bat, when Smith was joined by Matthew Wade at the crease. Together they added 121 for the sixth wicket, reversing the pressure on South Africa. Smith took his team to the brink, and brought up his second ODI hundred, and though he didn’t quite last the distance, South Africa’s 267 for 8 was chased down with an over to spare. Remarkably, this was the first time Australia had beaten South Africa in an ODI at the MCG, Smith ending their jinx and launching his own batting renaissance. Starting from that home summer, Smith averaged 71.46 over the 2014-15 season, and then extended his good run in the years that followed.Hayden’s World-Cup blitzkrieg
South Africa beat Australia in their first ever World-Cup match against them in 1992, but the Australians have otherwise bossed most of their encounters at world tournaments – the Edgbaston tie notwithstanding. At the 2007 World Cup, South Africa went into their group game against Australia having bullied Scotland and Netherlands with displays of power-hitting, but in St Kitts Matthew Hayden gave them a taste of their own medicine. He blitzkrieged a 66-ball hundred – the fastest in World Cup history – as Australia racked up their third 300-plus total in a row, but their aura of invincibility seemed to have been punctured when Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers launched South Africa’s chase with a rollicking 160-run opening stand. Three events halted the frenetic chase: Shane Watson’s throw to run out de Villiers for 92, Jacques Kallis’ laboured effort from No. 3, and the cramps that took the vim out of Smith’s belligerent innings. Chasing Australia’s 377, South Africa had history in their grasp when they rocketed past 200 in the 29th over with just one wicket down, but they collapsed to 294 all out and Australia marched inexorably on to lift the World Cup for the third time in a row. Hayden not only left the ground as the fastest scorer of a World Cup hundred, but he was also granted honorary St Kitts citizenship and a life membership at the Royal St Kitts Golf Club.

Is Sarfraz Ahmed considering picking the allrounder Faheem Ashraf in place of the offspinner Bilal Asif?

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2018Two months ago, Bilal Asif made a sensational start to his Test career, bagging a six-for on debut to spark an Australian collapse from 142 for no loss to 202 all out. Since then, however, the offspinner’s wicket threat seems to have dulled: in his next seven innings, he has taken only five wickets, at an average of 52.20 and a strike rate of 129.60.In the first two Tests of the ongoing series against New Zealand, Bilal has only taken two wickets in 56 overs. While his economy rate (2.48) has been excellent, he hasn’t come close to matching his spin partner Yasir Shah (22 wickets at 15.81) as an attacking force.Perhaps this has made Pakistan ponder picking an extra seamer in their XI for the third and deciding Test in Abu Dhabi. On the eve of the game, they have named a 12-member squad that includes the uncapped left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi – who is almost certain to replace the injured Mohammad Abbas – as well as the seam-bowling allrounder Faheem Ashraf.It raises the possibility that Pakistan could go in with three seamers in Hasan Ali, Shaheen and Faheem, and Yasir as their lone spinner.”That will be decided only tomorrow, we will look at the pitch tomorrow and then decide whether to go with three seamers or not,” Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed said on Sunday.Sarfraz hinted that Faheem’s inclusion may also have had something to do with Pakistan’s next Test assignment, their tour of South Africa where they will play three Tests starting with the Boxing Day game in Centurion.”We are trying to give more confidence to Bilal,” Sarfraz said. “The focus is on this Test, [but] of course we have an eye on the South Africa tour, there you will play with four seamers.”Faheem has played three Tests so far, all on Pakistan’s tour of the UK in May-June, where he served a useful function as one of two allrounders in the lower order alongside the legspinner Shadab Khan. He is yet to play a Test in the UAE.Apart from Bilal’s lack of wickets, another reason behind Pakistan mulling three seamers could be Shaheen’s rawness – he is 18, and has only played three first-class games so far – which might necessitate the security of an extra seamer.Even otherwise, Sarfraz is known to favour having three three seamers in his attack, even on the slow pitches of the UAE. In his first two Tests as captain, during the home series against Sri Lanka last year, he fielded Yasir as a lone spinner alongside a three-man pace attack.It was a notable departure from the selection policy under Sarfraz’s predecessor Misbah-ul-Haq, who tended to favour playing a pair of spinners.Pakistan lost both Tests against Sri Lanka, and Sarfraz came in for criticism for the workload Yasir was put through – he bowled 151.5 overs in the two Tests.Sarfraz went back to a 2-2 combination when Pakistan began their 2018-19 home season against Australia, but Faheem’s inclusion in Pakistan’s XII suggests there is a chance of a return to 3-1.