All the key stats from the second Test between South Africa and Bangladesh in Gqeberha

Sampath Bandarupalli11-Apr-20222 Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer became only the second pair to take all ten wickets while bowling unchanged on two occasions as South Africa beat Bangladesh in Gqeberha. They had achieved this feat for the first time during the first Test in Durban. Australia’s Charlie Turner and JJ Ferris are the only other pair to do so on two different instances.3 Seven-plus wicket hauls for Maharaj in Test cricket, the second-most by a South Africa bowler, behind Hugh Tayfield (4). Maharaj is also the second bowler to pick up a seven-for in successive Tests for South Africa after Tayfield (vs England in 1957).150 Number of Test wickets for Maharaj, the second South Africa spinner to achieve the milestone. Tayfield was the first, finishing with 170 wickets in 37 Tests.ESPNcricinfo Ltd27 Number of wickets between the South Africa and Bangladesh spinners in the second Test. These are the most wickets picked up by spinners in a Test in South Africa. The previous highest was 23 during the 1936 Durban Test between South Africa and Australia.141 Balls needed for the South Africa spinners to pick up all ten wickets in Bangladesh’s second innings. Only once did the spinners bowl fewer balls in a Test innings for all ten wickets – 114 balls by Maharaj and Harmer against Bangladesh in the previous Test in Durban.15 Wickets between Maharaj and Harmer in Gqeberha, the joint-most by South Africa spinners in a home Test. Their spinners had shared 15 wickets on two occasions previously – against England in Gqeberha in 1949 and against Australia in Durban in 1950. Overall, the most their spinners took in any Test was 16 against Australia in Melbourne in 1952.2 Instances of a half-century and a five-for in the same Test for Maharaj; both came at the St George’s Park in Gqeberha. Shaun Pollock (3) and Jacques Kallis (2) are the only other South Africa players to achieve this double more than once.

Also pieces of India’s middle-order puzzle start to come together in the ODI clean sweep against West Indies

Shashank Kishore11-Feb-20221:15

Chopra: Kuldeep is a wicket-taker, and wicket-takers can be expensive

Rohit Sharma’s India wrapped up a 3-0 ODI whitewash of West Indies. As such, the series proved to be one-sided, with the visitors failing to bat out 50 overs even once. India used the series to try out a few options and came back with a better idea of what their larger squad could look like as they build slowly towards the 2023 World Cup.The Kohli presence
With the bat, Virat Kohli had a forgettable series. He only managed scores of 8, 18 and 0. Two of those three dismissals were nicks behind: one off the outside edge, another being a strangle down leg. In the series opener, he came out swinging, hitting two boundaries in three balls before perishing to a miscued pull off the fourth. And so, century No. 71 will have to wait. He has now gone 68 innings without a hundred. Incidentally, his previous century – against Bangladesh in India’s pink-ball Test debut in November 2019 – came at the venue where India flies to for the T20Is.”Virat Kohli needs confidence? What are you saying, ,” Rohit laughed when asked if the former captain’s form was a matter of worry. “Not hitting hundreds is different but in South Africa, he just made two fifties in three matches. I don’t see anything wrong with his game. The team management is not at all worried.”On the field, Kohli the non-captain was a lively presence without the yelps into the mic or giving send-offs to the batter. There were no roars of “come on” belted out either. Perhaps, the one-sided nature of the series may have something to do with it, but the Kohli who took the field against West Indies seemed jovial. He was chuckling away in the infield, doing jigs to celebrate wickets, and being a smiling presence in general on the field. There was an occasion in the first ODI where he stepped in to help Rohit Sharma place fields as he brought on Yuzvendra Chahal. Then, he ran up to the legspinner to quietly slip in a word as Kieron Pollard walked in, and celebrated wildly the West Indies’ captain’s first-ball duck after he missed the googly.Alzarri Joseph is over the moon after dismissing Virat Kohli, whose wait for international century No. 71 continues•BCCIChahal and Kuldeep shine
Kuldeep Yadav cut a forlorn figure most times when the cameras panned to him in the Kolkata Knight Riders dugout last year. In 2020, he’d played all of five games for them. In 2021, he didn’t play a single game in the first half of the IPL and got injured during the second. With the team management preferring Varun Chakravarthy’s mystery, Kuldeep, once a certainty in India’s XI, seemed low on confidence and form.A shoulder surgery and three months of rehabilitation later, he made a comeback and bowled well in his only outing in the series. Kuldeep started with a flatter trajectory, but the confidence of plenty of runs to defend and an opposition batting unit that was in self-destruct mode allowed him to flight the ball. He got tonked the few times he gave it a tad too much flight, but spun out two wickets, including that of West Indies stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran, who was out driving. A few overs earlier, he had bamboozled Fabian Allen with his mastery, by teasing him with his loop and then deceiving him in the air to have him caught behind.”We wanted to rest Chahal to see what Kuldeep has to offer [in the third game] and I thought he bowled brilliantly,” Rohit said. “I can see glimpses of the old Kuldeep. He was flighting the ball, bowling those googlies and getting the batters to nick to the slips and that is what he has done in the past. It was good to see him bowl that way.”He’s playing an ODI after a long time. He got hit for a few runs but honestly that didn’t matter. I told him not to worry about that stuff, I told him ‘you need to get your rhythm back and we’re here to support you’.”Before Kuldeep came in, Chahal kept his end of the bargain by being a wicket-taker whenever the ball was thrown to him. He was named Man of the Match in the first ODI for his four-for. In the second, he bowled tidily to pick up one wicket. The faster-through-the-air Ravi Bishnoi will have to wait for an ODI debut.Deepak Hooda did his reputation no harm in the opportunities he got•Associated PressIyer, Suryakumar grab opportunities
Having brushed aside comparisons with Michael Bevan, he did exactly what Michael Bevan might have done for Australia in his pomp: revive a floundering innings with a sturdy knock. Suryakumar Yadav top scored with 64 in the second ODI. He looked good for a lot more but fell against the run of play.In the final ODI, Shreyas Iyer, who at this time last year was stretchered off clutching his shoulder against England, combined to have crucial partnerships with Rishabh Pant to stem the damage after a top-order collapse. He top scored with 80 to set the tone for India’s innings, thereby serving a reminder of his middle-order chops.In his two outings of the series, Deepak Hooda showed he was no pushover. His two knocks brought him scores of 26* and 29. In the first, he came in with India having lost four quick wickets in a low-pressure chase. In the second, he tried to hold the lower order together before perishing in the final overs. He also nipped out the wicket of Shamrah Brooks – West Indies’ top scorer in that second game.Another key piece in the middle-order puzzle, Washington Sundar bowled with tact and made useful contributions with the bat.Prasidh Krishna played India’s pace spearhead in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami•BCCIPrasidh Krishna’s giant strides
With Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah resting, Prasidh Krishna put on a stellar show right through the series. He nipped the ball both ways, beat the inside and outside edges with zip and bounce, and kept a lid on the runs early on to build enough pressure around batters before getting them. In the second ODI, he returned career-best figures.Deepak Chahar, brought in for the third ODI, also did his reputation no harm. Having fallen agonisingly short of taking India home with the bat in the final ODI against South Africa in Cape Town, he ensured a cameo towards the death in the final ODI against West Indies got India to a competitive total. With the ball, he married swing with accuracy to nip out two top-order wickets in the same game.”We were looking for someone like him to come out and bowl those overs in the middle and get us those breakthroughs,” Rohit said of Prasidh’s impact. “We saw that clearly, the way he bowled in the last two games, with a lot of pace, we could see he got something out of the pitch as well. He’s definitely a prospect for the future. There’s no doubt about that.”

Old-ball graft and final-day burst highlight slingy seamer’s invaluable qualities

Cameron Ponsonby20-Mar-2022It’s good. It’s promising. All that learning stuff that Andrew Strauss spoke about before the tour? This is it, here. Saqib Mahmood has passed his GCSECBs.Four wickets on debut, with a fifth ruled out for overstepping: this was an excellent start for the Lancastrian quick who finished the second Test in Barbados with the best match figures of any fast bowler on a pitch that offered them next to no assistance.Mahmood looks like he could be the round peg for the round hole in England’s bowling attack. For years, the accusation against this team has been that their ten-deep bucket of identikit right-arm seamers created a bowling attack too one-size-fits-all to pose any sort of challenge away from home. They needed something different.Related

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Which is where Mahmood comes in. His abilities complement the needs of a set-up awash with opening bowlers adept on the green seamers of Edgbaston and Lord’s. Where others want the new ball, he’ll have the old. Where others swing the ball conventionally, he reverses it. Where others bowl quickish, he bowls fast. He is the family member whose favourite Celebration chocolate is a Bounty, hoovering up with joy what others avoid.”You want to be the guy the captain throws the ball to,” Mahmood said at the close on day four. “To break partnerships and take wickets. That’s the stuff I get satisfaction from. On green seamers, every seamer feels in the game but on ones like this, I really want to be a guy who can stand up and break a partnership.”Mahmood’s peak in this game arguably came in the moment that was taken away. His yorker – which clean-bowled Jermaine Blackwood – tailed in and beat the set batter for pace, only for it to be ruled out as Mahmood had overstepped.His average speed in this Test was only around 82mph/133kph, though he occasionally touched 88mph/141kph: not lightning fast, but his catapult-style action gives him the impression of a bowler who feels quicker than the numbers suggest. It was a delivery more reminiscent of Jasprit Bumrah than Jake Ball and should give England hope that they have a bowler who, rather than being dependent on conditions, is able to operate independently of them entirely.”I felt like criminal number one, the biggest criminal out here,” Mahmood reflected. “I was pretty gutted but tried not to let it affect me. Rooty spoke to me and said ‘you bowled great; don’t let it affect you’. Stokesy said he did the same for his first wicket. I was just concentrating on the task ahead more than anything. I’m glad we got him out because every run he scored made me feel horrible.”His burst on the final day – where he dismissed both Shamarh Brooks as well as half-wall, half-human Nkrumah Bonner – gave England hope in a situation that otherwise seemed desperate. The ball to Brooks may not have moved masses, but the one to Bonner did, with movement off the seam in conditions where all others had failed to break from the straight and narrow. The ability for a seamer to break through in unhelpful conditions is something that England have been screaming out for; on debut, Mahmood took the first step to answering the call.Mahmood struck in his first over on the final day•Getty ImagesThere might be an element of redemption in this debut for Mahmood as well. First called into a squad in 2019, he has been around the set up for much of the two years since. England know Mahmood well. For that reason, it would be fair to wonder whether the odd doubt ever entered his mind that perhaps England had seen what he had to offer and not liked it. This tour really did represent an ‘if not now, then when?’ moment for Mahmood.But if England didn’t see it before, they do now. “It was really impressive,” Root said, “[…] on a wicket like that, to seem so effective and to offer so much. He burst the game open for us [with] a brilliant spell. He created a lot of pressure and made things happen on a wicket where no seamer looked like they could. It’s a great sign for him and for us.”In the fourth innings, Mahmood bowled the most of any seamer, and more than Chris Woakes and Fisher combined. After the tea break, with seven wickets in a session needed for victory, Mahmood was the man Root turned to.Mahmood remains close with his former academy director at Lancashire, John Stanworth. Recalling watching him bowl for the first time at the tender age of 14, Stanworth said: “It was just, ‘wow, who’s this?’ You knew just straight away there was something to engage with.” Many of the England supporters watching Mahmood bowl with a red ball for the first time this week will have thought much the same thing.

Once mocked as a bits-and-pieces player, India’s No. 7 continues to have the last laugh

Nagraj Gollapudi02-Jul-20222:28

Ashley Giles: ‘Ravindra Jadeja showed great maturity in near-flawless knock’

The first ball Ravindra Jadeja faced on Friday was curving into him from James Anderson. The ball swung fast in towards his legs, but Jadeja dug it out without missing a beat. Standing inside the crease, bat close to the body, Jadeja made contact with the ball right under his eyeline. There was no hurried or abrupt movement.Soon it became clear that Jadeja was not going to have a rush-of-blood moment in trying to counterattack his way out of the situation India were in. He was taking a big stride towards the pitch of the delivery while playing, as far as possible, with a full face. His bat remained tucked close to his body to avoid any nicks and, like all good batters, he played the ball late.Related

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Two days before this Test, Jadeja had spent the majority of his time in the nets practising that big stride towards the delivery and focusing on defending. But don’t think this was Jadeja adding a new string to his bow. It was more a case of him polishing the wares he put on display in the first four Tests of the Pataudi Trophy last summer. Measured in terms of balls played for lower-order batters so far in this series, Jadeja has faced nearly double that of the next person across either side: 459 deliveries, after the Edgbaston innings, with Rishabh Pant a distant second at 259.In their first innings of the first Test, at Trent Bridge, Jadeja came in at 145 for 5 and then helped India take 95-run lead, scoring 56 over two hours. India were in pole position chasing a short target before the fifth day was washed out.At Lord’s, where India recorded a memorable comeback, among the many psychological battles the visitors won, prominent again was Jadeja, who was the last man out, helping them to 364 in the first innings, having come at 282 for 5. He might have made just 40 runs, but they came off 120 balls and 160 minutes – highlighting both his grittiness as well as the ultimate aim of ensuring a healthy total. In the fourth Test, Jadeja conjured something out of nothing from a lifeless Oval pitch, which showcased his strength as an allrounder as well validating his selection over R Ashwin, who has sat out all the five Tests in this series.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhen he walked in on Friday afternoon, the ball might have grown a bit old – 28 overs – but the conditions remained overcast through the day. For the initial part of his partnership with Pant, Jadeja matched his partner’s scoring rate (Jadeja was 24 off 34 while Pant was 25 from 31 deliveries). Even as Pant started to score more freely, Jadeja did not get distracted. He slipped effortlessly into the role of playing second fiddle, in the process taking more strike and facing more questions from the England quicks. From Anderson to Matthew Potts to Stuart Broad to Ben Stokes – each of them attacked his off stump by pitching on a length and shaping the ball away. Barring a few occasions where he did fall for the bait, Jadeja kept his bat tucked in. When they bowled short, he did not pull awkwardly, instead ducking away.But when the opportunity presented itself – against a shorter ball or a fuller delivery – Jadeja had no qualms in taking them on and putting them away. Take the pushed straight drives on both sides of the wicket against Anderson and Broad on Friday afternoon: playing late and leaning into the shot, Jadeja used his powerful wrists to flick strokes without overhitting them. Once against a short delivery from Broad, Jadeja steered behind square for a certain boundary, but Ollie Pope, at backward point, threw himself to his right to intercept. Jadeja, instantly punched his bat.Against Anderson and Potts, Jadeja’s control dropped to 74% and 76% respectively, but overall his in-control numbers were at 82%. That might not appear high, but keeping in mind the conditions along with the quality of the bowling attack, you could say it was good.In the same over Pant brought up his century, Jadeja twirled his bat to celebrate his half-century, which had taken 20 more balls that the former’s ton (Jadeja reached 50 off 109 balls, compared to Pant getting to three figures in 89). As Pant said after play on Friday evening, both he and Jadeja wanted to solely focus on creating a partnership instead of adding pressure on themselves.Ravindra Jadeja got to his century off 183 balls after walking in with India at 98 for 5•AFP/Getty ImagesIf Stokes and England were not aware that Pant and Jadeja are among the best lower-order batters for the last three years, having conducted several rescue acts, they now know. Anderson pointed out that Jadeja had grown into a “proper batter”. “In the past he was coming at eight, batting with the tail so he had to chance his arm a little bit, whereas now at seven he can bat like a proper batter. He leaves really well and made it difficult for us.”In March Jadeja scored 175 against Sri Lanka to take a record from Kapil Dev for the highest score by an Indian No. 7 or lower. ESPNcricinfo analyst Shiva Jayaraman produced in-depth piece explaining how Jadeja had become a sting in the tail for the opposition since 2017. Updated numbers show 591 of Jadeja’s 1652 runs since 2017 – 35.8% – have come with India already six down. That is the highest for batters with a cut-off of at least 1000 runs in the last five years.Since 2019, with a cut-off of a minimum of 15 Test innings, Jadeja has taken on average 2.9 innings for a 50, which is the quickest for India, even better than the likes of Rohit Sharma (3.3) and Pant (3.5). In the same period, among all teams, Jadeja has the highest average of 51.45 (minimum cut-off of 10 innings) for No. 6 and lower batters.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhen Pant got out six overs before the finish on day one, Jadeja was on 68. India were still some way off a desired score of 400. Jadeja resumed with the same plan and method he had deployed the previous afternoon, rode his luck once, as England’s slips fumbled a catch, and next ball whipped a cut that brought up his third century, and first overseas.Then came the celebration which also carried a message. Jadeja stood mid-pitch, both arms aloft, one holding a helmet, the other his bat, looking across the ground, as if to ask: ladies and gents, did you expect anything less from me? On the back of a difficult season personally at the IPL, after he stepped down as captain at Chennai Super Kings at the halfway stage and then abruptly left the tournament, it may have felt that much more special.Heart, courage and character have defined Jadeja the cricketer. Once mocked as a bits-and-pieces player, Jadeja simply laughed back at his critics with enough spectacular acts – with bat, ball, as a gun fielder. At the end of the media briefing on Saturday he even joked saying people could now describe him as: “Fielder who bats and bowls.”An important element of Jadeja’s batting which is often overlooked is his pursuit of discipline, which has helped him become the Mr Dependable in the lower order.

We look at the data and tactics to explore at this World Cup – with help from David Hussey

Andrew McGlashan and S Rajesh12-Oct-2022Australia has never staged a men’s T20 World Cup, and due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, over the last couple of seasons, T20Is have only been played in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. So how will the tournament, which will be staged across seven venues, possibly play out?With a combination of data – from all T20s from October 1, 2020 to October 1, 2022 – and expert insight from David Hussey, who has coached Melbourne Stars in the BBL for five seasons, we try to paint a picture of the characteristics of each venue and how that could impact tactics.Global trendsFirst, a glance at how T20 in Australia compares to the rest of the world. Across a number of metrics, the figures for the format in Australia sit mid-table, suggesting games played in the country are not at either extreme in global terms. But there are a few factors that stand out.Related

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Much is often made about the size of the grounds in Australia (although these days it depends on how far in the rope is), but the fact that the country has the second-lowest boundary percentage in T20 suggests there is some truth to the belief. At 54.1% of runs in fours and sixes, only South Africa (51.7%) has a lower figure. For sixes alone, Australia is again second lowest, with maximums accounting for 20.6% of runs, behind South Africa (19.6%).That more threes are scored is linked to this. In Australia, batters score a three on average every 127.7 deliveries, which is by far the lowest figure. The next lowest is England at 235.4 deliveries. For twos as well, Australia has the lowest per-balls rate of 11.4, ahead of New Zealand at 13.1. So it would appear that batters should get their running shoes on.

Tom Banton and Joe Clarke embodied a disastrous Hundred campaign

Matt Roller29-Aug-2022It was the £250,000 gamble that defined a season. Welsh Fire finished second-bottom in the inaugural men’s Hundred and with limited availability for leading overseas players, they calculated that rebuilding around two of England’s best young white-ball batters would be the way to go – not just for 2022, but for the seasons beyond.As a result, they used their top two picks in the draft to sign Joe Clarke and Tom Banton for £125,000 each. Neither player seemed an outlandish top-bracket signing at the time: Clarke had been in belligerent form for Nottinghamshire in the Blast for several years and was Melbourne Stars’ player of the season at the BBL, while Banton had just returned to England’s T20I side and shown glimpses of his old form after a lean couple of years.Five months on, Fire’s outlay on Clarke and Banton looks like a monumental waste of money: they managed 185 runs off 190 balls between them, spread across 14 painstaking innings. They were picked to be match-winners for a team that ended up finishing the season with eight defeats from eight.Related

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In Fire’s final defeat, against Trent Rockets on Monday night, their dismissals summed up their lack of form: Banton was pinned on the pad for 9 off 7 balls by a shin-high full toss from Sam Cook after slashing two boundaries through point, while Clarke walked past Samit Patel’s slow left-arm after hitting a huge six over midwicket but precious little else in his 15 off 14.”We are playing professional sport and it hasn’t been good enough,” Gary Kirsten, Fire’s head coach, said after their defeat to Northern Superchargers in their final home game. “You have to be competitive and look to win, but we’ve struggled. We just haven’t got enough runs on the board because too many batsmen are out of form.”Kirsten’s analysis was sound, but if the Hundred has any sporting integrity as a tournament then he should not be the man in charge of leading their rebuild next year. His side won their first two games last season thanks to Jonny Bairstow half-centuries, and have one win in fourteen since then; it is time for a new coach with fresh ideas.Jonny Bairstow’s late withdrawal was a significant blow•Getty ImagesThey will need to replace their captain, too. Josh Cobb was retained from their 2021 squad on a £30,000 salary, the lowest price point in the tournament, then handed a poisoned chalice when he was asked to be the figurehead of a team featuring young players earning four times more than him. His tactics in the field have been sound, but 45 runs at 6.42 summed up his struggles.Clearly, they were short on luck at times: Bairstow was only ever due to play three games for them but his eleventh-hour withdrawal was clearly a blow; Naseem Shah’s first involvement in Pakistan’s limited-overs teams rendered him unavailable at short notice; David Miller started the year in career-best form and averaged 12.16.But the collective failure of so many talented players hints at a problem that goes beyond on-field personnel and the overall pattern was grim: they failed to reach 150 and while they ran Phoenix close and gave London Spirit a brief scare, six of their defeats were thrashings. The first ball of their final defeat against Rockets, a bottom-edge which squirmed under George Scrimshaw at short third and away for four, seemed to confirm that it is time to rip everything up and start again.Debriefing Fire’s season on Sky Sports, Simon Doull and Dominic Cork suggested that they had suffered a lack of identity after assembling a squad without a single Glamorgan player in it. “That’s my biggest issue with it,” Doull said. “You cannot tell me that Glamorgan don’t have any players that are good enough to play in the Hundred.”But it is hard to make the case that drafting Dan Douthwaite and Prem Sisodiya would have turned their season around. No team has won fewer Blast games than Glamorgan over the last five years and only two of their squad – Timm van der Gugten and the retiring Michael Hogan – are involved in the Hundred at all. Their problems run much deeper than that.Gary Kirsten and Josh Cobb oversaw a winless season•Harry Trump/Getty ImagesInstead, the starting point to the rebuild might be to recruit an overseas batter with full availability for 2023 as captain: Shan Masood, who has led Derbyshire and Multan Sultans with success, would be a strong candidate to deal with the slow pitches at Sophia Gardens, while New Zealand’s clear schedule in the FTP could, in theory, open up Kane Williamson’s involvement.Whatever they decide to do, the only way is up. The ECB’s decision to allocate one of the eight teams to Cardiff rather than Bristol or Taunton was intended to revitalise cricket in Wales but it is hard to see supporters heading back to Sophia Gardens next season if they are expecting more of the same.The beauty about short-form cricket is meant to be that anyone can beat anyone, particularly in tournaments where a strict salary cap and draft mechanism are in place to ensure competitive balance. The men’s Hundred’s biggest issue in 2022 has been a dearth of tight finishes: the tournament cannot afford Welsh Fire to be whipping boys.

Alan, Miller and Osman sift through the runs and records after England’s extraordinary victory in the first Test against Pakistan

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2022The first Test between Pakistan and England in Rawalpindi began amid uncertainty about whether the tourists could field a side, and ended with a Ben Stokes-orchestrated victory in the fading light on day five. In between, England rewrote the record books for rapid scoring, piling up totals of 657 and 264 for 7 across 136.5 overs of mayhem. On this week’s Switch Hit podcast, Alan Gardner was joined by Andrew Miller and Osman Samiuddin to discuss the game itself, Stokes’ inspirational captaincy and what England’s “Bazball” revolution means for Test cricket as a whole.