All posts by h716a5.icu

Stats highlights from the second quarter-final, between Bangladesh and India at the MCG

Bishen Jeswant19-Mar-2015100 ODI victories for MS Dhoni, the third-most for any captain. The only captains with more ODI wins are both Australian, Ricky Ponting (165) and Allan Border (107).17 Wickets taken by Mohammed Shami in this World Cup, the most for any bowler. He took two wickets in this game and went past Mitchell Starc who has taken 16 wickets so far.2 Hundreds scored by Rohit Sharma at the MCG. He is one of only three visiting batsmen to score two ODI tons at the ground, along with David Gower and Viv Richards.7 World Cup centuries that have been scored at the MCG, the most at any venue. The second-most centuries scored at a single venue is six, at the National Stadium in Karachi.99 Runs scored by India in the first 25 overs of their innings. India scored 203 runs in the last 25 overs.11 Consecutive wins for India in World Cups, the second longest winning streak after Australia’s 25-match run between 1999 and 2011. Including the five wins in the 2013 Champions Trophy, India now have 16 consecutive wins in global ICC ODI events.83.8 Rohit’s batting average at the MCG, the highest for any batsman who has scored at least 300 runs at this venue. Aaron Finch with a batting average of 65.2 is next on the list with 391 runs.7 Consecutive games where India have bowled out their opponents, the most for any team in World Cups. India’s opposition in these games have included five Test nations – South Africa, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, West Indies and Bangladesh.0 India are the only team not to have lost a single wicket in the batting Powerplay during this World Cup. India scored 50 for 0 during the batting Powerplay today.72.8 India’s win percentage in World Cup knockout matches, the best for any team. India have eight wins from 11 matches. Australia have the second-best percentage (71.4%) with 10 wins from 14 matches.4 Instances since 2002 where teams have gone on to make a 300-plus score after making less than 100 at the end of 25 overs. This is the second such instance in this World Cup. India were 99 for 2 after 25 overs before going on to post 302. Earlier this World Cup, West Indies made 304 against Ireland after being 93 for 5 at the end of 25 overs.

Sunrisers Hyderabad chop, change and even leave out the big names, it is this unpredictability that sometimes makes it difficult for oppositions to come out with a set plan against them

Sidharth Monga in Mohali27-Apr-2015Sunrisers Hyderabad have to be one of the more interesting teams to follow in the IPL. They don’t have the feel-good underdog qualities of Rajasthan Royals (when their owners are not being accused of hanky panky), they don’t have the efficiency of Chennai Super Kings (even when they need to make a request or two to acquire Andrew Flintoff), they don’t do as much charity work as Mumbai Indians do, but they mix and match charm and flaw. With their ordinary auctioning and their subsequent selections, there is no way they can be boring the Jose Mourinho fashion.Sunrisers don’t plan well in the off-season, they let the best dancer-cheerleader Kris Srikkanth go, they auction poorly, but somehow manage dream pairings. David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan. Two left-hand openers who not long ago were sledging each other but are now scoring 50% of their team’s runs. Trent Boult and Dale Steyn. The newest swing bowler in town taking over from old master on the decline. And for the lovers of a good old pair of Meerut’s kainchi [scissors], there are the Kumars, Bhuvneshwar and Praveen. A Kumar too many for the Indian team, but both at home in the same XI in the T20 competition.Yet the rest are such ordinary selections that it seems these six are fighting not just the other team but also their own team-mates. Which other team bids for three England batsmen, the least valued commodity in Twenty20 cricket, and still miss out on Alex Hales? It can be fascinating to watch the other six rise above mediocrity around them mainly because they have it in them.Against Kolkata Knight Riders, in a shortened game (how much more can you shorten it?) and with a wet ball, with the opposition only three down, the Kumars unleashed a spate of yorkers and low full tosses to defend 36 in three overs. That after the rest of the side had managed only 46 in 5.4 overs since Warner’s dismissal.In Mumbai, when the Kumars and Boult and Steyn all played together, they kept the hosts down to 157 for 8 on a pitch with a par score of 180, then Dhawan and Warner took them to 45 in five overs, but the rest contrived to lose by a whopping 20 runs. Coming to Mohali, Sunrisers kept persisting with the bumbling Ravi Bopara – with Kane Williamson and Eoin Morgan on the bench – and also had to break the duo of Boult and Steyn, hoping an allrounder will strengthen the poor middle order a bit.So now six good men was reduced to five. How were they going to respond? On a green pitch with the ball moving around and with Dhawan out early, Warner batted as if on another surface, in another universe. While he was at the wicket he scored 58 off 41, the rest 18 off 18 – and that includes extras. It was a display of both daring and execution. He knew he couldn’t let Mitchell Johnson settle so he kept making room and kept using his pace. There was a top-edged six, but it was forgotten immediately to forward-defence one through mid-on for four. Sandeep Sharma began with a maiden to him in the first over of the game, but was taken to pieces as he let the ball swing and drove him late before cashing in with a fourth boundary in the fifth over when Sandeep pitched short as a reaction.Despite a green pitch Warner had given Sunrisers a start that would be good for 180 for any other team but that’s not how Sunrisers roll. Nobody who has followed Sunrisers this season could predict with any confidence what they would get. If Warner batted till the end, 200 was gettable, if he got out at that instant they could struggle to add even 60 runs in the last 10 overs. It even looked like a wicket might fall every time he was at the non-striker’s end. You want T20-style uncertainty? You get it every moment with Sunrisers.And then Warner got out in the 10th over. And once again while Sunrisers’ Indian domestic batsmen will get the stick – and the axe in KL Rahul’s case – it was the overseas players failing to take that extra responsibility. If it was Bopara who failed to get a move on against Mumbai, this time Moises Henriques scored 30 off 32 to go with Bopara’s two-ball duck. Henriques, though, can be called on to bowl more regularly than Bopara, and at least he got himself out with there being a theoretical chance of a win. Ashish Reddy got them to 150, and Sunrisers have now defended 150 or less half the times they have posted it.The delightful bowling combination then swung it early in the piece and yorked it late, and despite all the luck Wriddhiman Saha – two dropped catches, a boundary off the thigh pad from outside off to fine leg – brought with him to Mohali, they won by 20 runs. This team might not win the title, and it will be some ride if they do, but they will be the ones to watch out for twists and turns.

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2015A 55-run stand ensued between Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma, but Rohit fell at the stroke of lunch, edging Dhammika Prasad to slip after making 26•AFPPrasad struck again on the first ball after lunch to get rid of Stuart Binny for a golden duck, to bring on debutant Naman Ojha•AFPAs Pujara kept the scoreboard ticking, he lost partners at regular intervals. Ojha holed out, trying to swat Tharindhu Kaushal for a six, while R Ashwin edged Prasad to the wicketkeeper. India were now on a precarious 180 for 7•AFPPujara, though, was undeterred and battled his way to a seventh Test hundred•Associated PressAmit Mishra gave Pujara ample support from the other end, and in the process, made his way to his third Test half-century•AFPRangana Herath ended the 104-run eighth-wicket stand when he had Mishra stumped for 59. Rain interrupted soon after, bringing a premature end to the day’s play with India at 292 for 8•AFP

Adelaide Oval has been an outstanding venue for Australia’s captain, while the vice-captain enters this Test in rare form

Bharath Seervi26-Nov-20153 Number of day-night first-class matches at the Adelaide Oval. All three have been between New South Wales and South Australia, one in each of the last three seasons. The first match was drawn, while the other two were won by New South Wales – by 168 runs and by 215 runs.2 Number of Tests Australia have lost in Adelaide since 1996. In 20 Tests during this period, they have won 14, lost two and drawn four. The two defeats were against India in 2003, and against England in 2010.0 Number of wins for New Zealand at this venue in four Tests. They have lost three – two by an innings – and drawn one.231 Steven Smith’s first-class batting average in six innings in Adelaide. He scored 6 and 23 not out against England in 2013, 162 and 52 – both unbeaten innings – against India last year, and 67 and 152 not out for New South Wales against South Australia in a day-night game this season.556 Runs scored by David Warner in the first two Tests of this series. His scores read: 163, 116, 253 and 24. He needs 197 more in the third Test to break Graham Gooch’s record of most runs in a Test series of three or fewer matches: Gooch scored 752 in the three-match series against India in 1990. Another century in Adelaide will make Warner the second batsman, after Mohammad Yousuf, to score four centuries in a series of three or fewer Tests.0 Number of Australia openers who have scored more than three centuries in any Test series. Warner has three so far and can become the first Aussie opener and the third overall after Herbert Sutcliffe and Sunil Gavaskar, to score four centuries in a series. Both Sutcliffe and Gavaskar did it twice, but never in a series of three of fewer Tests.397 Runs scored by Kane Williamson in this series. He requires 139 more to go past Brendon McCullum’s tally of 535, which is currently the highest for New Zealand in a series of three or fewer Tests. McCullum scored those runs in the two-Test series against India in 2013-14. Williamson needs only 17 runs in this Test to go past his own tally of 413 in the West Indies last year, which is the best for New Zealand in an away series of not more than three Tests.834 Total runs that need to be scored in the Adelaide Test for this to be the highest scoring three-Test series in Australia. Currently, the record aggregate is 3973, in the series against South Africa in 2008-09. In the first two Tests of the ongoing series, 3140 runs have been scored – 1432 at the Gabba, and 1672 in Perth. To go past the overall record for most runs in a three-match series in any country, this match needs to yield 1537 runs.15 Wickets for Mitchell Starc in two day-night first-class matches at this venue, at an average of 13.80. Against South Australia last year, he had match figures of 7 for 117, while this year against the same opponents he did even better, taking 8 for 90, including first-innings figures of 5 for 28.

Rather than moaning about home advantage, it could be a simple yet efficient solution for learning to tackle hostile and alien pitches at the highest level

Firdose Moonda29-Nov-2015The sun was just starting to splash its way across the Nagpur sky on what would have been the fourth day of the Test between India and South Africa, when four of the city’s cricketers, with no game to watch, started a training session instead. At the Dr Ambedkar College’s Sports Academy, with the Deekshabhoomi monument as his backdrop, one batsman geared up to face a slew of spin.His three compatriots took turns taking a few casual steps in and twirling the ball towards him. He watched, he waited, he lunged forward and then, he dead-batted the ball back to them over and over, as though the sole purpose of the practice was to be as stubborn as possible. Scoring was not an option in the situation anyway, but you got the feeling that even if the netting was not there, he would have approached things in exactly the same way.The South Africa players, who are still in Nagpur for another two days before they make their way to Delhi, may have been interested observers had they ventured to that side of the city. Not because it would have showed them a possible strategy for neutralising the spin threat – they already figured that out on the day they lost the match when Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis stood their ground for seven minutes short of three hours – but to see how early and how earnestly the mastering of the art begins.For those youngsters, spin bowling and defensive batting was the only task of the day. Perhaps they had done work against quicks earlier in the week, perhaps they were going to get to the pull shot and the expansive drive later in the day. Whatever the rest of their agenda was, the fact that those kids were trying to perfect an art that even international cricketers still struggle with, spoke volumes.

It is not outlandish to suggest foreign players go for an exchange in the Ranji Trophy, just as they do in the county circuit. They already spend time in the Indian domestic circuit during the IPL, but as Amla, pointed out, that does not really help when it comes to Tests

It is an accepted practice across sport that the hosts will have a little something more on their side than the visitors. That is what makes winning away so special, and so rare. But there may be a point where the hosts prefer to be less disadvantaged. There may be a point where the hosts stop making conditions tough for everyone and a little less hard for themselves, something South Africa have subtly accused India of doing on this tour.The rights and wrongs of that have been debated, but a solution has not been sourced yet. How does a team like South Africa, who do not often see wickets as worn as the ones they played on here, or a team like India, who do not play on pitches with the pace and bounce of Johannesburg, learn to deal with them at the highest level? The answer may lie in what the quartet at the college academy were doing: start young.South Africa already hold an annual spinners’ camp in India, where they send promising bowlers and batsmen from the franchise and provincial set-up, but maybe they can start even younger than that. Why not send Under-19 players, or even a selection of the best schoolboys? And ten days is too short a time to actually learn something. Why not a whole season?It is not outlandish to suggest foreign players go for an exchange in the Ranji Trophy, just as they do in the county circuit. They already spend time in the Indian domestic circuit during the IPL, but as Amla, pointed out, that does not really help when it comes to Tests. First-class cricket is where future internationals are bred, not the kind of contests that see South Africa A play two unofficial Tests.Just imagine if Stiaan van Zyl or Dane Vilas had spent some time in the Ranji trophy for a few weeks before being given the job of opening the batting on their first senior tour to India. They would certainly have learnt about the extent of the spin they would be confronted with.The pitches in India have been so extreme that even Rahul Dravid criticised the conditions saying they were “no good for the health of Indian cricket.” Even if that is the case – and it might be when it comes to the Indian batsmen’s capabilities of constructing innings over long periods of time – they raised the curtain for the international surfaces India were planning to prepare.The same can apply in reverse. South Africa’s first-class competition is closely contested. In most seasons, there are spirited performances from up and coming seamers and there is a good blend of older statesmen providing stability. A player from the subcontinent would learn a significant amount about bounce there.India could do worse than sending a few of their players there soon. Even though South Africa are only due to host India again in the summer of 2017-18 according to the most recent draft of the FTP, that is not long enough for them to forget what India served them on this trip. South Africa will no doubt plan to get their own advantage back. But proper planning could be the best way to prevent that from happening, and to negate the kind of home advantage that is threatening to blunt competitiveness from cricket.

A look at the career of a player who pushed the boundaries in limited-overs internationals

S Rajesh08-Feb-20166:51

Brendon McCullum was a match-turner as batsman and captain in limited-overs cricket

An ODI average of 30.41 is clearly underwhelming in today’s age: among the 42 batsmen who have scored at least 5000 ODI runs since 2000, only Shahid Afridi has a lower average. But the quantum of runs scored per innings said little about Brendon McCullum, the limited-overs batsman. The way he went about his batting suggested he didn’t care much for numbers, and it seemed his mandate was to shock the opposition with quick runs, leaving the more meaty contributions for others like Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill. In that he succeeded more often than not, especially in the last year, when he batted mostly at the top of the order. Here are some of the key numbers from his limited-overs career.96.37 McCullum’s career strike rate in ODIs; among the 42 batsmen with 5000-plus ODI runs since 2000, only four – Afridi, Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist and AB de Villiers – have higher strike rates.

Brendon McCullum’s ODI career

Period Inngs Runs Ave SR 100s/ 50sTill Dec 2010 152 3711 28.54 88.58 2/ 18Jan 2011 onwards 76 2372 33.88 111.72 3/ 14Career 228 6083 30.41 96.37 5/ 322 New Zealand batsmen who have scored more ODI runs than McCullum’s 6083 – Stephen Fleming (8007) and Nathan Astle (7090). In terms of matches played, McCullum’s 260 is third best for New Zealand, after Daniel Vettori (291) and Fleming (279).2140 McCullum’s aggregate in T20Is, the highest by any batsman. Guptill is next with 1666 runs.2 Hundreds for McCullum in T20Is; he is the only batsman with more than one century in the format. Fifteen other batsmen have one hundred.154.91 McCullum’s ODI strike rate since the beginning of 2015, the highest among all batsmen who played at least 15 innings during this period. De Villiers is next at 131.88, followed by Glenn Maxwell’s 131.46. In 27 innings during this period, he passed 50 seven times, of which five were at strike rates of 200 or more. In the first ten overs during this period, McCullum’s strike rate is 164.50 – he scored 772 runs in 469 balls, with 21 dismissals. With a 250-ball cut-off, the next best is David Warner’s 107.

Best SR in first 10 overs in ODIs since Jan 2015

Batsman Inns Runs Balls Ave SR 4s 6s Brendon McCullum 27 772 469 36.76 164.50 106 36David Warner 19 442 413 49.11 107.00 59 6Jason Roy 16 342 337 42.75 101.33 56 2Soumya Sarkar 14 312 315 62.40 99.00 49 3Alex Hales 18 340 358 42.50 94.83 43 10Martin Guptill 38 851 923 56.73 92.17 103 3112 Instances, in his ODI career, of McCullum facing 15 or more balls in an innings and scoring at a 200-plus strike rate. Only Afridi, with 15 such innings, has more. However, six of McCullum’s 12 innings came since 2015: given that there have been only 31 such knocks by batsmen during this period, McCullum’s contribution is nearly 20%.200 Sixes for McCullum in ODIs; he is one of four batsmen with 200 or more sixes in ODIs – only Afridi (351), Sanath Jayasuriya (270) and Chris Gayle (238) have hit more. McCullum’s 91 sixes in T20Is is the highest; Gayle is next on 87.McCullum is the only batsman to have scored two centuries in Twenty20 internationals•ESPNcricinfo Ltd18 Balls off which McCullum reached his half-century in the 2015 World Cup against England in Wellington; there have been only four instances of quicker fifties in ODIs. McCullum went on to score 77 off 25 balls in that innings, which is one of only three instances in ODI history of a batsman achieving a 300-plus strike rate in an innings of 25 or more deliveries.61 Percent of New Zealand’s runs McCullum scored while he was at the crease, in ODIs since the beginning of 2015. He scored 883 runs out of the 1446 runs that New Zealand made while he was batting.36-22 New Zealand’s win-loss record in ODIs under McCullum’s captaincy, a win-loss ratio of 1.636. It’s the best among all captains who have led them in ten or more ODIs – the next best is Vettori’s win rate of 41-33 (ratio of 1.242). McCullum was the first New Zealand captain to take them to a World Cup final, in 2015.

Top captaincy records for NZ in ODIs

Captain Mat Won Lost W/ L ratioBrendon McCullum 62 36 22 1.636Daniel Vettori 82 41 33 1.242Geoff Howarth 60 31 26 1.192John Wright 31 16 15 1.066Kane Williamson 19 9 9 1.000Martin Crowe 44 21 22 0.954Stephen Fleming 218 98 106 0.924277 Total fielding dismissals made by McCullum – 242 as a wicketkeeper, and 35 as a fielder. It’s sixth highest in the all-time list, and easily the highest for New Zealand – the next best for them is 141, by Adam Parore.9 Different positions at which McCullum batted in ODIs; in fact, he is the only player to bat at nine different positions in both Tests and ODIs.

At 27, Tom Westley is not one of young guns of county cricket but that may work in his favour. After a difficult winter with England Lions he is more hungry than ever to push him for higher honours

Will Macpherson09-May-20160:56

‘If I was ever ready, it’d be now’ – Westley

Earlier this month, with their rain-ravaged, flat-decked fixture drifting towards a draw, Worcestershire tried a new trick for getting Essex’s Tom Westley out, a feat seldom seen early this season. Westley had been so brutally proficient between midwicket and mid-on during his first-innings century – the third of his four first-class hundreds this summer, to go with three half-centuries – that Daryl Mitchell placed five fielders in front of square in the leg-side ring. Not that it deterred Westley; “I still got it through twice,” he chuckles.It is no surprise Westley found a way through. He has, he believes, “never scored this volume of runs in such a short space of time” or “felt this good”. As Essex have slipped to the top of Division Two, their new vice-captain has stood tall on the pull, cut elegantly, while his occasional drives – normally whistling past the umpire’s ankles – have come with a high-elbowed flourish. Best of the lot, as Mitchell well knew, were the leg-side flicks. The runs have flowed: 650 in eight innings so far, at an average of 81.25 and, notably, a strike-rate north of 60.But the glut is perhaps as unsurprising as Westley piercing that tiny onside gap. He is, at 27 and with more than 200 top-level games to his name, an experienced and accomplished cricketer, entrusted with responsibility and in charge of his game. He knows, having flayed a strong Australia attack to all parts last summer, that he can mix with the best, but is also bristling after underperforming on England Lions’ tour of the UAE over Christmas, and subsequently missing out on a place in England’s World T20 squad.”The Lions tour was a great learning curve,” Westley tells ESPNcricinfo. “I just didn’t play well, and my bowling was probably keeping me in the side, because I didn’t make the runs I believe I’m good enough to score. I was in a lean patch, got some good balls but played some bad shots too, and before you know it the series is over. That was an insight into playing international cricket.

We get on very well but we don’t talk cricket much, which makes him a very relaxing guy to bat with. It’s light-hearted and not intense, which is calmingTom Westley on his partnerships with Alastair Cook

“I was frustrated, but I look now and feel I probably understand my game better for that disappointment, getting on the tour and not performing. I had gone away from what made me successful at Essex because I was desperate to impress. I was playing like I thought an international should play, but I’ve had a pretty successful method. I do think that realisation is why I’ve had my best ever start to a season.”If you are going to have your best ever start to a season, it’s not a bad idea to do it with the England captain standing at the other end. Twice Alastair Cook and Westley have shared 200-plus stands this season, as well as standing side-by-side in the slip cordon.”He’s one of the most boring men ever,” Westley laughs, “so it’s tough to pick his brains. We get on very well but we don’t talk cricket much, which makes him a very relaxing guy to bat with. It’s light-hearted and not intense, which is calming. I like to switch off between overs and balls. He’s similar. As soon as the bowler turns he’s got the best concentration levels I’ve seen and I guess that is built from his ability to switch on and off. Often in the middle I’m just abusing him about how slowly he scores and how I’m flying past him.”The caveat to all this, of course, is that all these runs have come in Division Two. The caveat to the caveat – and some mitigation for a record that may appear modest – is that Chelmsford was the bowler-friendliest of a series of bowler-friendly Division Two grounds that brought about the changes in toss regulations this season. Runs were not rife. “The ruling is good, but I doubt Jesse [Ryder] agrees. It had got a bit ridiculous. Matches were rarely even getting to the third afternoon.”The gap between divisions is increasingly undeniable, and the selectors gaze is firmly Division One-bound. “Runs in Division One probably should have a bit more weight. It is tougher,” acknowledges Westley, who has played just nine games in the top flight, as long ago as 2010. Before signing a new contract in February, at the fag end of a tumultuous period for Essex, he could have left, but his allegiance to a club for whom he made his second XI debut aged 15, the chance to become vice-captain and a genuine belief that they would be promoted made staying simple.Tom Westley has been able to impress an influential figure at the other end•Getty Images”I’m desperate to get into Division One by scoring loads of runs and getting Essex into Division One,” he says. He was born up the road in Cambridge, but Westley is so Essex CCC that his Dad built Derek Pringle’s and Keith Fletcher’s extensions, and Ryan ten Doeschate is trying to edge his way up his 18-month waiting list.Westley has long been a leadership candidate (he captained Durham University and an England Under-19 side containing Alex Hales, Chris Woakes, Steven Finn and James Taylor) and is ten Doeschate’s vice-captain. “Tendo has made the role a bit more active,” he says, “Ravi Bopara was vice-captain before and he was away with England and is so chilled out that I think he forgot he had the role.”His elevation comes as little surprise. He has worked under an array of celebrated coaches – earlier Graeme Fowler and Graham Gooch, and more recently Andy Flower, with whom he has chatted this season, and Graham Thorpe – talks lucidly about the game, and is a keen student of it.”On my days off I’m not at county grounds looking for autographs, but I think it’s important to know a bit of history, especially about your own club,” he says. “It was nice this week at Worcester, a few of us were looking round the new pavilion at all Graeme Hick’s records. Other guys are different. We were at the Graeme Hick Pavilion, and there’s an 18-foot great picture of Hick there, so I asked Dan Lawrence if he knew who it was. He just grinned and said, ‘I do not have a clue’.”Essex’s match against Sri Lanka, the first of their tour, was another chance for Westley to impress. He had unfinished business against them, having scored 99 against on their 2011 tour, and sure enough, he did not miss out this time, serenely compiling 108 from 158 balls to cement his side’s advantage.”Scoring any runs is good, and I suppose it’s extra-special getting runs against the tour sides,” he says. “I think I’ve matured a little bit as a player – I’ve played quite a few games now and I’m getting on a bit at 27.”With the squad for the first Test due to be announced on Thursday, and a long-term opening partner for Cook yet to be set in stone, Westley knows that his efforts are beginning to attract more than just local interest.”It would be a huge honour to get called up, but for me it’s just taking one game at a time and trying to win as many games as for Essex as I possibly can and scoring as many runs as I can,” he says. “Then… what will be, will be.”If I score runs I always get a text from Cook, just saying well done, and he’s like that with every Essex cricketer,” he adds. “I just had a text from him saying, ‘what was it like?’ but I’m yet to reply. I might tell him it’s doing all sorts!”But if Westley’s latest efforts have fuelled his confidence, it is that century he racked up against Australia in 2015, during which he bludgeoned Nathan Lyon for 57 off 37 balls (including hitting him into the River Can), that drives his belief.”With Starc charging in bowling 90s and Hazlewood not much slower, I fancied my chances against Lyon so I just went after him. It was great fun and very special. I know I can mix with the best.”Now, his source of inspiration is Andrew Strauss, a player who made his Test debut after a long apprenticeship in the shires.”A lot of guys break in younger,” he says. “Strauss, like me, was at Durham and he’s a good example. I joke that I’m getting on a bit but it’s nice to know that if you make the runs you still have a chance of breaking in. I need to stick to scoring big. I believe time has helped me: I know my game, its strengths and weakness, and what I need to look out for. It would have been fantastic if I’d known all this when I was 22, but I had to go through the journey to find it out.”

Today marks the 155th anniversary of the cricket rivalry between the two Channel Islands, known as the Inter-Insular, which has had a passionate fan following for decades

Peter Della Penna20-Aug-20164:17

Action from a WCL Division Five match between the two sides in St Martin in May 2016

Quick. Name the most intense rivalries in cricket. India v Pakistan? Check. Australia v England? Check. Jersey v Guernsey… say what?The Ashes may date back to 1877, but another rivalry, between two much smaller islands – combined population of 160,000 and land mass totalling less than 75 square miles – predates it by 16 years. The history between Jersey and Guernsey on the cricket field runs deep, though the distance between the two British crown dependencies is narrow – it’s a two-hour ferry ride between the islands just off the north-west coast of France.”Some people say that size matters, but I’d say they don’t build big diamonds,” says Stuart Bisson, former Guernsey player and now their assistant coach, answering a question about which island is bigger and better. Jersey’s population is 100,000 to Guernsey’s 60,000, its territory 45 square miles to Guernsey’s 25. The Inter-Insular – as the annual cricket fixture between the two is known – is held dear among citizens on both islands, a little gem whose entertainment value is inversely proportional to the geographical area the territory covers.”It’s fierce,” says Jersey captain Peter Gough. “When I first started, it was the only game you played for Jersey in the whole year. So you played club cricket all year and the whole reason for playing club cricket was to try and get into the island side to get selected for the Guernsey game. So that was your one chance to play in front of a big crowd in a huge game, and that would spill over and it would be a lot of passion and pride in the game.”You’d be absolutely mortified if you didn’t score any runs, just devastated, because that was your one chance to score runs in front of lots of people, and that’s the game that everyone talked about and remembered, so everyone got really fired up for that game, which they still do now, definitely, there’s no question about it.”My very first memory was getting run out, I was 17 [in 2002, his first Inter-Insular], getting run out, and then one of the Guernsey fans walking onto the field and taunting me as I was walking off the ground. I really wanted to just wrap my bat around his head.”Jersey captain Peter Gough (left) and Jonty Jenner. Jenner is also a Sussex-contracted player•Peter Della PennaThe two islands – whose inhabitants are colloquially referred to as Caesareans (Jersey) and Sarnians (Guernsey) from the Latin names for each island – have had teams competing against each other on the cricket field in some form since 1861. The first games were played between sides representing Victoria College in Jersey and Elizabeth College in Guernsey, and with the exception of a few gaps, the two teams usually met for home- and-away fixtures on each island annually from 1862 until 1898.Due in part to the world wars, the latter of which saw both islands occupied by German troops, scorecard records show the game was only played four times over the next 51 years. The rivalry in its current form as a true national-team contest is said by historians and players of past generations from both islands to have originated in 1950, though it wasn’t until several years later that the first game was recognised as the first Jersey v Guernsey Inter-Insular.With the exception of 1952 and 1956, when Jersey failed to send a team over to Guernsey, the Inter-Insular match has been played every year for the past 66 years. The two islands also have well-known rivalries in football (for the Murrati Vase) and rugby (the Siam Cup). However, Jersey Cricket Board chairman Ward Jenner says the rivalry between the islands goes well beyond sport, and begins well before 1861.”I’m sure that most clubs in the world have similar local derbies, but there’s a big history between Jersey and Guernsey that goes back to the 1600s, when Guernsey supported the Parliamentarians and Jersey supported the Royalists,” Jenner says, referring to the sides each island took during the English Civil War, in which Charles I was executed and his son Charles II lived in exile in Jersey.”There’s some pretty gruesome stories about things that happened once upon a time. There’s also some good nicknames as well. Guernsey are known as the Donkeys, which sounds quite pejorative but actually most Guernseymen are proud Donkeys, and they call us Crapauds.”A Crapaud is not necessarily as bad as it sounds. A Crapaud is a small toad which lives in Jersey. So the Crapauds and the Donkeys have a long, long rivalry in all sports and across everything really. It’s quite fierce but I think most of us are quite good friends.”Jersey celebrates winning the WCL Division Five title•Peter Della PennaInitially the Inter-Insular was contested as a single-innings declaration match, a format frequently used in premier club cricket in the UK. Jersey won the inaugural contest by six wickets, as well as in 1953, 1954 and 1960. A series of draws, and the two abandoned fixtures in 1952 and 1956, meant that it wasn’t until 1961 when Guernsey recorded their first win, by 38 runs at home in St Peter Port.After 14 draws in the first 27 years of the Inter-Insular, including five draws in seven years from 1971 through 1977, the match was changed to a one-day format in 1978.Overall, Jersey holds a 29-21 series lead to go along with the 14 draws. Up until 2006, when both countries first entered an ICC competition at that year’s ICC European Division Two Championship, the Inter-Insular was often the only game either national team played annually, typically in August or early September.”Whenever you win it, there’s a huge outpouring of emotion,” said Bisson. “I’ve found that over the years it’s the guys who control their emotions on the day, they normally come out on top.”It’s the FA Cup final that we have every year. It’s the most important. As much as you try to take the pressure off the day and have everyone relax and enjoy the day, it’s the most emotive game that we play all year. So keeping the players calm and concentrating on their skills, whoever controls their emotions tends to do well on the day.”Jersey’s overall winning record is down to their ability to keep calm when games have got tight, whereas Guernsey have developed a reputation for being chokers. Whether it is in Inter-Insular fixtures or ICC tournaments, Jersey have beaten Guernsey seven times by margins of three wickets or less when chasing, and another three times defending a target in the final over by margins of eight, four and one run. Six of those matches were decided on the final ball.Guernsey’s Matt Stokes was the Man of the Match in the 2015 Inter-Insular for scoring 86 and taking 1 for 11 in eight overs•Peter Della PennaJersey dominated the 1990s. Starting with a four-run triumph defending 201 under the captaincy of Jenner in 1992, they reeled off ten straight wins, the longest winning streak in the rivalry. Jenner captained in the first five of those wins, then left before the 1997 match, when his job moved him to Guernsey. After becoming a resident, Jenner sent out a feeler to Guernsey’s selection panel to see if they would be interested in picking their former tormentor.”I was quite prepared for them to say that it would send out the wrong message and we don’t want you to do that,” recalls Jenner. “That would be fair enough and I would have understood that, but they actually came back and said we want you to play, and we want you to captain. So that was quite a major thing really. I was quite surprised and I thought this was going to definitely set the cat amongst the pigeons.”Jenner holds the rare distinction of having been the only player to captain both sides, taking over the reins for the 1998 encounter in a bid to end the Jersey winning streak at six games. Guernsey had come agonisingly close in 1997, needing 20 off four overs with three wickets in hand, and ten off the final over before falling short by eight runs.The Guernsey selection gamble appeared to have its desired effect as the Sarnians, led by Jenner, were on the brink of ending Jersey’s dominant run, with Jersey needing 24 off the final two overs chasing Guernsey’s 189 for 9. Brad Vowden began the 49th by striking two sixes to bring Jersey’s equation down to 12 off ten balls before he was caught on the boundary on the next delivery, leaving three wickets in hand. Eventually three were needed to win off the final ball when one of the most extraordinary endings in the history of the Inter-Insular took place.”As captain I helped my bowler set the field as accurately as I could,” Jenner says. “I won’t mention any names here, but my bowler bowled a terrible delivery. The Jersey batsman absolutely smashed it to square leg. I thought it was going for six, but actually it went straight, straight into the hands of one of my fielders who I had carefully positioned, maybe not expecting the bowler to bowl that particular ball. Not only did the fielder drop it, he then fumbled twice trying to pick it up to throw the ball in. So Jersey scrambled three runs to win the game.”After ten consecutive Inter-Insular defeats from 1992, Guernsey turned it around with five wins on the trot from 2002•Peter Della PennaReports from the and reveal the identities of the main characters in the drama. Opening batsman Richard Headington should have been the hero for Guernsey, top-scoring with 58, but is better remembered for bowling the final fateful ball. It was one of only two matches in which the future Guernsey captain ever bowled for the Sarnians. Richard Veillard, who had captained Guernsey in 1997, was the culprit for the misfields at square leg. Wicketkeeper Simon Short scored the winning runs, while Colin Graham’s mad dash and dive for the third run for victory just beat the relay from Veillard to Guernsey wicketkeeper Mike Webber.Jersey then won another three times before Guernsey’s golden era began in 2002, behind the brilliance of Jeremy Frith, who would go on to finish his career as Guernsey’s all-time leading scorer and wicket-taker. In his first Inter-Insular in 2001, Frith fell for a duck in Jersey’s tenth consecutive win. From 2002 to 2011, Frith scored 499 runs at 71.29 – including a century and three fifties – as Guernsey won eight of the next ten meetings, including five straight from 2002 through 2006.The Inter-Insular holds enough prestige that even though it is a bilateral fixture between two Associate sides ranked 29th and 31st in the world in 50-over cricket, players who are contracted with county sides are released to go back home and play in the contest. That includes 20-year-old Leicestershire allrounder Matt Stokes, who led Guernsey to a five-wicket win in the 2015 Inter-Insular by scoring 86 and taking 1 for 11 in eight overs, and Jersey’s 18-year-old Jonty Jenner, Ward’s son, a Sussex-contracted player who was named Channel Islands Sports Personality of the Year in 2015.The younger Jenner is one of three second-generation talents in the Jersey squad for the 65th Inter-Insular on August 20 in Jersey. Luke Gallichan, son of Wayne, and Harrison Carlyon, son of Tony and nephew of Steve – two stalwarts from the 1990s Jersey dynasty – are also included. If Harrison is selected to debut, he will be Jersey’s youngest capped player at age 15, beating Jonty’s mark as a 16-year-old in 2014.Fans celebrate Jersey’s victory in the WCL Division Five game in May•Peter Della PennaAnd so the agony and the ecstasy of the rivalry is passed down from generation to generation. For Ward Jenner, watching Jonty taking part in the rivalry is a “nerve-wracking” experience.”I had a few reasonably successful days myself and I had some not-so-good times as a player,” Jenner says. “I think watching your son play and knowing what the rivalry is like is the icing on the cake really.”In recent years, several players on each side admit that the increased fixture list, courtesy of ICC tournaments, has taken some of the edge off the Inter-Insular and put it into context. Promotion and relegation in events like the World Cricket League has taken precedence, though if the two islands come across each other in ICC tournament games it heightens the sense of occasion and has more often than not provided nail-biting finishes.Jersey managed to chase down a target of 218 with one wicket to spare in the WCL Division Five in Malaysia in 2014, ensuring promotion for themselves and relegation for Guernsey. Guernsey were 209 for 4 in 46 overs chasing a target of 219 in ICC Europe Division Two in 2008, only to lose five wickets for five runs, three of them run-outs, in an eventual one-run loss that allowed Jersey to move up into the ICC Europe Division One as tournament champions.”We were absolutely cruising it and then from nowhere we just absolutely capitulated and lost the game by one run,” says current Guernsey captain Jamie Nussbaumer, who played his maiden Inter-Insular just two weeks prior to the showdown in the ICC tournament. “That was basically as low as it got.”However tight the rivalry might get on the field, the participants remain resolute to uphold the old tradition of socialising with the opposition in the bar after a game. Guernsey and Jersey have also briefly competed on some occasions as a combined Channel Islands team. Most recently, the combined side in the ongoing over-50s County Cricket competition ensures that players from both sides who went toe to toe in their heyday are getting along just fine as they grey.The Inter-Insular remains a date that both sets of islanders mark on their calendars. Be it as a player or spectator, it’s a rivalry that will continue forging memorable moments for generations to come.”Back in the ’80s on a Sunday when the game was played, the pubs were shut and basically there was not much else to do in Guernsey, and crowds of thousands of people would turn up to the games,” Jenner says. “It’s still very well supported now. Probably a little bit more boisterous and vociferous in Guernsey than they are over here, and there’s a lot of island pride at stake.”They’re big, big games of cricket and there’s a lot of emotion involved and some great characters as well, but at the end of the day it’s cricket. It’s a game, it should be fun.”

When a part-time club spinner bowled long hops to the two biffers to see how far they could hit it

Simon Shearman04-Sep-2016It was a Joel Garner benefit game just after Somerset sacked Garner and Viv Richards. Our club chairman at Tring Park organised the game. He knew someone down at Somerset. It was bizarre to see our club house packed full of great cricketers. Must have been 6000 spectators at the ground.I didn’t usually bowl that much, but I was sending down a few rubbish offspinners at Ian Botham and Richards to see how far they could hit it.Botham went for the big slog sweep, with that big, heavy Duncan Fearnley bat. It went off the top edge and was heading over the boundary when our deep-midwicket fielder launched himself in the air and took a stunning diving catch right in front of the pavilion.As Botham walked off, he said to the fielder, “People have come here to watch me bat, not to watch you take great catches.”Viv hit the most sublime hundred, off 50 or 60 balls. Lots of sixes. All the bowlers went for plenty. He kept hitting it over the scoreboard and into the 2nd-team ground, where people had parked their cars.The crowd were enjoying watching him bat, so thought I’d float a few up to see how far he could hit it.When Viv had 60-odd, he miscued one straight down long-off’s throat, but the fielder went with such hard hands that it must have bounced about four feet out of his hands and over the boundary for four.After Viv got his hundred, I was back on again, bowling the same rubbish spin, and Viv, by this time, had decided he’d had enough. So he hits one straight up in the air towards long-off, straight to the same fielder and starts walking off. Unfortunately, our man never looked like catching it. So next ball, Viv tries it again. This time the fielder ran the wrong way and the ball went for four. Everyone just fell about laughing. Viv turned to our wicketkeeper. “Is there anyone in this team who can catch?” he asked.Botham and Richards almost didn’t turn up in time for the game. They had gone to the pub down the road for a few pre-match beers. When they got to the ground, they asked for two pints of Guinness to be sent into the dressing room. There they were, two cricket legends, dipping sausage rolls in the beer and eating them.It was an incredible experience. They were two of the very best cricketers in the world at the time. Botham hit it hard, but Viv hit it harder – timed it rather than smashed it.I’ve played against some pretty good club and minor county players, but the difference with those two was the time that they had to play the shots; so much more than anybody else you’ll ever see.

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day for the third one-day international in Durban

Firdose Moonda05-Oct-2016The early warning Both David Warner and Aaron Finch breached the boundary in the first two overs but they made their intent clear in the third. Dale Steyn dropped one short, Warner shifted back onto his toes with the balance of a ballerina but then unleashed a butcher’s blow. Warner sent the ball into the crowd at deep midwicket, a sign of what was to come. Australia would bludgeon nine more sixes on their way to the highest total at Kingsmead.The flying captain It was going to take fatigue or something special to get wickets and after South Africa removed Australia’s top three through the former method, Faf du Plessis pulled off one of the latter to get them a fourth scalp. George Bailey had just hit Andile Phehlukwayo for six and tried to slap him through the covers where du Plessis was stationed. South Africa’s stand-in captain flung himself to his left and went after the ball with both hands. The ball stuck and Bailey was sent on his way but Australia were still on track for a 350-plus score.The breakthrough Hashim Amla responded to being left out at the Wanderers by blasting his way to 45 off the first 29 balls he faced and looked good to go on to a big score when John Hastings stopped him. Amla moved across his crease to try and flick a Hastings delivery into the leg side but missed and was struck on the back pad. Umpire Adrian Holdstock raised the finger and Amla considered a review but luckily did not opt for it. Replays showed umpire’s call on impact and that the ball would have gone on to hit the stumps and Amla accepted his fate.The other flying captain Australia needed something similar to du Plessis’ effort to break South Africa’s second-wicket partnership between du Plessis and Quinton de Kock. Steven Smith almost had the chance to pull it off. Du Plessis was drawn forward by Adam Zampa and lured into a drive, which he could not keep on the ground. The ball went to the left of Smith at cover, he lunged at it in an almost mirror-image of what du Plessis had done earlier except that he could not hold on. Smith got fingertips to it but may have needed a little more height to grab it properly and du Plessis, on 31, survived. Although not for long.The wrong shot Rilee Rossouw admitted he should not have brought out the reverse-sweep as early as he did in the first ODI but insisted it remained “his shot” and he would use it in future. Unfortunately, it let him down again. Rossouw picked the fourth ball he faced from Zampa, a quicker one, and missed his attempt. He was struck on the pads and given out and will rue not making use of the opportunity he was given at Farhaan Behardien’s expense.The Lucky escape Phehlukwayo’s middle name is Lucky and he lived up to it when he survived despite edging to the wicketkeeper at a crucial time in the South Africa innings. Phelukwayo wafted at his first ball, from Chris Tremain, which was in the channel outside off, and seemed to get a thin edge. Matthew Wade went up immediately but umpire Holdstock was not convinced. Australia did not have a review in hand, having spent theirs on asking if David Miller was caught behind earlier on. Replays showed that if they had been able to call on DRS, it would have gone in their favour, with a sizeable spike on Snicko showing bat had made contact with ball. As the last recognised batsman in the XI, Phehlukwayo’s presence was important to South Africa’s chase and the let off could not have been luckier for him.