After long wait for a go, batter follows up Test success with match-winning hand at Taunton

Valkerie Baynes01-Jul-2021Having waited a long time for a chance to cement a place in England’s batting line-up, Sophia Dunkley’s successful rescue mission against India on Wednesday in her maiden ODI innings bodes well for the future.With England stumbling to 92 for 4 in pursuit of what had appeared a comfortable target of 222 in Taunton to win the second ODI and take a 6-2 lead in the multi-format series, Dunkley’s 73 not out hauled England out of trouble and her unbroken stand of 92 with Katherine Brunt for the sixth wicket saw them to victory.Dunkley put on a semi-steadying partnership of 41 for the fifth-wicket with Amy Jones and, once Jones departed, Dunkley and Brunt guided England to safety.Let off on 23 with England 144 for 5 when her slash through point off Jhulan Goswami sailed through the hands of a leaping substitute fielder, Radha Yadav, Dunkley kept a cool head, rotating the strike and exuding confidence.She reached her fifty off 62 balls, including four fours and a commanding six off Shikha Pandey over long-on. She picked another four off Goswami, smacked through midwicket, and watched as Brunt struck the winning runs, a four off Deepti Sharma midway through the 48th over.Related

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Kate Cross, whose five-wicket haul had contained India to what looked like a below-par total of 221 from exactly 50 overs, said their partnership was a joy to watch.”I was a bit nervous when we still needed 120-odd to win, however I thought it was amazing to see the likes of Sophia Dunkley and Brunty – a girl who’s not batted in ODI cricket, and a girl who’s batted a lot in ODI cricket – put us over the line,” Cross said.”I thought it was an incredible partnership and it just looked so calm. When they’re calm, I’m not nervous anymore so it was good.”There were a few nerves around, I think the girls that were padded up were a bit nervous to go in, but I think it was just good to show the depth that we’ve got in the batting line-up and that we’re not just reliant on our top four to be scoring the runs all the time.”It is four months since Dunkley spoke during the tour of New Zealand of her desire to make an England team place her own. Having played 10 T20Is during 2018-19, including five T20 World Cup matches, she spent the next 18 months on the sidelines of selection.Recalled for last summer’s five-match T20I series against West Indies, she was unable to make an impression in her two innings. Overlooked for the ODI leg of the New Zealand tour in February and March, she played all three T20Is, but was only required at the crease twice for scores of 0 not out and 26.A century and a 92 across the first three rounds of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy saw her called into England’s squads for the Test and ODI legs against India, complete with an England central contract for this year.She scored an unbeaten 74 when she became the first black woman to play Test cricket for England in the drawn Test which kicked off the series. Then, after not being required to bat in the first ODI in Bristol, she produced a stellar performance when her side needed it most in Taunton after Tammy Beaumont, Heather Knight and Nat Sciver all fell cheaply.Opener Lauren Winfield-Hill, the last debutant to pass 100 career runs in either ODI or T20I cricket for England, scored 42 but it was the record stand between Dunkley and Brunt that secured victory for the home side.Dunkley had worked hard in the field too, her wonderful athleticism called upon time and again, the ball seeming to find her in the deep with uncanny regularity during the India innings.She took a catch at deep midwicket to give Cross her fourth scalp, that of Sharma for 5, and ran out Mithali Raj, the India captain, for 59 with a throw from deep square-leg. It might be a job to shift her from the side if she can keep those performances up.

Brook, Woakes and Wood did the Headingley heavy lifting as their captain watched on

Vithushan Ehantharajah09-Jul-2023There is an inherent sadness to being the standout in fields where what you do and, perhaps more importantly, how you do it brings such joy to others. Because while you’ll know of the power you wield, you’ll never be able to witness it.The hairs on the back of Etta James’ neck probably never stood up as much as they did on ours when those strings hit in the opening few seconds of “At Last”. Steph Curry will never truly know the sense of anticipation we get when the greatest shooter in NBA history crosses the halfway line with defenders backing away leaving room to pull-up and put the lights out. Even Larry David does not rate as his best work.However, on day four of the third Test, Ben Stokes got the opportunity to experience what it was like to a breath-taking Headingley heist. By now, you’ll have your own routines that help you cope during Stokes’ various assortments of madness, whether team-mates, fans or part of the sporting public who dial in for these box office moments. Like when the Ashes are on the line in a chase that reaches a new layer of fever pitch with every over. Only this time, England triumphed over Australia, making it 2-1 with two to play – and Stokes was nowhere to be seen.Well, that’s not strictly true. He was there on the balcony in front of the England dressing room and resenting what every delivery did to him. Finally, some commonality of feeling between punters and a player seemingly built different.Related

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Being exposed without being the centre of attention, locked in but not involved, we finally got to see his coping mechanisms. He grimaced a lot, more so than when he’s bowling. Nervous energy was expended by either doodling or wearing out the floor in the home dressing room. He guessed he’d done about 2km during the last half-hour of the chase. He probably did that quicker than most could run it.”I didn’t actually watch the last 20 runs being scored,” he said in his press conference. “It’s a completely different place when you can’t do anything, you can’t influence the game any more, you’re left watching and hoping things are going to go your way.”Finally, he gets it. As stunning as the feats may be, the ride itself is agonising. Peaks and troughs forcing you to confront the extremes of the spectrum, as the runs go down and the wickets intermittently go up. Are England winning? Will England win? Are the Ashes dead? Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do I do this to myself? Why do people do this at all? Stokes finally got to endure all that from the other side, and he hated it.However, there’s something far greater that the likes of Stokes, Etta and Steph experience that us mere mortals don’t. The glory of being the creator of such joy, sculpting memories in minds of those you’ll never meet, whose thanks you will never receive. That alone makes up for not hearing your own songs for the first time or watching someone sink threes from impossible range.But here was Stokes, a Sunday off for once, getting a front row seat to three players under his watch strapping the team on their backs and doing as he did in World Cup finals and Tests when the eyes of the world are watching. Here, Harry Brook, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood got to feel what it was like to be Ben Stokes.

And then came Wood, like Mr Blobby careering on to daytime TV and threatening to bring down the whole set. Endearing enough already, Wood embedded himself further into English hearts with a nerve-easing six off Cummins

Brook’s 75, mature beyond his years, rebuilt a chase that had faltered once Stokes “The Saviour” and Jonny Bairstow “The Redeemer” had been dismissed to seemingly blunt England’s headline narrative. Wood put the finishing touches to the match and his Player-of-the-Match performance with a 16 not out, taking his overall contribution to 40 off 16 with the bat and 7 for 100 with the ball. Woakes thought days like these were beyond him after a knee injury ruled him out of all cricket last summer, but compiled an unbeaten 32 as the start of a new chapter in his Test story. As he said to Sky Sports not long after the finish: “It gave me a little sense of how Stokesy felt at Headingley four years ago.”Within those individual moments were strands of reassurance, redemption and simple score-settling. Brook had never played an international at his home ground, and ended up becoming the quickest played to 1000 Test runs (on deliveries faced) in front of his people. Woakes, so often in Stokes’ shadow, stepped into the limelight, and having spoken jovially of the prospect of playing the Jack Leach role in a potential 2019 remake, he stepped up to become Him. Wood has long resented batting as low as he does because it has meant being out in the middle when the opposition secures victory. This time, he was not the one having to be magnanimous in defeat.The broader focus of this win feeds the whole squad. The XI was selected to cover for the fact that Stokes did not know if he would bowl. The way Woakes and Wood came to the fore, particularly in Australia’s second innings, combining for 35 of the 67.1 overs because of Ollie Robinson’s back spasm and taking 5 for 134 between them, told of a vision still clear behind closed doors. Even as experienced campaigners, coming into a series cold and impacting each day’s play underlines how they have been managed going into this match.Of course, a lot of that has come from Stokes. And it is most apparent with Brook. The 24-year-old has had a bitty series, coming to Leeds with an average of 33 across both innings before a skittish 3 as the stand-in No. 3. Using him to replace the injured Ollie Pope spoke more of wanting to insulate Joe Root at four than thinking they could unlock something within a batter who has a poor record at the top of the order. But the build-up to day four had clearly been more attuned to Brook.Moeen Ali volunteered to go in at No. 3 for the second innings, something billed as a chance to take the attack to Australia’s bowlers. It didn’t work, with Moeen scoring 5 off 15, but it did afford Brook a clearer run at what was required.His remit was clear when he strode to the crease in the 20th over, 158 still to get. And though he could not see it home, to have taken out almost half of what remained off his own bat spoke of a man who thrived on believing only he had the answers. Actually, that he the answer.Chris Woakes and Mark Wood celebrate after the winning runs•Getty ImagesBrook’s departure was a surprise, leaving 21 to go. But what a ride it turned out to be. Woakes, having been peppered with bouncers on account he has been dismissed 10 times in that fashion by Australian quicks, found a way to cope. At times it seemed like a man trying to get rid of a hornet’s nest with a can of Lynx and a lighter. By the end, he was ducking and swaying like prime Floyd Mayweather, and even when a few popped up just over the head of fielders or were top-edged “safely” into the deep, you believed – wrongly – he was in total control. He had earned that trust.And then in came Wood, like Mr Blobby careering on to daytime TV and threatening to bring down the whole set. Endearing enough already, Wood embedded himself further into English hearts with a nerve-easing six off Pat Cummins after the Australia captain brought himself on and went short from around the wicket. The noise in the ground was deafening, decibels on par with four years ago. The fascinating thing about those moments in chases is the boundary pop; how much it gives to the batting side, how much it mocks the bowling one. When Wood stepped away to drill a Starc delivery headed for his stumps through the covers, the whole joint threatened to take off and head straight to town.For Woakes and Wood, best mates, to be there at the end will only bind them further. That Brook played such an important part with a career best in England at a ground where so much of his early learnings have come, keeps him closer in the locals lucky enough to be here. And the three of them, together, have something they will never get bored reliving.Assuming most of the responsibility, earning faith through your endeavour and pumping boundaries to get the crowd going. It all sounds so familiar, yet the bloke who is usually involved was sat watching. But perhaps most importantly, England were able to channel the best of Stokes without having to burden him. A vital realisation as they look to embark on what would be the most Stokes-ian turnarounds in an Ashes series.

The Australian players reflect on their title win and what it means to them

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Nov-20213:12

Moody: Credit to Langer and Finch to galvanise this Australian team

Matthew Wade: Huge [on what does this win mean]. At first, T20 World Cup coming in, felt like a lot of people maybe wrote us off and didn’t expect us to get to this moment. But internally we spoke about how we’re going to be the first team to achieve this for Australia. [It’s] something really, really special.

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Match highlights of the Men’s T20 World Cup final is available in English, and in Hindi (USA only).

[On his innings in the semi-final] When we sit down, I will reflect probably closely on that. I think more than my innings, the partnership, we spoke about me and [Marcus] Stoinis in the rooms when we’re chasing, just saying that we probably didn’t realise that we scored as many runs as we did the other night. And then coming into this game, we felt really confident that if the boys could get off to a good start, then we could contribute at the end, but thankfully Mitch [Marsh] and Davey [Warner] and Maxie [Glenn Maxwell] at the end there did the job for us. As Stoinis said, just so proud of this group. Yeah, we’re stoked.Marcus Stoinis: The key…this group of boys, we absolutely, we actually love each other. It is beautiful. I can’t wait to keep playing with this team. I’m so proud of them. You won’t find bigger supporters of Mitch Marsh than right here and probably his family. We’re so happy for him.Adam Zampa: I just tried to use my strengths to the best of my ability. I knew the wickets were going to be pretty low. I bowled at a good time; we won the toss and bowled first. So it was probably a little bit drier when I was bowling, so I tried to use that to the best of my ability, tried to get tickets when we needed them and tried to defend when we need to do that as well.2:47

Moody: Can’t underestimate Australia as they don’t often play T20Is at full-strength

[On backroom staff] A lot of credit goes to those guys. We’ve been in bubbles for almost two years now. And that takes a toll on everyone, including the staff. Our preparation from their side of things has been great. And it’s their win as well.Glenn Maxwell: He [Zampa] has been a superstar in this format as well as one-day cricket for a long period of time. I’ve had the pleasure of having him at the [Melbourne] Stars and watching him go about his work for a long time. So to watch him bring it straight into international cricket, like there’s absolutely no edges whatsoever. He’s just fitted in so well and last three years as a legspinner, I don’t think there are many better in the world.I was able to give myself a few days off before the tournament to really freshen up and I felt like I was hitting the ball really well. Luckily, that wasn’t really required a whole heap. But it was nice to be out there at the end and get the winning runs.Steven Smith: [This win means] a lot. We’ve worked hard for a long time. This is a trophy that has eluded us for a very long time. So it’s an honour to be out here with the boys and to be able to take that trophy home, it’s exceptional.His [Warner’s] last two weeks have been amazing. A lot of people were writing him off at the start, saying he was out of form but it took one good innings and he was away. Today, I thought he came out with exceptional intent again. Him and Mitchell Marsh, that partnership really set us up for the game. I am really proud of those two boys. I think they’ve had great tournament, both of them.Josh Hazlewood: There’s always pressure, the batters are coming at you from ball one basically. But we started really well, we kept the powerplay to I think around 40. Some pretty good effort there and I obviously got away at the end. But we saw the wicket was pretty good and the exceptional chase from our guys.[On Williamson’s knock] He’s a superb player and he has been for a long time now. Another classical Kane innings really, scored all around the ground and hurts you when you bowl poorly.Justin Langer: I suppose everyone who wins a World Cup says it’s hard to process, it’s hard to put it into words. But this is such a special group of people. I know every coach, every captain says the same thing. But we’ve got some amazing cricketers here, we haven’t had a chance to play together because of different reasons for last 12 months. So when we all got back together, it was almost like a reunion. And they’re such close, there’re so many close relationships there. It’s a very, very special moment for everyone.Mitchell Marsh and Pat Cummins celebrate with the trophy•ICC via Getty ImagesWe knew that when we came back together how much talent we had. That’s for one. I mean, there’s enormous talent in this team. When we’re in the West Indies and Bangladesh leading into this series, there were a few missing pieces. And Mitch Marsh took one of those pieces. And he’s been brilliant. And we also embraced fun. In this situation, where everyone talks about bubble, these guys had so much fun on and off the ground. In this form of the game, actually in the game of cricket, it’s important to have fun and enjoy it, and the guys have done that. I think it was a really important part of our success here.Zamps puts a smile on my face every time because he’s a little bit different. He’s a little hippie, but he’s so competitive, and he’s been so good in this form of the game. We see legspinners have an impact around the world and he’s doing that for Australia now.And Josh Hazlewood, well, he didn’t play the last one-day World Cup because he had some issues with his back. He has come in here, he’s been sublime, so it’s just been a great team effort.Pat Cummins: Pretty pumped. I think once we get back home and get back in there, will it only sink in. A lot of support from back home, like getting up at 1am to watch this game, so a great feeling.It was a good thing playing a little bit of the IPL over here. Even someone like Joshy Hazlewood coming straight from the IPL, here he is seeing to adapt really quickly and I mean, you don’t have to get too funky. It’s just part of what we do again more with the red ball stuff with a few slower balls thrown in there. This is really great, it’s such a complete squad of 15 guys here, so really happy.Mitchell Starc: It’s not been the ideal lead-up, but I think just the closeness of the group, we had a great time here. We’ve had some great times off the field, getting around one another. And I think that showed in the way we played our cricket. We’ve had everyone contribute, guys off the field, on the field, different guys in different games. And we saw that again tonight. So I think that the closeness of the group is what really got us through this tournament, and then hopefully that leads into the summer as well.He [Zampa] has been fantastic. He’s been our best bowler, I think, by far for the last couple of years with the white ball. And he made it really easy for us quickies to work around him. I think we’re pretty confident in what we do and run off the back of each other when Zamps is doing what he does. I think it just makes the bowling group, their role a lot clearer and we can do our job quite easy I guess.

The marked tendency to produce result pitches shows they may have underestimated the visiting side

Ian Chappell11-Mar-2023Once again the pre-match media hullabaloo was about Indian pitch preparation.Despite some outrageous predictions, Ahmedabad has provided the best batting surface of the series and opener Usman Khawaja determinedly took advantage to provide Australia with a big first-innings score.If India needed tough practice for the World Test Championship, they got exactly what they wanted. Now they have to rely on other favourable results to reach the final and play Australia at The Oval in June.The pitch furore has showed why it’s annoying when people other than the head curator or groundsman are allowed to have an input into the preparation.Related

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The head curator or groundsman is the best person to produce a presentable pitch. Like players, they are generally competitive and take great pride in their work. Good Test groundsmen all generally say they want to prepare a pitch that gives everybody a chance to display their skill and produces a result late on the last day.The operative words are “a result”. They don’t predict or barrack for a winner.This isn’t happening in India, where some dodgy pitches have been prepared, often at the behest of people other than the ground staff. A good head groundsman in Australia when asked about specifically prepared pitches used to questioner: “B***er off and mind your own business.”India are currently in the spotlight for specially prepared pitches but they are far from the worst offenders. This aspect of Indian culture may well have been developed under English colonisation.I was told in 1968 by ex-Australian cricketer and journalist Jack Fingleton, “Never trust the Poms.” I was sure he was referring to the administrators and not the players. His words were proved prophetic in 1972, following the diabolical Headingley “fusarium fiasco”, where a pitch was specially prepared to negate the effect of Dennis Lillee’s pace and Bob Massie’s swing. Not coincidentally, for the first time in the series, England included left-arm spinner Derek Underwood who was deadly on softer pitches. He claimed a ten-wicket haul in England’s thumping victory.England had previous “form” in special pitch preparation, which included the raging turner at Old Trafford in 1956. In that one-sided affair, offspinner Jim Laker took 19 Australian wickets for a meagre 90 runs in a resounding English victory.

If India needed tough practice for the World Test Championship, they got exactly what they wanted. Now they have to rely on other favourable results to reach the final and play Australia at The Oval in June.

Don’t let anyone tell you that England aren’t among the leaders in specially prepared pitches.Australia may be guilty of administrative failures but pitch-doctoring is not one of them. In general, the nature of an Australian first-class pitch is similar to its Test match equivalent.In the current environment it’s easy to wonder if India have forgotten how they won their last two Test series in Australia. They completed two magnificent upsets by playing good all-round cricket on true, bouncy pitches.India may have underestimated this Australian side. They are not the best Australian team to tour India but they are a good fighting unit, with some solid batters and a frontline spinner. Importantly, they’ve displayed a willingness to attack – albeit sometimes recklessly – at crucial times. They are worthy World Test championship finalists, but this vital competition may have brought to the fore a frailty in the system.There could be a series of bowler-friendly pitches that result in shorter games with results. Current India coach Rahul Dravid made a sensible observation: “It’s really about being realistic about what is a good performance on some of the challenging wickets we are playing on,” he said. “If you look at the last three-four years, all over the world I think wickets have got a lot more challenging,”Dravid’s wise words expose the vast difference between flat white-ball pitches that favour punishing batters and spicy Test surfaces that tend to make batting aggression difficult.There is a need to narrow the gap between the two extremes so that England’s laudable aggression in Test cricket doesn’t go to waste. Test cricket is an endangered species and any viable assistance is welcome.

Daniel Brettig, an ESPNcricinfo assistant editor, picks his all-time Australia World Cup XI

Picked by Daniel Brettig21-Mar-2019Australia’s quintet of World Cup triumphs offers up all sorts of considerations for an all-time XI. A few of the players unfortunate to be missing include the likes of Dean Jones, Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Damien Fleming, Damien Martyn and Brett Lee. But those to have made the cut all played critical roles in at least one successful campaign.ESPNcricinfo LtdDavid Boon and Craig McDermott in 1987. Steve Waugh was vital to the 1987, 1996 and 1999 campaigns, and Mark Waugh to the latter two. Likewise Shane Warne, who missed 2003 through a drugs ban; Glenn McGrath, the spearhead for 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007; Ricky Ponting, a batsman and captain of class and quality in that period; Michael Bevan’s consummate finishing between 1996 and 2003; Adam Gilchrist’s top-order explosiveness and sure-footed glovework from 1999 to 2007; Andrew Symonds in 2003 and 2007; and Mitchell Starc, the destroyer at home in 2015.This is a team that bats deep, is chock full of excellent fielders, includes four batsmen who bowl, and is spoiled for leadership choice – the choice of Ponting’s vice-captain alone would take some serious thinking.

Why the Australia captain represents an unusually evolved cricket leader for his age

Osman Samiuddin03-Mar-2022″To all past players, I want to say this: Just as you have always stuck up for your mates, I’m sticking up for mine.”As sign-offs go, this one on the Justin Langer saga is one heck of a finish.Not unlike, if you think about it, a Pat Cummins wicket. No frothing, no foaming. No energy wasted. All very concise, very precise. The flourish of the message lies in its economy and its devastating finality.Related

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Like that ball to Joe Root at Old Trafford in the 2019 Ashes. You may be England captain, the ball acknowledges, and this may be the Ashes, it adds, but I’m being delivered by Patrick Cummins, it warns, and I’ll sell you an inswinger, it promises, and I’ll land on a perfect length, it winks, and then I’ll straighten and hit the top of off, it laughs, as it casually drops that conversation dead.Read the entire statement all through to that payoff. It’s a Pat Cummins spell. Pacy: it takes just under two and half minutes to read. Lays out basic principles clearly: “I believe in respecting the sanctity of the change room and proper process” is making sure to hit the top of off stump, ball after ball. Occasionally, something’s thrown in to make sure you’re paying attention: “Justin has acknowledged that his style was intense. And it was”, is the one that beats either edge and needs replaying or re-reading a couple of times.Then the chef’s kiss.Another Root dismissal comes to mind, this one from the Gabba at the 2017-18 Ashes. Cummins has talked about that set-up, how, over nine balls, he’s gradually pulling Root’s front foot across with a fifth-stump line. He wants to drag him out, then trap him leg-before as he falls over with one that ducks in.Me and all my mates: Could Cummins be the conduit to a more enlightened Australian team?•Cameron Spencer/Getty ImagesCummins’ control stats are stunning, and for most of those ten balls he hits that off-stump line impeccably. In between he slips one that comes back, but Root lets it go. For the tenth ball, having got that front foot where he wants it, Cummins bowls a sharp inswinger. He knows this carries risk, because there’s always the danger it will slip harmlessly down leg side, or be clipped for runs. This is Cummins, though, and it’s perfect. Root duly falls across and is leg-before: finish as you mean to set it up. Cummins does this all the time on the field. So regularly, in fact, that his genius runs the danger of becoming normalised.Like that inswinger, that statement also comes across as a risk, although it does also feel, undeniably, like a in modern Australian cricket.

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On Friday, Cummins will become the first Australian to lead his side in a Test on Pakistan soil in over 23 years. This is a moment too. There’s much to say about that absence, little of it complimentary of Cricket Australia, but now is not the time for it. Now is the time to reflect on the bigness of this moment.In some ways, this tour is similar to Australia’s tour to Pakistan in 1959-60, their first proper one here (they had played a solitary Test in Karachi three years previously). At the time this part of the world was thought to be neither especially attractive nor particularly important as a destination; in 1956 it was a pitstop on the way back from an Ashes series. But in 1959, Australia were touring the subcontinent during their own domestic season and though some players didn’t want to tour, they were told by the Australian board they had better, or else.Because it was the first real visit and because it took place at the height of the Cold War, the captain, Richie Benaud, contacted the Australian prime minister and met with a top diplomat to make sure he knew what was what before he got out there. Pakistan had just had its introduction to military dictatorship and the US president was scheduled to visit during the tour (and though he did end up watching, he wasn’t there to watch cricket but to firm up a Cold War ally). The tour needed delicate navigation and even now, nearly seven years after Benaud passed, over 60 years after the tour, it’s easy to imagine how well he would have steered through it, sharp on the field, sensitive and charming off it.On Australia’s first tour to Pakistan in 23 years, Cummins will have to juggle many hats•AFP/Getty ImagesYou’d think, 60 years on, no way the geopolitical sensitivities would be quite as heightened again but, well, perhaps you haven’t yet taken a casual doomscroll down a social media timeline. But Cummins has much to put right in Australian cricket, rather than worrying about broader political equilibriums. Repairing Australian cricket’s image within Pakistan for one, or, like Benaud, starting all over. But it’s also a little bit about righting Australian cricket’s pandemic-era withdrawal. It’s their first tour of Pakistan in 23 years, but it’s also their first Test tour other than England since 2019. So in an as-yet unspecified order, Cummins will be fast bowler, captain, leader and ambassador all tour.Australians have long intuited it, but to the outside world he has emerged recently as just the man for it, a captain who will not only make sure he does not say or do anything stupid but a leader who might actively say and do the right things.A word of caution: we can’t ever really know our public figures, no matter how much we claim we might. We pretend we do, by drawing profiles based on interviews that aim to condense a life into an hour, or through their autobiographies, or by ascribing them traits off the back of their on-field deeds. And in these divisive times, we readily reduce them to easy, binary caricatures.This applies to every public figure but is especially relevant considering the experiences of the last two Australian Test captains, built up as solid, all-round great guys until they were revealed to be – gasp! – simply guys. We think we know them. Time and again we learn that we don’t.All that we can know is that they must work off some inner peace or tumult, some unknowable urges or apathies exactly like the rest of us humans do; their lives propelled by the usual motivations and machinations of humans, except they operate inside glass houses where everyone’s looking in and at the ready with stones.In Cummins’ case, it feels doubly necessary to throw in the caveat of Sandpapergate and its implications for Australia’s attack that day. That still feels unresolved, until at least as long as the Loud, Baffling and Ongoing Silence of David Warner continues.Three captains, two expensive lessons in holding the captaincy to impossible standards•Getty ImagesThis, then, is proffered with the greatest trepidation: that Cummins represents an unusually evolved leader for cricket in this age. Not just placed against the missteps of Tim Paine or Steve Smith, but of most captains.Because just as you might watch Cummins best deliveries, listen to his thoughts on racism (or read them here). He’s not indulging in some groupthink, box-ticking here. There’s active self-education at play, as well as an understanding of how it ties in with historical issues at home – to do with Australia’s treatment of its indigenous population.Or read his column on the climate crisis. That awareness too comes from personal experience, spurred by the birth of his first child. He wants to leave the world in better shape for the people who come after him: it’s not so much a pose as basic manners.

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It’s tempting to see that statement on Langer as the full stop not only to his coaching tenure but that entire era; a full stop, that is, between Australia’s goldenest generation and all subsequent ones, who, by definition, cannot be as golden; those are your mates, these are mine.It’s more complicated than that, of course, and eras can never be so neatly demarcated. But if one of the consequences from this is that a more enlightened Australia team emerges, one less self-righteous, one less fussed about that wretched “line” and the ethos around it that its predecessors were so hung up on, then that is outright a good thing.But a more immediate consequence is that a fair bit is riding on this series, or any that Cummins is going to lead in for a while. A loss here and you can imagine some of those former cricketers waiting to wade in. Not far behind them, a wider commentariat too. Because the issues that Cummins has chosen to speak on are so polarising, not least in Australia, that he has already been cussed out in some quarters as a woke poster boy leading a merry team of snowflakes. He should concentrate only on cricket, this numbskull thinking goes, and not, you know, have thoughts about the planet he inhabits or the people who inhabit it around him.On such issues, we see time and again, the blowback can be intense and unpredictable. Which is the precarious thing about Cummins on this trip. For a man whose only career blemishes so far amount to the yearly moustache he grows (and for the good cause of Movember at that), stepping into Pakistan represents uncertain terrain not only literally, but figuratively.

And has anyone made a higher percentage of a team’s score in a T20I than Romania’s Rebecca Blake?

Steven Lynch15-Aug-2023What records did Prithvi Shaw set during his double-century for Northamptonshire the other day? asked Mumtaz Hussein from India
Prithvi Shaw smashed 244 from 153 balls against Somerset in the Royal London Cup 50-over match against Somerset in Northampton last week. It was the highest score in List A cricket for Northamptonshire, beating Wayne Larkins’ unbeaten 172 against Warwickshire in a 40-over Sunday League game in Luton in 1983, and the second-highest in the English domestic competition, behind Alistair Brown’s 268 in a 50-over match for Surrey vs Glamorgan at The Oval in 2002.Including Brown’s innings, there have been only five higher individual scores in List A matches, three of them by Indian batters: 277 by Narayan Jagadeesan (Tamil Nadu vs Arunachal Pradesh in Bengaluru in 2022-23), the ODI-record 264 by Rohit Sharma (India vs Sri Lanka in Kolkata in 2014-15), and 248 by Shikhar Dhawan (India A vs South Africa A in Pretoria in 2013). The other one was D’Arcy Short’s 257 for Western Australia against Queensland at the Hurstville Oval in Sydney in 2018-19.Shaw reached 200 in 129 balls, the seventh-fastest on record, and the second-quickest in England behind Ben Duckett’s 123 balls for England Lions against Sri Lanka A in Canterbury in 2016. The only three List A double-centuries faster than Duckett’s were Jagadeesan’s (see above), which came up in 114 balls, and two by Travis Head for South Australia: from 114 deliveries against Queensland at the Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide in 2021-22, and 117 against Western Australia in Sydney (Hurstville Oval) in 2015-16.Shaw’s 244 was his second double-century in List A matches, following an undefeated 227 for Mumbai against Puducherry in Jaipur in 2020-21, when he reached 200 from 142 balls. He’s the fourth man to score more than one List A double, after Rohit (three), Brown and Head, but the first to make them in different countries.Roy Swetman, who died recently, was capped by three different first-class counties. Was he the first to achieve this? asked James Farrell from England
Wicketkeeper Roy Swetman, who died last month aged 89, was capped by Surrey in 1958, Nottinghamshire in 1966, and Gloucestershire in 1972. Neat and unflashy behind the stumps, Swetman played 11 Tests for England, the first after being selected for the 1958-59 Ashes tour even though he wasn’t Surrey’s regular keeper at the time. He should perhaps have played more often but, as his Surrey team-mate Micky Stewart recalled, “He enjoyed his time off the field too much. He’d start off the season in good nick, but after a few weeks back he wouldn’t be so sharp. He didn’t have the strength and stamina to maintain that lifestyle. It was sad, really.”Swetman was actually the second player to be capped by three counties, back in the days when movement between them was much less frequent than now. The first was the slow left-armer Bob Berry, by Lancashire in 1950, Worcestershire in 1957, and Derbyshire in 1961. Like Swetman, Berry also played for England, in two Tests against West Indies in 1950.In case anyone is unfamiliar with the term, county caps are usually awarded to someone who has become a regular player. It used to be an important stage in a player’s career – for a start it meant he would be paid more. Some counties, however, have discontinued this long-established tradition, and award caps (or sometimes “colours”) to anyone who appears for their first team.Mohammad Rizwan made a catch as a substitute in a recent Test, then joined the match as a concussion replacement and made another dismissal. Has anyone ever done this before in a Test? asked Hafeez Ahmed from Pakistan
Mohammad Rizwan pulled off this unusual double during Pakistan’s recent Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo. In Sri Lanka’s first innings, Rizwan took a catch at point to dismiss Kusal Mendis while on as a substitute fielder. Later he replaced Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was suffering from concussion; in the second innings Rizwan – by now a fully fledged member of the team – stumped Ramesh Mendis as Pakistan approached victory.It was indeed the first time a player had made dismissals for the same side as a substitute in a match he was playing in, which has only been possible since concussion replacements have been allowed. But in the early days of Test cricket, when teams often did not have spare players handy, there were three instances of a man taking a catch as a substitute against his own side. The first to do it was Australia’s captain Billy Murdoch, who caught his team-mate “Tup” Scott against England at Lord’s in 1884. He was fielding in place of WG Grace, who had injured a finger. This was actually the first substitute catch in any Test; Scott had top-scored for Australia with 75.Murdoch was followed by two more Australians in Ashes Tests. Affie Jarvis caught his team-mate Fred Spofforth in Melbourne in 1884-85. He’d only just been dismissed himself, six overs earlier, but England were short as Billy Barnes was injured. A few seasons later, in 1886-87, Charles “The Terror” Turner caught Reginald Allen in Sydney. He’d just sent down 64.1 (four-ball) overs, after 53 in the first innings, so must have been delighted to be asked to field for the opposition! He was needed as England’s Billy Gunn had been pressed into service as an umpire on the final morning, in the absence of one of those appointed. None of this trio of Aussies took a catch for their own side in the same match (even though Jarvis kept wicket in his game), so Rizwan is unique in that regard.Rizwan dismissed Kusal Mendis as a substitute fielder and stumped Ramesh Mendis later in the Test when he replaced the concussed Sarfaraz Ahmed•AFP/Getty ImagesRebecca Blake made around 70% of Romania’s runs in a recent T20I – was this a record? asked Geoffrey Harrison from England
Romania’s Bucharest-born captain Rebecca Blake scored 135 not out in her team’s 20-over total of 197 for 4 against Malta in Ilfov County last week. That’s 68.52% of the total – which, as this table shows, currently comes in third place for a women’s T20I (counting only all-out innings, or those where the full quota of overs was used).Top of the list is Sindhu Sriharsha, who made an unbeaten 74 out of 103 for 3 – 71.84% – for United States against Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi in September 2022. Next comes Deandra Dottin, with 112 out of 159 for 6 – 70.44% – for West Indies vs Sri Lanka in Coolidge (Antigua) in October 2017.The men’s T20I record is 75.10% – 172 in a total of 229 for 2 – by Aaron Finch for Australia against Zimbabwe in Harare in July 2018.Which player’s life story is told in the book The Globe-Trotting Cricketer? asked Keith McKenzie from Australia
This is the much-travelled Australian-born cricketer Bert Kortlang, who played first-class matches for Victoria in Australia before the First World War, and for Wellington in New Zealand afterwards. But that wasn’t the end of it: he travelled far and wide, and played minor cricket in many far-flung places, including Argentina, Canada and the United States. Back in Australia, he became a journalist and a friend of Don Bradman, who was the godfather to one of Kortlang’s children. Pelham Warner, the former England captain who was later closely involved with cricket as a journalist and administrator, compared him to the Scarlet Pimpernel: “We hear of him here; we hear of him there; the beggar pops up everywhere.”Kortlang died in 1961, aged 80, but his life story was reassembled by the New Zealand writer Rob Franks, in a book for the Cricket Publishing Company that came out in 2022. Not many were printed, so it’s rather hard to find, but it is beautifully produced and a very good read.And there’s an addition to last week’s question about the players who made their international debuts in all three formats in the shortest time frame, from Mike Halliwell from Australia, among others
“There’s a name to add to the list: the Australian legspinner Alana King completed her set in 14 days, the same as Mukesh Kumar, during the 2021-22 women’s Ashes series. King made her T20I debut in Adelaide on January 20, won her first Test cap in Canberra on January 27, and played her first ODI in Adelaide on February 3.”Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

2022 season has been defined by slow pitches, faulty balls and only sporadic entertainment

David Hopps24-May-2022Lie back and think of England, a phrase first attributed to the advice of prudish Victorian mothers to their soon-to-be-married daughters, might easily have been adopted by the poor, put-upon spectators of the LV= County Championship as the competition reached the end of its first phase.Flatter pitches are widely justified as essential to the rehabilitation of England’s failing Test side, and with some sound reasons, but the Championship has always had two functions – not just to produce Test cricketers, but to be entertainment in its own right. That entertainment has been sporadic, better in some counties than others. While coaches have understandably praised their charges for admirable dedication and discipline, what spectators remain have sometimes struggled to find delight.Spectators are all for England batters learning to concentrate, but few see why they also have to learn stoicism in return – especially when it is too cold to just do the crossword and soak up the sun.Four-day Championship cricket, of course, is understood to be another world. Outside Headingley, around 5pm on Saturday, a typically hedonistic weekend was in full swing. Inside the gates, Will Rhodes and Sam Hain, were dutifully saving the game for Warwickshire with a stand of extreme self-denial that began at barely one run an over and then stoutly added a wicketless Sunday, centuries for both and a stand of 227 in 104 overs. The different mindsets on either side of the Headingley walls were quite something, a game out of kilter with the society in which it must find a future. It cannot afford any false steps.Just as the counties’ ever-improving live streams are making the game more accessible than ever, too many games have died a death. Half the matches in Division One have been drawn (Yorkshire and Warwickshire have drawn nine out of 12 between them) and many such stalemates have been laboriously signalled hours, sometimes days, in advance. It is no way to persuade new converts that the four-day game is worth preserving and no way to protect what little coverage remains in the mainstream media.Regular ball changes have been a feature of the season so far•MI News/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesSix matches in seven weeks (seven in seven for Durham and Leicestershire), each of them almost the equivalent of a Test match in terms of overs, have allowed bowlers no let-up. They are being asked for both intensity and endurance. Some have been up to the challenge and their penetration in difficult circumstances has identified them as England prospects as a result, Durham’s Matthew Potts, with 35 wickets at 18.57, among them.Meanwhile, county stalwarts such as the 46-year-old Darren Stevens, who was understandably piqued last year to find himself presented as an example of what is wrong with the professional game in England, has found life rather harder going. Many will argue that, however much Stevens’ longevity deserves colossal respect, the shift has been long overdue.An average first-innings score over 55 matches of slightly more than 350 also sounds about right. But there have been too many times over the first seven weeks of the season when the progress of the game has slowed rather than quickened and tedium has been the end result. The perfect scenario – help for the seamers on the first day, the best batting conditions on the second and third, with spinners coming to the fore on the final day – has been a rarity.Too many pitches are not wearing and when they do there is a terrible dearth of quality spin bowlers to take advantage. Somerset’s Jack Leach, Notts’ slow left-armer, Liam Patterson-White and Lancashire’s leggie, Matt Parkinson, are the only regular English spin bowlers to have taken their wickets this season at an average below 30. Surrey haven’t even picked Amar Virdi yet and he is potentially one of the best young spin bowlers in the country. As they are top of the table, it is not easy to question their decision – but Virdi needs to be bowling.If better batting surfaces persist then there will be no magical appearance of spin bowling overnight as a consequence, especially if so many matches are packed into April and coaches do not adjust their selection thinking: Lancashire left out Parkinson at the Ageas Bowl in favour of five right-arm seamers. It will take at least five years’ concerted efforts, maybe 10, to bring about change. Along with spin bowlers, English cricket also hankers after fast bowlers capable of bowling at speeds above 90mph (145kph), but they have always been a rare commodity and will remain even more so as long as development pathways remain damagingly narrow.Lancashire played five right-arm seamers and left Matt Parkinson out at the Ageas Bowl•Getty ImagesThe season has been dominated instead by bowlers of traditional virtues, struggling to keep body and soul together while seeking limited seam and swing at 80mph (130kph). In the meantime, can county cricket withstand the pain? And with English cricket in another power struggle, with the future structure of professional cricket under review (again), there is scant encouragement anyway for counties, or indeed ambitious young players, to make long-term plans.While bowlers are being found out in more exacting conditions, by the same token, hundreds have become devalued, too many made in sedate fashion against moderate and weary attacks. As many as 32 players average more than 60 as the first stage of the season comes to a close, compared to only six when the 2021 season came to an end. Tot up the number of absent pace bowlers from an average round of Championship matches and the figure can exceed more than 30 as injuries, IPL opportunities and England withdrawals take their toll. English cricket, as so often, has swung from one extreme to the other.Fast bowling, in any case, appears to be more of an occupational hazard than ever before. For all the medical analysis, all the individually-designed programmes, all the gym work, all the well-meaning protection of young bowlers as they grow, we live in an age of inactive lifestyles. Rarely can quick bowlers put in the sort of bowling shifts of 85-90% intensity that can allow their bodies to strengthen. In short-form cricket especially, 100% intensity is demanded all the time. Many of the county bowlers with the best injury records, those who have allowed a responsive pitch to do the work, now face conditions that are alien to them.Related

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Another problem with the ECB’s lobbying for pitches to be shaved lower, and to possess less moisture content, is that such instructions have come with many other variables. Any scientist will tell you that the best experiments test for one variable at a time with everything else constant. But this county season has several variables in play – and they have all increased the likelihood of drawn games.So much Championship cricket in April and early May condemns the Championship to slow pitches. The sort of pace the ECB hankers after is hard enough to produce in England in midsummer and almost impossible to find in early spring which has led groundstaff in the past to zest up their surfaces with greener pitches.Squares are under heavy pressure in terms of usage as the Hundred and the rise of women’s cricket increases demand. With most outgrounds abandoned long ago for reasons of cost and convenience, finding faster, fresher, turning surfaces is not an easy task. Rob Key, the MD of England men’s cricket, has wondered aloud whether improved outfield drainage, which has been massively successful in reducing rain-affected games, has had a detrimental effect on the pace and bounce of pitches. Another variable to consider.Supporters have had to endure slow pitches and high scores in the early rounds of the county season•Getty ImagesThen there is the performance in 2022 of the Dukes ball. Perhaps the biggest influence of all. Bowlers have complained the balls have been going softer quicker, they have repeatedly had to be changed for going out of shape, and the seams have been less prominent. They have found swing harder to come by. although that might also be partially explained by a cold and dry Spring. New-ball wickets have always been important, but rarely to this extent.
.It took five rounds of matches for Dilip Jajodia, the owner of British Cricket Balls Ltd, to concede that the company had suffered Covid-disrupted production lines, and six rounds for the counties to receive fresh stocks. It should have happened quicker. Stuart Broad joined up with England complaining that it had been like “bowling with Plasticine”.Last week, the ball appeared to swing more at some grounds, the first two days at Headingley for one, but then the weather was more unsettled, so perhaps it would have done anyway. But it was another variable to consider.And we must not overlook that old favourite – the debate over the regulations surrounding the heavy roller. Its use is intended to help replicate conditions found in international cricket, but the pitches are dry and there are few dents to flatten. When combined with the lack of pace in most county surfaces, it results, all too often, in colourless, attritional cricket that rewards patience more than skill. If drier, shaven pitches are the future, then the heavy-roller regulations need changing.Ottis Gibson, Yorkshire’s coach, knows he is supervising one of the weaker seam attacks in Division One, but after four draws from winning positions at the start of the final day, he recognised that demoralisation was creeping in. “The first two innings the ball did a bit, but maybe it was the four heavy rollers – two per innings – which then deadened the pitch,” he said.Finally, the biggest bugbear of all: eight points for a draw. English football introduced three points for a win, rather than two, as long ago as 1981 to shift the balance against negative football; English professional cricket has increased draw points to 50%, enough to avoid relegation without winning a single game.County cricket, in recent years, has been a game of survival. Players, especially captains, have had little need for ambition or imagination. Just hang in there and the game will naturally take its course. For the moment, the batters are dipping their bread. But bread and dripping is no sort of diet.”A balance between bat and ball”. It is what everybody wants. It appears to be notoriously hard to achieve it and constant meddling makes it harder still. Not for the first time, the county game has a lot to consider. And the game, lest people forget, is the thing.

In-built resilience to this India side separates it from their recent global-tournament predecessors

Karthik Krishnaswamy08-Oct-20231:58

Kumble: KL Rahul looks like he’s back to his original self

2 for 3. If you’re an India fan, you probably saw flashbacks of 6 for 2 and 5 for 3 when you watched Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood cut through your top order on Sunday.Not again, you may have pleaded, beseeching whichever force you believe shapes the day-to-day destiny of the universe. Please, not again.This wasn’t a Champions Trophy final or a World Cup semi-final. This was India’s opening match in a World Cup whose format allows teams to bounce back from early setbacks. But you had no desire to witness this, no desire to revisit the trauma of the not particularly distant past.This match, though, was not like those other matches in significant ways, and this became increasingly apparent as Virat Kohli – who survived a nervy early period that included a loose drive at a 13th-stump delivery and a dropped chance from a top-edged hook – and KL Rahul steered India out of trouble with a fourth-wicket stand of 165.Related

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At a fundamental level, two things about this India side are different to those of 2017 and 2019.One, India had the perfect attack for the conditions. This certainly wasn’t the case during the 2017 Champions Trophy, where they lacked outright wicket-taking ability in the middle overs. It cost them when they played on flatter pitches: Sri Lanka chased down 322 against them in the group stage, and Pakistan, sent in to bat in the final, cruised to 338 for 4.The bowling was less of an issue in 2019, but in that semi-final at Old Trafford, their pace attack perhaps suffered in comparison to New Zealand’s since they lacked a fourth fast bowler in overcast, seaming conditions.Now, on a sharp turner in Chennai, India had three seamers – with Hardik Pandya a significantly better bowler than he was four years ago – and three spinners of entirely different styles who combine stifling accuracy with the ability to give the ball a rip. This was a turning pitch that rewarded Test-match virtues, and R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav are all accomplished Test spinners; most other spin attacks at this World Cup are made up of white-ball specialists. Australia have a major headache given they only have two frontline spinners in their squad, and that’s if you consider Glenn Maxwell to be one; Adam Zampa’s lack of control in this match was a key reason why India won so comfortably in the end.The control Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep exerted on Australia stifled their scoring long before they collapsed from 110 for 2 to 119 for 5. David Warner, Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne added a combined 105 for the second and third wickets, but took 24.5 overs to do so. This was the kind of pitch where it was fraught with risk to hit good-length balls against the turn, and India’s spinners hardly ever veered from a good length while constantly keeping the stumps in play.The quality and experience of this attack ensured that India kept Australia down to well below what might have been a testing total. Even at 2 for 3, India knew two good partnerships would put them back on track.KL Rahul has occupied No. 5 consistently in the build-up to the tournament•Associated PressWhich brings us to the second major difference between this India and the India of 2017 and 2019. In 2017, the early loss of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli brought an ageing and well-past-his-best Yuvraj Singh to the crease. The batters to follow were MS Dhoni, who was beginning to show signs of slowing down, Kedar Jadhav, who had only batted 12 previous times in ODIs, and Hardik Pandya, who had only batted seven times.By 2019, Dhoni was two years older and playing what turned out to be his final ODI. Their middle order also included Rishabh Pant – who hadn’t been part of their original squad and was their fourth No. 4 of the tournament – and Dinesh Karthik – a reserve keeper who came into the side as a specialist batter after sitting out the bulk of the league phase. Their line-up in the semi-final looked nothing like the line-up they began the tournament with.On Sunday at Chepauk, India had Rahul at No. 5 – a position he’s occupied consistently in the build-up to the tournament, and where he averaged 50.43 coming into this World Cup – a Hardik who has vastly improved his innings-building skills over the last few years at No. 6, and Jadeja and Ashwin at Nos. 7 and 8. This may not be the most power-packed middle and lower-middle order at this World Cup, but it’s certainly one with quality and experience and batters playing roles they’re comfortable in.India could still have lost Sunday’s game, of course. Any team can lose from 2 for 3. But the India of 2023 are better set up to recover from that sort of situation. Their bowling, particularly on turning pitches, probably won’t concede too much more than par; and their batting has far fewer holes. This is why they’re favourites to win this World Cup.That, of course, is no guarantee of actually doing it. India could still get to the semi-finals or final and lose to a quality opponent. But that opponent might need to play at the very limits of their ability to make that happen, because there’s an in-built resilience to this India side, born of the quality and experience running through it, that separates it from their recent global-tournament predecessors.

The rookie pair successfully applied the freeze on Royals during the middle overs

Sidharth Monga30-Apr-20222:11

Vettori: Shokeen’s seam release is as good as you’ll see for an offspinner

Mumbai Indians’ first win, at long last, came through spin against the best players of spin this IPL. Coming into this match, Rajasthan Royals had scored 9.36 runs per over against spin, having lost just seven wickets at an average of 62.85, all comfortably the best numbers among the 10 teams. The total experience put together between Mumbai’s spinners? Ten T20 matches.Hrithik Shokeen, who has learned old-school offspin from the old-school Maninder Singh, has been with the squad but made his T20 debut in the IPL. Left-arm wristspinner Kumar Kartikeya, who had played eight matches for Madhya Pradesh, only came in as a replacement player and impressed enough at the nets to get the IPL debut right away.Related

• 'He hadn't eaten lunch for a year' – The sacrifices of Kumar Kartikeya Singh

• New-face Kartikeya stars as Mumbai win on ninth try

In the end, the two were outperformed by their experienced and decorated counterparts, R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, but in denying Royals their point of difference, the high run-rate in the middle overs, Shokeen and Kartikeya did an important job. They were both helped by the surface, but there is more to them than just the performance on the night.Shokeen in particular has had everyone drooling with his dip and drift. Batters have consistently been coming forward to find out the ball has dropped short of their reach. On a night that he got hit for six sixes, Shokeen, playing just his third T20 match, has shown there is a lot to work with.Daniel Vettori, a great fingerspinner himself and also an active T20 coach, feels the same.”His seam release is as good as any you will see from an offspinner,” Vettori said on ESPNcricinfo’s analysis show . “What will come with it is variations and the understanding of bowling to batters, use of the crease, use of round and over, but I think there is a bright future there for him.”It is incredibly hard to get that seam position right. It brings in drift, it brings in a lot more revolutions, it brings in dip. So it challenges all batters not just left-hand batters. He will be the sort of bowler that can match up against right and left-handers as he goes along. Plus the fact that he bats. As always Mumbai Indians scout so well. Looks like they have got another one.”Just like the season that Mumbai are having, Shokeen found himself in the eye of the storm when given the 16th over with Jos Buttler desperate to break free. By the time he tried to start bowling defensively, Shokeen had already conceded three sixes.”It looked like a very capable, inexperienced bowler bowling to one of the best batters in the world,” Vettori said of that over. “So with maturity and experience he will understand that Jos Buttler is going to try to hit the first ball for six and then the second ball and the third ball and the fourth ball and so on and so forth. It looked like he was just looking to bowl that perfect ball to get him out. Whether he needed a little bit of advice, a little bit of help to get him through that over potentially.”Hrithik Shokeen was hit for four sixes in an over by Buttler but came back strongly to dismiss the batter•BCCIWith experience, Shokeen will surely become more aware of the limitations of fingerspinners in the T20 game. From Ashwin later in the night, he might have perhaps seen when to get out of an over and when to look for wickets. When you don’t bowl the carrom ball, your accuracy as a fingerspinner, your great friend in first-class cricket, can become your enemy.Wristspinners enjoy the benefits of imperfection. It is rare for them to perfect that release so it comes out slightly different each time. So apart from the variations, that imperfection creates unpredictability. That is what worked for Kartikeya when he got Sanju Samson out with a long hop the second ball he bowled in the IPL.However, Kartikeya went on to show the various toys he carries in his bag. There was the regulation legbreak, the wrong’un, but also the fingerspun carrom ball and the odd seam-up delivery.”It took about seven balls to work out what he was bowling,” Vettori said. “He was left-arm everything. He started with his legspin, bowled a couple of seam-up balls, then he went to his carrom ball. Overall he used the surface as well as everyone.”The batters kept searching for something, kept searching for a bad ball, and he never really gave it to them. Mitchell struggled against him and even Jos Buttler. Couldn’t get away as much as he tried. That’s credit to his deception – probably the first time every one is seeing him – but also he was just so consistent.”Not every pitch will help him so, not everyday will bring him figures of 4-0-19-1 but it is worth remembering that over a nine-match career now, his T20 economy rate is under six.It was clear even on the auction day that Mumbai were going to struggle this year but it seemed they were willing to risk this season in order to build for the longer term. Their going for Jofra Archer when he was not going to be available this year was a clear example of that. This season might be gone, but signs are, they might have found a good spin-bowling core to compliment Archer and Jasprit Bumrah in the seasons to come.