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There are ways of making the Associates an integral part of the tournament while still keeping the event competitive and lucrative

Sambit Bal17-Mar-2015The World Cup has strolled in leisurely fashion through what had been billed as the round of dull predictability. But it can be said upon reflection, and with a degree of gratefulness, that neither have the last four weeks been dull nor have they been predictable. In the end, seven of the eight teams fancied to feature in the quarters have made it – some just about. Three matches in the first round were virtual knockouts, and it took until the last day of the first round for the last two teams to get on board.Once again, it is to Ireland that the World Cup owes a big thank you. And to England – if you want to be cruel. By causing one major upset in three successive World Cups – against Pakistan in 2007, England in 2011, and West Indies in 2015 – Ireland have kept the first part of the tournament bubbling. England kept it alive and open with ineptitude. In 2011, they managed to sneak through despite losing to Ireland and Bangladesh, but this time Bangladesh took their place in the last eight by rights. They might have had a slice of fortune by way of the washout that allowed them to split points with Australia, but the way the group stage ended, it wouldn’t have mattered: over the five weeks, Bangladesh were better than England.Further, the first round remained enjoyable till the end, for the subplots it provided. New Zealand set the tone by unleashing a breathtakingly aggressive brand of cricket. With the bat it has been done before, but Brendon McCullum went for broke with the ball too, bowling out both England and Australia by using up his wicket-taking bowlers in the first 30 overs.India surprised the world by rousing themselves from a slumber and topping their group in a manner that left even their most ardent fans nonplussed. A group of bowlers who hadn’t managed to bowl out a side all summer, captured 60 wickets in six matches, the only team to do so this World Cup. It is a first in India’s ODI history. Even after it had become clear they couldn’t be dislodged from pole position, whether they would be able to bowl out their opponents remained a matter of interest – as it did with New Zealand, who were denied by Bangladesh.

There is an argument that the current format could be made far more competitive and meaningful simply by taking away the quarter-finals. Putting that into practice here, it would have left New Zealand, India, Australia and South Africa fighting it out

Afghanistan managed to win a World Cup match in their first tournament, denying Scotland their own first in a thrilling one-wicket win achieved with a last over-boundary. Such was the depth of England’s misery that even their otherwise meaningless final match, against Afghanistan, carried significance: it was a match they couldn’t afford to lose.There was the running thread between India and Pakistan; Pakistan’s own story of finding a stirring bowling performance when they appeared to be sinking; the trans-Tasman bowl-out; Ireland beating Zimbabwe with a catch on the rope to stay alive; and South Africa raising mountains while batting first but stumbling in chases.The pull of sport lies not merely in the pleasures and pains of triumphs and defeats but also in the textures and the layers of the stories that have come along the way. The next 12 days will define this World Cup, but the last four weeks have given us more than the mere routine of setting up the inevitable.That inevitable, of course, was that the Associates would go home, leaving the top eight to begin the real business of winning the World Cup. Bangladesh’s presence is a welcome change to the plot, but it doesn’t largely alter the reality that a team can be more or less abysmal for a month and still end up in the final on the back of two good days.The problem with the World Cup has never been the presence of the Associates, but the format, which has been designed to keep the “revenue- earning” teams in the tournament for as long as possible. In principle, 2007 had a better format – 16 teams, four groups, with eight qualifying to the second round – but the unanticipated departures of India and Pakistan wrought commercial calamity.There is an argument that the current format could be made far more competitive and meaningful simply by taking away the quarter-finals. Putting that into practice here, it would have left New Zealand, India, Australia and South Africa fighting it out for the trophy, and there would be no argument against the merits of those four teams. But of course, it would meant four fewer marquee games on television, and who could have guaranteed at the start of the tournament that India, on whom rides the financial viability of the tournament, would end in the top four?The Associates bring freshness, the joy of the unexpected, an amateur spirit, and they give cricket fans a worthy and ennobling pleasure•Getty ImagesAnd so to the idea of a ten-team World Cup: more matches between relatively evenly matched teams, more meaning, tighter contests, and of course a far more lucrative tournament. Despite the feel-good factor the presence of minor nations brought, it is true that as the tournament wore on, the gaps between the weaker and stronger teams widened. A case was made for close contests featuring the Associates, but invariably those happened between two weak teams.Barring Ireland, no other Associate managed to put in a contest. Afghanistan had Sri Lanka in a bother for a while, but once Mahela Jayawerdene took charge, the outcome became a formality. And even Ireland, once that win against the underperforming West Indies was out of the way, never looked capable of challenging a top nation.A parallel is often drawn with the football World Cup, but it ignores football’s much wider base and the fact that an uncompetitive game there lasts only 90 minutes, against one-day cricket’s eight-odd hours.However, it is easy to see why cricket fans love the idea of Associates in the World Cup. Who with their heart in the right place doesn’t love a good romance? The Associates bring freshness, the joy of the unexpected, an amateur spirit, and they give cricket fans a worthy and ennobling pleasure: being able to root for the underdog, and occasionally, the reward of a thrilling upset.Between commercial pragmatism and romance, cricket must find common ground. Sachin Tendulkar has spoken of a 25-team tournament and Martin Crowe has put forward the idea of an 18-team World Cup lasting ten weeks. In the spirit of the moment, here’s one more idea.The ten-team World Cup can stay, but why not simply add a qualifying leg to the main tournament? The idea put forward by Wally Edwards, the Cricket Australia chairman, to rebrand ODIs as World Cup cricket is worthy of serious consideration. It is, of course, impossible to regulate the number of ODIs each country wants to play, but let there be a minimum number of matches each team must play. The top six teams can then qualify directly for the World Cup, and the bottom eight can play in the first round of the World Cup, with the top four from there joining the second round. It will then feel like one long, seamless tournament but with every match invested with significance, and the matches in the first round will be between more evenly matched teams. And most of all, they will take place on a stage that the minor nations crave and deserve.It is simplistic, and somewhat misinformed, to demonise the ICC for its treatment of the Associates. The fact is that there have been many in the organisation who have championed and worked tirelessly for the cause for years. The Afghanistan story, among the most uplifting in sport, wouldn’t have been possible without these efforts. But that spirit often finds itself at odds with the immediate commercial interests of the ICC board, which is ruled by a smaller group.Still, a middle ground can be found. The world doesn’t have to thrown out of the World Cup to make it a tournament. With vision, will and some flexibility, it can be an exclusive competition while staying inclusive.

Stats highlight from the third day of the second Test between West Indies and England, at St George’s

Shiva Jayaraman24-Apr-20158523 Runs Alastair Cook has made in Tests – the second highest aggregate by any England batsman. Cook went past Alec Stewart’s 8463 runs during his innings of 76. Graham Gooch leads the list with 8900 runs. Cook now has 8523 Test runs in 111 matches at an average of 45.82.4 Number of England batsmen who had fifty-plus scores in six consecutive Test innings before Root. He has made 56, 77, 149*, 83, 59 and 118* in his last six innings. Cook was the last batsman to achieve this, in 2010-11. The others were Patsy Hendren, Ted Dexter and Ken Barrington. If Root gets fifty in his next innings too, he will join Everton Weekes, Andy Flower, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Kumar Sangakkara as the batsmen to have fifty-plus scores in seven consecutive innings, which is the longest such streak.4245 Runs scored by Cook in Tests outside England – equalling the most by any England batsman in away (and neutral) Tests. Wally Hammond also scored 4245 runs in away Tests. This was Cook’s 33rd fifty-plus score in away Tests, which also equals the second most by any England batsman in away Tests. Colin Cowdrey also 33 made fifty-plus scores in away matches. Geoff Boycott leads this list with 35 such scores.0 Centuries by Root in nine away Tests before this one. He had five Test hundreds at home. Root has scored 633 runs in away Tests at an average of 42.20. At home, Root has made 1359 runs at an average of 64.71. Root now has a Test hundred against each of the five teams he has played against.40 Number of innings between the previous century stand by England’s openers and the one in this Test. England’s openers had last had a century partnership in 2013, in second innings of the Dunedin Test, when Cook and Nick Compton had added 231 runs.456 Runs scored by England’s fourth wicket in this series – the most scored by their fourth-wicket stand in any three-Test (or fewer) series. Their previous highest for the fourth wicket in a three-Test series was 434, against India in 1967. England’s fourth-wicket stand has averaged 152 runs per wicket with a century partnership in each of the three innings so far.62.53 Gary Ballance’s average in Tests; he has 938 runs with eight fifty-plus scores in ten Tests, including four centuries. Ballance has hit at least one fifty in eight of his ten Tests</a.

Plays of the day from the third ODI between Zimbabwe and India

Liam Brickhill in Harare14-Jul-2015The dropElton Chigumbura usually has one of the safer pairs of hands in Zimbabwe’s XI, but he dropped the easiest of chances off Kedar Jadhav in the 41st over, with disastrous consequences. The error did nothing to help Graeme Cremer’s figures, but worse still Jadhav, who should have been out for 41 off 57 deliveries, added a further 64 runs in his innings to rush to a maiden ODI century. He lead India’s charge at the death as they plundered 106 off the last ten overs, ruining what had been a spirited start by Zimbabwe.The sixJadhav’s innings wasn’t short on boundaries, and he found the area between backward point and third man particularly profitable. A deftly angled bat allowed him to collect six of his boundaries in that area, off both spin and pace, but the stand-out shot was the one that took him to his hundred. An attempted yorker from Neville Madziva slipped out as a full toss, and Jadhav helped the ball on its way with impeccable timing, clearing the boundary for his only six. It was a fitting way to go to a hundred, and his ecstatic celebration was also in keeping with the occasion.The first-ballerM Vijay had a forgettable day with the bat, falling early via an outside edge, but he’ll have rather fonder memories of his efforts with the ball. Vijay had only bowled three overs in 16 ODIs before today, and with just eight wickets in 70 List A matches he might have seemed an odd choice to be brought on to bowl at Chigumbura, who had gotten off the mark with a rasping cut off the left-arm spinner Axar Patel two overs previously. But Vijay’s first ball spun in to rap Chigumbura on the pads, and when Umpire Simon Fry upheld the appeal Vijay had his first ODI wicket, celebrating the landmark with a leap and a click of the heels.The drop, part IIAny sense of achievement Vijay may have felt after his wicket will have been dented by his lackadaisical attempt to take a simple catch at long-on in the 35th over of Zimbabwe’s innings. Chamu Chibhabha was the batsmen to be reprieved, as he punted a length delivery almost straight at Vijay only for the ball to bobble out of his hands. A distraught Stuart Binny recovered to nip Richmond Mutumbami out lbw at the end of the same over, though that dismissal did require a second look from the umpires as Binny’s heel was only just behind the line…The no-ball… Which wasn’t the case when he might have had Malcolm Waller caught behind for a golden duck. Binny had found some wobble through the air throughout his spell, and Waller poked nervously at an outswinger to send a thin edge straight through to Robin Uthappa behind the stumps. It seemed a foregone conclusion, and Waller was walking off when the umpires again asked for a review of the no-ball. This time Binny had landed his foot well over the line, but Waller couldn’t make anything of his second chance. A free hit resulted only in a wild swing at fresh air, and in Binny’s next over Waller nicked a regulation catch to Ajinkya Rahane, Zimbabwe’s chase ending swiftly in a flurry of wickets.

A list of the nine players who made double-centuries at No. 6 before Ben Stokes, including one from a limping Don Bradman

Andrew McGlashan04-Jan-2016Syd Gregory: 201 v England, Sydney, 1894An extraordinary match which a paragraph does not do justice to – England winning by 10 runs after following on. Australia’s 586 remains the highest innings score in a Test loss. In that total was Gregory’s double-hundred, scored in a tick over four hours. “In recognition of his wonderful innings of 201 a collection was made for Gregory, the sum subscribed on the ground amounting to a hundred and three pounds,” reported . It would remain Gregory’s highest Test and first-class score. In the second innings, he was sixth man out with Australia needing 19 for victory.Don Bradman: 234 v England, Sydney, 1946There are not many batting lists that don’t include the Don – even those involving lower middle-order positions. Bradman holds the record for a score at No. 7 with his 270 against England, at Melbourne, in 1937. Nine years later, he held the record for No. 6 as well and it came with a dodgy leg for good measure. noted how Bradman did not use a runner and “batted superbly despite a pronounced limp which must have been very painful.” He and Sid Barnes, who also made 234, added 405 for the fifth wicket as Australia built a commanding lead which would ultimately put them 2-0 up in the Ashes.Hanif Mohammad: 203* v New Zealand, Lahore, 1965Hanif Mohammad will forever be remembered for being run out on 499 – the figure Brian Lara would surpass in 1994 as the highest first-class score. Six years after that gargantuan innings, he walked in with Pakistan 62 for 4 and later rescued them with a fifth-wicket stand of 217 alongside Majid Khan. Hanif’s innings lasted more than seven-and-a-half hours before the declaration came after he reached his double. It was the second time he had passed 200 in Tests, but it was dwarfed by his 337 against West Indies.Doug Walters: 250 v New Zealand, Christchurch, 1977The man who Stokes knocked off the top at No. 6. This innings came towards the latter stages of Walters’ Test career, shortly before he joined World Series Cricket: he would play six more Tests after the 1977 season, recalled in 1980-81 to face New Zealand and India. He walked in with Australia’s first innings in the balance on 112 for 4 after they had been inserted and that became 208 for 6 before Walters, who had been dropped on 13, combined with Gary Gilmour (101) in a seventh-wicket stand of 217. Walters struck 30 boundaries and two sixes in what called an “assertive and attractive” innings. It surpassed his 242 against West Indies in 1969 as his highest test score.Greg Blewett: 214 v South Africa, Johannesburg, 1997South Africa did not take a wicket throughout the entire third day’s play at the Wanderers as Steve Waugh and Greg Blewett forged a 385-run stand for the fifth wicket to transform a match that was heading for a tight tussle into an overwhelming Australia victory. This was Blewett’s third hundred in his first 14 Tests, after beginning with centuries in his first two matches against England in the 1994-95 Ashes, although he would only make one more in his career. “Blewett’s driving and pulling were a revelation,” was the view against an attack of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, Jacques Kallis and Paul Adams.Hashan Tillakaratne: 204* v West Indies, Colombo, 2001This series became famous for Lara’s futile tour-de-force as he made 688 runs – including three centuries – only to see West Indies lose 3-0. This was the final match of the series. West Indies had been 347 for 3 but fell to 390 with Lara making 221. Sri Lanka’s top order chipped away at the target, but West Indies’ hotch-potch attack struck with wickets before the middle order, led by the left-handed Tillakaratne, sucked the remaining life from them. He added 165 for the sixth wicket with Thilan Samaraweera and Muttiah Muralitharan was able to stay long enough at No. 11 to see him to his double.AB de Villiers: 217* v India, Ahmedabad, 2008One of the men craning his neck during Stokes’ onslaught – and the man who ultimately ran him out – has himself notched a double at No. 6, early in a period where South Africa showed their prowess in the subcontinent. India had been humbled for 76 so the result was never in doubt, but de Villiers took India to the cleaners having few problems against Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble. At the time, it was the highest score by a South African batsman in India; Hashim Amla would overtake it in 2010 with his unbeaten 253.MS Dhoni: 224 v Australia, Chennai, 2013This would prove to be the last of MS Dhoni Test’s centuries, a bludgoening 265-ball innings with 24 fours and six sixes. India were not exactly in trouble when he arrived – 196 for 4 in reply to Australia’s 380 – but the match was there to be defined. Dhoni did just that in an innings described by Sharda Ugra as “a calculated, resolute and complete destruction of an opposition’s bowling attack, its plans and maybe even its future course of action in this series.” What made the innings more notable was that he was on 121 when joined by No. 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar who stayed for nearly three hours in a ninth-wicket partnership of 140.Mushfiqur Rahim: 200 v Sri Lanka, Galle, 2013A milestone innings for Bangladesh cricket as Mushfiqur, who made his Test debut as a 16-year-old at Lord’s in 2005, scored their first double-century in Test cricket in what remains their highest total of 638. Sri Lanka had put plenty on the board – 570 for 4 – but Bangladesh were not overwhelmed. However, when Mushfiqur walked in at 177 for 4 getting close to parity, never mind a lead, was a long way off. He would go onto face 321 balls and add 267 with Mohammad Ashraful who fell for 190. ESPNcricinfo’s Mohammad Isam wrote: “Mushfiqur’s unflagging concentration for more than seven hours was not surprising for a gritty batsman who is technically sound. The situation required the ability to assess potential trouble that was just around the corner.”

A consistent Joe Burns has always been overshadowed in Australia’s power-packed batting line-up and he needed a century like the one in Christchurch to confirm his credentials

Brydon Coverdale in Christchurch21-Feb-20163:21

‘Was nervous to get off the mark’ – Burns

Naked and unafraid, a streaker sprinted across Hagley Oval on Sunday afternoon, evaded security, jumped the fence, and was on his way up the grassy banks and away to freedom when he was crash-tackled by a policeman. Cue raucous cheers. A split second later the ground announcer proclaimed that Joe Burns had just passed his highest Test score. Cue raucous laughter. Good innings, but non-sequitur.It was typical of Burns’ summer that he was overshadowed again. Such have been the Himalayan averages of Australia’s batsmen in 2015-16 that by comparison Burns’ is a mere Mt. Kosciuszko. Still bigger than a hill. Burns started the season as Australia’s new opening batsman after Chris Rogers retired, and in that role he has three hundreds and 627 runs at 52.25. They are impressive numbers by any standard.But Adam Voges has 901 runs at 180.20, Usman Khawaja has 668 at 111.33, Steven Smith has 704 at 78.22, David Warner has 835 at 75.90. Still, none of these men scored three tons in his first ten Tests, as Burns has now done. And three in his first 12 innings opening for Australia – the last few to do that were Simon Katich, Justin Langer and David Boon. All tough men of great Test-match temperament. Men you’d love to have in your team.Burns is too. Whereas Brendon McCullum’s first-day 145 could have been no more unforgettable had Nat King Cole sung it himself, there will be those in the Christchurch crowd who in years to come will recall barely one shot from Burns’ 170. Some will struggle to do so tonight at the pub. His boundaries came along the ground, his century came from 191 balls, and his runs kept coming – gradually.Burns rates Christchurch ton as his best so far

Joe Burns has rated his 170 in Christchurch as the best of the three hundreds he has scored in Test cricket, given the difficulty of playing away from home and coming in to bat after Brendon McCullum’s record-breaking century that gave New Zealand control of the match on day one.
“For me [this was] my best because of the context of the game, the fact it was away from home,” Burns said. “The first one I got in Brisbane in front of friends and family will be the most satisfying for the rest of my career, this one’s technically my best because of the way I tried to play and I was able to do it for long periods.
“I’ve done a lot of work with the mindset of this tour coming up, when I had a few weeks at home with no cricket on. So it’s very satisfying … the challenge that was coming up, against a quality team in their own backyard, and just to execute those things I wanted to do. I think it’ll give me a lot of confidence going forward,” he said.

It was a proper Test match knock and as good as his figures are, Burns needed this kind of innings to confirm his credentials. At the Gabba against New Zealand, he had licence to go hard in the second innings and scored his 129 with Australia well in front. At the MCG his 128 came against a West Indies attack that was pedestrian, and on a flat road of a pitch pedestrians stand little chance.At Hagley Oval, things were a bit tougher. True, Australia have had the best of the conditions in both Wellington and Christchurch, where New Zealand have been sent in on green pitches that have dried out so quickly you’d think they were in rehab. But New Zealand’s bowlers still made life difficult early in Australia’s first innings in both cities. The ball still moved enough, the openers were tested initially.At the Basin Reserve, Burns hardly even had a chance to test himself against the new ball, gloving down leg side for a duck in the first over. At Hagley Oval he dug in, negotiating his way safely to stumps on day one on 27 from 65 balls. He had lost David Warner early, and lost Usman Khawaja in the fourth over on day two. At 67 for 2, Burns had to take on the lead role.And he did, for the rest of his innings with his captain at the other end, the man who will lead Australia back to No.1 on the Test rankings if they avoid defeat here. To stay there, they will need more days like today, days of patient compilation away from home. By stumps, Australia had nearly overhauled in 110 overs what New Zealand had posted inside 66. It was a two-paced pitch and a two-paced match.Together Burns and Smith put on 289 for the third wicket, Australia’s highest all-time partnership in New Zealand, and in doing so they kept Australia in the match. At the crease they are a study in contrasts. Burns is tranquil, unhurried. Smith fidgets, tapping this and that, leaving deliveries with an elaborate swat. Unlike Burns, Smith is never still, but he always seems to be still there.It was remarkable that he was still there after being struck on the helmet by a Neil Wagner bouncer on the verge of tea. Inside his helmet Smith heard a Wagnerian ringing cycle, fell to the ground and initially looked dazed by the blow. But the team doctor Peter Brukner gave Smith the all clear to bat on, and he posted his 14th Test century after Burns had reached his third.Like Burns, Smith played carefully, often along the ground, picking the gaps and biding his time. Not a single six was struck on day two; 12 had been hit on day one, and half of those by McCullum alone. But not every day is directed by an auteur. Day one was McCullum’s slash-fest, day two a more classical period piece. And a day in which, streaker aside, Burns played a starring role.

Given that format has been designed with close finishes in mind, it has changed the way teams, coaches and selectors look at fielding

Tim Wigmore03-Mar-2016When Trevor Penney became India fielding coach in 2011, he was tasked with reinvigorating the team’s fielding. It was his fortune that, as the ageing legends retired, a new generation of zestful cricketersarrived in their stead.”Sachin was still coming for fielding practice aged 40. It’s just that, if he were 20 coming through, he would have put effort in like a Virat,” Penney reflects. While the old cohort “grew up thinking, ‘I’ll just do enough. I want to be a decent fielder but I don’t want to be a great fielder'”, in the new India “they all want to be really good.”It was a microcosm of how fielding standards have been transformed. Improvements can be traced back to the invention of one-day cricket in1963, through to the formation of the World Cup, the professionalisation of the sport during and after World Series Cricket, and the relentless pursuit of cricketing perfection that characterised Australia under Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting. But never has fielding been given as much attention as in the age of T20.”T20’s been the thing that turned the corner,” says Mike Young, the former baseball coach who started working in cricket, initially with Australia, in 2000. “T20 has forced fielding to get better. The athletes now are so much better. Seriously it’s not even close. It’s a different game.”A format designed with close finishes in mind has compelled selectors to give greater emphasis to fielding. “You’re debating that No. 6or seven spot in T20, and you’ll just go for the better fielder. So everyone is fitter and faster,” Penney says. Increasingly the judgements on a player’s fielding proficiency are informed less by gut feeling – which fielders might look the most athletic – and more by cold data. “You’ve got a spreadsheet where you can see who’s saved runs, who’s given away runs. Have they attacked the ball properly?”Usman Khawaja finishes his stunning catch to dismiss Trent Boult in the recent Wellington Test•Getty ImagesThe specialist fielding coach has been among the great winners of the T20 age. During the 2003 World Cup, a couple of months before thefirst game of professional T20, Young recalls being the only fielding coach; by the last World Cup, the fielding coach was integral to all 14 nations. The quality of fielding training is incomparable. “We did batting first and had to fit in the fielding later. There wasn’t time during nets to go off and do fielding with small groups,” Penney recalls of his time as Sri Lanka assistant coach between 2005 and 2007. When he returned, for a stint before and during the 2015 World Cup, it was as full-time fielding coach, working intensively with groups of two or three players for half-hour bursts.If what Penney terms “the basics” – catching, diving, collecting the ball cleanly and throwing properly – remain the foundation of a goodfielder, the requirements are even more onerous in the shortest format. “You’ve got a different type of training for T20: a lot morehigh catching, a lot more boundary catching.”Because so many more balls go to the boundary edge – due to the licence batsmen are afforded in T20, bat technology, how cricketers have evolved as athletes, and ropes being been brought in – the modern fielder has had to master multifarious skills. Among these are the relay throw, with one player parrying the ball back and his team-mate throwing the ball in; the dive on the rope to stop it going for six, catch the ball or parry to a team-mate; and the art of releasing the ball into the air while hurtling over the rope, and then catching it after regaining balance.”Every team practises that,” Penney says. “It’s something the players love doing. It’s vital as well because, especially in T20, so many balls just carry, or don’t quite carry, over the boundary.”In a Test in Wellington last month, Trent Boult launched Nathan Lyon to long-on, where Usman Khawaja ran to meet the catch as he hurtledtowards the boundary rope. Just before going over, Khawaja flicked the ball up in the air with his right hand, and then nonchalantly caughtit after returning from the wrong side of the rope. Here was one of Australia’s least obviously formidable athletes taking what, a few years ago, would have been considered an astounding catch, and looking utterly nonchalant about doing so. It distilled how T20 fielding has impacted all formats of the game. Pyrotechnics on the boundary edge have become the new normal.Radical improvement is detectable well inside the boundary edge. Even in the 30-yard circle, players work together to hunt down the ball, aiming for one fielder to chase down the ball and palm it to another man to hurl back in. They are more comfortable sliding, helped by better outfields being used in training and matches. Teams also cut down on straight twos by using a right-hander at long-off and a left-hander at long-on, as pioneered by Australia’s use of Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke. But “the change in mindset is the real innovation” in fielding, Young stresses.Trevor Penney: “In most fielding drills, when it comes to direct hits, players are missing the majority of the throws. So they’re practising missing, not hitting”•Getty ImagesThere remains ample room for further advancement. “I’m generalising, but many people don’t know how to actually do professional coaching of fielding,” Young says. “All the drills with the whole team are a waste of time. I like to work on small incremental things with each individual athlete because each guy’s different. There’s still a lot of time when everybody gets together and they just hit balls around. They don’t work on the actual technique and how to get better, especially at the highest level. They’re doing it wrong.”To Penney, the paucity of direct hits reflects a lack of good-quality training. “In most fielding drills, when it comes to direct hits, players are missing the majority of the throws. So they’re practising missing, not hitting. Drills I’ve designed involve hitting the stumps a lot more from close range and then slowly progressing backwards. So after ten minutes you’ve probably hit the stumps 50 times. In some team drills, they throw at the stumps ten times each and only hit once, and think that’s enough. That has to improve.”Although innovation will continue – slip fielders are becoming ever more adept at darting to the leg side in anticipation of a batsman’sshot, for instance – there might not be any great revolution forthcoming. While admiring George Bailey’s ability to throw with both arms, neither Penney nor Young supports John Buchanan’s enthusiasm for ambidextrous fielders. “The skills you need – throwing over the top from 80 metres, or hitting the stumps from 30 yards, it’s very difficult to suddenly do it with both arms,” Penney says. “Guys with their dominant arm can’t hit the stumps enough anyway,” Penney says.Much of his focus remains on the oldest fielding skill of them all: catching the ball. He likes to give his team specific training depending on where they field, because catching an uppercut at third man is a different art to snaring one at long-on. During his recent stint with Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash, “there seemed to be quite a few dropped catches every game. Batsmen have got better bat speeds, and they’re hitting the ball a lot harder. The fielders are still adjusting to that.”The rise of T20 and specialist coaching mean that fielding will continue to evolve – just not quite as quickly as it could. “Not enough people are motivated to go out and improve their fielding, because the money is in scoring runs and taking wickets,” Young says, lamenting the lack of “statistics for errors and runs saved”. He believes that another simple change would speed up fielding’s ascent. “If fielding’s important, and everybody agrees it is, where is the validation? Why isn’t there an award for international fielder of the year?”

Plays of the day from the IPL match between Gujarat Lions and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Rajkot

Deivarayan Muthu21-Apr-2016Bhuvneshwar toys with FinchAaron Finch was the pace-setter in the tournament with three half-centuries and three Man-of-the-Match awards in three successful chases. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had rediscovered form with 1 for 17 in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s first win against Mumbai Indians. He found inswing right away on Thursday and made Finch look ungainly. The first ball moved in on a full length, beat Finch’s flick, and rapped the front pad. The next two also darted in, on a length, and found the inside edge. Then came the reward. Bhuvneshwar let rip a bigger inswinger, which snuck through Finch’s gate and knocked out leg stump. At the innings break, Bhuvneshwar said it had been his plan all along, because “Finch doesn’t play inswing well”.Mustafizur toys with McCullumWhile Bhuvneshwar tested Finch with inswingers, Mustafizur Rahman did Brendon McCullum with cutters. He began with a 114kph cutter that left McCullum and made him prod and miss outside off. The next one had extra bounce and kissed the outside half of the bat. Shikhar Dhawan fumbled the third ball at cover, giving McCullum momentary breathing room. When McCullum was back on strike, Mustafizur unfurled a fast cutter that opened up the batsman and skirted past the outside edge.Hooda’s lucky breakPart-time offspinner Deepak Hooda, tasked with more responsibility in the absence of Ashish Reddy, bowled a knee-high full toss on leg stump in the tenth over. Dinesh Karthik stretched forward and aimed a slog sweep into the stands beyond deep square leg, but he lost his shape when he met the ball, toe-ending it to the fielder. Bhuvneshwar held on to the catch after a bobble.The scoop that wasn’tWith Akshdeep Nath going low and shuffling across the stumps for an-over-the-shoulder scoop, Mustafizur cranked up his pace. Nath was surprised by the 138kph full-toss but went ahead with the shot. He did not connect and the ball sailed narrowly over his head. David Warner, who was at the edge of the boundary, ducked instinctively, putting his hands on his mouth.

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Aug-2016While Younis Khan resumed intent on adding to his overnight score of 101•AFPHe had a positive partner in Sarfraz Ahmed, as Pakistan enjoyed a solid start to the morning•AFPEngland were again grateful to Chris Woakes as he removed Sarfraz for 44•AFPYounis wasn’t going anywhere, however…•Getty Images…and he passed 150 shortly after lunch, Pakistan’s lead growing to three figures•AFPMoeen Ali removed Wahab Riaz after a stand worth 37•Getty ImagesBut Younis ploughed on, smashing Moeen for a couple more sixes…•AFP…including one to reach his double-hundred, for the sixth time in Tests•AFPYounis, who farmed the strike brilliantly during a ninth-wicket stand of 97 with Mohmmad Amir, gives thanks for his innings with a •AFPHe was eventually dismissed for 218, the highest score by a Pakistan No. 5 in Tests•AFPAmir made a career-best Test score of 39 not out as Pakistan were dismissed for 542, a lead worth 214•AFPEngland’s hopes of a rearguard wereruptured when Alastair Cook fell to Wahab Riaz for 7•AFP… before Alex Hales fell for 12 in Yasir Shah’s first over•Getty ImagesAfter struggling in the middle of the series, Yasir was back on form•Getty Images… and he soon extracted the big one when Joe Root fell for 39•Getty ImagesDespite asking for a review, Root couldn’t get a reprieve•Getty Images

Another Lord’s final, Warwickshire’s Championship safety, a potential England recall… Ian Bell has had an illustrious career but believes there is plenty to look forward to

George Dobell15-Sep-2016The first time Ian Bell played in a Lord’s final he had his whole career in front of him. He was only 20 but he had long been tipped for greatness. And, as he caressed an unbeaten 65 – the only half-century of a match in which the players still wore whites – to win Warwickshire the 2002 Benson and Hedges Cup, it became clear to a wide audience that he was a special talent.He had been to the ground before. As an 11-year-old he ran on to the pitch – you could do that in those more innocent days – to celebrate Warwickshire’s 1993 NatWest final victory over Sussex. Asif Din’s game. It was, Bell says now, “the day I knew I wanted to play cricket. Not for England; for Warwickshire.”He has been back to the ground many times. He is on the honours board four times (for Test centuries in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2013) and led Warwickshire to another trophy – both as captain and centurion – when he made 107 as his team defeated Somerset in the 2010 Clydesdale Bank 40. Nobody else in the side passed 30.We’ll leave it for another time to discuss whether he has achieved everything he promised in those early days. But surely all but the most churlish would agree that, after 118 Tests, 22 Test centuries, the Man of the Series award in the 2013 Ashes (as well as playing in four other winning Ashes teams) and 161 ODIs he can look back with pride on an excellent career. And, leaving the stats aside, how many England right-handers have timed the ball as sweetly? Bell has, at times, made batting look beautiful.But while much has changed – “Do you remember when he had ginger hair?” one of his team-mates jokes – his passion for representing Warwickshire has not. Other players might have fallen out of love with the county that gave them their first opportunity, but not Bell. He might well be the best cricketer this club has produced – he is almost certainly its most successful – but he admits he will take a moment on Saturday to look towards the grandstand where he sat with his family and remember how far he has come. It will not be an insignificant moment for him.Ian Bell helped Warwickshire into another Lord’s final with 94 not out against Somerset•Getty ImagesHe feels he has unfinished business, though. Not only does he hanker after an England recall (he would go to Bangladesh if asked), but he is desperate to revive the fortunes of a Warwickshire team that are, by their standards, enduring a pretty grim season.A grim season? They’re in a Lord’s final!True. But they also failed to make the quarter-finals of the NatWest Blast and find themselves neck deep in the Championship relegation battle. For an experienced, well-resourced squad rated the best the club had ever had at the start of the season by their director of cricket, Dougie Brown, that is a bitter disappointment. Bell makes no attempt to hide it.”Getting to Lord’s is a fantastic achievement,” he says. “But we have to take it on its own. It can’t take away the need to improve. We can’t paper over cracks. We need to talk very honestly. We need to sort a few things out.”There are things that, without a shadow of a doubt, we have to address. There have been things going on that you can’t talk about; things that we’re hopefully going to move forward with. Not getting through the group stages in T20 – especially having won five of our first six games; we then won one from six – was disappointing and it is the same in the Championship. At the halfway point, we were in the mix to win it. But we only have ourselves to blame for being in a relegation scrap now.”Such disappointments will bring a review at the end of the season. The mumbles around Edgbaston somewhat harshly blame Brown – it is incredible how a spell as coach can ruin the reputation of a man viewed as a club legend a couple of years ago and it does appear his relationship with some senior players has soured – but Bell is having none of it.”The players are the ones responsible,” he says. “We’re a brilliant side on paper. I haven’t played in a Championship side this year when I would look at the opposition team and think ‘we’re not a better team than them’, but the problem is, you don’t play on paper. We’ve as good, if not a better, batting line-up than anyone in the country. But it’s not quite worked. And I count myself in that.”You cross the line and you have to front up. The one thing we haven’t done this year is win key passages of play. I could make excuses about the weather: I could say we were four times in positions to win and the weather stopped us but I think that would be a cop-out. We haven’t been good enough.”Are we doing the right things? Are we playing the right brand of cricket in four-day cricket? Are we talking the right language? Are we training hard enough and trying to get better? Those are the questions we have to ask ourselves and we have to do it straight away at the end of the season.”

“At the halfway point in the Championship, we were in the mix to win it. But we only have ourselves to blame for being in a relegation scrap now”

Perhaps the biggest disappointment has been Bell’s own form. While he started the season with an innings of 174 at Hampshire, no further centuries followed. For one so gifted, his Championship average of 33.88 with only four scores over 50 is modest.There are some mitigating factors. Warwickshire have played on some pretty tricky batting surfaces in recent times – “a score of 30 would have been good at times in the match against Yorkshire,” Bell says – and there were games, earlier in the season, when rain thwarted them. It also appears that Bell, desperate to revive the fortunes of the team he loves, has been drawn into working on areas of the club – the academy, recruitment, even a membership drive in the early months of the year – that are usually beyond the remit of a captain. He makes no excuses, but you wonder if the demands of leading an increasingly divided dressing room have taken their toll.He has, he says, held meetings with Andrew Strauss “twice in the last three weeks”, as well as James Whitaker and Trevor Bayliss. But he has not scored the runs to persuade England to pick him. He will look out for the squad announcement on Friday more in hope than expectation.So, has it been frustrating to see his England hopes slip away? “It’s more frustrating that we’ve lost a couple of games that we should have won,” he says. “I’ve tried not to think too much about England. I’m averaging mid-30s. I’m trying bloody hard to average 50. But it’s not been the case.”It’s difficult to know why. Out in the middle it feels pretty good. It’s been challenging. You’ve got to look inside yourself.”My batting actually feels in a pretty good place. But, from an individual point of view – if I’m going to play for England again – we haven’t really played on wickets that allow you to go out and get a big hundred.”He has not given up, though. And whatever happens this winter – he is currently scheduled to play for Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash – he is not going to give up.Ian Bell last played for England on their tour of the UAE in 2015•Gareth Copley/Getty Images”It won’t dim my desire to play at all,” he says. “At our medicals the other day [centrally contracted players – Bell still is one – have medicals, performance reviews and fitness tests each September] I said, if they don’t take me this winter, I still want to play for England. Whether that’s next summer or the following winter, I will keep going. Unless they tell me the door is closed, I will keep trying to do it for as long as I can. I still want to play.”But I completely admit that I can’t sit here and say I’ve bashed the door down enough to say ‘pick me’. I’d love to have five hundreds and an average of 65 and say pick me, but I can’t.”My desire, my will, my training, everything is all geared up to playing for England. I have been through the highs and lows of wearing that England shirt and I know how hard you have to work. The rewards are massive, but also you have some really tough days.”They’ve been very clear that the door is never shut. If it is not to be this winter, I will be working hard to come back again a better player. If I start the season well again next year I hope to give myself a chance. There’s an Ashes tour in a year and a half. Experience will be valuable there, and if I am playing as well as I can, hopefully I will be on that trip.”When I left Sharjah [on England’s tour of the UAE], it didn’t feel like it would be my last game of cricket. And I didn’t want it to be my last. I didn’t feel in a particularly good place. I was pretty fatigued. But once I came out of that environment, I still believed I had the hunger to play some more.”I know not everyone gets the opportunity to go out in the best way. So I am not sat here in dream world, thinking about being paraded around the SCG. I know there are massive challenges ahead. So if they don’t take me now I am not going to give up. I will keep trying as hard as I can until I get told: ‘We’ve moved on.'”Warwickshire approach the game with some tricky selection decisions to make. William Porterfield, an experienced international opening batsman, is available but may miss out as the club maintain the successful partnership between Jonathan Trott (who has made three centuries and a half-century in the competition this season) and Sam Hain (the highest run-scorer in the competition this season).Equally, while their policy of playing three spinners has served them well on the road to Lord’s, they may decide to alter it in mind of the 10.30am start and what appears to be a well-grassed pitch. While the Lord’s square looks unusually dry, it seems the MCC plan to use the pitch from the final in next week’s Championship match between Middlesex and Yorkshire. Keith Barker, the leading wicket-taker among seamers in Division One, could therefore come into the side in place of Josh Poysden or Ateeq Javid.Either way, Bell is determined to savour the day. He wants to inspire a new generation of players and supporters as he was once inspired by his Warwickshire heroes. Now aged 34 he knows he might not pass this way again. These moments are precious. And so are talents like Bell’s. Catch him while you can.Ian Bell was speaking at the Coventry branch of Selco Builders Warehouse which hosted a special coaching event with pupils from Little Heath Primary School in Coventry. Selco is a leading builders merchant with 44 branches across the UK and are main shirt sponsors to Warwickshire CCC and Birmingham Bears

Despite the stellar start to his career, Peter Handscomb is quick to dispel the notion that Test cricket is easy for him and readily acknowledges the benefit of playing the first few games at home

Brydon Coverdale in Sydney04-Jan-2017Loudly, and with much fanfare, David Warner created history on the first morning in Sydney by becoming the only man to score a hundred before lunch on the first day of a Test in Australia. His ovation was standing and his celebration electric.Quietly, and with little ceremony, Peter Handscomb created history on the second morning by becoming the only specialist batsman in history to progress through his first six Test innings without being dismissed for less than 50. When he tickled a single to fine leg, his ovation was seated and his celebration muted.By stumps, Handscomb had made his second century, and his Test innings so far make for impressive reading: 54, 1*, 105, 35*, 54, 110. The only others to have gone through six innings without a sub-50 dismissal have been tail-enders whose figures are skewed by not-outs: James Anderson in modern times and Jimmy Blackenberg, a South African of the golden age of cricket.Handscomb also equalled an Australian record set by Herbie Collins in 1920-21 – they are the only two Australians to make a 50-plus score in each of their first four Tests. This is all by way of highlighting that Handscomb has been unflustered at Test level, and his cool head is a welcome addition to the middle order.When later he worked a single through midwicket to bring up a century from his 195th delivery, Handscomb did not sprint and leap or pump his fists. He simply walked a few steps after completing the run, removed his helmet and calmly raised his bat, then received a handshake and a quick pat on the back from his partner Matthew Wade.But if Handscomb’s numbers suggest that he has found Test cricket easy, he is quick to dispel that misconception. He is also well aware that he has entered Test cricket at a good time, on familiar pitches, and that he has had his strokes of luck along the way. The first ball that Handscomb faced in Test cricket was a pearler from Vernon Philander that swung away and whizzed past the outside edge.Handscomb was one of three debutants in that Adelaide Test against South Africa and one, Nic Maddinson, has already been dropped from the side. Unlike Handscomb, Maddinson came in for his first Test innings during the difficult time under lights in the pink-ball Test, and struggled to bounce back from the duck that he made that evening.Peter Handscomb’s footwork – both advancing down the pitch and playing deep in the crease – stifles a bowler’s rhythm•Getty Images”I’ve been very lucky in the way that I’ve come in, in my own conditions, in my own country, I have a good understanding of what was going to be coming at me,” Handscomb said. “Also, in Shield cricket, the wickets aren’t as good as they are in Test cricket, so you take that next step you’re getting flatter wickets as well, which is awesome from a batting point of view. Had I debuted somewhere else it might have been a different story.”It is a game where timing is almost everything and to throw a cliché in there, it’s a game of millimetres. I nick that first ball off Philander in Adelaide, I’m out for a golden duck in my first Test. What could have been? It hasn’t, which has been really lucky for me, I’ve just been happy to have taken those chances and made the scores that I have.”A far greater challenge for Handscomb will come when Australia embark on a four-Test tour of India next month, although the early signs for his ability to handle spin are encouraging. In his Sydney century, Handscomb scored 38 off 56 balls that he faced against Yasir Shah, and his footwork – both advancing down the pitch and moving back deep in his crease – keeps the bowler from developing a rhythm.Against the fast men, Handscomb bats so deep in his crease that he appears a prime candidate for a hit-wicket dismissal, and in fact that was how his innings ended here, when he played back against Wahab Riaz and dislodged the leg bail. However, it was the first time in 183 innings at first-class, List A and Twenty20 level that Handscomb had been out hit wicket.”I heard something as I played the shot, I didn’t actually feel anything on my bat, but when I turned around and saw the bail dislodged I was a little bit worried that I had hit it,” he said. “First time, even though I bat so deep, so there you go.”Handscomb was on 110 at the time, and he finished the day with 304 runs at 101.33 in this series. Pakistan’s coach, Mickey Arthur, said Handscomb was the kind of batsman who made bowlers feel they had a chance, yet the Pakistan bowlers were yet to emerge victorious from a battle with him.”It’s an interesting technique, but it’s one that he seems very confident with, it’s one that he plays very well with,” Arthur said. “He hits the ball very late, he hits the ball under his eyes. You always feel you’ve got a chance coming around the wicket at him, but he generally scores very well through the leg side. We’ve tried all sorts. We’ve analysed him to the nth degree and he just keeps coming up trumps.”