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Alastair Cook’s time in charge of the England Test team featured several notable victories and some scarring defeats

George Dobell at Lord's06-Feb-20172:04

The highs and lows of Cook’s captaincy

If captains are rated by their ability to deliver rousing team talks or make inspired tactical decisions, Alastair Cook may be remembered as an also-ran.But if they are rated by their ability to lead by example, to create a relaxed dressing-room environment and instil a shared sense of purpose, he should be remembered much, much more positively.The simple facts are these: Cook inherited a divided side (he assumed the captaincy at the end of the 2012 English season in the immediate aftermath of Textgate) and led them to two Ashes victories, overseas wins in India and South Africa (no other England captain has managed that) and, only a few months ago, the brink of the No. 1 Test ranking. It is a record that demands respect.His finest moment may well have come near the start of his reign. The series victory in India – England’s first for 28 years – was testament not just to his outstanding batting but his outstanding leadership. By insisting that Kevin Pietersen was reintegrated to the team despite considerable opposition, he ensured he had the tools to overcome conditions in which England historically have struggled. While other victories might have an element of mitigation to them – the South Africa side of 2016 was in decline, the Australian teams of 2013 and 2015 were modest and confronted by conditions that provided England with every advantage – that success in India remains among the high points of England’s history.Cook’s batting was at its best in those days. Unburdened by events that lurked round the corner, he made five of his 10 Test centuries as permanent captain in his first nine Tests in the role. His remaining 48 matches brought only five more.That relative decline was almost certainly due to some extent to the fallout from the Pietersen affair. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the debacle, the scars inflicted in those days were never allowed to heal entirely. Alongside the reasonable coverage, Cook was subjected to a level of criticism – abuse might be a more accurate word – that permanently coloured his relationship with some aspects of the media and appeared to cloud his mind as a batsman. Few would dispute the episode could have been handled better by all involved. It still seems unnecessary.Cook’s stoicism in those days was admirable, though. While he later admitted he had considered resigning (most keenly after a poor performance against Sri Lanka in Leeds in 2014), he retained the support of his team and felt – with some justification – that he was the best option available at the time. And, by seeing the side through some tough times – not least in India recently when Joe Root might have endured a chastening start to his captaincy career – he absorbed much of the criticism that might otherwise have been directed at his team-mates. He saw off three coaches, two managing directors, more than a dozen opening partners and never even broke sweat. He may not always have been right, but you cannot fault Cook for his resilience or determination.Alastair Cook was an admired leader, if not a brilliant one, and his reign deserves to be recalled with affection•Getty ImagesThose strengths were, for a time, his weaknesses. The apparently unquenchable self-belief, that helped turn a relatively limited player into England’s record Test run-scorer, also convinced him that he was the man to revive England’s ODI fortunes. As a result he lingered too long in the role of one-day captain and was stung by the consequent criticism. While he led the team within an ace of that elusive global ODI title (the Champions Trophy of 2013) and to the top of the ODI rankings, their improvement in the format since he was sacked has been telling.There were other significant reverses. He led the side that was whitewashed in the 2013-14 Ashes, beaten by Sri Lanka in England and held to a draw in the Caribbean by a West Indies side labelled “mediocre” by the ECB chairman. There were moments, not least at Leeds and Lord’s in 2014, when he looked hapless in the field and moments, not least in press conferences and interviews, when his relative lack of eloquence prevented him from winning over the doubters as a smoother operator might have done.There was a disconnect, too, between those who saw Cook from afar and those who saw him in action. Supporters at grounds or on tour saw a captain keen to engage and credit them for their loyalty; no selfie or autograph was turned down; sometimes he would turn to applaud the crowd from the slip cordon. But those limited to gaining their information from websites and newspapers could be forgiven for noting Giles Clarke’s clumsily-stated endorsement (the toe-curling ‘right sort of person’ interview) or the ECB’s arrogantly-worded “outside cricket” press release, and concluding that he was entitled and aloof.He was never those things: he may have been limited as a leader and erred in judgement from time to time, but there was genuine pride and humility in his attitude. He has remained popular with spectators at games – they tend to remember and appreciate Ashes victories rather longer than the media – and there is no doubt he will receive a rousing ovation the next time he takes the field for England.This decision is not a surprise. Cook cut a jaded figure in India and, with his performance with the bat and in the slips dipping below his own high standards, he looked as if he could well do without the burden of leadership. He may well have wanted to sign off after a successful Ashes tour, but he knows captaincy is not about personal goals and that Root requires time to settle before such a series. If the hunger for the challenge had dimmed, he had to go. Few would begrudge him a few years amassing runs at the top of the order. He’s only 32; it’s not impossible that the best batting of his career could be in front of him.It would be a major surprise if Root is not named Cook’s successor in the coming days. He may lack experience – Root has led in only four first-class games (and none since 2014) and only one of those matches has resulted in victory – but he has grown in stature in recent times and appears a natural leader of this young side. Assured of his place in the side, popular and respected by his peers, he may turn out to be a more natural fit for this more positive team and its coaching staff.The only concern is the long-term effect on his form. As a key member of the side in all three formats – and a new father as well – the demands on Root are already substantial. While many new captains experience a short-term bounce in their own returns, England’s never-ending tour will test him in ways that cannot be predicted. Take the winter of 2017-18, for example: those involved in all formats will leave England in October and return in April. It is a greedy, self-defeating and arguably immoral fixture list. Root needs protecting from it if he not to be burned out by 30.Still, he enjoys a better inheritance than Cook did in 2012. Whatever England’s issues – and the imminent loss of their leading fast bowler is looming – the dressing room in recent times has been as settled, supportive of one another and united in purpose as any for a long, long time. Cook has to take much of the credit for that and there is no doubt he will prove a loyal deputy to Root as required.So, a great captain? No, few would claim that. But one who presided over some great moments in the history of English cricket? One who gave their all in sometimes desperately demanding circumstances? One who will be remembered with affection and gratitude by the vast majority of those he played with? One who did their best and met both triumph and disaster with modest good humour? Yes, all those things. It’s probably unreasonable to ask for more. English cricket will look back on Cook’s turbulent reign with respect, gratitude and admiration.

In both Ranchi and Dharamsala, Australia fell short of posting truly daunting first-innings totals despite hundreds from Steven Smith. It was the lack of big scores from their openers that made it tougher for the middle and lower order

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Dharamsala28-Mar-2017In his press conference on day three of the Dharamsala Test, Ravindra Jadeja said something that’s rare to hear from an international cricketer – an admission that luck had played some part in his team getting on top of the opposition.Australia had just slumped to 137 all out in their second innings, and India’s fast bowlers, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, had played key roles in causing that to happen, combining to take four for 56 in 17 overs.Someone asked Jadeja what the difference had been between their bowling and that of Australia’s quicks on the same surface.”There wasn’t much of a difference,” Jadeja said. “Their fast bowlers, like us, were bowling in good areas, but sometimes good deliveries miss the edge of the bat and at times straight deliveries get you the edge. Today with [David] Warner it was a straight ball that got his edge. That was the breakthrough.”India’s quicks, Umesh in particular, had bowled brilliantly with the new ball, but there was some substance to Jadeja’s statement. Sometimes, it takes a bit of luck to find the edge. Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins had bowled splendidly in India’s first innings, and had taken four wickets too, but had to bowl 55 backbreaking – and often heartbreaking, given how much they tested India’s batsmen – overs between them.Had Cummins and Hazlewood heard and understood Jadeja’s statement – he spoke in Hindi – they might have hugged him and wept in gratitude.But you need more than luck to keep finding the edges. You need a bit of help from batsmen. Both of Australia’s openers gave Umesh that help. Warner jabbed at him with hard hands while not moving his feet. Matt Renshaw, squared up by a short ball, followed it with his hands, away from his body, uncertainly, playing neither an attacking nor defensive stroke.Those are the kind of mistakes Australia’s openers kept making through the series. Warner had a torrid time through the tour, his defence shaky against both seam and spin. In all, he made 193 runs in four Tests at an average of 24.12. Even when he did make runs, he did not look secure at the crease; in the first innings in Dharamsala, for instance, he kept trying to cut Kuldeep Yadav when given neither the length nor the width to play the shot safely and was eventually dismissed playing that shot.Renshaw, meanwhile, began his first tour of India with scores of 68, 31 and 60, on two of the most challenging pitches he must have encountered in his young career. After that, his scores tailed away, his last five innings bringing him only 73 runs at an average of 14.60.Before the tour, Australia’s selectors and team management may have feared such a turn of events for their young opener – a bright start, followed by India’s spinners working him out and working him over. Except it wasn’t the spinners who worked Renshaw out; it was the seamers. Renshaw was out to spin in each of his first three innings of the tour, and out to either Umesh or Ishant Sharma in his last five innings.On all five occasions, he was out either playing indecisively in the corridor, away from his body, or stuck in the crease when he should have been on the front foot.David Warner ended the series with 193 runs•AFPIn both innings in Dharamsala, Umesh peppered him with short balls. In the first innings, he followed a series of short balls with a full one that swung in through the gate as Renshaw played a leaden-footed drive. In the second, the short ball itself proved the wicket-taker.There was a pattern to these dismissals, a sense that India had worked out a way to induce uncertainty in Renshaw’s mind and feet. In that process, he ended up being far less of a force on the two best batting pitches of the series, in Ranchi and Dharamsala, than in the two heavily bowler-friendly pitches in Pune and Bengaluru.In contrast, when they came across conditions where bowlers would need to work a little harder to take their wickets, India’s openers – and top order, in general – ensured they made the bowlers work that little bit harder. M Vijay got himself out in Ranchi, but only after 183 balls of intense focus and tight defensive technique against an Australian attack that never let up in intensity. KL Rahul got himself out in the first innings in Dharamsala, finally succumbing to Cummins’ relentlessly fast and accurate short bowling, but only after he had been at the crease for more than 40 overs.At no point in either Test did either Vijay or Rahul play the kind of hard-hands jab, away from the body, that cost Warner and Renshaw their wickets in the second innings in Dharamsala. Hazlewood and Cummins beat them on numerous occasions, but they kept their hands close to their body and didn’t follow the ball as it seamed or swung away from them.When they edged the ball, they were still usually playing close to their body, with soft hands. Not long before Hazlewood dismissed him in the first innings in Dharamsala, Vijay had edged another one but had ensured the ball fell well short of the keeper. In the same Test, Warner was dropped in the slips in both innings, both times playing away from his body, but continued to play in the same vein regardless.KL Rahul stayed unbeaten in the second innings in Dharamsala to hit the winning runs•Associated PressMoreover, Vijay and Rahul, unlike Renshaw in particular, did not lose their composure when peppered with short balls. They may have been discomfited by Cummins and Hazlewood’s bouncers, but if the next ball was full, they generally got on the front foot, playing it with no aftereffects of what had come before.In all, it took India a combined 94.4 overs to dismiss both Renshaw and Warner in the four Australian innings in Ranchi and Dharamsala. It took Australia a combined 111 overs to dismiss both Vijay and Rahul in India’s two first innings in those two Tests – they did not play a second innings in Ranchi – and a further 23.5 overs in India’s second innings in Dharamsala to dismiss Vijay but not Rahul.Getting opening batsmen out early can have all kinds of knock-on effects on the rest of the innings. It exposes the middle order to a newer ball, allows first- and second-change bowlers to begin their spells against newer, less certain batsmen, and increases the possibility of exposing the batting side’s lower order to the second new ball.A big opening partnership, or even one opener staying in the middle for a long time, changes everything. It ensures an easier introduction to the crease for the batsmen to follow, with a healthier-looking scoreboard, against bowlers who have expended more energy, and against more defensive fields. As has been the case right through the season for India, the ripple effect of the top order’s crease occupation can be felt far later, with the lower order facing tiring bowlers in situations where they can bat with freedom.Both teams’ No. 3s made more than 400 runs in the season and were among the runs in the last two Tests. In both Ranchi and Dharamsala, Australia fell short of posting truly daunting first-innings totals despite brilliant hundreds from Steven Smith. In both Tests, India gained the first-innings advantage thanks not only to Cheteshwar Pujara, but also to the work of the batsmen around him, particularly the two above him in the batting order.

If you ever wonder what Pakistan might do without Misbah, the reverse is a more frightening prospect: what will Misbah do without the game?

Osman Samiuddin14-May-2017It seems so long ago now, but it was only New Year’s Day, a Sunday – Morrissey’s Sunday, silent and grey. The weekend was at an end and a dream had curled up and away like smoke, so that it was impossible to know whether it had even been there in the first place. Actually it had ended on Friday, the last day at the MCG, when Pakistan ran into the impenetrable walls of history. Friday had been too much for Misbah-ul-Haq. By its end he was questioning his own mind, and it left him on the verge of leaving the very thing that keeps him alive, that which he breathes every passing second, that which he cannot help but think or talk about for as long as is a piece of string.On Sunday he and his team – family he calls them – were at Waqar Younis’ Sydney home for dinner. New Year’s Eve, with the team in his hotel room, had lightened his mood a touch. Now at the dinner he looked to be… slightly less inclined to retire, I want to say, but how do you ever know how Misbah is feeling just by looking at him?This being a social occasion, it seemed impolite to ask him outright whether he was going to retire (whispers already were that he wouldn’t). So a more roundabout approach: are you satisfied with what you have achieved?The really short answer, which, being Misbah, he didn’t give, was yes, just about. He recognised he had overseen a special time, something with enough force of its own to wake him up in these forthcoming mornings, when he will have fewer reasons to wake up than he has had for years. The long answer? Let’s just say there are umpires out there for whom the cold stare of Misbah was never as benign and dead of feeling as it was for the rest of us. The most winning Test captain in Pakistan history cannot forget decisions that have incorrectly gone against his side, and cost, by his reckoning, five or six more wins. He remembers each umpire and, with a fair degree of accuracy, the scores of the batsmen and team at the time. It’s not malice, just deep frustration.He sidestepped into an obligatory fret about domestic cricket, as a function of his helplessness: the national side has had success, but as far as deeper change goes, he knows this was phlegm trying to put out a fire. He had no idea how painfully well that point would be illustrated a month later with the PSL spot-fixing scandal: cleaning up after the mess of one when he came in, leaving amid the mess of another.Still, don’t file it away alongside the standard gripes of other former players – Misbah knows the domestic game at a level of intimacy and familiarity that escapes most. It is a by-product of his complete devotion to the game. As recently as last month he was leading Faisalabad to the Grade II Quaid-e-Azam trophy. We are in a time in Pakistan where jokers on the fringes of national selection find ways to avoid playing domestically and Misbah happily leads a side at a level first-class. On becoming Pakistan captain, not only did Misbah not abandon domestic cricket, he seemed to immerse himself deeper into it. He made sure he played as many domestic first-class games as he could: 14 doesn’t sound a whole lot, but to name but two prominent, long-serving captains, Inzamam-ul-Haq played six and Wasim Akram two.

Given how Pakistan had lost in Melbourne, cricket might reasonably have been the last thing he’d want to talk about. Yet cricket was his salve to the wound cricket had inflicted in the first place

And he gave it value by relying on players who had toiled in it as long and hard as he had, not ones who had been fast-tracked parallel to it. Subsequently their successes were proof that the system Misbah had come from wasn’t in as much disrepair as it was thought to be. As for how it is functioning now – you know what, Misbah has plenty of time on his hands now, and he’ll happily take appointments and talk you through it.He reminisced the rest of evening away, as you might do about the homeland when you’ve been away too long or can never go back. He did it happily, glumly, indifferently, but he did it unfailingly. Those days when he used to bowl “finger” in tape-ball cricket or legspin on cement tracks; or, when he chose to bowl medium pace, how much he could swing it. One day he got the yips, couldn’t work out why and gave it up. Once, he bowled offspin to Imran Farhat in the nets. In Misbah’s telling, he bowled him twice and drew an edge twice more. Another time, Taufeeq Umar was short on confidence facing Graeme Swann, so Misbah and Mohammad Hafeez bowled to him in the nets. In a short while, Umar packed up and left, lower on confidence. Misbah looked warmly at an old match ball on display in Waqar’s dining room and then had the room in fits talking about the many you-know-whats on it.It’s not unusual that he only talked shop. But given how Pakistan had lost in Melbourne, and the impact it had on him in the immediate aftermath – and we were only two days out of it – cricket might reasonably have been the last thing he’d want to talk about. Yet cricket was his salve to the wound cricket had inflicted in the first place. Without complaint or frustration, he even defended those plans for Yasir Shah. Too soon Misbah, too soon.Except not for him, because what else is there? If you ever wonder what Pakistan cricket might do without Misbah, console yourself with the thought that the reverse is a more frightening prospect: what will Misbah do without cricket? He’ll find a role, of course. Commentator, coach, director, something will come up. But what will he do off the field, without a helmet on and an attack to defy, or under the white floppy, with spinners to deploy, not bringing all his ice to the inferno of professional sport?

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They didn’t exactly sell the captaincy to Misbah. It was offered to him in October 2010 in a small clerk’s room in Gaddafi stadium. The board wanted to keep it so secret, they couldn’t even arrange the meeting in the chairman’s room. Misbah was told there were no other options, which tells us Ijaz Butt’s negotiation skills were not so sharp. Misbah kept it secret from everyone, even his family, for a week. It was as if everyone was embarrassed about what was happening.He doesn’t remember the team talk he gave on his first morning as Pakistan captain. He thinks he probably left it to Waqar, once his captain, then his coach. Imagine that dressing room, like a hastily arranged get-together at fresher’s week: only two of the XI who played in that Test had played with Misbah in his last Test then, in January that year; only four of the XI had played in Pakistan’s last Test, one in August.Kardaresque: Misbah built his side from scratch and it was as much a nationalist project as a sporting one•PA PhotosWhat he does remember is his unbeaten, final-day 76, which, along with Younis Khan’s hundred, saved Pakistan. In the memory that Test passes mistakenly for a bore draw, and from a distance of over six years, it is easy to forget why he puts such great stock in the innings. The draw wasn’t actually a foregone conclusion, not until the last hour, and there was something in that Dubai surface that day, some rough for the spinners, some reverse for an old ball. There was plenty of heat from an opposition expert at cranking up those pressures a new captain might be under. Misbah survived, in a style that would quickly become familiar – poker-faced, a whole heap of forward defensives, a close call or three, in constant motion against spin, in steady repose to pace.Just imagine, though, that he had failed, and/or Pakistan had lost. Pakistan had been through four captains already in a year – what price a fifth? So what he did with that innings was to put in place the first, most crucial pillar of his captaincy: runs. To those who scoffed at the appointment? Runs. For those who didn’t know who he was? Runs. To those who thought him ill-equipped to lead? Runs. For a side in trouble? Runs. For a side in control? Runs. Win, lose, draw, bore, thrill, dawn, dusk – runs, runs, runs. Seven fifties and a hundred in his first 11 innings as captain and just six months in, Misbah had set like cement. The runs never really stopped. Over 4000 as captain, an average over 50, and a clincher: until last winter’s slump down under, the longest stretch he went without a fifty was four innings. He was never out of runs long enough to be challenged.For a long while, this was the metaphor: Misbah saving Pakistan with the bat, Misbah saving Pakistan in toto. It was neat if dramatic and lazy, and it did him a disservice. Because once you peeled away the runs and all the stuff about his dignity and MBA, or his calm and stabilising influence, underneath it all was the man’s fascination – nay, obsession – with the actual game. Every little challenge it threw at him on the field – trying to remove a set batsman, getting a field just right, tweaking an angle of attack, dousing the fire of an opposition bowler; these, rather than some grander diplomatic mission to right Pakistan’s name, drove him.After years and years – maybe, in fact, a lifetime – of discourse on Pakistani captains centred around personality traits, or imprecise diktats on how to play, here was sweet relief. Misbah could, and often did, break down in great detail his on-field moves, or the technique of a player, or just a particular passage of play. Just recently, in fact, in praising Younis’ 177 in Pallekele, he pointed out the slight technical adjustment Younis had made – something even Younis has not spoken about. One day he may choose to make public his irritation with a coach who regularly encouraged the team to go and play positive: sure, Misbah would think, we all know to do that, but isn’t it your job to lay out how, practically, we do that? If there was an “i” left undotted or a “t” uncrossed, you weren’t in Misbah’s world.Pragmatism was a hallmark, not only specifically in the kind of batsmen he preferred but also in going all in with spin when pace resources were thin. Patience, too; in instilling the virtue into his side but also in working away at the lack of it in opponents. The Misbah choke was an acquired taste, lost on the more impatient, or to those obsessed with fancy, showy captaincy. But its subversiveness was grand – he was using the modern game against itself.Dismiss all this as geek love, but put Misbah’s sides up against any Pakistan side from history and nobody, not even the most casual follower, could fail to recognise it. Some appreciated how it was, some didn’t, but this much is inarguable: that only the most influential captains can hope to imprint themselves so indelibly on a group of men that they are, unmistakably, his men.

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The late twist though, because, this being Misbah, we cannot end without it. It has been the detail to so many of his innings, as well as the broad stroke of his career. Now his captaincy too: seven defeats in Pakistan’s last eight Tests – including home and away to a West Indies side that would struggle to compete with their predecessors this century, let alone those of last century – is a twist as much as a twist is strictly interpreted as a downward spiral.

This much is inarguable: that only the most influential captains can hope to imprint themselves so indelibly on a group of men that they are, unmistakably, his men

Mark some of it as the inevitable comedown post England and the No. 1 ranking. That kind of high knows only a down. The rest has been life reminding us that it is real and not fairy tale, and that it creeps up on us before, one day of its choosing, boom, it is all over you. And then, the core inside men that makes them what they are starts to flicker and fade. Convictions shrink into doubts. Strengths betray you and turn up as weaknesses. Judgements become clouded. Decisions gain an unbearable weight, because their consequences mean more. The end, you can see, is a question mark, not a full stop. And if it brings relief, accompanying it is fear and uncertainty.Life happened to Misbah in Australia, in the most crushing way imaginable, because it was the one that had come to mean the most. He made a series of bad calls with the bat. In the field he was a guitar out of tune, not by much, but enough. His sense of caution, usually well calibrated, now ate him whole, most visibly in his use of Yasir. How could he – of all people – have used spin so poorly?No doubt it soured the taste a little. It was the gentle smudging of the ink at the bottom of a letter otherwise impeccably handwritten. He knows it too. And the question now is the question that has always been, first formed that day at the Wanderers. Are we to define Misbah by the scoop into Sreesanth’s hands, or by the innings that preceded it, that breathed the life in the first place so that it could be eventually sucked out?Me? Time will wash away the last six months. An Australian whitewash is part of the Pakistan constitution; New Zealand barely mattered, it happened so quickly; West Indies? Shit happens.And then it will become clear that what he accomplished was a task similar in nature to the one that confronted AH Kardar, of building a side from scratch orchestrating a nationalist project; that he then acquired the gravitas of Imran Khan, through results, individual performances, and from his effect on his side; that he even brought the sharpened game sense of Mushtaq Mohammad and Javed Miandad, but thankfully none of the annoying Karachi traits; and that he did it with a giant handicap none of them faced.Forget that question. The answer is, he stands tall and proud, unbowed, undaunted and undimmed in any company of leaders we could wish to put him in.

Harmanpreet Kaur registered the highest score by a batsman in a World Cup knockout match, against Australia

Shiva Jayaraman20-Jul-20173 – Scores greater than Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 171 in Women’s World Cup. Hers is the highest by any batsman in the knockout stages – finals, semi-finals and quarter-finals – of the tournament. Australia’s Karen Rolton had made 107 not out in the final of the 2005 World Cup, which is the only other century in such matches.4 – Scores higher than Kaur’s in Women’s ODIs. Among Indians, only Deepti Sharma has done better with her 188 against Ireland. Kaur now has the best score by an Indian in the World Cup. The record was previously, and briefly, held by Mithali Raj, who made 109 against New Zealand six days ago.60.85% – Kaur’s contribution to India’s total – the third-highest by any batsman in Women’s ODIs in a completed innings. Chamari Atapattu had smashed 178* out of Sri Lanka’s 257 in an earlier match in this World Cup, which is the highest in this regard.45 – Runs Kaur made off Jess Jonassen from just 20 balls – the most any batsman has hit off one bowler in an innings in this World Cup. Kaur hit the left-arm spinner for three sixes and four fours. Ellyse Perry was only bowler off whom Kaur scored at a rate fewer than run-a-ball.

Harmanpreet Kaur v Australia bowlers, 2017 WWC semi-final

Bowler Runs BF SR Fours Sixes Jess Jonassen 45 20 225.00 4 3 Kristen Beams 35 32 109.37 4 1 Megan Schutt 33 24 137.50 7 0 Ashleigh Gardner 30 20 150.00 2 2 Elyse Villani 15 4 375.00 2 1 Ellyse Perry 13 15 86.66 1 0257.50 – Kaur’s strike-rate over the final 40 deliveries she faced. She struck 103 runs off them, including 13 fours and six sixes. In her first 75 balls, she made 68 runs at a relatively sedate strike rate of 90.67.

Harmanpreet Kaur’s innings v Australia, 2017 WWC semi-final

Runs Balls SR Fours SixesFirst 75 balls 68 75 90.66 7 1Last 40 balls 103 40 257.50 13 6Complete inns 171 115 148.69 20 722 – Runs Kaur hit off Ashleigh Gardner ‘s eighth over, which included two sixes and two fours. Before that over, the offspinner had figures of 7-0-20-1 and Kaur faced 15 of those deliveries for only eight runs.27 – Boundaries for Kaur, the third-highest by any batsman in a Women’s ODIs. She hit 20 fours and seven sixes – which are the joint second-most hit in a single ODI innings. India’s Deepti Sharma leads the boundary-hitters list – she smashed 29 of them (27 fours and two sixes) against Ireland earlier this year. Chamari Atapattu had hit 28 boundaries (22 fours and six sixes) in her 178* against Australia earlier in this World Cup.2 – Kaur’s is only the second score of 150 and over against Australia in Women’s ODIs.

Also: which cricketer was nicknamed Panda, and who was the last Test cricketer to play at Wimbledon?

Steven Lynch07-Nov-2017How often have numbers eight and nine in the batting order both scored centuries in the same Test innings, like Jason Holder and Shane Dowrich?asked Savo Ceprnich from South Africa
The achievement of Shane Dowrich (103) and Jason Holder (110) in Bulawayo last week, when they scored centuries from eight and nine in the batting order against Zimbabwe, had been replicated only once before in a Test match. That was back in 1907-08, when Roger Hartigan (116) and Clem Hill (160) shared a match-changing partnership of 243 for Australia against England in Adelaide. Hill usually batted much higher than No. 9, but had been ill: “I was suffering acutely from gastric influenza,” he wrote. “On the Tuesday I was feeling a little better, so I went along to the Oval… The doctor had given me some tablets to take. I don’t know what they contained but they enabled me to keep going. I was ill many times on the field. It was very hot weather, the temperature reaching as high as 111 [43.8°C]. When play ended for the day it was 105 and I was 106.” Hill had gone in with Australia only 102 ahead at 180 for 7, but his partnership with Hartigan – who was making his Test debut, and won only one more cap – completely turned round a Test which Australia eventually won by 245 runs.For more on the Dowrich-Holder partnership, click here.Afghanistan and Ireland were given Test status earlier this year, but they haven’t played any Test matches yet. When will they start? asked Mithun Mohammad from Pakistan
Cricket Ireland recently announced that their first Test match would be against Pakistan in May 2018, probably in Dublin. It will be the first time Pakistan have been involved in a country’s inaugural Test since their own, against India in Delhi in 1952-53.As for Afghanistan, an article on ESPNcricinfo a few months ago suggested their first Tests would be against Zimbabwe. But no dates have yet been announced, and it’s not clear yet whether this plan will be affected by the cash-strapped Zimbabwean board’s recent decision to scale back on Test matches, as reported here.Which county cricketer was nicknamed “Panda”? asked Derek George from England
This was the Glamorgan wicketkeeper Haydn Davies, who first appeared for them in 1938, and played in all of their Championship matches between 1947 and 1957, when he was 45. That run included Glamorgan’s first ever Championship title, in 1948. He became known as “Panda” because his chunky frame and deceptively slow movements reminded team-mates of the exotic animal. But Davies was not really slow, as he had been a squash champion in his youth and continued to play to a high standard. He came close to Test selection, appearing in a Test trial in 1946, but his heyday coincided with that of Godfrey Evans, whose better batting ensured he was a fixture behind the stumps for England for more than a decade.Chris Gayle in the match where he became the only opener so far to bat through in a completed T20I•Getty ImagesWho was the last Test cricketer to play at Wimbledon? asked Mike Rawlinson from England
The last Test cricketer to play in the men’s singles at Wimbledon was William “Buster” Farrer of South Africa. He won his first-round match in 1956 before losing in the second, and later played six Test matches, with a top score of 40 against New Zealand in Johannesburg in 1961-62. He also played hockey and squash for South Africa.Farrer did not travel to Wimbledon again, and soon concentrated on cricket. “It cost the old man a bit of money for the first trip,” he wrote in his autobiography, the appropriately titled All-Rounder. “I enjoyed it, playing tennis every day, because your tennis improves. But I was working and I suppose it was a question of finance.”Farrer came close to selection for the Davis Cup, tennis’ team competition. But two Test cricketers did play in it: Cotar Ramaswami, who played one Test for India in England in 1936, when he was 40, and the 1950s West Indian wicketkeeper Ralph Legall. Ramaswami also played at Wimbledon, in 1922, the inaugural year at the current grounds in Church Road.Has anyone carried their bat through a competed innings in a T20 international? asked Mauro Freitas from the UAE
There have been several instances of an opening batsman surviving the full 20 overs of a T20 international, but only one in which the opener remained unbeaten throughout a completed (all-out) innings. The man concerned was Chris Gayle, who scored 63 of West Indies’ 101 as they slumped to defeat against Sri Lanka in the World T20 semi-final at The Oval in June 2009. That innings had a sensational start: Angelo Mathews took three wickets in the first over – all bowled – after Gayle took a single off the first ball.Leave your questions in the comments

Ish Sodhi and Shreyas Gopal had been alternated in the XI, but when they finally played together, they strangled Royal Challengers Bangalore

Dustin Silgardo19-May-2018Royals finally play their two leggiesRight-arm legspinners have a better average and economy rate than any other type of bowler this IPL. Royals have two in-form right-arm legspinners. You would think the math would be simple. Play them both and build a strong bowling unit around them. Yet, Royals waited for their last game of the season to play Shreyas Gopal and Ish Sodhi together. They had alternated them through the tournament, despite their Indian pace bowlers struggling.Ish Sodhi played his previous four games this season as Royals’ sole legspinner•ESPNcricinfo LtdWhen those two finally got a go together, they absolutely strangled Royal Challengers Bangalore, taking five wickets for 47 runs from eight overs, and delivered a win that could get Royals into the playoffs – they still need other results to go their way. If Royals don’t end up making it, they will be left ruing not attacking with the Sodhi-Gopal duo earlier in the tournament.How does this result affect the table?A 30-run win means Royals’ net run rate jumps to -0.250, which is still some way behind Kolkata Knight Riders’ -0.091. Kolkata Knight Riders need to lose by a big margin to Sunrisers Hyderabad (for example, by over 50 runs chasing 180) for Royals to go ahead of them. So, Royals’ best chance of qualifying is if Mumbai Indians lose to Delhi Daredevils on Sunday, which will keep them on 12 points. The good news for Royals is that this result makes it extremely difficult for Kings XI to qualify. Their net run rate is -0.490, so they need to win by a massive margin (for example, 53 runs after scoring 180) to leapfrog Royals.Archer experiment denies Samson timeThe risk of sending a pinch-hitter to open is not that he gets out early but that he struggles for form and ends up wasting valuable balls. Jofra Archer’s 0 off four balls meant Royals effectively started their innings in the third over, with Rahul Tripathi on 2 off six when Archer was dismissed.The other drawback of Archer opening was that Sanju Samson, Royals’ best batsman after Jos Buttler, was going to come in at No. 4, behind the captain Ajinkya Rahane. Samson is the one player in the Royals line-up who has shown potential to get a really big score. He also has a much better Smart Strike Rate than Rahane or Tripathi, so Royals could have tried to give him as many deliveries to face as possible.The shuffling of the batting order was a surprise because Royals had already been shown the value of having their best player at the top – when Buttler made five consecutive fifties after being promoted to open the innings.ESPNcricinfo LtdSlow Rahane hurts RRAfter the Archer experiment failed, Rahane backed himself to play the anchor role at No. 3. But a strike rate of 106.45 in a 31-ball innings meant that the Royals innings never gathered momentum. Rahane has not only been the slowest scorer this IPL of all batsmen who have faced 250 or more balls, but he has been significantly slower than the next slowest, Suresh Raina. His Smart Strike Rate is just 101.52, compared to Raina’s 121.29. This means he has cost his team 48 runs this season, more than any other batsman.Rahane may have been concerned that the Royals batting line-up was not long enough, but they had K Gowtham, who has a Smart SR of 281.15, only coming in for the last six balls of the innings. If they do make it to the playoffs, Royals may want to rethink their batting strategy and try to give Samson more time to build an innings and Gowtham more time to explode at the death.

The wristspinner has barely played any first-class cricket since his Test debut, and he’s looking to make up for it now, playing for India A

Varun Shetty at the Chinnaswamy04-Sep-2018It is the third day of India A’s first unofficial Test against Australia A, and Kuldeep Yadav goes round the wicket to Marnus Labuschagne. He pushes cover a few yards back, to where the 30-yard circle would be in limited-overs cricket, and pushes long-off back onto the boundary. Labuschagne, Australia A’s No. 6, has been driving freely all through his innings of 37.Now, Kuldeep’s loopy trajectory brings Labuschagne forward, looking to pick up a single into the open straight field on the off side. The ball dips and lands half a yard short of the batsman’s stride, and spins through the gate to knock back his stumps.In that moment is contained all the skill and nous Sachin Tendulkar might have been referring to around a month ago when he said Kuldeep was ready for Test cricket.But how often does Kuldeep get the chance to engineer a wicket like that? The answer? Not much at all.When Kuldeep played the Lord’s Test a couple of weeks ago, it wasn’t just his first Test since August 2017, but also his his first red-ball match in that period. India got through an entire domestic season between those two Test matches. Kuldeep’s previous first-class match before that August 2017 Test in Pallekele, meanwhile, was his Test debut against Australia in Dharamsala, in March 2017.To put it simply, before this unofficial Test in Bengaluru, Kuldeep’s last three first-class games were all Tests, spread over nearly a year-and-a-half. It was the period in which he became a regular in the India limited-overs teams, when he was involved in series against Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa and England. With that packed schedule, he might well not have had the chance to join his state side in the Ranji Trophy. It shouldn’t be a surprise at all, then, that Kuldeep with the red ball isn’t yet as threatening as Kuldeep with the white ball.By his own admission, Kuldeep thinks he needs more game time in this format.”You have to change your mindset when you come to play with the red ball,” he said at the end of the day’s play. “You need to be very patient. You’re not going to take wickets every time you come up to bowl. For me it’s very important to be patient and not to try too much.”And that was the brief given to him when he was released from the Test squad before the fourth Test in England.”I spoke to MSK [Prasad, chief selector] sir and Ravi [Shastri] sir. They wanted me to play a lot of cricket. I went there [England] and played one Test match. It was likely that only one spinner would be able to play over there so there wasn’t much of an opportunity there. Here I had the opportunity to play. There was no advantage to sitting on the sidlelines.”I was itching to go out and play because you only improve when you have match time. The growth is much slower when you’re sitting on the sidelines. So this game and the next one are really important to me. This is all adding to my experience. The more I bowl with the red ball, the quicker I get used to it. And West Indies is going to come over to play as well. So if I find my rhythm here, it’ll be easier for me to perform in that series. This is a good step for me. Personally, I’m very happy with the move of playing here. “The return to India hadn’t begun too well. On the first day of the match, when Mohammed Siraj picked up an eight-wicket haul, Kuldeep had struggled to hit consistent lengths and trouble the visitors’ top three, which consisted entirely of left-handers. He had come on first change that day, and was largely ineffective even with the older ball, often dropping the ball too short or pushing it through too quickly. Though he was the only other bowler apart from Siraj to pick up wickets, he was the most expensive of India A’s five frontline bowlers.”For me it’s very challenging to transform to red-ball cricket,” Kuldeep said after the third day’s play. He had taken two late wickets, including the one of Labuschagne, as Australia A pushed to set a fourth-innings target.Associated Press”Mentally you’ve to adjust a little – the conditions were very different in England. It was a Duke’s ball. The wickets are quicker,” Kuldeep said. “Back here in India, the SG ball gets much softer and tougher to bowl with. So those are the challenges. But after practising for a couple of days, I got used to it. I wasn’t that comfortable in the first innings, but with every over, it got better.”If you’re playing white-ball regularly and suddenly you’re selected for Test team and start bowling with the red ball, then it’s challenging. In this match, I bowled around 30-plus overs, and now I’m feeling much better. I’m getting in the rhythm and really enjoying bowling right now.”Kuldeep career is somewhat peculiar in that he has, in a short span of time, oscillated between being the big hope for the future and a work in progress. Before Tendulkar’s comments, Ravi Shastri had proclaimed that Kuldeep, the “tough little nut”, had arrived as a player. After a string of impressive limited-overs performances, so much was expected from India’s left-arm wristspinner that Virat Kohli, long before the start of the Test series in England, had said Kuldeep was making a case for red-ball selection.It might have put Kuldeep in a bit of a spot, then, all these expectations, when he did make it into the XI for the Lord’s Test. Not only had he pipped Ravindra Jadeja to the role of second spinner, but he’d also replaced a seamer in the most seam-friendly conditions of the series. Having not played any red-ball cricket in nearly a year, Kuldeep stood little chance of shining in gloomy London. He ended up with three significant zeroes in that match, two with the bat, and one in the wickets column.There’s no doubt Kuldeep has the ability to bowl well in the longest format, as he showed on his debut in Dharamsala. But he needs regular exposure to red-ball cricket, and bowl a lot of overs, to find his rhythm and maintain it.In the second innings against Australia A, Kuldeep started off tight, then grew a little wayward, and then regained his control. In contrast to the first innings, he appeared to have a plan at all times on the third day. Early on, he eased nicely into a containing role, which his older team-mate K Gowtham had been trusted with in the first innings. Kuldeep hit a good length more often than in the first innings and appeared, overall, to be bowling a lot slower as well. As he grew more confident through the day, he even began going round the wicket to the right-handers. From that angle came the beautifully set up wicket of Labuschagne.The 36.5 overs he has sent down in the first unofficial Test should hold Kuldeep in good stead when he bowls in the second game against Australia A. By the time that match is done, he should be fairly well prepared for West Indies’ arrival. This is how India should nurture their most promising wristspinner. He cannot be learning the craft sporadically and directly at Test level. Few have survived trying to do that.

All the records Yasir triggered during the course of his magical spell in Dubai

Bharath Seervi26-Nov-20188/41 – Yasir Shah’s figures are the best by a bowler in UAE Tests. Devendra Bishoo’s 8 for 49 in Dubai two years ago was the previous best. Yasir’s figures are the third-best by a Pakistan bowler, behind Abdul Qadir’s 9 for 56 and Sarfraz Nawaz’s 9 for 86.0 – No one has bettered Yasir’s bowling figures in Tests against New Zealand. Yasir edged past South Africa’s Goofy Lawrence, who had figures of 8 for 53 in Johannesburg in 1961-62.ESPNcricinfo Ltd40 – New Zealand lost their last 10 wickets for 40 after being 50 for no loss. These are the joint-least added by a side after putting together an opening stand of at least 50. In 2001, New Zealand had a similar collapse against Pakistan in Auckland. On that occasion, they slipped from 91 for 0 to 131 all out.5 – These are the least runs added by a side from their Nos. 4 to 11. Six of the eight batsmen fell for ducks to make it the first such instance in Test history.9.3 – Yasir’s strike rate, as he picked eight wickets in 75 deliveries. These are the sixth-best strike rate by a Test bowler with an eight-for. The other five instances are all courtesy England bowlers; four of whom are senior citizens. Stuart Broad picked eight wickets in 9.3 overs during the 2015 Ashes in England.6 – Ducks by New Zealand batsmen, the joint-most in a Test innings. There have been four other innings with six ducks; the last was by India against England at Old Trafford in 2014. This was the first time since 1980 that Pakistan dismissed more than four batsmen for ducks in a Test innings. Five of these six batsmen who made ducks fell to Yasir.90 – New Zealand’s first innings score, the second-smallest since in UAE since 2009. The lowest is England’s 72 in Abu Dhabi in 2012. This is also the lowest by any team against Pakistan in the last five years.

The veteran England fast bowler looks back at a career dogged by injury and marked by her refusal to give up

Annesha Ghosh10-Apr-20194:56

‘I consider myself an allrounder now’ – Katherine Brunt

“I’m stubborn. I always make that choice to come back and not be quite done yet.”As Katherine Brunt details a timeline of her injuries through her 15-year-long international career, she gives off a sense of dispassion that may register as stoicism. Injuries, after all, have been a defining aspect of her playing days, though she has not allowed them to set the boundaries of the player or the person she has come to be.Now, “at the tender age of 33 and a half”, the wryness of her words complements the fortitude that has been a hallmark of her career as a stalwart of English cricket through three world tournament-winning campaigns in the years before and since the professionalisation of the women’s game in that country.That spirit came to fore during her remarkable comeback on the recently concluded tour of Asia that kick-started England’s Ashes year. Returning to top-flight cricket after time on the sidelines, Brunt, one of two surviving players from England’s 2009 limited-overs world tournament double alongside Sarah Taylor, turned back the clock at the Wankhede Stadium in the third ODI of the India leg of the tour. Her five-for and batting rearguard from No. 9 fetched her the Player-of-the-Match Award, and England their first win on the tour, setting them on course for a ten-match limited-overs winning streak, including back-to-back bilateral T20I whitewashes of India and Sri Lanka.There were travails of mind and body to be navigated in the period ahead of that comeback. Twice in the space of four months last year, a long-standing back injury grounded Brunt. The first incident, which by her count was her fifth major injury since her England debut in 2004, came soon after the Kia Super League, and convinced her that her body was giving up. The second brought to an end her attempt to regain full fitness ahead of what she thought would be her swansong: “a good ending” at the first ever standalone Women’s World T20.”It just got to the point – something changed in my back,” she says of the fifth delivery she bowled last November in a pre-tournament warm-up against India, in Guyana. “I didn’t want to push myself to the point from where I couldn’t come back.” A scan later, her tournament was over before it had begun.The roots of the problem, though, lay in her earliest days in the competitive set-up, when the game was still more than a decade away from turning professional.”When I was 16,” says Brunt, “I had a mixed action. I had not been seen by anyone in terms of bowling and how I aligned my body. It always looked like a good action, so nobody noticed it wasn’t quite right.”I had open shoulders, fairly front-on but very side-on. Obviously the twist in the lower back was quite extreme. Our physio at the time didn’t know anything about anything – whether it be core stability or having the right sort of treatment. I’ve been struggling with my back since then. I have a slipped-disc bulge in my back, and I’ve had one or two bulges for the best part of 15 years now. It’s something you [largely] feel while doing things.”Brunt pulls up injured in the 2018 World T20 warm-up match against India, before going off the field•IDI/Getty ImagesIt wasn’t until the end of Brunt’s teenage years that Paul Shaw, the former head of England Women’s Performance, got a good look at her. Four months of drills followed, focused solely on getting her shoulders and hips aligned. “It was the longest four months of winter ever, but by the end of it, I had a proper bowling action,” she says. “But the damage had already been done.” The bulge in her disc had come about by then; it had become “a ticking time bomb”.In the aftermath of the flare-up of the injury during last year’s World T20 warm-up, the problem was aggravated to the point where the bulge was affecting nerves in her spine. “At one point, I did end up in a wheelchair,” Brunt says. “It wasn’t the most fun experience of my life, and for a long time I had a lot of pain on my right side into my calf and sometimes to my ankle.”It pushed Brunt to a point where she began questioning the purpose of it all – “whether or not I could push through or whether at all I wanted to”. But the time away from the game also brought some perspective. “These are times I try to learn from,” she remembers telling herself.Given her history of injury, the sight of Brunt on song, leading the England pace attack against India and Sri Lanka earlier this year, was one to behold.ALSO READ: ‘I’ve got too big a drive to stop’All guts and anger, there she was, fuming at unfriendly footmarks at the Wankhede, gobbling up India’s top five to deny them a series sweep, then silencing a 5000-strong crowd in Guwahati when she became the oldest woman to claim a T20I three-for. Later, she would go on to pick up a total of five wickets in two appearances in Sri Lanka, although she was originally scheduled to return home after the India leg.A part of her resolve to overcome physical distress, says Brunt, is down to having learned to face adversity head-on since she was little. The youngest of six siblings, she was bullied in school for being overweight, for being a loner, not having good fashion sense – as she recounted in a 2018 ECB documentary. Not that she was always at the receiving end: her nickname, Nunny, comes from the time she set off a fire alarm during a residential cricket course at Bendictine-run Ampleforth College.”I had a lot of tough times as a kid, had a lot of things to fight for, and fight back at, which made me headstrong, gave me a lot of resilience,” she says. “You don’t really know that as you get older, but all that helps. It paves the way for who you are meant to be and how you go about doing things.”For me, every time I’ve had a setback with my back, it’s not been small, it’s been quite major at times, you know – couple of surgeries. Having that [spirit] has helped me move on to the next stage, and having the will to do it all again, because you have that and [it helps when] you wonder if you can put yourself through all of that again.”The physical downsides aside, the injuries, over time, have robbed Brunt of some of the simple pleasures of life. Routine activities (“I can’t go do some gardening”) have had to be curbed. Squats in the gym have had to make way for leg presses (“I used to love to squat. I haven’t for eight years”). Bending over to pick up her dog, Bailey (who died in an accident earlier this year) or holding her little nephews and nieces in her arms for long – they all became a strict no-no as she embraced a “life of small but smart adjustments”.”I’d love to mentor people, telling them things I wish people had told me at certain points in my career”•Annesha Ghosh/Annesha Ghosh”You still enjoy all the things in life, just within reason, while doing the things you love. Sometimes you think, ‘Oh, I could do that, but I could also miss the next year of cricket if I did do that.'”Aside from her own mindfulness about her body, Brunt credits her longevity, especially over the past five years, to the England team management, and particularly physio Susan Dale, “who has been man-marking me, and helped me achieve everything I’ve set out to do.”At home, in the house she owns – “Alan” – where she rents rooms out to fellow cricketers Natalie Sciver, Amy Jones, Beth Langston, and “a few tag-alongs”, the support of her fellow inhabitants has been indispensable. “They’re constantly dragging me out of any [unfavourable] situation that I find myself in,” Brunt says. “I literally think I wouldn’t be able to carry on if I didn’t have them. I owe a lot to those girls.”Had it not been for those around her, she admits she might not have been able to be playing in what she describes as a “historically vital” phase in the women’s game, when the opportunities available to female cricketers are tenfold as opposed to five years ago, in her assessment.Speaking of which, does she perhaps fancy herself as England women’s first female head coach?”It would be lovely to see a female coach down the line,” Brunt says. “In my experience, I’ve never really loved being the head coach. I love [providing] inputs and being able to have my own little thing. Maybe me being the seam-bowling coach? I’d love that. I’d love to mentor people, telling them things I wish people had told me at certain points in my career.”The England women’s domestic game is due for a restructuring in 2020 – with the introduction of The Hundred – and Brunt believes more opportunities in coaching and cricket administration might open up for women. “There will be managers’ roles, directors’ roles – plenty of career opportunities. Not just things that you do on the side or a hobby but something you can make a living out of. And the opportunity to do it abroad as well – at the Big Bash or an IPL [for women].”ALSO READ: Anger, guts and glory: a day in the life of Katherine BruntBrunt hopes the next generation of coaching staff entering the women’s game, regardless of gender, have the knowledge and skills to help young female cricketers taking up the sport avert a destiny like hers. It is a valid concern, given England are currently faced with putting in place a succession plan for the replacement of the likes of Brunt, while also tackling the injury issues of several promising young talents, such as spinners Kirstie Gordon and Sophie Ecclestone and fast bowler Katie George.Mark Robinson, the England head coach, is hopeful of being able to groom youngsters in a mould similar to Brunt’s, but he admits filling the hole left by his premier fast-bowling allrounder when she hangs up her boots will be challenging.”She is a champion, and they come once in a lifetime often, don’t they?” he says. “Katherine is a hard player to replace because she’s never quite out of a match – she bats and bowls, and at times is the heartbeat of this team.”With senior players, the thing that often goes is that enthusiasm – to do the hard yards, to do the rehab, do warm-ups and all those things that you have to do to get back from setbacks. Katherine hasn’t lost that. She’s a fantastic trainer, leads the group by example in terms of what she does in the gym and her determination to get back.”Having coached England to two straight world tournament finals, including a title win in one, Robinson takes heart from how his bowling attack as a whole is starting to come into its own.”Anya [Shrubsole, vice-captain, and deputy to Brunt in the fast-bowling contingent] is leading in Katherine’s absence at times. Nat Sciver has stepped up with the ball. We’ve got Kate Cross. There’s Katie George – she was quite impressive this summer. Quite a long way off to fill the shoes of Katherine at the moment, but we hope that’ll happen in time.”Less than a year out from the T20 World Cup, Brunt says she has no plans of stopping now. Especially in light of her evolution as a utility batsman. “In the last couple of years it’s really been Mark Robinson seeing the batsman in me. He’s honed me to get the batsman out of me, giving me the opportunities. Batting at No. 5 in T20s, and 6-7 in ODIs been awesome. I’ve absolutely loved the opportunity.On batting ability: “You kind of laugh at yourself, and you don’t take yourself seriously. You totally believe you’re not a batsman, which is ridiculous because it’s your own choice”•Getty Images”Before those last two years, it actually felt I was a bit of a joke. Your opening bowlers aren’t regarded as your batsmen, or people that can bat. ‘Oh, we are into the tail-end now, the bowlers are in.’ Do you know what I mean?”This England collapse in Worcester last year against South Africa gives weight to Brunt’s claim that her batting has been underrated. They slumped to 64 for 6 inside 17 overs, but Brunt, in at No. 7, batting as if all the demons had gone out of the track, smashed eight fours, top-scoring for the hosts with an unbeaten 72 – her career high score. The next best score from her team-mates was 19.”We dug ourselves in a bit of a hole on a seaming wicket where we expected it to be a road,” she says of the surface where she put together a knock that in her appraisal is “right up there”.”I’m a quite protective person at heart, I’ll do anything to win, and I don’t like to lose. So my protective side was like, ‘I will die if I don’t do something here.’ I wanted to get ourselves to a total we’d not be embarrassed of on a tricky surface. We didn’t deserve to be all out [for a low score]; we’re not that team.”Much of the making of batsman Brunt 2.0, she puts down to three factors: “a) Me massively changing my mindset; b) Mark seeing that and exposing it; and c) just going and doing it, not being afraid to.”Although she still thinks of herself very much as a bowling allrounder, Brunt is delighted at her belated acceptance of her own batting skills. “[Initially] you kind of laugh at yourself, and you don’t take yourself seriously. Over the years you totally believe you’re not a batsman, which is totally ridiculous because it’s your own choice.”In the last couple of years, all the girls have completely changed my mindset. I’d be like, ‘I can’t bat in the top six,’ and they’ll be like, ‘What are you even talking about?! You really are a batsman and you can do it.’ So, slowly but surely, I’ve had that self-belief that I’m a batter, I can back myself as an allrounder.”Five shy of her 200th international appearance, with her name already up on the Lord’s honours board for bowlers, Brunt wonders if her credentials as an England cricketer would have read differently had all of the factors now favouring her batsmanship aligned themselves earlier in her career. “I wish I had had that mindset ten years ago.”Perhaps she might have earned a place on the batsmen’s honours board? Then again, for someone as unwilling to “be quite done yet”, could that ever be beyond reach?

Legspinner Rishad Hossain and batsmen Anamul Haque and Pinak Ghosh impress in the third round of action

Mohammad Isam30-Oct-2019After the players’ strike pushed back the third round of the National Cricket League by a day, Rajshahi Division clinched a low-scoring thriller against Rangpur Division, beating them by six runs in Cox’s Bazar, despite three of their regulars being taken away – two to the national team and one for a trial with new spin-bowling coach Daniel Vettori – midway through the match. And across in Rajshahi, Chittagong Division registered their first win of the season, beating Sylhet Division by nine wickets.Best batsmenAnamul Haque became the season’s first batsman to score centuries in each innings of a match. The Khulna Division batsman started with a steady 126 off 224 balls that included ten fours and five sixes, before hitting eight sixes and nine fours in his 151 off 225 balls in the second innings against Dhaka Division.Chittagong’s 20-year-old Pinak Ghosh made his maiden first-class century, hitting two sixes and 16 fours in his 83-ball 100 against Sylhet. Mohammad Ashraful, playing for Barisal Division this season, also made a ton against Dhaka Metropolis in a rain-affected game in Bogra. Ashraful made 150 off 204 balls with 16 fours.Best bowlersLegspinner Rishad Hossain took a five-wicket haul for Rajshahi before he was taken away to the capital to show off his skills to Vettori (Sabbir Rahman and Taijul Islam got national-team call-ups). Veterans Sunzamul Islam and Saqlain Sajib, however, didn’t let Rishad’s absence matter much, as their five-fors clinched them the hard-fought win over Rangpur.Khulna offspinner Mahedi Hasan finished with match figures of 9 for 138 against Dhaka Division, while seamers Irfan Hossain and Mehedi Hasan Rana took five-wicket hauls for Chittagong. Sylhet pacer Abu Jayed was also impressive, returning 4 for 86 against Barisal.Best matchRangpur took a 73-run first-innings lead after they were bowled out for 274 runs. Rajshahi then made 190 in their second innings with an important contribution from Sunzamul, who top-scored with 36 from No. 8. Then he came out to sizzle through the Rangpur line-up, taking 5 for 48 while Saqlain took 5 for 35.Points tableKhulna remain on top of the Tier 1 points table with 17.25 points, but Rajshahi’s win got them into second place with 13.11 points. Chittagong have replaced Barisal on the top of Tier 2, now leading with 16.42 points, ahead by 1.8 points.Players to watchAnamul’s twin tons would do enough to keep him in the selectors’ attention if a replacement is needed in India. Jayed, who was retained in the Test squad, showed improvement with a four-wicket haul, while Rishad’s five-for is also encouraging, but he needs time in the middle.