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In his first two Tests as Australia captain, Steven Smith has scored runs, with the tail and in the first innings to set up games, and in abundance. He’s led his team from the front

Brydon Coverdale at the MCG27-Dec-20145:36

Bevan: Smith shaping up fast as captain

After a merry Christmas meal you expect some antics, not semantics. But this year discussion turned to the wording of Steven Smith’s current job title. “When Tony Abbott goes overseas Warren Truss is not prime minister, he is prime minister,” said Family Member A, extrapolating that it was wrong to call Smith Australia’s Test captain while Michael Clarke was still around.”But if Tony Abbott was incapacitated and could not perform his duties, Warren Truss become prime minister,” Family Member B contended, uncertain of the veracity of this statement but reflecting on John McEwen briefly taking office after Harold Holt disappeared. Family Member C, struggling to follow the intricacies of the debate, confusedly argued against both viewpoints.Family Member D said: “I’ve heard of Steven Smith, but who’s Warren Truss?”Truss is Australia’s 16th deputy prime minister and Smith, rightly or wrongly, is regarded by history as Australia’s 45th Test captain. He was sworn in by Australian cricket’s governor-general Mark Taylor on the first morning at the Gabba, where Taylor presented him with the ceremonial captain’s blazer. He tossed the coin and handed MS Dhoni a team sheet with the captaincy box ticked next to his own name.Whatever the nomenclature – captain, acting captain, caretaker captain – all that really matters is that Smith has led from the front over his first two Tests in charge. On the second day at the MCG, he became the first man to score a century in each of his first two Tests as captain of Australia. For the time being, he has the highest batting average for an Australian captain.Smith is having the most remarkable year in 2014, and the leadership sits comfortably with him given his current form. His first act upon being placed in charge at the Gabba was to promote himself to No.4, recognition that as the team’s captain and most in-form middle-order batsman, the responsibility was his to ensure he spent as long as possible at the crease.During the 2011-12 series against India in Australia, Clarke annihilated India batting at No.5, scoring a triple-century in Sydney and a double-hundred in Adelaide. But consider this: Australia scored 2372 runs in that series and 50% of them were made while Clarke was at the crease. So far this summer Australia have made 1972 runs, and Smith has been out there for 63% of them.Steven Smith – leading Australia by example•Getty ImagesPart of the reason is that Smith has batted so well with the lower order, and so it was again at the MCG. Late on the first afternoon, Smith was on 52 when he was joined by the out-of-form Brad Haddin with only the bowlers to follow. The total was 5 for 216. Trouble beckoned. Just before tea nearly 24 hours later, Smith was the last man out, bowled for 192. Australia had reached 530.Similarly, in Brisbane, Smith had ensured that Australia more than doubled their first-innings total to 505 from 5 for 232. Smith made 133 and was the eighth man out. India’s inability to run through Australia’s tail has been an ongoing theme in this series. Australia’s average partnership for the first to fifth wickets in this series has been 47.52; for the sixth to tenth wickets it is 60.30.Australia have had seven century partnerships in the series and only three have come for wickets one to five. The four from wickets six to ten have all featured Smith: 163 with Clarke (who had retired hurt) for the seventh wicket in Adelaide; 148 with Mitchell Johnson for the seventh wicket in Brisbane; and at the MCG 110 with Haddin for the sixth wicket and 106 with Ryan Harris for the eighth.Johnson, Haddin and Harris all outscored Smith during these partnerships. He realised they were finding the middle of the bat and played the secondary role. Not that he has ever been bogged down. Smith is busy to the point of hyperactivity, twitching, fiddling, turning ones into twos and twos into threes. But he knows when to play the lead and when to play the support.”I think our guys have done terrific,” Smith said of the tail. “They’ve come out and taken the bowlers on. Mitch Johnson again today looked good and Ryan Harris came out and batted beautifully. I don’t think they really had an answer for the way they were playing. I think it’s great for us that the tail can do that and come out and be really aggressive.”Not that Smith takes the full Steve Waugh approach of taking a single off the first ball of an over and allowing the opposition to have a crack at the tail. When Johnson and Harris were striking the ball well, he would gladly cede the strike, but late in Australia’s first innings in Melbourne he started to refuse singles when Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood came to the crease.By that stage Smith was going hard, swinging for the boundary, for a maiden double-century, and for as many runs as possible before his planned tea declaration. Dhoni set the fielders back on the fence to make life difficult and Smith was eventually bowled trying to ramp Umesh Yadav over the keeper’s head in search of one of the few gaps on the boundary.It meant his average for the 2014 calendar year plummeted to 87.07. In the first innings of Tests this year, Smith has averaged 107.12, with five centuries when the match was there to be set up. With a 10 innings minimum, Smith is second only to Don Bradman on Australia’s all-time first-innings batting averages.When he reached his third hundred from consecutive Tests, Smith raised his bat to all areas of the MCG. Australia have two captains right now and at that moment it was clear who was in what box – Clarke in the commentary one for Channel Nine, Smith the ticked one on the team sheet. Ultimately semantics are irrelevant. All that matters is that Smith is acting like a captain.

The pitch, the weather, the bowling, the fielding, it was all made for opening batsmen on day one at the SCG, and David Warner and Chris Rogers made it count while paying rich tribute to another opener: Phillip Hughes

Daniel Brettig in Sydney06-Jan-20154:01

‘Rogers, a tough cricketer’

Phillip Hughes was an opening batsman. Though his numerous shifts in the Australian Test team covered most positions in the top six, his life’s first occupation was as part of that unique breed of cricketer happy to face the ball when it is brand new and in the hands of a fresh, fired up fast bowler.Among many tributes assembled for Hughes over these past six weeks, two of the most striking were unveiled on the first day at the SCG. The plaque bearing his face and name at the entrance to the home dressing room afforded him a rare and entirely suitable honour, ensuring he will always be remembered at the place where he first showed himself to be a talent not only rare but of international class.More transient but equally striking was the gesture offered up by David Warner when he reached 63, Hughes’ final resting place as a batsman. Turning to the spot on the ground where Hughes fell, Warner knelt down and kissed the turf. The former Prime Minister Paul Keating once acknowledged Australia’s fallen World War Two soldiers of Papua New Guinea in this way, and it is an act commonly taken by the Pope on his arrival in a new land. From a cricketer as abrasive as Warner it was unusually tender, and movingly fitting.But the greatest tribute paid to Hughes on an unfailingly sunny day and blameless pitch was shared by Warner and his wise older partner Chris Rogers. Taking on India’s bowlers and neutralising any chance of early wickets, they assembled an opening union of precisely 200, their best stand together in what is likely to be the last home Test they play together.They rejoiced in a helpful toss won by Steven Smith and the chance to take first strike, as Hughes invariably did. They made a brazen start, as Hughes often did. They settled in after those early blows for a long occupation, as Hughes commonly did. And they revelled in each other’s boundaries and milestones, as Hughes always did.Warner’s efforts in this series have been laudable as proof he can sustain the brilliant heights of last summer while under the most intense emotional strain imaginable. He has spoken frankly and often of the battle to deal with his memories of the day at the SCG when Hughes was struck, cradled in Warner’s arms and then resuscitated by his side. He has admitted that on the first morning of the series at Adelaide Oval his early flurry of boundaries were not premeditated but the least he could do to move beyond the images of Hughes’ death.They have also confirmed that Warner can fight through physical stresses too. His left thumb is still bandaged and painful after a shuddering blow at the Gabba, and his right arm is also sporting additional protection after a blow in the nets in Melbourne. There are also suspicions about recurring soreness in his right elbow, a problem he has faced in the past and evidence of which could be glimpsed through the odd unwieldy throw at the MCG. None of this, however, has affected his batting – all power, poise and pugilism.Rogers’ trials have been of slightly different shades, though no less vexing. When he returned home from the UAE in November, his 37-year-old body and mind were throwing him plenty of signals that time was running out. Over more than a decade he had become used to a a life of dual seasons, playing for Western Australia then Victoria at home before plying his trade with Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Middlesex in the northern summer. But the addition of Test match rigour to that schedule had taken a toll, and his early innings of this series were far from promising.In Brisbane there was the additional trial of a heavy hit to the back of his helmet when fielding at short leg during the Gabba match. Rogers’ reaction was considerably distressed, not so much at the pain inflicted by the blow as inevitable thoughts about what had befallen Hughes, and whether after so many years facing up to the red leather he was about to run out of the modicum of good luck all batsmen need. In that moment, an instant retirement would not have been out of the question.But Rogers forged on. An aggressive second innings in Australia’s nervy Brisbane chase showed his ability to read situations more swiftly than others, and a stolid Boxing Day occupation blunted India’s last chance to take a foothold in the series. He was useful in the second innings also, and grew further in fluency here. If this is Rogers’ final Test match in Australia, he will be leaving while team-mates and crowds wish for more, not less.”He knows when time’s up,” Warner said of Rogers. “He wants to finish the way he wants to finish. I looked at his numbers the other day – 70 first-class hundreds, over 20,000 first-class runs, a fantastic career and he’s batting the best he has in the last 18 months I’ve seen. We keep talking about it in the middle, keep pushing each other to excellence. He feels this could be his last home series. I hope and think he will be there in the Ashes and hopefully we can win that series, and if he thinks that’s time to call it quits I’m pretty sure he’ll make his mind up.”For the opening batsman, to win the toss and bat first is to allow all the preparation of the preceding few days to be completely worthwhile. Bowling first and then having as little as 10 minutes to be ready for the start of an innings is the sort of challenge repeatedly faced but never enjoyed. Warner admitted to hating it.”As much as you can, as an opening batsman, you want to go out there and bat, you don’t like waiting,” he said. “The most uncomfortable thing for an opening batsman is if you bowl first you always know you’re going to be either in at the end of the day’s play, the next morning, could be just after lunch, you just don’t know and it’s an unknown, having 10 minutes to get ready… We love going out there and batting first, and we’ll always do that I’m pretty sure when we win the toss.”Warner’s innings was chanceless, wavering most in the moments before he reached 63 against R Ashwin bowling over the wicket – the same bowler ultimately dismissed him with a useful offbreak. Rogers offered up one edge that KL Rahul should have taken, and the unfortunate bowler Mohammed Shami had belated recompense when his opponent offered a slightly crooked drive and edged onto the stumps when 95. Rogers threw his head back almost as the ball passed his bat, knowing there were plenty more runs to be had.The pitch, the weather, the bowling, the fielding. All were made for opening batsmen this day. Warner and Rogers made the most of it, in a manner that Hughes would have loved. It was a good day for Australia’s opening batsmen, all three of them.

Stats analysis from Bangladesh’s historic win over England in Adelaide

Bishen Jeswant09-Mar-2015275 Runs scored by Bangladesh, their highest in an ODI against England. Bangladesh’s previous highest score against England was 260 in Mirpur in 2010.103 Runs scored by Mahmudullah in this game, the most for any Bangladesh batsman in a World Cup game. The previous highest score was Tamim Iqbal’s 95 against Scotland earlier this World Cup.1 Number of Bangladesh batsman who have scored a century in World Cup matches, Mahmudullah is the first. Bangladesh is the only Test nation whose batsmen had never previously scored a World Cup hundred.89 Runs scored by Mushfiqur Rahim, the third highest by a Bangladesh batsmen in World Cups. Each of the top three scores by a Bangladesh batsman in World Cups were scored during the ongoing 2015 edition.Mushfiqur Rahim has made the highest runs aggregate for a Bangladesh player at a single World Cup•Getty Images141 The partnership between Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur, the highest for Bangladesh for any wicket in World Cup history. Bangladesh have three 100-plus stands in World Cup matches, all three of those during the 2015 World Cup.256 Runs scored by Mushfiqur in this World Cup, the most by any Bangladesh batsman in a single edition. The previous record was 216, by Mohammad Ashraful during the 2007 World Cup.4 Number of ducks scored by Eoin Morgan in 2015, the second-most for any England player. Mike Brearley is the only batsmen to score more ducks in a year: five in 1979. Andy Caddick also scored exactly four ducks in 2000.3 The number of times that Bangladesh have beaten England in their last four ODI meetings. The had lost each of the 12 previous ODIs before that.4 Number of wicketkeepers who have scored a fifty and effected four or more dismissals in a World Cup match; Mushfiqur is the fourth. The three other keepers are Brad Haddin, Ridley Jacobs and Kumar Sangakkara.3 Number of times that England have failed to progress beyond the group stage in the last six World Cups. England are the only top-eight nation who have been knocked out so early in three of the last six editions.

Plays of the Day from the match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab

Abhishek Purohit21-Apr-20153:25

Insights: Maxwell’s poor run

The relief after punishment
Young offspinner Shivam Sharma had been drafted in for his first game of the season. Shane Watson had taken him apart in his first over, which went for 19 and included four successive boundaries. Brought back a few overs later, Shivam had already leaked 13 when Deepak Hooda decided to play a delicate sweep to a delivery flighted from round the stumps. The ball dipped, pitched just beside the bat and went on to rattle leg stump.The high and the low
Steven Smith arrived in the 16th over with Rajasthan Royals a good shot of clearing 200. He received a long hop first ball from Axar Patel. Smith duly opened his stance and pulled hard. The sound of bat on ball suggested a mighty connection. So did the manner in which the ball went soaring. All of that turned out to be deceptive, as Glenn Maxwell took it at the deep midwicket boundary.The intervention
Maxwell was to deal another big blow to Royals. The famous finisher James Faulkner was in with two overs to go. He swung Sandeep Sharma powerfully down the ground, and seemed to have fetched his first six when Maxwell decided to intervene. He jumped high at long-on and came down with the ball safely in his hands.The presence of mind
Shaun Marsh got a long hop from Rahul Tewatia but ended up mis-hitting it straight back to the legspinner. Not only did Tewatia stop it cleanly on the bounce, he also noticed that M Vijay had backed up too far, and calmly popped the ball backwards to disturb the non-striker’s stumps.

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Apr-2015The hosts opted to bowl, and were rewarded with the early wicket of Brendon McCullum, much to the delight of Yuzvendra Chahal and his captain Virat Kohli•BCCIDwayne Smith, though, got off to another rapid start, smashing 39 off 29•BCCISuresh Raina ensured no momentum was lost after Smith’s dismissal, spraying the ground with four fours and six sixes•BCCIRaina hit Chahal for three consecutive sixes in the 13th over, but was caught off the next delivery to go for a 32-ball 62•BCCIRaina’s wicket gave Royal Challengers a way back into the game. MS Dhoni scratched around for 13 before lofting straight to AB de Villiers at sweeper cover•BCCIIqbal Abdulla collected 2 for 36, including the scalps of Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo, as the hosts’ spinners frustrated Super Kings•BCCIHowever, Faf du Plessis made a late surge, his 33 off 18 lifting the visitors to 181 for 8•BCCIAnd he wasn’t done yet. Manvinder Bisla made a bright start to the chase, and it took one of catches of the tournament, from du Plessis, to send him back•PTI Super Kings were at their absolute best on the field, and took a foothold on the game with wickets at regular intervals. Bravo’s stunner at long-on to dismiss Dinesh Karthik reduced Royal Challengers to 61 for 3•BCCIDe Villiers’ run-out for 14 did not help matters•BCCIKohli gave the hosts some respite, top-scoring with 51, but with nobody offering him enough support at the other end, he was battling a lost cause•BCCISmith did well to keep his balance at the boundary and take the crucial catch of Kohli•BCCIAshish Nehra bowled an inspired spell of 4-0-10-4, his best in T20 cricket, as Super Kings cruised to a 27-run win to leave Royal Challengers rooted at the bottom of the table•BCCI

The Bangladesh bowler has had a dream start, but he’s not going to let that change the person he is

Mohammad Isam07-Aug-2015As a child, Mustafizur Rahman didn’t trouble his parents or his three older brothers. He was a quiet kid. Contrary to the custom in Bangladeshi households, however, he used to eat with the fingers of his left hand. So one day when he was very young, his mother took him to someone to correct the habit.”I was always a left-hander, for everything. My mother took me to a place in the village. After returning from there I couldn’t eat left-handed but everything else was left-handed,” he said. “No, really. I couldn’t eat with my left hand again. The other things remained the same.”Thankfully it remained the same. Who knows if he would have been able to bowl the same way with the right hand as he does with the left.Mustafizur’s stories have the ring of truth about them. For example, he knew his first international wicket, Shahid Afridi’s, was down to luck. “He didn’t hit it but my job was to appeal. Neither of us realised what had happened,” he said.He doesn’t sledge, even when a batsman speaks to him in the heat of battle. He doesn’t like to go off the field, like other pace bowlers during longer-format matches; he thinks this helped him get the wickets of Hashim Amla, JP Duminy and Quinton de Kock on his Test debut.”Pace bowlers like to go out during Tests. We are not machines, you know. But I don’t like going out. I like staying in the field, even if I feel bad. When I got Amla’s wicket, I got fired up. I always like bowling at the stumps to new batsmen.”I don’t sledge. I don’t like this thing. Some people tell me that a pace bowler has to do it, but I think the batsmen will do their job, I will do mine. I didn’t get [Virat] Kohli’s wicket, but it would have been great to have it. After hitting me for a four or six in one of the matches he asked me, ‘Why do you bowl so slowly?’ I didn’t say anything,” he said.He starts to fidget, fingers lightly tapping his phone, sometimes tugging at his sleeve, sometimes drumming on the sofa. We are seated in the foyer of the National Cricket Academy building in Mirpur, a mural of Shakib Al Hasan to our left, and Mustafizur, the same bowler who froze in front of the camera after his five-for and six-for against India, spoke animatedly.Like the rest of the Bangladesh team, he is on holiday after a gruelling few months. He hasn’t left Dhaka to be with his family in Tetulia village, on the edge of Bangladesh’s south-western border with India. He has had to stay behind to shoot a commercial alongside Soumya Sarkar and Mashrafe Mortaza.Mustafizur has taken 25 wickets in his first 11 international matches. He is the only cricketer in the world to have won Man-of-the-Match awards in his debut Test and ODI. He has taken the most wickets of anyone in their first three ODIs, and single-handedly crippled India in the ODI series in June. Against South Africa, his spells were pivotal in the ODIs. In the Chittagong Test, he took his first three wickets in four balls.He wears a white T-shirt and black training trousers. The hair is cut stylishly, not unlike that of Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman or Liton Das, the younger brigade of the Bangladesh team. Phone calls pour in; he takes a few and ignores the rest.Mustafizur is not just the youngest in his family but also the youngest in his club and first-class teams, and in the Bangladesh team. Someone asks him if he needs a printout of his air ticket to go back home. An older staff member sits with him, asks about his family.2:47

Aakash Chopra: Mustafizur and the art of the cutter

Al-Amin Hossain asks, in jest, if the boys from Satkhira (Robiul Islam and Soumya Sarkar are also staying at the academy) are not going to leave the building. An Under-19 player walks by.”What are you doing here?” asks Mustafizur.”Why, do you own this place?” he shoots back. Both laugh.Fourteen months ago I met Mustafizur here, along with another journalist, when he was a surprise call-up to the Bangladesh A team for their tour to the West Indies.”Allah has given me this good time. You need to have Allah on your side,” he says, when I ask him compare between May 2014 and August 2015. “When I used to bowl in the national team’s nets, I wasn’t near their level. I tried to bowl like them, thinking: if I do well in the nets I might get an opportunity somewhere.”He was fast-tracked into the Bangladesh A team for that tour in May 2014 but didn’t get to play any matches. Chief selector Faruque Ahmed said at the time that he needed to learn about the team environment and training.”When I played in the Under-16s, the late Sheikh Salahuddin sir was always special to me. He has passed away. Sir once brought out his laptop to show us videos of how the national players do their training in Mirpur. I used to see them and think, ‘When will I play in that place?’ When I came here after being chosen in the pace foundation [in 2012], I could see myself in that place, what I had seen on TV or in sir’s laptop.”Mustafizur’s life in cricket was shaped at home. His father, Abul Qasem Gazi, loved watching cricket on TV, and used to make sure his four boys didn’t miss much. Mustafizur joined his brothers in front of the TV and soon in the field.”My father used to love seeing Wasim Akram bowl, and also Saeed Anwar and Mohammad Yousuf. I didn’t see much cricket back then, but dad used to wake us up from sleep when the matches started early in the morning,” he says with a laugh.”So I started to play cricket. Actually I played football too in the schoolyard. Cricket was with the Five-Star [tennis] ball. I was a batsman but I couldn’t hit the big ones. I could bat long. If it hit me here [], it didn’t hurt – the ball was so light.”Mustafizur was introduced to the cutter by Anamul Haque•AFPMustafizur’s brothers used to register a team in the local TV Cup, a ritualistic cricket tournament in rural Bangladesh where the trophy is a television set. The Rahman boys would fork out up to 20,000 takas a tournament (to hire players from district town Satkhira), for a shot at a prize of a Tk 3000 TV set. Mustafizur stayed on the fringes of the festivities because he wasn’t big enough to play. Until one day, like in many cricket stories, someone spotted him.”When the well-known cricketers turned up for our team, I used to bowl to them,” he said. “There was one good batsman called Milon. After I bowled to him, he told my brother that I bowl well, and then he told me that he will call me when there’s age-group cricket in Satkhira.”I didn’t even know Satkhira at the time. So when the age-group tournaments came along, they called me. I went. They checked my teeth [to test his age], then I gave a trial in the Under-16 nets. That was also the first time I had seen a real cricket ball. They called 51 boys for trial, then trimmed it down to 14. I survived. I played in the district tournament, and then went up to play in the divisional tournament as well.”Mustafizur had no idea how to bowl with a cricket ball, nor did he know much about fielding. But he was shortlisted by scouts from Dhaka nevertheless, and picked for a pace bowlers’ camp in 2012. While in Mirpur, he was recognised as a talented bowler and picked in the Bangladesh U-19 side in 2013, and he later played in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup in the UAE. A few months later he was picked to play for Bangladesh A.”Back then, I didn’t bowl like I do now. It used to go everywhere. The other foot fell in front in the delivery stride, not the one that is supposed to land. I didn’t do well in the divisional tournament. I didn’t get a single wicket in three matches. I couldn’t get hold of the ball while fielding.”I worked on my bowling in the divisional team. Then I came to Dhaka for the pace foundation. Taskin and others were camping in the Under-19s. I bowled in their nets and then played for Under-19s and Bangladesh A,” he said.One of those days, Anamul Haque was batting against him, and he threw Mustafizur a challenge – or at least that’s what the bowler took it as.”I learned the cutter after he said to me, ‘Can’t you bowl the slower one?’ After hearing this, I started to try on my own and I came up with this delivery.” he said.Anamul’s words worked as magic for Mustafizur, who quickly discovered he not only possessed a slower one but he could deliver it like an offcutter.”I didn’t know the cutter. When Bijoy “.”I will go on Saturday. I will stay at home for 10-12 days. I have heard people from my area will come to the airport,” says Mustafizur.He says he doesn’t want to be a different person now that fame has touched him and he has seen the brighter side of life.”A lot will happen if I keep playing. I want to serve the country for at least 10 years. But I just want to be like I am right now. I want to be this person,” he says.Mustafizur will have much to deal with in the coming months and years. His is the sort of story that could end up as a cautionary tale. There are many such in Bangladesh cricket, so he is probably forewarned.His innocence as a cricketer remains. He will clap when he takes a wicket, and still wonder what would have been had the man who changed his eating hand changed a bit more.Call him simple – though Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and de Kock might not agree – but he has shown the world what a youngster right from rural Bangladesh can do when asked a simple question: “Can’t you bowl the slower one?”

Plays of the day from the first T20 between Zimbabwe and Pakistan in Harare

Liam Brickhill in Harare27-Sep-2015The spell
Chamu Chibhabha has become Zimbabwe’s most reliable allrounder in recent times, and though he failed with the bat in the first T20, his efforts with the ball provided a valuable contribution. Chibhabha bowled the second over of the match, from the City End, and soon made a breakthrough. His three wickets in the space of seven deliveries dismantled Pakistan’s top order, reducing them to 29 for 3, and Zimbabwe’s bowlers never really let the batsmen get away thereafter.The missed stumping
Zimbabwe were generally tight in the field, but there was a ragged edge to Richmod Mutumbami’s wicketkeeping. In the 13th over, Sean Williams fizzed one past an advancing Mohammad Rizwan’s outside edge. Mutumbami gloved the turning, bouncing ball and Rizwan, who was on 2 at the time, went on to make an unbeaten 33, holding a wobbly Pakistan innings together.The beamer
Luke Jongwe’s confident swagger is well known in Zimbabwean cricket, and the 20-year-old’s first T20 international over was a nerveless one. His second over, the 19th of the innings, also started well but Jongwe then delivered a beamer to send Imad Wasim ducking for cover. The batsman couldn’t take toll of the Free Hit, however, and Jongwe recovered to end the over with a wicket.The drift
Wasim is something of a curiosity as a limited-overs spinner. He is tall and accurate, but doesn’t seem to spin the ball much – even in conditions as helpful as these. Rather, drift is his weapon. Both Chibhabha and Sikandar Raza expected turn where there was none, and though Wasim’s dismissal of Williams was, perhaps, a little fortuitous, yet again it was drift that had prompted a false stroke and his four-wicket haul was richly deserved.The mix-up
The match looked set for a fizzing finish when Jongwe and Elton Chigumbura, two notably hard strikers of the ball, combined at the crease with Zimbabwe needing 60 from 41 deliveries. But there were no fireworks, and the stand had barely started when Jongwe’s call for a second run went unheard by Chigumbura. The Zimbabwean captain had been watching the ball, rather than his partner, and Jongwe was run out with both batsmen at the same end.

Stats highlights from the Vijay Hazare Trophy final between Gujarat and Delhi, in Bangalore

Bharath Seervi29-Dec-20150 Vijay Hazare Trophy titles for Gujarat, before this season. They beat Delhi by 139 runs in the final at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore to get their maiden title. They were the runners-up in 2010-11, losing in the finals to Jharkhand by 159 runs in Indore. Tamil Nadu have won the most Vijay Hazare titles: four. Mumbai and Karnataka have two. Here is the list of Vijay Hazare Trophy winners.2 Finals played by Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, including this one. Their first was in 2012-13, when they beat Assam in Visakhapatnam by 75 runs to get their maiden Vijay Hazare title.139 Margin of victory for Gujarat in this final – the third-highest in a Vijay Hazare Trophy final. Jharkhand’s 159-run win over Gujarat in Indore in 2011-12 and Karnataka’s 156-run win against Punjab in Ahmedabad in 2014-15 top this list.0 Centuries by Parthiv Patel in 148 innings in List-A cricket before scoring 105 in this match. His highest before this was 95 in an ODI against England in Chester-le-Street in 2011. He had hit 27 half-centuries before his century in today’s match, and had the most List-A runs by an Indian batsman without a century. Now Pankaj Dharmani, who has 3212 runs list-A runs without a hundred, moves up to the first position on the list. Overall, Wasim Akram’s 6993 runs are the most by a batsman in List-A cricket without making a hundred.0 Runs Parthiv had scored the last time Gujarat played in a Vijay Hazare final, in 2010-11. On that occasion too he had kept wicket and opened and led Gujarat. His team had lost that final by 159 runs.21 Wickets by Gujarat’s Jasprit Bumrah – the most by any bowler this Vijay Hazare season. He beat his team-mate Axar Patel to the top of this list with a maiden List-A five-wicket haul in the final. Axar, who had 19 wickets before the final, went wicket-less from this five overs.0 Bowlers to take five-fors in a Vijay Hazare Trophy final before Bumrah. The previous best was Shahbaz Nadeem’s 4 for 6 for Jharkhand against Gujarat in 2010-11 final.111.84 Pawan Negi’s strike rate in this tournament – 170 runs in 152 balls for Delhi, in five innings. His strike rate is the highest among all players who aggregated over 150 runs in the season. His scores in this season batting at No. 7 and No. 8 read: 47* (57 balls), 0 (4), 28* (28), 38* (16) and 57 (47). His average of 85.00 was the fifth-highest among batsmen with 150-plus runs in the season.149 Runs added for the third wicket between captain Parthiv and Rujul Bhatt in the final – the highest for Gujarat this season. This was the third century stand for Gujarat this season and their captain was involved in all three: the other two were 120 runs with Rujul Bhatt against Railways in Alur on December 13 and 106 runs with Priyank Panchal against Jharkhand in Alur on December 11.

Dialogue from a one-way conversation that may or may not have happened

Brydon Coverdale11-Feb-2016Hello Australia, lovely to see you!Thanks for having us Kiwis earlier in the summer, but it’s since you’ve been here for a proper visit. Ricky Ponting still Test captain like he was last time? Oh, Michael Clarke took over you say – how’s his team look? Oh, he’s gone too? Steven Smith, really? That young leggie who came last time? But he hadn’t even debuted then!Well now, how long must it be… four years? Five? Six, you say? How time flies. Was it really 2010? What have you been up to since then? Oh really? Test tours to England? And two to India? And two to South Africa? Even two to the West Indies? Gosh, you have been busy, no wonder you couldn’t find time to hop across the ditch for a couple of Tests.No, no it’s fine, don’t apologise, we’re all busy – some more than others.Where’s that Ryan Harris fellow who debuted on the last tour? Retired, you say? But he has only just started! You do have that Nathan Hauritz, though, the offie? Oh, it’s a different one? Nathan , you say? New chap, is he? No, get out of town! He’s played 52 Tests? And this David Warner character is playing his 50th? And he’s the vice-captain?Oh, Australia, you should have brought them to visit sooner!So, what else has happened since you were here last? Kevin Rudd still running things? Oh, Julia Gillard got in, did she? Good for her. Oh, he didn’t, did he? No, I’ll bet she wasn’t. And then he lost it to Tony Abbott? And then Malcolm Turnbull took it from Tony? Dear oh dear, it’s so hard to keep up! Well, call us boring but John Key was good enough for us in 2010 and he’s good enough for us in 2016.Yes, Brendon’s fine, thanks for asking, though he’s about to move on to other things. You only just made it in time to see him. He’d just played his 50th Test when you were last here, now he’s all grown up and about to play his 100th. Makes you think, doesn’t it. Time does just fly by.Anyway, now you’re here, would you like a drink and a bite to eat? A flat white and a pavlova, maybe? We do them quite well, if we do say so ourselves. Oh, really? Yes, well, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that. How about a Lemon & Paeroa, you can’t claim that one – the clue’s in the name.Oh, that reminds us, Luke Ronchi sends his regards.What, you can’t stay? You don’t have to rush off so soon, surely? But you only just got here! You’ll only get to see Wellington and Christchurch! We’d be happy to show you Dunedin, too. Or Napier. Much greener and softer than Blacktown, the boys won’t get hurt at all. A bit more like Allan Border Field – or at least, so we hear, we wouldn’t really know ourselves.No, no, of course, we understand. Yes, we always enjoy it too, the boys always have such good fun. We really do it more often. Don’t be such strangers next time! Pop in any time, we’d love to have you. Remember, we’re just around the corner.Oh, before you dash off, we were just wondering… that trophy you brought, are you taking that with you? It would look quite nice next to that Chappell-Hadlee one on the mantelpiece. We’d be happy to mind it…

Plays of the day from a run-soaked match between England and South Africa in Mumbai

Firdose Moonda18-Mar-2016The welcome
South Africa allowed themselves a quiet first over that gave no hint about what was to come. The very next over, as soon as Reece Topley offered some width, their real intent was unveiled. Topley bowled it full and fairly far outside the offstump. Quinton de Kock reached for it and reached hard. The ball sailed over point and into the stands. The battle lines had been drawn.The blunder
Topley’s opening over ended up costing 15 and he was sent to mid-off to ponder straightening his line when Hashim Amla drove Moeen Ali towards him. Topley had to move to his left to take the catch at waist height and got himself into the perfect position before taking his eye off the ball and spilling the chance. Amla was on 9 at the time and went on to make 58. So yes, it could get worse.The power and the placement
De Kock’s first four fours and three sixes came with brute force but he showed there was more to his game than his just power. There was placement too. The ball after Amla was dropped, Moeen bowled one from over the wicket to de Kock, who used the angle and played the ball late to trickle it just past Jos Buttler and bring up South Africa’s fifty, off 23 balls.The misfield
England bowled three overs without conceding a boundary and had started to pull things back when Alex Hales released the pressure with a misfield that had Joe Root seething. JP Duminy hit the ball down the ground to long-on where it bounced one before reaching Hales, who would have a simple pick up and throw back to the bowler. But Hales had over-run and ended up awkwardly stretching out an arm to stop the ball, which cheekily evaded him and breached the boundary. Root let out an anguished yell from his mark which Hales must have heard.The blunder II
Kyle Abbott was stationed at short fine leg to stop sneaky singles and did not seem to be expecting a chance to come his way. At least not immediately. Hales picked up the first ball he faced, delivered by Dale Steyn, off his hips and flicked it behind square where Abbott was caught unawares. Instinctively, Abbott had his hands up and they found the ball but before he could wrap his fingers around it, it burst out of his hands. Hales had not scored a run before that but this blunder did not cost too much. Abbott had Hales trapped lbw by the time he got to 17.The improvisation
South Africa resorted to death bowling tactics in the Powerplay and Abbott was making things particularly uncomfortable for the England batsmen every time he landed his yorker. It’s a tough delivery to get right every time and when Abbott missed, Jason Roy had an answer. The England opener got into position and ramped a full toss over de Kock and fine leg for six. He seemed to get nothing more than the toe-end of the bat onto the ball but with enough force to send into the Wankhede stands.The crowd catch
Both sides had moments where pressure got the better of their catching and they may want to have a word with the security guard who took a cool one-handed catch even as the ball seemed to go over him. Root lofted Abbott over long-off. The ball went high and long but the security guard was up for it. He stuck out his right hand while he stood up and collected the ball cleanly before casually tossing it back on the field. That’s how it’s done, gents.