He may thrill and frustrate in equal measure, but the coach’s backing and an understanding of his game that stems from a decade-long experience have helped him evolve

Mohammad Isam at P Sara Oval19-Mar-20171:01

From the Pakistan upset in 1999 to the SL upset in 2017

The ball pitched around off stump but Tamim Iqbal got into position quickly. By the time the ball had disappeared past the in-field, you forgot what the bowler was trying to do. The batsman, curiously under the radar for the last five months, looked like his switch was flicked on.Out came the reverse sweep, the hits over mid-on, cover and midwicket. His six landed high into the second floor, thudding into the glass panes next to the press box. Bangladesh’s 191-run target in the fourth innings suddenly looked small. It was like how, exactly ten years ago, India’s 191, albeit in a 50-over game at the World Cup, felt when the rookie Tamim was lining up Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel for sixes over long-on at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain.Tamim has transformed since, but the essence of his batting is about being positive and playing with freedom. His tactic is a bit of (bullying) on the opposition bowling, quite unlike his off-field persona – Tamim is mild-mannered and has a ready wit.His 82, one he rates better than the century he made against England in Mirpur last year, on a fifth-day P Sara pitch, against a home spin attack that is good enough to take down any batting line-up in the world, was a Tamim special. Once he decided to attack the three spinners, he was sorted. There were no second thoughts. He said he knew that all-out attack wouldn’t alone do the job so there had to mix aggression and caution very carefully.For the first 40 balls, he was happy moving the ball around, and taking singles. He needed to judge how comfortable his partner, Sabbir Rahman, in this case was. On the day, he looked a part. That meant Tamim could enjoy the little bit of freedom he enjoys at the crease.”It was a tricky total on the fifth day,” Tamim told ESPNcricinfo after the four-wicket win. “We had it in mind that we can get an exceptional ball. When we lost two wickets, I told Sabbir to be positive and look for runs. It is the only way we can win this game. If we were too defensive they would have got us out. The plan was to pick the right ball and get a boundary. We did it very nicely, I think.”Four of Tamim’s eight Test tons have come in a winning cause•AFPBangladesh were in a chaos of sorts after the 259-run loss in Galle. Mahmudullah was dropped, Liton Das was ruled out of the game, and Mushfiqur Rahim, asked to play as a specialist batsman had to take the gloves. All of this warranted four changes to a shaky line-up. Tamim’s focus didn’t waver amidst all this. He spent time honing his skills at the nets every day, leading into the Test, under the eyes of coach Chandika Hathurusingha.But they do have the odd disagreement, like when Sabbir and Tamim didn’t take a single on offer after a misfield. “I was upset because there was a run before that, but he didn’t take it. If he had taken the run, he would not be facing the next ball,” he said. “I was upset with both of them for not running the single.”The run not being taken made an immediate impact as Tamim holed out to mid-on off the next ball. He admitted to have erred in judgment of the run, and jovially said he may have not charged the bowler and looked to hit out had he seen Hathurusingha’s angry reaction for not taking the run.”I wanted to take it but the non-striker didn’t run,” he laughed. “If I had seen his reaction, I wouldn’t have got out. This is part of the game; I would have been happy to get a hundred but we won the game. Everything is fine now.”Hathurusingha is the sort of coach who has a lot of time for a player’s individual development, and is quite possessive about them too. Although he was angry at his dismissal, he has pointed out how people would blame Tamim for getting out in the 80s even though his hitting got him to that score.”He batted well in this situation. He took the game away after lunch,” Hathurusingha said. “We needed to put the pressure back on to them, and score runs. We needed to be positive and back our strengths. Everyone clapped when he hit the six off [Lakshan] Sandakan and it hit that glass. But when he tried again and got out, everyone was scolding him. It is not right. I am all for players to play with freedom. They can make intelligent decision, which I need to back.”Hathurusingha knows Tamim isn’t the one to give him too many sleepless nights, even though some grief may be had from time-to-time because of an an untimely dismissal. On his part, Tamim too fully understands the need of the hour in the Bangladesh team. It is a rapidly developing side that is going to face new challenges. With a batting like Tamim on his side, Hathurusingha knows that those challenges can be faced head-on.

Few batsmen get past 500 runs in an IPL season, which makes Virat Kohli’s 2016 aggregate all the more incredible

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Mar-201710. Shaun Marsh, 616 runs in 11 matches for Kings XI Punjab at 68.44, IPL 2008The IPL 2008 witnessed a phenomenal run-glut for the elder Marsh brother, after an Australian domestic first-class season in which he averaged 60.27. In just 11 games, he announced himself on the big stage with consistent displays of clean hitting at the top of the Kings XI order. He wasn’t one for cheeky scoops or ramp shots, as he put together five fifties and a hundred during his side’s run to the semi-final. A national call up to the ODI squad followed, and he has been a regular fixture since.9. Sachin Tendulkar, 618 runs in 15 matches at 47.53 for Mumbai Indians, IPL 2010In what was his most productive IPL season, Sachin Tendulkar extended his purple patch from his exploits in international cricket, after having become the first man to score a double hundred in an ODI. Some of his innings were a throwback to the ’90s, as he went about plundering bowling attacks consistently at a strike rate of over 150. Among the most memorable innings was an unbeaten 89 against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, where he went after Shane Warne, smashing him for three boundaries in an over.8. Virat Kohli, 634 runs in 16 matches at 45.28 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2013For all his success in international cricket, Virat Kohli was yet to have an outstanding run through an IPL season. While he had shown glimpses of consistency in his side’s run to the final in 2011, it was 2013 when he truly set the stage alight. In his first season as captain of the side, Kohli often rescued Royal Challengers when Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers had lean patches early in the season. When either of them succeeded, Kohli played second fiddle to perfection.7. Robin Uthappa, 660 runs in 16 matches at 44.00 for Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2014After a disastrous start in the league phase, Knight Riders won eight consecutive games, including the final, to clinch their second IPL title. Through this period, Uthappa went about setting an IPL record, with ten consecutive 40-plus scores at the top of the order. His outstanding season earned him a call up to India’s ODI tour to Bangladesh that year.AB de Villiers was in sublime form throughout IPL 2016•BCCI6. AB de Villiers, 687 runs in 16 matches at 52.84 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2016De Villiers’ otherworldly season with the bat, despite ticking almost every T20 batting box there is, was still second only to his captain Virat Kohli’s. Both batsmen set new standards in batting consistency in the shortest format. De Villiers struck one hundred and six fifties, as he and Kohli became the first ever T20 pair to hold two different 200-plus run partnerships. It is another matter that none of this was enough to hand them their first IPL title.5. Chris Gayle, 708 runs in 16 matches at 59.00 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2013Gayle’s standard in the IPL continued to improve with every season, and 2013 was another case in point. He scored 708 runs in the season, 175 of which came in game against Pune Warriors, and his 108 boundaries remain his personal best in nine seasons.4. Michael Hussey, 733 runs in 17 matches at 52.35 for Chennai Super Kings, IPL 2013By this point, Michael Hussey was a proven match-winner for Chennai Super Kings – a reliable presence who showed there is a place for the composed, steady run accumulator in this format. His longest and most productive season came in 2013, as he put on game-changing partnerships with M Vijay and Suresh Raina. All this, while playing perfectly proper shots.3. Chris Gayle, 733 runs in 15 matches at 61.08 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2012The Gayle of 2013 was no match for the Gayle of 2012, and his season strike rate of 160.74 after facing 456 balls explains why. The usual Gayle traits were there – monstrous sixes, punishing fours that felt like they deserved more for the effort, and the blistering starts at the top of the order. The only other thing worth mentioning, as a testament to his consistency, is the fact that neither of his two highest run-getting seasons were enough to win him the Man-of-the-Tournament award. The Gayle of 2011 was the winner on that front.David Warner was the most important contributor in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s march to their first IPL title•BCCI2. David Warner, 848 runs in 17 matches at 60.57 for Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2016It is fair to say that Sunrisers may not have won their first IPL title, if not for Warner’s single-handed match-winning performances. One of those came in the second qualifier, where his 93 not out was the difference in a tight chase against Gujarat Lions. Unlike his previous efforts, Warner hung around till deep in the innings, ready at hand to guide his side home.1. Virat Kohli, 973 runs in 16 matches at 81.08 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2016None of 2016’s batting stars came close to replicating one of the best batting seasons by an individual player in T20 history. In the process of breaking many records, Kohli also went past Suresh Raina’s run aggregate, making him the highest ever run-getter in IPL history. It was just another milestone in an incredible year for the India captain, having already been named the Player of the Tournament at the World T20 earlier in 2016.

Stats highlights from India’s win in Dharamsala, a victory that sealed the series for them

Bharath Seervi28-Mar-20173 Teams holding series titles against all other Test sides at the same point of time. India, with this series win, hold trophies against all Test teams. The first two teams to achieve this were Australia and South Africa. Australia managed this feat first time when they won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2004-05 in India and again after winning the Ashes 2006-07. South Africa achieved it after they won in Australia in 2012-13.4 Instances of India going on to win a series after losing the first Test. Two of those have been against Australia – this series and the 2000-01 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The other two were: against England in 1972-73 and in Sri Lanka in 2015. The series result was 2-1 in all these cases. The last time Australia lost a series after winning the first match was in the 2005 Ashes. Click here for all teams winning a series by coming from behind.It’s the fourth time India have come back to win the series after losing the first Test•ESPNcricinfo Ltd4 Consecutive series wins for India against Australia at home, since losing the 2004-05 series. India have lost only once to Australia in the last 10 series at home.4 Consecutive series defeats for Australia in Asia. Before this, they lost the 2012-13 series in India, in 2014-15 in the UAE and in 2016 in Sri Lanka. In those three series, though, they had lost all the nine Tests played, compared to this series in which they won one and drew one. Before these four series, they won five of their previous seven series in the subcontinent; the two they lost in that period were both in India.10 Wins for India in the 2016-17 season, the joint second-most by any team in a season. Australia had won 11 out of 12 in the 2005-06 season and 10 in 10 in 1999-00. The previous most wins for India were five each in 2004-05, 2009-10 and 2012-13.1982 The last time an India batsman scored six or more 50-plus scores in a Test series, before KL Rahul in this series. Mohinder Amarnath against West Indies in 1982-83 was the last to do so. Only Sunil Gavaskar, in his debut series in 1970-71 in the West Indies, has had a longer such run for India. The last batsman to do this against Australia was Graham Gooch in the Ashes in 1993.3 Man-of-the-Match awards for Ravindra Jadeja this season – the joint-most for India. Virat Kohli also got three such awards. No one else got more than one. But Jadeja is the only one to receive one such award in each of the three major series – against New Zealand, England and Australia. This was Jadeja’s fifth Man of the Match award and maiden Man of the Series award.2 Number of batsmen to score more 50-plus scores in a four-match series than Rahul’s six. Patsy Hendren did it in the West Indies in 1929-30 and Gavaskar in 1970-71. They batted eight innings to Rahul’s seven.140.74 Ajinkya Rahane’s strike rate in his unbeaten 27-ball 38 – his highest in any Test innings. His scoring rate is also the second-highest for an India batsman in the fourth innings of a Test batting 25 balls or more.2 Number of Steven Smith’s centuries that have come in losing cause in Tests. Both have come in the last Tests of the series – in Sri Lanka last year and in this match. Out of his 20 centuries, Australia have won on 13 occasions and five have been drawn.

Stats highlights from the fourth ODI between West Indies and India in North Sound, where MS Dhoni crawled to a 108-ball half-century and Jason Holder bagged his maiden ODI five-for

Bharath Seervi03-Jul-2017108 Balls taken by MS Dhoni to reach to his fifty – the slowest by any India batsman in ODIs since 2001. It was also Dhoni’s slowest fifty, beating the 88 balls he took to get there against Pakistan at Eden Gardens in 2013. Dhoni’s crawling innings came to end when India required 14 off seven balls.54 Runs scored by India between the 21st and 40th overs, including just one boundary. In those 20 overs, the most productive over was of five runs, the 39th over. Dhoni had faced more than half the deliveries in that phase and scored at the lowest strike rate – 36.92 (24 runs off 65 balls). Only thrice since 2001, India scored fewer runs in that phase in an ODI. West Indies had scored 88 runs in that phase.

Batsman 0s 4s 6s Runs Balls SRMS Dhoni 44 0 0 24 65 36.92Ajinkya Rahane 18 0 0 14 31 45.16Kedar Jadhav 8 0 0 10 14 71.42Hardik Pandya 8 1 0 5 10 50.0047.36 Dhoni’s strike rate – 54 off 114 – the lowest in the 149 innings in which he has scored 25 or more runs. His previous slowest 25-plus run innings was 38 off 75, at a rate of 50.66, against New Zealand in Dambulla in 2010.2006 The last time West Indies batted complete 50 overs and scored fewer than 200 runs – 198 for 9 against India in Kingston. They had won that game by two runs. Since falling short by one run in that game, it was the first time India failed to chase a target of less than 200 runs in a completed ODI.1998 The last time India failed to chase a target of 190 or less in ODIs. They were all out for 163 chasing 172 against Sri Lanka in Colombo (SSC) in a 36-over contest. Overall, this is the 10th-smallest target India have failed to achieve in their ODI history.3.68 The run rate of this match – 367 runs in 99.4 overs – the lowest in any ODI in the last five years in which more than 95 overs were played. In the West Indies, this is the fourth-slowest ODI ever, with 95-plus overs bowled.5/27 Jason Holder’s figures – his maiden five-wicket haul in an ODI career of 62 matches. Before this, none of the West Indies players in the current squad had a five-wicket haul. He is the third West Indies captain after Viv Richards (twice) and Dwayne Bravo to take a five-for. Against India, Greg Chappell and Shaun Pollock are the other captains with five-fors.3-10 West Indies’ win-loss record in ODIs in North Sound. Incidentally, two of those three wins have come against India, in four games. They had won by 103 runs against India in 2011. Their win-loss ratio of 0.3 is the worst among 12 home venues that hosted 5 or more games.11 Consecutive ODIs without a 50-plus opening stand for West Indies, before Kyle Hope and Ewin Lewis added 57 in this game. Their openers lasted for 17.2 overs – the most in 53 ODIs since 2014. However, their last seven wickets added only 68 runs and they ended only on 189.

With a decade’s worth of miles logged charging in for England, Stuart Broad’s body has its share of wear and tear but he has no intention of trading in his uniform for a pipe and slippers anytime soon

George Dobell at Lord's 04-Jul-2017It may be stretching a point but, as Stuart Broad describes “managing” his aches and pains and the hard work James Anderson has had to endure to recover from his latest injury, the final scene of floats to mind.In that scene, Anderson and Broad – OK, it was Paul Newman and Robert Redford – are holed up in a stable and desperately patch themselves up with improvised splints and bandages in order to fight their way out. At the risk of spoiling the ending for anyone who hasn’t seen it, it doesn’t go especially well for them.It’s an exaggeration, of course. Broad and Anderson haven’t been so badly injured – though the window between Anderson’s injuries seems to be closing – and South Africa aren’t the Bolivian army, though Hashim Amla averages 56.21 against England in Test cricket and remains plenty good enough to kill off another career or two before he is done.It’s more that Broad’s conversation – his talk of the special boots, of strapping the fat pads on his feet and managing the condition for the rest of his career – provides a reminder of how many miles there are in these legs, of how long England have relied upon them and that, one day in the not too distant future, they’re going to have to find another pair of bowlers to rely upon.Anderson and Broad have been leading England’s attack since March 2008; the best part of a decade. Anderson has bowled 5,000 more deliveries than any other England Test bowler. They’ve taken 835 Test wickets between them – Broad needs only 16 more to go past Ian Botham into second place on the list of England’s Test wicket-takers – and played their part in England reaching No. 1 in the Test rankings, and memorable victories in India, Australia and South Africa. Their reputations are assured.Which makes it all the more remarkable that they keep coming back for more. And all the more remarkable that Broad, now aged 31, retains the hunger and humility to continue to find ways in which he can improve.Despite not appearing in ODIs for England since 2016, Broad still maintains hope for a white-ball recall ahead of the 2019 World Cup•Getty ImagesIn particular, of late, Broad has been trying to improve his form against right-handed batsmen. Having worked hard on bowling round the wicket to left-handers – his Test average against left-handers since June 2015 is 18.40 – he feels he had let his technique against right-handers slip a little and, as a consequence, lost a little of the shape and pace that has rendered him such a successful bowler. His average against right-handers in the same period is 25.69.”I bowled a lot around the wicket to left-handers against Australia in 2015,” Broad recalls now. “Then we went over to South Africa, who had two left-handers opening the batting, and I grooved a lot to left-handers.”I saw some numbers came up that I maybe averaged 40 against left-handers and I had to get that down. Since I’ve gone round the wicket, I think it’s at 15 or 16. But with bowling a lot round the wicket and trying to open my body up to get that shape on it, I hadn’t drilled enough over the wicket for that not to happen a little bit.”So I’ve been doing a bit of work on having the ability to be around the wicket, and then over the wicket. I’m never a massive away-swinger, that’s not what I do, but I want to be able to stand the seam up straight and run it down the slope.”The issue was first spotted by fast bowling guru Steffan Jones while the pair were at Hobart Hurricanes. Jones, the former county seamer who has moved into coaching, noticed Broad was falling away in delivery when bowling over the wicket and recommended a quicker run-up which would result in Broad getting through his delivery stride faster and allowing him less opportunity to fall away. Broad responded by bowling with increased pace in the BBL and also started to regain just a little of the away movement that makes him so dangerous.”The thing I took from Stef was the run up speed,” Broad says. “I’ve worked with Andy Pick – the Nottinghamshire bowling coach – and Ottis Gibson – the England bowling coach – too. A lot of it is to do with this front arm keeping tight [close to the body] because if it drifts out too much then you’ve got to balance the left side. So if I keep that right arm in tight, then it comes over straighter and I can move it away. Look, you’re not going to see me trying to do that like Jimmy. But I’ll try to hit off stump and get a little bit of nibble either way.”It’s great. I’ve just turned 31 and I’m still finding things in my action to improve to make myself a better bowler, which is exciting. You don’t ever want to fall into that trap of not having anything to work on.”If ever Broad thought that, it was a stance dispelled by the decision to drop him from England’s white ball teams. While he retains aspirations of winning a return to England’s ODI side for the 2019 World Cup, he knows he might be reliant on a series of injuries. Equally he knows that, with the likes of Mark Wood and Chris Woakes pressing, he needs to work hard to delay the day when he – like Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison before him – is replaced in the Test side by younger men.Broad may be growing older but still maintains a youthful zest for action•Getty ImagesHaving not represented England for 198 days – his longest spell without international cricket since April 2007, when he was recalled after 223 days without a match – he says this return “feels like a debut.””I’m going to keep pushing and training and trying to get myself better in white-ball cricket up until 2019 because anything can happen leading into a World Cup,” Broad says. “The World Cup dream is still there. If someone goes down on the eve of the tournament you want to be in the best possible shape for someone to call on you. I’ll just keep working and trying. We saw this summer there were a few niggles flying around.”I’ve gone from being a prospect who gets an extra game because I might be good in the future, to a situation where I have to perform every game, which is good. I’m the sort of person who seems to thrive on that added pressure and I tend to raise my game a bit when there’s a bit more on the game.”I think some pressure from younger bowlers will do me the world of good. I’ve been in a period in the last three or four years to need to perform to stay in the team and warrant staying in the team but I’ve been bowling probably the best of my career over the last four years and with some tweaks I’ve made in county cricket hopefully I can really push on.”And the pace? Can he still crank it up above 85mph? It’s been a feature of many of his best spells – the match-winning efforts in Durham and The Oval and Joburg and Trent Bridge – that he had been able to find that extra pace that gets the ball moving later and bouncing higher.”I’m sort of past the stage of trying to look at the speedometer,” he says. “I know that I have an optimum speed that’s about 84-85mph where I get my extra bounce and if I really have to ramp it up I can go higher than that, for a spell of bouncers or something. But I know that about 83-85mph with movement is where I need to be.”I want to keep going for a while. I don’t think I’ve had a gap like this playing for England and it reminds you how special it is and how lucky you are to be a part of it. When you’re not part of the one-day team, like I’m not at the moment, you do miss it so when you get the opportunity to play it feels like a debut if that makes sense. I’m lucky enough to have played over a hundred Tests but this feels like a debut.”

New Zealand have brought a reshuffled batting order to India and at the first time of asking they produced a memorable chase to defy the Mumbai heat

Vishal Dikshit at Wankhede Stadium22-Oct-20174:49

Chris Harris: Latham’s game against spin took pressure off Taylor

Such have been New Zealand’s struggles to plug their batting-order holes in recent times that they have had to take some audacious decisions for this series against India. Given the skewed odds of beating India in India these days, New Zealand were left to find a new opening partner for Martin Guptill and even fill the gaping middle-order cracks.To deal with the first issue, they picked Colin Munro – Guptill’s fourth opening partner after Tom Latham, Dean Brownlie, and Luke Ronchi, since Brendon McCullum’s last ODI. In his ODI career of 24 matches until Sunday, Munro had never opened before. For the No. 5 spot left vacant by Neil Broom’s poor form in the Champions Trophy, New Zealand pushed Latham down from his opening position; a batsman who did not even get a game in the Champions Trophy.Latham is a solid batsman, without doubt, but he began the year with scores of 7, 0, 0, 2 and 0 before heading to Ireland for the tri-series also involving Bangladesh where he regained form but then lost his position. It meant, for the series against India, New Zealand had decided to add inexperience to the top order and some uncertainty in the middle. They were clearly hedging strongly on their Nos. 3 and 4 – Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor – although Latham’s warm-up form, where he made 59 and 108, at least meant he went into the series with confidence.”With that [new] line-up we know we can attack at the top and it does put the onus on the bowlers to perform and Munro did a great job,” Taylor said. “To bring Tom in here, he was one of our best batters last tour and with him with the extra keeping responsibility, it might be quite tough to come out in that situation and open the batting. But for positions five and six, we’ve been searching for a bit of consistency and Tom, not only in the new role as keeper but to bat at five, to score a very successful fifty, hundred and hundred, hopefully he can continue that and the balance of our side improves with Tom batting at five.”Latham, like Taylor explained, brought with him the familiarity of batting in Indian conditions as he had accumulated 438 runs last year in the Test and ODI series, including five half-centuries, and ended with a respectable average of 44. But those were all scored as opener. Now pushed down, could he cope with the prospect of playing a lot more spin in the middle overs?To overcome that, he did not do anything extravagant. Most of his runs off the spinners came from either back in the crease or off the front foot, and, most important, the sweep shot which he employed both with and against the spin. His highest scoring area was behind square on the leg side that fetched him 30 runs, 26 of them coming off the sweep. He swept and reverse swept off 20 balls in all and scored as many as 35 runs off them; that’s a remarkable strike rate of 175 against the wristspinners.”He employed the sweep shot over here last time in the Test matches and did it to good effect,” Taylor said. “Indian batsmen have very quick feet when they play spin and traditionally, us New Zealanders aren’t as nimble on our feet. With the sweep shot we’re able to put pressure on the bowler and adjust their lengths and I thought he did that outstandingly well. I told him to reverse sweep and he did it, and he kept doing it. So, I hope he keeps that up because he said he had never done it in a game, he practiced it a lot but it was nice for him to get some success out of that shot today.”Taylor’s numbers from the India tour last year were nothing he could take confidence from. In 11 innings across the three Tests and five ODIs, he managed only 208 runs, including three ducks, at an uninspiring average of 19. For this series, Taylor knew he had to resort to new tactics with the bat, such as not employing the pulls and slog-sweeps most of the time. In this match, he used the cut to good effect; the shot fetched him 18 runs as he collected 28 in all behind square on the off side.”I’ve had a conscious effort – I’ve come here many a times before whether it’s international cricket or IPL – that I’m not getting any younger and just wanted a bit of a push and just had a bit more intent I think,” Taylor said. “Through those middle stages in the past, you take up a few too many dot balls so I’ve taken a conscious effort of being a bit busier in the crease, work on a few shots and open up the off side. Tom and I got some runs in the warm-up game and it was nice to bring that form into Wankhede today.”While Latham struck a fifty and Taylor scored 34 in the first warm-up, they stitched a partnership of 166 for the fourth wicket in the second warm-up, going on to score centuries each at more than run a ball. That Munro opened in both matches, and Taylor and Latham batted at Nos 4 and 5 respectively meant they were already set in their roles coming into the first ODI.To prepare for this series, New Zealand also arrived a good 10 days before the opening ODI, spending all of those in Mumbai to acclimatise themselves with the heat and humidity. The real test came on Sunday when they had to field first for 50 overs in the heat of over 30 degrees and the humidity that crossed 70%. It took a toll on Colin de Grandhomme in the first half of the match, when he vomited on the field in the middle of his fourth over. Once it was New Zealand’s turn to bat, the reserve players ran out with towels and hydrating resources every few overs so that the heat would not get to the batsmen. Taylor even suggested that the weather was more challenging than the task of chasing 281.”I think it was more the humidity and the heat,” he said. “Having to field out there for over three and a half hours, we knew we had to get off to a good start and try and negate their spinners. Traditionally, New Zealand come here and struggle up front in our innings. Being able to rotate the strike in the right-left combination with Tom worked. You’ve got to give credit to the bowlers as well, it was pretty warm out there and Boulty bowled outstandingly well.”The New Zealand management must be credited for taking such brave decisions in a three-match series. With a victory to their name already, it means the pressure is now on the hosts to win both matches or they will lose their first series at home in two years.

Steve Smith continued the form of his life, as David Warner produced his best innings of the summer. It was a daunting combination for England

Daniel Brettig at Melbourne26-Dec-20171:54

How do England stop Smith going big again?

For most of this Ashes series Steven Smith has, to crib from Bobby Jones on Jack Nicklaus, played a game with which we are not familiar. Australian Test cricket’s biggest day – and the tension release of a dead rubber – coaxed David Warner to reach a similarly rarified level of batting, as he made light work of an MCG surface on which others struggled notably.Yet by the end of the day Smith had once again provided a reminder of his greatness, this time by showcasing a level of orthodoxy thrust upon him by a sore and uncooperative right hand. Where Warner was unable to exert his will on these Ashes until their destiny had been decided, Smith has been a master of adaptability throughout, and this time was able to reshape his game to account for a personal, physical disadvantage as effectively as he has evaded all England’s attempts to corral him.An MCG crowd that ultimately swelled to 88,172 were still settling into their seats, or bar-side perches, when Warner and Cameron Bancroft walked to the middle after Smith had won his first toss of the series. As if to underline his aggressive intent, Warner waited only until his second ball to throw his hands at a James Anderson delivery angled across him, sending an airy forcing shot into the ground’s cavernous outfield for three runs.Where Warner spent most of the first three Tests trying not to be tempted into error by England’s attempts to bowl “dry” with defensive fields, this time he was intent upon domination, hustling quick singles early on before punching Stuart Broad down the ground with the sort of checked swing that David Boon once delighted in. Next over he repeated the dose with a little more flourish against Anderson, drawing the coos of spectators who, a year ago, had seen him soar to 144 against Pakistan.In this mood Warner gives bowlers the bare minimum of safe space in which to put the ball, sometimes reducing it to no space at all. Certainly Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali were made to feel this way as precise footwork and those powerful arms turned serviceable deliveries with only minute errors in length into boundary balls. So much at ease did Warner feel that, in the final over of the morning session, he sallied forth to deposit Moeen beyond the rope at long on – at that point he needed 17 runs for a century and briefly caused observers to wonder whether he might tuck similarly into the final three balls to go to his hundred.Steven Smith cuts on his way to a half-century•Getty ImagesThough they did not distinguish themselves in terms of either bowling discipline or field placings in the morning, England gave Warner further pause after the resumption, as Joe Root’s bowlers reverted to a line wider of the off stump with a softer ball. It was attritional, boring even, and after play Anderson admitted this was not the sort of cricket that nearly 90,000 spectators had come to see. But for Warner it was a test of his patience, and it so very nearly ended his innings short of three figures.As the debutant Tom Curran sought to frustrate, Warner resorted to the half-pull swivel shot that has brought him plenty of runs but also numerous damaging dismissals, notably in England in 2015 when he was unable to turn a series of starts into even a single hundred. Having tried it once in the over for no run, Warner went again and skied it to mid on, only for replays to reveal Curran had overstepped disastrously.”I was disappointed with the way that I played that shot,” Warner said. “I’ve played it many times over my career. Uzzy [Khawaja] spoke just before that over about being cautious of the horizontal cut shots and pull shots and making sure we were committed if we were going to play it. To play two in the same over, and one potentially dismissing me, I was quite annoyed, yeah. Then getting recalled was fantastic, but it was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions.”Live by the sword, die by the sword. I score all my runs there, I’m not going to change it. In England it’s a tad slower wickets and [it was] a bit the same today, but today was more about a half-hearted effort to pull that. I should’ve committed to the shot but I didn’t, and those dismissals in England were pretty much trying to tuck the ball in how I got the single to get my hundred. That’s the way I have to play that, I can probably play it a lot more than what I can on slower wickets, that’s for sure.”The subsequent single, celebration and exchanges with Curran and other members of the England team were all classic Warner theatre, complete with the Toyota-approved “oh what a feeling” leap and plenty of niggle towards the opposition. But the way his innings unfolded, attacking early before calming down, followed the plans he had set for himself pre-match, it was a measure of his talent that he was able to follow it so effectively as others like Cameron Bancroft and Khawaja struggled to impose themselves.”We spoke a lot to a couple of guys who’ve played Shield cricket down here this year and they said the wicket’s been quite flat and hadn’t deteriorated as such and hadn’t really turned,” Warner said. “So we had a few conversations around what we could do with the new ball if we batted first. I felt the way I can play was to come out and have a bit more intent to score with the new ball. I thought he ball started shifting around after 20 overs when Jimmy came on for his second spell.”There was then that second period where they set straight fields and bowled one side of the wicket and it was hard to score. We talked about having that intent in the first 20-25 overs with the new ball to make the most of that, and then we knew it was going to be tough and challenging. In the game of cricket, it’s always hard to keep bowling those consistent areas, but that middle period they bowled very well.”When Warner did finally succumb, edging Broad to end the sort of drought less familiar to the Englishman than it had once been to Queensland farmers in the 1990s, Smith walked to the crease accompanied by expectant applause. But those crowd members who had availed themselves of Australian training sessions in the lead-up to Boxing Day would have realised that this was not the same Smith who outlasted England in Brisbane or dominated them in Perth. An already sore right hand had been inflamed by a freak blow from a Bancroft ricochet, something that Smith had admitted he would have to adapt to deal with.David Warner brought up his fifty in the morning session at Melbourne•Getty ImagesThe powerful influence of Smith’s right hand on his technique, which has drawn numerous keenly-observed parallels to the widely known but seldom imitated method of Sir Donald Bradman, is clear from how expertly he can work the leg side field, yet with wrists limber enough to hit powerfully through cover – his two most consistent scoring zones. However side-on cameras captured Smith consciously loosening his bottom hand grip as the bowler moved into delivery stride, meaning he had to rely more heavily on the more traditional guide provided by the top, left hand.A clear deficit in power was shown when Smith knocked several balls through cover where previously he would have crunched them, but he was both versatile enough to play new shots with sureness and patient enough to avoid lapsing into momentarily productive strokes that would have hurt his right hand further. In gliding to an undefeated 65 at just about a run a ball, Smith set the platform for yet another major innings, doing so with the sort of annoying impediment that Steve Waugh once had to deal with while crafting a second hundred in the same Manchester Test match in 1997. Warner, for one, was awed by it all.”He’s just a freak,” he said of Smith. “I don’t know how he does what he does, he’s very mentally strong, we always talk about the way that he prepares, he likes batting time in the nets and then out in the game he just seems to be hitting every ball out of the middle. England said they came up with a game plan to get him out and it obviously hasn’t worked so far this game.”He’s a freak talent, he’s got a unique technique that you wouldn’t teach any other kid – I hope there’s some kids trying to mimic his technique because it’d be quite interesting to have a team full of those, there’d be a lot of fidgets. But he’s a world-class player, he’s the No. 1 ranked Test batter in the world. He seriously is a freakish talent.”Much as the hand injury had suggested Smith might be brought back to the field, so too did Anderson think the new ball would cause discomfort. But after beating Smith with one perfectly-pitched seamer, Anderson found himself running into what is now the all-too-familiar brick wall of Smith’s broad bat. “Every now and again you come up against a player who is in the form of his life,” he said. “I beat the bat and thought ‘here we go’ then the next 11 balls I bowled at him he played fairly easily. You’ve just got to hope for a mistake or hope you bowl a ball good enough to get rid of him.”After Jones’ comment about Nicklaus, at Augusta in 1965, the “Golden Bear” won another four Masters titles over 21 years. Right now, Smith’s hegemony looks like going on for almost as long.

How they would handle their middle order was a question that cropped up as soon as they lost the services of Steven Smith. They are yet to find the answer, even as a spot in the playoffs slips further away

Varun Shetty in Indore07-May-20181:58

‘We need more partnerships’ – Bahutule

Rajasthan Royals have inched closer to having no chance of making the playoffs this year – another loss would be almost certain disqualification – without coming close to sorting out their middle order. On Sunday, the Royal’s crashed from 81 for 2 in ten overs to a below-par 152 for 9 at the Holkar Stadium, the smallest ground across the tournament, best known for that match last year when Mumbai Indians chased down 199 with more than four overs to spare. During the middle phase of the innings, between the seventh and 15th over, Royals lost 4 for 65.It was a potential problem that surfaced well before the tournament began, with the news of Steven Smith’s ban. Now it’s becoming more and more likely that the plan was not to work around his absence, but to change the plan entirely.A straight swap with replacement batsman Heinrich Klaasen might have, at best, posed the problem of whether he should be ahead of or behind Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes in the batting order. Instead, Royals have spiralled down a pattern of changing the line-up around so much that it’s hard to tell – perhaps even for their own players – who is going to show up when.On the face of it, the biggest beneficiary has been D’Arcy Short, who might not have been a regular in the XI with Smith coming in at No. 3 after the expected first-choice opening stand of Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathi. Short has been scoring at five runs per over in the Powerplay this season, returns that would not have earned too many other openers six chances in the IPL. He has never played as a non-opener in 31 T20 innings, so it’s the other openers in the team – and Royals have plenty of those on their roster – who have had to move. To the extent that Jos Buttler, who isn’t a frontline T20 opener, has become their best option at the top.After the loss on Sunday, spin-bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule said that “overall” Royals’ batting had been all right. The problem, he said, was the lack of partnerships.”The batting obviously has been very inconsistent,” Bahutule said. “Buttler has been batting really well. It’s just that we really needed to get this batting going. We didn’t have a partnership and we lost a lot of wickets between the 11th and the 15th over. When you don’t have a lot of partnerships going in the T20s it makes it difficult. We have been inconsistent with the batting but it’s just that we have been 20 runs short – the final total we got today. Overall it’s been good from the batting point of view.”BCCIOn close inspection, that is hardly the case. Only one team has scored slower than Royals during the middle overs and that is Sunrisers Hyderabad (7.41), a traditionally top-heavy team who focus on making sure one of the top three bats as deep as possible. Kings XI Punjab match Royals’ scoring rate during that phase with 7.71, but is also a top-heavy team that makes its highest impact in the Powerplay.The big differentiator between Royals and those two teams is the wickets. Royals have lost 30 in nine innings during that phase and average 20.06 per wicket, far behind Kings XI’s 24 wickets at 24.79.Royals aren’t setting alight the Powerplays or the death-overs phase either, with middling numbers for both. Even if there has been anything good about their batting, it doesn’t go past individual efforts from Samson or Buttler.”As I said earlier, partnerships are important. We have good players. We have Jos opening now, we have Stokes and Tripathi. Sanju also has been batting well. It’s just that one big partnership of 50 runs changes everything and that has not happened consistently,” Bahutule said. “That has been the area where we have been working on.”Royals’ biggest partnerships for the four wickets after the opening stand this season have all involved Samson. Three of those have come in winning causes (two in the same game, in fact), so there is merit in saying that the partnerships are where Royals seem to be losing it. But how do they fix that?Stokes has had an ordinary season, with 160 runs in nine innings. An out-of-position Tripathi, despite some chances up the order, is struggling with 99 runs in nine innings and their most successful opener, Rahane, cannot open if Buttler is also opening.The option to drop Short and play Klaasen at No. 5 opens a hole at No. 6 that can only be plugged by Stuart Binny, Jatin Saxena or Prashant Chopra, who is also an opener. And the same thing happens if Short is replaced by an overseas bowler. Are they, then, willing to have K Gowtham bat at No. 6? Or handing that responsibility to the very young Mahipal Lomror or Aryaman Birla?With a required win-rate of a 100%, they might not have enough time to even think about it. Whichever way you look at it, the lack of depth in both the playing XI and in the squad – despite several replacement opportunities – are red flags that should have been picked up on much sooner. For now, all they can do is hope that at least two-thirds of their three most expensive players will have five good days together.

Holt, who learnt the basics of wicketkeeping from Alyssa Healy, hopes to inspire the next generation as he pursues his dream of wearing the Baggy Green one day

Shashank Kishore in Queenstown22-Jan-2018It is common to see an upcoming wicketkeeper being an understudy or a protege of an established stumper. However, for that protégé to be male and the mentor to be a female cricketer is perhaps unprecedented. This makes the story of Baxter Holt, Australia’s Under-19 wicketkeeper, even more interesting.As a 14-year old, Holt learnt the basics of wicketkeeping from Alyssa Healy, Australia women’s first-choice keeper. What started as a one-off session facilitated by Holt’s family friend four years ago turned out to be the start of a fruitful association that he values as he reflects on his journey from Sydney to the Under-19 World Cup to New Zealand.”One of my family friends had her contact and we organised a single session through that one day,” Holt tells ESPNcricinfo. “That sort of grew into two sessions, three sessions, and so on. It was me going through simple basics that you need at 13 or 14. It was a bit on technique. She is one person who won’t tell you to change something if you’re doing it right. If I was wrong, she would step in and say this is what I should be doing.”She has done a great job for the Southern Stars, been there done it and is still doing it. Her high quality is testament to her. The way she was able to get the points across and inform me, a 13-14-year-old kid, was very big, and it’s a testament to her.”This period also coincided with Holt dealing with not being picked for his junior school team and subsequently the age-group sides in Sydney. “Through all the age-group championships for my state back home and then the national championships, I thought I did enough, only to be told I hadn’t made the cut,” he says. “Going back home, I thought if it was still worth it or if there was something I could do to get better. So, to end up where I am today is amazing.”Apart from Healy, Holt also benefited from the mentorship of Rod Hokin, his school coach, whom he became associated with purely by accident because he was obligated to play for the school, and not for the club he had registered with, in local tournaments in Sydney.”I was originally at Northern Districts Cricket Club, playing green shield (the Under-16 competition) and age-group cricket. Because I went to a private school – Kings School – I had to play for them. In hindsight, that was the best thing to happen to me because I met Rob Hokins. Kings having the best facilities for cricket also helped me in those initial years.” Today, Holt plays for the Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club.”I trained a lot smarter [with him], as you hear a lot of people say. I worked on game situations. I no longer went to the nets to just hit balls. I went in with specific focus to every net session and if I did not achieve it, I felt it was a waste of time. So every session I went to, I wanted it to be better than the previous one. That mindset each time allowed me to get better and better.”Like any other teenager, Holt has had to make some sacrifices early in life, like giving up a social life with friends. He doesn’t attend too many parties, and prefers to spend time working on his game. When time management became an issue in school, he chose to study something he was passionate about.”There were a lot of sacrifices I had to make. School was really good to allow me to use their facilities for training. From 7.30am to 3.30pm in the afternoon, I was at school. Then from 3.30 to 7.30 at night, I was invariably at the nets. It’s all worth it when you’re sitting here and playing for the country.”Holt is pursuing a bachelors degree in sports science from the University of Technology and Science in Sydney. “Since I was passionate about sport, I thought I may as well end up getting into Sports Science,” he says. “I got good marks luckily in my Year 12 to make the grade to university. It’s a part-time degree that gives me the flexibility to finish it over a bigger span, at the same time allow me to give time to my cricket.”As he speaks, Holts’ priorities and clarity of thought stand out. He wants to be a reliable keeper, focusing on his technique and work ethic behind the stumps without losing sight of the need to also work on his batting.”I think keeping is a sort of a thing that if you do enough, you can progressively become better over the years,” he says. “Batting is such a complex and complicated skill. I put in more hours on my batting than my keeping, but I put enough in my keeping so that I keep getting better and better. The likes of Kumar Sangakkara, MS Dhoni and Adam Gilchrist have reshaped our roles. But my aim is to keep to the best of my abilities and then later hold an end up or score runs if needed to.”Holt is a key member of Australia’s current Under-19 side, but admits to have taken a while to get comfortable being around two high-profile coaches, Ryan Harris and Chris Rogers. “For the first few days, it was uncomfortable,” he laughs. “You always looked up to them. It felt like ‘wow, am I really in the same room as them?’ As we spent time together, it felt like they’re just another person who have come around this way just like we are now. They’ve shared their cricket journey, their experiences, and how they came up through the ranks. That is absolutely motivating.”Holt also hopes to inspire the next generation, even as he continues to pursue his dream of wearing the Baggy Green one day. “Gilchrist was my idol growing up. I wanted to play top-level cricket like him and inspire a generation like he did, not just to influence young male cricketers but female cricketers as well,” he says. “Then as his career ended, the likes of Brad Haddin too had a big influence. The way he carried himself, particularly towards the end of his career when his daughter was ill, is testament to his character.”

He has had his worst IPL season so far in terms of runs scored and time spent in the middle, and his team will hope a must-win situation brings out the best in their captain

Vishal Dikshit19-May-2018When Virat Kohli was asked on the series if Rohit Sharma made it seem like he had an extra second to play shots compared to other batsmen, Kohli quickly corrected the interviewer. “One-and-a-half seconds.”Rohit’s timing definitely makes it seem like that, but his timing and form this IPL season have been patchy. In 13 innings so far, Rohit has scored less than 300 runs and has won his team only one match on his own, when he scored 94 against Royal Challengers Bangalore more than a month ago. Take that innings out, and he’s made only 179 runs this season at an average of 17.90 and a strike rate of 117.76.Of course, Rohit cannot be blamed solely for Mumbai’s travails this season – they lost five of their first six matches – but there is a clear correlation between his batting form and his team’s performance.In the six matches Mumbai have won so far, Rohit has scored 227 runs at an impressive average of 56.75 and a strike rate of 149.34. In Mumbai’s seven losses, he has scored a mere 46 runs, at a horrific average of 6.57 and a strike rate of 88.46. Overall, too, 2018 has been Rohit’s worst season in terms of time spent at the crease and runs scored, although he still has at least one match left to play.ESPNcricinfo LtdHe has faced 204 balls in this IPL, and will only go past his second-lowest tally (2017) if he faces at least 70 balls on Sunday night. His form last season was even worse than in this one so far – Mumbai also played two playoff matches and the final – but it didn’t quite have the same impact on his team’s fortunes, since they had a solidly performing middle order to rescue them if their openers Jos Buttler and Parthiv Patel failed.This time, they settled on a new opening combination after two losses and even though Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis have scored consistently, the middle order has bene inconsistent, with Kieron Pollard struggling until his last innings and the Pandya brothers taking time to get going. In such times, they needed a solid and calm hand to keep the runs flowing and instill confidence in the rest of the batting order.Rohit fits the definition of calm and solid more than anyone else in his line-up, and is an inspiring leader too, but the runs have not come. He must be frustrated to know that he has made more ducks (three) in this season than in any other. If he looks around to see how other captains have done, he will see that Kane Williamson, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik and Virat Kohli have outscored him, as has Ajinkya Rahane, who scores at a much slower pace and isn’t as much of a match-winner in T20s.Added to this is Rohit’s fluctuating spot in the batting order. There’s no reason to break up the Suryakumar-Lewis pairing at the top at this stage, but there’s no reason to believe Rohit would not have excelled there either had he continued to open after the first two matches.It is well known that Rohit starts slow irrespective of his position and accelerates at an alarming rate once he has faced 30-odd balls. It would suit his style of play much more to open, or even bat at No. 3, and not at No. 4. He did bat at No. 3 recently but could not go beyond 31 deliveries against Kolkata Knight Riders and fell for a duck to Jofra Archer’s short ball against Rajasthan Royals.When he came out at No. 4 against Kings XI Punjab in Mumbai’s next match, he only managed 6 off 10 balls. Even if one assumes Rohit will fall for another low score on Sunday, Mumbai would prefer a short and slow knock at the start of their innings rather than in the middle or end overs, where they have often lost wickets in clusters this season.Overall, his run in the IPL has been an extension of his on-off form in other competitions. He started with low ODI scores in South Africa but ended with a century in Port Elizabeth. He fared poorly in the T20Is after that and didn’t start well in the Nidahas Trophy either, but played a hand in India winning the tri-series with two straight half-centuries.With a must-win match on Sunday night, the defending champions will desperately hope Rohit fires and ensure they don’t bow out because of another substandard start to the season. If Rohit wants to use those extra one-and-a-half seconds Kohli talked about, it is now.