India have produced fast bowlers who are good and those who are great, but never before have they produced an entire line-up that has the makings of being fearsome

Nagraj Gollapudi in Southampton30-Aug-2018The soul of fast bowling is pace. Yet the backbone of fast bowling has always been control. Accuracy. Consistency. These three are intangibles, which a fast bowler learns as he runs in at different venues, in both hostile and hospitable conditions. During the course of this improvisation the fast bowler becomes a good seamer, moving up to very good in some cases, and dominant in others. And when a team is blessed with more than one dominant fast bowler, the pace battery – as was portrayed richly by Clive Lloyd’s quartet during the dominance of West Indies in the 1970s and ’80s – becomes fearsome.Never before could you describe Indian fast bowling as fearsome. Kapil Dev was an outstanding talent who ploughed a lonely furrow. Zaheer Khan, too, was exceptional, especially with the old ball during the latter part of his career. But not fearsome. As far as quartets went, India never went beyond the spinners – Bishan Bedi, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan.But India are the No. 1 Test team in the world at present and, increasingly so, the fast bowlers are playing a dominant role as Virat Kohli’s team aims to win more overseas. The current Indian pace attack, comprising Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has just recovered from injury, is steadily becoming a fearsome unit. They are not yet as fearsome as the Australian and South African contingents but as the ongoing England series has shown, this Indian unit can sting.India’s fast bowlers have clocked better and better speeds throughout this series against England. They have managed to swing the ball more than at any other time in their careers. Importantly, during the course of the series, all the main fast bowlers have fine-tuned their strengths, as Ishant and Bumrah did in the first session on Thursday to throttle England’s top order.You need to just check some of the responses of England’s batsmen to understand the pressure they were put under. Keaton Jennings played an explosive inswinger from Bumrah as if he was trying to avoid stepping over a landmine; Joe Root lost his balance and nearly fell over attempting to counter late swing from Ishant; Alastair Cook said “ooh” more than once as he was constantly being squared up by Ishant; Jonny Bairstow appeared to be batting blindfolded as Ishant beat his defence effortlessly with deliveries that curved through the wide gap between bat and pad and had Rishabh Pant throw himself about. Stokes widened his eyes in disbelief at the pronounced and acute movement Shami was getting to beat his outside edge, pitching full, at 89mph.Ishant Sharma loads up at the top of his pre-delivery jump•Getty ImagesAlthough Ishant, who took his 250th wicket today, remains the head boy of the bowling group, it was Bumrah, whose incisive breakthroughs early had hurt England at Trent Bridge, who hurt them again in the first session today. Since his Test debut in South Africa, Bumrah has continued to be the X-factor. Yes, his bowling action has played a significant role, but an equally crucial element of his success is his fast-bowling nous.Ten minutes into the morning and he had sent back his first victim with a mental gash that Jennings might need to visit a psychologist to sort out. It was a proper set-up. The first three deliveries of his second over, Bumrah pitched all three on good length, moved all three away, which Jennings left alone. The fourth delivery, Bumrah pushed the length fuller. The line remained the same. The ball, upon pitching, swerved in sharply. Jennings had no idea it was an incoming delivery. He had already decided to leave it. He was stunned by the movement. It was a stunning delivery. As a post-mortem of the wicket later showed, Bumrah had directed the seam towards leg slip.Watching from the balcony, knees up, one man might have applauded the set-up – James Anderson. Never a bad thing to learn from the masters. The thing that Indians have learnt from Anderson is discipline. With every match they have probed the batsmen. They have become more assured. Gone are the days when MS Dhoni would direct traffic. Kohli might micro-manage the field, but the fast bowlers take care of the bowling plans. The numbers are proving them right. The strike rate of the Indian pacers this series – 44.2 – is the best by any overseas team in England since the one-off Centenary Test of 1980.How has this Indian pace attack shown such sharp progress? The biggest factor is their fitness. That is the biggest change in culture from the past. Being fit has allowed the bowlers to hit optimum speeds and allowed them to bowl long spells, as Bumrah showed this morning with eight good overs in his first stint. Being fit has helped bowlers to come back with fresh energy in each spell.Every bowler has shown the patience and understanding to bowl to a situation. The bad habits that accompanied them in the past, especially of erring in line and length, have been reduced. Take Ishant. In this series, while bowling during the first 15 overs of an innings, he has bowled more full deliveries than back of a length, a weakness that till recently seemed incurable.India now possess a group of fast bowlers that can hurt the opposition in different ways. But by no means are they complete. As the expectations grow with every series, the challenges will grow. Can they maintain their good form in Australia later this year? A weak England batting line-up, both vulnerable and fragile, has added to the character and weight of the Indian fast bowling unit. Can they maintain the stranglehold in the face of big partnerships? Can they attack and defend and show controlled aggression, a hallmark of good fast-bowling attacks?On evidence so far this series, they have the skills and the temperament. Despite Sam Curran’s impressive rearguard – for the second time this series – India might end day one thinking they have the edge in the match. And that is courtesy India’s pace line-up, which has been both crude and shrewd.

It was a record year for English participation in the IPL, but were the returns equally high? We break down their contributions, player by player

Alan Gardner21-May-20185:57

English players underperforming in the IPL?

Sam Billings, Chennai Super Kings

Billings was not in the XI for CSK’s opener, but Mark Wood’s omission after one game opened up another overseas spot. Billings was Man of the Match in their next match, smashing 56 off 23 balls as they chased down a target of 203 – but that innings accounts for almost half of his runs as he has flitted around the middle order. Excellent fielding adds a string to his bow and he could yet have an impact in the knockout stages.Jos Buttler, Rajasthan Royals

Unarguably the star man of the England contingent, and one of the players of the tournament overall. Buttler began with a series of 20-something scores batting in the middle order, before a move up to opener unleashed the T20 beast within. He promptly produced innings of 67 (off 26), 51 (39), 82 (58), 95* (60) and 94* (53), equalling the IPL record for consecutive fifties and helping set up a run to the playoffs – although a surprise England Test recall has deprived Royals of his services.Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler celebrate the victory•BCCITom Curran, Kolkata Knight Riders

In a Kolkata team that features three default overseas picks – Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn and Andre Russell – Curran was vying with Mitchell Johnson and Javon Searles for the fourth spot. He claimed more wickets than the other two put together (in the group stage), but was rarely given a full quota of overs and an economy of nearly two runs a ball led to him losing his place. Has only featured once since April 21.Alex Hales, Sunrisers Hyderabad

Hales finally made his IPL debut, halfway through Sunrisers’ 2018 campaign and three years after being called up as an injury replacement by Mumbai Indians. He hit consecutive 45s at the start of a six-game run in the team but, as with KKR, there is really only one overseas spot open at Sunrisers (Kane Williamson, Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan occupy the other three) and Hales was dropped for the last group game.Chris Jordan, Sunrisers Hyderabad

After taking 11 wickets in nine games for RCB in 2016, Jordan has been kept warming the bench at Sunrisers, where he has made one token appearance in each of the last two seasons. He subbed in for the injured Billy Stanlake early in the tournament, delivering a creditable four overs for 31 as Kings XI racked up 193 for 3, but has not had another chance since.Moeen Ali, Royal Challengers Bangalore

Moeen was left kicking his heels as RCB rotated through their star-studded stable, only coming into the team for the last five games. He bowled tidily and produced once significant innings – smearing six sixes in 65 off 34 (outpacing AB de Villiers) against table-topping Sunrisers – as RCB won three in a row to keep alive hopes of reaching the playoffs. Got a positive namecheck from Virat Kohli at the end of the tournament, so there’s hope for the future.Moeen Ali brought up his maiden IPL half-century•BCCILiam Plunkett, Delhi Daredevils

An injury replacement for Kagiso Rabada, Plunkett was in and out of a struggling Daredevils XI. Like many of the England players involved, he produced one notable performance – taking 3 for 17 in his first match, although Daredevils still could not convert victory – among some much more forgettable stuff. Only managed to pick up one more wicket in six appearances and saw his economy rate balloon.Jason Roy, Delhi Daredevils

Roy’s IPL jaunt in 2017, which saw him play three innings for Gujarat Lions, presaged a drop in form that cost him his England ODI spot. He only featured five times for Daredevils this time around, but did at least grab the limelight with a dominating 91 not out to set up the team’s first victory. He was soon out of the side again, as Daredevils chopped and changed, and a weakness against spin limited his impact.Ben Stokes, Rajasthan Royals

Last year’s MVP, bought for a whopping GBP1.37m by Royals, Stokes’ 2018 IPL was a bit… meh. The only Englishman apart from Buttler who was an automatic pick, he just could not get going with the bat despite consistent starts – nine of his 13 innings reached double-figures but his best score was 45. Weathering questions about his bowling fitness, Stokes was Royals’ most economical seamer and only Jaydev Unadkat sent down more overs. They squeezed into the last four but Stokes had already headed home for England duty.David Willey loads up•BCCIDavid Willey, Chennai Super Kings

Willey’s late call-up, filling a spot left vacant by the injured Mitchell Santner, caused much grumbling in Yorkshire – and there has not been too much for the combative left-armer to cheer about. Had to bide his time before getting a chance, producing figures of 4-0-24-1 in a comfortable CSK win, but then saw six overs across two games disappear for 71. Lungi Ngidi’s rise may have put paid to any further opportunities.Chris Woakes, Royal Challengers Bangalore

Although Woakes continued the wicket-taking form that he showed in his maiden IPL season with KKR last year, a series of leaky performances at the death saw him fall out of favour at RCB. He had the best strike rate (13.7) of any RCB bowler but an economy above 10 after five games was deemed too expensive. Uncertainty over their best XI led to much shuffling among overseas players but Woakes did not return.Mark Wood, Chennai Super Kings

A cheap pick late in the auction, Wood found himself making his IPL debut on the opening night in front of a packed Wankhede. Some thought his pace and skiddy angle of attack would be suited to conditions – but an opening over that conceded only two runs was as good as things got. He ended the night with 0 for 49 and was cast aside, eventually deciding to come home early and get red-ball practice ahead of England’s Test summer.*Could still be involved in knockout stage

From humble beginnings in small towns to international cricket, Bangladesh’s women’s team has had a storied journey to superstardom

Mohammad Isam17-Jul-2018From humble beginnings in small towns, struggling for several years in international cricket and waiting for proper recognition even on the home front, Bangladesh’s women cricketers have certainly come a long way. In the last two months, they have shown significant improvement by winning the Asia Cup in June and, earlier this week, qualifying for this year’s Women’s World T20.They were unbeaten in the qualifying tournament in the Netherlands, even garnering support from Bangladeshi expatriates who drove hours to attend their matches. New coach Anju Jain, who was appointed only in May, said that while the players reached the playing potential they had developed over the years, it was also important for them to accept the mental challenge of not just being participants but getting over the finish line in the Asia Cup.”It wasn’t a surprise because they had the potential,” Jain said. “The girls are also very hard working. In the team meeting before the Asia Cup, we asked the girls to make their presence felt. It wasn’t just about participating and having potential. They needed to start converting that into performances.”With the goal-setting working in the Asia Cup, Bangladesh have now set a slightly more advanced goal for the World T20 later this year. “Our target [in the World T20] is to ensure that we don’t have to play the qualifiers anymore. The girls are fed up of playing qualifiers,” she said with a confident smile.Salma Khatun, the T20 captain, said that the performance in the World T20 qualifiers was proof that their Asia Cup performance wasn’t a one-off. She said that the shift has come through the batsmen’s confidence in scoring runs.”We fulfilled our target to play in the World T20,” Salma said. “By winning the qualifying tournament after the Asia Cup triumph, we have shown signs of improvement. A lot of our recent improvement is due to the batsmen doing better. Previously, only one batsman would do the scoring while the others struggled. Now we are seeing more batsmen making runs. With a bigger total on the board, our bowlers and fielders are more confident.”Panna Ghosh, who was the Player-of-the-Match in the final for her five-wicket haul, said that experienced players like herself and Salma are going through a new phase with the Bangladesh women’s team. Still, she sticks to some old practices: she said that in the final against Ireland, she tried to follow her lifelong rule of trying to keep the batsmen quiet, which ultimately produced the wickets.”I don’t bowl for a five-wicket haul. If you keep the run-scoring to a minimum, the batsmen are bound to make mistakes, which is what happened in my case. I try to follow what the coaches tell me.”I feel great that our performance has started to improve. It wasn’t like this previously. Salma, Shuktara and I started with the national team right at the beginning. I think all of us feel about this success in the same way,” she said.Panna is a professional in cricket and volleyball, a rarity in modern international cricket. She has been pursuing both careers side-by-side. But it is cricket, which she picked up during childhood while playing alongside her elder brothers in Rajshahi, that takes up most of her time. Volleyball came to her through her job at Bangladesh Ansar, a paramilitary auxiliary force.”Volleyball is the main sport in Ansar, where I am working for the last 10 years,” she said. “I started playing in 2002. I joined Ansar in 2008 and I was with BJMC from 2003 to 2007. I am a smasher in volleyball, but I feel cricket is a tougher sport.”I loved cricket from my childhood. I used to play with my elder brothers in our neighbourhood. One day, when I heard there was a girls’ training camp, I instantly joined it. I learned my basics from that camp.”Panna Ghosh took five wickets to put Bangladesh in the final of the Asian Games•BCBPanna is one of the pioneers of women’s cricket in Bangladesh. Her journey to international cricket has directly or indirectly inspired many of her team-mates, who made similar journeys to Dhaka to learn the nuances of the game.Panna said that her family had always encouraged her to play, but for someone like Fahima Khatun, the legspinner who took Bangladesh’s first hat-trick in T20 internationals during the Women’s World T20 qualifiers against UAE, the start of the journey from her hometown Magura wasn’t always smooth.”It was my elder sister Asma Akhi who used to take me to training,” Fahima said. “She was the one in the family who inspired me to play cricket. My brother and mother wanted me to focus on my studies since I was a science student. They never said cricket was bad, but I guess they felt cricket takes up a lot of time from studies.”One day there was an announcement in our area that there is going to be a women’s cricket tournament. I told my sister and she said I should definitely join training. I never looked back since then.”Fahima’s road to becoming a legspinner began courtesy an astute bit of talent-spotting by a local batsman, who recognised her knack for gripping and turning the ball like a legspinner, though she herself was completely unaware of what legspin is.”I used to play with the boys in our local stadium. I was a slow medium-pace bowler but, one day, someone saw me twirling the ball and asked me to bowl that way. I honestly didn’t know what legspin was at the time, but when he saw me turn the ball, he said I should do it. ‘Have a look at some Shane Warne videos,’ he told me. I liked Shane Warne, but I didn’t know he bowled legspin. That is really how I started bowling legspin. I started bowling legspin in the regional tournaments, and then stuck to it.”Bangladesh women’s progress has been getting long-overdue attention at home and, now, it is finally getting noticed abroad too.Former Australia vice-captain Alex Blackwell said that Bangladesh’s improvement is a mark of progress for women’s cricket as a whole. “To see Bangladesh women improve so massively is great for the women’s game,” Blackwell told ESPNcricinfo. “By the looks of it, a lot is going right there because defeating India twice to become Asia Cup champions is a big feat, and now the Qualifier… It’s great promotion for women in cricket.”

After nearly giving up playing cricket in 2017, Paine will be at the forefront of Australia’s rebuild operation, of performance and public trust, among other things

Daniel Brettig in Dubai06-Oct-2018When Tim Paine last led Australia onto the field for a Test, in Johannesburg, they weren’t so much a team as a crater where one had once stood.Shocked and then divided by the Newlands ball tampering scandal, they were mortified to find out a tearful Darren Lehmann was resigning as coach amid the mess. Some players, like Matt Renshaw, were running on Red Bull fumes, having been flown in at the last moment. They were exhausted, mentally and physically after an Ashes winning summer had unravelled in South Africa, against an opponent showing greater expertise not only in how to bat against a reverse swinging ball but also how to bowl it.Prior to that Test, Paine’s first official fixture as full-time captain, the Wanderers had reverberated with a playlist of songs at high volume – Australian staples like by Paul Kelly, by Nick Cave, by Australian Crawl, by Crowded House and by The Triffids. If the songs were familiar, the experience of them at training was foreign, and what transpired over the next few days demonstrated that classic tunes were of minimal help to a team swimming in confusion, grief and anger.”That was a unique set of circumstances, that was something that no-one was prepared for or ready for,” Paine said when asked how far removed Johannesburg felt from Dubai. “So it’s exciting we’re back concentrating on just cricket.”Ahead of the first Test against Pakistan, the only sounds at Australia’s training were very familiar: the cracks of bat on ball, the plop of catches into soft hands and the hum of expectant conversation amongst a team that features three debutants: Aaron Finch, Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head. They have a new coach in Justin Langer, and a new approach forged out of the Newlands fallout, the requirements of Asian conditions and leadership blueprints provided as much out of the AFL as anything in cricket.This is true of Langer’s restless and ever-searching approach, picking and choosing ideas from the minds of many, as if a bower bird rather than the Kookaburra that once emblazoned his bats. It is also true of the leadership model signed off by the Cricket Australia Board, with Paine supported by dual vice-captains in Mitchell Marsh and Josh Hazlewood (absent) on the premise that neither will seek to tunnel under their leader to make their own claim to the captaincy.Getty ImagesAnd it is true of Paine’s primary influences as a football-loving Tasmanian, who views the captain less as the all-powerful figure than as the man tasked with building unity behind a shared plan. It is notable, too, that on a recent study tour of the United States, Paine and Langer visited several sporting organisations, including the Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Cubs, where there is no single on-field captain. All players are expected to lead when needed.”My leadership style is, I suppose I’m more inclusive than other cricket captains have been in the past,” Paine said. “I’ve come from a footy background, so I’m a big believer in the power of the team and certainly take the value and opinions of my teammates really seriously. We’re all involved to some point in the decisions that are made and I think that’s really important when you’re trying to get buy-in and trying to get guys to play for you, I think they’ve got to be part of that process. That’s the way I go about it.”Particularly going back over a longer period of time, the cricket team was seen as the captain’s team. I’m not a huge believer in that, I think the team is everyone’s team and I’m the fortunate one who gets to lead it from the front. Yes, a lot of the decisions, most of the decisions fall back on me, which is fine, and I’m happy to do that, but I also believe when you want people to follow you, you’ve got to get their input and make them feel a part of the decision-making.”As an eloquent spokesman for the team in crisis, Paine has in many ways met his moment after nearly eight years on the fringe, beset by multiple finger fractures and then the crisis of batting confidence that followed it.His life experience at the very edge of a playing career – so much so he nearly quit the game in 2017 to take another job – has helped to inform the approach he took to the crisis of South Africa. He’ll now carry the start of a rebuild operation, of performance and public trust, that will take in this series, home assignments against India and Sri Lanka and then, beyond next year’s 50-over World Cup, an Ashes tour of England.”There’s no doubt this Test series is about winning. We’re playing international sport, so it’s the highest level and I think players will be judged on how many games we’ve won,” Paine said. “That’s certainly really important, but on the flipside of that, the image of Australian cricket is also really important to me and Justin and the rest of our team, so we’re going to be going about things in a really professional, really respectful manner and we’ll continue to do that for the foreseeable future.”There’s been a lot of talk over the last four or five months and it’s great now that we’re on a new tour, we’ve got a new group, so it hasn’t been something that’s come up a hell of a lot, the guys are really excited by the challenge that’s been presented over here. Australian teams haven’t had a heap of success over here, so it’s a really exciting challenge for this group, it’s a group that a lot of people haven’t given a huge chance to and that’s something that’s driving us and something that excites us.”There was a reassuring quality to a lot of Paine’s match eve questions. Sample this: Why did Peter Siddle get the nod ahead of Michael Neser? “We just think Sidds has been playing quite a bit of cricket, he’s in good form, and we knew he was bowling really well in the lead up.”
Did Matt Renshaw miss out for Labuschagne because he had not played enough cricket due to a recent hamstring strain then last week’s concussion? “He hasn’t had enough cricket, so the decision was made there to go with Marnus. He’s had a bit of an unlucky run, Renners, with injury, he missed a game in India and then got hit on the head, couldn’t bat in the last game.”We’re certainly picking a team that we think can win over here in these conditions and there was obviously a lot of discussion about it. But we think Marnus brings a lot to the group, he’s a really good player of spin and we think as well his leg spin will be something we can throw at the Pakistanis, they might not expect him, and they’ve really improved in the last 12 months.”Can opening bring the best out of Usman Khawaja? “Ussy has opened a little bit through his career, he opened last week for us in the tour game and right at the moment he’s in a really good spot, he’s batting really well so I don’t think it would matter to Usman where he’s batting at the moment, he’s in really good touch and I think he’ll have a great tour.”As for the difference made by Langer’s arrival, Paine spoke in terms of a partnership that would unsettle some traditionalists, but that is now vital to Australia returning to a higher standing in the game as well as the ICC’s Test match rankings.”JL and I have known each other and had a good relationship for a long time, so a lot of our thoughts are very similar,” Paine said. “We’re certainly not exactly the same, no two people are, but we’re happy to challenge each other when we need to and we have a really open and honest relationship, so it’s been fantastic to be working with him so far and we’ve gelled together really well and so has this whole squad.”One part of the effort to rehabilitate has the Australian team being documented by filmmakers on the journey from Langer’s appointment, through the home summer and into the World Cup and the Ashes next year. Those songs that rang in Paine’s ears at the Wanderers, in the midst of unprecedented chaos for the national team, would play best on the soundtrack to the Test team’s redemption tale. Dubai and Pakistan, all hot days and dry decks, is where that begins.And for all the improvement in the team’s mindset relative to the Wanderers, a fundamental question remains – how good can Paine’s side really be?

Ian Bell, who last played for England in 2015, proved to be a surprise pick, while Shahid Afridi found a new home and Brendon McCullum was overlooked

Umar Farooq20-Nov-2018If Pakistan’s fourth-innings implosion against New Zealand on Monday was a poor warm-up, the Pakistan Super League 2019 draft lost much of its sheen to the PCB’s case against the BCCI being dismissed by the ICC dispute panel on Tuesday. However, the semblance of attention the draft received, as the glittery ceremony unfolded in Islamabad, came via its most celebrated pick – AB de Villiers – going to Lahore Qalandars, followed by the ‘Sixth Team’, formerly Multan, snapping up the banned Australia batsman Steven Smith.Aside from de Villiers and Smith, the focus was on veterans Shahid Afridi and Misbah-ul-Haq, as both had been released by their former franchises, making it tough for both players to remain relevant. Although Afridi’s chances of recruitment had been slim in the lead-up to the draft, the Sixth Team bought him in the Platinum category – the highest-paid bracket. Misbah reneged on his agreement with Islamabad United as a mentor to make himself available to be picked up Peshawar Zalmi in the Diamond category.The 36-year-old Ian Bell, who last played for England in 2015, proved to be the most surprising pick, by Islamabad United. A prolific season in county cricket was perhaps one of the factors that clinched the deal for Bell. Although thin on T20 experience in England colours, Bell flourished in the format in the last three years, amassing 1551 runs in 50 matches, at an average of 37.83 and a strike rate of 131. He has also played in the Big Bash with Perth Scorchers. ESPNcricinfo understands that Bell was seen as a like-for-like replacement for JP Duminy, given his ability to accumulate runs in a largely risk-free manner, in a team otherwise replete with power-hitters.Until last night, Lahore Qalandars were faced with a difficult choice between de Villiers and Smith – both red-hot picks of the season. They went with de Villiers, but later in the opening Platinum round, also picked Mohammad Hafeez, who was released by Peshawar Zalmi. They have retained spinner Yasir Shah, who was also part of the side through the last three seasons. They bolstered their legspin contingent with the addition of Nepal’s Sandeep Lamichhane, in the Gold category.The biggest omission from the top five categories was Pakistan batsman Ahmed Shehzad, who is currently serving his doping ban but is set to return to action later this month. He was classified in the Gold category but was overlooked by all teams, before being relegated to the Silver category, where, too, his fate remain unchanged. However, Quetta Gladiators, who released him for the third season, picked him in the supplement category among four extra players.Abdul Razzaq and Imran Nazir, both on a quest to revive their careers, entered the draft but remain unpicked, as were Umar Gul and Salman Butt. The major miss, however, was former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum. Among the younger lot, 20-year-old Ibtisam Sheikh, a legspinner who was originally released by Pesawar Zalmi, made it back to their squad.

Bringing the best of her caution and aggression together has helped the Australian allrounder scale astounding heights with the bat in WBBL 4

Geoff Lemon17-Jan-2019Usually, numbers should illustrate a story. Sometimes, the numbers are worth a story in themselves. The number for today is 690.Some other numbers will put it into context. The Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) regular season allows a player 14 innings. The nature of T20 is that even good batters make low scores about half the time. So topping 300 runs reflects a very good WBBL season. A great season might top 400. For the first two seasons, only Meg Lanning managed to top 500.Lanning is the outlier’s outlier, notable for her vast volume of scoring in her still-young career. When she was injured for the third season of WBBL in 2017-18, Ellyse Perry and Elyse Villani stepped up to cross 500. But they both had the advantage of two finals matches, and even with those extra hits, Lanning’s mark of 560 from the first season remained the highest.ESPNcricinfo LtdUntil now, in the ongoing fourth edition of the tournament, when Perry bettered it by about a quarter. Opening the batting for Sydney Sixers, Perry smashed her way to 690 in the regular season alone, with two hundreds and five fifties. She’ll again have the chance of two finals to swell those numbers.Unsurprisingly, her Sixers went top of the table. Where team scores in the first WBBL were most often around 120, the Sixers had nine totals between 150 and their season high was 206. Perry was a big part of this, with a season strike-rate that lifted from the 90s in previous years to 126.6 in this edition. It was a major renovation to her approach.”Twelve months down the track from last season, I’ve worked on things and tried to develop my game,” she tells ESPNcricinfo. “The demands of the game itself have really evolved. You look at all teams across the competition, they’re striking at a higher rate. Scores have gone up. It means that players have had to adapt to that as well. I was aware of that even towards the end of last season, that I wanted to respond to that.”It wasn’t just about hitting harder, though. There were even more aggressive players like Alyssa Healy and Ashleigh Gardner batting around Perry, while she provided the solidity through almost every major total. Five times she batted the full 20 overs, and once through a run chase of 171.ALSO READ: Ellyse the incredibleSo how does a player achieve this balance and consistency?”It’s no secret that I’m a fan of hitting a lot of balls,” she says self-deprecatingly: her obsession with the nets has long been a source of humour for team-mates. “It’s about making sure that I’ve got different options against the same delivery, and then making the right choice at the right time about which to play. That can change over the course of the match. And every match is different: you have different opponents, different situations, different conditions. So there’s no one approach that’s going to work all the time.”Relentless self-improvement is her style. In a way, though, her current iteration is perhaps reinventing something dormant rather than inventing something new. When Perry first entered the one-day international game as a bowler batting at nine or ten, she was happy to give the ball an almighty whack. Her late flurry of 25 was decisive in the 2013 World Cup final.ESPNcricinfo LtdBut as her career went on, she morphed into a top-four ODI batter with 25 half-centuries and an average just under 50. In that role, she was happy to play accumulator rather than aggressor, and has been stranded in the 90s on three occasions for her troubles.Now, she seems to meld the best of her caution and aggression. Having found the knack of scoring hundreds in 20 overs, doing it in 50 should be well within her grasp. “The one-day game has changed a lot the last few years as well, teams are getting bigger scores there too,” she says. “So potentially that role will develop too.”WATCH: ‘Fast bowlers are cooler than spinners in every way. Just look at them!’Given the heights her batting has reached, it seems comical to reflect that she was listed at No. 7 for Australia in their recent World T20 victory in the Caribbean. The player of course insists that it didn’t matter as long as her team won, and the situation shows off the other batting riches at Australia’s disposal. But after her dominance for the Sixers, don’t be surprised if Perry goes back up the order in green and gold.There’s just over a year before Australia have to defend their title in the World T20. To make it more of a challenge, the tournament will be on home soil, with the women’s game getting more coverage than ever. There will be plenty of expectation on the players, both to win and to put on a show. But Perry is taking a broader view, bigger than what role she might play or even how her team might fare.”I guess my ambitions are more global. I just want it to be a really successful tournament primarily, there isn’t so much of a personal consideration. There are things we can achieve with visibility of the sport, not just with the final at the MCG but also a semi-final at the SCG, which could be great especially for girls.”Over a career that has continued to redefine what is possible and what one player can be, there’s already plenty of inspiration for those watching on. Just when you think you know what Perry’s career is about, she turns around and does something else. Don’t look away.

Joe Root’s reliance on his two best seamers demonstrated how England had erred in their selection

George Dobell at Kensington Oval25-Jan-2019At least with batting collapses the pain is over quickly. At least with batting collapses, the dismissed batsman can escape to the dressing room to lick their wounds and nurse their regrets in private.There’s no hiding place for bowlers. No hiding place in the field. So while England’s suffering on the third day might not have been dramatic as their suffering on the second, it was every bit as brutal.Here England’s pain was endless. As the runs and records mounted – never before have England conceded such a large seventh-wicket stand, never had they conceded such a high score to a No. 8 batsman and never had they been hit for eight sixes in an innings by a West Indies player – the holes in the England team and the errors in their selections were laid bare. This was torturous and inexorable.It is understandable in such circumstances that Joe Root should rely on James Anderson and Ben Stokes. They are, by a distance, his most reliable bowlers. So it was not surprising that he turned to them when he needed a wicket, when he needed control and when he didn’t know what else to do.But he has to look after them. And the sight of them starting new spells long after West Indies’ lead passed 500 was worrying. By the time he took his fourth new ball in two-and-a-half days, Anderson was reduced to bowling in the mid-70s mph. And while Stokes’ pace and energy remained high – really, you couldn’t fault either man for their efforts – you wondered at what cost: he is as precious an asset as England possess; it would be a mistake to ask him to carry too onerous a burden.The game, by that stage, was gone and the damage limitation should have been done by the spinners and support bowlers. Instead Anderson bowled 48 overs in the match and Stokes 50.3; only the second time in his career he had bowled 50 in a Test. By the end, they had spent 14-and-a-half hours in the field, broken only by England’s own two-and-a-half hour innings.Perhaps history offers us a lesson here. In the first year or two of the 1980s, Ian Botham – as a swing bowler not so different to Anderson and as an allrounder not so different to Stokes – found himself bowling in a game against Oxford University. He should never have been required to do so but, at some stage during it, he sustained a back injury. Some believe he was never quite the same again.The decision to bowl Anderson and Stokes for long might also have encouraged Holder to bat on. If he could exhaust England’s best bowlers it was not impossible he could rule them out of the rest of the series and he later admitted he saw a chance to “grind them down and keep them out in the heat”.It is, remember, just six days until the start of the second Test. Anderson is 36 and managing a shoulder problem that may well be causing him more pain than he makes out. Stokes, too, has undergone an operation on his left knee and suffers from ongoing back pain. There was no game at stake here; no hope that a magical spell could make the difference.Long before the end of West Indies’ second innings, factory-farmed chickens were getting together and muttering about the appalling conditions in which Anderson and Stokes are expected to work. Asking them to bowl in these conditions is like asking Picasso to pop round and paint your bathroom ceiling; like using a Ferrari to deliver rubble to the dump; like using Pegasus as a pit pony.Ben Stokes endured a frustrating morning•AFPPart of Root’s problem was the performance of his other bowlers. Sam Curran, for all his youthful promise, is not a Test opening bowler at this stage of his career. Perhaps, one day, he may be. But at present he is too reliant on swing and not quite able to compensate with control or other skills. He may well have a role to play in a four-man seam attack but, as one of three, he leaves too much required of his colleagues.The performance of the spinners was more worrying. They should have taken the main bowling workload, but Root didn’t seem to feel he could trust either of them. Moeen Ali’s first over of the day saw Holder thrash him for three successive boundaries, while Adil Rashid struggled with both his length and his pace in conceding nearly seven an over including five sixes. For him to bowl only nine overs in the innings – fewer than Root – is a damning indictment of his performance and the confidence the captain had in him.Rashid didn’t impress in the field, either, with Trevor Bayliss seen slapping his leg in frustration after a misfield gave away a single. It will be a surprise if he plays in Antigua.So it was understandable that Root didn’t trust some of his bowlers much. But he was party to the decision to pick two spinners. And he was party to the decision to prefer the wicket-taking potential of Rashid to the reliability of Jack Leach. He was also party to the decision to pick a left-arm swing bowler instead of a hit-the-deck seamer. In asking Stokes and Anderson to carry so much of the burden, he was tacitly admitting he and the other selectors had erred.There were some encouraging moments for England. Even towards the end, Jos Buttler and Root pulled off fine stops in the field. After every wicketless over, Anderson was applauded back to his position on the boundary by spectators who recognised his hard work. And despite his own disappointments, Curran made some diving stops on the boundary to save a run or two. There’s no faulting the spirit or the efforts. The opening batsmen started well, too. The weekend brings them opportunity.And there, perhaps, is the mitigation for England. For this pitch that looked so troublesome when 18 wickets fell on day two, suddenly appeared becalmed. Local knowledge suggests it may remain becalmed for much of day four, too, though some deterioration is likely on day five. It will be interesting to see if West Indies bowlers – faster or taller though most of them are – will be able to coax any more life out of it.But days like this expose holes. And West Indies have found a few in this England side.

He is at the peak of his powers, and brings to the World Cup a well-rounded squad full of the players he has fought for and trusts. Can he lead them to a legacy-sealing triumph?

Nagraj Gollapudi04-Jun-20191:27

Kohli on Rabada’s jibe: ‘He can discuss with me man-to-man’

World Cups define the legacy of leaders. Some of the greatest have tasted success at the biggest tournament in cricket: Lloyd, Border, Imran, Waugh, Ponting and Dhoni.Like those giants, Virat Kohli is his own man. He has set an example first, and then asked others to follow him. His men swear by him. yet there remains a perception that Kohli’s success as a captain owes a lot to MS Dhoni, who has been the guiding force in terms of tactics and controlling the pace of the game. This World Cup offers Kohli the opportunity to walk out of Dhoni’s shadows.And he’s been working on it.Kohli sowed the seeds of change at The Oval, the day India lost the Champions Trophy final in 2017. The key issues he identified included fitness and fielding, and, significantly, an inability to take wickets in the middle overs.To this end India left out the experience of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, and brought in a pair of wristspinners in Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, who have become integral to India’s success.MS Dhoni has some tactics to discuss with Virat Kohli while Rishabh Pant looks on•Associated PressKohli has always had a vision as captain. While Dhoni might take charge at different points during a live game, Kohli is in control of the team, and has shaped it in his image. This World Cup will be his ultimate challenge. The squad is full of the men he wanted, fought for, and kept his faith in. He got all the resources he wanted and asked for. He even got the latest start of all teams, with India’s first match coming against a team playing its third game in a week. Now it’s for him to put all this to use, smartly.The long format of the tournament, where every match is important, will no doubt test Kohli’s mettle as a leader – not just his man-management skills, but also how flexible he is in his thought processes, how quickly he can conjure up plans in tight situations, which will pile up fast as the tournament moves towards its business end.A day before India’s World Cup opener, Kohli seemed at ease. He addressed a 22-minute-long media briefing without getting restless. Wearing his prescription glasses and white team T-shirt Kohli looked relaxed, and sounded confident and clear.Asked whether tomorrow, his first day as India’s captain in a World Cup, would be any different to all his other days on the cricket field, Kohli said no. “Honestly for me I have this feeling before every game I play. I can’t differentiate,” he said. “Obviously if you just say the word “World Cup” it brings a different kind of feeling to your mind and heart. Apart from that when you step onto the field as a cricketer you really think like you are stepping into a World Cup game.”Eventually you go and play the game of cricket. And that excitement and anticipation and bit of nerves is the right combination I have always had before every game that I play. 2011, 2015, similar kind of butterflies in your stomach. Even when you walk in to play in a Test match and you walk in at 10 for 2 you have the same kind of butterflies in your stomach. So that is a very consistent factor. I am just glad and it is going on.”Kuldeep Yadav and Virat Kohli celebrate a wicket•Associated PressIndia are favourites to win the tournament along with hosts England. Yet Kohli knows India can easily come second. Take the recent home series against Australia where his team led 2-0, and yet were surprised 3-2. Reviewing the series Kohli said the reason Australia won was because they played like one unit, poured more passion and energy in every situation, and showed the belief that they could win in any situation. India did not.Like any upcoming captain Kohli has made his own mistakes. Six months before the World Cup he said, with an air of certainty, that Ambati Rayudu would be his No.4. Against Australia, Rayudu was dropped eventually, and then the selectors left him out of the World Cup 15. Immediately after KL Rahul scored a century in the warm-up game against Bangladesh last week, Kohli said he would be the No. 4.Kohli can get excited. He admitted that leading at the World up is going to be his most challenging assignment. “Looking at the length and format of the tournament, yes, it will be tough for any captain including me, playing nine games. It is a long tournament. You are playing every side once.”And you have to think on your feet, you have to adapt very quickly. It is not a bilateral [series] or you are not playing a team twice where you can play them once and plan again and come back and play again. So you have to be precise, on that day make good decisions, stay ahead of the 8-ball. So from that point of view, yes, it will be a very, very challenging tournament.”To his advantage Kohli has a group of proven matchwinners. In Jasprit Bumrah he has possibly the best bowler in cricket today. In Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, he has two openers who can score big, blazing centuries. In Dhoni, he has the best glovesman in the tournament and a master strategist. In Hardik Pandya, he has an instinctive and ruthless batsman, who can turn the game in matter of a dozen deliveries. Then there are the two “pillars”, Kuldeep and Chahal, who can choke teams in the middle overs.KL Rahul goes for a sweep•IDI via Getty ImagesBut it is on days when these men are struggling that Kohli will need to bring to the fore more than just his intensity. He is only 30, but Kohli has a wealth of experience to fall back upon. “It is very gradual,” Kohli said on his growth as a captain. “The errors you would make when you are not that aware of game situations, they will slowly start to taper off as you play more and more cricket. What happens also is, when you have experienced people in your team, who have also grown with you as cricketers, eventually you all start making good decisions, you have discussions, you think of the right things.”Sometimes instinctively I would want to do something, which I will stick to, sometimes you go and discuss. It is important to find the right balance. It is important to try and make the right decision, but own up to your mistakes and accept the errors as well. Gradually, with time, everyone sort of understands that process well, which is happening to me slowly.”On every occasion he has spoken in the past month, Kohli has acknowledged the pressure every match in a World Cup will bring. The only way India can stay ahead, Kohli has repeatedly stressed, is by working as one and staying composed.In the past week India have managed to blend training with recreation – they have had team-bonding sessions involving paintball. Some might scoff at it, ask what adults are doing playing a child’s game. But sport is best enjoyed while invoking the inner child. Kohli understands this.Remember the unforgettable line Kohli delivered moments after Dhoni sealed the 2011 World Cup with a six? As he and his team-mates lifted Sachin Tendulkar onto their shoulders, Kohli said it was only fitting since Tendulkar had carried the burden of a billion dreams on his shoulders for more than two decades. Today that burden has moved to his shoulders.

Rasikh Salam’s two-year ban has brought age-fudging back into the spotlight. What steps has the BCCI taken to combat it, and why is it so difficult to eradicate?

Shashank Kishore29-Jun-2019Even seen a 17-year-old bowl fast or hit monstrous sixes and wondered if he was “at least 20-21”? If you felt the same watching Rasikh Salam, the Jammu & Kashmir fast bowler who played for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2019, your worst fears are true.Documents have proved Rasikh is two years older than he claims to be. This became public after a BCCI investigation pointed to a mismatch between two “original birth certificates” obtained from different sources. There were also discrepancies between these and his school-leaving certificate.Rasikh has now been banned for two years from all cricket under the BCCI. That, by extension, means no IPL or even exposure to corporate cricket – he was to train at Reliance’s own training facility in Navi Mumbai as part of a scholarship programme, and be fielded in the city’s robust corporate and league system. He has also been withdrawn from the India Under-19 squad that is to tour England. A promising career has come to a grinding halt.Can’t he undergo an age test to prove his innocence?The emphatic answer is “no.” Since 2012, the BCCI has been using the Tanner Whitehouse 3 method that determines the age of a child based on the growth of the bones in the wrist. This test, however, is accurate only up to the age of 16, since the “long bones in the body fuse,” according to Dr. Abhijit Salvi, BCCI’s age test and anti-doping consultant. “As such, the tests can’t ascertain the specific age. But there have been cases where a player’s documents prove he is below 16, but his bone maturity indicates otherwise.”The BCCI and the state associations are bound by a legal agreement that prevents them from fielding players deemed ‘overage’ by these tests. Because the physical abilities of those with bone maturity far greater than many others could provide them with unfair advantage. Therefore, even though their age verification may be authentic, they may have to miss out. But this crops up only at the Under-16 level.” In this case, since Rasikh’s documents already prove he is 19, the test is ruled out.Manjot Kalra steered India to World Cup glory with an unbeaten century•AFPWhat are the BCCI’s challenges during this verification process?Verifying those players who directly come into the system at the Under-19 or Under-23 level can be tricky, although such cases are rare. For date of birth, the BCCI’s primary documents for verification are the birth certificate, hospital birth records and school mark sheets. Passport and passing certificates of Class X and Class XII are additional supporting documents.This method, however, has proven to be a challenge especially because there have been cases of players from rural areas being unable to furnish documents such as school-leaving certificates because they haven’t undergone formal schooling. Hand-written panchayat birth certificates haven’t been easy to verify either. As a first step, from the upcoming season, the BCCI will accept only digitalised certificates issued by Birth & Death Registry.Is there scope for tampering at the state level?Yes, this was a challenge until a few years ago, when the BCCI depended on the hospital chain it had tied up with to conduct document verification. However, over the last four years, the board has appointed independent medical practitioners who aren’t connected in any capacity with state associations to conduct this process of age verification.”The officer first conducts the ID verification and the players are sent for bone testing only if these documents are authentic,” explains Dr. Salvi. “The local hospitals only do a digital X-ray of the player’s hand and wrist and email the image with the player’s headshot, name, etc directly to BCCI’s Age Verification Department and the TW3 bone age rating is done by Radiologists on the BCCI’s panel. This has helped bypass potential cases of tampering of documents at the state level.”Nitish Rana goes up, and over•BCCIHas the issue been spoken about widely by respected voices?It was in the headlines in 2016 when Rahul Dravid, the current India A and India Under-19 head coach, said in his MAK Pataudi Lecture that the “scourge of overage players in junior cricket” was no different to “fixing and corruption.” As a first step, Dravid put in place a process with the BCCI to limit players to appearing at an Under-19 World Cup only once, even if they were eligible to play a second tournament.”Like the issue of bowling actions, it is a similar emphasis on short-term results that has led to the scourge of overage players in junior matches,” Dravid said at the lecture. “That entire exercise begins when a coach alters a player’s date of birth so that he can take part in a local tournament. The parents are happy to accept the value of an extra year or two, particularly in junior cricket and, academically, at middle school.”The truth is that the player who has faked his age might make it at the junior level not necessarily because he is better or more talented, but because he is stronger and bigger. We all know how much of a difference a couple of years can make at that age. That incident will have another ripple effect: an honest player deprived of his place by an overage player, is disillusioned. We run the risk of losing him forever.”A former BCCI match referee, who retired in 2014, remembered how a number of associations in the north moaned about their inability to field overage players upon learning of his appointment to oversee games. Having been away from the system, he now hopes the new methods the BCCI has adopted will not only help prevent rampant age-fudging but also set an example for the nine new state associations.How have state associations dealt with the issue?Overage for Under-23? No problem, play state cricket without any reprimand. This in a nutshell has been the attitude of a number of state associations where discrepancies in documents have cropped up. A seasoned coach in the domestic circuit believes the BCCI needs to introduce retrospective action for players tampering with their documents.Manjot Kalra, who struck a match-winning century in the Under-19 World Cup final last year, is in the dock for providing an incorrect date of birth. In 2017, he was cleared by the BCCI but was hauled up by the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) after disgruntled parents of fellow Under-19 cricketers in Delhi alleged that Kalra had provided false information. An investigation by the Delhi police has revealed Kalra is a year older than furnished, which made him ineligible to participate in the Under-19 World Cup.Ankit Bawne goes for the sweep•ESPNcricinfo LtdIn the same year, Nitish Rana was among 22 cricketers barred by the BCCI for representing Delhi in age-group tournaments after discrepancies were discovered in their dates of birth. Rana, already an established member of Delhi’s senior team, is yet to incur any reprimand or fine, since the BCCI is seeking a legal opinion to ascertain if the complainant has to be the board or the state association. The case is ongoing.In September 2011, Ankit Bawne was removed from the India Under-19 squad after the date of birth in his passport didn’t match the one in his birth certificate and the BCCI’s records. Bawne protested that the agent who arranged for his passport had messed up the date. The selectors, not wanting to take a risk, left him out and Unmukt Chand took over the captaincy.So what can the BCCI do to counter this?Bishan Bedi, the former India captain, says cases like those of Kalra and Rana have “destroyed the fabric of the game.””The onus is squarely on the BCCI,” Bedi says. “They must put a stop to this. You can’t turn a blind eye to this problem, which has always been there at least in Delhi. As the parent body, it’s the BCCI’s responsibility. It’s short-sightedness. There is no honesty or integrity anywhere. It’s not what cricket stands for. BCCI must – they must – take cognizance of the situation.”Bedi believes doing away with the Under-23 tournament, the CK Nayudu Trophy, will be a good first step. This, he feels, gives cricketers a second line of opportunity should they not make the senior state side. “Why do we need Under-23 cricket now?” Bedi asks. “If at 23 you can’t play first-class cricket, then you’re not good enough. Why do you need to play age-group cricket at 23?”With the new season imminent, the board’s steps for age-verification are laudable, but given that the number of registered players in India is significantly higher compared to Australia or England, the BCCI is challenged by a number of factors. Unlike in most developed countries where births are documented immediately and leave little scope for tampering, there are several cases in rural India where a foolproof system doesn’t exist.While there isn’t yet a full-fledged programme to rehabilitate players banned for age fraud, the BCCI is beginning to help out those seeking counselling to prevent many such cases going forward. It is also looking to spread the message that age-fudging, a criminal offence under the Indian Penal Code, can ruin careers, Rasikh’s being an example.

Of the last 20 games played in the tournament, 16 have been won by the team batting first and that trend might well continue in the semi-finals and final

S Rajesh08-Jul-2019India’s seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka at Headingley ended a sequence of seven straight games in this World Cup that had been won by the side batting first. It was the second such sequence of the tournament: between June 20 and June 25, teams batting first had also won seven in a row. All of this means that of the last 20 games played in the tournament, 16 have been won by the team batting first. The exceptions during this period are: Pakistan’s six-wicket win against New Zealand; South Africa’s nine-wicket win against Sri Lanka; Pakistan’s three-wicket win against Afghanistan; and India’s win on Saturday.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn the first three weeks of the tournament, when the weather was quite inclement and the pitches fresher, the numbers were very even – 11 wins for the team batting first and 10 for the team chasing in 21 completed matches. But with the pitches wearing and the weather drying out, batting first seems to have given a definite advantage to teams. In fact, in the entire history of World Cup matches, there has only been one other streak of the chasing teams losing more than six in a row in a single edition: in 1983, when the first seven games all went to the team batting first.The stats in England in the four years leading up to the World Cup were quite the opposite. The pitches were generally flat and excellent for batting, and remained so throughout the 100 overs, giving the chasing team the advantage. Between the last two World Cups, chasing teams had a 32-20 win-loss record in ODIs in England. England were dominant either way, but their record in chases – 20 wins, three losses – was much better than when batting first – 14 wins, six losses.In the World Cup though, the pitches have generally been slower and not as good for batting, resulting in the teams batting second struggling to chase down totals. The run rate for teams batting second has dropped from 6.08 in the four-year period before the World Cup, to 5.47 in the World Cup.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn fact, the 2019 World Cup is turning out to be one of the most skewed, in terms of wins for the teams batting first (27-14). Only once in World Cup history have the teams batting first won more often and that was back in 1987, when they had a 19-8 record. The last three World Cups were, in fact, almost even in terms of win-loss records for teams batting first and teams chasing.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn the first half of the current World Cup, the wet weather and fresher pitches meant captains were wary about batting first after winning the toss: out of the first 21 completed games, teams chose to bat only four times after winning the toss. In those games, they had a 2-2 win-loss record. Since then, in the last 20 games, they have batted first 15 times and picked up 12 victories. This year’s overall win-loss record for teams winning the toss and batting is the most skewed among all World Cups.

The three remaining matches of World Cup 2019 will be played at Old Trafford, Edgbaston and Lord’s, venues where teams batting first have dominated. Overall in the tournament, they have a 11-2 record; in the second half of the tournament, it improves to 9-1, with the only loss being New Zealand’s defeat against Pakistan at Edgbaston.ESPNcricinfo LtdFresh pitches at all three venues will probably give the chasing teams a better chance in the final week, but if the weather stays clear, teams winning the toss will surely want to bat first. Going by these numbers, the teams chasing will have more than just scoreboard pressure in a knockout game working against them.