Bangladesh have received a string of thrashings at the hands of South Africa. Here are a few things they could do to get out of the doldrums

Mohammad Isam24-Oct-2017After suffering big-margin defeats in the Tests and ODIs in South Africa, the Bangladesh team has a lot to put right on and off the field in the next 12 months. Leading that process should be four of their most experienced cricketers and a coach who is considered the most successful in Bangladesh’s history. Here’s a close look at what each has to do to bring the team back onto the winning track.ESPNcricinfo LtdChandika Hathurusingha
He is arguably the most powerful person in the Bangladesh dressing room, having guided the team through their purple patch from 2015 to mid-2017. Hathurusingha has been credited for backing the likes of Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman and Mustafizur Rahman when others in BCB’s power structure were skeptical. In their rookie year, the players performed impressively well, but are now faced with their first dip in international cricket.Soumya burst onto the scene in 2015, but since then has done little of note except a few fifties that he hit in Tests earlier this year. Yet he continues to enjoy the support of the team management despite battling with technical flaws to deliveries away from his body.Hathurusingha also expanded Sabbir from a utility T20 player to an ODI regular and then a Test player. He has, however, failed to achieve consistency despite being given different spots in the batting order.Mustafizur, too, has been erratic. Although he can’t be expected to maintain the high notes of his debut season, he has struggled with his rhythm since his shoulder surgery last year. He showed some flashes of his skill during the South Africa Tests, but it was hardly match-winning material.BCB chief Nazmul Hassan has been Hathurusingha’s biggest backer for the past three years, including granting his wish of becoming a selector. Whether this change in selection policy has worked is now open to debate.Two factors work in Hathurusingha’s favour for now. First, Mosaddek Hossain’s eye infection deprived Bangladesh of a player in good form. Second, if the batsmen are not executing the coach’s instructions out in the middle, there’s very little the coach himself can do other than repeat his words every day.It hasn’t helped that Hathurusingha – or the other coaches – has been conspicuously and unusually absent from the spotlight in explaining the team’s performances in South Africa. But he will now be expected to turn things around for these younger batsmen, particularly Soumya and Sabbir who have been Hathurusingha’s projects over the last three years. How he turns things around after his first major setback will be intriguing to watch.Shakib Al Hasan
It is now unlikely that the BCB will grant Shakib any more days off in any format until the 2019 World Cup. The drubbing Bangladesh received in the two Tests in South Africa proved that the inexperienced bowling attack badly needs him to tie one end down.Shakib’s batting was also missed in the Tests; as he showed in the ODI series, his counterattacking style is a factor that comes in handy in any format. The timing of Shakib’s break from Tests wasn’t great as he had just had a superb series against Australia at home.His bowling in the ODI series wasn’t great: he took only two wickets, giving away 164 runs in the three matches. In fact, Shakib’s ODI bowling since the Afghanistan series last year hasn’t been great. This year has been his worst as an ODI bowler, considering he has snaffled only six wickets in 14 matches at an average of 99.In the coming 12 months, Shakib – who, till the South Africa tour, had had a fine year in Test cricket but not so in ODIs – has to clearly outline what he wants out of international cricket, particularly because he is one of the candidates for the Test captaincy. If he doesn’t think there’s a future for him in the longer format, BCB has to plan accordingly and find someone else for the job. However, if he does indeed envisage himself in the team’s long-term Test plans, he could be leading Bangladesh across formats in the next two years.Mashrafe Mortaza
Whenever things have gone wrong, especially over the last two years, Bangladesh has banked on Mashrafe Mortaza. As the ODI captain, he has led them through the 2015 successes and the steady development until the 2017 Champions Trophy. Since 2015, he has been the team’s highest wicket-taker in ODIs.There have been occasions when he has finished games with his big-hitting. Add to that his position as the leading statesman of Bangladesh cricket; remember when he appealed to the England cricketers to make themselves available to play in Bangladesh in the aftermath of the country’s worst terrorist attack last year?For someone who remains so much invested in his game, going wicketless in the ODI series against South Africa will hurt. He has already admitted it was a tough series, and he was also slightly unlucky in Paarl. The measly returns notwithstanding, the majority of Bangladesh’s fans trusts him as someone who can bring himself and the ODI team back from the dead.Will the BCB and the team management continue to trust him as the ODI captain? There was significant pressure on him even after he led Bangladesh to the semi-final of the Champions Trophy, finally settling down when BCB president Nazmul Hassan publicly confirmed his captaincy till the 2019 World Cup.Given his track record, one wicketless series shouldn’t invite questions on his place in the side. In fact, it should be quite the opposite – only Mashrafe has faced up to the heat on behalf of his team in South Africa. And only Mashrafe can rouse this team again.Mushfiqur Rahim
While his place in the Bangladesh side as a batsman is without debate, two responsibilities are no longer suited to Mushfiqur Rahim: captaincy and wicketkeeping in Tests.Whether he continues as Test captain against Sri Lanka in January next year will be entirely up to the new BCB committee. Given how Nazmul Hassan has criticised Mushfiqur for his outbursts during the Tests in South Africa, Mushfiqur’s captaincy is now on fragile ground.He can be given a break from wicketkeeping if Liton Das takes his resurgence as a gloveman seriously. He hasn’t had the best of times as a Test batsman but seems to be up to the mark as a wicketkeeper. Mushfiqur’s comeback from the woeful Test series should be a great example for a relative novice like Liton: with so much going on around him, Mushfiqur responded with an unbeaten century and half-century in the first two ODIs.He is the type of cricketer who thrives on responding to criticism. It would be wise to let him focus solely on his batting in all three formats over the next 12-18 months.Tamim Iqbal
A fully fit Tamim Iqbal would have been a handful for South Africa but, instead, he was recovering from a thigh injury that he sustained on the first day of the practice match in Benoni. He then got injured during the first Test as well as after the second ODI, which effectively ended his tour.With the form he has been in, Tamim will need to be handled carefully by the BCB and the team management. Currently, there isn’t an opening batsman who can be relied upon with surety to replace or even partner him. Since 2015, his sincerity towards fitness and improvement in batting has been as good an example as Mushfiqur’s progress as a batsman.Tamim’s priority in the next two years would be to sustain this batting form, and continue to be the stabilising factor in Bangladesh’s top order. He is also among the Test captaincy candidates, and the BCB will have to tread that line carefully in order to not disrupt his batting form.

The 26-year old made the latest addition to his repertoire of acing crunch games, with an unbeaten 148 that powered Karnataka to a first-innings lead in the Ranji Trophy semi-final

Akshay Gopalakrishnan in Kolkata18-Dec-2017There is something about the big stage that brings out the best in Karun Nair. He has made a career out of thriving in crunch games. In 2013-14, his debut season, Nair struck successive centuries in Karnataka’s last group stage match, the quarter-final and the semi-final. The following year, he endured a horrid patch and was on the verge of being dropped for the final. But he hit back with a match-winning triple century as Karnataka bulldozed Tamil Nadu by an innings and 217 runs for a second successive title.On Monday, in the semi-final against Vidarbha, Nair made the latest addition to his repertoire of clutch performances: a diligently-constructed 148 not out that powered Karnataka to a first-innings lead that could secure a final spot.The essence of Nair’s innings at Eden Gardens lay in how he steered the team through different stages of the game. Nair had survived a taxing passage to close out the opening day. He took the field on Monday knowing exactly what was needed of him. Karnataka’s top order had crumbled to the pace of Rajneesh Gurbani and Umesh Yadav. Even one more wicket inside the first hour could have tilted the game in Vidarbha’s favour. It was an onerous task, but Nair performed it with clarity of mind and precision in execution.Early in his day, Nair had to contend with a heavy ball, laden with moisture, that didn’t quite come on as well as he would have liked. There was also the variable bounce, as has become characteristic of this venue since the pitches were relaid, which never allows batsmen to feel completely settled. Nair countered that by largely playing with a straight bat and deftly picking the gaps.”I just think pressure situations bring the best out of me. They make me concentrate harder,” he said. “It was important for us to keep batting, and keep batting with discipline. What I told myself is that I need to make the bowlers bowl on the stumps or short. Until then, I’ll keep batting straight with soft hands. If anything lands on the stumps, I’ll try to pick the gaps.”That sort of discipline was abundantly on display. Nair let his innings develop organically. He showed oodles of patience outside the off stump and used his judgement well to suss out any late movement off the deck. He did occasionally open up, but it was only when he was sure that he had covered the line of the delivery reasonably well. A couple of drives and slashes early in the day had Vidarbha excited, but only momentarily as he pierced the field expertly on those occasions.Always one to express himself when the opportunity presents itself, Nair brought out his range of strokes as the pitch dried up and became easier to bat on. His sweeps were productive, as is the case always, but a pulled six over backward square leg off Gurbani, the day’s best bowler, and a ramp over the keeper to a short ball from the same bowler also stood out. What remained constant, though, was that Nair was always calculated.AFP”It’s still the same wicket. Probably we bowled really well on the pitch and our bowlers were able to get more assistance,” he said. “We will know whether it has changed or not when we bowl for a second time on it. But it’s really a challenging wicket to bat on.”This sort of ability to deliver in crunch situations is what earned him a Test cap against England last year. In just his third game, Nair racked up an unbeaten triple century – becoming only the second India batsman to do so – on a batting beauty in Chennai. A day before the one-year anniversary of that knock, Nair admitted to having it at the back of his mind.And, as though celebrating the occasion with an important century in the semi-final wasn’t special enough, Nair injected an interesting dose of freshness into the actual act of celebrating his century on Monday. After reaching the non-striker’s end to complete a single, Nair put his bat down, walked over to his partner Abhimanyu Mithun for a handshake, and then got down on one knee to conjure up an imaginary bow, before shooting an arrow into the sky. It was a rare sight, coming from a man known for his ability to retain composure irrespective of how he has fared.”Nothing special about it,” he chuckled. “Just that everyone was telling me that I don’t do anything apart from lifting my bat. Everyone was asking me to do something different. I just saw the celebrations in the football (it is famous in the National Football League), and decided to do it.”As he batted through the day, a different set of challenges greeted Nair at each stage. If the start was about batting with CM Gautam to take Karnataka past the early jitters, the middle period was about erasing the deficit. Having ticked both those boxes, he then rallied with the lower order to consolidate Karnataka’s lead. And he was efficiently aided by Mithun, with whom he added 27 for the eighth wicket, and Vinay Kumar with whom he has added 69 unbeaten runs so far for the ninth.”He (Vinay) batted with real discipline. I had told him that it is really difficult to drive on this wicket, so just wait for them to bowl on the stumps and just defend the good balls. That’s what I did; I never tried to play any cover drive or on the rise. Just waited for them to bowl short or on the stumps. It’s really easy when you do that, and he’s batting well.”

The legspinner doesn’t turn the ball too much, but by bowling full and out of the reach of batsmen looking for quick runs, he has been able to get the better of them

Sidharth Monga27-Oct-2017It is Chennai, a 21-over chase, the Australian top order is gone, and Glenn Maxwell has nothing to lose. India have their two wristspinners on, and Maxwell starts unleashing his sweeps. Like Hardik Pandya did to Adam Zampa earlier in the day, Maxwell hits Kuldeep Yadav for three consecutive sixes. There are long conferences. India should have this game in the bag, but there are squeaky bums around. Three sixes can do that to you. What if he keeps coming off for another three-four overs? It is a short chase after all.On comes the other leggie. Yuzvendra Chahal does less with the ball in the air and off the pitch than Kuldeep. Yet you don’t see him chatting that much with seniors between deliveries, even when Maxwell hits the fifth ball of this over for his fourth six in two overs. Chahal has hardened himself up bowling containing legspin in IPL matches in Bengaluru, where anyway beating batsmen in the air doesn’t amount for much because mis-hits sail for sixes.Now Chahal does what only he has done to Maxwell this innings: bowl full and wide. Maxwell has to drag it for his big hit, and Chahal has him caught at long-on. He holds his arms aloft, and then points one finger to his forehead.”Whenever I bowled to Gayle [in the RCB nets] I would bowl well wide outside off, and work out that if he isn’t able to hit me then I can try this against Warner and the likes,” Chahal told ESPNcricinfo last year.

In an earlier era, you might have dismissed this as Chahal’s luck. It is not. Denying boundaries in shorter formats is a bona fide way of taking wickets

It is Pune, and India have shackled New Zealand this time, but out comes Colin de Grandhomme batting like a dream, chipping straight balls over straight midwicket ala Mark Waugh and Carl Hooper. De Grandhomme hits Chahal for a four and a six before he comes back for another spell in the 44th over. And again, Chahal bowls that wide ball – this time on a length, the widest bowled to de Grandhomme all innings. He tries the big straight hit, and the edge carries to short third man.Chahal has tried the full and wide variety to big hitters in the lower order with success. James Faulkner once offered a return catch that Chahal failed to grab. Matthew Wade was stumped. He nearly had Tom Latham caught behind in Pune when again he tested the batsman’s reach. Against his 26 wide balls pitched on a length or fuller, New Zealand have not been able to hit a single boundary. Faulkner managed a six, but that was the only boundary Australia hit when Chahal practiced this line. On an average he slips in one full and wide ball every over.In an earlier era, you might have dismissed this as Chahal’s luck. It is not. Denying boundaries in shorter formats is a bona fide way of taking wickets. As a skill too, bowling out of the reach of the batsman but within legal limits is not to be scoffed at. For starters it is an extremely difficult delivery to execute, as commentator and former India spinner Murali Kartik remarked when Chahal got de Grandhomme’s wicket. You have to control the turn. Indian pitches are changing – which is not a bad thing in ODIs because they are preventing scores of 350 from becoming routine – so you have to bowl a length that doesn’t give the ball enough time to turn away and go past the wide lines.Then you have to choose wisely when and to whom to bowl this delivery. Chahal has kept the full and wide ones for big hitters who are not in a mood to be watchful: Maxwell, Faulkner, Marcus Stoinis, de Grandhomme in the 44th over. In that whole innings off 39 off 18 in Chennai, Maxwell faced only three wide balls, all from Chahal and none scored off. It also takes shedding of the ego to not mind being a legspinner whose signature delivery is the one bowled full and wide, not turning too much, not necessarily aimed at taking wickets.Defensive bowlers are getting due recognition with the abundance of limited-overs cricket. Analysts are looking at how well a player comes back when under pressure, when the batsmen have little to lose and the freedom to swing for the hills. Of all the spinners who have bowled in this limited-overs season in India, Chahal and Mitchell Santner have shown they find answers the quickest.Perhaps that is why Chahal has been preferred to Kuldeep when there is room for only one wristspinner in the Indian XI. Kuldeep has made all the highlight reels, practicing the rare art of left-arm leg spin well enough to pick up an ODI hat-trick, but Chahal has shown that when the pressure is high, on a flat pitch, a simple wide ball can be more valuable. Not to invoke his well-documented prowess at chess, it’s the hitters’ move now.

Do you know R Ashwin’s career well enough to separate fact and fiction from some remarkable stats?

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2017

Kevin O’Brien isn’t the best player Ireland has ever had, he’s just the one who keeps producing their most important innings

Jarrod Kimber at Malahide14-May-20185:42

#PoliteEnquiries: O’Brien for Ireland’s Prime Minister?

Everything was shocking about Kevin O’Brien’s World Cup hundred against England. His hair, his shots, the win. And that it was Kevin O’Brien.I mean Kevin O’Brien. Not his brother Niall, not Trent Johnston, not William Porterfield or Ed Joyce. At one stage O’Brien complimented Jimmy Anderson on a good ball, Anderson asked how O’Brien would know what a good delivery was and O’Brien retorted that he knew what a bad one was, and he’d just smashed one of them away for six. Sledging Jimmy, heaving 113 from 63, breaking world records, six sixes and Ireland beat England. The whole thing was crazy. O’Brien was rated by no one outside Ireland and was slapping balls around everywhere like, well, as no one had ever before in a World Cup.It was that day, as much as any, that changed Ireland’s history. And if not that day, it was the 2007 World Cup win over Pakistan, in which O’Brien was second top score behind older brother Niall and remained unbeaten when Johnston hit the winning runs. The three most significant games in Ireland’s history, Kevin O’Brien has been there. For Ireland, O’Brien is always there.Outside Irish cricket, O’Brien has never had much impact on cricket. A few T20 franchise contracts, some List A in England, but even then he rarely grabbed attention.Then he plays for Ireland. Some players play much better for their country than they do for their clubs. You see, the plodding power forward from the NBA who suddenly at the Olympics is some brutish enforcer, or the journeyman pro tennis player living the good life until he fires up for the Davis Cup. That is not quite the case for O’Brien; his numbers suggest he’s been as good for everyone else as he has been for Ireland. The real difference is when O’Brien is astonishing, it is for Ireland.In the first innings, his top order was smashed in the face by Pakistan bowlers. They were playing for lunch like it was the last meal. Gary Wilson was off getting his arm fixed, and it was O’Brien who had to come in before there were ten runs on the board. His innings started as nervously as anyone, but he soon took control, and he looked like he belonged.The man who has only played two first-class games in county cricket – one for Surrey, one for Notts – and just 41 first-class games overall dating back to his 2007 debut in the Intercontinental Cup against the UAE, seemed like the Test match player Ireland needed. And then after scoring more than half of Ireland’s runs up to that point, he got caught in the ring. He was filthy, shaking his head, mumbling at himself and kicking at the ground. He felt like he’d let his team down when actually he was the first to stand up.But he always stands up. While other players have been better than O’Brien, no one’s been more representative of Irish cricket. England would never come calling and take him away. He has 300 caps, more than any Irish player. He’s almost always available. While some Associate nations in their moments of success have been accused of being a team of ex-pats, Ireland had O’Brien: an Irish underage cricketer, with an Irish playing brother, and father, plus a flock of ginger hair. In O’Brien, Ireland had a poster child for Irish cricket. He’s their giant ginger mascot who hits sixes and wins games.Today he didn’t hit sixes. His 50 came up off 100 balls, completely inverse to his 100 off 50 against England. We’ve had O’Brien the bludgeoner; today we had O’Brien the nurdler. He poked and prodded, ESPNcricinfo’s stats say the flick was his most successful shot, most of the time he knocked the ball towards cover point for a single. There was a french cut, a bunch of composed leg glances. Edges past slip, short of slip, balls ending up near the stumps. It wasn’t always regal, but it was stoic.

If Irish cricket had a player type they’re known for, it would be allrounders who aren’t quite top level bowlers but often compensate with the bat: Stuart Thompson, Trent Johnston, John Mooney and Alex Cusack. For Irish cricket, there is nothing special about what O’Brien does, but there is everything special about when he does it.

And that doesn’t even mention Pakistan, who seemed to stop playing at one point, putting fielders out when they were still well on top, and Ireland was making the odd mistake. Maybe their best error was when O’Brien – on 91 – swept a ball to short fine leg, who missed, only for the deep backward square to come around to mop up, which he did not. Pakistan made errors, O’Brien did not.Against England, in that World Cup innings, he was playing brutish slog sweeps of raw, ungainly violence. Here he was at the non-striker’s end in Malahide after another eased single, practising his lap sweeps. He looked like an ogre trying to play with a children’s tea set. Getting O’Brien to draw this match was like asking a steamroller to solve a moral philosophy question.But he worked on it. He wasn’t massively in control but it was a chanceless hundred, albeit with one close lbw shout against Rahat Ali on 69 the only tight call. The ball wasn’t hitting the middle of his bat but he fought hard. He fought Pakistan’s bowlers, the match situation and his own instincts. Because O’Brien doesn’t really play many first-class innings, he is almost never the anchor, and he’s paid for fireworks not defence.In a career spanning more than a decade, he has made only one first-class hundred, an unbeaten 171 in a first innings run-fest against Kenya – his brother Niall and Andre Botha also made centuries in Ireland’s 578 for 4 declared – at Nairobi that set up an innings win in the Intercontinental Cup in 2008. His last hundred for Ireland was that World Cup innings against England, seven years ago.Today he played like a man who doesn’t make many hundreds. Around 80 he played and missed at a ball and then violently swung his bat over the stumps before being calmed down by Stuart Thompson. Then when he got to the 90s, the pressure got to him.On 97, there was a glimmer of his hundred before the ball that went to the fine leg boundary was signaled four leg byes, or as O’Brien said to Tyrone Kane, “Bloody leg byes”. Then there was a nervy steer along the ground near slip before he did some quadriceps yoga poses at the non-striker’s end because, “I’m getting old and I’m not used to batting for five hours”.On 98, he failed to get a ball away, which frustrated him so much he missed the next delivery, in which Shadab Khan appealed for a caught behind. Pakistan then brought on Mohammad Amir, who had been incredible earlier in the day. On 99, he went about as close to edging the ball behind as he could, before a leading edge popped up on the offside and fell safely through point to ensure that O’Brien made his second first-class hundred.”It’s nice to be on the imaginary honours board in these Portakabin changerooms”. There was no massive celebration, he didn’t even rate it as is his best innings. He said, “I’m just old, man. Batting for five hours takes its toll. I’m not used to playing these longer form games”. And as always he’s looking forward to the next day, the next job for Ireland. Because that’s what O’Brien lives for.If Irish cricket had a player type they’re known for, it would be allrounders who aren’t quite top level bowlers but often compensate with the bat. Stuart Thompson, who allowed O’Brien to make this innings, is one. Trent Johnston, John Mooney and Alex Cusack are just a few others. For Irish cricket, there is nothing special about what O’Brien does, but there is everything special about when he does it.There are – and will continue to be – better Irish players than O’Brien. He’s not the best player in this team, he’s possibly not the best player in his family. But because of when he stands up, you wonder if there will ever be another player who will play three innings as vital as he has for his country.It was shocking that O’Brien scored a hundred, that Ireland lasted a whole day, and that Ireland could win this match. But this time, it wasn’t shocking that it was Kevin O’Brien. It’s always Kevin O’Brien.Kevin O’Brien, Test centurion.

And have Pakistan won at Lord’s more than they have lost?

Steven Lynch29-May-20180:40

A look at AB’s numbers in international cricket

Was Shane Watson the first to score a century in the final of the IPL? asked Ashok Kumar from India
Shane Watson’s rampaging 117 not out for Chennai Super Kings against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mumbai on Sunday was actually the second century in an IPL final. The first was Wriddhiman Saha’s 115 not out for Kings XI Punjab against Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru in 2014 – but Kolkata won that one, mainly thanks to Manish Pandey’s 94 from 50 balls, so Watson’s was the first hundred to secure victory in the IPL final. Overall, it was the 52nd century in the 11-year history of the IPL.Is it true that AB de Villiers has scored the fastest fifty, hundred and 150 in one-day internationals? asked Leroy Phamosa from South Africa
Remarkably, it is true, and emphasises what a talent international cricket has lost with the retirement of AB de Villiers. The fastest ODI fifty and hundred actually came in the same innings, his rollicking 149 from just 44 deliveries for South Africa against West Indies in Johannesburg in January 2015. Entering in the 39th over after an opening stand of 247 between Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw, de Villiers hurtled to a half-century from just 16 balls (beating the previous record by one) and a hundred from 31, with ten sixes (breaking Corey Anderson’s record by five deliveries).De Villiers narrowly missed 150 in that innings but made no mistake six weeks later, during the 2015 World Cup. Again West Indies were the opposition, in the group game in Sydney. This time de Villiers came to the crease in the 30th over. He reached 50 in 30 balls and 100 in 52, then needed only 12 more to zoom to 150. He had 162 not out when the innings closed. South Africa had reached 408 for 5, and ended up winning by 257 runs.Shane Watson’s 117 is the highest individual score in an IPL final•BCCIWas Dom Bess’ 57 the highest score by an England No. 8 on Test debut? asked Jerry Curtis from Somerset
Dominic Bess’ plucky 57 in the second innings of England’s defeat by Pakistan at Lord’s on the weekend was actually the fourth-highest score by an England debutant from No. 8. The record was set only 18 months ago, in December 2016, when Liam Dawson made 66 not out against India in Chennai. David Bairstow – the father of Bess’ team-mate Jonny – scored 59 against India at The Oval in 1979, and Len Braund scored 58 against Australia in Sydney back in 1901-02.The highest score by any debutant batting at No. 8 in a Test is Jimmy Neesham’s 137 not out for New Zealand against India in Wellington in 2013-14. In all, there have been eight debut hundreds from No. 8, four of them by New Zealanders.Pakistan have won more Tests at Lord’s than they have lost. Can any other visiting side boast this record? asked Kamran Ahmed from Pakistan
Pakistan have won more Tests against England at Lord’s than they have lost – it’s 5-4 in their favour after that big victory on Sunday – but overall, their record there is 5-5, as they also lost to Australia at Lord’s in 2010.But Pakistan’s record is bettered only by Australia among visiting sides: the Aussies have won 17 and lost just seven of their 38 Tests at Lord’s (that includes a victory over South Africa in 1912). South Africa have won five and lost eight (four draws), West Indies won four and lost ten (seven draws), India won two and lost 11 (four draws), and New Zealand have won one and lost eight (eight draws). Sri Lanka have played eight, losing two and drawing six, while Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have both played twice at Lord’s and lost twice. England’s record from 134 Tests at Lord’s is now won 53, lost 32, and drawn 49.Has there ever been an instance in Test cricket of a nightwatchman being sent in to open the innings? asked Rajiv Radhakrishnan from England
There have been a few instances of this. Probably the most extreme example came in the third Test of the 1936-37 Ashes, on a Melbourne pitch made almost unplayable by heavy rain. After the downpour, England – who were already two up in the series – declared late on the second day at 76 for 9, to get Australia (who had earlier made 200 for 9, most of them on the first day) in again that night. Don Bradman sent in Bill O’Reilly and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith (Nos. 9 and 11 in the first innings) on the basis that they were unlikely to hit the ball and so wouldn’t get out caught. O’Reilly, possibly unamused, did hit a return catch, so Frank Ward (No. 10 in the first innings) came out as another nightwatchman. He and Fleetwood-Smith managed to survive until the close, when it was 3 for 1. The next day was fine and sunny, and the pitch dried out. Bradman came in at No. 7 and scored 270. Australia went on to win – and claimed the last two matches as well, to take the series 3-2, the only time in Test history that a team has come from 0-2 down to win.Leave your questions in the comments

While the 21-year-old showed his class during his 78-ball 106 in the first ODI, a little more tempering will not hurt

Varun Shetty in Guwahati22-Oct-20181:39

You never know what the par score is against a team like India – Holder

This reaction from ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentator during the second innings of the Rajkot Test both put a finger on the pulse and unwittingly turned into a premonition. Coach Stuart Law was visibly displeased by Shimron Hetmyer swinging across the line against Kuldeep Yadav, and he would be again in the second innings in Hyderabad where Hetmyer got out the same way, against the same bowler – this time when West Indies were looking at setting India a challenging target.Every time Hetmyer was dismissed during the Test series, he looked out of sync. It began with a mix-up that culminated in that Ravindra Jadeja bait-and-troll run-out in Rajkot, and in the middle of his two injudicious slogs, he was lbw shouldering arms to a Kuldeep googly.It could just have been one of those situations where a bowler has you for the entirety of the series, because the moment Kuldeep was left out of the team for the first ODI, Hetmyer produced the kind of devastating innings that has already become a trademark in a very young career. In 13 ODI innings, Hetmyer has now made three centuries and each of them has been scored with a strike rate hovering around 135.”It was good to see him get back to form,” captain Jason Holder said after the match. “He had a lean patch in the Test series and pretty innocuous dismissals as well, so it’s good to see him get a score on the board. He has been doing pretty well in the limited-overs format for us, so it’s good to see him put up his hand and score a hundred today. A bit unfortunate, the stage he got out, I thought he could have gone a bit deeper, probably take us a little further into the innings. But credit to the young player coming and scoring his third ODI century.”The Guyana batsman was identified as one of the most talented young players in the Caribbean in 2013-14 when he played in his first Under-19 World Cup. In 2014, he was named their Junior Cricketer of the Year before captaining West Indies to the Under-19 World Cup title in 2016. And there was enough in Sunday’s innings to understand why he was rated like that.Shimron Hetmyer celebrates his hundred•Associated PressOn a bouncy pitch, where even the settled Kieran Powell before him was struck in the body many times while trying to play with a horizontal bat, Hetmyer brought out a ruthless collection of pull shots against India’s fast bowlers. There was a noticeable plan to bowl short to him from the quicks who, until then, had preferred to hit a length and get the ball to rise at the batsmen. Having settled in after their initial examinations, Hetmyer capitalised. And while the lack of balls turning away from him contributed greatly to his 65 runs on the leg side, his two best moments came against the fast bowlers.The first one was a six against Khaleel Ahmed’s rising offcutter in the 28th over. The variation was meant to follow him into the leg side and Hetmyer could have been entangled if it weren’t for his fast hands. What ended up happening was that the ball was slapped over wide long-on with a horizontal bat.The next one was his most picturesque six of the afternoon, and this was the one that took him past a hundred – a front-foot drive extended to lift the ball over extra cover against Mohammed Shami. It was a majestic hit and fully deserved the standing ovation that followed.But even on a day of such magnificence, the end of Hetmyer’s innings had elements of inexperience to it. Once again, he was out top-edging a spinner with just over 11 overs and only four wickets in hand. So while the 21-year-old might be a completely different player in ODIs, at least from the small sample we’ve seen, some more tempering is needed anyway.”Hetty was quite aggressive,” Holder said. “Fortunately for us, it worked out and it was really good to see him get as deep as he could. But against a team like India, you’re never quite sure what the par score is.”In hindsight, 320 was probably par score and we needed to kick on a little bit further. Having said that, I was pleased to get at least 300 and bat out all the overs. Inexperience did show when we batted as well as when we bowled. So probably just a matter for us to learn quickly and hopefully correct one or two mistakes that we made today.”

Australia made their second-highest opening stand in Asia but the numbers after that weren’t flattering

Bharath Seervi09-Oct-201860 Runs for which Australia lost all their ten wickets after the openers had put on 142. The collapse is the third-worst for any side after a century opening stand. The two worst such collapses were India’s 10 for 46 against England at Old Trafford in 1946, and New Zealand’s 10 for 51 runs against Australia at Auckland in 1974.ESPNcricinfo Ltd42 Runs by Australia’s last nine wickets are the fewest in their first innings in the last 50 years. After the openers, the highest individual score was Mitchell Marsh’s 12, and only two others got into double-digits.7 Number of times Australia have lost their 10 wickets for less than 100 runs since the start of 2016, the most by any team. England and Sri Lanka have had four such collapses and are joint-second on the list. Click here for the list such collapses for all teams in this period.

2 Number of better bowling figures on debut for Pakistan than Bilal Asif’s 6 for 36. Mohammad Zahid’s 7 for 66 and Mohammad Nazir’s 7 for 99, both against New Zealand, in 1996 and 1969 respectively, are the top two debut figures for Pakistan. Bilal’s figures are the best by any bowler making his Test debut against Australia. He bettered a record that stood for more than a 100 years, that of Fred Martin’s 6 for 50 in 1890.33y, 13d Bilal’s age, at which he became the oldest to take a five-wicket haul on debut in the last 50 years. The previous oldest was also a Pakistan bowler: Tanvir Ahmed, at 31 years, 355 days, versus South Africa in 2010-11.6 Instances of two debutants in the top-six batting positions making ducks in the same innings. Australia’s Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne got out for ducks to the debutant Bilal Asif in the same over. It was only the third instance when debutants at No. 5 and 6 got out for ducks.ESPNcricinfo Ltd142 The partnership between Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja – the second-highest for Australia in Asia. Their only bigger stand in the subcontinent than this is of 176 runs between Mark Taylor and Michael Slater versus Pakistan in Rawalpindi in 1994-95. The Finch-Khawaja stand is also the second-highest by any team against Pakistan in UAE. It was also the first time Pakistan had to wait for more than 50 overs for the first wicket in UAE.72.77 Percentage of runs by Australia’s openers in their innings – 147 out of 202. There have been only seven innings in Test history where the openers had a higher contribution to the team’s total. In the Port Elizabeth Test of 2014, Australia’s openers had scored 173 runs out of their total of 216, which is 80.09% of runs, the highest in Test history.280 Australia’s deficit in the first innings, their fourth-highest against Pakistan when batting second. Pakistan did not enforce follow-on. Australia have been asked to follow on only once in the last 30 years even though the opposite teams had at least eight opportunities to enforce it.

For the second game in a row, Hardik played a big part in dragging Mumbai out of a hole, one Suryakumar Yadav’s innings played a big role in creating

Srinath Sripath03-Apr-2019For the second game in a row, Hardik Pandya got a meandering Mumbai Indians innings out of a ditch.Against Royal Challengers Bangalore, an average 145 after 16 overs became a competitive (near match-winning) 187 after 20. Back at home against Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai found themselves at an even more precarious 103 for 3 at the same point (and 125 for 5 after 18).It is an odd scenario for a T20 innings: seven wickets in the bank, just four overs to go, the run rate stuck at just a shade over a run-a-ball. Most importantly, their two biggest power-hitters, Hardik and Kieron Pollard, were stuck in the dugout. Hardik walked in with 18 balls left in the innings, and was on one from two balls when the penultimate over started. From there, he launched six after six as Mumbai added 45 off the last two overs, ending with an eight-ball 25. Pollard, for his part, raced to 17 off seven. Put together, the two made one-fourth of Mumbai’s runs, having batted one-eighth of the innings.Kieron Pollard and the Pandya brothers carried Mumbai Indians to a competitive total•BCCIIn 37 innings since IPL 2017, Hardik has come in to bat with roughly 26 balls remaining in the innings, which is extremely low for a hitter of his ability in a T20 game. Pollard’s case has been the same, for a while now.The question, therefore, is why do Mumbai keep playing themselves into these holes? Shouldn’t at least one of them get a go with a little more time in hand?The Suryakumar slowdownAmong the major reasons for their slowdown before Hardik and Pollard got together was Suryakumar Yadav, who sprinted off the blocks in the Powerplay, making 24 off 15 balls. And then, true to reputation, he slowed down through the middle overs, strike rate dropping from 160 to 125.ESPNcricinfo LtdSuryakumar found the boundary only twice between overs seven and 16, before finally breaking his shackles at the death. He fell going for a second straight boundary, leaving them five down at 125 at the end of the 18th over.We might be some way away from batsmen sacrificing their wickets and retiring out to bring power-hitters to the crease, but as Suryakumar’s innings wore on, the anticipation for Pollard and Hardik only increased.Super Kings’ death-overs dilemmaSuper Kings have many things going for them. Death bowling might not be one of them.On Wednesday night at Wankhede Stadium, Mohit Sharma, Shardul Thakur and Dwayne Bravo conceded 67 runs in the last four overs, the last two, bowled by Thakur and Bravo, going for 45.But it wasn’t altogether unexpected.ESPNcricinfo LtdBravo did defend 12 on a dewy night in Chennai on Sunday, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that Rajasthan Royals had brought the equation down from 56 to 24, carting both Bravo and Thakur for biggies. Up against Pollard and Pandya, Bravo went for 35 off his last two overs, as they took him for three sixes in the final over alone. Bravo’s last over was the most expensive over for a Super Kings bowler in an IPL game.Given their spin-bowling riches that have choked the run-flow and closed out games early, it hasn’t hurt Super Kings often. But in close games, against a side that bats as deep as Mumbai, it might just come down to that.… it was also not the Super Kings’ best day on the fieldWe used stats to make the point at the end of the first week of IPL 2019 that Super Kings were a poor ground-fielding unit even as they topped the charts when it came to grabbing their catching chances.On Wednesday, they dropped one, and did no favours whatsoever to their ground-fielding record. Their (mis)fielders cost the team 13 runs in all, Luck Runs that did Mumbai a world of good. Suryakumar got a total of six such runs, Krunal Pandya, who had fortune smiling on him a large part of the way through his 32-ball 42, had five, and Yuvraj Singh and Pollard, when he was dropped off a free-hit, one each.

Rayudu failed, but has had a solid series in New Zealand while Pant’s keeping woes spilled over to his batting

Deivarayan Muthu14-Mar-2019Since the Champions Trophy in June 2017, India have tried out 11 players at No. 4, but none have staked claim to that position, or so it appears, with India having completed their complement of matches leading up to the World Cup.The situation so dire that Virat Kohli briefly returned to No. 4 in Mohali, but didn’t get going. Picked ahead of Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant had an opportunity to leave his imprint in the series decider in Delhi, but failed.It may appear that Kedar Jadhav is a certainty, along with MS Dhoni and Kohli. This leaves Ambati Rayudu, dropped after three poor outings, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, Pant and Karthik scrambling for middle-order berths. ESPNcricinfo examines how they all fared in India’s last ODI series before the World Cup.Getty Images

Ambati Rayudu

Kohli has often stated Rayudu has the game to bat at No. 4, but a key ingredient seems to have gone missing suddenly: strike rotation. In the first three ODIs, he laboured to 13, 18 and 2. He ate up 40 dots out of 59 deliveries faced and was subsequently left out.The competition is so stifling that he may yet find himself in a spot despite being the top scorer in New Zealand in January. He managed 190 runs in five innings, including a match-winning 90 on a Wellington track that aided pacers, after the top order had floundered.

Vijay Shankar

He played each of the five matches against Australia, caught the eye with his strike rotation, lofted hits, sparkling cameos, rocket throws from the deep and the ability to save runs on the field. With the bat, he isn’t quite the power hitter, but has shown how he can use the touch game to great effect. That he can bowl a few overs and sometimes win games – like he did in Nagpur – might give him the edge.His 46 off 41 balls on a fairly two-paced Nagpur deck stood out. He unfurled a variety of shots – none more delightful than the pair of straight-bat punches over midwicket off Marcus Stoinis.According to , Vijay played a mere 4.1% false shots in that innings, and the last time an Indian who wasn’t Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan or Kohli scored as many runs with that much control was Hardik Pandya in the Champions Trophy final.In the series decider, he had an opportunity to put little doubts to rest, but he fell after miscuing a pull to long-on. This after he’d just hit a rousing six onto the sight screen off Adam Zampa. Overall, he is quite a package nonetheless.Getty Images

Rishabh Pant

When Pant smokes massive sixes, he makes a mockery of the stable base that coaches are fond of. He provided glimpses of those during his 24-ball 36 in Mohali, but his wicketkeeping came under sharp scrutiny. He missed two stumpings, and the recipient of one of them – Ashton Turner – not only won Australia the game but also gave Justin Langer and co. a few selection headaches.Pant fared much better behind the stumps in the series decider in front of his home crowd, but couldn’t click with the bat again as he was snuffed out by Nathan Lyon’s dip and turn. His returns: 52 runs in two innings. However, the Indian team management rates him highly and he was recently rewarded with a Category A central contract – the second-most lucrative retainer.Is that alone a sign that he’s still in their plans? What of Karthik and his finishing abilities? Kohli insists that IPL will not impact World Cup selection, but given Pant hasn’t got enough game-time in this series, will the toss-up continue in the IPL too?Getty Images

KL Rahul

He lit up the T20Is with knocks of 50 and 47, but had one innings to prove himself in the ODIs. That innings came at No. 3, a position he wasn’t auditioning for. It also came on the back of a mammoth 193-run opening stand that left him fewer overs to negotiate. Rahul likes the new ball ball coming onto the bat and isn’t as fluent against the old one, at least initially. He could well be India’s back-up opener in the World Cup, but there are still question marks over how he can fit into the middle order.