Her Test debut was as much a vindication of her talent as it was a bulldozing of perceptions around it

Annesha Ghosh20-Jun-20216:00

Mithali Raj – ‘I’m mightily impressed with the debutants’

Mohit Sharma remembers seeing some of the traits before. The intrepid strokeplay, the solidity in defence, the clarity in approach, the seeming lack of nerves. “Never before had I seen a girl bat like that or with that kind of an easy, fearless attitude,” he recounts.Sharma, who last played for the India men’s team in 2015, followed the England vs India Bristol Test on TV. “This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to watch women play Test cricket,” he says over a phone call. But there’s an element of familiarity to this novel experience of his.About five months ago, at a camp of the Haryana men’s team, the domestic side he represents, Sharma played some half a dozen practice matches against Shafali Verma. And bowled at her at the nets, too. So the 96 and 63 that Verma, 17, scored in the one-off Test, becoming the youngest woman to hit twin fifties on Test debut, wasn’t entirely surprising to him.”At the camp, Shafali would handle the new ball with ease,” Sharma recalls. “It didn’t matter to her if the pacers were clocking 135kph or higher, or what the stature or skillsets of the bowlers were. In all of those five-six matches, she confidently survived a good 15-18 overs opening the batting. So, scoring runs wasn’t her only achievement.”That rang true for Verma’s performance in Bristol, too. She batted for the better part of days two and three, and a part of the morning session on day four, trying to get the better of England’s 396 first-innings tally and then a follow-on deficit of 165. The 235 balls she faced across the two innings, the second-most by an India debutant in women’s Tests, were as much a vindication of her talent as it was a bulldozing of perceptions around it.Shafali Verma became the youngest woman to hit twin fifties on Test debut•Getty ImagesBefore this Test, 75 percent of her 617 international runs had come in boundaries. Capped only in T20Is, her 29 sixes, the most by any woman player in T20Is since her debut in September 2019, and her No.1 ranking in the format, have been a testament to her ability. In the Test against England, her record three sixes, the most by a woman Test debutant, did her reputation as a big-hitter no harm.But broken down to its individual components, her Player-of-the-Match winning debut was remarkable also because of its more elemental, less dazzling facets. The blocking, the grinding, the restraint, all high elbow, supple wrists – and doing it for prolonged phases of play.”Shafali, [as] we know, does have a range of shots and she can be very effective in a format like this if she gets going,” Mithali Raj, the India Test and ODI captain, said after the match. “In no time, we could see the score would be somewhere else if she gets going. And once we knew it’s a used wicket and there won’t be much movement, we thought it would be a good time to give her a Test debut, and she lived up to it.”Related

• Shafali Verma's matchup dominance against Katherine Brunt sets career tone

• Interview – Verma: 'I played 150 bouncers at a time'

• Stats: Debutants take the limelight on the return of Test cricket

• Mithali: The girls have shown they can stand up even without much practice

• Shafali's target on Test debut: 'Learn about choosing the right balls to play'

Before her dismissal in the second innings, Verma’s approach in the opening half-hour of the final day was a study in character as well as a test of it. Sophie Ecclestone, the No. 1-ranked bowler in T20Is, began with a slip and a short leg in place. Her left-arm spin was angled largely into the body, with the drift playing its part, and Verma responded with only forward presses and straight-bat back-foot plods.Three overs later, in Ecclestone’s third on the day, Verma threatened to cut loose, starting with an inside-out shot, right off the middle of the bat, over the bowler’s head. The tossed-up delivery carried all the way over the fence. Restraint be damned.The start to the over was reminiscent of the momentum-changing four she struck off Brunt on day two en route to her record 167-run opening stand with Smriti Mandhana. The end to that over, with Verma having offered up a catch off Ecclestone, was a reminder that the Bristol Test was, after all, the teenager’s first competitive red-ball game.”Personally, [I felt] her fifty in the second innings was a very beautiful fifty,” Raj said. “The 96 she scored was a good knock, but the fifty came with a little more sorted head and a little more experience. The sweetly timed drives… It was beautiful to watch her.”Verma was dismissed long before India saved the match, from where it looked like their four-Test unbeaten streak would not extend to five. The feisty draw, broadcast live to global audiences, could have wide-ranging, long-lasting ripples.

“I’m sure from here on, she’ll go from strength to strength and will be very, very important to the batting of the Indian team, in all formats.”Mithali Raj on Shafali Verma

For starters, Verma is still uncapped in ODIs. For the home series against South Africa in March, she didn’t receive a call-up for the 50-overs assignment. (The team management or selectors never explained why.) But the Bristol Test left little room for any uncertainty to cloud Verma’s immediate future.The England tour now transitions into its limited-overs leg. A maiden 50-over appearance for India in the three-ODI series should only be a matter of (a week’s) time. In the larger scheme of things, discussions around the playing combination and putting on competitive first-innings totals leading into the 2022 ODI World Cup must start revolving around Verma’s role.”I’m sure from here on, she’ll go from strength to strength and will be very, very important to the batting of the Indian team, in all formats,” Raj said. “She beautifully adapted to this format. She didn’t go like how she would go bonkers in the T20 format. Sensibly she played the new ball and it’s great to have her.”Shafali Verma had the opportunity to share the dressing room with the likes of England and Velocity batter Danielle Wyatt in the Women’s T20 Challenge•BCCIIt couldn’t be more ironic that Verma now sits atop the list of most runs by a Test debutant without a first-class cap. The Bristol draw was India’s first Test in nearly seven years. The three-day senior women zonal tournament, the only domestic red-ball domestic event, ceased to exist after the 2017-18 season. The absence of an Under-16 national competition means an entire demographic remains untapped or under-exposed or both until the players reach the Under-19s and Under-23 competitions.Against the backdrop of the dearth of a well-outlined pathway for female cricketers in India, Verma’s journey to a Test cap remains something of a study in the relation between intent and talent-nurturing. At the Haryana men’s camp earlier in the year, Verma was the only female player. It was the Haryana Cricket Association, her state unit, that ensured Verma got a regular hit at the nets, in practice matches, and took part in the fitness sessions alongside the men’s players.”I had to even remind my bowlers, ‘ (Don’t go easy on her because a girl; she might take you to the cleaners),'” Sharma, who led the opposition team in the practice games featuring Verma at the Haryana camp, remembers. “All of us bowlers gave our 100 per cent. There was no leniency because she is a girl. We knew we were up against a good batter.”For all the paucity of Test cricket for women internationally and of a structure that assists planned, long-term development of India’s female cricketers, Verma’s record-breaking debut in the longest format remains a success story like no other. Imagine what could happen if India got down to unearthing talent by design, not by accident.

Being in a group full of Asian oppositions could prove a test if the pitches are slow and low

Deivarayan Muthu21-Oct-2021

Big picture

Just four months ago, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor sealed victory in the World Test Championship final, leaving the New Zealand public clamouring for image of the pair walking off to be immortalised as a statue at the Basin Reserve. New Zealand are now out to have another crack at a world title in the same year, but at this T20 World Cup in the UAE, they will have to do so without Taylor – their joint-most-capped player in T20Is – and there are also some (minor) concerns over Williamson’s fitness in the lead-up to the tournament.Related

• Lockie Ferguson ruled out of T20 World Cup with calf tear

• Guptill hopes to draw confidence from 2016 T20 World Cup performance to turn UAE form around

• Williamson on course for T20 World Cup opener

• T20 World Cup prize money: Title winners to get $1.6 million

• Fit-again Conway ready to create World Cup 'legacy' after Test high

New Zealand dominated their most recent home summer, which saw the emergence of Glenn Phillips and Devon Conway, winning 10 of the 13 completed T20Is. From thriving on easy-paced hit-through-the line tracks on small grounds, Williamson’s men will have to adapt quickly to the slow, low pitches on bigger grounds in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.It helps New Zealand that ten of their 16 squad players were part of the recently concluded IPL, and they can also draw some confidence from the past. In the 2016 T20 World Cup group-stage game in Nagpur, they benched Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Mitchell McClenaghan to accommodate three spinners in Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi and Nathan McCullum – and stunned India on a rank turner.While Williamson has already indicated that conditions will decide New Zealand’s XI, facing India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh – if they qualify for the tournament proper – will be a tricky proposition.

Recent form

None of New Zealand’s World Cup squad players travelled to Bangladesh, where a Tom-Latham-led second-string side lost the T20I series 3-2. The subsequent tour to Pakistan was called off amid security concerns, minutes before the first ODI was scheduled to begin in Rawalpindi. However, a good chunk of New Zealand’s players have been active in franchise cricket, including the IPL, CPL, the Hundred and the Vitality Blast.

Batting

Phillips and Conway have evolved into versatile middle-order batters, and a fit Williamson could have a big role to play, but there could be a bit of trouble at the top if Martin Guptill and Tim Seifert can’t maximise the powerplay in these conditions. Guptill has played nine T20 games in the UAE, scoring 126 runs at an average of 14 and a strike rate of 104.13. Seifert has had stints with the Knight Riders’ franchises in the CPL and IPL but has played just 10 T20s in Asia.Jimmy Neesham and Daryl Mitchell, picked ahead of Colin de Grandhomme, will be tasked with the responsibility of finishing the innings.Lockie Ferguson could be a vital cog in the bowling line-up•Getty Images

Bowling

Having recovered from injury and Covid-19, Lockie Ferguson proved his form and fitness for Kolkata Knight Riders in their run to the final in IPL 2021. Ferguson can devour oppositions with his breakneck speed, which most subcontinent teams aren’t used to facing. Adam Milne, who was in stellar form in the Hundred, could have added more X-factor to New Zealand’s attack, but the team management has instead leaned towards the experience of Boult and Southee, keeping Milne as a reserve bowler.New Zealand don’t have a specialist offspinner although Phillips is open to doing the job against left-handers. Santner was the only New Zealander who didn’t get a game in this IPL, but head coach Gary Stead believes he will be able to shake off the rust during the warm-up games.Kyle Jamieson had impressed with his change-ups in Chennai during the first leg of the IPL, but his T20 form has tapered off since. In his last seven T20s, he has managed just a solitary wicket at an economy rate of 10.09.

Player to watch

Ferguson aside, Phillips has become a sought-after T20 package. In addition to being the top six-hitter in T20s this year, Phillips is one of the better players of spin in the New Zealand line-up, having honed his skills while working with Ramnaresh Sarwan at the CPL. A back condition has limited his ability to keep wicket in recent times, but he can aggressively patrol the outfield and bowl quickish offspin.

Key question(s)

Do New Zealand have enough depth in their squad? They’ve picked only one reserve player in Milne, and left out compelling T20 options in Colin Munro and Finn Allen. If the ball doesn’t swing or seam around, how effective will Boult or Southee be in the UAE?

Likely XI

1 Martin Guptill, 2 Tim Seifert (wk), 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Devon Conway, 5 Glenn Phillips, 6 Jimmy Neesham, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Kyle Jamieson/Daryl Mitchell, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Ish Sodhi, 11 Trent Boult/Tim Southee

On the brink of a milestone only seven other bowlers in history have crossed, the Australia spinner looks ahead to his side’s next six Tests in England

Andrew McGlashan05-Jun-2023Nathan Lyon is already in rarified air as a Test cricketer. But he’s close to joining an even more exclusive club.With six Tests over the next two months there is every chance that he will claim the 18 wickets he needs to reach 500 – a milestone only achieved by seven bowlers in the history of the game.Lyon is not someone who likes focusing on personal milestones during a playing career, but he is able to acknowledge the significance of the landmark that is within his grasp during the upcoming Ashes series. His 400th wicket also came against England, during the 2021-22 series, when he had Dawid Malan taken at silly point on the fourth day at the Gabba.Related

The permanence of Nathan Lyon: a special century beckons at Lord's

Ashes 2023 squad vs squad: Who looks stronger?

Cummins happy to be 'underdone than overdone'; 'getting mentally ready' key for Rohit

Flying under the radar, Travis Head could play decisive hand for Australia in England

New candidates emerge as Australia search answers for who after Nathan Lyon?

“Yeah, I don’t like talking about myself in that light, but it is pretty amazing when you sit back and look at the names who have been able to take 500 Test wickets,” he said before flying to the UK. “I know I’ve been very fortunate and I’m grateful for my journey so far. It has been amazing, and if I’m able to tick that little box over the Ashes, it would be very special.”If I start looking at what I’ve been able to achieve, the Tests and the series that we’ve won, I’ll feel like the end can sneak up on you quite quickly. I still feel I’ve got a lot of cricket left in me and I know personally, I want to tick off some big goals in the many years to come. I’ll definitely look back at it when I do call stumps, but that’s not for a while yet.”Lyon, who made his Test debut in 2011 and claimed a wicket with his first delivery, now embarks on a two-month tour of the UK with two major prizes up for grabs: the World Test Championship and the Ashes, which Australia have not won in England since 2001.Lyon’s key role in Australia’s WTC final Facing India at The Oval on June 7 is the first matter of business for Australia before thinking about the Ashes, even though that series begins just four days after the Oval match ends. The WTC has been much more of a singular focus for the Australians this time after they missed the inaugural final due to over-rate penalties.”This is my World Cup final,” Lyon said. “Being part of the 2019 [ODI] World Cup, where we weren’t good enough against England in the semi-final, it did feel the World Cup dream probably slipped away.”Spinners Matt Kuhnemann (left) and Mitchell Swepson (right) in a BBL game. “I do feel the depth of Australia’s spin stocks has improved out of sight,” Lyon says•Bradley Kanaris/Getty ImagesLyon was a central figure in Australia’s campaign to secure their spot in this year’s WTC final. In this two-year cycle he claimed 83 wickets in 19 Tests at 26.97, 15 wickets more than the second most prolific bowler in this period, James Anderson. While history suggested Australia would dominate at home, they were handed a tough overseas draw with visits to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.Though only the tour of Pakistan produced a series win – and a very significant one at that – crucially Australia picked up three Test victories in those series, clinching their place in the final with the win in Indore where Lyon claimed 8 for 64. That followed five-wicket hauls in the other two successes: 5 for 83 in Lahore in a match that went to the final hour of the final day and 5 for 90 in Galle.”I’m pretty proud of the whole squad – players and coaches – the mentality of everyone, the way we played our brand of cricket, the different challenges of playing in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India and at home,” Lyon said. “Feel like the World Test Championship final is a reward for our efforts over the last 24 months, but there’s a lot to play for now. We really need to make sure we go on with it and finish the job that we set out to do.”To go over to each country and play my role and be able to help contribute to a few wins, it’s been amazing, but it’s also been a massive learning curve for me and all our squad. Not one [performance] stands out – they are all equal in their own right. Saying that, it means nothing now. I need to make sure I’m playing my role [in the final].”Lyon’s looming centuryThe proximity of the WTC final to the Ashes has made for a curious build-up. The match against India deserves its own billing but the prospect of the five contests that follow it is mouth-watering given the resurgence in England’s Test cricket over the last 12 months.Lyon, who has recently launched an online platform called GOATD, which will provide members exclusive behind-the-scenes access to his tour, is on his fourth Ashes trip.”Feel like every Ashes is getting bigger,” he said. “England have been talking about the Ashes for a long time but for us we are purely focused on the WTC final and feel like we’ve got to be. We know we are there for the long haul and it will be a big challenge with what England throw at us, but right now the focus is purely on India.””To hopefully crack 100 consecutive games would be an extremely proud moment, but let’s try play 98 first”•SuppliedLyon’s first Ashes trip, in 2013, can be seen as a key moment in his career. He was omitted for the first two Tests, when Ashton Agar was preferred – Agar famously left a bigger impression with the bat by making 98 at No. 11 on debut. Lyon returned at Old Trafford. He has not missed a Test match since, currently sitting on 97 in a row.”It’s something that I’m pretty proud about, having played 97 consecutive Tests. To hopefully crack 100 consecutive games would be an extremely proud moment, but let’s try to play 98 first,” he said.This will be the earliest Ashes series in the UK since 1997 and it will be wrapped up before August – a month where in recent times such series have just been getting going. Lyon had a brief spell with Worcestershire in 2017, which gave him a taste of bowling in early-season English conditions, but he does not think much will have to change.”I’ve been watching a fair amount of county cricket and talking to the likes of Sean Abbott [at Surrey] and getting some intel on the surfaces,” he said. “Stokesy has come out and said they want hard, fast, flat wickets, so that’s what we are expecting.”While India come first, what of the prospect of being taken on by England’s Bazballers and their batters trying to put him into the stands? “Won’t be the first it’s happened to me,” Lyon said. “I have the record of most Test sixes in history so a couple won’t matter to me.”The shadow of Headingley 2019Australia retained the Ashes in 2019 under Tim Paine’s captaincy, so that was certainly a success, but it was also a missed opportunity to come away series winners: England levelled the series at The Oval after, of course, the Stokes-inspired Miracle at Headingley.Enough time has elapsed that Lyon is philosophical at looking back at his impending return to that ground; this year’s series features the same venues in the same order.”I know 99% of people probably think the run-out [that Lyon failed to effect during England’s last-wicket partnership in their successful chase] cost us everything, but we should have won that game well and truly before taking it so deep,” he said. “But Ben Stokes is going to go down as one of England’s greatest. Definitely feels like we missed a trick but to go over there and retain the Ashes was extremely special.The missed run-out of Jack Leach at Headingley in 2019: “I’m expecting the crowd [at Headingley in 2023] to let me know, but it’s not the first mistake I’ve ever made and it won’t be the last”•Getty Images”I’m not scared of the ground, I’m looking forward to being back at Headingley. Was probably one of the best Test matches I’ve ever been a part of. I’m expecting the crowd to let me know, but it’s not the first mistake I’ve ever made and it won’t be the last.”Future bright, but Lyon has no plans to leave Unlike in 2019, Lyon has a fellow spinner alongside him in the Test squad. Todd Murphy has been one of the breakout stars in the Australian game over the last 12 months and claimed 14 wickets on his maiden Test tour, in India, including a seven-wicket haul on debut in Nagpur.Australia’s schedule over the next couple of years – they do not tour the subcontinent for Tests until they go to Sri Lanka in early 2025 – means that, barring injury to Lyon, and the end of his long unbeaten Test run, Murphy is likely to have to wait for his next opportunity – unless an SCG Test calls for two spinners.But his emergence has gone a long way to answering the question of who replaces Lyon when the time comes. Along with Matt Kuhnemann’s swift elevation to Test cricket in India, the presence of Mitchell Swepson, the emergence of Corey Rocchiccioli at Western Australia, and hopefully a return for legspinner Tanveer Sangha from injury next season make for a sense that the spin stocks are in a healthy place.”Think the depth is growing very fast,” Lyon said. “[Matt and Mitch] have done exceptionally well in their own right and have played a role in winning games overseas. Hopefully I’ve been able to help the guys out here and there but I do feel the depth of Australia’s spin stocks has improved out of sight and it will be a good space for the next decade or so.”Lyon has no plans on vacating his position anytime soon. “The hunger and drive to get better is still there, and I still feel like I have a lot to offer Australia. I’ve never conquered this game of cricket and never will – feel like I can keep learning and keep getting better. Until that day comes when I can’t get any better or the hunger dries. That’s when I call stumps.”No. 500 may not be the last of his landmarks.

Mumbai play three of their four remaining games at home, while RCB only play one at home

S Rajesh08-May-2023Mumbai Indians

Royal Challengers Bangalore
With only 17 games left in the league stage, it’s still impossible to separate most of the teams on the IPL points table. Five are locked on 10 points eac, and two on eight each. The overall points distribution makes this one of the closest IPLs ever. The standard deviation, which is a measure of how dispersed or clustered a set of data is around the mean, for the points table this season is 2.366; only once in the previous 15 seasons has it been smaller after 53 games: 1.984 in 2020.With five teams on 10 points, every match that pits two of them against each other will have a huge bearing on the fortunes of the teams and the table. Tuesday’s match is one such, with Mumbai Indians locking horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore. Both teams are on 10 from 10 games, with net run rates that are quite close as well. Both teams also have games to come against Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad.One crucial difference, though, is that Mumbai have three home games to come, compared to just one for Royal Challengers. Both teams have 50-50 win-loss records at home this season, with Mumbai winning two and losing two and RCB winning three and losing three. Towards the business end of the tournament, however, more home games might yet prove to be a crucial advantage for Mumbai Indians.Sixteen points is said to be the magic number for qualification, but as things stand, as many as six teams can finish on 16 or more points. That means the winner on Tuesday will still have plenty of work to do, though it will still be a significant step towards qualification.On the other hand, if a couple of teams – Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings – break away from the pack with wins in their remaining games, then even 14 might be enough for qualification for two of the remaining teams. For instance, the loser of Tuesday’s game can finish on 14 and still qualify even without net run rates coming into play.

Also, what’s the record for the highest IPL total without a half-century?

Steven Lynch09-Apr-2019In a recent IPL match KKR scored 206, with no batsman reaching 50. Was this a record? asked Brett Renike from Australia
That’s a good spot, because Kolkata Knight Riders’ 206 for 5 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru last week was indeed a record IPL total without an individual half-century – the highest individual contribution was Andre Russell’s rapid unbeaten 48. The previous record – and the only other such score over 200 – was Mumbai Indians’ 202 for 7 against the Super Kings in Chennai, in one of the earliest matches in the very first IPL, in April 2008.Somerset made 226 for 5 in vain against Kent in a floodlit Vitality Blast match in Canterbury last August. And the international record is Australia’s 221 for 5 against England in Sydney in 2006-07, when the highest individual score was Adam Gilchrist’s 48.In one of last week’s ODIs, the first four Australians in the order all reached 50. Was this a record? asked Tom McGuirk from Canada
The match you’re talking about was the one in Dubai on March 31, which Australia won to complete a 5-0 whitewash of Pakistan. Usman Khawaja made 98, Aaron Finch 53, Shaun Marsh 61 and Glenn Maxwell 70.This was actually the 16th time the top four in the order had all reached 50 in the same ODI. Australia had done it twice before – against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2005-06 (Adam Gilchrist 55, Simon Katich 79, Ricky Ponting 164, Mike Hussey 81), and against India in Jaipur in 2013-14 (Finch 50, Phillip Hughes 83, Shane Watson 59, George Bailey 92 not out). Remarkably, Australia lost both those games!In that Jaipur game, Maxwell also added 53 from No. 5 – it’s the only occasion the top five in the order all made half-centuries in the same ODI. The only other instance of five was achieved by Pakistan against Zimbabwe in Karachi in 2007-08: numbers 2-6 all reached 50, but at the top of the order Salman Butt was out for 4.I realised that Faf du Plessis had a batting average of 293 early in his Test career. Was this a record, at least for South Africa? asked Dale Kriege from South Africa
South Africa’s Faf du Plessis raised his batting average to 293.00 during his second Test, in Australia in 2012-13. He followed 78 and 110 not out on debut in Adelaide with 78 not out and 27 in Perth – so was in sight of an average of 300 when he was out on the second innings.That’s the eight-highest Test batting average anyone has ever had – but there is another South African who did better. Jacques Rudolph started with 222 not out (against Bangladesh in Chittagong in 2002-03), and added 71 in the following Test. Just before he was dismissed for 10 in his third – against England at Edgbaston in 2003 – he had a Test average of 303.The highest Test batting average ever recorded was by the West Indian Lawrence Rowe. After making 214 and 100 not out on debut, against New Zealand in Kingston in 1971-72, he had taken his average to 336 immediately before being dismissed for 22 in the next match, in Port-of-Spain. Rowe came down to earth a little after that, with innings of 1 and 0!The others who boasted higher averages than du Plessis were the England trio of David Lloyd (308.00), Reginald “Tip” Foster (306) and Ian Bell (303), India’s Rohit Sharma (302), and the West Indian Frank Worrell (294). New Zealand’s Jimmy Neesham comes next with 277.Tom Latham and Kane Williamson have made more than 700 runs in their last ten innings•Getty ImagesI know Alzarri Joseph’s 6 for 12 was an IPL record, but was it the best in all Twenty20 cricket? asked Jai Manohar Prakash from India
Alzarri Joseph’s 6 for 12 for Mumbai Indians against Sunrisers in Hyderabad the other day – on his IPL debut – broke the competition record set in 2008 by Sohail Tanvir, who took 6 for 14 for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur in 2008, the first IPL season.The best figures in all senior T20 cricket are 6 for 5, by the Malaysian-born Somerset slow left-armer Arul Suppiah, against Glamorgan in Cardiff in 2011. In the other big competitions, Shakib Al Hasan claimed 6 for 6 in the CPL, for Barbados Tridents against Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel in Bridgetown in August 2013, while Lasith Malinga took 6 for 7 in the Big Bash, for Melbourne Stars against Perth Scorchers in Perth in December 2012. The international record is 6 for 8, by another Sri Lankan, Ajantha Mendis, against Zimbabwe in the World Twenty20 in Hambantota in September 2012.Graeme Pollock scored 677 runs in his last ten Test innings. Is this the record? asked Jeremy Bradbury from England
My first thought was that Graeme Pollock’s aggregate – which included a murderous 274 against Australia in Durban in 1969-70 – would be a record for anyone’s last ten Test innings. But, as I’ve found out often, first thoughts can be dangerous!In fact there are three batsmen who collected more in their last ten innings. Graham Yallop made 693, while a rather more celebrated Australian, Charlie Macartney, managed 753. But top of the list is the West Indian Seymour Nurse, whose 766 runs included 258 in his very last innings, against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1968-69.Of current batsmen, the New Zealanders Kane Williamson and Tom Latham have made 738 and 701 runs respectively in their last ten innings, but those figures will presumably change.And there’s an update to last week’s question about batsmen who made no scores in the nineties in Tests, from Anne Monaghan
“You said that Michael Vaughan was next after Don Bradman for making the most Test centuries without a score in the nineties. But Greg Chappell scored 24 centuries and, although he did make 98 against England in Sydney in 1979-80, he was not out in that innings, so was never dismissed in the nineties.”Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Duanne Olivier may be slower, fuller and blonder than he was three years ago, but he remains just as effective to South Africa

Firdose Moonda03-Jan-2022Duanne Olivier is back. Or is he?The last time this bowler who calls himself Olivier played a Test at the Wanderers, in January 2019 against Pakistan, almost half of his deliveries were short of a good length and fewer than 10% were full. He was the quickest of South Africa’s four seamers and the most successful.Related

• Meet the quicks: SA's fast bowlers for the India series

• Elgar, Petersen survive fighting last hour after quicks wrap up India

• Olivier on SA comeback: 'I think my nerves will be shot through the roof'

Now, an Olivier has turned up, in January 2022 against India, and while just over half his deliveries were short of a good length, almost 15% were full. He was the slowest of South Africa’s quartet, but could still count himself among the successful. Olivier took three wickets, including two in two balls that gave South Africa an early advantage after a meandering first hour of the second Test.He’s back, but he’s not the same Olivier that left, and that’s not just because of the blonde highlights. This is Olivier 2.0.On re-selection, Olivier promised he was less concerned with being an “enforcer” (code for wanting to threaten batters with body blows above the waist) and more interested in finding the best way to operate on each surface.At the Wanderers, historically a fast-bowlers’ paradise, while the instinct is to bowl short, it has been proven that fuller lengths are more likely to get wickets. Olivier knows this. Since returning to the South African domestic set-up, Olivier has joined Lions, who are based at the Wanderers. They’ve played three of their four first-class matches of the season, so far, at this ground and Olivier has taken 24 of his 28 wickets here. Most of them came from bowling fuller than he usually would. “It’s a bit of a risk and reward playoff,” he told ESPNcricinfo earlier in the season. “If you bowl a bit fuller, you might get hit for a few boundaries, but you’re testing the batter’s technique. You’re not just allowing him to leave and get himself in.”Still, Olivier could not resist starting with a bouncer as he marked his return to Test cricket. Mayank Agarwal ducked under it with ease. Olivier adjusted later in the over but overcompensated and bowled it too full. Agarwal cashed in with a cover drive that went for four and then sent a low full toss through mid-off. Olivier was back and finding his feet.In his next over, he got closer to the outside edge but could not tempt KL Rahul into playing. In the next one, he beat Rahul and even though he had dismissed him with movement away from off stump but the bat had flicked the pad as the ball carried through. And in the next over, to keep India’s openers guessing, Olivier sent a well-directed short ball in Rahul’s direction and Dean Elgar thought he may have broken through but the ball came off Rahul’s shoulder. That was the surprise delivery and Olivier went back to bowling full. Rahul found the boundary twice.It took Lungi Ngidi’s impressive opening spell to plant the seeds of doubt in the Indian batters’ minds. In his first 12 balls, Ngidi found Rahul’s outside edge once, but the chance fell short of third slip, and beat it four times. In his next over, he tested Agarwal, who left successfully against Ngidi but nicked off to Marco Jansen.Duanne Olivier is mobbed by his colleagues after picking up a wicket•AFP/Getty ImagesNgidi only bowled four overs, which cost just three runs before Olivier returned, with a plan. He kept Rahul on the back foot with an over of short balls, and tried the same against Cheteshwar Pujara, then mixed it up with a few fuller and then settled on his plan to use the bounce to prise out India’s struggling No.3. Pujara tried to defend a short ball but it ballooned off the shoulder of his bat to Temba Bavuma at point. His next delivery was fuller but still short of a good length and Ajinkya Rahane went fishing. He was caught at gully to give Olivier his 50th Test wicket, three years after his 48th.That makes Olivier the joint-third-quickest South African, in match terms, to reach 50 Test wickets. He is in his 11th Test; Vernon Philander took seven and Peter Pollock, nine. But in balls terms, Olivier is the second-best of all time. Philander bowled 1240 balls to take 50 wickets; Olivier has bowled 1486. That means he takes a wicket roughly every 30 balls, or once in five overs. As things stand, no Test bowler with at least a half-century of wickets is more incisive.In big-picture terms, it does not get much more impressive than that but Olivier was quick to point out that not everything about his performance was perfect. “Sometimes, I was a bit floaty,” he noted. “And it’s okay. As a person, you try to get better. There were certain patches which were very good and certain patches that weren’t very good.”There is also a question around his speed. Most of Olivier’s deliveries clocked in at around 130kph on the speed gun, at least 10kph lower than when he left and was hitting the 140kph regularly. “I don’t know what’s going on with the speed gun,” Olivier said, laughing.The answer is nothing. Enquiries were made earlier in the day when Olivier appeared to be bowling quicker to the naked eye even though the television graphics had him in the mid-120s. The same speed gun had the other bowlers in the 140s, but, even though he may have hinted at it, it doesn’t actually really bother Olivier. “I’ve never looked at the speed gun to see if I am hitting my straps or not,” he said.Instead, Olivier relies on the way he feels and Monday was particularly challenging in that regard. “It felt like a debut. I was very nervous today,” he said. “And I have a new skill: I’m trying to bowl fuller, so I am still trying to do that at pace.”He believes he will get quicker as the series goes on, but thinks the important thing is actually to get more consistent. And that applies to South Africa’s attack as a whole. Their lines were markedly better here than they were at Centurion, where 42% of balls bowled by the seamers were left alone in the first two sessions. At the Wanderers, India only left 33% of the time in the same period. “The message was simple: try and make them play more,” Olivier confirmed. “So we have improved and we want to improve more.”South Africa 2.0 (or are we at 6.0 or somewhere there now?) is also a work in progress but they’ve started 2022 on the right footing. They picked a team with the bowling personnel that suited the situation and they opened the door to someone who thought his international career had ended three years ago. So yes, Oliver is back. The new Olivier.

Sparks flew, and ESPNcricinfo experts Ian Bishop and Daniel Vettori were left in awe

Deivarayan Muthu09-May-20223:21

Vettori: Russell’s wicket was the catalyst for Bumrah to just keep going

When Andre Russell came out to bat on Monday night, Kolkata Knight Riders were 123 for 3 in the 14th over. Russell immediately set to work, hitting a second-ball six off legspinner M Ashwin.As if on cue, Mumbai Indians brought Jasprit Bumrah back into the attack for the 15th over. He’d only bowled one over so far in the innings, and had clearly been held back for this particular confrontation.Related

• Time for bails to go? Chahal advocates rule change after Warner non-dismissal

• As it happened: KKR vs MI

• Forearm injury puts Suryakumar out of remainder of IPL 2022

• Stats – Bumrah's 5-10 the second-best returns in a losing cause in IPL history

• Cummins stuns Mumbai again as Bumrah's five-for goes in vain

Bumrah’s first ball to Russell was an inch-perfect inswinging yorker, with his exaggerated inward angle making it even more lethal. Russell somehow got his toes out of the way and jammed it out. The next ball wasn’t a proper bouncer; instead it was a hard-length delivery angling into off stump at around chest height. It was neither cuttable nor pullable. There was no width for Russell to be able to free his arms. He still swung hard, and ended up flapping a catch to Kieron Pollard to long-on.It was the fourth time in nine IPL innings that Bumrah had dismissed Russell, while conceding just 56 off 44 balls. The latest dismissal was the perfect execution of a 1-2 plan, and it left ESPNcricinfo expert Daniel Vettori hugely impressed.”I think that yorker just started everything,” Vettori said on the show T20 Time:Out. “To come back after bowling just one over, sort of ten overs since then, to hit that yorker at that pace, it surprised Russell, so that meant that he actually wasn’t in control of the over.”Russell didn’t know what the next ball was going to be, because he executed that yorker so well, and then he went to length, and he went to hard length – maybe he was sitting on the bouncer, but I think hard length was such a great choice, and Russell was going to go hard after it and he got him out, and that just started it. It was the catalyst for him to keep going and going and going.”Keep going was what Bumrah did: his last three overs brought him five wickets for the cost of a mere five runs. His overall figures of 4-1-10-5 were his best in all T20 cricket. From the point of his reintroduction into the attack, Knight Riders lost six wickets for 29 runs in their last six overs.Fewest runs conceded at death in a T20 innings•ESPNcricinfo LtdReflecting on the Russell dismissal on the same show, Ian Bishop, the former West Indies quick, made particular note of how well Bumrah had directed his short-of-a-length ball.”A lot of it was skill,” Bishop said. “Let’s revisit a conversation we had after the [Knight Riders-Lucknow Super Giants] game […] about the height of the bouncer that is needed, and we were referring to Shreyas Iyer, and why it is harder in this format, just as an example, for Shreyas to play the short ball with confidence.”It’s because you have to go at it, and a lot of them don’t need to be head height; they can be chest height as it was to Russell, and because of the nature of the game, you have to go at it – it’s T20, right? And it’s hard length, and uncomfortable.”Should Russell have played out Bumrah and lined up the other Mumbai bowlers? Bishop suggested he could have, citing the example of Chris Gayle.”For Russell, I can’t criticise him too much because he went at the short ball the other night [against Super Giants] and did it well, but I still will take the Chris Gayle example, where Chris Gayle wasn’t a great player of the short ball, but he’d play out certain bowlers and then tee off after others,” Bishop said. “It’s still something that I’d like to see with Russell, where he can balance who he goes after and when he goes after just a little bit better.”Three balls after removing Russell, Bumrah let rip a head-high bouncer to Nitish Rana, another KKR batter who is vulnerable to the short ball. Rana was caught between playing and ducking for a split-second before doing a bit of both and gloving the ball behind to Ishan Kishan.Bumrah then switched ends and delivered a triple-wicket maiden in which he also bounced out Sheldon Jackson, Pat Cummins and Sunil Narine.”Yeah, he bowled like a man inspired, really,” Bishop said of Bumrah. “He was the difference – 87 for 1 after 10 [overs], and then Jasprit Bumrah happened in his last three overs, bowling over number 15, 18 and 20 at the back end after bowling one in the powerplay. […] He didn’t see the slower ball gripping from the other bowlers, so he decided to go short and use the bigger square boundaries.Jasprit Bumrah broke Knight Riders’ back in the middle overs•BCCI”But that ball to Nitish Rana, that was special, and again we’ve talked about the use of the short ball to certain players – Nitish Rana, certainly one with Shreyas Iyer who’s been struggling with that – and it was interesting, the Russell dismissal, because Russell played the short ball with aplomb in the last game against LSG, putting a couple in the stands, but we also talked about the fact that every West Indian who plays against Russell, fast bowler that is, looks to go short, so tonight it worked, and Bumrah happened, he was brilliant.”Bumrah happened again in the final over. Rinku Singh had farmed the strike to try and give the innings a final flourish. However, Bumrah served up a delightful cocktail of short balls and yorkers to give up just one run and limit KKR to 165 for 9.Pat Cummins and the other Knight Riders bowlers then took a leaf from Bumrah’s playbook and pounded Mumbai’s batters with hard lengths as Bumrah’s extraordinary effort went in vain. However, he was adjudged the Player of the Match and also finished as ESPNcricinfo’s MVP, with a total impact of 135.14, nearly 53 points clear of his nearest rival.There seems to be no bottom to the abyss Mumbai are hurtling into this season, but the future appears thrilling. Imagine this MVP bowling in tandem with a fit-again Jofra Archer, who was IPL 2020’s MVP by a distance. Good luck to the batters facing them next season.

Images of the Indian players and six-month-old Fatima became the source of great happiness on social media

Annesha Ghosh07-Mar-20220:24

Maroof – ‘My mother and daughter were here, so it was very special’

India vs Pakistan is always special, but this Sunday at the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup was more so, thanks to a six-month-old member of Pakistan’s touring party.On the field, it was a dominant 107-run win for India, with Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana and Rajeshwari Gayakwad calling the shots. Off it, it was all about Fatima. Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof’s daughter became the centre of attention after the game when the Indian players – Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur among them – just couldn’t have enough of the toddler.In no time, visuals of the interaction were all over the internet.

So much fun with the players trying to get our little Fatima to look into the camera.

Happy that I got to share and immortalise these moments#CWC22 #BackOurGirls pic.twitter.com/ofkBOdGMn2

— Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi (@ahsannagi) March 6, 2022