The story of Shivil Kaushik’s first IPL season, unorthodox action and all, has generated plenty of attention

Deivarayan Muthu05-Jun-2016Shivil Kaushik who? Not many had seen the scrawny left-arm wristspinner before he made his IPL debut for Gujarat Lions this season. Mystery spinner, they said. He had not played a single domestic game when he was snapped up by Lions. He still hasn’t.First ball in that first IPL game, he stopped in his run-up, twisted his body alarmingly, and sent the ball out from the back of the hand, head tilted skywards. “Exactly like Paul Adams, the frog in the blender,” exclaimed former Zimbabwe fast bowler Pommie Mbangwa on TV commentary. Adams, the former South Africa spinner, himself tweeted: “Remind you of someone! Wow #Kaushik!” Social media was alive with cautions about his action: “Don’t try this at home, school, or anywhere.”Kaushik impressed in his debut season, as did Lions. He claimed six wickets in seven matches at an economy rate of 8.34. Lions topped the points table in the league stage before losing the first Qualifier and the Eliminator.Now back home in Bangalore, he describes it as a great season. His apartment is about 500 metres away from his college, St Joseph’s, on Richmond Road. His father, Arun Sharma, who works at a telecom company, is a cricket fan. His mother, Sandhya, teaches at Army Public School.”I wasn’t inspired by Paul Adams or anyone,” Kaushik says. “This is the action given to me by God. It came naturally to me, but later on, when I was 14 or 15, I watched videos of Paul Adams and I thought, ‘If he can play for the country, why can’t I?’ I never wanted to change the action. I knew if I click with this action, I can make it big.””I was eager to talk to Imran Tahir. He was kind enough to show me his flippers”•BCCIHas seemingly turning his body inside out every ball resulted in injury? Kaushik says no. “My body does not undergo stress or anything like that. It is the perception of people because such actions are rare.”Former Tamil Nadu and Chennai Super Kings allrounder Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, who was part of the coaching staff of Hubli Tigers, Kaushik’s team in the Karnataka Premier League, says Kaushik’s understanding of his body is key.”It comes naturally to him and his body is used to it for many years,” Vidyut says. “He knows what works for him and that is his strength.”Vidyut thinks Kaushik can be “hot property” in T20 if he adds some variations. “Obviously the awkwardness makes it tough for the opposition,” he says. “His wrist speed is also fast, and he mostly bowls back of a length without much width, which is difficult to hit in T20s. Except Steven Smith, AB [de Villiers] and Virat [Kohli], not many hit him in the IPL.”At the KPL, he can always be difficult to pick and play, but at the IPL he has to keep adding to his game. I am confident he will continue to find ways to become consistent and better.”Kaushik agrees that it is crucial he expand his range to excel at the big stage. “You may be successful at the higher level in a couple of years but afterwards you will have to try to beat the batsman in every possible way,” he says.”My body does not undergo stress or anything like that. It is the perception of people because such actions are rare”•BCCIHe is working on the flipper, and had a short stint with South Africa and Delhi Daredevils legspinner Imran Tahir, following Daredevils’ win over Lions in Rajkot.”I was eager to talk to him [Tahir] because he has been great for South Africa,” Kaushik says. “He has six variations of the flipper. So after the match, Mayank Agarwal [Delhi Daredevils batsman], my friend who plays for Karnataka, asked if he could share some words with me. He was kind enough to show me the flippers.”I feel the flipper is the toughest delivery for a wristspinner and I am working on it. I practise it at the KSCA IDBI spin foundation.”Raghuram Bhat, who has played for India, helps me with variations. He is teaching me how to hold the fingers differently to grip the ball. If you grip the ball differently, it will also be a good variation. Holding the grip closer and also wider are things I am working on.”

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Kaushik’s journey began when he beat about 3000 participants to win the Spin Stars Contest in Karnataka for bowlers aged between ten and 19 early last year. He won Rs 1 lakh, but the bigger prize was being a part of a camp supervised by former India legspinners Anil Kumble and Bhagwath Chandrasekhar.Kumble was impressed by Kaushik and took him to Mumbai Indians for trials, where he bowled four overs for about 13 runs and took four wickets. An IPL contract did not materialise, though, because his name did not turn up at the auction. He did, however, get a chance to interact with Sachin Tendulkar, who advised him to bowl the cross-seam quicker ball, a delivery he developed later, to keep batsmen guessing.Kaushik was then picked up by Hubli Tigers in the 2015 KPL, which was televised. He says that playing in front of noisy local crowds served as a “step up” to the IPL.His unusual action caught the eye of IPL scouts and he soon trialled with Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rising Pune Supergiants, Delhi Daredevils and Gujarat Lions.Kaushik says he nervously followed this year’s auction on TV in February, hoping to be picked – which he was, for Rs 10 lakh (approximately US$15,000) when the first batch of uncapped spinners went under the hammer.His former team-mate at Jawahars Club in Malleshwaram, KC Cariappa was signed by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 80 lakh ($120,000). Cariappa had been the first to make it to the IPL via the KPL when Kolkata Knight Riders bought him for Rs 2.4 crore ($400,000) in 2015, which was 24 times his base price.Kaushik finished with six wickets in seven games with a best of 3 for 20 in this year’s IPL•BCCI”At that time Cari used to bowl medium pace,” Kaushik says. “He and me joined Jawahars in 2011. Prashant sir, the curator at KSCA, spotted me bowling somewhere and told me to join Jawahars.”Batsmen used to struggle to pick Cari, even our batsmen at the nets. They did not pick me much too,” he laughs.Kaushik says he was twitchy ahead of his IPL debut, against Supergiants. “I was very nervous. I could not even feel the ball. The stadium was jam-packed and shouting ‘Dhoni, Dhoni, Dhoni.'”His nerves eased when he beat Ajinkya Rahane first ball with one that skidded off the deck. In his second over, he had Steven Smith dragging a sweep back onto the stumps – only for it to be called a no-ball by umpire Chris Gaffaney for overstepping.Kaushik was tonked for six next ball and looked shattered, but he came back strong in his next match, against Kings XI, where took the wickets of M Vijay, Shaun Marsh and Glenn Maxwell.Kaushik then experienced the cruel nature of T20 when after bowling two decent overs he was swatted for 30 runs in an over by Virat Kohli at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. He finished that match with figures of 3-0-50-0.”These are things that happen in cricket,” Kaushik says. “You will have to move on. If you hold on, it will affect your future performances. A calm sea does not make a good sailor. It is important to learn from the experience. Coach [Brad] Hodge, Heath Streak and [Suresh] Raina all gave me confidence to do well.”He bounced back against Sunrisers Hyderabad, taking 2 for 22 in four overs, although in a losing cause. He recalls tricking Yuvraj Singh into slicing a lofted stroke to long-off with a tossed-up ball, a wicket he refers to as a “special one”.”Our team motto was to entertain, execute and enjoy. I did that, we all did that,” he says.

Each of the areas in which they dominated England at Lord’s let Pakistan down at Old Trafford – and Alastair Cook and Joe Root made them pay

Jarrod Kimber at Old Trafford22-Jul-2016Plan A: Yasir takes ten wicketsMisbah-ul-Haq finds Yasir Shah, sets a fairly defensive field with a couple of catchers, some protection, and then winds him up and lets him go. That was supposed to be how it worked.But Yasir did not contain, there was no bamboozle, and he often did not land the ball where he wanted it.Often he dropped short. Not often for a normal legspinner in the park, or a standard legspinner in first-class cricket, or even Test-quality legspinner, but often for him. On eight occasions he bowled long hops, seemingly almost as many as he had bowled in his previous 13 Tests. That made Alastair Cook and Joe Root feel like they didn’t have to be as cautious off him. At one stage Root played a slog-sweep, the same shot that got him out at Lord’s, and this time, he smashed it with complete dominance and control. Whatever the hold Yasir had over England at Lord’s seemed to have been smacked off with this shot.Yasir bowled with new and old ball, over the wicket to regular fields, around the wicket to attacking fields, around the wicket to defensive fields, tried both ends a couple of times each, tried bowling with only three men on the off side, changed plans all day, and one stage he was trying so many things he metamorphosed into Azhar Ali.Yasir still tweaked his shirt shoulders, licked his fingers, stuttered over his first step, charged to the crease, had a high-arm action and bowled all day. It just didn’t work.Before the Test Misbah said, “If they play Yasir well we should have other plans.” They did play him well, and Pakistan didn’t have another plan.Plan B: Take new-ball wicketsMohammad Amir and Rahat Ali are new-ball bowlers. Their skills work best when the ball is fresh, they can both swing and seam it.Today the first new ball took one wicket. That it was a peach of an inswinger that made Alex Hales look like a confused bowler with a bat in hand was nice, but it wasn’t enough. Their job has to be to saw off the top of the batting order – Amir’s main job in this team should really be taking the wicket of Cook. While the entire world was looking at the other end at Lord’s, it was Rahat that took the three wickets at the start of the final innings. Here, his first new-ball wicket was when the score was over 300, from a bit of a dirty chop on.There will be days when this is Plan A, and the only plan they need. But here they were loose. Not terribly, but neither bowler, despite their wickets so far, has really controlled the ball well in the UK. They haven’t maintained pressure for long enough periods. Against struggling English batsmen that matters less. Against Root and Cook, it matters lots.Yasir Shah was left frustrated on the first day at Old Trafford•AFPPlan C: Reverse swingThere was a time at Lord’s when Wahab Riaz seemed to have a left arm made of doom. The ball wasn’t reverse swinging, it was reverse booming. At Old Trafford, Pakistan needed their middle-overs enforcer to take the pressure off Yasir, even if it was just for a few overs, and make up for the fact that the two new-ball bowlers couldn’t break through enough.Instead the ball didn’t reverse swing. Especially not for Wahab.It did, if you want to be entirely accurate, at times reverse fade. It wasn’t gun barrel straight, it had the slightest kink. But it wasn’t Wahab who used it, it was Amir, who took the edge of James Vince (before Younis Khan missed his third chance of the series) and Rahat who took the edge of Vince again.It wasn’t an explosion of Pakistan fast-bowling power, it was a couple of decent spells with the old ball that produced a wicket.Reverse swing is still more art than science. Some blamed recent concerts by Beyonce and Rihanna for a softer outfield, which is more speculation than evidence. Wahab was trying to scuff the ball up by bowling it into the wicket. He probably didn’t do much different to the last match when he turned the ball into a heat-seeking missile, it’s just that this time the ball didn’t swing. And it meant that instead of enforcing, or inspiring, he was largely a stock bowler with no wickets.Plan D: A mysteryAzhar and his four Test wickets is probably not a plan. Getting Mohammed Hafeez tested and hoping his action is legal again between Tests is more hope than plan. Bowling to ultra-defensive fields and boring England out is a plan, if Cook and Root aren’t already batting. Catching all their chances could be a plan. Drying up runs through continued pressure and no poor balls might be a plan.But really, if they are going to win, Amir and Rahat need to take more wickets with the new ball, Yasir needs to regain his control and Wahab needs to reverse the ball savagely. You can have plans D through to Z, but when you come up against Root and Cook on a decent batting pitch, you need your best to be at their best. This time they weren’t.

Sunil Joshi recalls his Ranji Trophy debut in which he struck an unbeaten half-century, before the match was cut short by the Ayodhya riots in 1992

Sunil Joshi27-Oct-2016Karnataka v Hyderabad, Hubli, 1992-93I got into the Karnakata team in 1992-93 after performing well in the local leagues. The Ranji Trophy debut came in my hometown, Hubli, where I used to practice, in December 1992. From 1983 to 1993, I had rigorous travel from Gadag to Hubli for 40 miles. I used to get up at 3.30am, catch a train at 4, reach Hubli at 6, practice, and then go back to school.I will never forget AK Industries where I was taken care of and trained. I spent a lot of time at Nehru Stadium in my younger days and luckily I made my debut at the same ground. I was very fortunate to have my family – my mom, my brother, sisters, friends – at my home ground for my debut. Those ten years of hard work gave me an opportunity.The buzz ahead of the match was that I had a chance but there was still a question mark because Raghuram Bhat was also there in the squad. It was a tough call for the management. Raghuram’s fitness was a concern, so I was the back-up. It was a doubtful start for me, I did not get any hint that I will debut. As soon as K Jeshwant was going for the toss, suddenly he said: “Sunil, you’re playing.”That time I was just giving some knocking to one of our opening batsmen – PV Shashikanth. After hearing the news of my debut, there was a smile on my face. There was a little bit of nervousness too, but more than that I was happy I was making my Ranji debut at my home ground, where I practiced all those years. The comfort of family and the home ground pushed the nervousness to the back seat.I still remember the first ball I faced. I took my guard and Arshad Ayub was bowling and the wicket was a slow turner. But when I went forward for the first ball, it went over my head for wides, and the keeper was also beaten. After that I got my fifty, then after that I never looked back. I ended up getting 83 not out, hitting Arshad Ayub for five towering boundaries. Luckily my good friend Venky [Venkatesh Prasad] was there during that partnership. He got out in the end, otherwise, maybe I could have reached three figures. Or maybe not. Who knows?We got 500-odd runs and unfortunately the match got stopped after the second day because of the Ayodhya riots and curfew. We did not come to the ground after the second day. We got the news that the match was called off, and as soon as we left the hotel that night, we went to Bangalore. We were taken very well with the police escort and security. That incident actually rocked the whole of India.At the back of my mind, I did feel little disappointed the match was cut short, but, nevertheless, I started on a positive note. Not many players will get 83 on debut. In the end, I was very pleased with my performance. Jeshwant, K Srinath, who got a hundred in that match, supported me well.I also got to share the dressing room with Syed Kirmani, Rahul Dravid, and Venky. I went on to have a great relationship with Kirmani. I got my first hundred against Bombay at the Chinnaswamy Stadium with him. Kirmani and I had a great partnership of 240-odd runs. I think somewhere it is still in the partnership records for the seventh wicket for Karnataka. Ravi Shastri was leading Bombay at that time. I was on 99 one over before lunch and I tried to sweep a ball. Kirmani came up to me and said: “Joey, just hang on, just one over to go for lunch. Just play a single, you don’t need to get a six for the hundred.” The next ball was bowled on the leg stump, I just flicked, and got to a hundred. I was fortunate to also see Kirmani keeping for me during my career.I played with Rahul in junior cricket, Ranji Trophy, and we shared the dressing room in international cricket between 1996 and 2002. His focus and consistency somewhere rubbed off on me and I wanted to have a longer career in domestic cricket.With Venky I bonded more because he was my room-mate from age-group cricket and then during various stages. Venky himself was a great player and he motivated me. Before my debut match, Venky, R Ananth, and K Srinath came to my home and I remember having a typical North Karnataka roti meal with them.Then my second match was in Chennai. Kris Srikkanth was back with Tamil Nadu after the Pakistan tour. I think he didn’t have a great tour there and he was out of form. But he got a hundred, and then I got him out. My first wicket was a Test captain, or a former captain I could say. It was a great first wicket to start with. I did face a tough time against the best batting of Tamil Nadu at that stage. But it felt great to have Srikkanth, that too Kirmani caught him at slips.I went on to play 117-odd Ranji games, and the most important thing is I always looked to get better.

With Heath Streak already having left his mark on their quick bowlers, Bangladesh expect Courtney Walsh’s experience and wisdom to catapult them to the next level

Mohammad Isam01-Sep-2016The timing of Courtney Walsh’s appointment as the Bangladesh bowling coach is near-perfect. One of the greatest fast bowlers of the modern era will now be in charge of a pace-bowling unit that has just started to get taken seriously.Walsh is on a three-year contract up to the 2019 World Cup, and much of the experience from his long playing career and a level 3 coaching degree will be used to sharpen Bangladesh’s pace attack in ODIs and T20s, and retooling the Test attack.Fast bowling in Bangladesh used to be a novelty act for a long time with Mashrafe Mortaza the only shining light for more than a decade. Given the pitches, spinners quite naturally ruled the overs and wickets columns. It gradually changed with the emergence of bowlers like Shahadat Hossain, Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam, but until 2015, it was always spin.At the insistence of Mashrafe, Bangladesh’s limited-overs captain, and head coach Chandika Hathurusingha, there has been an influx of pace bowlers with varied skills, who have been used cleverly over the last two years. Mashrafe banks on his experience to move the ball, while Rubel and Taskin Ahmed offer pace and a bit of swing.Al-Amin Hossain has used his legcutters well in ODIs, while Mustafizur Rahman has become a sensation with cutters and slower balls.Heath Streak, the former Zimbabwe captain, whom Walsh succeeds, did a fine job for two years with these pace bowlers. Among the things he did well was to monitor and maintain the workload of theinjury-prone pace bowlers. It meant that their bowling actions needed to be consistent. Streak’s vigilance and with the confidence placed in the pacers by Mashrafe and Hathurusingha, were factors behind the match-turning spells produced by the quicks during the 2015 World Cup and the home series against Pakistan, India, South Africa and Zimbabwe.Mashrafe said Walsh’s addition at this stage was a big boost to the pace bowlers, especially for the Test attack, which has lacked the bite to bowl sides out twice. He added that Walsh’s superb record could perhaps inspire a Bangladeshi fast bowler to emulate him in the Test arena.”If we can learn a bit from his vast experience, it would be very helpful for us,” Mashrafe said. “Pace bowling has a major role in a team taking 20 wickets in a Test match, so I feel that our boys can learn from him how to go about it. His passion, the way he handled situation, these are key things that we can all take from him.”We don’t have bowlers like Dale Steyn in our team. Our bowling attack needs to do well for a number of years, and not just now. We need a bowler who would take 300 Test wickets, so for that one has to perform for a sustained period. There must be ways how that can happen, and I think we learn that from him [Walsh].”Mashrafe said it would be important to see how much the Bangladesh pacers pick up from Walsh during his three-year stay, a key takeaway being the methods he employed to stay fit through most of his 17-year international career.”One of the reasons why I admired him was his endurance,” Mashrafe said. “His run-up was so smooth that they said even the umpire couldn’t hear him running in. There was always a smile on his face. He was a great character. I think we can learn from him how to stay fit.”If everyone wants to learn from him eagerly, then they can get a lot out of a coach, because they are always trying to help you.”Taskin, who is preparing to go to Brisbane to have his bowling action reassessed on September 8, said he wanted to learn how to generate extra bounce from a good length, which was Walsh’s forte in his heyday.”I first want to learn how to gain extra bounce from a good length, which he did so well. I will try to understand the technical side of it, though I don’t have the strength like someone from the Caribbean.”I will also try to learn how he remained fit and without injury for so long in his career, and also he bowled those long spells in Test cricket.”Taskin’s father always talked to him about Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. Taskin watched them on TV and YouTube and met Walsh in 2014 but didn’t have a long conversation. “But now I have him as coach,” he said. “It is quite thrilling.”While Taskin heard about Walsh from his dad, Mashrafe says he has always idolised him. He is excited about spending time with the West Indies legend in the dressing room, and wants to pick up new tricks that may help him at this stage of his international career.”I am excited that I can meet my idol in cricket,” he said. “I consider it a big deal to be in the same dressing room as him. I have always liked him, especially because he was so different than the other fast bowlers in his era. He would always smile in the field. And it was not just as a bowler but also as a character.”At this stage of my career, I would be keen to learn something new that would make things slightly easier for me.”Never before has a bowling coach garnered so much interest in Bangladesh. But Walsh is the highest-profile coach this country has ever seen, and rightfully, there will be a lot expected from him for the next three years.

Also: the longest winning streaks in ODIs, New Zealand’s overseas players, and the highest partnership by Nos. 10 and 11

Steven Lynch29-Nov-2016How often has a captain declared on the first day of a Test, as Faf du Plessis did in Adelaide? asked Nick Battcock from England

South Africa’s opportunistic closure in Adelaide last week – which came after Faf du Plessis overheard the umpires telling David Warner he couldn’t bat straight away – was only the fourth time in Test history that a captain had declared on the opening day. The first instance was as late as 1949… and wasn’t actually legal under the regulations in force at the time. England’s captain George Mann was forced to apologise after declaring at 313 for 9 late on the first day against New Zealand at Lord’s. The regulations in England had, since 1946, allowed a first-day declaration if the total was past 300 – but that was only for county cricket and not for international matches, even though those New Zealand Tests lasted only three days (they were all drawn, after which all Tests in England were scheduled for five). The New Zealanders were not too bothered, as they didn’t lose a wicket in the last 15 minutes of the day. Since then Intikhab Alam closed Pakistan’s first innings at 130 for 9 on a rain-affected pitch at Lord’s in 1974 (England lost one wicket before the close), and Michael Clarke called his side in at 237 for 9 near the end of the first day against India in Hyderabad in 2012-13. Clarke and du Plessis ended up losing, while Intikhab and Mann drew the Tests.Parthiv Patel made a Test comeback against England after around eight years – and more than 80 Tests – out of the side. Was this a record? asked Chandra Nagarajah from India

Parthiv Patel, who returned to India’s side in Mohali after an injury to Wriddhaman Saha, had missed 83 matches since his previous Test, against Sri Lanka in Colombo in August 2008. It meant that Parthiv reclaimed a record he had held once before: he had already missed 43 Tests between October 2004 and his recall for that match in Sri Lanka in 2008. That was the Indian record until Piyush Chawla missed 49 matches between 2007-08 and 2012-13. Parthiv’s gap is not an Indian record in terms of time, as Lala Amarnath went more than 12 years between Test appearances in 1933-34 and 1946.New Zealand’s Ted Badcock (left) was born in Abbottabad in 1897•PA PhotosNew Zealand’s new opener Jeet Raval was born in India. How many other “overseas” players have they had? asked Khanwakar David from India

The Auckland opener Jeet Raval became the 25th person born outside New Zealand to be capped by them in a Test, when he made his debut against Pakistan in Christchurch earlier this month. He’s the fourth from India after Ted Badcock – who’s theoretically New Zealand Test player No. 1, being the earliest in alphabetical order from their inaugural Test against England in Christchurch in 1929-30) – 1960s offspinner Tom Puna (who, like Raval, was born in Gujarat), and legspinner Ish Sodhi (born in Ludhiana), who played in the recent series in India. Three of Raval’s team-mates in the recent Test in Hamilton were also born overseas: BJ Watling and Neil Wagner in South Africa, and Colin de Grandhomme in nearby Zimbabwe. Badcock was born in Abbottabad, which is now part of Pakistan. Six New Zealand Test players were born in England (Roger Blunt, Roy Harford, Mark Haslam, Vic Pollard, Roger Twose and Justin Vaughan) and six in Australia (Dean Brownlie, Doug Freeman, Ken Hough, Mathew Sinclair, Dennis Smith and Scott Styris). Grant Elliott, Colin Munro and Kruger van Wyk were also born in South Africa; the other countries involved are Kenya (Dipak Patel), Scotland (Charles Rowe) and Trinidad (Sam Guillen).What’s the lowest Test total by a team who won by an innings? asked Vamsi M from India

The lowest total that was sufficient to win a Test by an innings is 153, by Australia in Melbourne in 1931-32. On a vicious pitch affected by rain, they bowled South Africa out for 36 and 45, with the venerable slow left-armer Bert “Dainty” Ironmonger – he was two months short of his 50th birthday – taking 5 for 6 in the first innings and 6 for 18 in the second. Australia, for whom Don Bradman was unable to bat after injuring himself in the dressing room, thus won by an innings and 72 runs. That 153 is actually the fewest required to win a Test by any margin, although it was threatened by England’s 156 runs – 81 for 7 declared and 75 for 6 – to defeat West Indies (102 and 51 for 6 dec) on another sticky wicket in Bridgetown in 1934-35.England No. 10 Ken Higgs, caught here in the Headingley Test for 8, went on to make 63 and add a record 128 with No. 11 John Snow in the next Test, at The Oval in 1966•PA PhotosI noticed that England won ten consecutive ODIs in 2012. Was this a record? asked George Robinson from England

That successful sequence started in February 2012 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where England won four one-day internationals in a row against Pakistan. They then beat West Indies in two matches at home in June 2012, before taking all four completed games of a series against Australia. The run – England’s best in ODIs – came to an end when South Africa won by 80 runs in Southampton in August. The sequence included two abandoned games and a no-result. The best run of all is Australia’s 21 successive wins between January and May 2003, a period that included that year’s World Cup in South Africa. Pakistan (2007-08) and South Africa (2005) come next, with 12 wins in a row.What’s the highest partnership in Tests between Nos. 10 and 11 in the batting order? asked Harry Johnston from England

The highest partnership in Tests by the last two batsmen in the order is 128, by the England fast bowlers Ken Higgs (63) and John Snow (59 not out) against West Indies at The Oval in 1966. It completed a remarkable revival by England, who reached 527 after being 166 for 7. The stand – two short of the tenth-wicket record in Tests at the time – is recalled in the recent book The Conquests of 1966 by Brian Scovell, a journalist who covered that memorable Test series as well as England’s victory in the football World Cup. “Finally David Holford threw up a flighted ball, and Higgs drove it nicely back at him to catch just off his bootlaces,” he wrote. “The history-making last stand was over.” There have now been eight higher tenth-wicket partnerships in Tests, but all of them featured a higher-ranked batsman alongside the No. 11. The biggest of all is 198, between Joe Root (England’s No. 5) and last man Jimmy Anderson, against India at Trent Bridge in 2014.Post your questions in the comments below

Liam Dawson earned his Test selection largely on the strength of his impressive net-bowling in white-ball cricket. But he indicated on debut that he is made of the right stuff

George Dobell in Chennai17-Dec-20162:13

Trott: England’s best spinner is not even on this tour

It tells you much about how spin bowlers are selected these days that England’s trio contributed 272 runs between them in the first innings in Chennai.Maybe, if there were a standout specialist spinner vying for selection, things would be different. Or maybe there is one in Jack Leach and England have just come to the conclusion that their spinners, like their wicketkeepers, need to be able to bat. The likes of Peter Such or John Childs might well find it hard to make a living from the game if they were entering it now.But whatever the drawbacks of the situation – and there is no denying that the difference in quality of spin bowling has been a defining feature of this series – the fact is that England were dug out of a hole in Chennai by their spinning allrounders.Liam Dawson might be the apogee of this type of selection. He has never taken 30 first-class wickets in a season, he has only taken three five-wicket hauls in his career, and only one of them has been in the last four seasons. Even he admitted that playing a Test on this tour “hadn’t crossed his mind” a few weeks ago.Yet here, with England’s first innings faltering, he batted with class and composure to ensure his new teammates retained a foothold in a match that seemed to be slipping from them.England were 300 for 6 when he came to the crease. Shortly afterwards they were 321 for 7 and in danger of subsiding to the sort of inadequate total that would leave them on the back foot for the rest of the match. Anything less than 400, maybe even 450, fell into that category.He endured an uncertain start. He was struck on the helmet by his second delivery, a super bouncer from Ishant Sharma that followed him as he attempted to lean out of the way, and took nine balls to get off the mark.But, if the nerves were growing, they didn’t show. He left the ball as well as anyone, defended the spinners better than several more experienced colleagues – he seemed to pick Ravi Ashwin’s carom ball and Amit Mishra’s googly, for a start – and put away the loose delivery efficiently and with a style more than a little reminiscent of Joe Root. It was unhurried, unflustered and exactly what his team required. With Adil Rashid also playing with impressive discipline, England added 146 runs for their last three wickets. It might prove to be the difference between a draw and a defeat.We probably shouldn’t have been surprised. Dawson has spent a fair part of his career playing as a specialist batsman. In 2008, aged just 18, he made his maiden first-class century against a strong Nottinghamshire attack containing Graeme Swann, while in 2011, a season in which he took only three first-class wickets, he opened the batting for Hampshire and scored over 900 first-class runs.Liam Dawson made the highest score by an England No. 8 on debut•AFPFor a while it seemed his spin-bowling days were over. His progress had been blocked, in part, by Danny Briggs (a specialist left-arm spinner), who developed through the Hampshire system at much the same time and was first choice for a few seasons, and the signing of Imran Tahir as an overseas player in his early years. With Mason Crane, a highly-rated legspinner, then coming through as well, he was allowed to go out on loan to Essex in the middle of 2015.The spell worked wonders for him. He opened the batting in his second match and scored 99 as well as claiming a few important wickets to both regain his confidence and show to Hampshire that he was in the form to warrant another run in their side. Within a few weeks, he had scored 140 against the county champions, Yorkshire, and taken a five-for against Somerset. Essex were keen to lure him back on a permanent deal but he stuck with Hampshire.Just as importantly, he enjoyed such a good List A season – at one stage he contributed four half-centuries in five innings and claimed 6 for 47 against Sussex – that he squeezed Briggs out of the side and, as a consequence, out of the club. Keen not to see his own England ambitions fade, Briggs (who has represented England eight times in limited-overs cricket) moved to Sussex for the prospect of more regular first-team cricket in all formats. It left Dawson, for the first time in his career, his club’s first-choice spinner.”He always wanted to bowl more,” Giles White, the Hampshire director of cricket, recalls. “And he has had to wait a while to become our first choice.”We do tend to use him in a defensive role, but he gets good revs on the ball – in the tests they do at Loughborough he is right up there with the biggest spinners – and nice dip. If you’re looking for an allround package, he is an excellent choice.”Fortune was to smile on him again a few months later. With Zafar Ansari (whom he also replaced on this tour) sustaining an injury, Dawson was, somewhat surprisingly, called-up to replace him in the Performance Squad at the end of 2015 and, in the nets, impressed the England team management (as much with his power hitting as his bowling) to such an extent that he was included in the World T20 squad in India.It was an intriguing selection. He had slipped down the pecking order to such an extent at Hampshire the previous summer that he batted only once in their T20 campaign (he scored 3) and did not take a wicket. But while he did not play in India, he again impressed with his attitude and his package of skills.It is, on the face of it, an extraordinary thing that a man can win Test selection for England based – in part, at least – on his net bowling with a white ball. But we know we are not in a rich age of English spinners and we know that, perhaps Leach apart, there are few specialists who could claim they would have changed the complexion of this series. We know there are no Graeme Swann or Monty Panesar figures available these days. The selection of Dawson – and Moeen, about whom many of the same things could be said but who really is the best off-spinner in England – is not without some logic.Why? Well, the team management concluded Dawson was not likely to suffer stage-fright of the type that afflicted Simon Kerrigan. They concluded that, even if he wasn’t able to rip through a line-up – and, to be fair, he beat the bat in his only over of day two – he could help build pressure which could, perhaps, lead to wickets for other bowlers. They concluded that, if a half-chance comes his way, he is more likely than others of accepting it and, they concluded that, if he came into bat with the game in the balance, he could tilt it England’s way. He went some way to proving them right on Saturday.It is not Dawson’s fault that the system has failed to the extent where England hardly produces spin bowlers. It is not Dawson’s fault that he may be a better batsman than bowler and that he will, on day three (and probably day four) find himself bowling in different conditions and against a different quality of player than that to which he is accustomed. He acquitted himself well on day two and you can be sure he will not let England down on day three. No-one could reasonably ask for more.

In the absence of their bowling spearhead, South Africa’s attack trumped over inexperience and expectations of failure to deliver an advantage to their side

Firdose Moonda in Perth04-Nov-2016A burden shared is a burden halved wrote the author T.A. Webb and South Africa’s three fit bowlers proved his words true on the second day of the Perth Test against Australia. When Dale Steyn left the field in the 38th over, Australia were 76 runs behind with nine wickets in hand. Steyn had cut off the head, by dismissing David Warner for 97, as he said he would, but it was up to Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj to deal with the body and they needed only one session to do it.For the debutant spinner Maharaj, it was the biggest ask of his career. He completed Steyn’s over and continued bowling from that end until the innings had concluded. It was a mini-marathon – 16.2 overs – with a break for lunch in between but it was a job that needed to be done correctly if South Africa were to come back into the match.His chief responsibility was to create pressure which the fast bowlers would be able to exploit from the other side. Knowing that that this is a seamer’s surface, knowing that if the Australian line-up were going to target anyone it would be him, and knowing that he had never played at this level before, Maharaj did as he was asked and more. He picked up three wickets in the process, including the big one of Steven Smith, a controversial one given how far down the pitch Smith was at the point of impact. Maharaj, however, will not remember it like that. His first Test wicket was the Australian captain, for a duck. That’s the story he will tell his one-year old niece when he calls home tonight.Maharaj is not a great turner of the ball and so did not overcomplicate his strategy. He nagged away with accuracy and trumped the Australians for temperament – the kind that suggests his Test career will be long. Maharaj showed he belonged with bat in hand from the time he bravely saw off a full first ball of 147kph from Mitchell Starc to the time he heaved Nathan Lyon over long-on. His brief innings was ballsy. His bowling was more so.Unlike previous spinners South Africa have tried, and Imran Tahir is one that comes to mind, Maharaj rarely invited the batsmen to take him on. Most of his deliveries were flat and straight, almost all of them were in the same area, as though he knew that ultimately a mistake would come.That allowed Rabada and Philander some space to search a little more and in their contrasting styles, they found the wickets they were looking for. Rabada ramped up the pace and aggression, threw in the odd bouncer, tempted the batsmen with deliveries outside off and hurried them into making mistakes. He bowled Usman Khawaja with a delivery that swung into him at speed and drew a leading edge from Adam Voges with one aimed at the toes. Rabada’s raw talent combined with remarkable maturity at his age makes him a constant danger, even when in the absence of Steyn.Today, he was the perfect complement to Philander, who found the subtle movement that has given him so much success in the past; the kind that demands the batsman’s full attention because even a small lapse can cost him. It was particularly important for Philander to rediscovered his menace in this situation because he was under scrutiny to seize the reins in Steyn’s absence.In only his first Test, Keshav Maharaj showed awareness of the match situation during a tight bowling spell•Getty ImagesPhilander only played two of the three Tests on South Africa’s previous tour to Australia and, with series returns of 4 for 56, did not make much of an impact. There was a general feeling he would flounder in foreign conditions and, with a waning strike rate, was past his best. But he put those concerns to bed and he did it without getting nasty or ugly, as he had threatened in the build-up.His spell that straddled lunch was poetry. The ball nipped in only a touch to beat Shaun Marsh and only a touch more to mete the same treatment out to Mitchell. He moved it away to take Adam Voges’ edge, which flew for four between the keeper and first slip. He came back to nip out the No.10 and 11 batsmen in the space of three balls and keep the lead to just two.Collectively, the bowlers South Africa did the job in the first innings. Now, they will have to do it again in the second, after confirmation that Steyn will not play further part in the series. Philander, Rabada and Maharaj can take some inspiration from how their batsmen managed to plug the gap caused by AB de Villiers’ absence, due to an elbow problem, over an extended period. In the Tests against New Zealand, the experience of JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis made up for it, while, in the ODIs against Australia, the younger crop, including Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw and David Miller stepped up.Professional sportsmen thrive under pressure and losing your spearhead mid-match for the biggest series of your summer is the most pressure an attack can face. But an attack that shares the burden, is an attack that will halve it.

Five times in the past 12 months, the usually unflappable Pakistan captain has been dismissed playing careless shots

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jan-2017At 42, Misbah-ul-haq, Pakistan’s Test captain, has to constantly face questions about when he will retire. In the past 12 months, a period in which he has scored 561 runs in 11 Tests at an average of 31.16, his critics have been armed with a series of seeming lapses of concentration that have led to ugly dismissals. This is how ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentators recorded those moments of madness.Misbah c Bird b Lyon 18 – 3rd Test v Australia, Sydney, January 2017
Lyon to Misbah-ul-Haq, OUT, oh no. Misbah, what have you done, again? He always wanted to tee off against the spin of Lyon. Flat delivery with a bit of drift, it doesn’t stop Misbah. He goes down on one knee and aims for a heave over midwicket, in typical Misbah style. Like he did against Moeen in the England summer, he mistimes one. Hangs in the air for a while. Bird circles around the catch but settles underneath and completes an easy catch.Misbah c Maddinson b Lyon 0 – 2nd Test v Australia, Melbourne, December 2016Lyon to Misbah-ul-Haq, OUT, what is Misbah up to? This is poor Test-match batting. Premeditation. Big-time premeditation. Sweeping everything. And the bounce for Lyon does him in. He sweeps this from outside off but is nowhere close to it, leaving himself prone to the bounce. The top edge is gobbled up at short fine leg.Misbah c Boult b Southee 13 – 1st Test v New Zealand, Christchurch, November 2016Southee to Misbah-ul-Haq, OUT, what a rush of blood from Misbah! Six runs off the previous two balls and Southee gives him the bouncer from over the wicket, Misbah responds with the hook and gets a top edge. Boult is waiting on the long-leg boundary to catch the Pakistan captain. Pakistan 93 for 4, effectively 26 for 4A top-edged sweep ended Misbah’s stay on the final day in Melbourne, when Pakistan were looking to save the Test•Getty ImagesMisbah c Bishoo b Chase 4 – 3rd Test v West Indies, Sharjah, October 2016Chase to Misbah-ul-Haq, OUT, they’re committing hara-kiri or what? This was a long hop and Misbah has pulled it to the lone man at deep backward square leg. It was short and sitting up for him to pull it wherever he pleased, Misbah rocked back and found the hands of Bishoo, who moved low to his right to complete the catch. Misbah can’t believe what he’s just done. Chase can’t believe his luck. He has a wry smile on his face. What is happening in Sharjah?Misbah c Hales b Ali 0 – 1st Test v England, Lord’s, July 2016Ali to Misbah-ul-Haq, OUT, Misbah attacks, slogged into the leg side… and Hales takes a brilliant catch running along the deep midwicket boundary! HUGE wicket for England and a little bit of revenge for Moeen, who tossed it up in the knowledge he had a man out there, encouraged Misbah to go after him and gets his reward. Lord’s erupts!

Also: who missed the largest number of Tests over the course of a career?

Steven Lynch14-Mar-2017Four bowlers took six-fors in the Bengaluru Test. Is it true that this was a record? asked Christopher Jackson from Australia

Each innings of the recent match in Bengaluru featured a six-for by a different bowler, which had never happened before in a Test match. Nathan Lyon started with 8 for 50 for Australia, Ravindra Jadeja replied with 6 for 63 for India, Josh Hazlewood added 6 for 67, and R Ashwin wrapped things up with 6 for 41. There had been two previous instances of four six-fors in the same Test, but not by four different bowlers: at The Oval in 1896, Hugh Trumble took 6 for 59 and 6 for 30 for Australia, while Jack Hearne took 6 for 41 and Bobby Peel 6 for 23 for England; then in Melbourne in 1901-02, Sydney Barnes took 6 for 42 and 7 for 121 for England, and Monty Noble took 7 for 17 and 6 for 60 for Australia. There are 32 other Tests which featured four separate five-fors – and one that had five: in the solitary Test played at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, in 1902, Noble took 6 for 51 and 5 for 52 and Jack Saunders 5 for 50 for Australia, while Barnes collected 6 for 49 and Wilfred Rhodes 5 for 63 for England. At The Oval in 1997, three different bowlers – Glenn McGrath, Phil Tufnell and Michael Kasprowicz – uniquely took seven wickets in an innings.R Ashwin has 269 wickets after 47 Tests. What’s the record for a player’s first 50 matches? asked L Balakrishnan from India

Ashwin could take no wickets at all in his next three matches and still be top of this list: the most wickets by anyone after their first 50 Tests is Dennis Lillee’s 262, just ahead of Dale Steyn with 260. Allan Donald took 251, and Muttiah Muralitharan 245. The next milestone for Ashwin to aim for is being the fastest to 300 wickets in terms of Tests: Lillee did it in 56 matches, Muralitharan in 58, and Steyn, Richard Hadlee and Malcolm Marshall in 61. Donald and Shane Warne each needed 63 Tests to reach 300. The most wickets after 60 Tests is Lillee’s 321, and then Muralitharan takes over: he had 382 after 70 matches (ahead of Steyn 356, Hadlee and Lillee 355), 450 after 80 (Hadlee 403, Steyn 402), 527 after 90 (Anil Kumble 434, Hadlee 431 in 86 matches), and 593 after 100 Tests (Kumble 485, Glenn McGrath 451, Shane Warne 444).During a 27-year Test career, Brian Close was more out of the side than in it•Getty ImagesDean Elgar just missed twin centuries at Dunedin. Has anyone done this for South Africa in a Test? asked Keith Harrison from South Africa

Dean Elgar followed 140 in the first innings in Dunedin with 89 in the second. Had he managed 11 more runs second time round he would have become the sixth man to score two centuries in the same Test for South Africa, following Alan Melville and Bruce Mitchell (both in England in 1947), Gary Kirsten (against India in Kolkata in 1996-97), Jacques Kallis (who did it twice – against Pakistan in Karachi in 2007-08, and v India in Cape Town in 2010-11), and Hashim Amla (v India in Kolkata in 2009-10).England played 170 Tests between Gareth Batty’s debut and his (presumably) final match last winter. Was this a record? asked Kevin Burns from England

Gareth Batty played in only nine of England’s 170 Tests between his debut, against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2003-04, and his latest cap, against India in Mohali in November 2016. It’s a difficult one to check, but I think the only player to miss more Tests during his career than Batty’s 161 is Brian Close: England played 244 Tests between Close’s debut in 1949 and his swansong in 1976, and he played in only 22 of them – he therefore missed 222 matches that he might have played in. Pat Pocock, another Surrey offspinner, missed 145 of the 170 Tests during his Test career, which stretched from 1967-68 to 1984-85, while Fred Titmus missed 132 of England’s 185 Tests between 1955 and 1974-75. The first non-Englishman is Brad Hogg: Australia played 136 Tests between his debut in 1996-97 and his last appearance in 2007-08, and he played in only seven of them. Next is someone who may yet climb the list: Parthiv Patel has played only 23 of India’s 150 Test matches since his debut in 2002 and his recall at the end of last year.Nine down? Take it home, Viv•PA PhotosWhat is the highest last-wicket partnership in ODIs? asked Nilanjan Banerjee from India

The highest tenth-wicket stand in one-day internationals involved a famous innings quite a while ago: at Old Trafford in 1984, West Indies were in trouble at 166 for 9 against England when Michael Holding walked out to join Viv Richards. But Viv seemed unconcerned, and blasted his way to 189 not out – the highest ODI score at the time – and put on 106 with Holding, who managed 12 not out. Said Wisden: “In 14 overs they added 106, Richards’s share being 93. He batted with daring and immense power, giving only one technical chance, a leg-side stumping off Miller when he was 44.” It proved more than enough: England were shot out for 168. The only other century stand for the last wicket in ODIs was 103, by Mohammad Amir and Saeed Ajmal against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi in 2009-10, a partnership which nearly stole victory after Pakistan had been 101 for 9, chasing 212.Is it true that the same man was involved in Test cricket’s first obstructing the field and handled the ball dismissals? asked Jeremy Attenborough from Scotland

Remarkably, it is true: the one and only obstructing the field dismissal in Tests happened at The Oval in 1951, when the England opener Len Hutton tried to flick away a ball which had run up his arm after he gloved a lifter from Athol Rowan. Although Hutton didn’t make any further contact, the South Africans appealed, as they believed he had prevented their wicketkeeper from taking a catch – and Hutton was given out. The wicketkeeper concerned was Russell Endean, who was making his Test debut. A few years later, in 1956-57, Endean was batting in Cape Town when a ball from Jim Laker hit his pad and ballooned up in the air. As Wisden reported: “The ball rose high and might well have fallen on to the stumps had not Endean thrown up a hand and diverted it. On appeal the umpire had no option but to give him out.” Some wondered whether Endean’s background in hockey – he had also represented South Africa in that – might have led to this temporary brain-fade. There have been six further handled-ball dismissals in Tests, but it seems unlikely there will be any more, as this method of dismissal is being removed from the Laws shortly (handling the ball twice will still be illegal, but anyone doing it will be given out obstructing the field instead).Post your questions in the comments below

Each of the IPL’s ten highest totals came from sides batting first, and eventually proved match-winning by varying margins

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-201710. “Papa, you are not scoring runs”226 for 6, Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings, Qualifier 2, IPL 2014Result – Kings XI won by 24 runsKings XI edged out Super Kings in a knock-out game which is now associated with Suresh Raina’s 25-ball 87 in a chase of 227. Earlier, however, Virender Sehwag had played one of the IPL’s most destructive knocks, slamming 122 off just 58 balls, before going on to reveal how his son kept telling him “Papa, you are not scoring runs” through his lean patch that season. Sehwag’s reply to his son? “There is still time”.9. Gayle fails; the other two do the business227 for 4, Royal Challengers Bangalorev Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2016Result – Royal Challengers won by 45 runsAB de Villiers, after a Man-of-the-Match performance of 82 off 42, talked about how he was “scratchy, even in the nets”. His 157-run stand with Kohli was followed up with a late blitz by Sarfaraz Khan to take them to 227. Khan’s innings included a 28-run assault on Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 19th over. Alas, when things really mattered in the final between the two sides, the bowler had the last laugh.8. A Miller-Maxwell special that set a new IPL record231 for 4, Kings XIv Super Kings, IPL 2014Result – Kings XI won by 44 runsAfter a steady start took them to just 69 from the first 10 overs, Glenn Maxwell and David Miller came together to put up an IPL record of 162 runs off the last ten overs, including 78 from the last five. The eventual margin is flattering for Super Kings, considering they were never in the game at any point during their chase.Virender Sehwag and David Warner added 146 in just 70 balls•AFP7. Green track? No problem231 for 4, Delhi Daredevilsv Kings XI, IPL 2011Result – Daredevils won by 29 runsSehwag and David Warner put on a show for the Feroz Shah Kotla crowd, on a green deck with enough assistance in it for the bowlers. It was a dream batting combination that proved how destructive it could be on its day. Both ended up with 77 runs, and their innings were almost overshadowed by Shaun Marsh’s spirited 95, which meant his side were in with a shout for the better part of the chase.6. When Churchy went to town232 for 2, Kings XIv Royal Challengers, Dharamsala, IPL 2011Result – Kings XI won by 111 runsThere was lightning and thunder in Dharamsala before this game, but the fireworks came from the bats of Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh. The former rolled back the years and put on a display of clean hitting, which his partner described as a “privilege to watch from the other end”. Gilchrist duly followed it up with a breathtaking catch to send Gayle off and derail the Royal Challengers chase, which folded up all too soon.5. Yet another Kohli-ABD show235 for 1, Royal Challengers Bangalorev Mumbai Indians, Mumbai, IPL 2015Result – Royal Challengers won by 39 runsFor a change, The Wankhede Stadium was the theatre as Kohli and de Villiers went hell for leather against a hapless Mumbai Indians attack. Special treatment was reserved for youngsters, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, whose combined figures read 7-0-103-0. At that time, their 215-run stand was the highest in T20 history, only to be broken by the same duo a year later.Michael Hussey’s 116 kick started Chennai Super Kings’ era of dominance in the IPL•BCCI4. Mr Cricket kick starts Super Kings’ IPL dominance240 for 5, Chennai Super Kingsv Kings XI Punjab, Mohali, IPL 2008Result – Super Kings won by 33 runsThe IPL was just one game old and Brendon McCullum had just put up a performance for the ages on the opening night. Michael Hussey, more steady accumulator than T20 destructor, struck a 54-ball 116 to fulfil his captain’s goal of “putting runs on the board and pressure on Yuvraj”. In the process, he went one-up on brother David, who had ribbed him about his higher auction price. Mr Cricket 116, Bomber 0.3. Vijay announces himself on the big stage246 for 5, Chennai Super Kingsv Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2010Result – Super Kings won by 23 runsAn in-form M Vijay plundered 127 memorable runs on a track tailor-made for batting dominance. Just when things seemed like they could get no worse for Royals, he joined hands with Albie Morkel to smash 155 from the final ten overs. If there was any slim chance of Royals chasing the total down, debutant Doug Bollinger’s dream spell of 4-0-15-2 snuffed it out.2. Yet another Kohli-ABD show : Part II248 for 3, Royal Challengers Bangalorev Gujarat Lions, Bengaluru, IPL 2016Result – Royal Challengers won by 144 runsRemember the game when Kohli and de Villiers broke the IPL partnership record? This is the time when they outdid themselves, and became the first pair ever to own two partnerships of over 200 in this format. Fast bowlers, conventional legspinners, a mystery spinner – they all tried, to no avail. Royal Challengers’ bowlers joined the party, as they inflicted one of IPL’s heaviest defeats.1. When the Universe Boss hit stratospheric heights263 for 5, Royal Challengersv Pune Warriors, IPL 2013Result – Royal Challengers won by 130 runsGayle’s record-breaking assault was incredible even by his standards, as he went about cranking up gears as the innings progressed. One hit into the Bengaluru skies followed another, and by the end of it, Royal Challengers had put up T20’s highest-ever score. He even bowled an over for fun, picked up two wickets, and did a Gangnam to toast a fine day at the office. Life truly was a beach that evening for the Universe Boss.