The spinner has been a factor in each of England’s six consecutive victories in Asia

Matt Roller09-Feb-2021Cheteshwar Pujara is not prone to lapses in concentration. He doesn’t leave the oven on after he’s finished cooking, he doesn’t leave the back door unlocked, and he certainly doesn’t get out to left-arm orthodox spinners.At 9.50am on Tuesday, it had been nearly four years since a left-arm fingerspinner had dismissed him in a Test match. In that time, he had soaked up more than 140 overs against them, scoring 375 runs in the process. And then Jack Leach found some drift into him, some turn and bounce away from him, and drew an outside edge which flew to Ben Stokes at slip.If James Anderson’s epic over to Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane set the wheels of England’s final-day win in motion then Leach’s dismissal of Pujara had revved the engine, put it in gear and found the biting point. Last month, Pujara had soaked up 416 balls across the fourth innings of India’s draw in Sydney and their dramatic win in Brisbane, wearing multiple blows from the seamers and negotiating more than 20 overs of Nathan Lyon’s offspin in a pair of epic rearguards; in Chennai, he lasted less than 25 minutes on the final morning.Pujara’s wicket – and that of Rohit Sharma on the fourth evening – provided Leach with his hard-earned rewards after a chastening experience on the third afternoon that would not only have thrown many bowlers off for the rest of the Test, but left scars that affected their confidence for weeks and months to come.Leach had been given a specific role by England in that session: to toss the ball up into the footmarks outside Rishabh Pant’s off stump, and keep doing so regardless of how he responded. Pant blazed five sixes in 21 balls, taking Leach for 48 runs and leaving him with figures of 8-0-77-0 – eye-wateringly expensive in a 50-over game, let alone a Test match in helpful spinning conditions.But Jeetan Patel, England’s spin-bowling consultant, insisted that Leach’s pitchmaps from the third day showed how well he had stuck to his task. “We’re always going to look at outcomes, aren’t we?” he asked rhetorically. “Statistically, he was really good, and the balls that he bowled were in the right areas. Rishabh Pant is a very good player who struck the ball nicely, and he got away with a couple. [Leach] had done a lot of good things, but it just hadn’t gone his way.”

Leach has stuck to his plan to Pant pretty well – toss it up into the footholes outside his off stump – but Pant's execution has been perfect. And as a result, he's lost sight of his plan to Pujara and varied his lengths more than he'd have liked:

(Pitchmaps from BCCI site) pic.twitter.com/nSoerwhaQ9

— Matt Roller (@mroller98) February 7, 2021

“I thought I was playing in the IPL,” Leach joked after the fifth day. “It was a challenge, definitely. As a spinner, you’ve got to expect that at times, but I’m never going to enjoy eight overs for 80 [77]. It’s just about trying to stay strong and the boys really helped me out. It was a tough evening that evening, but I just wanted to come back strong on the last two days.”And so he did. Crucially, having lost sight of his plan to Pujara while Pant was taking him down, Leach regained his control and composure, landing the ball on a length outside the off stump and letting natural variation from the pitch do the rest of the work. His last 16 overs in India’s first innings cost 28 runs, including the wickets of R Ashwin and Shahbaz Nadeem on the fourth morning.It was his performance in the Test’s final innings that proved crucial. While his partner Dom Bess seemed to lose his rhythm and consistency as the game wore on, Leach’s picked up as it so often does. Bowling in the third and fourth innings, Leach has taken 36 Test wickets at 20.08; no other spinner’s record since his debut can match his when the pressure is on to bowl sides out.In particular, he was superb when landing the ball on a good length. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, 78 of the 156 balls Leach bowled – exactly half – pitched on a length, from which he took three of his four wickets and conceded only 10 runs off the bat. He may be something of a throwback – Leach has never played a professional T20 game – but he does the basics of red-ball spin bowling extremely well. He returned after lunch to dismiss Ashwin and Nadeem, the latter his 50th Test scalp in just his 13th appearance.Related

• James Anderson and Jack Leach consign India to rare home defeat

• James Anderson's magic spell conjures up memories of Andrew Flintoff in 2005

• Pujara: 'You can punch me as long as you can. Then I'll punch back'

• Leach feared for his life after bout of sepsis on NZ tour

It should be noted that Leach benefited in the first Test from bowling to a line-up featuring nine right-handed batsmen, and an exclusively right-handed top five. Against right-handers, Leach has taken 40 Test wickets at 24.45 while conceding 2.63 runs per over, numbers which outstrip every spinner’s other than Ravindra Jadeja (39 wickets at 21.48) since his debut. Against lefties, he has leaked 4.01 runs per over, and taken 10 wickets at 54.50.But he has shown signs of adaptability that suggest he will improve on that record, and he has made use of his experiences in domestic cricket throughout his fledgling international career. On the fourth evening, for example, he was tasked with opening the bowling, as he had done twice on England’s tour of Sri Lanka in 2018 and seven times for Somerset on turning pitches in the County Championship. He responded with the early wicket of Rohit, kissing his off stump with the best ball he has bowled in an England shirt.”There are moments when I feel like I can use what I’ve done in the past on those kinds of wickets to maybe realise times that I want to stick in and bowl consistently and not go for too many, and then other times when I’m prepared to take a few more risks, change my pace or whatever it is,” Leach said. “I’m just glad we got the win: it was a real team effort so I’m very happy.”Leach has become something of a cult figure among England fans, and it is easy to see why: he looks slender and unassuming, he wiped his glasses throughout his famous 1 not out in the Ashes win at Headingley, made 92 as a nightwatchman against Ireland earlier that summer, and has an inspiring story of off-field resilience including re-modelling his bowling action and living with Crohn’s disease.But perhaps the focus on Leach the man has distracted from the abilities of Leach the bowler. He’s the only member of their attack to have featured in each of England’s record run of six consecutive wins in Asia, and with 34 wickets at 27.08, he’s been fundamental to their fortunes too. If he can help turn England’s 1-0 lead into a series win in India, he will go a long way towards redressing that balance.

Travel through airports, protocol inconsistencies, could heighten the risk factor considerably for this edition

Nagraj Gollapudi08-Apr-2021A resurgent pandemic with new strains, multiple positive cases within teams – including a few inside their bubbles, and the variables thrown up by the logistics: venues spread across India and the need for air travel. On the eve of IPL 2021, the air of excitement has been tempered by health concerns.Crucially, there are several points of difference between IPL 2020 and this one. When the teams gathered in the UAE last August, the virus was a known quantity, the first wave was ebbing globally and in any case the UAE was not a hotspot of infection. Six months on, India is in the grip of a vicious surge – the past week has seen its two highest numbers for new daily cases ranging over 100,000 per day – and there is every likelihood this wave will peak next month.Here’s why the IPL 2021 bubble is far more vulnerable compared to the previous edition.Host cities
There were only three venues in IPL 2020: Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. The day the tournament began, the UAE had 674 new cases; it crossed 1000 a week into the tournament and stayed at that level right through (1096 new cases on the day of the final).Related

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This year will sorely test cricket administrators' planning and resilience

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Tracker – how Covid-19 has affected IPL 2021

An IPL cloaked in a bubble of uncertainty

By contrast all six venues in this IPL – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad – are currently hotspots. Mumbai itself reported more than 10,000 new cases on April 6; Delhi had more than 5,000 and Bengaluru more than 4,200. India’s total number of new cases in the past two days is 200,000. All three cities currently have, or will soon have, a night curfew to try and curb the spread of the virus, though the IPL will be exempt from those restrictions.Travel
Probably the biggest point of concern for several franchises. In the UAE, all 8 teams were based between Dubai and Abu Dhabi and travelled across the three venues by road using their own hired transport. At no instance would they come in contact with someone outside the bubble.This year, though, teams will travel across different cities – and all that travel will be by air. Though the commute will be on charter flights, and using private airports where possible including separate entry and exit points, franchises still remain concerned. Team will still need to undergo security checks at airports before boarding and after landing, which could entail coming in contact with a people outside the bubble.The concerns are underscored by the belief that former India wicketkeeper Kiran More, who is part of the Mumbai Indians’ set-up, is likely to have got exposed to the virus at an airport before he tested positive recently. More had checked into the team bubble in Mumbai in March, before the entire squad flew to Chennai, where they begin the defence of their title. That a positive case has been found in a well-prepared franchise like Mumbai, which created its own bubble as early as February, has put other franchises on high alert.Covid-19 education and management
About a couple of weeks ahead of IPL 2020, every member of every franchise in the UAE dialled into a virtual call to attend an education workshop on Covid-19 and the guidelines put in place in a biosecure environment, which was new to almost everyone in the IPL. This session was conducted by the BCCI’s medical experts, including Dr Abhijit Salvi, the board’s chief medical officer and anti-doping expert, as well as Nitin Patel, the Indian men’s team physiotherapist.The audience didn’t just hear the dos-and-don’ts, but also heard what the coronavirus is and how it could transmit, and consequently, why it was important to respect rules in the biosecure bubble.It is understood there has been no such session organised yet by the IPL. This despite evident fears being shared by players and coaches across teams who, it is believed, have been anxious about the surging infection rate outside the bubble across India.A red carpet at the entrance to the ground is sanitised•Ron Gaunt/BCCIAnother difference from the last IPL is the absence of two key digital applications that helped monitor not just the health of the person in the bubble, but also track their movement. As soon as a person checked into the IPL bubble in the UAE, they had to download a Covid-monitoring app on a digital device. A thermometer, and oxymeter in some team hotels, had been provided to gather the individual’s health parameters, primarily meant to monitor any symptoms for Covid-19. This self-declaration was mandatory, and had to be submitted daily. Repeated failures to do so would prompt a hefty monetary fine on the individual. Such a check-and-balance exercise, franchises have pointed out, was beneficial because if someone had symptoms, it was picked up quickly and the potential spread was curbed.Movement tracker
In the UAE, every member in the IPL bubble had to wear a GPS-tracking fob device around their neck like a pendant. This device tracked the person’s movements within the bubble and triggered a beep if there was any breach where the individual had crossed over into a zone where he/she was not permitted access. This was done by creating a geo fence within the bubble with pre-defined boundaries. Every individual had a distinct fob, with specified in-built boundaries based on the individual’s occupation.It is understood franchises have not been given any such tracking device so far this IPL.Bubble integrity managers
It might not have yet introduced digital trackers, but the IPL has appointed human trackers in the form of a bubble integrity manager for the first time. Each franchise will be supervised by upto four integrity managers, whose sole job is to report any breaches within the bubble by any team members. However the purpose of these managers has come under the scanner now, as it is understood one of them was caught on camera leaving his room while in hard quarantine at one of the team hotels.Quarantine protocols
The IPL has laid out quarantine rules both for before entering the bubble, and once inside the bio-secure environment. The quarantine rules range from serving a hard week-long period inside the team hotel and clearing mandatory tests before starting to train. In the case of any positive or asymptomatic case, the isolation period varies between a week and 10 days outside the team bubble. The protocols apply not just for squads, but also for the franchise management as well as owners and family members.Devdutt Padikkal not serving a hard quarantine has raised eyebrows•BCCIHowever, franchises remain unconvinced by the protocols, which they believe they are being forced to comply with despite their arbitrariness. The inconsistency of the protocols is highlighted by the case of Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman Devdutt Padikkal, who tested positive recently. It is not known when exactly Padikkal tested positive, but the franchise said he had done home isolation of 10 days.On Wednesday, Padikkal travelled by road from his home in Bengaluru to Chennai, where his team is based, and even participated in training. Rival franchises have questioned the logic behind allowing Padikkal to join the Royal Challengers’ training session without having to undergo the mandatory week-long quarantine and the testing process. They also want to know if the Royal Challengers have given a written undertaking to the IPL that they take responsibility for the home quarantine for Padikkal. By the same token, franchises have asked why the IPL is not allowing senior franchise management or owners to be allowed, subject to them clearing the required tests.Stadiums
The IPL has created different layers within the bubble at the stadiums, with no one allowed to enter the area demarcated for the players and match officials. This includes the groundsmen and the officials of the local state associations. Teams that have been practising in Mumbai and Chennai, where the first set of the IPL’s league phase is being held, confirmed that no outsiders have been present during training sessions. That does not mean they are confident. Only recently a swathe of grounds personnel at the Wankhede stadium, which will host 10 matches in the coming two weeks, tested positive forcing the Mumbai Cricket Association to scamper and find replacements from other venues within the city.It is understood that the governing bodies that manage the venues in Chennai and Delhi have vaccinated their groundsmen, who are allowed to commute back to their home after their work day, thus triggering the risk element. The state associations say that all those present at the venue have to undergo testing every few days, and that these people are not around the dressing rooms.Franchises are not so sure, as Mumbai are understood to not have trained even once at the MA Chidambaram Stadium before they play the tournament opener against the Royal Challengers on Friday.

Ramiz Raja, the new PCB chairman, was among the many voices from Pakistan expressing their disappointment at New Zealand’s decision to abandon the tour

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2021

Crazy day it has been! Feel so sorry for the fans and our players. Walking out of the tour by taking a unilateral approach on a security threat is very frustrating. Especially when it’s not shared!! Which world is NZ living in??NZ will hear us at ICC.

— Ramiz Raja (@iramizraja) September 17, 2021

All the stats from Bangladesh’s first-ever T20I win over Australia

Sampath Bandarupalli03-Aug-20211 – Bangladesh registered their maiden T20I win against Australia, after losing each of their previous four meetings in the format. Tuesday’s game was also the first instance of the two teams clashing in a T20I outside the World T20s. Across all the three formats, Bangladesh have beaten Australia only twice previously; in an ODI at Cardiff and in a Test match at Mirpur.131 for 7 – Bangladesh’s total in the first T20I, the lowest they have successfully defended in this format, eclipsing their previous lowest of 133 against UAE at the Asia Cup in 2016.1 – Only once have Australia failed to chase down a target below 140 in a full 20-over game. The previous lowest target they could not chase in a T20I was 143 against New Zealand during the 2016 World T20 game in Dharamsala.108 – Australia’s total during the first T20I against Bangladesh is their lowest 20-over total in this format. Their previous lowest was 117 for 7 against Pakistan during the 2012 World T20 game in Colombo.2 – Number of T20I totals against Bangladesh that are lower than Australia’s 108. Afghanistan were bundled out for 72 in the 2014 World T20 game while UAE were skittled for 82 in the 2016 Asia Cup.4 for 19 – Nasum Ahmed’s bowling figures are the best for Bangladesh in T20Is while opening the bowling. Mohammad Saifuddin’s 4 for 33 against Afghanistan in 2019 is the only previous instance of a Bangladeshi opening bowler claiming a four-wicket haul in T20Is.50 – Wickets for Mitchell Starc in T20I cricket. He became the first player to complete 50 wickets in Men’s T20Is for Australia with two scalps he picked up during the first game.

In our first batch of report cards for 2021: New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Ireland, and women’s cricket

29-Dec-2021New Zealandby Deivarayan Muthu
It was a banner year for New Zealand. After becoming the No. 1 ODI team, they won the inaugural World Test Championship final and then reached their first T20 World Cup final.They won each of the three ODIs they played in 2021 despite the injury-enforced absence of regular captain Kane Williamson. In some major changes, BJ Watling retired from Test cricket and Ross Taylor was dropped from the T20I set-up. A number players, though, emerged from the fringes and played vital roles for the side across formats, including Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell, Will Young, Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra.Like Williamson, Lockie Ferguson, their premier fast bowler in white-ball cricket, was unavailable at various points because of injury, but New Zealand still found a way to succeed thanks to their enviable depth. Their second-string T20I side even tested a full-strength Bangladesh away.Once New Zealand returned to full strength, they adapted smartly to conditions in the UAE and progressed to the T20 World Cup final from a group that included Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. The final, however, didn’t go according to plan, nor did the India tour that followed immediately.High point
New Zealand emerged winners of the inaugural WTC, two years after losing the ODI World Cup . It was quite fitting that the old firm of Williamson and Taylor sealed victory in fiendishly difficult conditions for batting in Southampton after Kyle Jamieson, the newbie in the attack, set it up beautifully with his swing, seam, and bounce.Low point
While left-arm fingerspinner Ajaz Patel made history by becoming only the third bowler to bag all ten wickets in a Test innings, in Mumbai, the rest of the line-up fell away so badly that New Zealand’s ten-match unbeaten streak was snapped. They began the year as the top-ranked Test side and slipped to No. 2 by the end of it after losing 1-0 in India.Results
Tests: P6 W3 L1 D2
ODIs: P3 W3 L0
T20Is: P23 W13 L10Pakistan had an unbeaten run in the T20 World Cup till Australia stopped them short in the semis•Michael Steele/ICC/Getty ImagesPakistanby Danyal Rasool
Pakistan cricket truly put its followers through the wringer of stratospheric highs and sub-zero depths in 2021. The bottom line will tell you this side, led by Babar Azam, won a lot more than they lost, and look like a team reinvigorated.T20I success headlined the narrative, with home and away wins over South Africa, a delightfully dominant T20 World Cup campaign, and a clean sweep of West Indies to finish the year. A home Test series win over South Africa was perhaps the red-ball highlight, a heartening point being Hasan Ali’s return to form in Tests. After Shaheen Afridi, Hasan has the most Test wickets for Pakistan this year. Pakistan are currently sitting pretty in the top two of the World Test Championship table.All wasn’t rosy, though. A third-string England side clean-swept Pakistan in an ODI series in July, and Zimbabwe embarrassingly skittled them for 99 in a chase of 119.In an administrative shake-up, Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan were replaced as chairman and CEO by Ramiz Raja and Faisal Hasnain, in what still feels like a makeshift, experimental set-up. Head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis, too, departed in somewhat contentious circumstances, and are yet to be replaced full-time.Most devastatingly of all, the year showed the “;Western bloc”, as Ramiz put it, remains far from convinced Pakistan is a safe place to visit. First, New Zealand withdrew from a series minutes before the start of the first game, citing unspecified security concerns, before England plunged the knife in further by refusing to repay Pakistan’s favour of a tour in uncertain Covid times in 2020, pulling out of their men’s and women’s tours.High point
A ten-wicket thumping of India in the sides’ opening match at the T20 World Cup. Pakistan marched to the semi-finals unbeaten, where…Low point
… they ran into another of their old foes, Australia, who kept intact their hold over Pakistan in ICC knockout events, sealing a sensational heist with six balls to spare.Results
Tests: P9 W7 L2
ODIs: P6 W2 L4
T20Is: P29 W20 L6 NR3Dimuth Karunaratne’s 244 against Bangladesh was the highest individual Test score of the year•AFP/Getty ImagesSri LankaBy Andrew Fidel Fernando
If you’re an optimist, 2021was a year of regeneration for Sri Lanka’s top men’s team. In T20Is, the year saw the full blossoming of Wanindu Hasaranga – currently the top T20I bowler in the world – the re-emergence of fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera, and the arrival of top-order batter Charith Asalanka. In Tests, Pathum Nissanka made a relatively smooth transition to batting at the top level; left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama, and offspinning allrounder Ramesh Mendis began with promise; and the senior batters moved up a gear too. Dimuth Karunaratne can perhaps now be regarded one of the best openers of his era (however thin that field may be), and Lahiru Thirimanne and Dhananjaya de Silva also averaged more than 50 for the year.But here’s the pessimists’ view: many of these gains are fragile. Although the rise of fresh talent was heartening, Sri Lanka’s win-loss record in the limited-overs formats, particularly ODIs, remains woeful. This though they have increasingly become a side against whom top sides rest their front-line players. They turned heads in the T20 World Cup, sure, but didn’t make a serious semi-finals charge. And for all the experience in that Test top order, it produced some of the most tragicomic collapses of the year.Sri Lanka head into 2022 without coaching staff, with SLC’s technical advisory committee, headed by Aravinda de Silva, seemingly intent on installing new coaches. Will the new set-up be able to build on 2021’s gains?High point
The victories over Bangladesh and West Indies in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup, plus competitive outings against South Africa and England.Low point
The unfathomably meek collapses against England, in the Test series in January.Results
Tests: P9 W3 L3 D3
ODIs: P15 W4 L10 NR1
T20Is: P20 W8 L12None of West Indies’ T20 heavyweights stepped up at the T20 World Cup and the team crashed out early•ICC via GettyWest Indiesby Nagraj Gollapudi
Hope and despair. The West Indies fan knows these two contrasting emotions better than anybody.The year started full of hope, when the debutant pair of Kyle Mayers and Nkrumah Bonner stitched together a record partnership to mow down a large target set by Bangladesh and help West Indies to a 2-0 win – their first overseas series win since late 2017. By June the excitement had evaporated as West Indies were blanked out 2-0 by South Africa in a home Test series. The Test team would finish the year with another 2-0 defeat, this time in Sri Lanka.Their fortunes were similar in white-ball cricket. In April, Kieron Pollard’s team shook Australia with a 4-1 T20I series win at home. On September 9, former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum warned in a tweet that West Indies, the defending champions, had a “seriously strong squad” for the T20 World Cup in the UAE. But the team came a cropper, crashing out of the tournament in the group phase. All the big names, including Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell and Nicholas Pooran failed spectacularly. Pollard conceded it was the “end of a generation”.High point
In February in Chattogram, Mayers and Bonner’s fourth-wicket stand of 210 runs helped a second-string West Indies side surpass a record 395-run target against Bangladesh. It was the fifth-highest chase in Test cricket history. Their 4-1 defeat of Australia in T20Is in July was their first limited-overs series win against Australia at home since 1995.Low point
Fifty five. The third-lowest total in men’s T20 World Cups, and the score Pollard’s team was skittled for against England in the 2021 edition in Dubai.Results
Tests: P10 W3 L5 D2
ODIs: P9 W4 L5
T20Is: P25 W9 L13 NR3Oval Invincibles, led by South Africa captain Dane van Niekerk, were the inaugural champions of the Women’s Hundred•Getty ImagesWomenby Annesha Ghosh
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.Women’s cricket oscillated between extremes in 2021. The inaugural Hundred was the headline act. Breaking new ground in the UK, the success of the women’s competition surpassed that of its men’s counterpart, reaching new audiences and belatedly forcing a review of the female competitors’ pay.In Australia, the WBBL got a record crowd for its final, and a record overall broadcast audience, which vindicated Cricket Australia’s decision to make every game available on television for the first time in the competition’s seven-year history. The tournament featured its largest Indian contingent, although it was the South Africans who played starring roles in the knockouts, like they did in the Hundred.Australia’s world-record unbeaten streak in ODIs was finally snapped at 26 in September by India in a record chase, two days after they went down in the thriller of the year.India’s wild swings in fortune weren’t all on the field. Runners-up at the 2020 T20 World Cup, they suffered a full year of inactivity and waited over 14 months to lay their hands on the prize money from the tournament. Then, having not played Tests for seven years, they suddenly had two scheduled for 2021, including their first pink-ball Test, which inspired hopes that more teams beyond England and Australia would embrace the multi-format structure in bilaterals.The ICC, for its part, granted Test and ODI status to women’s teams of all Full Member countries and pledged to place the women’s game at the centre of its global growth strategy.Standout individual feats included Sophia Dunkley becoming the first black woman to play Test cricket for England, West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor becoming the youngest to make 8000 international runs, India captain Mithali Raj reaching the top of the run charts in the women’s international game, Ireland’s Amy Hunter breaking the record for the youngest player to make a senior international century, and Australia allrounder Ellyse Perry becoming the first woman to the double of 5000 runs and 300 wickets.Towards the close of the year, the game lost one of its pioneers, former England allrounder Eileen Ash, who died at 110.High point
The ICC replaced the word “batsman” with the gender-neutral “batter” in all its playing conditions, during the men’s T20 World Cup in October-November. The move, described by the governing body as a “natural and overdue evolution” in the sport, followed the MCC’s amendments regarding the term in the Laws of Cricket, aimed at recognising cricket as “a game for all”.Low point
The cancellation of the ODI World Cup Qualifier in November-December. Sri Lanka had played no cricket between March 2020 and the qualifying event, and it cost them dearly after team standings came into play to determine the final three entrants to the 2022 World Cup. Thailand, meanwhile, got a raw deal despite being a frontrunner for a top-five finish in the qualifier, which would have ensured their inclusion in the next Women’s ODI Championship cycle.Ireland made an early exit from the T20 World Cup after losing two of three games, against Namibia and Sri Lanka•Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty ImagesIrelandby Peter Della Penna
After a mostly charmed decade in the 2010s, the start of the 2020s has not been too kind to Ireland. Though they gained Test status in 2017, they have not played a match in the format since 2019, leaving many people within the Irish set-up wondering when another will happen.They did not exactly cover themselves in glory in the limited-overs formats in 2021. The year started off with Ireland losing an ODI to the UAE, and later in January, losing 3-0 in ODIs against Afghanistan. That result was not entirely surprising considering Ireland’s historic woes against Afghanistan ever since Rashid Khan made his debut. However, losing two out of three Super League ODIs to Netherlands in Utrecht in July was a jarring result. They bounced back somewhat to claim 15 out of a possible 30 points (ten from a win and five for a no result) in each of their home ODI series later in the summer against South Africa and Zimbabwe.Ireland’s T20I form was arguably worse. In a case of near déjà vu, they lost two of three T20Is to the UAE in the weeks prior to the start of the T20 World Cup. So losing two out of three in the opening round – to Sri Lanka and Namibia – should not have been altogether shocking. Despite the gradual expansion of the second-round format from Super Eights, to Super 10s and currently Super 12s, Ireland have not advanced to the second round of the T20 World Cup since 2009. In the recriminations that followed, head coach Graham Ford resigned, bringing an end to a tenure that started in 2017.High point
Beating South Africa for the first time ever in ODIs: a century by captain Andy Balbirnie propelled Ireland to a 43-run win in Malahide on July 13.Low point
Stumbling badly against Namibia in a win-or-go home encounter on the final day of Group A play in Sharjah to bow out of the T20 World Cup before the second phase had begun.Results
ODIs: P14 W4 L8 NR2
T20Is: P14 W5 L9Stats current as of December 18, 2021More in our look back at 2021

“I don’t think we are going to define ourselves by the way we played tonight,” Sune Luus says

Firdose Moonda31-Mar-2022There was no crying. At least not that we could see.There was no dramatic scrambling on to the Christchurch field, no shrieks that pierced eardrums and hearts, and absolutely no sense of what-if.After all, South Africa were comprehensively beaten by a better England side to end a World Cup campaign that always looked on the verge of toppling over. Their five victories in the league stage were all nail-biters, and though that suggested they knew how to win under pressure, South Africa went through the tournament one card away from the house falling down. They were over-reliant on Laura Wolvaardt and the reputation of their pace pack and lacked a consistent opening stand, a No. 3 batter, and a specialist spinner, and at some point, those deficiencies were going to show.This was not a South African outfit that played as though they were good enough to get to their first World Cup final and even in the immediate aftermath of the defeat, with emotions running high, they knew it. “We didn’t bring our best game when it was needed,” captain Sune Luus said afterwards, straight-faced in defeat unlike her predecessor Dane van Niekerk, who had broken down when addressing the media after the 2017 defeat to the same team.

“Our provincial structure needs to be stronger. We need more players coming into the system and competing at a higher level with our emerging team. It all starts there. As we look around the world, everybody is creating [T20] leagues. I don’t want us to fall behind”Sune Luus

Then, South Africa were the wild card, made up of plucky and largely unknown players who considered themselves fortunate to be part of the final four. They were living a dream and losing to England in Bristol was the wake-up call they didn’t want. Fast-forward five years and they were one of the best sides around, with a mature and settled group – albeit rocked by van Niekerk’s injury-enforced absence – on a mission to show what the effects of good planning and sufficient game time could do.To a degree, they achieved their aim. This was South Africa’s best performance at an ODI World Cup and they had good returns from both the stalwarts [Marizanne Kapp’s all-round heroics and Mignon du Preez’s match-winning knock against India] and the younger players [Wolvaardt’s runs and Luus’ contributions].Like New Zealand and India, they are on the verge of generation change with six of the squad over 30 but no confirmed retirees just yet. It’s for that reason, and perhaps only that, that South Africa leave this tournament with unfinished business.Related

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“It’s a very sad change-room tonight – different to the other games we’ve played,” Luus said. “There’s a couple of players – it might be their last World Cup and for us as younger players it breaks our hearts that we couldn’t give the final to them and help them get the trophy they have been working towards for…”Before Luus could remember, Shabnim Ismail, who joined her for the post-match conference, interrupted. “Fifteen years,” Ismail, who made her debut in 2007 and was part of the first stage of the professionalisation of the women’s game in South Africa in 2014, said.”Yes, 15 years,” Luus said. “That breaks our heart that we couldn’t support them in their last World Cup, although I think Shabnim is ready to play another one.”She is. “I feel I am peaking at the right time,” Ismail said. “I know I am 33, but I feel like my cricket is moving in the right direction.”Despite this result, it is for South Africa too.‘Our provincial structure needs to be stronger’
They are now considered among the heavyweights in the women’s game, they win series [five in succession before the World Cup] and they produce players for franchise leagues. Perhaps that’s why there was none of the sense of large-scale devastation we saw five years ago. “We’ve had a brilliant couple of years as a team,” Luus said. “We’ve grown immensely. All the players have stepped up at different times. It’s still not over. It’s very exciting to see what the future holds and when we go back and regroup and start afresh.”Without a contribution from Laura Wolvaardt, South Africa’s batting came a cropper on the big day•Getty ImagesThis is the next challenge for South Africa. Now that the women’s game is sponsored and thriving at international level, there needs to be a trickle-down effect to ensure there’s enough depth to maintain consistency at the highest level. “Our provincial structure needs to be stronger,” Luus said. “We need more players coming into the system and competing at a higher level with our emerging team. It all starts there. As we look around the world, everybody is creating leagues. I don’t want us to fall behind.”While South Africa has a provincial set-up for women’s cricket, there is no T20 league and the domestic game flies under the radar. It is unsponsored, much like the men’s domestic game, and could become under-resourced. Luus appealed to corporates not to let them happen. “It’s going to take a huge effort for us to encourage sponsors to come and board and help the growth of women’s cricket in South Africa.”The financial services company Momentum is the reason the women’s national team could be contracted eight years ago, and they have backed them since then. That arrangement comes to an end after this tournament, which may mean that CSA has to go searching for a company to step in. Given the performances of the team, that may not be difficult. This South African team has captured the imagination of the nation, taken up space in mass media, and even caught the eye of World Cup-winning Springbok captain Siya Kolisi.Now, they need to take it to the next level, which means an investment into development structures and a fine-tuning of operations at elite level. On the face of it, the services of a high-performance coach or sports psychologist should be added to the support staff. “I don’t think it’s a skill problem. I think it’s more mental,” Ismail said. “We’ve got the skill, we’ve got world-class players; it’s just to fire on the day, it’s 80% mental and 20% skill.”And with that statement, South Africa showed that they know where things went wrong – that, for example, the dropped catches that let Danni Wyatt go on to score a match-winning hundred were about their state of mind and not necessarily their ability – and that all is not lost because of one defeat. “I don’t think we are going to define ourselves by the way we played tonight,” Luus said. And she smiled as she left the room.

Australia’s captain led them to a landmark win in Pakistan. Their bowling has some question marks over it, though

Ian Chappell27-Mar-2022Pat Cummins has improved his already glowing reputation as an extremely competent captain of Australia.In a series where the pitches have been a somnambulist’s dream, Cummins has done what can only be expected of a good captain. Mostly by virtue of declarations, he laid the foundation for victory in the final two games against Pakistan, though the win was only achieved in the last Test, giving Australia a result they had been valiantly seeking for about ten days.Cummins has consolidated the theory – characteristically put forth by Mark Taylor – that the best Australian captains don’t crave the task; rather, it falls into their lap. Some queried Cummins’ captaincy credentials but they overlooked two important factors: he was always a player who understood bowling, and he was easily the most influential team member.Related

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In the second aspect Cummins has once again excelled, being the joint most prolific wicket-taker, and doing it with Australia’s best average by far, on really tough pitches.Importantly, Cummins the leader ran the team and established a spirit where the side was prepared to go into battle for him. They remained competitive all through the final two matches despite the punishment it took to keep the opposition on edge.Australia were able to eventually find success thanks to the magnificence of Usman Khawaja’s batting and the continual search for wickets that allowed Cummins’ team to finally claim all 20 in a match. The batting, which held sway for the bulk of the series, was dominated by Khawaja, who Pakistan were unable to find a way to dismiss cheaply.

Australia, who used to be the envy of the world for their ability to produce good wristspinners, need to revise their vision in order to take more Test wickets rather than rely heavily on containment

In this demanding series, the quest for a suitable method to swing the old ball reached the level of obsession. It wasn’t until Nathan Lyon eventually unearthed a method for consistently dismissing batters on the final day that spin bowling took a front seat.The effort put into swinging the old ball – strident shining and hiding of the delivery – posed the obvious question: why not use a similar effort to provoke the new ball into moving? Any successful efforts to swing the new ball consistently can help dispatch top-order players, which is surely the primary objective in the search for victory.While Australia have had a couple of standouts when it comes to swinging the old ball, in Cummins and Mitchell Starc, there was little progress in the search for a second spinner to complement Lyon. Australia’s inability to produce anyone who has come close to replicating anything like the success of the late Shane Warne highlights a weakness in the system. Warne’s strength and ability to bowl long, probing spells played a large part in his success. Australia, who used to be the envy of the world for their ability to produce good wristspinners, need to revise their vision in order to take more Test wickets rather than rely heavily on containment.While it’s difficult to achieve much in this regard before the next tour of India, a subtle change in Cummins’ approach will benefit Australia’s new-found confidence overseas. India at home have the best-balanced attack, where they rely on spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to complement a strong pace-bowling line-up. If Australia rely too heavily on swinging the old ball to the detriment of seeking more traditional dismissals, it will become a hard series to win.While Mitchell Swepson displayed potential, more has to be done to encourage his wicket-taking instincts if he is to achieve success in India. Wristspinners are in demand in T20 games, where batsmen are expected to keep the scoring rate moving. Captains like Cummins must expect good spinners to remove Test batters who are attempting to play a long innings.Cummins has shown he’s a good captain who learned fast in demanding conditions in Pakistan. He’ll be facing a much tougher team with a more cagey captain in Rohit Sharma when Australia tour India. That series will be a searching test of Cummins’ leadership and a good guide to what Australia have learned under a Test captain on the rise.

A statistical look through Roach’s journey in Tests, where he is one short of joining the 250-wicket club

Sampath Bandarupalli22-Jun-2022In a league of legends
Another wicket in Tests will make Roach only the sixth bowler to achieve 250 wickets for West Indies, which will make him go past Michael Holding. Although Roach’s average (26.71) is on the higher side compared to the other bowlers in the 250-wicket club, his strike rate of 52.6 is well ahead of West Indies greats Courtney Walsh (54.5) and Curtly Ambrose (57.8).A strong comeback
Roach had a solid start to his Test career, picking up 82 wickets in 21 matches across the first four years. He averaged 27.69 while claiming five five-fors. However, the performance in the following four years led to Roach getting dropped from the Test side. He took only 40 wickets in the 16 Tests played between 2013 and 2016 while averaging 35.45. Roach returned in August 2017 on the tour of England, where he finished as his team’s leading wicket-taker.

Deivarayan Muthu on the relatively unknown West Indies players to watch out for in the ODI series against India

Deivarayan Muthu20-Jul-2022Akeal Hosein
A left-arm fingerspinner known for his relentless accuracy, Akeal Hosein uncharacteristically missed his lengths in the recently concluded white-ball series against Bangladesh, managing just three wickets in three T20Is and three ODIs. Hosein, however, is still the leading wicket-taker in the ongoing ODI Super League with 35 strikes in 20 games at an average of 23.37 and an economy rate of 4.46.If Hosein can return to his best, he could pose a threat to an India line-up that could potentially feature a large number of right-hand batters in their middle order.

One day… I’d like to become a player like him… @imjadeja pic.twitter.com/VLb9DRwf66

— Akeal Hosein (@AHosein21) October 16, 2013

Hosein also brings with him some IPL experience, having been a net bowler for Kolkata Knight Riders. Strong performances against India usually pique the interest of IPL scouts, and this could well be his time to shine again. And, he can smash sixes lower down the order as well, and might relish the prospect of going up against his idol Ravindra Jadeja.Gudakesh Motie was impressive for Guyana Amazon Warriors in CPL 2021•Getty ImagesGudakesh Motie
In his first ODI series, left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie took six wickets in three matches at an average of 13.33 and economy rate of just 3, in front of his home crowd in Guyana. Similar thrifty bowling in CPL 2021 had contributed to Guyana Amazon Warriors’ run to the second semi-final last year.After playing just six CPL matches, Motie travelled to the UAE as a net bowler for the 2021 T20 World Cup. This is another T20 World Cup year offering another opportunity for Motie. West Indies’ white-ball captain Pooran, who has also captained Motie in the CPL, knows what the left-armer brings to the table: slow turn and drift and the ability to trick batters with a quicker arm-ball from wide of the crease.Jayden Seales was the most successful quick in LPL 2021•AFP/Getty ImagesJayden Seales
Fast bowler Jayden Seales played just one match against Bangladesh, conceding 26 in 3.5 overs, but with Anderson Phillip and Romario Shepherd dropping out of the ODI squad for the India series, he could likely get more game time. Seales can swing the new ball, bowl hard lengths in the middle overs, and hit his yorkers at the death, skills that were on show during his CPL stint with Trinbago Knight Riders and LPL stint with Jaffna Kings.In LPL 2021, which was dominated by spinners, Seales emerged as the most prolific seamer, with 15 wickets in seven matches at an economy rate of 7.81. Earlier this year, Seales said that working with Wahab Riaz and Suranga Lakmal at the LPL helped him develop his death bowling. That skill will be put to the test against India.Brandon King impressed Johan Botha with match-winning performances in CPL 2019•AFP via Getty ImagesBrandon King
Brandon King is bit of an enigma. He originally started as a middle-order batter for Jamaica, but Johan Botha, the coach of Amazon Warriors at the time, transformed him into a hard-hitting opener in CPL 2019. King responded to the CPL promotion with 496 runs in 12 innings at an average of 55.11 and strike rate of almost 150, including an unbeaten 132 in the first qualifier, which moved Botha to tears.King’s transition to international cricket, however, hasn’t been as smooth. The team management continually shunting him up and down the order hasn’t helped him, although he recently said that he backs himself to bat anywhere in the top six.King might not have even been in West Indies’ recent squads had Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer not been omitted on fitness grounds. Time may be running out for him but he can make a mark in this series.Keacy Carty was the Player of The Match in the 2016 Under-19 World Cup Final•Getty ImagesKeacy Carty
Born in St. Maarten, a Dutch overseas territory in the Caribbean, Keacy Carty was eligible to play for Netherlands, but as it turned out, he made his international debut for West Indies against Netherlands. In his first outing with the bat, Carty contributed an unbeaten 43 off 66 balls in an unbroken 118-run stand with King to help West Indies ace a chase of 216 after they had been reduced to 99 for 5 by Netherlands’ seamers.Carty is more of an innings builder than a basher, as his List A strike rate of 68.15 suggests. Some of those innings-building skills were also briefly on display in Pakistan and then at home against Bangladesh. In a middle order that includes big-hitters Pooran, Powell, Holder and perhaps King, Carty could be one to hold the innings together, an area where West Indies have struggled in the recent past.Carty was the Player of the Match in 2016 when West Indies won the Under-19 World Cup final against India in Bangladesh. The likes of Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Shimron Hetmyer and Alzarri Joseph, who were all involved in that final, have pressed on at the senior level. The series against India is now Carty’s chance to find some overdue international success.