So far, the team under Langer and Paine has proven more adept and comfortable being underdogs and fighters than front-runners and dominators

Daniel Brettig08-Dec-2018Among the countless things that have confronted Australia’s coach Justin Langer since he took the job in May, most recently the criticism of none other than Sachin Tendulkar for the team’s Adelaide scoring rate, none will be a source of greater frustration than this: the script evolving in his first Test in charge at home was much the same as that written for the preceding encounter away to Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.Pujara set the blueprint – Head

Travis Head suggested Cheteshwar Pujara, who hit a first-innings century and is batting on 40 in the second, set the example for the way everyone else must bat in this Test.
“The way he played in the first innings was the blueprint for this wicket,” Head said. “He had a really good leaving game, good forward defence, as the ball got softer, he got more runs.”
Head was disappointed to be caught behind for 72 just as his stand with Nathan Lyon was assuming pesky dimensions for India, but he showed an ability to combat R Ashwin that outstripped his fellow left-handers. He also believed that a significant fourth innings chase was possible based on the way the pitch has played in Sheffield Shield matches this summer.
“Disappointing to feel the momentum swing back, I wanted to continue on and felt if we could keep doing it for a period of time we could put them under pressure and keep them out there,” he said. “I just tried to stay busy on [Ashwin]. I learned a lot from Dubai first innings to second innings, I was really positive against the off-spinner, watching the ball and not premeditating. It’s going to be the same in the next innings, there’s not much rough for the left-handers but this wicket always spins with the grass coverage.
“This year bigger scores have been made and teams have batted out draws. It’s more of a new ball wicket at the moment… it’s vital to win those moments when the new ball comes around again.”

Separated by a few weeks and a 13-hour long-haul flight, Abu Dhabi and Adelaide have thus far evolved in maddeningly similar fashion for an Australian team trying, despite slender resources in batting terms especially, to make a fresh start.In both cases, Tim Paine lost the toss. In both cases, his bowlers found an early opening by way of their opponents’ indiscretions. In both cases, a couple of sturdy innings and a discernible drop in the quality and intensity of Australia’s bowling allowed for the cobbling of a defensible total. In both cases, an unsteady Australian batting lineup was strangled into submission by precise bowling plans and slow scoring. In both cases, the third innings unfolded without the sort of dramatic incisions required to turn the tide.While Adelaide is far from over as a match, and a momentous rearguard in the first Test against Pakistan in Dubai will give the home side some hope, the fact that the Australians have been unable to make the most of productive starts with the ball – by far their strongest suit in the absences of Steven Smith and David Warner – will undoubtedly cause Langer’s brow to furrow. For as much as he has talked about fighting qualities and not giving up in the game’s longest form, capitalisation upon advantage is a central plank of any successful team.In between these two Test matches, Langer will have noted how New Zealand were able to scrap their way to victories against the same Pakistan side that humbugged his collective, demonstrating the sort of sustained performance vital to defeating an opponent as capable as Virat Kohli’s India. Equally, he will know that the confidence of the team under his tutelage remains decidedly fragile, even when bolstered by the dual advantages of home turf and a full complement of fast bowlers.It is this last factor that will also be a source of disquiet for Australia and enormous succour for India after day three. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are, with the support of Nathan Lyon, the truly world-class element of this team. The truism that bowlers win Test matches has stood up throughout history, with the caveat that any team containing them must produce at least a middling supply of runs to defend. By creeping up toward parity with India while occupying the crease for an additional 10 overs, the Australian batting lineup did not grant their bowlers an advantage but also left the game open for them.Adelaide was, in a promising trend, Australia’s longest first innings since making 351 in 110.4 overs in Durban, not coincidentally their last victory. That has been followed by 243 in 71.3 in Port Elizabeth, 255 in 69.5 in Cape Town, 221 in 70 in Johannesburg, 202 in 83.3 in Dubai, 145 in 50.4 in Abu Dhabi and now 235 in 98.4 in Adelaide. What followed was to the credit of India’s top order, but also a sobering sight for Langer, Paine and bowling coach David Saker. Even as the removal of India’s openers for 76 brought some respite for Australia, it was difficult to escape the conclusion that the pacemen had not quite seized a critical moment of this Test when armed with the new ball on an overcast day in Adelaide.There was a good contest between Pat Cummins and KL Rahul•Getty ImagesKL Rahul and M Vijay were given enough latitude to leave plenty of balls early on, with neither batsman overly worried about scoring runs in the opening overs of the innings. Starc, gaining some useful swing once again, struggled to control it as he wanted to, while Hazlewood’s tempters floating away outside the off stump were a little wider and more frequently so than they had been on day one.Having seen through the opening salvos, Rahul was emboldened enough to open his shoulders, cracking Cummins for six over cover point then following up with a boundary through the same region. Only 11 runs ticked by in the first nine overs, but they were followed by no fewer than 51 from the next nine. The effect of these runs was also to force Paine to post in/out fields for Lyon, who was unable to prevent regular turnover of the strike in his first five overs – costing 19 runs – despite not conceding a boundary.So when Starc coaxed Vijay into following a ball well wide of the off stump and edging it to Peter Handscomb, the Australian huddle was marked by far more relief than jubilation. Though they were to be further deflated when a caught behind verdict for Lyon against Cheteshwar Pujara was overturned after replays showed no contact between bat and ball. Hazlewood belatedly found Rahul’s outside edge to setup a brief and theatrical duel with Kohli before the break.Well though Kohli and Pujara went on to bat, the latter assisted further when adjudged lbw playing no shot at Lyon but reprieved by ball-tracking that showed the off-break barely easing over the top of the middle and leg stumps, they had been given a head start not afforded on the opening day of the series. Kohli’s exit late in the day, undone by Lyon’s bounce in a spell that grew in quality the longer it continued, provided a glimmer, but even a rush of day four wickets will still leave a testing chase.This all demonstrated that, so far, the Langer/Paine Australians have proven themselves more adept and comfortable being underdogs and fighters than front-runners and dominators. As Langer himself put it on SEN Radio: “There’s going to be some bumps over the next five weeks and the next couple of years, because you can’t just give these guys Test experience.”They’re great young blokes, they’re working so hard, they’re well prepared, they’e good players, but trust me Test cricket is so hard. It took some of my best mates a long time to get it right and that’s usually how it works. What the public saw yesterday, they’re fighting hard. You can’t just switch on ‘I’m going to be a Test cricketer today’.”The way that Adelaide’s third day unfolded meant that they will still be fumbling for the aforementioned switch on days four and five. Langer, for one, will be ardently hoping it can be flicked soon, while remaining realistic about the fact that it may not for some time to come.

The opener batted for more than 11 hours for his unbeaten 264, but for the majority of that time, Sri Lanka were convinced they had bigger problems

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Wellington17-Dec-2018Tom Latham batted for more than 11-and-a-half-hours, and played out 489 balls, but for the majority of that time, and for most of those deliveries, Sri Lanka were convinced they had bigger problems.At the beginning of the New Zealand innings, on day two, it had been Jeet Raval that worried them. Raval who sent the third ball he faced screaming through extra cover. Raval who socked Suranga Lakmal down the ground, and sent another straight drive purring past the feet of bowler Kasun Rajitha. While he skipped along to 30 off 45 balls looking very much like the opener who might drive the New Zealand innings forward, prompting mid-pitch discussions between Dinesh Chandimal and his bowlers, Latham puttered away with a strike rate of roughly 20.Number of fours off Latham’s first 85 deliveries? Just two. Leaves? Blocks? Forward defences? Yes, please.When Kane Williamson is the next man in, the opposition’s attention naturally shifts toward him. When he hits three fours off his first three balls – two of those boundaries sent whistling past point – his batting partners may as well vanish entirely. Sri Lanka fiddled constantly with their fields when Williamson was on strike. They moved point finer and squared gully up. Fielders were forever suggesting to bowlers how they might slow the flow of runs, or how they might lay a trap, or at the very least get him to crack a grimace, all of which is near impossible when Williamson is in full-on batting automation mode.Then Latham came back on strike, and everybody sort of exhaled. Ah, good old Latham. Twenty-eight off 103. Most memorable shot so far? Uh, has he played any? Let’s look at the wagon wheel. Oh yeah, there that leg-side flick.Every batsman who subsequently arrived appeared to be bringing all of the personality. Ross Taylor played both crashing drives and delicate paddle sweeps, ironsmith and artisan within the same innings. Then, as the established left-hander was refusing to produce the pretty strokes, Henry Nicholls took it upon himself to make the Basin Reserve gasp in admiration, a stereotypically graceful leftie’s off drive here, a serene pull shot there, a languid jaunt down the pitch and swish, the spinner spins around on his toes, watches ball sail overhead to the boundary.With Colin de Grandhomme, Sri Lanka went looking for trouble. They stacked the leg side and aimed balls at his nose. Two of those disappeared over fine leg’s head, and another went over deep square.Tom Latham muscles the ball over the leg side•Getty ImagesLatham watched all of this, and thought: “No. I’m happy down this end, away from the spotlight, thank you.” So surreptitious was his advance, that the main reminder he was batting was the constant flashing of his name on the scoreboard, which you looked up to and noticed, oh – he’s added 20 more runs. So unmemorable were huge swathes of this knock, that if this innings had committed a crime, the victim would fail to pick it out from a police line-up.Only on the evening of day three, when Latham’s innings had grown truly gargantuan, and he was charging up the biggest scores for New Zealand list, did this monumental effort give off a sense of personality. Batting with the tail, Latham was suddenly energised seeking out boundaries for the first time in five sessions. Tantalising possibilities had taken shape. How far he will get up the New Zealand list, you wondered. Sixth, as it turned out. Will he carry his bat? Yes, and he became the first New Zealand batsman since 1972 to achieve this.The best statistical nugget from the whole thing, though, serves our hero’s batting character perfectly. Latham’s 264 not out is the highest-ever score from a batsman who has carried his bat, beating the previous record of 244 from none other than Alastair Cook. Which really puts this innings into perspective, doesn’t it? In producing this epically non-descript innings, Latham has out-blanded maybe the greatest purveyor of batting blandery the planet has ever seen.Typically, it was not Latham, but the opposition bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake, who provided the most colourful summation of the knock:”The beauty of Latham’s innings was that he scored 100 then started leaving the ball again, and didn’t play any rash strokes,” Ramanayake said. “Only when he was 250 did he go over the top. That was a good lesson in itself. He showed maturity and it was an exceptional knock. It wasn’t flamboyant but it was a classy innings.”Ranking by charisma is of course no fair way to judge an innings by a New Zealand opener. For decades, this has been one of the toughest places to face the new ball, and blandness here can often mean excellence. Latham can reflect that he didn’t get out hooking the ball before lunch as Raval did, or slap a nothing-ball to square leg as Williamson had done, or misread the drift as he danced down the pitch to hole out to long-on, like Nicholls.He flew happily under the radar, and while Sri Lanka were firing missiles at the fighter jets and trying to gun down the fancy electronic warfare craft, this old-fashioned, unnoticed B-52 had dropped its massive payload, knocked out their entire infrastructure, and left them on the brink of a giant defeat.

They have struggled to fill the shoes of the retired Misbah and Younis, and their twin ducks at the Wanderers began the process of Pakistan squandering another promising position

Danyal Rasool at the Wanderers12-Jan-2019They had 9,912 Test runs between them at the start of Pakistan’s innings. 53 half-centuries, 27 hundreds. Following a post-tea surge that had seen South Africa collapse from 229 for 3 to 262 all out, Pakistan had the opportunity, on a flatter pitch than the previous two, to, heaven forbid, even push ahead into a lead. I know, I know, steady on.That, really, is all Pakistan needed to do with the bat, and for the umpteenth time since Misbah and Younis retired, they looked to the two steadiest presences in the batting line-up to take charge.Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq played four balls between them before trudging back without having added to their run tallies, never mind half-centuries. Pakistan, for their part, did their thing around those two struggling stalwarts, losing wickets regularly either side of a dazzling partnership of 78, off 61 balls, between Sarfraz Ahmed and Babar Azam. When all was said and done, they posted a score in the same region they appear to have crystallised at: their 185 was the fourth time in five innings Pakistan had folded between 177 and 190.in this series.They will end the second day with a plethora of problems, an abundance of frustrations, and the thing that keeps this cycle going: a shot of wistful hope. For the heady 43 minutes when Sarfraz, tormented by a lean run that began almost exactly when he became captain, shook off the burden that has so worn him down. You could sense the exhilarating freedom wash over you as a man drained by the intensity of his own passion, and shrunken by the weight of a nation beginning to fall out of love with him, cut adrift all the additional baggage, playing like a teenager in his own backyard.Never mind the backyard happened to be the Bullring. He hit four fours off the first eight balls he faced, all from Vernon Philander, three glorious cover drives, off front foot and back, sandwiching a fortuitous nick through the slips. Accompanying him was the man people in Pakistan have gone from, in three months, proclaiming as not ready for Test cricket to being the best Test batsman in the country, adding a memorable chapter to the Babar oeuvre of Dale Steyn domination. Picking up where he left off in Centurion and in Cape Town, he dispatched perhaps the best fast bowler ever for five fours in seven balls to add to the 16 he had hit thus far this series.But the joy of Pakistan’s batsmen dominating South Africa’s quicks was always going to be ephemeral. The partnership ended almost as soon as Pakistan had trimmed their deficit to under 100, and the breakthrough triggered such a violently despairing collapse that you wondered if the high that had preceded it was illusory. Two balls after reaching a 38-ball fifty, the third-quickest by a Pakistan captain, Sarfraz poked at one outside off stump to Kagiso Rabada, and Hashim Amla at slip did the rest.It seemed to wake Pakistan up to what had been happening. Were they really batting well in South Africa? As if suddenly self-conscious about their bravado over the past 10 overs, Pakistan added only 18 runs after the fall of the fifth wicket. Babar, on 49 when Sarfraz was dismissed, didn’t even manage the half-century. The bane of Pakistan’s existence this series, Duanne Olivier, banged one in too fast for Babar to get on top of, and he holed out to fine leg.Babar Azam was floored trying to get away from a bouncer•Getty ImagesThere was time enough for Olivier to complete another five-fer, his third in five innings this series. Pakistan, ending 77 adrift of South Africa’s first-innings score, had squandered a glittering opportunity to make Dean Elgar’s men pay for a below-par total.Beyond the familiarity of what transpired, there is little to distinguish this particular batting disappointment from any other this series, or indeed from the past two years or so. Azhar and Shafiq may never step into MisYou’s shoes, which is fine, by the way. Those two were among the finest players of their generation, and holding them up as a yardstick for future Pakistan batsmen will always be a joyless, thankless task.But both scoring ducks today was a microcosm of what Pakistan have had to cope with since May 2018. As if losing their two best batsmen wasn’t enough, they limp on with the two next-best batsmen rendered pale shadows of their former selves. Azhar averaged 46.86 until MisYou retired; since then he has averaged 28.58.Shafiq’s numbers don’t quite show the same steep decline, but his tendency to go missing when his side really needs runs has become an unshakeable habit. This match and Cape Town provide the perfect illustration; in Cape Town Pakistan were in an almost hopeless situation. Shafiq came out and scored an eye-catching 88, but wasn’t able to produce the colossal individual score Pakistan needed to make the Test competitive. Pakistan lost comfortably.Today with his side three down for 53, Pakistan were crying out for a big performance from one of their top batsmen. Third delivery in, Shafiq ducked into a Duanne Olivier ball that, even for a short man like him, would have barely reached chest height. It thumped into his gloves, lobbed up, and that was that. That just four of his 12 Test centuries have come in winning causes for Pakistan, as opposed to 6 in defeat, is perhaps as illustrative of the point.Sarfraz and Babar evoke their own particular frustrations. For two batsmen who looked so comfortable out in the middle, being dismissed within four balls of each other nearly rendered the whole stand pointless. Apportioning blame to one or another aspect of Pakistan’s batting frailties is neither novel nor insightful. These are issues the team must look to address in the nine months between now and when they next play a Test match in September. Having come out of the transition in 2017 heavily bruised and battered, they may need to gear up for another one very shortly.

The idea was to use him as a wicket-taking force, in short, sharp bursts, and as a demonic hitter. It hasn’t quite panned out that way

Jarrod Kimber24-Jun-2019Mashrafe Mortaza is a warrior, a fighter. That’s what his coaches call him. For an age he has battled knee injuries that should have kept him out of the game. Ryan Harris was much the same; one of his last Tests he won struggling through the crease to beat South Africa, erasing the last bits of cartilage from his knees. They are heroes just for getting to the crease.Andre Russell is not seen as one. Some fans have accused him of being soft, of faking his injuries, or of doing it all for attention. Every limp, tumble or early exit from the ground is met with someone doubting his sincerity.Russell has himself to blame for some of this. The drugs ban did not help. And he has also not been available for long periods because of problems with Cricket West Indies and because he wanted to make more money in franchise cricket.Of course, Mortaza might have been tempted to be a T20 star had he been in more demand, and Harris was a well paid player for Australia – who once signed as a Kolpak in England. Shane Warne and Shoaib Akhtar both had suspensions under drug violations, which did not seem to lessen fans’ appreciation.But despite all that, many will never forgive Russell for prioritising T20 over everything else. He may be one of the most entertaining and skilled players around but he is also one of the most polarising.A different Russell was on show this World Cup. Cricket’s most spectacular athlete came into the tournament injured. West Indies took a gamble on him regardless, and he spent more time off the field than on it. His body is not up to ten overs, or even six or seven, but his team need him, and he bowled through pain, went on and off the field, and occasionally fell at the crease, only to keep coming in again.

Russell has taken a wicket every 23 balls, and almost every time he has been on, West Indies have looked a better team. He is not as fast as Shannon Gabriel or Oshane Thomas, but he is a smarter bowler, and always a wicket-taking threat

West Indies gambled on him. Russell gambled on his future. And before West Indies are officially out of the tournament, Russell is going home.***”How many overs did Andre Russell bowl? You were the one who said he was injured. I saw him bowl every time the captain asked him to bowl, and he looked like getting wickets every time the captain asked him to bowl.” That was West Indies assistant coach Roddy Estwick after a journalist asked about Russell’s fitness following the loss to Bangladesh.Estwick is a retired fast bowler with retired fast bowler’s knees. He knows Russell is crocked, because he has eyes, but he also knows that Russell has been available almost every time they have asked him. Sure, his run-up became a hobble-up, his follow-through included a limp, and he was stationary during some of his fielding efforts. But he did what West Indies wanted in this tournament; they wanted him to bat in the middle order and deliver some overs.He was in the team to hit the ball a long way and to take wickets. No one was expecting him to bowl ten overs or construct patient innings. In 56 ODIs he has only ever bowled out his full quota seven times. West Indies were looking for an impact player, and Russell is that.ALSO READ: ‘Sometimes the ball goes for six even if I’ve not timed it, because of the work I’ve put in’He was one of the greatest athletes in cricket. Lithe but powerful, like a tall super-middleweight boxer. The Russell of today is not like that. He is far bigger than before – bulkier; his thighs and shoulders have grown and he is built more like a baseball slugger than the Russell of before. There is more of him, and it all seems to move slower.And there are his knees. The problem with them seems to be a lack of cartilage, like with Harris and Mortaza. Kapil Dev had his cartilage removed when he was playing, and he believes it cost him five to seven years of bowling.Fast bowling is a cruel thing to put a healthy body through. There is a large amount of force going through the front leg on initial contact, which needs be absorbed by ankle-joint motion or knee-joint flexion. The problem for Kapil, Harris and Mortaza was, their natural shock absorbers were not there or were greatly diminished, which means the femur was crashing into the tibia. Harris kept bowling until his tibia cracked from the pressure.Unlike other knee injuries, like tears to your anterior cruciate or medial collateral ligaments, you can continue to bowl with no cartilage; you just do it with pain.1:51

Defiant Andre Russell looking to prove a point

One thing you hear about Russell from some doubters is: “He can’t be that injured if he’s bowling at 90 miles an hour.” But they’re wrong. Harris remained quick right until the end. And Mortaza’s speed has dropped only a few miles an hour over a decade or so of knee trouble. You can still bowl; it just hurts. Chances are Russell and Mortaza will both need knee replacements when they are older. Both of them move as if they need them now.In T20 cricket Russell’s primary skill these days is batting. In this World Cup he only batted three innings and faced 29 balls. The batting he does is literally hit or miss; three chances are probably not enough. The one time he got a start was against Australia, and he let Mitchell Starc play on his ego then.Where he was good was with the ball. Against Pakistan they only needed Russell for three overs, in which he took two wickets. Pakistan fell apart so quickly that using Russell again was pointless. The time they really needed him was against Australia.In his first spell there, he took the wicket of Usman Khawaja, after he hit the batsman. That original spell was only three overs, and Australia were in huge trouble. But Russell had also taken a tumble when he bowled.It’s not that uncommon for some bowlers to fall; Mark Wood spends a great deal of time watching the batsman from the turf. But with Russell’s knees, any big knock and they seem to stiffen up. He gingerly delivered one more over and then went off the ground, with West Indies on top.But they didn’t stay on top. Twenty overs later Australia were doing well again, so Russell came back. Straightaway he took the wicket of Alex Carey – playing perhaps his best knock for Australia. In the same over he almost had Nathan Coulter-Nile twice.Before the tournament, West Indies had talked about the plan to bowl Russell in short, sharp spells. They were using someone who really hadn’t played ODI cricket since 2015 and had a horrible knee injury, so it was obvious. Also, to get the most pace out of Russell – even when he is fully fit – short spells are best.

Fast bowling is a cruel thing to put a healthy body through. There is a large amount of force going through the front leg on initial contact, which needs be absorbed by ankle-joint motion or knee-joint flexion

West Indies – Russell included – also knew that with Coulter-Nile in, they had almost finished Australia. They were so close to victory. So Russell bowled another over. And another. As he started his fourth over on the trot, the press box started looking around, confused. When he came on for his fifth, it felt like West Indies were gambling their entire campaign on this spell. After each over Holder asked him how he was doing, Russell told him he was fine and that he could bowl one more.In that fifth over, Russell was hit for six by Coulter-Nile. He started the day over 140kph, scaring Khawaja; he ended it around 130, hobbling, being flicked for six by a man who had never scored over 70 in a professional match. It may have been worth a try, but it didn’t work.The next game, Russell was left out, which hardly mattered as the rain came down. Against England, Russell came back, and after West Indies made a low total, came on to bowl second change.His first over was the eighth. He shouldn’t have been bowling. His first two balls were poor, he only got any real pace up once, and he hobbled into the field. He didn’t come back on until the 11th over (like they wanted to give him one extra over of rest). The last ball of this over was a great bouncer that knocked Jonny Bairstow to the ground. But Russell fell to the surface too. Batsman and bowler had to be seen to. Bairstow batted on; Russell left the field.ALSO READ: Andre Russell’s fast show ignites World Cup for West IndiesIt was clear from very early on that England would make the total with ease. There was no reason for Russell to bowl again, but towards the end of England’s chase he came back on the field and told the captain he was available to bowl.Before the Bangladesh game, Russell didn’t even make it to training. For that match, West Indies chose to use him ahead of Carlos Brathwaite.Brathwaite’s hundred against New Zealand probably made the decision easier for West Indies to send Russell home. With Brathwaite they get fielding, some decent line and length, and his own inconsistent, magnificent striking. The reason they opted for Russell in the first place is that Russell hits more often, and he has that extra pace.West Indies believed their speed and height could take teams down this World Cup – and Russell was a part of that strategy. Russell has taken a wicket every 23 balls, and almost every time he was on, West Indies looked a better team. He is not as fast as Shannon Gabriel or Oshane Thomas, but he is a smarter bowler, and always a wicket-taking threat.***Against Bangladesh the West Indies openers are leaking runs, so Russell comes on first change. His first over goes for two; in his second he has the wicket of Soumya Sarkar. One over later, he is off the field.Ten overs later, he pulls up before even delivering his first ball. He jogs back to his mark, although “jogging” might be overstating it. He falls over again when bowling and has to be helped up. After the over, he pauses mid-pitch, doubled over in pain, before trudging to midwicket. He continues to bowl, and as he heads back to his mark, Holder runs over and tries to gee him up; it would have been better if he had held him up.When one quick short ball flies past the edge, Russell jumps in anticipation, thinking it was a wicket, but when he lands, you can almost hear the clang of his knees. He limps through an over and then leaves the field. The walk takes forever, and he can’t even lift his legs properly over the padded triangles at the boundary.A Russell bouncer to Bairstow knocked both batsman and bowler down, but one stayed down longer•Getty ImagesWhen he comes back on, it is only to field. A ball is hit past him, and he runs after it, but it’s not really running, and it won’t work. A short while later a ball is mishit towards him – it floats up the way completely clunked cricket shots can do. Most the fielders on the field – Chris Gayle included – would have got to it. Russell doesn’t even get close.***Russell’s earnings per year are not publicly available. Many T20 teams and leagues pay guys at his level under the table. In the last year he has played IPL, PSL, BPL, T10, Global T20 and APL. His salary, before bonuses or sponsors, is probably around US$2 million.Russell is 31, and his body severely limits the number of years he can earn this kind of money. Because of his suspension under the drug code, he has already missed a year. If he can’t bowl, he can become a middle-order hitter on the T20 circuit and stick around for a while, but without his all-round package, he won’t be as in demand, nor paid as much.Given West Indian cricketers are among the lowest paid of the major nations, he is not at the World Cup for the money. While there are no other paydays he will miss out on – most cricket shuts down for ICC events – by playing here he is putting future earnings in doubt through injury or general wear and tear. Not to mention the damage he is doing to his knees beyond his cricket career.Before the England game Russell batted in the nets for a long time. But he also spent just as long with the physio. His body looked like a car being used for parts, more than that of a functioning cricketer. Almost no one was in the nets; the pain he was showing wasn’t for show.It’s easy to look down on the multimillionaire player who fell afoul of drug regulations and who wasn’t always available for his team. But the easiest thing for Russell to have done would have been to stay at home and ice his knees in preparation for his next massive payday.Instead, he tried, he fell, and the gamble hasn’t worked.

Twice in this tournament, not changing the way they have batted for the conditions, or state of the game, has cost them

Jarrod Kimber14-Jun-2019The West Indies’ first two was in the 17th over of the innings.Some of that is down to the fact that Chris Gayle is ancient, and they have replaced his hamstrings with biscuits. They are stiff, but they also crumble. But it’s also about the way the West Indies play. Since Javed Miandad hit the ball over short cover’s head and Dean Jones turned ODI batting into a 10,000-metre race, teams have used the two as a safe option to score quickly. But the West Indies’ newer style of batting is not as much about twos, or even running at all; it’s about the power. By the time their first two came today, they’d already scored several boundaries and a six.And it’s not that their style isn’t right – batsmen take a risk with twos for a low return. They’re playing an attacking shot, if not checked, and then hustling for a run that may not always be entirely there. If you are going to take a risk, you might as well take it when there is four or six runs on offer. It just wasn’t the right style for today.Watch on Hotstar (India only) – West Indies lose 5 for 24Since the last World Cup, West Indies score a two every 20.39 balls, third slowest. England leads the world with a two every 16.69 balls.But it isn’t just twos that the West Indies don’t bother with, they also score off fewer balls than most teams. Since April 2015, the West Indies have a dot ball percentage of 57. Only Afghanistan faces more dots. England is down at 49%, which means that on average the West Indies face 24 more dot balls than England each game.Not all of this matters if your players are waiting for the ball to be in their zones and hitting it out of the stadium. But today the pitch was not that conducive to swing through the line, and this is the biggest ground in the tournament. The smallest boundary here is 76 metres, the largest boundary at Taunton is 68 metres. It’s not that you can’t hit sixes here, but you can’t hit them consistently.Eoin Morgan had talked about this before the game. “The parameters of the ground here are a lot bigger than the West Indies.” He also mentioned the pitch may not be ideal for swinging through the line. That seemed like a warning to the West Indies players before the game, but they didn’t seem to listen. Gayle and Andre Russell both were caught on the boundary with hits that would have been sixes anywhere else in the tournament, and in most places in the world.It’s not that their attacking style isn’t right, but West Indies must adapt for different stadiums•Getty ImagesIf there is any pitch in England to bat in the more traditional ODI way, it’s the Rose Bowl. In the first ten overs they scored 41 runs, and had 41 dots. In the following ten, with the field out, they still managed 33 dots. Gayle hurts in that, but they don’t have many great strike rotaters. And in truth, they don’t have many traditional batsmen at all. They are not set up for this ground.Shai Hope is their only frontline batsman who has a well-rounded game suited to ODI cricket, and even he struggles with strike rotation. Of the 36 batsmen from the teams in this World Cup who’ve faced at least 1000 balls in the last couple of years, Shai Hope has the ninth worst dot ball percentage with 55%. There’s no reason for a player like Hope not to rotate the ball more; he’s the fourth worst boundary hitter in this World Cup. He’s physically fit and talented. He should be able to score regularly with no risk.On Friday, he batted at three and was followed by Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer. Both are incredible talents and ball strikers, but neither are strike rotaters. Pooran played a very mature innings, his best for the West Indies in his short career. At the other end, Hetmyer was scoring his boundaries by moving his front leg and heaving the ball even in the middle overs. They scored some twos, but they always appeared to be mis-hit boundaries rather than special placement.They didn’t look like they were playing the same ODI cricket as other teams in this tournament. And maybe that’s because they don’t play as much of it. India has four top-order batsmen with over 60 ODIs in the last four years. Jason Holder is West Indies’ only top seven player with over 60 matches, Shai Hope is at 58, and then Evin Lewis has played 37. Gayle has been largely unavailable. Hetmyer is still relatively new. And Pooran only made his debut earlier this year. And it’s not like these players have a lot of one day domestic cricket either.Obviously it’s not like ODI cricket is a foreign concept; they’re not like aliens trying to learn a new game. And a lot of their T20 strengths are now part of ODI cricket. But twice in this tournament, not changing the way they have batted for the conditions, or state of the game, has cost them. Against Australia they turned a near run-a-ball chase into a solid loss by over-attacking. And here they made a weak total on a pitch where Chris Woakes batted at three and made 40. They didn’t even get much of a bat against Pakistan; so the two times they have batted this tournament, they’ve failed.At six today was Andre Russell. Expecting him to look for twos when he’s borrowed his gran’s knees seems like a stretch. But also hoping for him to become a batsman when he has spent his entire life being a hitter is asking a lot. Not that he is in this side for plucky rearguard innings when the top order have failed either. He is made for T20 and death hitting.And in reality, this team is the same.The talent is there, but while they have the team to score 400, they might also not be for all conditions. If you look at their results, one win, one draw and two losses, you’d have to wonder if they are the right team for this tournament.Holder said, “There’s still a lot of cricket left to be played in this tournament”. But if they keep playing like today, it’ll be over sooner than they want.

With 20 needed off seven balls, Ajay Mandal and his senior partner Amandeep Khare pulled off a coup against the defending champions

Shashank Kishore28-Sep-2019Four runs needed, four balls left – Chhattisgarh are on the verge of a historic first win against Mumbai. Tushar Deshpande, Mumbai’s fastest bowler, has been smacked inside-out over cover for a boundary off the first ball. Ajay Mandal then backs away for the second and lofts a full delivery over long-off for six. The equation has turned, from a seemingly tough 20 off seven balls. Mandal can see his team-mates jumping in excitement in the distance. Amandeep Khare, the senior partner, unbeaten on 117 at the other end, is quietly praying Mandal doesn’t lose his cool.”I was only thinking in my mind that he should take a single, but didn’t want to tell him anything initially,” Khare tells ESPNcricinfo. “Then Ajay came and told me ” (See, I will hit a six). I knew I had to step in. I was reminded of that famous World T20 game in Bangalore. (you will also remember) – Mushfiqur Rahim celebrated with Bangladesh still needing two. I told Ajay, ‘please don’t play a bad shot and get out now’. Even if you take a single, it’s fine. We’re making history here. Wait.”Mandal listened to his senior partner and they took two. Now, with two runs needed and the field in, he chipped the ball over the infield and they completed the double. The first-ever win for Chhattisgarh over Vijay Hazare Trophy defending champions Mumbai. A side they kept hearing stories about. A side that would often be discussed in meetings.Khare was part of the first-ever meeting when Chhattisgarh’s Ranji Trophy squad was assembled three years ago. The then coach Sulakshan Kulkarni had brought with him a replica of the Ranji Trophy and asked his players to touch it, take pictures and post them on social media. Now, he remembers that very moment as he plucks the stump out and runs towards the dressing room to celebrate. This isn’t a title win, but the euphoria feels like one. ” high (This was a different kind of high, the guys went mad),” Khare says.ALSO READ – Kishore: Chhattisgarh brace for new dawn (October 2016)“This means so much, because growing up, a lot of our players kept wondering when will we get to play big teams, let alone beat them. So now, when the moment has come, it’s a little surreal. Bangalore’s traffic didn’t allow us to celebrate much at the ground, it takes us two hours to get to the hotel. We have a game in less than 12 hours, so a quick team meeting, dinner and sleep. In fact, even my parents don’t know yet that I made a century and we won. I will call them now.”A simple news-trawl on Google about Khare gives you very little. He’s 22 years old, plays for Chhattisgarh and isn’t used to giving interviews. The fact is, he is the first player from Chhattisgarh proper to play for India at any level – he was part of the Under-19 World Cup team in 2016 – and has been part of the Duleep Trophy and the Deodhar Trophy since.”The Under-19 World Cup gives you a platform, but I realised coming from Chhattisgarh, all that euphoria would quickly die down, and I have to score runs to be remembered,” he says. “My last two seasons were a little average, I didn’t think I stepped up and performed to my expectation. I worked on my fitness and also, talking a lot with senior players has been a massive help. Match awareness, match situations, how do you play in what situations – all these things I’ve learnt by making mistakes.”ALSO READ – Responsible Rahul ton sends another reminder of qualityKhare and Mandal came together when Chhattisgarh needed 96 off 58 balls. Khare wasn’t thinking about the win yet, but wanted to take the game into the last three overs. He had the belief that even 40 runs could be scored off them. It’s this belief, he says, that wasn’t there earlier, not until a couple of years ago.”We were a right-left combination, so the plan was every over we have to somehow get two boundaries. I was targeting the short leg-side boundary from one end, and he’d target it from the other,” he says. “In fact, when 20 runs were needed, I thought of taking a single so that I could be on strike and face the final over. I backed myself to hit three sixes, but then thought I would be getting ahead of the game thinking that way. Shivam Dube bowled a slower ball, I made room and lofted it for six. Even I was amazed how I easily managed to clear the ropes.”As the shot is hit, Khare hears Shashank Singh from the dressing room yelp at the fielders who had sledged him. There’s a bit of background to it: Shashank played his early years in Mumbai, and had been team-mates with the very players he was pitted against here. When he was out in the middle, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan and Aditya Tare were in his ear constantly. Khare says he couldn’t understand much of it because it was in Marathi, but says it was quite hilarious to see his team-mate under the pump. Shashank also played his part in the win by making 40 off 43 balls in a 97-run stand that brought the target down to double-digits.”I told him, your turn will also come, keep waiting, we will win the game and you can say whatever you want,” Khare recalls and laughs. “After the game, it was all good. Shreyas Iyer came and congratulated me, Sarfaraz Khan, who I played India Under-19 cricket with, came and shook hands. I guess even they knew we were destined to win this. Hopefully this is the start of something big for us.”

A specially made jersey, a guard of honour (of sorts) from the opposition, and, then an announcement of his availability “until further notice”

Sidharth Monga14-Aug-2019The greatest trick Chris Gayle played was convince the world he had retired. Twice over.Now you can never tell until the man himself confirms it – we know that after his retirement reversal at the World Cup – but there were signs early on during the Port-of-Spain ODI that raised the question afresh. He played in a specially made jersey with 301 – the number of ODIs he has played – on its back. He usually wears No. 45. Out of those 301 ODIs, Gayle has represented West Indies in 298, a record that he claimed during the World Cup. During this series, Gayle went past Brian Lara’s career tally of 10,405 ODI runs, the most by a West Indies player.On personal front, there isn’t much else left to achieve. In what was a big sign that this might be the the end, Gayle was greeted by all the India players at the end of his innings. Everybody shook his hand, Virat Kohli did his usual jig with Gayle, and the batsman walked off with the helmet atop his bat handle, accepting the applause from a scant crowd. It did have a farewell feel to it, but it can’t be ruled out that this was just his last ODI in the Caribbean.As it turned out, Gayle confirmed at the end of the match in a nine-second clip to Windies Cricket that he was available to West Indies “until further notice”. Later, at a post-match press conference, West Indies captain Jason Holder said, “To my knowledge he hasn’t retired from international cricket.”Gayle had earlier announced that the World Cup would be his last international assignment, before revealing a change of plans towards the end of the tournament. Even Holder, his ODI and Test captain, only came to know of this through Gayle’s press conference. Gayle said he wanted to play the ODIs and Tests against India, possibly setting up a farewell Test at his hometown Kingston. However, Gayle was not selected for the Tests, which made it likelier that this might have been it.Chris Gayle acknowledges the applause after bringing up his fifty•Getty ImagesIf Gayle does indeed carry on, his innings gave enough proof of his continuing worth. He started off with a maiden, but ended up with 72 off 41 in a display of seemingly effortless hitting. This was Gayle at his typical best: 62 of his 72 runs came in boundaries, he helped West Indies make the highest 10-over score for a side batting first in the history of ODI cricket, and he hit five of the side’s eight sixes in that period, also the record for a side batting first.It all began with a free hit in the second over, after Gayle had played the first one out watchfully. After Gayle deposited Mohammed Shami over long-on for a massive six, India had no answers to his hitting. The highlight of the innings was a casual drive on the up, off a Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivery that was short of a length, which sailed over the man stationed at long-on for an impossibly flat six. Knuckle balls, offcutters, deep-in-the-hand slower balls, bouncers, all went as if items in a garage sale. Gayle just set up a strong base and swung through the line during the Powerplay overs, sending out a reminder that he was still good enough at this level.Eventually Gayle hit one too well, sending a low catch through to mid-off off the bowling of Khaleel Ahmed. Kohli, the catcher, led his team in giving Gayle a guard of honour of sorts.At the end of the game, which West Indies lost thanks to a superlative century by Kohli, Gayle led his side off the field. As he walked off, he doffed his cap to the crowd. Behind him, Kohli signalled to the crowd to applaud Gayle. At the post-match press conference, Kohli even went ahead and congratulated Gayle on a great career. Clearly he had not seen the nine-second clip.”Chris, I would like to congratulate him for a great, great career playing for West Indies,” Kohli said. “He has done so much for West Indies cricket, and he is an icon all over the world.”One of the nicest human beings around. That to me is his nicest quality. Everyone knows about his cricket, but I think the kind of person he is – so helpful with youngsters and so fun loving and always smiling, even in the most [high] pressure situations he is always smiling. For me Chris Gayle the person is the best part of him. The cricket everyone knows.”I have been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with him as a friend and get to know him as a person – he is a gem of a human being. I think he can be really proud of that firstly.”Holder called Gayle’s knock an example of his career. “The knock he played today was outstanding, he got us off to a really good start. He is entertaining, he showed his presence,” Holder said. “That is what people have come to expect from Chris Gayle over the years. Today is just a perfect example of that.”There must have been something for everything around Gayle to look like it was a farewell match. The opposition’s gesture, his own walk off with the helmet atop his bat, the standing ovations, the camera lingering on him, and his own board’s media wing asking him that question.This cannot be an easy situation to be in. Competitive cricket is something Gayle has done and known practically all his life. It is an extremely hard decision to make to part ways with that, especially not knowing when it might be taken out of his hand. It is a pressure of a different kind. And yet there Gayle was, answering the question with a grin on his face, proving Kohli’s apparent farewell tribute right even when not retiring.

Having learnt from the best in Sunil Narine, the left-arm spinner has become adept in stifling batsmen in Powerplays, to Trinbago’s benefit

Deivarayan Muthu30-Sep-2019You would probably struggle to find a more star-studded T20 line-up than Trinbago Knight Riders’: Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Colin Munro, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo (who has also become a white-ball monster) – and not to forget the injured Dwayne Bravo – are among the most sought-after T20 players in the world, let alone the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). In such a power-packed side, the unassuming Khary Pierre, who bowls unglamorous left-arm fingerspin, often slips under the radar. He doesn’t turn the ball much, doesn’t engage in crazy celebrations either. But he relentlessly attacks the stumps, and has established himself as Knight Riders’ go-to bowler, particularly in the Powerplay.Since the start of CPL 2018, Pierre has been second only to Guyana Amazon Warriors’ Chris Green among fingerspinners (who have bowled more than ten overs), in terms of economy rate in the Powerplay. All told, Pierre has bowled 21 overs in the Powerplay in this period, conceding just 129 runs at an economy rate of 6.14 while picking up six wickets. Narine, Pierre’s senior partner at Knight Riders, has also bowled 21 overs in the Powerplay since the start of CPL 2018, and has a more impressive economy rate of 4.28. But, well, Narine is Narine, one of the best, with more variety in his repertoire.

He’s back!!! Khary Pierre is back at the @TKRiders for CPL19! #CPL19 #CricketPlayedLouder #BiggestPartyInSport #Cricket pic.twitter.com/Dox7mFw3Xz

— CPL T20 (@CPL) July 15, 2019

Last week, even as JP Duminy shellacked a 15-ball fifty, the fastest in the CPL, to vault Barbados Tridents to 192 for 5 in Bridgetown against Knight Riders, Pierre held his own, returning 2 for 24 in his four overs that included 12 dots.In a recent interview with , Samuel Badree, a former Powerplay specialist himself, said: “In T20 cricket you can’t go searching for wickets. Batsmen have to come at you. That will create opportunities in itself.”When we asked Pierre about the challenges facing him while bowling in the Powerplay with just two men outside the circle, he echoed Badree’s thoughts, saying his primary aim is to ramp up the pressure through dot balls.ESPNcricinfo Ltd”I just try to keep it as tight as possible,” Pierre told ESPNcricinfo after his thrifty spell against Tridents. “The batsman will come at you and [will] make a mistake. If you tend to go at them, you can leak runs. Sunil also tells me ‘don’t go looking [for wickets] and let the batsman come to you.’ I try to bowl as much dots a possible.”Bowling in the Powerplays is a tough job, with just two fielders out of the circle and batsmen are always going after you. I don’t try to be too predictable – when you’re too predictable, that’s when the batsmen try to get on top of you. Thinking what the batsman is about to do, that helps me in the Powerplay as well. I tend to watch the batsman a lot and tend to stick to what I know and do best. I don’t always go for wickets and I try to contain the batsman and let him make a mistake. It’s also about being proactive than reactive in the Powerplay.”ALSO READ: Samuel Badree interview – ‘If you go searching for wickets in T20, you’re playing into the batsman’s hand’Pierre’s smarts came to the fore in the 2018 CPL final against Guyana Amazon Warriors in Tarouba, where he was named the Player of the Match. This, after he had largely played understudy to Narine and legspinner Fawad Ahmed in the early stages of the tournament. In fact, Pierre was benched for the qualifier against St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, but returned for the final to help Knight Riders seal back-to-back titles.In the final, Luke Ronchi had hit Pierre out of the attack in the Powerplay, clouting back-to-back boundaries, and then taken on Narine as well. But Pierre bounced back strongly to have Ronchi holing out in the 11th over. After seeing Ronchi manufacture some swinging room, Pierre held one back wide of off and had the batsman chipping a catch to a straight-ish sweeper cover.”Ronchi took me out in my first over. I wasn’t flustered or anything because I knew they will come hard at me,” Pierre recalled. “I was bowling well and they were trying to put me off my line. But, with the field back, the captain (Dwayne Bravo) gave the ball back to me. I just backed myself and trusted my ability and it came off.

“I’ve played with Sunil [Narine], Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Bravo at Trinidad. They know my game, so they have faith in my ability. It’s easy to go out and perform, knowing these guys have my back”Khary Pierre, on playing for Trinbago Knight Riders

“Winning the Man-of-the-Match award in the CPL final has been the biggest cricketing moment in my career so far. There were lot of senior players and international stars in that match, but being a youngster and putting my hand up in the final was tremendous for me. That was a motivational factor for me in terms of putting my hand up.”Two balls after dismissing Ronchi, Pierre shortened his length and found just enough turn to scratch the outside edge of Chadwick Walton’s bat, sending him back for 1. There would be no way back for Amazon Warriors after that. Daren Ganga, who was on TV commentary, screamed: “This young man is going places.”After that, Pierre did go places. He broke into West Indies’ limited-overs sides and even won the T10 league in Sharjah under Darren Sammy with Northern Warriors.Narine and his spin coach Carl Crowe, who works with both the Knight Riders franchises in the CPL and in the IPL, have played crucial hands in Pierre’s rise. Having played club cricket with Pierre, Narine is familiar with the left-armer’s strengths and Crowe has also worked on it, helping amplify the threat and making Pierre believe he can succeed at the international level too.ALSO READ: Carl Crowe interview – ‘In T20 put your field right and bowl a short, wide one, it’s a win'”Sunil is an international bowler and one of the word’s best bowlers, so for me it’s a pleasure to be sharing the dressing room with him,” Pierre said. “I’m very comfortable with him on the field as well – if anything happens, I can talk to him and he’ll give me advice as well. Carl Crowe being part of TKR throughout 2018, that helped my game a lot. He saw something in me that I hadn’t seen myself. He told me I’m good enough to play for West Indies and to play at the highest level.”When I sometimes try to spin the ball, it goes on straight, and it was Crowe who pointed it out [the natural variation] to me. He told me everybody is different and so I may not be like some other bowler. He asked me to perfect what I do and not to overthink when I bowl.”Crowe even spent time with Pierre in Trinidad to smoothen his action, but his road to the top has been anything but smooth. Pierre, one of six siblings, grew up in Chenette Alley in Port of Spain, and had to contend with not seeing his mother for 21 years, until she returned to meet him in 2018; she had moved out of the Caribbean in search of a better life for herself and the family, but Pierre explained she kept tracking his performances and has always encouraged him to achieve new highs.Getty Images”Growing up, I didn’t see my mom much and I think that toughened me up as a cricketer,” he said. “She was away and I had to provide for my family and all that stuff. We talk a lot on Facebook and Skype. She always praises me and motivates me. Before every game, she calls me, wishing me well and wishing my team-mates well. I cherish all of that, but she hasn’t seen me play live yet. I’m looking forward to that day.”Pierre didn’t get a chance to play youth cricket for West Indies or his regional side, but kept persevering and gradually worked his way up the ranks, thanks to his stint with Queen’s Park Cricket Club. He used to wheel away at the nets and got himself acquainted with bowling on the dew-slicked Trinidad pitches, something that has come in handy at the CPL.”I grew up playing cricket at the Queen’s Park Oval,” he said. “So I know the ground inside out. It’s about drying the ball constantly – it will get wet – but the mind shouldn’t be set on the [condition of the] ball. Your mind should think about what you want to do with the ball. When you focus on other things, the wet ball won’t play a part in your mind. “

“Growing up, I didn’t see my mom much and I think that toughened me up as a cricketer. She was away and I had to provide for my family and all that stuff”Pierre’s childhood challenges more than prepared him for the cricket field

It has been an incredible past few weeks for Pierre at the CPL. Ahead of this season, he played with his childhood hero Brian Lara during an exhibition match, became Knight Riders’ No. 1 spinner when Narine suffered a recurrence of a finger injury, and then celebrated his 28th birthday with his “TKR family”. Can he cap the season by spinning Knight Riders to a hat-trick of CPL titles?”The family atmosphere makes TKR one of the most successful franchises,” he said. “I’ve played with Sunil, Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Bravo at domestic level at Trinidad. They know my game, they know what I do, so they have faith in my ability. It’s easy to go out and perform for the team, knowing that these guys have my back. We look out for each other and it’s a pleasure to play in such an atmosphere where the players back each other 100%.”I’m just taking it step by step. Not looking too far ahead [to West Indies’ internationals]; we have some important games coming up for TKR. It’s very important that we bounce back from the [recent] losses and try and make it three in a row for TKR and then take it from there.”

Twenty years ago this month, no one thought Australia would win when they were staring down a huge target with five wickets in hand and a rookie keeper-batsman at the crease

Dan Liebke03-Nov-2019Australia v Pakistan
second Test, Hobart, 1999’You never know,’ Justin Langer said to Adam Gilchrist as the latter arrived at the crease.In November of 1999, Langer could have been talking about a myriad of unknowable things. Was the world’s software going to be adequately patched to prevent Y2K chaos as the year ticked over from 1999 to 2000 in a month or so? Was the movie by Dan Liebke, published by Affirm Press

Neil Wagner becomes second-quickest New Zealander to 200 Test wickets

Gaurav Sundararaman28-Dec-201970 – Wickets taken by Pat Cummins between his last lbw dismissal – Quinton de Kock in March 2018 in Johannesburg – and the one of Henry Nicholls today. Cummins has only six lbw dismissals in his career.ESPNcricinfo Ltd2 – Five-wicket hauls for Cummins in Boxing Day Tests. Cummins has taken 18 wickets at an average of 13.55 in four innings at Melbourne Cricket Ground. Cummins took a five-wicket haul against India last year at the same venue.42.9 – Cummins’ strike rate in Tests in 2019 – the second-best for Australia in a calendar year behind Mitchell Starc’s 39.0 in 2016.Cummins now has 59 wickets in 2019 – the most for the year across teams.Cummins’ career strike rate of 46.4 is also the best for any bowler from Australia with a minimum of 100 wickets.319 – Lead taken by Australia at the end of the first innings – the sixth highest for them against New Zealand and highest in Australia since 2004.ESPNcricinfo Ltd46 – Tests taken by Neil Wagner to pick up 200 wickets – the second-quickest for a bowler from New Zealand after Richard Hadlee, who took 44 Tests to get there.1974 – The last time New Zealand were dismissed for less than 148 in the first innings of a Test against Australia. This is New Zealand’s third lowest score against Australia in the first innings of a Test.New Zealand have now made three consecutive scores of less than 200. This is the first time since 2007 when this has happened. The last time was when they toured South Africa in 2007.15.33 – New Zealand’s batting average at the end of the first innings of the Test – the fourth lowest in any Test series for New Zealand.