West Indies’ new wicketkeeper talks about advice from Ross Taylor, bubble life, and his top-secret goals

Mohammad Isam27-Jan-2021Joshua Da Silva refused to take an easy single through square-leg when he was on 49 on his Test debut. It was off the first ball of the over. West Indies required 36 runs to make New Zealand bat again with only two wickets in hand. At the other end was No. 10 Chemar Holder, a fellow debutant who Da Silva didn’t want to expose to Trent Boult for five deliveries.It surprised those watching Da Silva’s impressive innings, even Ross Taylor, who made it a point to walk from the slips to remind the young batsman what was at stake.”A few moments later, Ross Taylor comes up to me and says, ‘Josh, it’s a Test fifty. Get that run and whatever else happens after that, then you do it. Don’t be a hero’. I’m like alright, no problem,” narrates Da Silva on his YouTube channel.Da Silva eventually reached the milestone, the first by a West Indian debutant in five years. Refusing the single was a notable sacrifice for a 22-year-old batsman who knew that a debut Test fifty goes a long way in cementing a Test spot. But these moments give a window into the cricketer’s mindset, that even on debut, the thought of protecting the tail-ender and prolonging the team’s innings should have precedence over a personal achievement.Da Silva has faced several such small, but meaningful, challenges in his short cricket career, that began with the decision to choose cricket over football. After making it into the Trinidad and Tobago Under-19s side, Da Silva was sent on the Kieron Pollard scholarship to play club cricket in England.A year-and-a-half later and a few pounds lighter, Da Silva broke into the T&T first-class and one-day sides, before getting on the plane to England again, this time as West Indies’ reserve player on their tour last year.A century in one of the practice matches got him further notice. When Shane Dowrich got injured during the third day of the Manchester Test, Da Silva, donning a white hat, was sent on as substitute wicketkeeper.”It all happened so quickly,” Da Silva told ESPNcricinfo. “Dow got hit and coach told me I may have to go out there. To him, I said ‘no problem, just let me know’, but on the inside, I couldn’t believe it was real. Am I really going out there? It’s a moment I will never forget.”Having met these challenges, da Silva earned a place in both West Indies’ Test and ODI squads on their tour to Bangladesh. It hasn’t started well for Da Silva, who was out for 14 and 9 in the first two ODIs, before Jahmar Hamilton replaced him in the third game.Da Silva made his debut on the New Zealand tour but already seems a frontrunner•Getty ImagesBut he remains their primary wicketkeeper-batsman choice in the Test side, which is a new responsibility for the youngster. He is spending a lot of time in the nets, as well as speaking regularly to coach Phil Simmons and batting coach Monty Desai.”Definitely it’s a new challenge for me, playing in Bangladesh, but I’m really excited to take what I have been learning in training into the matches. The pitches are slower and spin a lot more, but I don’t think that much needs to change.”It’s just about putting in the work before the games and getting accustomed to the conditions. We have been talking a bit (about batting in the sub-continent), but mostly with the batting coach, Monty Desai and getting the knowledge he has from playing in these conditions,” he said.While Simmons has helped calm down the young Da Silva, former West Indies captain Jimmy Adams has also guided him from an early age.”Both (Simmons and Adams) have been a huge help to me. During the last Super 50, Jimmy told me that the only currency in cricket is runs. That really stuck with me. He still checks up on me from time to time.”Coach Phil, ever since I came into the set up, has made me feel like I belong. That does a huge part in motivating me and helps me to play with a calm mind,” he said.Da Silva’s hard work was also observed by Roddy Estwick, the West Indies assistant coach and a veteran who has seen the progress of many young cricketers from the Caribbean. He said that Da Silva must realise quickly that the opposition will do research on him even though he is just one Test old.”Josh is very hard working. He wants to play cricket. He is always asking questions, and looking for information,” Estwick said. “He is always looking to improve. He has made a very good start, but that’s only a start. He got a fifty in the second innings in his Test debut in New Zealand. He will now have to continue to work.”The same way we analyse the opposition, they do that to us as well. We have to make sure that when we stay a step ahead of the opposition, you have to keep working. You can’t sit back and relax on your laurels. But knowing Josh, he is very hard working. So once he stays focused and disciplined, he should be a good find for us,” said Estwick.Da Silva understood what he would need to do to become an international cricketer during the tour of England last year. Then later in New Zealand, he had to face one of the best fast bowling attacks in the world, in their backyard, which turned out to be another eye-opening experience.”It’s a huge jump. The work load, intensity and competitiveness is on another level and just shows me how much more I need to do to have a long, successful career.”[The Test debut] felt surreal for the duration of the match and for days after. However, it was a good challenge. I faced some of the best bowlers in the business. I just wanted to bat long and do well for the team.He takes inspiration from watching Steven Smith’s good and bad days, and how the Australian sticks to his work ethic regardless of his performance. “Right now, I look at Steve Smith a lot. He shows how hard work pays off and why you should never stop grinding. Even when he fails, he just continues to trust the process and tries again. That is very inspiring,” said Da Silva.Part of that process in the last ten months for international cricketers has been to manage themselves in bio-secure bubbles. On his third tour, Da Silva is feeling the mental pinch of the long, often lonely grind.”This is my third bubble and honestly, it doesn’t get any easier. It’s not too bad when cricket is being played, but the quarantine periods are tough. Even training days, when the only thing to do is train and go back to your room, it is quite challenging mentally,” he said.But it is also a year of opportunities for West Indies’ players, with several series coming up, and with rotation now a necessity. By scoring runs regularly and by offering stability behind the stumps, Da Silva hopes to have a better year.”By the end of 2021, I’d like to cement a place in the West Indies squad and to have achieved some other goals, which I won’t reveal at this time. I want to have a long career wearing the beautiful maroon,” he said.

The best of India’s batting from the Border-Gavaskar series

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2021Virat Kohli, 74, Adelaide, 1st inns
Amid the excitement of the last two Tests, this innings may have been forgotten, but on an Adelaide pitch where everyone else struggled to score, Kohli played his full range of shots on the first day of the series. He cover drove Nathan Lyon against the turn, took on the short ball with some controlled pulls and hooks and looked ready to really dominate the bowlers when he was unfortunately run out.Ajinjya Rahane, 112, MCG, 1st inns
After he ran out Kohli and played two poor shots in Adelaide, there was pressure on Rahane, who took over as captain for the Melbourne Test. At the MCG, he came in at 61 for 2, and saw the scorecard soon reading 64 for 3. It meant he had to be watchful early – he got just 13 off the first 50 balls he faced. Once past 50, the shots began to flow, and Rahane played some delightful off drives and crisp cut shots en route to arguably his best Test hundred.Ravindra Jadeja, 57, MCG, 1st inns
After the 36 all-out in Adelaide, it was a bit surprising India decided to replace a batsman, Kohli, with an allrounder, Jadeja. But Jadeja had been in formidable batting form for the past two years and he repaid the team management’s faith with a crucial knock that helped India get a big first-innings lead in Melbourne. Jadeja showed he could play patiently, hitting just three boundaries in his 57 off 159 balls. He was selective in his shot-making, choosing to only go after balls that were short, and his 121-run partnership with Rahane put India in a dominant position.Cheteshwar Pujara, 77, SCG, 2nd inns
Pujara’s 50 off 176 balls in the first innings in Sydney was his slowest Test half-century, and there was some talk of how he was putting pressure on his partners by getting stuck. Through the rest of the series, however, Pujara showed that his methods are effective, and it began with his contribution in the second innings in Sydney. With India needing to bat out four sessions, Pujara played 205 balls, giving India a great chance to draw the Test. He also played some attractive strokes, in particular a couple of flicks of Lyon that pierced a packed on-side field.Rishabh Pant, 97, SCG, 2nd inns
While Pujara soaked up pressure at one end on the fifth day in Sydney, Pant attacked and raised hopes of India actually chasing down the 404 they had been set. Pant was promoted to No.5 to give India a left-right combination and took 30-odd balls to get his eye in before going after Lyon. He repeatedly stepped down the track and went over the top off the spinner, even taking on the fielders when they were pushed back to the rope. His 97 off 118 balls included 12 fours and three sixes.R Ashwin, 39, and Hanuma Vihari, 23, SCG, 2nd inns
The value of these innnings was not the runs but the 289 balls Ashwin and Vihari kept out between them. Vihari had scores of 8, 16, 21 and 4 in the series and tore his hamstring early in his innings on the fifth day in Sydney. Ashwin had not scored more than 25 since December 2018 and was battling a back injury that made it impossible for him to even sit down. They couldn’t run between wickets to rotate strike. Yet, somehow, the pair survived 42.4 overs in partnership to save the Test.Shubman Gill, 91, Gabba, 2nd inns
Gill had already shown promise in the series with four 30+ scores. This time, he kicked on and played some imperious shots in his 91 off 146 balls. Early in his innings, Gill drove off both the front and back foot. Then, when Australia’s quicks went short, he took them on, playing both the pull as well as the ramp on the off side. Off one Starc over, he went six, four, four to increase India’s run-rate. Gill’s innings had the dual effect of keeping the possibility of a win open and showing the rest of the line-up that fluent run-scoring was still possible on a fifth-day Gabba pitch.Cheteshwar Pujara, 56, Gabba, 2nd inns
If Gill’s innings at the Gabba was one of elegant shots, Pujara’s was one of defiance. Pujara was hit at least 10 times by short balls in his 211-ball stay but stayed resolute. He left and defended, only giving himself licence to attack when the ball was short and wide from the quicks or short and on the stumps from Lyon. He got to fifty off 196 balls, beating the record for his slowest fifty set in the previous Test. By the time he was dismissed, Australia’s already tired attack had bowled 78.3 overs on the fifth day.Rishabh Pant, 89, Gabba, 2nd inngs
When Pant came in at 167 for 3 on the fifth day at the Gabba, most Indian fans would have gleefully accepted a draw. What Pant did in the next 40 overs was the stuff of legend. Like in Sydney, he gave himself time to get in. Like in Sydney, he began by attacking Lyon. He had to contend with the second new ball but took on anything full with cover drives. Then, as the target dropped below 50, the T20 shots came out – laps, slog-sweeps, reverse-sweeps, a pull while falling over that brought the target down to six. And this time, Pant finished the job, taking India to the 328-run target with 3.1 overs left in the day.

With all of their baggage, the top order’s rearguard couldn’t quite offset a disastrous first innings

Andrew Fidel Fernando17-Jan-2021Kusal Perera played one of the greatest innings of all time. He also has a batting average of 32.13, and just seven scores of more than 50 from 39 innings. He will never have a day good ever again, and may forever play in the shadow of that 153*.Still, he could yet become a very good batsman. Signs are, he’s trying. Where once he would unfurl the full array of his low-percentage shot-making almost as soon as he arrived at the crease, Perera has recently been more measured at the start of his innings. In the second innings at Galle, where he finished with 62 off 109 balls, he had only 16 runs after his first 50 deliveries. On the recent tour of South Africa, he hit 64 at Centurion, and 60 at the Wanderers. This is a low bar, but at no other stage of his career has he had three fifty-plus scores in the span of five knocks.But the road has been rough. Understandably, he’s often found himself out of the team. But even when let back in the side, he’s been yanked up and down the order like a marionette – batting two innings here, failing, moved two positions lower for three further innings, dropped, picked up, moved again.In the second innings at Galle, Perera got himself set, and when he began to take the bowlers on, allowed his partner to bat in his slipstream and work himself into his own innings. He was part of Sri Lanka’s second-ever century stand for the first wicket against England at home. The partnership gave hope that his team might avoid an innings loss, if nothing else. Perera was part of Sri Lanka’s fight.

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Lahiru Thirimanne has hit one hundred on a supremely flat pitch at this venue, and made an important second-innings half-century last time Sri Lanka were in Galle, but had otherwise produced few innings of note. He’s clearly not been a fixture in the Test side, owing mostly to that very modest average.The road has been rough. There are conspiracy theories doing the rounds that Thirimanne is being picked for reasons that have nothing to do with his cricket. (The actual reasons are more prosaic: Thirimanne is a team man who fields well, has an air of reliability and intelligence about him, has what outwardly seems to be a solid Test technique, and plays in a system where selectors are generally terrible.) He’s also frequently been the butt of social media jokes. Perhaps he also feels miffed at being dropped from the ODI team at times when he has been doing OK there.But in the second innings at Galle, Thirimanne led Sri Lanka back into the match, playing the kind of responsible innings that he had been expected to produce earlier and much more frequently. His 111 off 251 balls was beautifully paced and judged. It set his team on track to their excellent second-innings total. Thirimanne was a major part of Sri Lanka’s fight.

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As much social media clowning as Thirimanne gets, multiply it twenty-fold and you’ll have the number of harsh (but, OK, also sometimes funny) memes that brutalise Kusal Mendis. Partly, this is because Mendis plays – and fails in – more ODI and T20 innings, which are followed and leapt upon by a far bigger Sri Lankan audience than his Test innings.Kusal Mendis ended a horror run of four consecutive ducks•SLCThe road’s been rough. Mendis feels he is unfairly targeted by people who don’t know much about cricket or batting. He’s come out and said as much in public. Meanwhile, he’s also played some of Sri Lanka’s finest Test innings in the past seven years. And, such is the pattern of his play, will always be the kind of player who has dizzying highs, and haunting lows. His four consecutive ducks in the lead-up to this innings inspired plenty of Facebook savagery. He came to the crease on Sunday as desperate as any batsman could have been to get off the mark.But in the second innings, he got through the nervous early period. He defended, he left, and though at times he might have been tempted to bat more aggressively to get himself to a score, he played the situation and had England bowl almost 11 overs worth of deliveries at him. His 15 might not read like a lot on the scorecard, but it required a genuinely outstanding delivery from Jack Leach, who got the ball to leap off a length, to remove him. Mendis was a part of Sri Lanka’s fight.

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Like each of the three batsmen above him, Dinesh Chandimal had substantial expectations thrust upon him following his earliest international innings. Like the others, even he would agree that he’s not quite lived up to them. Not that he hasn’t totally: he has more Test hundreds than any other member of this top order, though none in the last two-and-a-half years.Related

• England face nervy final day after Jack Leach battles to five-for

• Sri Lanka still bugged by batsman error

• Can Thirimanne finally live up to early expectations?

• Jaded Jack Leach taking nothing for granted after five-wicket comeback

• 135 all out: Anatomy of a collapse

His rough road has included spectacularly failed brushes with the captaincy. He was T20I captain at the age of 23, but was dumped in the middle of the World T20 that Sri Lanka went on to win. His Test reign was beset by problems such as illness that kept him out of part of the 3-0 whitewash at the hands of India at home, a ball-tampering saga that saw him suspended for several matches, before eventually he was not just sacked, but also dropped from the side, when Dimuth Karunaratne took over and immediately led Sri Lanka to their biggest Test series win in many years, in South Africa.Although leadership has almost uniformly brought him sorrow, Chandimal agreed to be stand-in captain for this game in Karunaratne’s absence. He also played the kind of innings he is no longer known for in Tests – an attacking 20 off 28 balls that helped lurch Sri Lanka towards the lead before tea. Though perhaps he was the smallest part of Sri Lanka’s fight, he did contribute something of value to it.

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Angelo Mathews is the most accomplished of Sri Lanka’s batsmen, and several members of this England team will have memories of his greatest innings – the stunning 160 at Headingley that helped overturn a three-figure first-innings deficit and lead Sri Lanka to a famous series win.Angelo Mathews’ half-century dragged Sri Lanka into the lead on the fourth day•SLCLast time England were here, though, Mathews was in full-blown war with then-coach, Chandika Hathurusingha. When he made fifty, he’d gesture pointedly to Hathurusingha in the dressing room, and generally went to great lengths to avoid speaking well of him. On top of which, his last four years have been beset by leg injury after leg injury, hamstrings, calves and quads frequently giving up on him, and forcing him into months-long layoffs.This is his first Test after another hamstring-related hiatus, but in the second innings here, Mathews played the situation perfectly. Sri Lanka needed to take the game deep, so as treacherous as this pitch was, he dug in, got its measure (as much as a batsman can get the measure of a surface like this) and played one of his stone-faced, bad-pitch innings (his second-innings average of 50.35 is substantially better than his first-innings average). Putting on middle-order partnerships, batting with the tail, Mathews was part of Sri Lanka’s fight.

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Such is the way of Sri Lanka cricket over the past few years, that every batsman in this top five brings severe baggage to the crease. You’ve prospered only briefly. You’ve been burned a hell of a lot more. You’ve had fights with selectors, with teammates, with coaches, and with your own cricketing output, which every single one of these batsmen will agree does not do justice to their talent.On occasion, such as on that first day, all this baggage leads to collapses so farcical even club teams would be embarrassed by them. At other times, these batsmen pull together and produce feats of resistance. As in this Test, the general trend is that great days are not quite good enough to make up for the bad ones. Should we be surprised at their inconsistency, when so many have been damaged on the journey?

The hallmark of the best Test side is the ability to seize a moment when given a whiff – and India are that side right now

Sidharth Monga18-Dec-2020R Ashwin usually starts his series in Australia with long-on and midwicket back. On his first tour he snapped back at a journalist who asked him why. The import of his words was that you had to be stupid to start with ambitious attacking fields on such true surfaces.On his fourth tour, Ashwin has the mid-on up when he bowls to Steven Smith for the first time. Smith averages in excess of 80 against India. He has been out for fewer than 46 only in two of his 10 first-innings outings against India. The first ball is a lovely loopy offbreak, which Smith tracks well and pushes down the ground. Against old Ashwin and old India, Smith takes the easy single down the ground, only his second run in 45 minutes, and gets off strike. Now he doesn’t. The next ball is the same. Another easy single not given.The next one is released like an offbreak, but it is flatter, the seam is more towards square leg than fine leg, and is headed for the similar line of around off stump. Ashwin hasn’t probably made sure this doesn’t turn, but he has given the ball every chance to not turn. Smith has not noticed it, plays for the offbreak, and nicks off.

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For a brief period at the start of Australia’s innings, it seems India have forgotten the lesson they handed out to Australia on the last tour. Coming as it does on the back of a half hour in which they lost their four remaining overnight wickets for an addition of just 11 runs, this looks like a difficult time for India.Related

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India finish 62 ahead after Ashwin, seamers run through Australia

As it happened: Australia vs India, 1st Test, Adelaide, day 2

In the eight overs at the start of Australia’s innings, only one ball would have gone on to hit the stumps. It seems like Australia had stolen from India the winning formula. Over the last tour, Australia had tried for long hours to tempt India outside off, but the patience of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli’s trust in defence had defeated them. By contrast, India attacked the stumps, taking 25 wickets bowled or lbw to Australia’s nine. On day one, Australia moved their attack straighter, taking four such wickets, and in one day doubling the tally of lbw wickets they took in four Tests in 2018-19.And here India are, missing the leader of their attack Ishant Sharma and not testing the defence of the Australia openers, one playing for his spot in the team and the other batting higher than No. 5 for the first time in his Test career. Australia pitched the ball full 41% of the times with the new ball; India 26%.It is perhaps the caginess of the “openers” or the slow pitch with steep bounce that Australia have not made any move. Because the pitch is slow, India can set straight fields with catching men in front and afford to err too straight. Just that they are yet to figure it out, and they have been given a second shot at it because hardly any runs have been scored against the new ball.

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Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin – two of India’s best ever – allow for an unprecedented level of bowling control•Getty ImagesJasprit Bumrah can end up as India’s best fast bowler of all time. He is the complete package: pace, seam, swing, endurance. More importantly, perhaps he is the sharpest student of the game. On the last tour of Australia, in a year he had toured South Africa, England and Australia, we checked his performance over various spells. He averaged 40.33 and took a wicket every 80 balls in his first spells. The numbers improved to 24.66 and 57.33 in his second spells, 18.54 and 42.27 in his third and 16.11 43.22 in his fourth. No other India bowler exhibited this pattern.Bumrah is given just the four overs first up, given time to gather his thoughts, and when he comes back there is automatic anticipation that he will have corrected his lines and lengths. This is perhaps the biggest change in the Indian Test team in recent years. Not that the batsmen are mugs, but you feel India are more in control of Test cricket when they are in the field. That with even Ishant missing and theoretically an ordinary start with the ball, India can make a comeback any time.And with his seventh ball back, Bumrah strikes. It is just short of a driving length and is seaming back to hit the middle stump of Matthew Wade. In his next over, he has Joe Burns lbw. Just like that this autonomous freak has corrected himself. In the same over he has Marnus Labuschagne dropped by Wriddhiman Saha. Then he himself drops Labuschagne. Then Prithvi Shaw drops Labuschagne off his bowling. Bumrah, though, keeps smiling. It is the smile of a man who knows his side is in control when it is in the field. That it will keep creating enough chances on this pitch.And chances there are aplenty. It is hard to see where the next run will come from. The field settings are exceptional. India know the edges are not carrying so they have just the one slip and gully. Instead they put in a leg gully, a short square leg and a short midwicket followed by men on the hook to allow for straight bowling. There are no half-volleys outside off, and the straight ones are hard to place through this field on a slow pitch. This is India’s territory. You can’t imagine a situation where this India lets up in such conditions and with a chance of having batted first. The only opening for Australia, Umesh Yadav and his tendency to bowl too straight, has been closed because of this pitch.The plans are spot on. The leg gully is in for Smith and Labuschagne. The round-the-wicket angle is choking the left-hand batsmen. Every time you think a batsman can breathe now by turning the ball to leg, you see it has gone to a fielder. The pressure is palpable.

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It is this pressure perhaps that has allowed Ashwin to be more attacking just as he comes on. Smith has faced 25 straight dots when he faces up to Ashwin. It is sort of upon him now to convert this pressure into a wicket as opposed to previous times when he had to do the dual job of holding one end up and also look for wickets.It was only on his last tour to Australia that Ashwin had such a lethal bowling unit to combine with. Now he perhaps feels the confidence to prey on cagey batsmen. It is this pressure from the other end that doesn’t often get spoken about when he is compared unfavourably with Nathan Lyon’s hard-spun offbreaks that extract extra bounce in Australia. Lyon is a great bowler, the lone survivor in a country that fingerspin goes to die, but he is a different bowler to Ashwin. They are both artists; Lyon is more in your face, Ashwin subtler.Right now, Ashwin is as much joy to watch as Lyon was on day one. There is drift, there is dip, there are variations in sidespin. Travis Head thinks he can turn one into the leg side, but he has been fooled by the drift. The ball pitches and turns to lob back for an easy catch. Cameron Green has pulled a short ball straight to a fielder, but that doesn’t show you the pressure created by the number of times Green has tried to press forward and has found the ball short of his reach.

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The fifth wicket. The moment when you can hold the ball aloft. That one exclamation point. How can you be a great if you don’t have a five-for in four countries out of eight that you have played Test cricket: England, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia? This is the equivocality that hangs over Ashwin’s record. It is too nuanced a question to attempt to answer here, but Ashwin is within a wicket of finally getting his first one when he is bowling to the No. 11 Josh Hazlewood. Something to show for to the surface stats buffs.However, Hazlewood’s two big hits come off and given the premium on runs in this Test, Kohli doesn’t want to risk a counterattack against a spinner. It is a move that works as Hazlewood is out to the first ball from Ashwin’s replacement. Ashwin ends with four, but you can see he doesn’t care for these numbers anymore. He is freer when he is playing. During the pandemic, he has reassessed life’s priorities. He is now looking to just enjoy his cricket, thankful as he is for the chance to do that when so many others are struggling to get on with their lives.At the press conference, he smiles more than he snaps. At one point, though, the old fiery self re-emerges when he asks the critics why they ask only him to bowl like Lyon and not the batsmen to play like Smith. He goes on to say he respects Lyon’s skill, enjoys watching him, but he cannot be Lyon as much as Lyon cannot be Ashwin.

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India have a valuable lead of 53, the first time Australia have fallen behind in a day-night Test. Two men who might end up being India’s best of all time at their trade have put India in pole position to win a Test that former Australian players used to accuse them of avoiding out of fear of losing. The beauty of this team is that on another day it might have been Mohammed Shami doing it. Or Ishant if he was playing.At a time when it is nigh impossible to dominate Test cricket like Graeme Smith’s South Africa did – Australia and West Indies before them is too high a bar – only that can be the hallmark of the best Test side in the world. That in all conditions in the world, if you give them a whiff, they are at you. It might be a toss here, a slightly favourable pitch there, but you can’t afford to provide this side that opening. At full strength, India are that team at the moment.

Six months after an incident-free tournament overseas, there was no room for error this time given the ground situation

Nagraj Gollapudi05-May-2021A resurgent pandemic with new strains, multiple positive cases within the eight IPL 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. These were some of the key health-related points of difference between IPL 2020, staged in the UAE, and IPL 2021, which was postponed halfway through on Tuesday.Host cities
There were only three venues, all a drive away from each other, 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).By contrast, all six venues in this IPL – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad – were hotspots when the IPL started. Mumbai, one of the first venues in the schedule, itself reported more than 10,000 new cases on April 6 and India’s total number of daily new cases in the week leading up to the tournament start was 100,000. The graph just kept going up: by Tuesday, May 4, when the IPL was postponed indefinitely, India was recording more than 350,000 new cases every day and 3500 deaths; the pandemic’s epicentre had shifted to Delhi, which alone was recording 20,000 cases every day and more than 400 deaths on a daily basis.What this meant was that any departure from the team bubbles would incur a hugely magnified risk – as is likely to have happened with the Kolkata Knight Riders’ Varun Chakravarthy, who tested positive on May 3. It is believed that Chakravarthy left the biosecure bubble (but followed protocols through the official “green channel”) to get a scan on an injured shoulder and that is one possible spot where he might have contracted the virus.Ahead of IPL 2020, every member of every franchise attended a workshop on Covid-19 to understand the guidelines put in place•BCCITravel
Probably the biggest point of concern for several franchises. In the UAE, the eight teams were based in Dubai or Abu Dhabi and travelled across the three venues by road using their own hired transport. At no instance would they have come in contact with someone outside the bubble.This year, though, teams travelled across four different cities, and all of it by air. Though the commute was on charter flights, and using private airports where possible including separate entry and exit points, there were still a lot of potential gaps in the bubble. For example, teams needed to undergo security checks at airports before boarding and after landing, which meant coming in contact with security persons outside the bubble – a loophole the franchises were concerned about.The concerns were first underscored when former India wicketkeeper Kiran More, who is part of the Mumbai Indians’ set-up, tested positive just before the tournament’s start (but while in the team bubble); it is believed he got exposed to the virus at an airport. More had checked into the team bubble in Mumbai in March, before the entire squad flew to Chennai, where they began the defence of their title. That a positive case emerged in a well-prepared franchise like Mumbai, which created its own bubble as early as in February, 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 a workshop on Covid-19 and understand the guidelines put in place in a biosecure environment, which was new to almost everyone at the time. 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 virus is and how it could transmit, and consequently, why it was important to respect rules in the biosecure bubble.There was no such session organised in 2021. This despite fears shared by players and coaches across teams, who were anxious about the surging infection rates across India. Around March 19, all stakeholders were handed the standard operating procedures about the medical protocol.A red carpet at the entrance to a ground is sanitised•Ron Gaunt/BCCIAnother difference from the last IPL was the absence of two key digital applications that helped monitor not just the health of the people in the bubble, but also tracked their movements. 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 an oximeter, 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 failure to do so would prompt a hefty monetary fine for the individual. The person would be denied entry at the three venues, including for training, as the accreditation barcode was synced to the GPS tracker and health data app. 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 necks 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 s/he 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. This tracker was outsourced to a UK-based agency for the 2020 IPL.Related

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However, in 2021, the BCCI engaged an India-based firm; franchises received the GPS trackers, in the form of a wrist watch, only on April 11, two days after the tournament had started and three matches had been played. The device was meant to track the person’s movements as well as log in the body temperature. A person had to download an app, called IPL BioTrack, on his/her personal phone where the data would be collected. But several franchises said that the device started to log in outdated data. One franchise wanted data from their second leg of IPL matches, but the data provided was from the first leg.Due to its unreliability, by the time the second leg of the IPL had commenced, members from several franchises confirmed they had stopped wearing the device because it had either stopped working abruptly or had hung. It is understood that franchises had to return the devices days before the IPL was postponed after being told the batteries would be changed.Bubble-integrity managers
In 2021, for the first time, the IPL appointed monitors in the form of bubble-integrity managers, up to four per franchise. Their sole job was to report any bubble breaches by squad members. However, franchises narrated incidents of their inefficient functioning – in one case, a manager was caught on camera leaving his room while in hard quarantine at one of the team hotels. Another incident involved some of these managers leaving the bubble boundaries during a live match to smoke. It is understood that more than one franchise questioned the IPL about the qualification of the officers, who are believed to have originally served as security liaison officers in previous editions of the IPL.Quarantine protocols
The IPL laid out quarantine rules both for before entering the bubble, and once inside the biosecure environment. The quarantine rules ranged from serving a hard weeklong 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 varied between a week and ten days outside the team bubble. The protocols applied not just for squads, but also for the franchise management as well as owners and family members.Devdutt Padikkal not serving a hard quarantine before the start of IPL 2021 had raised eyebrows•BCCIHowever, the inconsistency of the protocols was highlighted by the case of the Royal Challengers Bangalore batter Devdutt Padikkal, who tested positive on March 22. It is not known when exactly Padikkal tested positive, but the franchise said he had done home isolation of ten days.Subsequently, Padikkal travelled by road from his home in Bengaluru to Chennai, where his team was based during the first leg of the IPL, and even participated in training. Rival franchises questioned the logic behind allowing Padikkal to join the Royal Challengers’ training session without having undergone the mandatory quarantine and the testing process mentioned in the SOP. Franchises asked why the IPL did not allow senior franchise management officials or owners into the IPL bubble, subject to them clearing the required tests.Stadia
Both the 2020 and 2021 editions of the IPL were played behind closed doors. In the UAE, all venues were cordoned off with only authorised personnel allowed in. This edition, too, the IPL created different layers within the bubble at the stadia, with no one allowed to enter the area demarcated for the players and match officials. This included the groundsmen and the officials of the local state associations. The risk was highlighted in early April, when a swathe of groundstaff at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, which hosted ten matches in the first leg of the tournament, tested positive, forcing the Mumbai Cricket Association to quickly find replacements from other venues within the city.It was shown up again in Delhi, where it is understood that two members of the groundstaff at the Feroz Shah Kotla, who were not at the ground over the May 1-2 weekend, had tested positive and had been placed in quarantine.Another example relating the vulnerability of the bubble was narrated by an official at one of the four franchises based in Delhi. This official said when his team was training at the Roshanara ground, owned by a private members-only club, in Delhi, the boundaries were porous and trespassers could easily access the zone where the team was training. There was barely any security to stop them, which was not the case during the first leg in Chennai and Mumbai. It is understood that a few of the club’s members wandered around the training making the squad members apprehensive. By Wednesday, two of the four franchises based in Delhi – the Chennai Super Kings and the Sunrisers Hyderabad – had reported four positive cases.

The last Bangladesh fast bowler to take a Test-match five-for could have lessons on bowling (and life) for the current bunch

Mohammad Isam05-Jul-2021Robiul Islam is a forgotten man. He lives in Satkhira, a small town in the southwestern corner of Bangladesh, 15km from the Indian border. There, Robiul is taking care of his mother. He played his last competitive match three years ago. He is currently out of work, hoping the Covid-19 pandemic eases up enough for cricket to resume so he can start an umpiring career.Related

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It was a different time in Robiul’s life seven years ago, when he was the toast of the Bangladesh touring party in Zimbabwe. He took 15 wickets at 19.53, bowling 110 overs, the biggest wicket haul and the most overs bowled by a Bangladesh fast bowler in a Test series, ever. He had helped Bangladesh draw the two-Test series, and was adjudged Player of the Series – the only fast bowler in Bangladesh’s Test history to earn that honour. He is also the last Bangladesh quick to take a five-wicket haul in Tests.New Zealand fast bowling coach Shane Jurgensen remembers Robiul’s performance vividly, calling it one of the highlights of his time as Bangladesh head coach.”Robiul bowled absolutely beautifully in Harare,” Jurgensen tells ESPNcricinfo. “His bowling performance against Zimbabwe was probably one of the highlights of my time as Bangladesh coach. I remember the performance mainly because he bowled so accurately. He was a threat to the batter. It looked like he was going to get a wicket off most deliveries. He was aggressive. He used his bouncer well. He bowled amazing outswingers to take the edge. He got a few lbws. It was one of the most outstanding performances for Bangladesh.”Robiul, however, played his last Test in the following year, and was out of reckoning soon after. He’s now a trivia question that pops up when a Bangladesh fast bowler picks up four wickets in an innings. When they have inevitably failed to get a fifth, it becomes yet another reminder of Bangladesh’s pace-bowling record in the last seven years.Bangladesh are in Zimbabwe for another tour now, and the fast bowlers in the Test side are Abu Jayed, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain and Shoriful Islam. They don’t have the greatest numbers but they are part of a pace-bowling collective that has caused a flutter through better fitness and domestic performances in the last nine months. They are, however, far from being finished products.Watching, and reading about, Robiul’s 15-wicket haul might help. It is a reminder of what can be achieved through bowling accurately, by being patient and skillful. Robiul’s story, however, is of greater importance for how his career folded so quickly. Fast bowlers can learn from his mistakes, but there were captains, coaches and administrators who could have shown more patience, technical knowledge and empathy, and less ego.Robiul Islam reaped the rewards of patience, accuracy and skill•Getty ImagesRobiul plowed away in the domestic scene for several years before his 2010 Test debut at Lord’s. He was still not a regular in the Test side for the following three years until he hit paydirt in Harare.”It was my best series,” Robiul tells ESPNcricinfo. “I bowled 110 overs. I enjoyed bowling on the bouncy Harare pitches. I was called up to an unofficial training camp by Shane Jurgensen earlier that year. I wasn’t part of any BPL team that year, so Shane decided to prepare me for tours to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Mushfiqur [Rahim], who used to give targets to every player separately, said that I should always think about bowling economically. I planned to do just that.”Robiul impressed everyone with his skill and endurance, and was picked in the ODI and T20I sides. Bangladesh had found a fast bowler after a long time, many thought.There’s no straightforward answer as to why Robiul’s career went up in smoke so quickly. He wasn’t the fittest cricketer, but nobody could deny his skill and endurance purely as a bowler. Jurgensen acknowledged that Robiul’s fitness was a problem, but he also pointed out how he was never given enough time in unhelpful home conditions.”It was a shame that he didn’t bowl more,” Jurgensen says. “If I can remember correctly, he may have battled some injuries and fitness issues after the Zimbabwe series. He was also not given enough time to adapt his game plans to home conditions. His bowling suited conditions in Harare, New Zealand or England. He didn’t quite get enough time to adapt his bowling to Bangladesh conditions, which can be tough for any seam bowler.”Robiul was wicketless in his first two Tests after the Zimbabwe tour, against New Zealand and Sri Lanka at home during the 2013-14 season. After Jurgensen resigned from the Bangladesh job in April 2014, Bangladesh’s first Test series was against West Indies a few months later. New coach Chandika Hathurusingha didn’t welcome Robiul.”The selectors told me that Hathurusingha, who had just arrived as head coach, didn’t want me in the team,” Robiul says. “They said that they consider me as the country’s No. 1 fast bowler so I should try to do well in the Test series.”I played one Test in the West Indies. During our transit in Heathrow Airport while coming back home, Hathurusingha told me that my bowling speed wasn’t good enough for international cricket. I dared to ask him which is better – a bowler bowling at 140kph and not swinging the ball, or one who bowls 133-135kph and swings the ball to trouble the batsman? He didn’t have an answer.”When Zimbabwe toured Bangladesh in October that year, Robiul missed a fitness test during a training camp. He proved his match fitness in the tour game, but even so he was dropped – a move that, according to Robiul, surprised even the Zimbabwe players.”I was astounded when I wasn’t picked for the Test series against Zimbabwe, having been the Player of the Series in the previous series against them. I was told it was my fitness, although I bowled 15 overs in the tour match,” Robiul says. “An interesting thing happened during that game in Fatullah. Some of the Zimbabwe players asked me why I wasn’t in the Test side. I didn’t know what to tell them. I said that the head coach told me that I wasn’t fit enough for international cricket.”As fate would have it, Robiul was injured shortly afterwards in a domestic one-day match. It derailed any hopes of a quick comeback. “It took me a year to recover from the shoulder injury. I was never the same bowler again.”Robiul Islam bowled with heart on often unresponsive surfaces•Getty ImagesEven though Robiul had shown he could be a match-winner overseas, he didn’t have much chance to flourish in a Bangladesh environment that valued batters and spinners more. Captains and coaches are focused on winning home ODIs, and sometimes Tests. They know that was achievable through batters and spinners. Since they hardly played overseas Tests, there wasn’t enough of an incentive to create a pace-bowling group with specialist skills.Robiul didn’t do himself a lot of favours with his fitness, but someone like Rubel Hossain, despite a lack of wickets for many years, got regular chances. Whenever Shafiul Islam has recovered from an injury, he has been back in the reckoning. It is a widely circulated belief, particularly within the BCB, that Mustafizur Rahman isn’t keen on Test cricket. Yet, a lot of time, energy and resources have been spent on getting him to work on his inswinger to the right-hander.There is, however, some credit for continuing with Jayed, who has also looked like the most consistent fast bowler over the last seven years. Taskin’s comeback has been commendable too, given that he has worked doubly hard on his fitness and skills after being discarded for three years.

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Robiul says Jayed and Taskin should be able to do the job in Zimbabwe, where pitches are likely to be on the slower side. “They have to hit the seam in Zimbabwe. It will depend largely on how much backspin a bowler can impart on the ball. It is a crucial aspect of seam and swing bowling,” he says. “But they also have to be patient in those conditions, which can be cold and dry. I am sure they will do well.”Robiul says he has noticed better professionalism from the current lot of fast bowlers than when he was playing cricket. “I was kicked out by using fitness as the excuse,” he says. “Fast bowlers have to keep their fitness up to the mark, but at the same time, they have to do their bowling drills. I used to bowl a lot in the nets, more than the prescribed volume.”Everyone has become a lot more professional these days. There was a time when we used to wait for the BCB even to do gym. Now the players make their own arrangements whenever necessary, particularly during the pandemic.”He is also optimistic about life after cricket. He has begun earning his coaching and umpiring credentials. He is more interested in a career as an umpire, and dreams of one day standing in a Test match.”I have done level-one courses in coaching and umpiring,” he says. “I am leaning more towards umpiring although I couldn’t start officiating due to the pandemic. (Enamul Haque) Moni , our only Test cricketer to stand in a Test match as an umpire, told me that I should take up this profession.”Robiul retains optimism, resilience and good humour. He isn’t keen to expand on his financial difficulties. He knows he will soon be forgotten again, living his life as a piece of trivia in Dhaka and wherever cricket matters. He’s busy fighting a different fight in far-flung Satkhira.

In their quest for Eldorado, English cricket may have saddled itself with fool’s gold

George Dobell15-Jul-2021″You’ve got a lot of nerve, to say you are my friend,” sang Bob Dylan in the opening line of . It was the song Bob Willis had playing in the background when he died after a long battle with cancer in December 2019.To celebrate Bob’s life – Bob Willis’ life, that is – Edgbaston (his old ground) was tangled up in blue during the third ODI against Pakistan on Tuesday night. Spectators had been encouraged to wear blue to both celebrate his life and raise awareness and funds for the fight against prostate cancer. It’s a surprising choice of final song, in a way. It’s not a peaceful song. Nor gentle or even kind. It’s furious, really. Hateful, even. It sneers at hypocrisy. It angrily demands honesty. And it remains as relevant now as it was when he wrote it almost 60 years ago.Maybe that opening line is a phrase that could be directed towards the ECB executive right now. They are meant to be the guardians of our game, after all. But Tuesday’s was the final ODI before the domestic 50-over competition in England (and Wales) is downgraded into what has been termed a “development” competition. Its final, once a showpiece event in the season, will now be played on a Thursday.It will take place at the same time as the Hundred, you see. And that means it will be without many of the best white-ball players in the land. Surrey, for example, lose 12 players to the Hundred; Sussex lose eight; Somerset lose seven as well as their head coach. And that’s even before we consider the impact of Covid.In a format in which we are told attention to detail and role definition are so important, you wonder what impact this will have when England next play a 50-over World Cup, in India in 2023. It means the best new, white-ball players could be picked for the ODI side without ever having played a professional 50-over game. This week’s success, achieved by a third-choice side against a strong Pakistan team, might prove a high-water mark in the history of England’s ODI cricket.England’s 3-0 clean sweep may come to be seen as the high-water mark of England’s 50-over fortunes•Getty ImagesIt’s not just the 50-over competition which has been forced to compromise, either. The T20 Blast, a competition which has kept the counties afloat in recent years, has been squeezed into a window 40% shorter this year. Even before Covid intervened, clubs had almost no chance to retain the spectator numbers that had been so impressive in previous years based on the premise of regular Friday night fixtures, with room for variance for local factors. This year, Surrey, for example, played six home games in the space of 12 days. Two of them were on Mondays and two more were on Wednesdays. Really, it’s almost as if some people wanted it to fail.Some will scoff at that suggestion. But given the potential direction of travel – the decreasing relevance of the county game and the growing dominance of those based at Test-hosting grounds – many of us fear that the Hundred is an attempt to reduce the number of counties by stealth. And even if it isn’t, might it not be easier to justify the new format if you can demonstrate the existing competitions have failed? It would explain the ECB’s reluctance to sing the success of the Vitality Blast from every rooftop. It has, let us remember, sold out almost every game at several venues – including the London ones – for years. It’s attracted some great overseas players, too. Had it been embraced by a free-to-air broadcaster, it really could have been the vehicle to growth.And remember: these new team identities, some of them based many hours from the regions which they supposedly represent, have never produced a player. They have no pathways, no academies and no existing support base. They are parasites feeding on the players and supporters the county game has produced. It’s a bizarre act of cannibalism to stage a new competition at the same time as an existing one. Even if the new tournament works, it could push existing teams into obsolescence.We haven’t even talked about the first-class game yet. But it’s hard to dispute it has been compromised in the desire to create a white-ball window. At the start of this century, when the Championship was split into two divisions playing four day-cricket, it produced a Test team that went to No. 1 in the world. So well did it prepare people for Test cricket, that four of the top seven (Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior) made centuries on Test debut and two more (Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen) made half-centuries. One of the bowlers (James Anderson) took a five-for on debut and another (Graeme Swann) claimed two wickets in his first over. The County Championship worked.The County Championship produced players good enough to propel England to No.1 in the world in 2011•Getty ImagesNow? Well, aspects of it are still outstanding. But instead of nurturing it, the ECB have devalued it. It starts before Easter and ends to a backdrop of the boys from the NYPD choir singing Galway Bay. It’s played on surfaces which are sometimes more crazy golf than Masters. It provides little opportunity for spinners or fast bowlers and has proven unable to develop batters with the technique and temperament for Test cricket. The evidence of recent times would suggest it isn’t really working.But let us not talk falsely: there are some good reasons behind the birth of the Hundred. Much as it may pain some of us to admit it, the game’s relevance was diminishing in England and Wales. It had largely disappeared from state schools and free-to-air television. Unless you were privately educated or had a family member interested in sport, it was entirely possible you would never experience the game. It was well on the way to becoming a niche sport.And much as some of us cherish the counties, we might also accept that some of them were failing in their duty to embrace working-class and non-white communities. While some counties have worked hard to remain relevant and solvent, others had been a little too willing to pocket the centrally distributed resources and do an absolute minimum to justify it. Even those of us who passionately care for the 18-county system will admit privately that one or two counties are tough to defend. The fact that one of those is hosting a Hundred side is ironic.More than that, the reputation of the game was tainted. Perhaps unfairly – okay, undoubtedly unfairly – many broadcasters and potential spectators weren’t interested in it. The length of games was stretching a bit long. There probably was room for a re-launch. There probably was logic in the need for change. There almost certainly are good intentions at the root of all this. But never forget: the BBC signed up to the new competition when they thought it was a T20 tournament.There are quite a few such misconceptions about the Hundred. One of them is that it provides a high-profile women’s competition. Which sounds reasonable. But then you remember that the ECB abandoned the Kia Super League (KSL), the women’s domestic T20 competition, at the end of 2019.

Even those of us who passionately care for the 18-county system will admit privately that one or two counties are tough to defend. The fact that one of those is hosting a Hundred side is ironic.

Why? Well, maybe because in its absence it was easier to build a compelling argument for the development of the Hundred. It allowed them to claim that this wasn’t all about money, but also about diversity and inclusion. As if those who oppose the Hundred in some way oppose opportunities for women.There’s the much-repeated argument that the first-class counties needed the money that the Hundred will bring in, too. But, again, it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Before the Hundred was introduced, the ECB had reserves in excess of £70 million. They could easily have shared some of that with the counties. Instead, they kept them in need to ensure their compliance. The counties have managed to be bribed with their own money. And now those reserves have gone; squandered on a competition which is costing more than it will earn.Equally, supporters of the Hundred – and it’s noticeable that a sizeable proportion of those supporters have some financial incentive for wishing it well – like to portray the county game as reactionary and staid. But again, it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Where was one-day cricket born? Where was T20 cricket born? Where were free-hits and DLS born? County cricket, that’s where. The ECB should have been wooing and seducing broadcasters, not telling them their existing competitions were rubbish.And that’s an issue to which we keep coming back here: the Hundred is the ECB’s answer to problems they created. If they hadn’t allowed cricket to disappear behind a paywall and if they hadn’t cancelled the KSL, there would be no need for it. We have a great sport. We just need to ensure more people have the opportunity to experience it.Related

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It could yet work. Whether it’s played over 100 overs, 100 balls or five days, cricket is a great game. Perhaps the increased broadcast exposure will counteract all these other factors. But make no mistake: the ECB has bet the farm on this competition. If it fails, it could set the sport back a generation. And if it succeeds, the collateral damage to the other formats and the counties could still lose more than we gain. It feels like a wild, unnecessary gamble.Maybe, had the initial launch been handled differently, existing supporters would have been more accepting of the shortened format or amended regulations. We’ve lived with overs of almost every length over the years, after all. We’ve accepted many other innovations.But the first impressions were awful. The ECB seemed to delight in offending existing cricket lovers. They seemed to revel in sneering ‘we can do without you’. And by the time they realised their hubris had let them down, it was too late. In years to come, you wonder if the initial roll-out of the idea will be studied as a text-book example of how not to do it. If they had their time again – and the ECB has a much-improved communications team these days – you can be quite certain they would do it differently.Partially because of this, The Hundred has become the of its time. And that doesn’t mean the fabled city. It means the BBC soap opera whose reputation was so poor before the first episode was broadcast in 1992 that it was doomed from the off. Many people (63 percent according to a recent survey conducted by the Cricket Supporters’ Association) who love cricket resent and fear and hate the Hundred. The inability of the ECB to bring many cricket lovers with them on this journey may be the defining mistake in this whole saga.The point of all this? Eden is burning, as Bob Dylan put it. The game we knew is being compromised to accommodate a competition we shouldn’t need. A county game which helped England to No. 1 in the world in all three formats, which attracted record attendances, which could, with just a little adaption of the broadcast deal, have been the vehicle to a new audience, is being dismantled. It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there. Really, the ECB have a lot of nerve to pretend they are county cricket’s friend.

The Ireland series was a historic event in the calendar but Covid-19 still ended up having the final say

Peter Della Penna29-Dec-2021The opening encounter for USA vs Ireland may not have been the biggest crowd to ever grace the Broward County Stadium. The venue has played host to 10,000 people for the CPL, West Indies, New Zealand and India over the years. The official tally was 328 fans for the first T20I between the host country and their Full Member counterpart. But considering just 19 people turned up to see USA play their first ever home ODI a little over two years ago, it was progress.One of those people is Phil Mielke, a man originally from Wisconsin but now residing in Ohio. He discovered cricket while on a work trip to France in 2008 when it was being shown on one of the only English language channels available in his hotel room. He’s since turned into USA’s unofficial super fan, having travelled to see them play live across the country and around the world: from Morrisville, North Carolina, to Los Angeles; from Toronto to Kampala, Uganda to Dubai, where he was the lone USA fan to see them play ODIs against Scotland and UAE in December 2019 and was rewarded with a jersey straight off the back of Elmore Hutchinson. But on most of those occasions, Mielke was not just a super fan. He was literally the only fan. Not so in Florida.”To hear people cheering for USA Cricket and to chant, ‘U-S-A! U-S-A!’, it’s something I’m not even sure I thought I would be able to hear in my lifetime,” Mielke said from the stadium ahead of the second T20I on December 23. “I felt like crying. Just being a fan for as long as I have been, you go some places and you’re the only person there. So, a big change.””I wanted to see two matches and this was the only time to do two days in a row. It just so happened that it was the first ones, which is even better. It’s historic for sure and to get the win yesterday was amazing.”When the USA players walked off the field upon completing the historic 26-run victory over Ireland, they made clear that they were not taking it for granted. The entire squad walked across to the east stand where all the fans who had been chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” were assembled, and showered them with applause. Some of the players even shouted back, “Thank you! Thank you! Please come back tomorrow night!”USA captain Monank Patel leads the team to thank the fans for their support•Peter Della PennaWhich they did. More than twice as many people came for the second T20I as attendance for the two games eclipsed 1,000. On paper, yes, this is still not much in a venue that has had more than 10 times that number crammed in like sardines to watch India play.But it was a sign that momentum was building, in spite of the obstacles that included a series announced with less than six weeks notice, many fans who could not come due to previously arranged holiday plans over the Christmas period, not to mention a spike in Covid cases that made the remaining available fans hesitant to travel. The publicity from USA’s first win over Ireland was so good that local celebrities from other sports, former England international and current Inter Miami manager Phil Neville as well as South African golfing legend Ernie Els, were rumored to be joining the VIP hospitality suite for the final ODI on December 30.Yet just as quickly as it was snowballing for the remaining fixtures in the tour, the momentum melted in the Florida heat. Initially it was an umpire that tested positive, causing the first ODI to be canceled out of logistical complications – they couldn’t get replacements in at short notice. Then the rest of the series was scrapped after the visiting support staff and family members tested positive, though, no Irish player caught the virus and all but one USA player had been deemed fit to go.It may make people wonder, why were these final matches canceled when a similar situation unfolding in Melbourne resulted in a Test match continuing uninterrupted? Why were the T20Is also allowed to go ahead despite five USA players being ruled out with Covid yet an entire ODI series was canceled just days later when all but one out of 30-plus players returned a negative test? The short answer is that the Irish side did not want to risk running into any quarantine complications entering Jamaica for the second leg of their international tour. If the USA had been their only destination, it is highly probable that the matches would have gone on as scheduled.Mick Kirby-West (left) and Dave Kirby drove 137 miles to discover the ODI they had tickets for was canceled•Peter Della PennaBut the decision to cancel the matches over the “risk of further players testing positive if the series continued” looks even more incongruous when the USA team was immediately booked on flights home later that same day. So it’s unsafe to be playing a cricket match with everyone spaced out on a massive outdoor field, but heading straight to the airport to get on jam-packed, sold-out, five-hour domestic flights is perfectly fine?The extreme caution with which the decision was made left a sour taste in the mouths of some fans. Dave Kirby and Mick Kirby-West, a 74 and 53-year-old father and son originally from Portsmouth, England, had driven two hours on the morning of the second ODI from Mick’s current home on the west coast of Florida in Cape Coral. Only after completing their 137-mile trek were they informed at the stadium office that the match was called off.Kirby-West had not seen a match since he left England in 2015, and his father had never seen one live. They had bought tickets off the USA Cricket website at 6:43 pm on December 27 and got a standard confirmation email almost immediately. But when news of the postponement came out less than two hours later at 8:21 pm on USA Cricket’s website and social media, neither saw it. Both men wondered why there was no follow-up email sent directly to ticket holders to inform them of the initial scheduling change.”If they are seriously thinking about hosting a Cricket World Cup [sic: The ICC hosts World Cups, not the local board], I think they need to get their s**t together,” Kirby-West said. “You can’t organise a Cricket World Cup if you can’t get a little bit more organised than what they have for these games.”USA super fan Phil Mielke (right) was all smiles after the win over Ireland•Peter Della PennaThough the face value of the tickets was USD 15, the reality is that lots of people travelled from long distances to attend. The true price of admission is closer to USD 1000 when flights, hotels, local transportation and meals are included. The fans are eating that cost, and not USA Cricket.Diane Palmquist, a Minnesota native currently living in New York City, would go to see Test matches in England almost every summer prior to the pandemic. She was at the 2019 World Cup and had also attended numerous events on US soil, including the 2015 Tendulkar vs Warne Cricket All-Stars tour. She was so desperate to see live cricket again that she booked a detour from her family Christmas trip in Minnesota to fly to Florida for the second ODI before returning to New York. Instead, she wound up going to Key Largo for the day when the match was scrapped.”There’s a lot of issues with USA Cricket,” Palmquist said, “But I think we were all hopeful that they would be able to play and I’m just very sad that Covid is getting in the way of everything. I don’t know if they could handle it better. I like that they tried hard to handle it and let the game go on until they couldn’t. I’m pretty tired of everything getting canceled way ahead of time. So I would actually rather come down here and have them try to play and not be able to than just cancel it weeks in advance. Because everything else I have tickets for is getting canceled two months early and I’d rather try to make it happen.”I certainly hope that there are more USA matches like this. I was very excited to have the opportunity to see USA Cricket play here. I would love to come to other matches here and see other international matches here.”

Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran’s form, and Andre Russell’s fitness will be key for them

Firdose Moonda21-Oct-20214:01

Talking tactics – How can West Indies best use Chris Gayle?

Big pictureAs the defending champions and the only team to hold this title twice, West Indies should be favourites but they come into this tournament in worse shape than either of the previous two they won. Since their 2016 triumph, West Indies hold a win-loss ratio of 0.666, which means they’re losing two out of every three games they play. No other team in the Super 12 is doing that bad, with most doing losing once in every two matches, if that.There’s always an argument to be made that pre-tournament form counts for less than we think it does, especially when it comes to West Indies, especially since their recent record is at least partly down to not always having their best players available. But at an event where teams have to win at least three group matches to progress to the semi-final, emerging victorious every third game, as West Indies have been doing, simply won’t be enough. West Indies will need to reel off strong performances successively, and there are also questions over whether they have the personnel to do that.Their squad includes two of the five players who have appeared at every T20 World Cup to date – Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo – and there’s a debate over Gayle’s inclusion because of his recent form. Curtly Ambrose doesn’t think Gayle should be an automatic pick, resulting in Gayle lashing out and Viv Richards coming to Ambrose’s defence. Apart from the concerns around Gayle, West Indies will also be worried about Nicholas Pooran’s lack of runs, and the gamble they took by including Ravi Rampaul on the CPL form (he last played for them nearly six years ago) and leaving Jason Holder out.Despite all that, West Indies will be playing for something bigger than themselves. They’ve confirmed they will continue to gesture in support of anti-racism and will take a knee before each game.Recent formFairly average. West Indies lost 3-2 in a see-saw series to South Africa, beat an understrength Australian side 4-1 and then lost the only match that was not rained out in a four-game series, to Pakistan.BattingMuch responsibility will rest on the shoulders of the opening pair of Evin Lewis and one of Lendl Simmons and Andre Fletcher. Lewis is West Indies’ highest T20I run scorer in 2021 and sixth in the world, while Simmons is their next most successful batter. Shimron Hetmyer will have to operate as the glue between those in the line-up whose form has come under the microscope – Gayle and Pooran – and the pressure on Hetmyer may grow. Lower in the order, Roston Chase, who has never played a T20I but topped the CPL run charts will play an important all-round role while Kieron Pollard’s finishing could prove decisive.Chris Gayle has scored only one half-century in his last 26 T20I innings•AFP/Getty ImagesBowlingLeft-arm seamer Obed McCoy has been one of the finds of the year for West Indies after establishing himself in the shortest format side over the last few months and becoming their leading bowling this year. He will have the experience of Bravo and Andre Russell to draw on, which gives West Indies a strong pace attack albeit without Holder. It remains to be seen whether they have enough in the spin department. Legspinner Hayden Walsh is their frontline slower bowler with the rest of the duties falling to allrounders Fabian Allen, Chase and perhaps even Gayle.Player to watchChris Gayle is the batter who made T20, and T20 is the format that made Chris Gayle, which is big enough a reason to watch him. But if you need another, at 42, Gayle is the oldest player in this tournament and although he may not like the suggestion, it could well be his last T20 World Cup. Age alone will not decide if Gayle plays in another major competition. Form has to have a say and it’s not looking too good on that front. Gayle played just two matches for Punjab Kings in the second half of the IPL before leaving the bubble to refresh himself ahead of the T20 World Cup. Before that, he scored 165 runs in 9 innings in the CPL (average 18.33), with a top score of 42 and has just one half-century in T20I cricket in 26 innings, dating back to March 2016.Key questionHow fit is Russell? He only played in three of Kolkata Knight Riders’ ten games in the second half of the IPL as he picked up a hamstring injury. Add that to the chronic knee issue that has hampered him in the past and it seems only reasonable to be concerned that Russell may not be available as much as West Indies need him to be at this tournament. If that’s the case, it’s going to affect multiple areas of their game. Russell’s batting allows West Indies to bat down to No. 9, and in his absence, they’ve often found themselves a bowling option short. Despite having Pollard and Allen in their ranks, Russell is a two-in-one West Indies cannot do without for a tournament this important and they’ll hope he is fully fit and stays that way for the next month.Likely XI1 Evin Lewis, 2 Andre Fletcher/Lendl Simmons, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 5 Kieron Pollard (capt), 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Fabian Allen, 9 Dwayne Bravo, 10 Obed McCoy, 11 Oshane Thomas/Hayden Walsh Jr

Stats highlights from Ross Taylor’s long and storied international career

S Rajesh08-Jan-2022With an aggregate of 18,145 runs, Ross Taylor has scored 2679 more runs than the next-best for New Zealand across all international formats. He has scored more Test runs, ODI runs, ODI hundreds and overall hundreds than any other New Zealand batter. That speaks of a career which has combined longevity with prolific run-scoring. He hasn’t always been counted among the very best batters in the world – and we’ll see the reasons for that later – but that in no way diminishes his overall contribution to New Zealand cricket.ESPNcricinfo LtdTaylor’s Test career can neatly be split into three phases. Till 2011 he was a competent, but not exceptional, middle-order batter, averaging 40.81 from 33 matches. He was superb in home conditions, averaging 49.62, but it dropped to 32.58 in away games. Similarly, in the period since the start of 2018 the returns haven’t been impressive: the average has dropped to 34.36, and away from home he averages only 25.82.