The RCB batter found form late this IPL season, but just in time for England ahead of the T20 World Cup next month

Matt Roller18-May-2024Will Jacks remembers looking at the scoreboard at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium and thinking, “Wow, this could be cool.” Royal Challengers Bengaluru needed seven to win against Gujarat Titans; six balls after reaching his half-century, Jacks had surged to 88 not out. His first IPL hundred beckoned.At the non-striker’s end, Virat Kohli was grinning. When Jacks slog-swept Rashid Khan for six to level the scores and move to 94, Kohli covered his mouth and laughed in disbelief. When Jacks swung Rashid over midwicket for six more, reaching a 41-ball century, Kohli ran down and jumped into his arms in celebration.”As soon as I hit that last one, I knew it was going miles,” Jacks says from Bengaluru. “It snuck up on me. I only got to my fifty the over before. I was just trying to get there as quickly as possible and win the game. Once I got my fifty, Virat was like, ‘I don’t want to face any balls – keep going.'”When Mohit Sharma came on [in the 15th over], that was my match-up. I was going to take him down there, because I’d faced him for three or four balls before and I’d got a good eye of him. I knew that was my time, and after that there was no reason to stop. I didn’t realise I could have got a hundred until we needed seven to win.Related

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“Obviously a big celebration, a hug from Virat, and then I realised what I’d done. It was amazing. I just thought, ‘I’m 100 not out in an IPL game – and two weeks ago, I wasn’t even playing.’ There’s been a lot of attention since but I’ve loved the experience.”He has saved a photo in the “favourites” tab of his phone, of Kohli’s reaction to the six that took him to 94, which he intends to get printed.”Nothing’s changed realistically: I’ve just scored some runs. I’ve always known I’ve been good enough, but to really dominate like that just lets everyone else know what I can do. But to do it with Virat, and have him hyping me up like that? It’s special.”Second to last laugh: Virat Kohli has a disbelieving chuckle at the other end when Jacks is one six away from his maiden IPL hundred•BCCIIt was a far cry from the start of his innings: batting at No. 3, Jacks managed 17 runs off his first 17 balls. “I was gripping the bat a bit too hard,” he reflects. “I was a little bit over-eager to hit the ball hard, which is a trap I’ve fallen into. On the back of seeing all these high scores and crazy sixes, I felt like I needed to do extra when I know – or I should know – that my game is good enough.”They do have three high-quality spinners [Rashid, Noor Ahmed and Sai Kishore] and I didn’t face a ball of seam until my 17th ball. I just needed to settle in, and Virat really helped me with that. He took ownership of the partnership and the risks while I was getting going, and made sure that we didn’t fall behind – and that I didn’t have to do something really unnecessary.”Jacks spent “ten-plus years” watching the IPL back home on TV but this was his first experience of playing in it, after he was ruled out of last season through injury. He was taken aback by the scale of support for RCB: “Everyone told me their fans were the best but now I’ve seen how crazy it is… I kind of expected it, but it obviously still takes you by surprise.”The same is true of the adulation for Kohli, and adjusting to calling him a team-mate. “When he first walked in and I first met him, that was surreal,” Jacks said. “Seeing his aura, how people look at him, the following… even if you see a footballer in public at home, it’s not like that. It’s eye-opening. Everywhere we go – all the airports, every street – the support is incredible.”At 25, Jacks believes his first IPL season came at the right time in his career. “It would have been good to come earlier, but I wouldn’t have been ready. I went to the Big Bash when I was 20 and it was great, but my game wasn’t ready. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I did crap. I’m happy where I am now: I can come in and try to dominate, instead of just going, ‘Well, I’ll try to get some runs.'”RCB struggled at the start of the season but Jacks flourished in India, winning five of the eight games he played in and averaging 32.85 at a strike rate 175.57.”I can’t speak highly enough of it [the team]. Everyone is willing to share their experiences,” he says. He worked closely in training with Glenn Maxwell, particularly on his method against spin, and played “a lot of golf” with him. “He’s been outstanding with me. He’s given me loads of his time.”Team-mates Cameron Green and Jacks will be on opposing sides at the T20 World Cup next month•BCCIHe also grew close to Cameron Green, and they were sat next to one another on the team bus when they received their call-ups to their respective squads for the T20 World Cup. “He got called by George Bailey, then I got called by Motty [Matthew Mott] about ten minutes later,” Jacks says, laughing. They might face one another on June 8 in Barbados.This will be Jacks’ first World Cup and he admits he was “disappointed” to miss the previous two. “I thought I was close but obviously it’s tough to get in, which is understandable. My biggest goal for the year was to play in the World Cup – and hopefully win it, obviously – and this has given me confidence that I belong there. I know I’m ready for it.”With Jos Buttler and Phil Salt due to open, Jacks will start the tournament as England’s No. 3. It is a relatively new role – he has batted there 22 times in his 165-match T20 career – and he has been learning on the job. “I only really started doing it on the Caribbean tour [in December] but it’s something I’m getting used to and I’ve learned a lot in our last few games.”For an opener, coming in after the powerplay and starting against spin is different, People have said to me since I was 12 years old that I can always catch up: Stewie [Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket] always says to me, ‘If you face 50 balls, we’ll win the game.’ It might only be 30 balls at No. 3, but I’m selfless and I want to put the team in a good spot and that’s by being aggressive.”They are traits that he shares with his idol, Kevin Pietersen. “I don’t remember ever trying to bat like anyone, but maybe he was in my head from watching him in the 2005 Ashes,” Jacks says. “I was six then: that’s the first cricket I really remember. Maybe that was ingrained in me from early on?” Jacks has met Pietersen but only sporadically. “He’s someone who I’d like to speak to a bit more.”Jacks was 11 when England won the only previous men’s T20 World Cup staged in the Caribbean, when Pietersen was named player of the tournament. The next few weeks will provide Jacks a chance to write his own name into England’s T20 history.

He stamped his aura on the last day of the English Test season, putting the seal on a famous Sri Lanka win

Vithushan Ehantharajah09-Sep-2024Pathum Nissanka’s celebration for his second Test century was familiar but still as crisp as ever.Helmet in one hand, bat in the other, arms outstretched, and hair on point. Still for a moment, milking the ovation from the near-10000 here on Monday at the Kia Oval. A facsimile Jude Bellingham stance, albeit a good foot shorter, but with just as much aura. It said all that needed to be said; “you came for the last day of the English Test season, but you’ll leave thinking of me”.There were not many better candidates for Sri Lanka’s hero in this third Test. The neatness to Sri Lanka registering a first win at the Kia Oval since 1998, thanks to a man born earlier that year. Likewise, that a fourth Test win on these shores was steered home by someone skipper Dhananjaya de Silva was happy to label “the best batsman in Sri Lanka right now” during the post-match presentations. He will join the likes of Don Bradman and Gordon Greenidge as the seventh overseas batter to strike a fourth-innings hundred in a winning cause.The overnight split of Nissanka’s unbeaten 127 – 53 off 44 on Sunday evening, 74 off 80 the next morning – speaks to its pro-activeness. Sharp out the gates, calmness throughout, particularly in Autumnal conditions for part two – then a kick over the finish line with a flurry of boundaries.Related

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The instructions at the start of the pursuit of 219 were simply to play with freedom. “What I told him was that even in 50 balls, he scores 150, I’m happy with that,” revealed Sanath Jayasuriya. “What we need is runs.” Runs are what they got, though perhaps not quite at the lick their interim coach suggested to the hero of the piece.England still took the series, of course. But there was a sting to how easily they were dispatched by such measured yet attacking verve. Nissanka did unto them as they strive to do to others.But don’t get it twisted. Nissanka wasn’t simply the best version of England, he was the best version of himself. And that is no accident, nor is it simply a story about steady technical progression, but rather steady growth.The 30 months between centuries number one on debut and this one in his 11th cap speak for themselves, as do the contrasts. Against West Indies in March 2021, he spent 19 minutes shy of six hours at the crease, eventually finishing with 103 from 252 balls. He ends this match with 191 off a total of 175, and the unique honour of being the ninth batter in Test history to pass fifty in fewer than fifty balls in both innings.And yet, both are true reflections of Nissanka. That arrival on the Test scene was predicated by an average of 65 in Sri Lanka’s first-class system, which didn’t just set him apart from the rest, but had beards trying to discern whether he was a phenomenon or just an anomaly. Given the country’s batting production line had slowed to a chug, there was a temptation to settle on the latter.Angelo Mathews and Pathum Nissanka celebrate Sri Lanka’s famous win•Getty ImagesMickey Arthur, Sri Lanka coach at the time, knew they had a good one, but could also see how this “different beast”, as he put it, needed to be honed rather than tamed. “I guess mentally we had to give him assurances that this is where we wanted him to play. This is what we wanted him to do. And irrespective of whether he was a success, we still backed him.”Things did not necessarily play out that way, even if Nissanka did have a solid enough average of 38.35 from his first nine caps, before a two-year hiatus. That was essentially the result of a back injury that initially sidelined him, before a long-term hamstring niggle that ended up ring-fencing him for limited-overs cricket.White ball cricket, however, did not come all that easy until 2022, when he seemingly got bitten by a radioactive Sanath. The assumption of a new penchant for risk – rooted in hardwired knack for picking up length – came alongside a greater selection of shots to choose them. And the six one-day centuries that followed, including becoming the first Sri Lanka batter to strike an ODI double-hundred at the start of this year, ingrained a new natural game in Nissanka that has finally made it to the Test stage.Across the four innings he has played on this tour, his 26 fours are more than half what he managed in the previous 15. The Olly Stone bouncers he sent into the stands at backward square leg on Sunday have now trebled his overall tally of Test sixes.

“A facsimile Jude Bellingham stance, albeit a good foot shorter, but with just as much aura. It said all that needed to be said; “you came for the last day of the English Test season, but you’ll leave thinking of me””

As Nissanka blocked everything worth blocking, while still managing to guide boundaries whether driving or leaping off his toes to cut through point, before finally opening his wrists into a drive in that region to confirm victory, it seemed crazy he missed that first Test. The reasons for that were nothing more than loyalty to Nishan Madushka as the man in possession of the openers’ spot.”Pathum came in after a long time with his injury,” Jayasuriya explained. “And also Nishan Madushka and Dimuth (Karunaratne) – these were the guys we were playing with for almost a year, without Pathum. We wanted to give him (Madushka, eventually dropped for the third Test) the chance to play well.”The sense is that Dhananjaya wanted Nissanka in for the start. If there’s any consolation, Sri Lanka’s captain won’t be starting a series without him any time soon.There will be some inevitable patronising of Sri Lanka with this result. That it is good for the game and the wider health of Test cricket. Perhaps there is some truth to that. But at the same time, this Test veered into uninspiring patches largely because of England’s approach.Thankfully, though, Nissanka provided a classy ending – of a talent embarking on a grand new beginning.

The vibe so far this tournament has been good in Sharjah too, with the UAE’s expats coming out to cheer their sides on – a Sri Lankan papare band included

Valkerie Baynes and Firdose Moonda06-Oct-2024″I’ve never been to a women’s match before, my brother said we have to go because it’s India-Pakistan.”That’s what one Indian woman in the stands at Dubai International Cricket Stadium told us on Sunday, amid a record crowd of 15,935 who watched India defeat Pakistan by six wickets. And she said she would be back.The 100th T20I to be played at Dubai stadium drew the highest number of spectators for a league game at an ICC women’s event and therefore the biggest crowd for a women’s match between India and Pakistan. The last time these sides met at a T20 World Cup, in South Africa last year, 3578 people attended.The fan who came on her brother’s advice sat in the last row of the bottom tier, in the shade, with a perfect side-on view of Richa Ghosh’s stunning one-handed catch to dismiss Fatima Sana. A few rows in front of her, two Pakistan fans dressed head to toe in green and white had danced in celebration just moments earlier when Sana swept and slog-swept back-to-back boundaries. It didn’t matter when she was out, they still flanked an Indian fan in a warm embrace and posed for a photograph.Related

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They were joined in the crowd by numerous families, young and old, many wearing team jerseys and, despite obvious national rivalry, all sitting in the same space.Helped by some pumping tunes and an enthusiastic ground announcer who whipped the crowd into various chants, the atmosphere was electric and the noise thunderous, the Indian contingent outnumbering their Pakistani counterparts by – a rough estimate of – 85% to 15%.The large number of fans turning out for this game makes sense when looking at the expat demographic in the UAE. Indians make up the largest number of foreigners, an estimated 38% of the population. The next largest single nationality group is Pakistanis, who amount to an estimated 17% of the people here.Overall, the crowd was unmistakably mostly male, which is also in keeping with the demographics of the region – the Emirates has roughly two men for every woman living here.As the contest became tight towards the end, with India needing 26 runs off the last 27 balls, the Pakistan contingent stood out, jumping up and down and waving flags frantically. When India won, their supporters sang along at the top of their voices as strains of rang out over the PA system, India’s unofficial victory anthem since 2011.Arundhati Reddy, who was Player of the Match for her 3 for 19, was feeling the love. “Lovely crowd today,” she said after the match. “A lot of Indians there supporting us. It just felt very good getting into the ground today, a lot of Indians cheering for us and we hope they keep turning up for us.”Sana, Pakistan’s captain, also seemed to relish playing in front of such a big crowd: “I said to everyone enjoy being in the field because we all know the Indians have a lot of supporters and the whole crowd is totally supporting India so our whole team is enjoying it out there and they performed with intent so that’s the best thing.”This turnout is likely to be the peak attendance at a tournament where crowd figures were expected to be a concern. But, during the three days leading up to this match, spectator presence has been a pleasant surprise, especially at the other venue in Sharjah.From an underwhelming start in 37C heat on Thursday afternoon, the stands steadily grew more lively for the original hosts, Bangladesh, as they faced qualifiers Scotland.The Indian fans got behind their team with full vigour•ICC/Getty ImagesNigar Sultana’s “heartbreak” at not being able to play in front of home crowds and celebrate the progression of women’s cricket in her country was quickly healed by the presence of plenty of flag-bearing supporters and a DJ with a solid knowledge of a good Bengali playlist. “It was brilliant, we got quite a few people supporting Bangladesh,” she said afterwards.By dusk, those Bangladesh supporters were joined by Sri Lanka fans – as they arrived to watch their side take on Pakistan – and a papare band, which was also present during the match against Australia two days later.While it’s clear that support for the subcontinent sides far outweighs the smatterings of other countries’ fans, that did not stop Australia seamer Megan Schutt from enjoying her time in the middle.India sealed victory in front of well-populated stands•ICC/Getty Images”There was a great atmosphere – we couldn’t hear much over the trumpets. It was pretty loud,” she said. “It was great to see some fans there. It’s been so last-minute to change to Dubai and Sharjah, I think it was really impressive to see a crowd here and we love playing in front of people.”Happily, people have turned up despite the heat and against expectation, which has vindicated the ICC’s choice to stage the tournament here instead of the other candidate, Zimbabwe. It is understood that the attraction of guaranteed crowds and Castle Corner vibes ensured Zimbabwe was a serious consideration but the lack of floodlights in Bulawayo was the main reason the country lost out.Their loss is the UAE and its expat communities’ gain.

Playing his first international match in 12 months, Nasum put in an impressive all-round display to help Bangladesh level the series

Mohammad Isam10-Nov-2024Bangladesh’s 68-run win against Afghanistan in the second ODI, breaking a seven-match losing streak since September, was built on a string of individual performances. Of them, Nasum Ahmed, in particular, will feel a huge weight lifted off his shoulders after returning to the side following a 12-month gap.Nasum made a brisk 25 followed by bowling figures of 3 for 28 from 8.3 overs in his first international since the 2023 ODI World Cup – it has emerged recently that an incident involving Chandika Hathurusinghe might have kept Nasum out of the national team in this period. He hasn’t said anything about it, clearly saving his energy to make statements when given an opportunity. Like on Saturday.He stepped up at the right time for Bangladesh, who had their backs against the wall. They were 1-0 down in the series, having collapsed with the bat quite spectacularly in the first game on Wednesday.Related

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Nasum arrived at the crease with Bangladesh facing a familiar batting collapse. Left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote had engineered a middle-order slide that saw them slip from 174 for 3 to 184 for 6 in 16 balls. Kharote removed Towhid Hridoy, and then got rid of Player-of-the-Match Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mahmudullah in one over.Debutant Jaker Ali and Nasum waited out almost four overs before launching five sixes between them. Nasum swung Kharote and AM Ghazanfar for his two sixes, while Jaker laid into Fazalhaq Farooqi, the pair taking 18 runs off the left-arm quick’s penultimate over. Jaker and Nasum added a vital 46 runs that kept Bangladesh in the hunt, before Jaker got them over the 250-run mark with a six off the last ball of the innings.”I think the way Jaker and Nasum batted in the last few overs made a difference in this game,” Shanto said afterwards. “Everyone showed a lot of character in our bowling and fielding. It was a difficult situation for us in the last few matches. Tests, T20Is and even the last ODI. Everyone had the belief and stuck to their processes. We talked about it in the first ODI, but I think we were committed to our process, which paid off in this game.”With the ball, too, Nasum made an instant impact. He removed the dangerous Sediqullah Atal with his first ball, although Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s’s leaping catch might have been the clincher there. Nasum, though, kept creating plenty of chances.

“It was difficult for him. I don’t want to bring the off-the-field issue here. A professional cricketer always focuses on the game. He was always part of the dressing room so he had no problem adjusting to the players. He showed a lot of courage. I really liked his approach”Najmul Hossain Shanto on Nasum Ahmed

He also removed Azmatullah Omarzai with the second ball of his second spell. This was the special left-arm spinner’s delivery, pitching on middle, spinning and hitting the top of off. Omarzai was left dumbstruck, trudging off for a golden duck. Rahmat Shah was run-out later in the over as Nasum built pressure with a very tight off-stump line. He rounded off Bangladesh’s win with Ghazanfar’s wicket in the 44th over. When you put the 25 runs and three wickets together, it adds up to a pretty good all-round showing.Especially for someone who was subject to speculation since November last year. Nasum was central in the controversy that ultimately led to Hathurusinghe’s removal as the Bangladesh head coach – Nasum was allegedly the cricketer that Hathurusinghe had “assaulted” during their World Cup game against New Zealand in Chennai last year.The then BCB dispensation had denied the incident. The investigation report was never made public. But when Faruque Ahmed was elected the BCB president in August this year, he led a second investigation. Last month, he announced Hathurusinghe’s suspension for two reasons, including the “assault”. Hathurusinghe questioned the BCB’s motive for his sacking, claiming that the player in question had never reported the incident to the team management.Nasum hasn’t spoken about the incident publicly, even after sections of the local media reported the incident.It has emerged recently that Chandika Hathurusinghe allegedly slapped Nasum Ahmed during the 2023 ODI World Cup•PTI “It was difficult for him. I don’t want to bring the off-the-field issue here – a professional cricketer always focuses on the game,” Shanto said of Nasum. “He was always part of the dressing room so he had no problem adjusting to the players. He showed a lot of courage. I really liked his approach.”It wasn’t a huge surprise to see Nasum back in the ODI XI when he was named for the three matches against Afghanistan. He had been regarded as Shakib Al Hasan’s white-ball understudy since making his debut in 2021, with some meaningful contributions with bat and ball.He came into this series with form behind him too. During his international absence, Nasum took 61 wickets at 24.04 in all formats. He took 14 wickets in his first two first-class matches after returning from the World Cup, followed by steady BPL and DPL campaigns. Nasum missed the ODIs against Sri Lanka in March, while Bangladesh banked heavily on Shakib and Mahedi Hasan in T20Is for the following few months.For a team that suffers from a dearth of skilled cricketers coming through the system, it was time for Nasum to return. He has responded strongly, and after missing a year of international cricket, the desire to do bigger and better must be burning.

The third season of the competition has been another success but it hasn’t quite been a run-fest

Firdose Moonda03-Feb-2025Sellout crowds at all six venues and summer vibes (except for the three matches rained off) have already signalled season three of the SA20 as a success. There’s also the prospect of at least one new finalist, with both Pretoria Capitals and Durban’s Super Giants knocked out, and bottom-feeders of the last two tournaments, MI Cape Town, have done a complete 180 and finished as log leaders. So, the narratives are strong, but has the cricket always matched it?One metric that can be used to answer that question is to judge the number of close games, which we’ll define as matches that were won by 10 or fewer runs of with six or fewer balls to spare. In the 30 group stage matches in 2025, there have been six tight matches, including one which was DLS affected. In 2024, there were 10 and 2023, nine. Similarly, this season, the number of matches won by a margin of more than 30 runs or six wickets is 20, the same as last year but seven more matches than the 13 in 2023.A second means of analysis is to examine what has emerged as the most common concern from the group stage: that batting has been tougher than usual. Almost every team has said so at some stage of the campaign and the numbers support the view. Teams have scored 120 or less 10 times this season compared to seven in 2024 and six in 2023. The 2025 tournament has also had the lowest run-rate of the league stage: 7.91. That’s down from 8.71 last season, which was higher than the 8.18 in the first edition. In real terms, that’s a difference of 16 runs an innings between this season and last.Word from those who have had bat in hand is that pitches are more challenging because they are slower, lower and have turned more than usual. Considering that the competition takes place at the same time – early January to early February – every year, it’s puzzled many that the surfaces are behaving like it’s much later in the summer and explanations have been hard to come by.Evan Flint, the former head groundsman at both Newlands and the Wanderers, believes the age and continual use of the surfaces across the country is starting to show. “Ideally a pitch should be relaid every 10 to 15 years, however with increasing content it’s impossible to do,” he told ESPNcricinfo “A new pitch takes 12 to 18 months before it can be used again, so this puts too much strain on the other three or four central pitches.”For this reason, Cricket South Africa is embarking on an ambitious plan to use drop-in pitches for the 2027 World Cup. A prototype is currently being created at the Wanderers and with no home internationals next season, they feel there is enough time to test the drop-ins and avoid the rushed situation that saw the Nassau County pitches that were used for the 2024 T20 World Cup rated unsatisfactory.That could mean that this season proves be an outlier, with the tired surfaces on their last legs, following what has also been a heavy international load. Before the SA20, there were Tests at four of the six venues (last season there were only Tests at two) and white-ball internationals at all six. “A lot of the central pitches were used before the tournament started and used surfaces often get slower over the course of the season,” Flint said.In addition, heavy rain everywhere except the Western Cape added to the challenges at the start of the competition, especially for inexperienced groundsmen. There is a new curator at Kingsmead, and, since Flint left, fairly new curators at the Wanderers and Newlands, which means that there’s a lot of learning that takes place on the job and occasionally even those who have been around for a long time, don’t get it right. “It’s also a difficult job, so even with all the experience it can sometimes go wrong,” Flint said.Crowds have continued to be strong•SA20And while a lot can be said about surfaces, the coaches don’t believe they are the only reason for the slower run-scoring. “Conditions have been challenging, but I feel sometimes as batters you can limit yourself a little bit. You have to find ways to put big totals on the board,” Robin Peterson, MICT’s coach said after their win over Capitals in their last home game on Sunday.The same thoughts were first mooted by Stephen Fleming, Joburg Super Kings’ coach. “It’s a little bit of a trend of the tournament that batting first seems to be a bit of a challenge, not just because of conditions but maybe a little bit of players mindset and then ability to work their way out of tough situations,” he said after his team were held to 99 for 9 by Capitals at Centurion on January 28. “Unfortunately, the trend of the modern day players, if it’s too hard, they don’t find a method for long enough. And they’re very keen to hit their way out of trouble.”And that just has not worked as well. The 2025 league phase has seen the lowest percentage of runs scored in boundaries: 53.8%. In 2024, almost 60% of runs came in boundaries and in 2023 it was 56.8%. Fleming also mooted the idea that they may be due to when the games are played.”One of the things I’m learning from being here a few years is that the starting time is a little bit of a challenge,” he said. “A lot of domestic cricket is played through the evening hours where the wickets have played quite well. We’ve found there’s quite a distinct difference between the last part of the day and then moving into the evening, even if the wicket’s dry.”Most SA20 games start at 5.30pm local time, which is daylight in the Western Cape, where the sun sets at 8pm in peak summer, twilight in Gqeberha and on the Highveld and just about sunset in Durban. That means some matches are played as mostly day games, others as day-night and the rest as night games.On double header days, the early match is entirely a day game, starting at 1pm, and on Sundays, the matches start at 3.30pm and end just after sunset. Under lights, the ball tends to come on quicker and there perhaps isn’t as much of that as there could be, but match times are set at what’s best for broadcasters, not batters and that may sum up how we should actually measure the SA20.The SA20 is now a firm fixture in the season•SA20On screens, it is seen as the tournament with some of the best vibes: the crowds are diverse and engaged and have gotten behind their teams, some of the world’s biggest names have smiles on their faces when they’re playing, and even when they’re losing.In the aftermath of Capitals’ 95-run defeat in their final game, the players gathered on the outfield with the families and their former captain Wayne Parnell, had a hit about with Parnell’s two young children and looked on as MICT set up a net on the field so they could train for their week in the playoffs.Capitals felt no need to send either their new coach, Jonathan Trott, or their new captain Kyle Verreynne, to explain their dismal season and instead put up their rookie Keagan Lion-Cachet to the press afterwards. He was all smiles in defeat and “couldn’t have asked for anything else,” other than to be part of the tournament that has brought cricket in South Africa back to life.”I’ve learned so much more than what I knew in the beginning, and cricket is a game where the more you learn the better you get,” he said. “The more people share their own experiences and skills with you, the more you learn.”And one thing about the SA20 in its early years, is that it’s a tournament that will keep learning.

CSK have now lost five successive games at home, which also ends their playoffs chances

Sampath Bandarupalli30-Apr-20252:10

Is CSK losing five times at home IPL’s biggest shocker?

5 – Defeats for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk in IPL 2025, the most for them in a single edition. They lost four matches each in 2008 and 2012, including the final.CSK have now lost five games in a row in at home this season since defeating Mumbai Indians (MI) in their opening game. Only three teams have lost more home matches on the bounce in an IPL season. Deccan Chargers, in 2008, lost all seven home games, while Punjab Kings (PBKS) lost six at home after winning their first game in 2023 and 2024. Pune Warriors India also lost six in a row after winning their first two games at home in 2012.3 – Number of players including Yuzvendra Chahal to take multiple hat-tricks in the IPL. Chahal’s first hat-trick came against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2022. Amit Mishra has three IPL hat-tricks, while Yuvraj Singh has two.Related

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1 – CSK have been bowled out in successive matches for the first time in the IPL. They were cleaned up for 154 in their previous game by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). That was the first time CSK were bowled out in an IPL match since the introduction of the Impact Player rule in IPL 2023.9 – Chahal now has nine four-plus wicket-hauls in the IPL, the most by any bowler. He went past Sunil Narine, who has eight.1 – Chahal also became the first bowler to take a hat-trick against CSK in the IPL. Parvinder Awana took a hat-trick against CSK in 2014 while playing for PBKS (then Kings XI Punjab), but that was in a CLT20 match.Chahal’s hat-trick was the fifth for the Punjab franchise in the IPL and the first since Sam Curran’s effort against Delhi Capitals (DC) in 2019. They now share the record with Rajasthan Royals (RR).11 – Number of balls PBKS took to pick the last six CSK wickets, the fewest for any team in an IPL innings. SRH took 13 balls to take the last six wickets of Pune Warriors in 2013, and PBKS also needed 13 deliveries against SRH in 2020.4 – Wickets for Chahal in the 19th over of CSK’s innings. This is the second time that he’s picked up four wickets in an over in the IPL, with the other instance coming in 2022 against KKR when he took his previous hat-trick. Amit Mishra against Pune Warriors in 2013 and Andre Russell against Gujarat Titans (GT) in 2022 are the others with a four-wicket over in the IPL.Yuzvendra Chahal picked up four wickets in an over and celebrated like only he can•Getty ImagesChahal is now one of only three bowlers to take four-plus wickets in an over in men’s T20s on multiple occasions (where ball-by-ball data is available). Russell and Shaheen Shah Afridi also have multiple four-wicket overs in T20s.203 – CSK’s predicted score as per ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster after 18.1 overs, when they were 184 for 5. CSK lost the remaining five wickets in seven balls to get bowled out for 190.CSK’s 190 is the highest by any team when they were bowled out when batting first in the IPL. RR’s 185 against PBKS in 2021 was the previous highest, although they batted all 20 overs.1 – The CSK-PBKS match on Wednesday became the first in the IPL featuring four uncapped players to open the batting. Shaik Rasheed and Ayush Mhatre opened the batting for CSK, while Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh opened for PBKS.1 – CSK have failed to make it to the playoffs in successive seasons for the first time in the IPL. This is the fourth time that they have failed to make it to the final four – in 2020, 2022, 2024 and now 2025.

Both teams had equal support as the Champions Trophy arrived at Gaddafi Stadium and England seemed like they had killed off the game, but who could ever really bet against Australia?

Danyal Rasool22-Feb-20252:04

Agar: Inglis controlled the innings, the rest could bat around him

The crowd had left their seats, preparing to head out. It had been a long day, and they had seen by far the best game of the tournament. They pooled up at the front of the stands; perhaps they’d catch one more over. And then Alex Carey clothed one to mid-off. Glenn Maxwell was coming in, so they couldn’t leave before giving him the biggest cheer of the evening and watching a little show.Mark Wood came straight into the attack, the tournament’s fastest bowler who had bowled England’s quickest-ever opening ODI spell at the top of the innings. This, perhaps, was the contest distilled to its most electric – matchwinner pitted against matchwinner, the outcome of this mini-context potentially decisive to the larger result.Wood set three men on the rope on the leg side, including a square leg, for the first ball to Maxwell. For someone who had bowled more balls in excess of 150kph than anyone else in this tournament combined, it didn’t take a great deal of imagination to work out what he was threatening. Instead, he went full. But Maxwell doesn’t need time at the crease to recognise a bluff when he sees one. He latched onto it, pummeling it through the cover region left vacant to lend credibility to that bluff. Four.There was no pretense for the next ball as Wood arrowed it in search of the yorker, but once more, Maxwell wasn’t backing down. He lifted this one over mid-on. Four more. The crowd didn’t move, not even to go back to their seats. Lahore’s post-match traffic may be a nightmare to deal with, but missing any of this would be worse.

****

Every seat at the Gaddafi was sold out for this game, and yet it was never quite clear what the people wanted. There is veneration in Pakistan for Australia’s relentless assault on the biggest trophies, while England’s white-ball revolution over the past decade has brought with it a new generation of young fans, especially as the country is one of the biggest exporters of talent to the Pakistan Super League.Related

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By the time the game drew near its enthralling finale, though, the overwhelming sense that gripped this ground was one of inevitability. The stadium may not have held an ICC event for the best part of 30 years; indeed, the last such game at this ground was perhaps the last of an era where an Australian triumph on these occasions wasn’t fait accompli.A lot has happened in the three decades since, and plenty of it has happened to this crowd. As Australia clawed their way back into a game England thought they had finished off, no one would have felt surer of an Australian win than those gathered around this venue.It was Australia that came in with an attack that was part Sheffield Shield part Big Bash League; it would be something of a mathematical violation to maintain the whole added up to an ODI bowling unit. It was their best bowler – Adam Zampa – who Ben Duckett had thoroughly bested, plundering 50 off the 36 balls he faced en route a Champions Trophy record 165, leaving Australia comprehensively deprived of wicket-taking options.Josh Inglis’ innings was laden with boundaries•Associated PressWhen, in defence of 351, Wood and Jofra Archer breathed early fire to send back Australia’s most explosive batter and their best one in quick succession, the remainder of the game threatened to become an English victory procession. They even did what Australia couldn’t in the middle overs, spinners Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone combining to remove Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Short, who had built up a sneakily menacing 95-run stand which kept Australia in touch with the asking rate. Now, alongside Carey, it was all up to Josh Inglis, ODI average a tick above 23.However, Australia follow a strategy of personal incredulity in these events, as if Real Madrid had suddenly descended on a cricket field and dyed their kit canary yellow. For this side, there isn’t so much regression to the mean as there is eternal servitude to history, where past success guarantees future triumph. Two overs after that double-blow, Carey lifted Livingstone – one of England’s two compromise bowlers, the price they were paying for an extra batter – for two boundaries, and at the halfway mark Australia were just ten runs behind England at the same stage. The game entered a tug of war as England, still notionally with the upper hand, remained content as long as the floodgates didn’t open.But with wickets suddenly drying up, Australia were always destined to be in control of the final sprint. England had done exceptionally well not to let their middle overs with the bat – a recent Achilles heel – derail their innings, prioritising wicket preservation while milking the middle overs. ODI sides have averaged 151 dot balls in full innings since the 2023 World Cup, or just over half their full quota. For England, this was down to just 107, a near 15% drop. However, they had not made the most of the platform they constructed, only 83 coming off the final ten overs even as Australia turned to their fifth and sixth bowlers at the death; Labuschagne bowled two of the last three overs.Glenn Maxwell helped add the finished touches•Associated PressSo, by that time the crowd were stealing a few late peeks at Maxwell against Wood, they stood not to see an outcome decided, but an inevitable heist completed. The following over, Inglis slapped Brydon Carse for one six before scooping him for another, and he whacked an Archer slower ball into the Imtiaz Ahmed Stand at midwicket three balls later to bring up his hundred. Maxwell, now primed against Wood, whacked him for another six and a four; he would finish with 31 off 11 balls from Wood and Archer. The coup de grace came from Inglis, of course, a six off Wood when just two were needed; he had added almost a fifth of his runs tally built up over 28 ODIs across one Lahore evening. The last 70 runs of the chase had taken just 33 balls.It was only after that final Inglis blow that Gaddafi Stadium, in unison, turned around and began to walk away. It remained impossible to say if this was the outcome they wanted; St George’s Cross and the Southern Cross had been seen in equal measure in the stands. But even as the foe that has dealt them more pain than any other inaugurated their gleaming new stadium by laying their dreaded hex on it, they had smiles on their faces. It felt much nicer when it was happening to someone else.

Which one do you pick: the Ben Stokes epic at Headingley against Australia, or the time New Zealand overturned a follow-on to trump Bazballin’ England?

ESPNcricinfo staff20-May-2025Update: This poll has ended. The ENG-AUS 2019 Leeds Test moves into the quarter-finals.

The Stokes show at Headingley, 2019

A Test that might not have otherwise stayed for too long in the memory, it was the unbroken 76-run stand for the last wicket between Ben Stokes and Jack Leach that lifted it to where the greatest Test matches in history are clubbed together.And, of course, the fact that in those 76 runs, one batter scored 74 (in 45 balls) and the other 1 (in 17 balls)! Not to forget that the winners had scored 67 in their first innings and then hit 362 for 9 in a Test where 246 was the next-best total.Australia won the first Test and the second was drawn, so England wanted to win this one at Headingley to stay in the Ashes contest. But after Australia were bowled out for 179 in the first innings, all England could put up was 67, with Joe Denly top-scoring with 12. Back to Australia, and this time they put up 246.Was the pitch getting better for batting? It didn’t seem so when England were 15 for 2 in their chase of 359, and then 159 for 4 with Joe Root gone, and then 286 for 9. Stokes, the No. 5, was on 61 at the time. Off 174 balls.But with last-man Leach for company, Stokes switched something on. He hit four fours and seven sixes from that point, keeping Leach away from the strike as much as possible, before finishing it off with a flay through the covers off Pat Cummins. Done and dusted!

New Zealand go from follow-on to victory – Wellington, 2023

New Zealand became only the fourth team in Test history to win after being asked to follow-on when they beat England by one run in Wellington.With Harry Brook and Joe Root scoring hundreds, England Bazballed their way to 435 for 8 declared. In response, New Zealand slipped to 103 for 7 before folding for 209, and were asked to follow on.The second innings was completely different. Led by Kane Williamson’s 132, Tom Blundell’s 90 and Tom Latham’s 83, they set England 258 to win.With more than a day left, England would have still fancied their chances. But they collapsed to 80 for 5 within 22 overs. Ben Stokes decided to drop the anchor, while Root did the bulk of the scoring. They took England past 200 but fell soon after.It came down to the last pair with seven to get. Jack Leach got off the mark with a single, as he had during the famous Headingley Test of the 2019 Ashes. But this time it was James Anderson, and not Stokes, at the other end. Anderson did smash a four but then edged Neil Wagner down the leg side for Blundell to complete a diving catch and the win.

Delhi Capitals’ win over Lucknow Super Giants on Monday night in IPL 2025 was the fifth one-wicket win in the history of the tournament

Srinidhi Ramanujam25-Mar-2025

Ashutosh Sharma played an innings for the ages•BCCI

KKR beat KXIP, Kolkata, IPL 2015It was the first one-wicket victory in IPL history, in Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) final league game of IPL 2015, at home. The Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) spinners had KKR at 83 for 4 in the 11th over in pursuit of 184, but a fifth-wicket stand of 53 in 4.1 overs between Andre Russell and Yusuf Pathan revived the chase. Pathan fell for 29 off 19, but Russell went on to hammer 51 off 21. When Russell was dismissed with 25 needed off 19, Piyush Chawla levelled the scores before the last pair of Umesh Yadav and Sunil Narine scrambled a leg-bye off the penultimate ball to finish the job. This was so long back that Narine was the team’s No. 11.Bravo, Dwayne! It was CSK’s comeback match in the IPL, and they showed the fans what they had been missing•BCCICSK beat MI, Mumbai, IPL 2018Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were coming back from their two-year ban, and it was a game – the season-opener – Mumbai Indians (MI) were well-placed to win at the Wankhede. MI overcame a poor start to post 165 for 4. In the chase, CSK slipped to 75 for 5. But Dwayne Bravo’s stunning assault brought them back to life. CSK needed 46 from 17 and Bravo hit two sixes and a four in that 18th over against Mitchell McClenaghan and three sixes in the next off Jasprit Bumrah before falling off the last ball of the 19th. But all CSK needed was seven from the last over. An injured Kedar Jadhav walked out after having retired earlier to smash a six and a four off the final over, bowled by Mustafizur Rahman.SRH beat MI, Hyderabad, 2018MI had huffed and puffed their way to 147 for 8 in their second game of the season. At 56 for no loss after six overs, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) looked like they would coast to victory. But they lost nine wickets for 75 runs from there, before the last-wicket pair of Deepak Hooda and Billy Stanlake held their nerve to make it two out of two for SRH in the season. Hooda’s unbeaten 32 included a sensational final-over six off a wide yorker from Ben Cutting, which reduced the equation to five off five. A wide and three singles brought it down to one off the final delivery, a slower one, which Stanlake hoicked to midwicket.LSG’s musclemen Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis smashed their way past RCB in IPL 2023•BCCILSG beat RCB, Bengaluru, IPL 2023In a see-sawing contest, LSG stunned the Chinnaswamy amid high drama. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had reduced LSG to 23 for 3 in four overs in their chase of 213, but Marcus Stoinis’ 30-ball 65 gave them a platform, from which Nicholas Pooran’s 19-ball 62 and Ayush Badoni’s 24-ball 30 took them to the doorstep of victory. Badoni fell in the 19th over and LSG needed four from the remaining five balls with three wickets in hand. They lost Mark Wood and Jaydev Unadkat, too, in the final over. Harshal Patel bowled the last ball, No. 11 Avesh Khan missed, and the batters scampered. RCB wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik fumbled twice and then missed his throw at the stumps and LSG were victors.DC beat LSG, Visakhapatnam, IPL 2025A chase of 210. There was no KL Rahul. DC were tottering at 65 for 5, and it became 113 for 6 when they lost Tristan Stubbs. At the end of 13 overs, it seemed like DC had no chance, but Vipraj Nigam’s 39 off 15 (on IPL debut) and Ashutosh Sharma’s awe-inspiring 66 not out off 31 deliveries scripted a thrilling comeback, and LSG were beaten. This was after Ashutosh had been on a run-a-ball 19.

What’s a tour of England without some nostalgia – or a lot of it?

Sidharth Monga07-Aug-2025July 20
National Football Museum in Manchester. Its glass exterior has lyrics of “Don’t Look Back in Anger” inscribed on it. Manchester is, of course, Oasis country. Pronounced “oh- weɪ-ˈsʌs” in the north. They are on tour and playing in Manchester tonight. Ticket prices too high at the last moment. Or at the first. See a reel of a woman at the concert using Shazam to identify the song being played. It is “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve, who are opening for Oasis.July 21
Could spend hours in Strawberry Field, the children’s home run by the Salvation Army when John Lennon was a kid in Liverpool. Went on to immortalise the place with the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Was demolished in 1973 but the iconic red gates are now open to visitors.End up spending hours as it rains. Find shelter under tall trees in the beautiful garden. Imagine Lennon here as a child, escaping the world and getting lost in Strawberry Field. Now, famous Beatles lyrics are inscribed around the place. Once it stops raining, come out to see this inscription: “No one I think / Is in my tree”.July 22
A short walk from Strawberry Field is 251 Menlove Avenue, where Lennon lived from 1945 to 1963. Find there a Peruvian man, Jhon Vilchez Cordova, born in 1971, named for Lennon by his father, a big Beatles fan. Jhon is in tears, having made it to Lennon’s home. Help him photograph himself outside Lennon’s house.Walk to St Peter’s Parish Church where John and Paul first met. In its graveyard rests Eleanor Rigby. Not far from her rests John McKenzie. However, this Eleanor Rigby died in 1939. Paul McCartney has said the woman in his song is fictitious, and any connection to this graveyard – where they used to sunbathe and “probably had a craft fag” – is subconscious. “This is just bigger than me.”End up on Mathew Street, where, at the Cavern Club, the Beatles were discovered. Whole street now is a Beatles tribute.Fab forever: a tile in memory of John Lennon outside Strawberry Field in Liverpool•Sidharth Monga/ESPNcricinfo LtdJuly 23
Been in the UK long enough to suspect the efficacy of the buttons for signals at pedestrian crossings. Read up to find out most of these are just placebo, especially during busy hours. For example, the BBC says the one at the intersection of Regent Street and Cavendish Place near its HQ in London takes 105 seconds for the red man to become green irrespective of whether the button is pressed or not. However, there are some busy intersections where one press the button or the cycle will skip the pedestrian phase.July 24
In Nitish Kumar Reddy’s absence, India are doing a bit of placebo with themselves. They are playing three allrounders according to them, but none of them is a strike bowler in the conditions we have. The bowlers are struggling with their workloads and are being bowled into the dirt. England end day two on 225 for 2 in response to India’s 358.July 25
Old Trafford is a convenient cricket ground despite the infamous, seemingly permanent, temporary stand. Despite the hotel and the conference centre, the Point, taking prime real estate away from working-class cricket fans. Convenient because the tram drops you off almost inside the ground. Reminiscent of Kotla in Delhi – not pretty by any stretch but located right where old Delhi meets new, by the Dilli Gate metro station. Old Trafford also has a “sensory room”, where people troubled by excessive noise or light can take refuge.This could be a day at the Kotla. Pitch dying, bowlers tired, England make their way to 544 for 7.July 26
Test-match Saturday, and finally feel the strain of crowds on the tram. Absolutely jam-packed. Use skills learned in Bombay local trains. Stand not in the doorway but lean against wall right next to it. Anyone who has done a rush-hour commute in Bombay knows the premium on that space: don’t have to make way for anyone at stops, easy to exit when your stop arrives.In the pink: Roger Waters’ one-time home in Cambridge•Sidharth Monga/ESPNcricinfo LtdMassive crowd in, expecting England will seal the series, but India resist, losing only two wickets, those in their first over. KL Rahul and Shubman Gill bat together for 69 overs.July 27
England throw everything at India, including an injured Ben Stokes, but India, already missing Rishabh Pant with a broken foot, hang on for a draw. Stokes offers India handshakes at the first instance of their becoming available, but India want to bat on so Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar can complete their centuries. Both sides are within their rights to do what they do. England within their rights to bowl part-timers and protect frontline bowlers. However, virtue-signalling from England leaves bitter taste. Disappointed, India pull out after centuries, not continuing to bat till the scheduled close of play.July 28
Piccadilly Station in Manchester has a public piano for anyone to play. Everybody seems to be having a good time, but as with everything, there exist online reviews:

“Very quiet piano. Felt like I had to slam down a bit. Needs a bit of a tune up but can’t argue with a public piano!”

“Has seen better days 🙁 Many out of tune keys and some keys that don’t even work, plus no seat available. A shame.” – (Can vouch to Jacob that a seat is available now.)

“Sadly very low quality. Absolutely battered. Quite a few keys not working at all.”

, written by John Cleese (centre), based on the 1970s sitcom of the same name, opened in London last year•James Manning/PA Photos/Getty ImagesJuly 29
Pink Floyd pilgrimage in Cambridge. Unlike Liverpool and the Beatles, no tourism trap here. Stand with goosebumps outside the house where Syd Barrett, once the creative genius behind Floyd, lived and died alone as Roger Barrett after leaving Floyd, his alter ego and public life in the 1960s. Neighbours have in the past spoken of hearing deathly screams in the middle of the night, or hearing him barking like a dog.This semi-detached house is not far from where Barrett grew up. Nearby is Rock Road, where Roger Waters moved into a house with his mother when he was two. That house is completely obscured by magnolia growing in the front yard – echoing how Waters would perform from behind a wall in later years.About a hundred yards away is a Quaker Meeting House, likely where Roger’s mother, a radical atheist whose front room was almost a Labour Party office, would often go, telling her sons that while she didn’t share the Quakers’ beliefs, “they are good people”.End up doing some punting on the river Cam in the backyards of some of the most prestigious colleges in the world. Punting ends near the Anchor Pub, which is where Roger Barrett became Syd, back when the place was called the Riverside Jazz Bar. Barrett greatly admired resident drummer Sid Barrett, and inevitably was nicknamed after him, with a “y” for distinction. A wall now bears a big mural of Syd with an inscription of the lyrics from “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”: “Caught in the crossfire/ of childhood and stardom”.July 30
Keep noticing small, often cemented-up windows in some of the older buildings all over England. Find out now that it was done to avoid paying a ridiculous “window tax” imposed in England and Wales from the 17th century. This is where the phrase “daylight robbery” originated.July 31
It is indeed daylight robbery that India haven’t won a single toss in these five Tests, taking their toss-loss run in international matches to 15. Once again, they have two placebo allrounders in the side, who are essentially batters in these seaming conditions. With eight batters and three bowlers, India end the day at 204 for 6.Attention Russian billionaires: the Oval gasometer will be replaced by luxe flats soon•Sidharth Monga/ESPNcricinfo LtdAugust 1
A London playlist, especially when living in Herne Hill and Brixton.”The Guns of Brixton”, by The Clash
“LDN”, by Lily Allen
“London Boy”, by Taylor Swift
“Maid of Bond Street”, by David Bowie
“South Of The River”, by Tom Misch
“Streets of London”, by Ralph McTell
“Portobello Road”, by Cat Stevens
“London Bye, Ta-Ta”, by David BowieBye bye, ta-ta is not far. Soon this heightened state of purposefulness will be replaced by a temporary void. The three-man India attack promise us one final classic, bowling England out for a lead of just 23, which is wiped out in no time. Real life can wait at the door, we have one final thriller to oversee.August 2
Have always wondered what is inside the gasometer near The Oval. Have never managed to get in. Can’t do it anymore because it is now a construction site – being turned into luxury residences. Same as with Battersea Power Station, the site of the iconic cover of the Floyd album .Overhear on a Thameslink train two people decrying the conversion of old heritage buildings into high-rises. As the train crosses a bridge, one is excited to point to the other an old house that has survived. He is quick to tell her the story of the house: an old inn in Southwark, which has survived because it gets heritage protection by virtue of being associated with a Shakespeare theatre group. It most likely is the Falcon Tavern, a frequent haunt of Shakespeare and other writers.August 3
End up in Chinatown after watching India struggle with just three fast bowlers, defending 373, but still managing to stay alive thanks to Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna. On way back, go past a theatre running . Most of the original cast is gone, but John Cleese, 85, ploughs on – he is the writer of this stage version.August 4
A breathtaking end to a great series, with Siraj outlasting everyone for a six-run win for India. Twenty-five days of hard work comes down to one hit or one wicket. Siraj delivers the wicket, with a yorker, his fifth-quickest ball of the series.And suddenly everybody is saying goodbyes, and what a privilege it has been. Reality has burst through the door. England, London, foxes in the Herne Hill backyard, you will be missed.