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South Africa are in the semifinals and they have already won three tight contests, the latest to eliminate England. Can they survive the pressure this time?

Firdose Moonda29-Mar-20144:51

Crowe: SA over-rate habit has to change

Sssshhh. Nobody tell South Africa this was actually a knockout match. They already know the next one is and they can’t handle that sort of that pressure. Or can they?Twice before in this tournament they sneaked through in tense chases. Another South African side – take your pick from the class of the ’99 World Cup to the ones of the World T20 2014 – would have fluffed one or probably both of those. This South African side did not but still they earned very little praise for their efforts.The armchair critics found fault with everything from the composition of the batting line-up to which bowlers were being selected – and most of it was justified. South Africa relied on a combination of fortune and fumbling from the other side. They did not look convincing and they knew it.”We hadn’t played really well up until tonight,” AB de Villiers, who stood as captain for the suspended Faf du Plessis, said.With that in mind, South Africa had to rectify their issues against England because their would be no second chance. Although the bowlers sent down 10 extra deliveries with nine wides and a no-ball in challenging conditions in which the dew was so dense it could have been mistakes for rain, the batsmen showed what they are capable of when their plan comes together.

De Villiers shrugs off no-ball error

AB de Villiers was happy to accept Rod Tucker’s apology after the umpire erroneously called a no-ball to deprive South Africa of the early wicket of Alex Hales. Tucker signalled that Albie Morkel had overstepped in the second over but replays suggested he had got it wrong.
“It happens, it’s part of the game,” de Villiers said. “I ask Rod to have a look upstairs but he said he’d already made the decision. I knew what the answer was going to be before I asked the question. I just wanted to waste a bit of time, slow things down because the boys were quite upset.
“These things happen in cricket, we all make mistakes. He apologised afterwards, which is always the sign of a good umpire, so no hard feelings and luckily it didn’t cost us the game.”

A solid start followed by the best batsmen in the side, AB de Villiers, coming in at No. 3 can produce the sparkling results some predicted a South African team with the personnel they have at their disposal should be able to dish up.Stuart Broad called de Villiers’ knock match defining. “The whole game was pretty much reliant on AB’s knock,” he said. De Villiers called it soul defining. “I’ve been sitting on the side for the last three games and not doing well. I’ve spent a few nights lying in bed, thinking about my batting and why it’s not going well. I was very motivated to help my team get over the line.”De Villiers is at his best, not when he is batting at No. 3 but when he believes he is representing something bigger than himself. That is what he had to do in this match. “I’m not sure if it’s about the position you bat in,” he said. “I came in after the 10th over which is what the coaching staff want.”Responsibility was on him to make sure that Faf du Plessis, the man he gave the T20 captaincy to in December 2012, but who was suspended here, could lead in another game.”That was more of a reason for me to be motivated and make sure we go to the semis,” he said. “I wanted to give Faf the opportunity to take the team further.”When he passed 30 for the first time in ten innings, taking 14 off Jade Dernbach’s comeback over, he showed his intent to do that. De Villiers played an astonishing range of shots that included the reverse paddle and a six over the leg-side which left Broad on his knees, almost literally. He said it was not part of a targeted assault on the bowler; just a desire to get going.”We hadn’t had a lot of big overs up until then. I felt settled. I read him well and unfortunately for him his execution wasn’t spot on.”Wayne Parnell showed no hangover from his Mumbai court appearance•Getty ImagesWayne Parnell, the bowler South Africa slotted straight back into the XI following his return from testifying at a Mumbai court, almost had similar problems when his third over when for 11 but by then he had already done the damage. Including him was the second thing South Africa got right after not quite getting the balance of their bowlers correct in previous matches.Parnell was included at fellow left-armer Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s expense and de Villiers indicated they will stick with him as crunch times looms. “He is an absolute match-winner. I would love to have him in my team every day and I think we’ve seen very little of what is to come from him.”What is to come is what everyone is waiting for because this is where South Africa’s real test starts. They are into the final four and the talk they have wanted to avoid will begin. They will be reminded that they have not won a knockout match at an ICC event in 16 years, since their victory in the Champions Trophy predecessor in 1998, just as they have been reminded of their failings at major tournaments at every one after that.If they approach it with the same nonchalance they have all the chiding they have received so far, the people they may end up surprising the most will be themselves.

Plays of the day from the first ODI between Sri Lanka and Pakistan

Karthik Krishnaswamy23-Aug-2014Saved by the elbow
Kumar Sangakkara had just arrived at the crease when he drove hard at a wide one from Junaid Khan. He connected well, but hit it uppishly, to the right of Fawad Alam at cover. Alam flew horizontally and grabbed the ball with his right hand, but his – and Pakistan’s – joy only lasted the few fractions of a second that elapsed till he landed, the impact of his elbow against the outfield causing the ball to pop out of his grasp.The short-ball barrage
Dinesh Chandimal came into this match with some form behind him, including two centuries during Sri Lanka A’s tour of England. But none of that must have prepared him to deal with the lift and awkward angle of a 7’1″ left-arm seamer on a bouncy, slightly two-paced pitch. Mohammad Irfan kept banging it in short, and kept getting it to rear at Chandimal’s throat. He tried to fend the ball away initially, squirting it down with an uncomfortable roll of his wrists and only occasionally succeeding, before deciding to take Irfan on. Deep backward square leg took a simple catch, and he must have known the top-edged pull was around the corner.Priyanjan’s fancy footwork

When Ashan Priyanjan walked in, with just over three overs remaining, Sri Lanka might have been looking to accelerate to 250. They ended up with considerably more, and a lot of it had to do with Priyanjan unsettling the Pakistan bowlers with his movement in the crease.In the penultimate over of the innings, Priyanjan gave himself room and smacked Wahab Riaz down the ground. Then he moved the other way and lap-swept him to the fine leg boundary. In the last over, he treated Junaid to the same one-two treatment. First he backed away towards the leg side to cream him over cover, and next ball he walked across his stumps and clipped him off his hips for a one-bounce four over the leg side.The boundary-line balancing act
Among the more fascinating aspects of Misbah-ul-Haq’s batting are his sudden forays into expansiveness. It’s almost as if he decides in the middle of a long stretch of blocks and leg-side nurdles to surprise everyone and launch the ball into the crowd. In this way, he’s picked up 71 ODI sixes at a rate better than one every second innings. In the 19th over of Pakistan’s innings, Misbah decided he would hit six number 72, and lofted Rangana Herath down the ground. But Chandimal foiled his plans, running back to the boundary, catching the ball just short of the rope, and throwing it behind him just as he was about to totter over the edge.Sanga’s lightning reactions
In the 23rd over of Pakistan’s chase, Misbah sank down onto his knees to try and sweep Herath. The bowler read his intentions and bowled it a tad shorter than the batsman might have expected. The ball bounced more than Misbah expected, and popped off his glove to the left of Kumar Sangakkara behind the stumps. It was travelling quickly, but Sangakkara moved quicker to ghost sideways and trap the ball between his gloves and his midriff.

Zimbabwe have endured win-less tours before, but wouldn’t have expected to slip to that level against the team they are to be competitive against

Firdose Moonda02-Dec-2014Cricket tours are often long enough to reach the point where a visiting side wants nothing more than to return home. For Zimbabwe, that day probably came sooner than it should have in Bangladesh, where they lost all eight internationals they played.As far as returns go, this is among Zimbabwe’s more embarrassing. It is the second three-Test series they have been blanked in, after last playing in a rubber of that length a decade ago. Although they have been on the receiving end of more ODI series whitewashes before – 3-0 to South Africa this year and 5-0 to India last year are the most recent examples – and have also been guilty of losing every match on a tour – West Indies in 2013, New Zealand in 2012 – to have slipped to that level against the team they are to be competitive against has taken Zimbabwe to a new low.It has laid bare issues of inconsistency and instability and, with the World Cup looming, has left them more insecure than they usually are. To sum it up in a sentence, what Zimbabwe demonstrated in Bangladesh was that they are unable to stay in a game – any game – long enough to challenge for victory.Like many teams in the lower tier of cricket’s rankings, Zimbabwe’s troubles begin at the top, where they have unable to find an opening combination that works. They tried four different combinations in the eight matches but could not manage anything more substantial than a first-wicket stand of 19 in the Tests and 48 in the ODIs. A glaring common denominator is Vusi Sibanda, whose future must now be examined. .Sibanda is a stalwart of the Zimbabwe game whose career has stretched for more than a decade but he has yet to score a Test century. He has not managed a fifty in 17 innings and more than three years, and has gone 10 matches and 15 months without reaching the milestone in an ODI. He was put on notice earlier in the year when he was dropped against both Afghanistan and South Africa and the 104 runs he managed in six innings on this tour may have been the end of his rope.Zimbabwe might be better served at the World Cup with Sikandar Raza and Hamilton Masakadza opening but will need a leap of faith to invest in someone else at No.3. They will also need more from Raza, who showed promise with three fifties in the Test series but could not transfer that form to the ODIs.Masakadza did not have that problem. After a career-best 158 in the second Test, he was the second-highest run-scorer for Zimbabwe in the ODIs. He prefers to bat at one-drop but would likely be so keen to play in a World Cup after missing out on the last two that he would gladly open.The temptation would be to persist with Sibanda at No.3, if only for the reassurance he provides as a regular, but Zimbabwe should have learnt the dangers of over-reliance from this trip. Their usual run-getter Brendan Taylor had a torrid Test series, with 135 runs in six innings, and Zimbabwe desperately needed more from him. They got that in the ODIs, where he scored two fifties and was their most successful batsman, but by then they should have had others contributing as well.Between Taylor and Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwe remain shaky. They have rotated through the likes of Craig Ervine, Richmond Mutumbami, Solomon Mire, Regis Chakabva and Malcolm Waller, but none of them have done enough or been given long enough to make a spot their own. Effectively, that means Zimbabwe always find themselves doing similar things when they bat. They have to recover from shaky starts and just as they find steady ground, they stumble again. For evidence, there is this tour. In six Test innings, they scored over 300 just twice and they could not get to 250 in any of the ODIs.Then there are other problems like their techniques, which need sharpening against spin, particularly left-arm spin, and their temperaments, which falter because of a lack of regular game time. In the second Test, 16 of their 20 wickets went to the left-arm spinners. Zimbabwe have only played four Tests in the last 13 months, not nearly enough to learn how to bat for long periods.The result is that Zimbabwe’s attack seldom has anything substantial to work with but Tinashe Panyangara tries. He was their standout bowler of the tour, with 14 scalps at 20.28 in the Tests and nine wickets at 24.44 in the ODIs, but he lacks support. Natsai M’shangwe, the legspinner, was the next most incisive Test bowler but his seven wickets cost 435 runs, at 62.14 apiece. Malcolm Waller took six wickets but their other seamers struggled.Tendai Chatara would have been a particular concern, with just three wickets in two Tests. He had a better ODI series with six wickets at 31.50 and will still be an important part of the long-term plans but Zimbabwe still need more. Chigumbura will provide will be one of the seamers who will carry a greater load at the World Cup. Zimbabwe’s spin cupboard remains their best-stocked resource. Even without Prosper Utseya, they have choices that range from John Nyumbu to Tafadzwa Kamungozi and even when they are not taking wickers, they do a decent containing job.That is one of the few positives Zimbabwe can pull out of a trip otherwise steeped in disappointment. Masakadza’s maturity, Chakabva’s coming of age with his maiden century and Taylor’s return to form are other highlights. But on the whole, the Bangladesh visit would have dented Zimbabwe’s already fragile confidence and left them with more questions than answers. They won’t have much opportunity to confront all of them because they play no international cricket until next year’s World Cup but what they will know is that when they get there, they not want to feel like they should have one foot in the boarding tunnel midway through the trip.

Add up to a good day out watching Test cricket at Newlands

Samantha Smith04-Jan-2015Choice of game
I can’t remember the last time I missed an international game at Newlands. In fact, I would probably attend a dead rubber between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh with as much vigour as an Ashes contest. It is thus safe to say that my attendance at the New Year’s Test, the marquee event in the South African cricketing calendar, is an unequivocal certainty.Team supported
South Africa. I’ve supported the Proteas ever since I watched Lance Klusener decimate bowling attacks in the 1999 World Cup. The prospect of supporting another team is a reality I do not wish to fathom.Key performer
It was a relatively slow-paced day of Test cricket with no single outstanding performance. However, Faf du Plessis’ solid knock of 68 helped place South Africa in a dominant position. He constructed two half-century partnerships with Alviro Petersen and Hashim Amla, respectively. He looked poised for a big score but was convincingly stumped off the bowling of a persistent Sulieman Benn in the 50th over.One thing I’d have changed about the match
I would have liked to have seen Alviro Petersen score a ton. He seems to have an ongoing relationship with the 17-30 run bracket. It is a relationship predominantly characterised by the odd single-digit score, a career-saving fifty and poor shot selection. Nevertheless it was good to see that he has found love with a relatively well-constructed 42. It’s just a pity he couldn’t covert a start into something more substantial.The interplay I enjoyed

I relished the short-lived morning contest between a set Jermaine Blackwood and the always fiery Dale Steyn. Steyn persisted with bowling fuller deliveries predominantly around off stump, was put away for four, guided for twos and then succeeded in his second over of the day trapping the middle-order batsman LBW for 56.Wow moment
Today it was the crowd and not the cricket that generated the most entertainment. A beer snake created using plastic beer cups, held up by more than two dozen spectators and spanning almost three blocks of the popular North Stand, caught the attention of the cameramen, fellow spectators and even the cricketers. In true competitive fashion, the guys in the Railway Stand attempted to better their North Stand counterparts by joining two smaller snakes into one large anaconda of beer cups. Not to be outdone, the gentlemen in the North Stand constructed an even larger snake with the help of some eager, shirtless patrons from the Oaks embankment. For a glorious few minutes, the two groups chanted high-spirited victory songs across the field. The ideal ending would have seen a chain of plastic cups long enough to span the perimeter of the ground. Alas, it was not to be as both beer snakes collapsed without much fanfare. I’m just guessing here, but it probably had something to do with the growing presence of orange-vested security marshals perturbed by gestures of light-hearted fun. Party poopers.Close encounter
My friend and I were seated directly adjacent to the West Indies dressing room. Animated youngsters and enthusiastic adult fans lined the steps leading to the change room vying for autographs, selfies and small talk. Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were in particular demand.Shot of the day
Amla’s perfectly timed cover drive off Shannon Gabriel in the 53rd over was simply magnificent. He just keeps getting better and better.Crowd meter
As to be expected, a very healthy number of supporters turned up for day two. The Oaks grass embankment and the Snake Pit were customarily full an hour before play started. Despite cooler weather, most supporters opted for shaded seats – whether they had purchased tickets in these areas or not! The Newlands faithful duly celebrated every boundary scored by the West Indies batsmen, but reserved the most rapturous applause for AB de Villiers as he made his way to the crease.Fancy dress index
On the odd occasion, a plethora of supporters bring new meaning to “dressing up for the cricket”. While the snazzy folks in the corporate suites opt for suits, ties and pencil skirts, some prefer a different style. “Sunfoil Saturday” has become synonymous with fancy dress. Today, the theme was “Caribbean flavour”. Some took the safer route and adorned West Indies shirts and brightly coloured tops. The more adventurous came dressed as teddie bears, transvestite ballerinas, a pilot, a duo of sailors, a peculiar fairy and Mr and Mrs. AB de Villiers. You’d be forgiven for wondering how any of these costumes are Calypso-themed.Entertainment
During the lunch break, up-and-coming Proteas bowler Kagiso Rabada adjudged a gentleman in a multi-coloured shirt, bright yellow trousers and blue shoes complete with realistic braids and a Rastafarian beanie as “best dressed”. He walked away with a cash prize and adoring applause from the folks on the grass embankments.Tests v limited-overs
In truth, there is simply no comparison between the different formats of this spectacular game. One’s preference for a particular format will depend entirely on one’s time, patience levels and which elements of the game one enjoys. Personally, I view a T20 as a happy meal from a fast food joint, an ODI as a filling lunch from a family restaurant, and a Test match as a three-course meal from a five-star establishment.Accessories
I make an effort to secure seats in the lower section of Upper Block K in President’s Pavilion. With a view that looks straight onto the pitch, it’s arguably the best place to sit at Newlands. The only downside is that the smell of burning oil, garlic and fried sausages from the stalls located behind the Pavilion wafts through the Stands with great regularity. However, those who are fans of that strong combination of scents can thank me later for my seating recommendations.Banner of the day
There were a host of placards on show today. Many expressed a love for AB de Villiers, one referenced the similarity between Chanderpaul’s name to the slang word “chunder”, and another simply stated that South Africa are the world’s best Test side. However, the funniest banner, complete with a photo of its subject, read “Alviro Petersen, 34: Wanted for scoring no runs”. It would have probably been even more effective had the beleaguered opener been dismissed cheaply. Nevertheless, it certainly reflects the public’s dissatisfaction with Petersen’s lack of runs this past year.Marks out of 10
7.5. An enjoyable day at the cricket punctuated with outstanding entertainment, humourous costumes and a lively crowd. Bring on day three!

Plays of the day from the match between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai

Sidharth Monga11-Apr-2015The eagernessTwenty20 games are known for hyper energy in the field, which can sometimes prove counter-productive. Ask KL Rahul and Karn Sharma. In the third over of the Chennai Super Kings innings, Brendon McCullum called Dwayne Smith for a leg-bye when the ball had hardly rolled off the pitch. While McCullum was in at the striker’s end comfortably, Smith was struggling to make it to the non-striker’s. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the bowler, went for a direct hit, and both mid-on and mid-off converged to be at the stumps. Eventually they both collided and ended up on the floor, with the ball down at the long-on boundary for four overthrows.The middleOf the side, that is. In the first over of the match, Smith looked to work Bhuvneshwar into the leg side, got a leading edge, and took four runs for it. If you hadn’t seen that one frame of the edge, you would have thought this was a classical cover drive, all along the ground, hurtling across the surface, bang into the gap between cover and cover point.The break-through manIt is possible Ravi Bopara got selected in the XI ahead of Eoin Morgan because of his bowling. With Ishant Sharma going through a near meltdown with four no-balls in his three overs for 46 runs, Bopara was called upon for more overs than he would have expected. Must be something about his bowling that nearly three wickets fell off his short-of-a-length balls. Two of them, though, were run-outs – Smith and Suresh Raina – and the third never really happened despite two opportunities. First Kane Williamson dropped McCullum at deep cover in Bopara’s third over, and then Bopara failed to run McCullum out in his fourth.The dramaWhen MS Dhoni came out to bat in the 14th over, McCullum had already reached 80. He not only looked set for a hundred, a second IPL 150 couldn’t be ruled out. Dhoni, though, took almost all the strike in the partnership that followed. He took singles off the last balls of the 15th, 16th, 17th and 19th overs, and Dhoni’s 53 off 29 balls later, McCullum was still on 89 with only four balls to go in the innings. Out came Ravindra Jadeja, dug out a yorker, and nearly didn’t run. McCullum, though, willed him through, and even though Jadeja was run out, McCullum had three balls to bring up a hundred. He ramped Trent Boult for six first, then reverse-pulled a slower bouncer after having shaped up for another ramp, and dug out the final ball for a single that brought up the hundred. Dwayne Bravo was not alert enough, though, and was nearly run out.The ballMohit Sharma is known for his back-of-the-hand slower-ball legcutter. Batsmen look out for it. Not least of them Shikhar Dhawan, who would have faced him everyday in the nets during the World Cup in Australia. Here, with Dhawan looking good at 26 off 17, watching the ball closely, it was a bit surprising that he fell to a Mohit slower ball. Replays showed this was not the usual back-of-the-hand variety, but the front-of-the-hand offcutter. To get an opponent familiar to his tricks, Mohit had pulled something special out of the hat.

The halting stand between David Warner and Shaun Marsh in Jamaica might gain in significance over the coming months as Australia’s selectors ponder their batting order for the Ashes.

Daniel Brettig in Kingston14-Jun-2015In a Test match moving inexorably towards another lopsided result, it was a most curious passage. David Warner and Shaun Marsh, makeshift opening partners both short of exposure to the red ball, were made to fight tremendously hard for their innings against the West Indies bowlers and a deteriorating Sabina Park pitch.If there was little pressure inherent in the wider match situation, plenty existed in the individual battles being played out. Warner and Marsh each had reasons to feel challenged by the situation, and they were made to look decidedly uncomfortable by Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach and Jason Holder.Eventually, Warner and then Marsh managed to ease into something like a decent batting rhythm, and their century opening stand was a case of determination winning out over self-doubt and the difficulty of the conditions. But both would be dismissed before they had definitively answered the questions being asked of them, leaving the national selectors and team management with a few things to ponder between now and the first Ashes Test.Warner had preluded this match by speaking frankly and extensively about his evolving place in the team and as a cricketer and man. While much attention was drawn to his stated desire to keep a lower profile both in the field and around the squad, there was also a pointed expression of resolve to ensure he fashioned a reliable game that balanced attack and defence, aggression with occupation.This is not the first time Warner has gone down this sort of path, though not successfully. In 2012 and 2013 he lost much of his trademark ability to throw bowlers off with his punchy play, and poor series in India and England ran parallel to off-field misadventures that seriously threatened his future in Australian cricket. Two years on and it is clear Warner wants to find a way to succeed in all conditions, having shown himself to be formidable on fast surfaces but less so elsewhere.Rapid third-innings hundreds had become something of a Warner habit in recent times. Over the past 18 months he had notched them in Brisbane, Perth, Centurion, Cape Town and Adelaide, all helping Australia along to victories. At Sabina Park, though, sufficient time remained for a different type of innings, one where Warner took the chance to find his feet and tried to bed down a method less given to early edges.The prominent seam of the Dukes ball has been a source of some difficulty for Warner, and it stood to reason that he would try to find a way of riding out his innings so that he would be around to capitalise later on. In this he appeared to be taking a leaf from the book of Steven Smith, so prolific over those same 18 months and now the man anointed as Michael Clarke’s captaincy successor. It is abundantly clear that Warner is desperate to succeed in England, and he will only be able to do that if he can find a way of negotiating the new ball – if he looked awkward and even a little stilted here, it was for reasons of personal development.At the other end, Marsh also fought for fluency. Two weeks ago during the Antigua tour match he appeared to have cemented his place with a smooth hundred, before Chris Rogers’ blow and Adam Voges’ brilliance rather complicated things. Voges’ debut performance was particularly ominous, for it more or less locked away the one remaining middle-order spot, and left Marsh to compete with Rogers at the top of the order.Marsh’s method does not appear ideally suited to dealing with the swinging, seaming ball in England, so he needed to at least make a score in Jamaica to leave the selectors weighing up his merits for future assignments. Watching in the commentary box having completed his selection duties for the tour, Mark Waugh expressed relief that the choice would be his chairman Rod Marsh’s problem on the other side of the Atlantic.”It’s going to be a tough decision,” Waugh told Ian Bishop on the broadcast. “All we can ask of a player is if they get an opportunity they perform and if they perform they give the selectors a headache, basically. It’s going to be a very tough decision. I’m not going to answer who’s going to play in the first Test because it’s going to be up to Rod Marsh and Darren Lehmann and Michael Clarke who are in England.”But it gives a big headache for the selectors. Adam Voges has come in and taken his opportunity, got a tremendous hundred. As a player and a selector you can only ask for performances when a player gets a chance. And then you’ve got to weigh up the opposition, the pitch with the final composition of the XI. I’m not going to answer your question directly, sorry.”Waugh’s hesitance to let his opinion be fully known was most out of character. Throughout the match, television viewers have been treated to plenty of unsweetened opinions. Waugh views have included an assertion that Australia could play far better than they showed in Dominica, an expression of delight at Nathan Lyon’s fluent work in both innings, and a thinly veiled reaction of disgust at an lbw HawkEye ruled out for bounce that seemed unlikely at best.His relative lack of candour about the Rogers/Marsh/Voges conundrum was a telling indicator of how it will be occupying the thoughts of many around the team over the next few weeks, and further reason for Marsh to keep his head down. Once he and Warner were dismissed, Clarke and Smith knocked the ball around until the captain felt it was time to declare, and the procession of West Indian wickets resumed.Whatever the conclusion of the match, in months to come it may well be that the halting stand between Warner and Marsh gains in significance. The memory of two batsmen struggling to find their way here will be of tremendous value if the sweat of day three at Sabina results in more certain methods in Cardiff and beyond.

Stats highlights from Bangladesh’s historic victory against South Africa in Chittagong

Bishen Jeswant15-Jul-20159 Wickets by which Bangladesh won the third ODI, their joint-biggest margin of victory in ODIs. It was also the first time they beat a Test nation other than Zimbabwe by a margin of nine wickets.4 Consecutive bilateral ODI series that Bangladesh have won. They won 5-0 against Zimbabwe, 3-0 against Pakistan, 2-1 against India, and now 2-1 against South Africa.6 Times both Bangladesh openers have made a 50-plus score against a Test nation other than Zimbabwe. They have done this twice each against India and Pakistan, and once each against New Zealand, and now South Africa.154 Bangladesh’s opening partnership in this game, their highest against South Africa for any wicket. Their opening pair had never posted a half-century stand in 16 previous innings against South Africa. This was Bangladesh’s highest opening stand in ODIs against a Test nation other than Zimbabwe.49.4 Soumya Sarkar’s batting average, the highest for any Bangladesh batsman in their ODI history. Soumya has scored 692 runs from 16 ODIs, including one hundred and four fifties, at a strike rate of 102.5.1 Bangladesh players who have completed the all-round double of 4000 runs and 200 wickets – Shakib Al Hasan became the first during this ODI. Overall, he is the seventh player to do this. This list does not include a single player from Australia, India, England, West Indies or Zimbabwe.200 ODI wickets taken by Mashrafe Mortaza, making him the third Bangladesh bowler to take 200 ODI wickets. He and Shakib Al Hasan both reached the 200-wicket mark during this ODI. However, Mortaza has taken only 199 wickets when playing for Bangladesh. He took the other wicket when representing Asia XI against Africa XI in 2007.37 Fifty-plus scores for Tamim Iqbal in ODIs, the most for any Bangladesh batsman. He went past Shakib Al Hasan in this ODI, who has 36 such scores.7 Consecutive ODI innings for Hashim Amla without a 50-plus score, the longest such streak of his ODI career. His second-longest streak is six matches, right at the start of his career.3 ODIs played in Chittagong since 2012. During the same period, the Shere Bangla National Stadium at Mirpur has hosted 35 ODIs while the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium at Fatullah has hosted six.8.2 Average number of overs per match bowled by Mortaza while not captaining Bangladesh. Since being made captain of Bangladesh, he has only bowled 7.4 overs per ODI.123 Wickets taken by Shakib Al Hasan in Bangladesh, the most for any bowler. During this ODI, he went past Abdur Razzak who took 122 wickets in Bangladesh.17.5 Quinton de Kock’s batting average in 2015. De Kock made his debut in 2013 and averaged 46.3 that year, and 41.2 in 2014. He made 10 fifty-plus scores in those two years (including six hundreds), but only one such score this year. Click here to see his batting career summary.150 ODIs played by Tamim Iqbal, making him the sixth Bangladesh player to play 150-plus ODIs. Mohammad Ashraful played 175 ODIs for Bangladesh, the most.

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Oct-2015Shai Hope was positive from the very outset and added 60 with Bravo before the opener was stumped off Milinda Siriwardana•AFPRangana Herath then dismissed Denesh Ramdin and Bravo in a space of five balls and went on to extend his series tally to 15 scalps•AFPWest Indies, still searching for their first Test win in Sri Lanka, collapsed to 171. Siriwardana, who took five wickets and scored 110 runs, was named Man of the Match•AFPHerath was adjudged the Man of the Series•AFP

You wouldn’t know from these stats. Also: an unsuccessful Pakistan XI younger than Misbah

Andy Zaltzman10-Nov-2015Strap in, Confectionery Stallers. Here is a Good Stat and a Bad Stat for the six teams who have been in Test action so far in November. Plus some extra Sub-Stats.ENGLAND
After an interesting series (for the final 10½ days out of 15, at least), England sunk to a 2-0 series defeat following a performance that was at once creditable, disappointing, promising and deeply concerning. They could, conceivably, have won the series 2-0; but deserved a 2-0 loss.Good stat
Jimmy Anderson’s series economy rate of 1.87 was the lowest by a bowler who has sent down at least 100 overs in a series since Lance Klusener and Courtney Walsh went for 1.86 and 1.85 respectively in the 2001 series between South Africa and West Indies. It was also the lowest by an England player who has bowled more than 50 overs in a series since Graham Gooch dobbled them down at 1.84 per over against Pakistan in 1992; before him, you have to go back to Mike Hendrick’s parsimonious probings against India in 1979, the third consecutive series in which the Derbyshire Disciplinarian conceded less than two runs an over.Bad stat
The 8 for 5 collectively “amassed” by Bell, Root, Taylor, Bairstow and Patel in the second innings in Sharjah equalled the worst innings performance by England’s Nos. 3 to 7, set in the first innings at the SCG in 1886-87. Then, England were skittled for 45 in little over an hour on the first day by Test debutants Turner and Ferris. Evidently, if your Nos. 3 to 7 are only going to score eight runs between them, it is preferable for them to do so on the first day of a Test than the last – England bounced back to win by 13 runs.Middling stat
Since the 2013 Ashes, 17 players have played five or more Tests for England. Only three are averaging more than 31 – Root (62), Ballance (47) and Cook (46). Only one is averaging below 18 – Jimmy Anderson (10). The remaining 13 are all averaging between 18 and 31. An impressive collective display of endurance adequacy.PAKISTAN
Pakistan superbly exploited England’s various weaknesses with bat and ball in the second and third Tests. No doubt, some excellent stats emerged from their individual and team performances. However, I became distracted from those, and, to be honest, from all else, by compiling this XI.The Pakistan Players Younger Than Misbah-ul-Haq Who Have Not Played Test Cricket Since January 2003 (That’s 12 Years And ten Months Ago) (They Were Younger Than Misbah Then, And They Are Younger Than Misbah Now) XI1. Naved Ashraf Rightly unheralded opener who has averaged one Test per millennium over the past two millennia. Debut in 1998. Second and last Test: March 2000.2. Ali Naqvi Debut hundred against South Africa in 1997 promised great things ahead. Either that promise was broken, or “ahead” meant “some time after 2015”. Last Test in March 1998.3. Wajahatullah Wasti Made two centuries in his second Test, against Sri Lanka. Never passed 25 again. As the old saying goes, “You can’t spell Wajahatullah Wasti without ‘What a waist'”, and the batsman might be charitably said to have lacked a little physical thinness for an elite sportsman. This might go some way to explaining his almost heroically unhelpful ODI strike rate of 48.9. Last Test: May 2000.4. Imran Nazir Aggressive opener who hammered a century off a West Indian attack including Walsh and Ambrose. Last seen in the Test arena top-scoring against an Australian attack of McGrath, Lee, Bichel and Warne. Top scorer with 16, out of a total of 53 all out, having contributed an only-slightly-below-team-average nought to a first innings of 59 all out. But top scorer nonetheless. Last Test: October 2002.5. Shadab Kabir Scored a glacial 33 off 151 balls at Lord’s in 1996 in the first of his five Tests, an innings no one who was there will ever forget. Because to forget something, you must first notice it happening. Last Test: January 2002.And it’s goodbye from Imran: Warne sends Nazir on his way in Sharjah in 2002•Hamish Blair/Getty Images6. Mohammad Wasim Teenaged debut centurion, as was then the trend in Pakistan cricket. His promise fizzled out, as was then the trend in Pakistan cricket. Made his mark by making a record-equalling two career stumpings when not his team’s designated keeper, standing in for Moin Khan. It wasn’t enough to extend his career far into the new millennium. Last Test: June 2000.7 (wk) Humayun Farhat No byes, no catches, no stumpings, in a one-Test career stretching from March 2001 to March 2001. Given that his two innings of 28 and 26 were respectively the second-highest and top scores for his team, you might think that his sole Test was not an overwhelming success for Pakistan. You would be right. They were hammered by an innings by New Zealand. First and last Test: March 2001.8. Mohammad Hussain Rumours suggest that even Mohammad Hussain himself has forgotten that he was briefly a Test match left-arm tweaker. Last Test: October 1998.9. Mohammad Zahid Legendarily rapid pace volcano, whose too-brief Test existence began with an 11-wicket debut evisceration of New Zealand. Supposedly faster than Shoaib. Sadly, even more injured than Shoaib as well. Last Test: January 2003.10. Mohammad Akram Seamer with a run-up compared, perhaps flatteringly, to Michael Holding’s. Career stats have never been compared, flatteringly or otherwise, to Michael Holding’s. Last Test in March 2001.11. Ata-ur-Rehman Promising paceman who debuted as a 17-year-old in England in 1992. Still a promising paceman when he departed the Test arena four years later. Last Test: 1996.12th man Saleem Elahi One-day success, the floppiest of Test match flops. 24 innings, one half-century – no one has batted more often in the top five in Tests without raising their bat at least twice. Last Test: January 2003. Dropped to 12th man due to having played ODI cricket as recently as 2004.The most impressive aspect of this XII is not the fact that it illustrates the extraordinary longevity of the late-blooming Misbah, nor, in a way, the flowering of young talent in Pakistani cricket in the 1990s, but the fact that it was quite difficult to narrow it down to just XII.(Dates of birth as given on ESPNcricinfo. And therefore factually 100% unquestionable truth.)AUSTRALIA
Good stat
David Warner and Joe Burns became the first opening pair in the history of the human race both to make at least 70 in both innings of a Test. (South Africa’s openers scored 70-plus in all four innings in the famous/infamous timeless Test in Durban in March 1939, but they with a different opening pair in the second innings. Concerningly, less than six months later, the Second World War broke out. Warner may at times have been a provocative cricketer. Let us hope his is not quite provocative.)Bad stat
A slightly trickier proposition to find a bad baggy-green stat amidst the Kiwi wreckage. Try this – Steven Smith is now in third place on the all-time baggy-green list of Most Times Batted In The Top Six In The Second Innings Of Tests Without Scoring A Hundred. His 28 second-innings efforts in the top six have brought six half-centuries and an average of 30.6 (whereas in his 30 top-six first innings, he averages 79.2, with 11 hundreds). Only legendary early 20th-century all-rounder and captain Monty Noble (29) and 1950s opener Colin MacDonald (36) lie ahead.It remains likely that Smith will, at some point, score a second-innings hundred, barring an unexpected onset of global Armageddon, or an even more unexpected retirement to become a llama herder in the foothills of the Andes. Failing those eventualities, Australia’s new skipper requires another 22 hundredless second innings to displace another Smith – England’s Robin – at the top of the global list.Watch out for a South African spin quartet in the remaining three Tests in India•BCCINEW ZEALAND
Bad stat
New Zealand’s bowlers conceded 4.71 runs per over in Brisbane, their most expensive Test ever.Good stat
All is going to plan for McCullum’s men. They took 8 for 812 between them. In the truncated pre-Test warm-up, they took 1 for 499, so at least things are moving in the right direction – their collective average has dropped by 79%. If it continues to descend at the same rate in the next two Tests, they will average a fraction over 20 per wicket at the WACA, and bowl Australia out for under 50 in both innings in Adelaide.Another good stat
Furthermore, the last time New Zealand were thrashed by a team that declared twice in the match before losing its fifth wicket – in Abu Dhabi a year ago, when Pakistan made 566 for 3 and 175 for 2 – the Kiwis bounced back to draw the second Test, then win the third to tie the series 1-1. (These two matches were the seventh and eighth instances of a team declaring twice with four or fewer wickets down.)THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY HORSED IN BRISBANE, BUT I’M GOING TO KEEP FINDNING THE NUMERICAL POSITIVES FOR MY KIWI FRIENDS: This was also the fourth successive away Test in which New Zealand have planked an opposing seamer for more than 100 in an innings at a rate of at least five runs per over – Broad was pummeled in Leeds (5 for 109 in 17.1), Stokes at Lord’s (0 for 105 in 21 in the first innings), and Mohammad Talha in Sharjah last year (0 for 136 in 22). They had inflicted such pain on an opposing bowler on his home (or adopted-home) turf only twice previously.ONE MORE, THEN I’M DONE: Kane Williamson became the 18th No. 3 to score a century and a half-century (or two hundreds) in a Test match defeat, and the first New Zealander. The list of Visiting Batsmen To Score A Century and (At Least) A Half-Century In A Test Defeat In Australia In The Past 40 Years makes impressive reading. Before Williamson, the players to do so were Virat Kohli, Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar, Saeed Anwar, Desmond Haynes, David Gower and Mohinder Amarnath.SOUTH AFRICA
Good stat
South Africa’s spinners took 15 wickets in the Mohali Test, the most taken by a Protean Tweak Squad since the MCG Test of 1952-53, when the great offspinner Hugh Tayfield, the indisputable Elvis Presley of miserly offspin, took 13 wickets, and the legspinner Percy Mansell three. It was the best performance by any spin attack against India since Swann and Panesar took 19 wickets in Mumbai three years ago.It was also only the third time that South African spinners have taken ten in a match since February 1957, when Tayfield took 9 for 113 (to add to four first-innings wickets) to bowl England out for 214 and win the Johannesburg Test by 17 runs. England subsiding to spin to lose a match from a winning position is evidently not an exclusively 21st-century problem – they had been 147 for 2 chasing 232 to take a 3-0 lead in the series. Tayfield span them out again in the final Test (6 for 78 in a total of 130 all out), and the series was drawn. Will the psychological damage ever heal?Bad stat
South Africa lost their second wicket with the score at 9 in both innings; the 18 runs scrumped by their top two partnerships represented their worst performance since the Old Trafford Test of 1929, when England had them 7 for 2 and 3 for 2 en route to an innings clobbering.INDIA
Good stat
Bouncing happily opposite New Zealand on the other end of the Starting-The-Innings-Well-Or-Badly-With-The-Ball seesaw, India have developed a useful habit of scuttling their opponents’ top order. Prior to having South Africa 9 for 2 twice in Mohali, in their August series in Sri Lanka, they took Sri Lanka’s second wicket at 15 and 1 in the first Test, and 11 and 2 in the third Test. Only once previously had their opponents failed to score at least 25 in their four first and second wicket partnerships in a Test (Bangladesh, 5 for 2 and 10 for 2 in Dhaka in 2007).Bad stat
See South Africa Good Stat, above. Also: eight different Indians were out for 3 or less at least once in the match (including Dhawan, who made the second ever pair by an Indian opener in a home Test (after Farokh Engineer against West Indies in Mumbai, in January 1975) (before going on to never play Test cricket again). This was the first time eight different Indian have been out for 3 or less in a Test since November 1983. It was only the fourth time a team has won a Test despite having eight or more different batsmen get out for under 4 in one or both innings (England beat South Africa, The Oval 1955; and Australia beat England at Old Trafford 1902 and Lord’s in 1888, when nine of their team were out for 3 or less).Here endeth the stats.

Sanjay Manjrekar looks at how Virat Kohli’s leadership boosted the confidence of India’s attack on the fifth day and the big gains for the home side after the 3-0 series win against South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Dec-2015India’s spinners will finally get the credit they deserve
With South Africa intent on playing an extremely defensive game in the hope of a draw, India’s spinners had to prise out the wickets on a track that was gradually easing out. Sanjay Manjrekar credited R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for their relentless pressure.1:40

Manjrekar: Spinners will finally get the credit they deserve

Kohli’s enthusiasm as captain impressive
As India broke through South Africa’s defence to seal a 3-0 series, Manjrekar credited the side’s fifth-day success to Virat Kohli’s tactics as well, particularly his support for the side’s bowlers and his use of Umesh Yadav in the attack. Another facet of Kohli’s captaincy in the series that impressed Manjrekar was his enthusiasm to push his team to give their best.2:47

Manjrekar: As captain, Kohli backs every player

More self-belief for Umesh under Kohli’s captaincy
In the past, Umesh has struggled with accuracy and confidence but his performance in the second innings against South Africa was his best by far, according to Manjrekar. He was accurate and focused and seemed to gain inspiration from Kohli’s inputs.1:28

Manjrekar: More self-belief for Umesh under Kohli

Rahane’s growth; Ashwin and Jadeja’s form gains for IndiaAmong the biggest gains for India in the 3-0 series win were R Ashwin’s performances as the lead spinner and Ravindra Jadeja’s return to form and accuracy. Manjrekar also lauded Ajinkya Rahane’s performances in the series and Kohli’s ability to push his players to perform better than their potential.2:00

Manjrekar: Rahane shaping up as a world-class player

South Africa batsmen showed unique ability in defenceThey may have lost the Test series but Manjrekar said that South Africa’s batsmen, particularly Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis, showed a unique quality in the final match in Delhi – the ability to play extreme defensive cricket for long spells.1:26

Manjrekar: SA batsmen showed unique ability in defence