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The spin-bowling consultant has also taken on the role of being motivator-in-chief at the Women’s T20 World Cup

Firdose Moonda16-Oct-2024Most teams are made up of certain key characters: the responsible one, the serious one, the young one, the popular one, the talented one and most importantly the funky one. In South Africa’s case, the last of those is a position taken up by one of their support staff: spin bowling lead Paul Adams.He has assumed the role of motivator-in-chief, alongside his technical coaching, and taken some of the burden off captain Laura Wolvaardt, who also has opening the batting to focus on.”I found it one of the hardest parts of the job – finding something new to say every single game,” Wolvaardt said at her pre semi-final press conference. “A lot of it doesn’t really change, especially in the series where we play the same opposition six times, so to come up with a new pre-game speech is tricky. But we’ve had Paul Adams and every game he’s come up with something really creative and really new.”Related

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Adams started off by introducing the team to the ancient but now-popular practice of grounding, which traces its history back to ancient Egypt, and does exactly what it says on the tin. All it is is standing barefoot on a surface, preferably grass but beach sand or if circumstances are extreme, artificial turf or concrete might do just as well, and feeling the earth below. The team did it ahead of their first match to feel as though they had arrived in the UAE, the place where they will compete to win the World Cup for the first time.Then, he moved to poetry and composed four verses for the team ahead of their final group stage match against Bangladesh to urge them to stay in the moment. A taste of it reads: “So focus hard, embrace the fight, each second is our only right,” and Tazmin Brits described it to ESPNcricinfo Powerplay’s podcast as emotional and inspiring.Laura Wolvaardt: It’s an amazing opportunity we have tomorrow to have all those lights on us and have a good time•ICC/Getty ImagesNow, ahead of the semi-final, Adams has had to pull another trick out of the bag and he managed to come up with one. “Today we had a video about ebbs and flows and going with the game,” Wolvaardt said. “He absolutely loves it. He runs our spin meetings as well and every meeting there’s some kind of a video about birds that fly together and stick together and teamwork and all of that stuff.”Of course, we shouldn’t forget that spin coaching is Adams’ primary role and he has done some innovative things in that department too. He has worked on Nonkululeko Mlaba, Chloe Tryon, Sune Luus and Seshnie Naidu’s actions, not by passing on his own contortionist means of delivery, but by using weighted balls to align their hips over their feet and get their arms into the optimal position for accuracy and the results, especially for Mlaba, are obvious. She is the second-leading wicket-taker of the tournament and has rediscovered an element of threat that left her after the last World Cup.Adams, who has himself been through a harrowing time after the Social Justice and Nation-Building hearing in 2021, will not necessarily be with the women’s team through all of their next series. Since the SJN, he coached a bit at the provincial team Border and has now been employed to work across all South African teams, but for now, the impact he is making is clear. “He’s very creative, he loves it, he always reads into things and he’s been really great for the group,” Wolvaardt said. “We’ve needed someone to really pump us up and bring our little fun element to each game as well, which has been awesome.”That comment is telling because this South African team, until earlier this year, had been under the same management for most of their careers. Hilton Moreeng, who oversaw the development to professionalism and years of succession in reaching semi-finals and eventually a final, was in charge for almost 12 years. Post last year’s World Cup, there was talk of a need for change in order to inject new ideas and move the team forward. That half-happened with the promotion of assistant coach Dillon du Preez to interim head coach and the appointment of other, new support staff.For the first time, the South African women’s team have a batting coach in Baakier Abrahams, and a spin-bowling consultant in Adams. They mention the pair almost every time they are asked about how this side is different, and perhaps better, than the one that reached the final in 2023. “We have a year of experience, we line up a little differently and we’ve also had a bit of change in staff,” Wolvaardt said. “So, a couple of fresh faces, fresh ideas. It’s been a bit of an up and down year for us. I think we’ve played some really good cricket in Australia and had a few disappointing series as well.”For South Africa, their first wins over Australia in an ODI and T20I earlier this year is what they are holding on to as they take on the world champions again. But whatever happens, they know they’ve already done something “very special,” as Wolvaardt put it by qualifying for another semi-final and doing it with a smile. “We don’t even realise how many people at home are following us and watching us. My mum keeps texting me that she’s been to the dentist today, and the dentist is asking about our game tomorrow, and they seem super excited,” she said. “It’s an amazing opportunity we have tomorrow to have all those lights on us and have a good time.”

The MLB trade deadline beckons a certain suddenness that can be jarring to some players.

One moment, they're teammates with a player, the next moment, they're striking out that same player they were sharing a seat on the team plane with. Or, in the case of Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Randal Grichuk, the sudden nature of a trade forced him to say his farewells to teammates during a game.

So on Tuesday, when Minnesota Twins star closer Jhoan Duran, the No. 4 player on SI's Big Board of trade candidates, was spotted hugging an individual in the bullpen, many thought he was headed out the door on a trade.

ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan, already chronically online due to his job as a news breaker, decided to ease the minds of the masses.

One Twins source told Dan Hayes of that Duran "hugged [Twins bullpen catcher] Frank [Nigro] like he always does."

Well, there you go. Much ado about nothing.

Though, for the record, it remains possible that the Twins—currently five games back of the third wild-card spot in the American League—opt to deal their flamethrowing closer, who would fetch quite the trade return.

Tottenham co-sporting directors Fabio Paratici and Johan Lange have been told a key signing that Thomas Frank wants to make at N17, with Spurs also having made contact over a France international star.

Paratici and Lange set for Tottenham transfer partnership

On Wednesday, Spurs announced Paratici’s long-awaited return to North London, following the Italian’s spell as managing director between 2021 and 2023.

Paratici, after being forced into resigning due to a worldwide FIFA ban from football, worked as a consultant/advisor for ex-chair Daniel Levy thereafter, and took up that unofficial role during the summer window to assist Lange, CEO Vinai Venkatesham and Frank.

Once his FIFA ban expired, Paratici was repeatedly tipped to return to Tottenham as a director, but Levy’s departure after 25 years did briefly throw the move into doubt (talkSPORT).

Venkatesham eventually decided to appoint Paratici regardless of Levy’s exit, with the 53-year-old now partnering Lange as one of Tottenham’s two sporting directors.

As explained by Sky Sports reporter Michael Bridge, Lange and Paratici will have two very different roles, with the former overseeing scouting, the academy and data-driven recruitment analysis, while the latter operates as Tottenham’s proven ‘dealmaker’.

With Paratici and Lange set to back Frank in separate capacities, it is believed the Spurs boss has made one transfer wish crystal clear.

Frank wants new midfielder at Tottenham after approach for Khephren Thuram

According to journalist Graeme Bailey, via The Boot Room, Frank wants Tottenham to sign a new midfielder.

Despite already boasting Rodrigo Bentancur, Joao Palhinha, Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Pape Sarr in the engine room, midfield misfit Yves Bissouma is out of contract at the end of this season and very likely to leave.

The Mali international, partly due to injury, is yet to make a single competitive appearance under Frank and was left out of both their UEFA Super Cup squad and 22-man Champions League list.

Bissouma clearly doesn’t have a long-term future under Frank, with the Dane eager to bring in another player who can potentially replace the African in 2026.

Bailey adds that Tottenham made an approach to sign Juventus midfielder Khephren Thuram in the summer, but he’s going to be very hard to obtain now, with the Old Lady deeming him “untouchable” alongside Kenan Yildiz after an excellent start to 2025/2026.

With Spurs told to move on from the Frenchman, who’s worked his way into Didier Deschamps plans ahead of the World Cup next year, other reports suggest that Rangers star Nicolas Raskin has emerged as a Lilywhites target.

The Belgian is by far their standout player, and Premier League sides are taking note of his exploits, with Raskin’s contract also due to expire in under two years.

The 24-year-old would cost around £20-25 million to prise away from Ibrox — a surely doable price for Paratici and Lange — with a bid in and around that mark poised to make Raskin the Gers’ biggest ever sale.

Whether they go for Raskin or reach out for Thuram again, Frank personally wants to add another midfield technician to his ranks next year.

Cal Raleigh officially stands alone among catchers in MLB history.

The Seattle Mariners superstar clubbed his 49th home run of the season on Sunday. As such, he now holds the record for most home runs by a catcher in a single season in MLB history, overtaking a record previously held by Royals star Salvador Perez. No player who has been behind the plate for at least 75% of their games has hit more home runs in one campaign.

Raleigh entered play Sunday with 47 home runs. By the time the second inning ended, he'd already smacked two pitches into the seats and made MLB history. Now, he'll look to become the first catcher to ever hit 50 home runs in a season, too.

Raleigh's record-setting home run sent T-Mobile Park into a tizzy, as fans rose to their feet to celebrate their catcher's historic accomplishment. The broadcast was fired up, too, delivering a hearty call of the moment.

Raleigh hadn't hit a home run in any of his previous five games, but he delivered twice in two innings on Sunday to secure the record. An awesome moment for an incredibly deserving player.

Most Home Runs by Catcher in Single Season

Now that Raleigh stands alone with 49 home runs in a season, we'll take a look at some of the players he's passed. Perez's 48-home run season in 2021 stood as the record until Sunday. Prior to that, Johnny Bench held the record for most homers by a catcher in a season with 45, which he achieved in 1970. Javy Lopez hit 43 home runs in 2003, and the only other catchers with 40 or more homers in a season are Todd Hundley, Roy Campanella and Mike Piazza.

The players boarded their flight to Sydney full of laughs, and with a heavy round of applause from co-flyers.

Annesha Ghosh03-Mar-2020A punch of the air from Megan Schutt emerged from the corner of the 20th row, as the pilot welcomed on board a celebrated group of guests. A spirited round of applause from fellow passengers quelled any questions of unfamiliarity the absence of selfie-hunting co-flyers may have triggered. Reciprocation for the recognition came quickly as an ever good-humored Alyssa Healy grinned ear-to-ear and waved a victory sign in jest from her aisle seat.Travelling with athletes may be far from a unique flying experience the world over, but as the Qantas flight prepared to take off around noon on Tuesday from Melbourne to Sydney, the lengthy ovation for one of Australia’s most successful sports teams seemed a fitting prelude to their highly anticipated knockouts at the first T20 World Cup at home.The buzz in the lead-up to this spectacle on the flight had been commensurate with the tournament’s. Throughout this T20 World Cup, the home team has taken centre stage in the ICC’s goal to attract a record crowd for the final at the MCG on March 8.A decisive stride towards that target was made just hours before, a thrilling win in a virtual quarter-final against New Zealand on Monday securing Australia’s berth in the semi-finals. This was after they had tottered close to the unthinkable during the group stages, losing to India and nearly made a mess of a straightforward chase against Sri Lanka.By the time the team boarded the flight, though, confirmation had arrived from the Australia camp that their star allrounder Ellyse Perry would play no further part in their title defence due to a hamstring injury. One might have expected the mood in the squad to be deflated, but once the aircraft’s wheels retracted, there was little indication of anything but normalcy.Peals of laughter occasionally – and somewhat unsurprisingly – emanated from the corner occupied by Schutt, seated next to allrounder Jess Jonassen. Left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux, whose corked thigh marked the start of a worrying slew of injuries in the Australian side this World Cup season, kept to herself in the aisle seat just in front of Healy.Headphones on, teen allrounder Annabel Sutherland kept busy with her phone, while Shelley Nitschke, the former Australia player and current assistant coach, buried herself in a book. The pair, though, would often disengage from their preoccupation to help in the endeavors of Healy, who remained steadfast in her commitment to solving Sudoku puzzles through the duration of the flight.Halfway into the journey, as the crew served rice crackers, chocolate-chip biscuits and drinks as refreshments, the television monitors flashed news about the coronavirus being deemed “the ‘gravest threat’ since 2008 GFC”, “PM drawn back into ‘sports rorts’ saga”, and Georgia Wareham starring in Australia’s win on Monday. A highlights package of that game ran soon after. Meanwhile, Perry, with her wireless earpods on, limped six steps to about four rows in front, where she stayed put until the end of the flight.”We are sure the whole of Australia by now know that Ellyse Perry is [out of the tournament],” Justine Hughes and Bibi Khaleel, two of the flight attendants, told ESPNcricinfo as they made their way out of the aircraft. “It surely must have affected them, but I loved how they seemed to be in good spirits, all of them – lovely and very confident. It was a great to serve such an established bunch of athletes.”What would they remember most from this experience?”No one made any special requests. They were all very kind, very gracious actually. Especially Ellyse Perry. Despite her being one of the most famous [sportpersons] in our country and, yes, the injury as you mentioned, when a couple of us asked for a photo [with her], she was very happy to oblige,” Khaleel said, smiling.The Australians will hope they are on a flight back to Melbourne in a few days’ time. If things go well, by Sunday night their photos could be in even higher demand.

Starring Faf du Plessis, R Ashwin, Shaminda Eranga, Matt Prior and Tim Paine

Mohammad Isam22-Jul-2020England v Sri Lanka, Headingley, 2014
For 19 overs, Moeen Ali and No.11 James Anderson kept Sri Lanka at bay on the fifth day, with Ali getting a century and Anderson facing 50 balls without scoring. Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lanka captain, had tried everything, including his own medium pace and Mahela Jayawardene’s offspin.For the final over, he gave the ball to Shaminda Eranga, his new-ball bowler. Two slips, a leg gully, backward square leg, short leg and silly point were in place as Eranga went around the wicket to Anderson. Eranga went short, but Anderson kept out the first two. He went back over the wicket and went short of a length and then full. Anderson blocked twice more to roars from the crowd. Two balls to go, and Eranga delivered a brute of a bouncer. Anderson tried to fend it, but the ball went off the handle and looped to Rangana Herath at backward square leg. Anderson was left ruing what might have been as the Sri Lankans celebrated in a dog pile.The 100-run win gave Sri Lanka their first series win in England (in 1998, they had won a one-off Test at The Oval). In the first Test, at Lord’s, they had survived another final-over thriller, earning a draw with just one wicket left. In that game, Eranga had kept out six balls in the penultimate over and Nuwan Pradeep, his new-ball partner, had survived five in the final one.Pakistan v Australia, Dubai, 2018
Pakistan gave themselves nearly five sessions to bowl out Australia, who were playing their first Test series since ball-tampering saga in Cape Town that led to one-year bans for Steven Smith and David Warner. In their absence, the batting order had looked brittle in the first innings, Australia making only 202 in 83.3 overs. In the final innings, though, Usman Khawaja stepped up and scored 141. More importantly, he faced 302 balls and spent eight hours and 42 minutes at the wicket, making it the longest fourth-innings knock time-wise this century. When he fell to Yasir Shah, there were still 15 overs to go and just four wickets left.New captain Tim Paine was left to shepherd the lower order, but Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle lasted only eight balls between them. For the remaining 50 minutes, Paine and No. 10 Nathan Lyon were resolute against Pakistan’s spinners. Sarfaraz Ahmed, the Pakistan captain, put eight fielders around the bat as Shah ran in for the final over needing two wickets to deliver a win. Paine took twos off the first two balls and then dead-batted the next three, securing the draw. It was an important display of mental toughness from Australia during one of their most difficult times.Monty Panesar’s frenetic batting efforts led to some nervy final moments in the 2012-13 Auckland Test•AFPIndia v West Indies, Mumbai, 2011
A draw with the scores level. It took a while for cricket fans to process that result as India and West Indies completed a thriller.The match was heading towards an unsurprising draw on the fifth morning when West Indies collapsed and were bowled out for 134, leaving India 243 to win with roughly 64 overs left to play. Both sides had a chance to win and the game seesawed till the end. Virender Sehwag’s 60 gave India the early advantage, but then Sehwag, Tendulkar, and Rahul Dravid all fell within five overs. Virat Kohli scored 63 to keep India in the game. When he fell, India needed 19 to win off 4.5 overs, and West Indies needed three wickets. R Ashwin, who had made a first-innings hundred and taken nine wickets in the Test, took India close. They needed two off the final ball with two wickets in hand. Ashwin hit a Fidel Edwards ball to long-on and seemed resigned to getting just one. He turned around slowly for the second and was run out by a long way, meaning West Indies earned a draw.New Zealand v England, Auckland, 2013
Matt Prior’s heroic four-and-a-half-hour rearguard earned England an unlikely draw in a Test that New Zealand had dominated, but not before some late drama. With four overs left on the final day, Kane Williamson, who used to bowl his offspin regularly then, struck twice in three balls, removing Stuart Broad and James Anderson. Prior was left to bat with Monty Panesar, a man with a batting average hovering just above five.Panesar nearly chopped on the first ball he faced. An over later, he punched Williamson past gully and set off for a quick single. But he dived early at the non-striker’s end and would have been run out had the throw not been wide. Prior could not get a single off the final ball of the penultimate over, and Panesar had to face Trent Boult, who steamed in from around the wicket with four slips and two gullies in place. Panesar was beaten twice, but then got a full toss that he pushed to mid-off to get off strike. Prior saw off the final three balls and raised his arms in celebration.It was a remarkable effort by England, who had been left four and a half sessions to bat out to save the Test and looked destined for a loss when they lost six wickets with nearly 60 overs left in the game. Ian Bell faced 271 balls for his 75, Prior got 110 off 182, and Broad made a vital contribution by playing 77 balls for his 6.Faf du Plessis (left) batted over a day to save the 2012-13 Adelaide Test•Getty ImagesAustralia v South Africa, Adelaide, 2012
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” Faf du Plessis told Morne Morkel when the No. 10 joined him to bat on the fifth evening. South Africa still had four overs to play out to complete one of the most famous blockathons in cricket history. AB de Villiers had curbed his natural game to make 33 off 220 balls as South Africa attempted to keep Australia out for four and a half sessions. The score was 45 for 4 when du Plessis, making his debut, joined de Villiers at the crease. When de Villiers fell, there were still nearly 60 overs left on the final day, but du Plessis blocked and blocked to frustrate Australia.After the fall of the eighth wicket, du Plessis defended an over from Nathan Lyon and Morkel survived one from Peter Siddle. du Plessis played out another Lyon over but failed to get a single off the last ball, leaving Morkel on strike against Siddle for the final over. Morkel defended the first three balls and then pushed one past mid-off. The Australians let the ball go to the boundary to keep him on strike. But Morkel hit another boundary off the next ball and defended the last to save the game. South Africa had batted out 148 overs in the fourth innings, the most by any team in the 21st century. du Plessis ended with 110 off 376 balls, the longest fourth-innings knock in terms of balls faced this century.

How many fairy tales is too many?

Sambit Bal19-Jan-2021Catch your breath. Settle your heart. Calm your nerves. And soak in it. Let it wash over you. Luxuriate in the feeling. Bask in your good fortune, whoever you are and wherever you are: you have just had the ride of a lifetime. Sport doesn’t do much better than this: this is beyond special, beyond the imagination, beyond dreams. As sports fans we live for days such as these, when hopeless odds are beaten, when the unimaginable is achieved, when new heroes emerge and when history is scripted.And India, what do we say to you? All through this magnificent series you have tugged at our hearts. Now you own them.Faith, courage, belief, grit, character, spirit – in the context of the cricket at least, you have raised the bar for these words, which are often worn from overuse. Not only have you – and I do not use these words lightly – created the greatest moment in India’s Test history, you have provided a glorious hurrah to the most epic, the most layered, form of sport known to us.Test cricket is life itself: not only is it a game of the highest skill, it is also a test of endurance and adaptability, patience and courage. There is the toil, ball after ball, session after session, day after day. You can glide on the waves only if you have the heart to weather the storms. There is heartbreak and there is redemption: Test cricket always gives you a second chance. How well India forged steel from the debris of Adelaide, numerically the lowest point of their Test history, with their captain and best batsman, and one of their strike bowlers gone.Related

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Given all that they had to overcome, it was appropriate that they should have finished their trial in the toughest arena. For subcontinental teams, Australia, with its hard pitches, big grounds, tall and muscular fast bowlers, and the aura of intimidation in the air, is the hardest land. And nothing amplifies the Australianness of Australian cricket as much as the Gabba, where the pitch, not yet a drop-in, yields bounce and movement, and where the cracks lengthen as the match wears on, making the aforementioned fast bowlers feel even deadlier; where Australia had not lost a Test since 1988, and where India have never won one. When it emerged that India were reluctant to travel to Queensland, it was put down in some quarters to their fear of the “Gabbattoir” rather than to legitimate concerns about the hard quarantine norms in Queensland.And what did they have at their disposal? Barely 11 fit men to put on the park, with six of their first-choice bowlers, two of whom had made match-defining contributions with the bat, lost to injury (one more would be incapacitated in the first innings of the match) and two middle-order batsmen, in addition to their captain, gone too. The number of wickets taken by the bowlers of the two teams read 1033 to 13, going into the game.And their captain loses the toss, his third in a row, at a ground where no opposition team has ever mounted a successful chase of over 200. And Australia’s bowling attack is one of their best ever.Given all the fairy tales they have woven on this tour, how could India do anything but cap it with the biggest of them all: the most audacious of heists, a chase of 328 on the final day. It’s a Test they didn’t need to win; a draw would have done enough to see them hold on to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which they won handsomely on these shores two years ago. But just how could they not go for the win?It was appropriate the charge was led by two young men who represent, in contrasting style, the dauntlessness of this team. Tellingly, neither played in the only Test India lost on the tour. Shubman Gill, 21 but marked out as a future star, caressed boundaries with the finesse of a Mahela Jayawardene in his prime, and took on the bouncer trap with the spirit of a pugilist. Rishabh Pant, who came on this tour off a horrid IPL and with questions over his attitude and fitness, and was picked over the first-choice wicketkeeper, Wriddhiman Saha, only because India needed to compensate for Kohli’s absence, was able to take on the dare of the final-session chase not just because he had the wares but mainly because he was prepared to bear the cost of failure. Or perhaps he chose never to contemplate it. Impossible odds are never beaten without a dose of audacity.Sandwiched in between was the phlegmatic figure of Cheteshwar Pujara, whose batting through the series has aroused many a debate. In 2018 he was the architect of India’s first-ever series win in Australia, with 521 runs and three hundreds. Australia were better prepared for him this time, and his run-scoring was reduced to a trickle even by his own standards. But he still was the hardest to dislodge, weathering 928 balls, grinding down the bowlers with each one he blunted. Apart from two innings – the Adelaide horror show and the small chase in Melbourne – the fewest deliveries he absorbed in an innings this series was 70, and his 211-ball vigil in Brisbane, during which he copped the nastiest blows because the Australian quicks homed in on him, gave his young partners insurance against the collapse. Every Test team needs a Pujara, one of a dying but priceless breed.Rishabh Pant: big heart, no fear•Patrick Hamilton/AFP/Getty ImagesThe story of India’s series is that the fairy tales just kept coming. There were three match-altering partnerships involving the No. 8s: in Melbourne, Ravindra Jadeja, playing his first game after being concussed in the T20I series, added 121 with Ajinkya Rahane; in Sydney, R Ashwin batted 128 balls in a 42.4-over partnership with Hanuma Vihari, who batted 161 balls on one leg. Ashwin, who has four Test hundreds, had not gone past 25 since December 2018. He perhaps wouldn’t have played the first Test, and possibly also the second, had Jadeja not been injured. Ashwin was, in the words of his wife, crawling on the hotel-room floor the night before the last day of the Sydney Test with a back injury that would deny him the opportunity of a final tilt in his best series outside the subcontinent.And what of Mohammed Siraj, the son of an auto-rickshaw driver, who came into the spotlight through a talent-hunt contest, who stayed on the tour to honour his father, who died while Siraj was in Australia, and who made his Test debut because of an injury to Mohammed Shami. Two Tests later, Siraj was India’s enforcer not only in name but in deed, hustling Australia’s best with wicket-taking balls.Or T Natarajan, who had bowled only with a tennis ball till 2010 or thereabouts, and found a place in India’s T20I squad on the strength of his yorkers this IPL, who went to earn an ODI cap and then make his Test cap, having stayed back as a net bowler. His three wickets in the first innings in Brisbane contributed to keeping Australia’s first-innings score under 400. As did the three-wicket hauls from fellow debutant Washington Sundar and near-debutant Shardul Thakur, who bowled only ten balls in his first Test before pulling up with an injury.Sundar, another T20 specialist who would have, cross your heart, never been thought of as a Test prospect, and was played only because India couldn’t afford a long tail, and Thakur, who was played as the fourth quick bowler as insurance against another injury, which duly came about when Navdeep Saini hobbled off with a groin strain, provided the penultimate twist with a 123-run partnership when at, 186 for 6, India’s resistance seemed to have finally been broken.As sports fans and writers we can usually consider ourselves fortunate if we are able to watch and write about one rousing story in a series. That this series between these two fierce rivals came down to the final hour of the final day of the final Test would have been enough. But this Indian team left us memories to keep us warm for a lifetime.

An international century has remained elusive in 45 innings

Firdose Moonda01-Feb-2021There are some things about Rawalpindi that remind Rassie van der Dussen of home. “It’s quite chilly and the outfield is quite hard,” he said on Monday. “My first thought was that it feels a bit like a winter game back in South Africa on the Highveld.”Of course it’s not often that cricket is played in the cooler months (mid-September to early April) in South Africa. They expected Pakistan to be similar – green-tinged wickets and lush outfields – and downplayed the spin threat at first, but looks have been deceiving. The conditions have proved to be “polar opposite to what we find at home,” according to van der Dussen, who is on his first overseas Test tour.While the weather in Islamabad is inviting, he believes the surface for the second Test will continue to challenge the visiting batsmen.”It looks like most of the grass has been taken off and how hard they will make it is difficult to say at this stage. My first impression is that they won’t be much for the new ball,” van der Dussen said. “There was a fair amount of reverse in the first match, so I wouldn’t say it will play more of a role. I think it will play the same role.”Van der Dussen was one of three South African batsmen – the other two being Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram (Temba Bavuma to a lesser extent) – who had some measure of conditions in Karachi. He believes the main difference between playing at home and playing in Pakistan is the bounce.”There is a little less bounce in the subcontinent and the spinners start bowling quite early on so the ball is newish,” he said. “In South Africa when spinners bowl with the new ball, they get a lot more bounce which brings the slip into play but sometimes takes the lbw out of play.Van der Dussen expects the ball to reverse•AFP via Getty Images”In the subcontinent, all dismissals are in play all of the time. Because the ball is not bouncing over the stumps, you have to set yourself up to counter being bowled and lbw and there are also catchers around the bat. That’s the major difference. Every ball, all dismissals are in play.”As it turned out, that included the run-out, which is how van der Dussen’ first innings ended. He called it an “unnecessary,” dismissal and one that added to the  “conglomerate of circumstances,” that resulted in South Africa being bowled out for 220.”It’s disappointing because we had really good preparation. We prepared in pretty bad conditions and that’s what we got,” van der Dussen said, referring to spinner-friendly practice pitches which South Africa have taken to describing as bad. “We had the right game plan but it’s maybe the execution that was lacking and responsibility.”We can’t run away from that. A few of us got in and got starts. We needed to put pressure on the batting team. We knew we needed 350 and if we could have batted the whole day, we would have got there. It was a combination of good bowling, indecision from the new guys and run outs that shouldn’t happen.”Similarly, van der Dussen wants more for himself, especially as an international hundred remains elusive after 45 innings at the highest level. He has five Test fifties and has been dismissed for 98 once and seven ODI half-centuries and has been dismissed in the 90s twice. Reaching three figures is now top of his mind. “It’s definitely something I think about,” he said. “I’ve thought about it probably for my whole life.””I am a believer in what will happen, will happen. If I can keep putting myself in situations to come close, I back myself to get there. You can’t go out on a certain day and say I am going to score a hundred. You’ve got to try and be consistent in your process every ball and in your mental discipline and give yourself a chance to succeed every ball.”If you do that through the day you will face 200-250 balls which is what’s needed for a hundred in the subcontinent. I’m feeling good, I am batting well, let’s hope it comes. I can’t say if it will come this game or that game or whenever. There’s no guarantees in life and in cricket. I will keep putting in the work to give myself the best chance.”South Africa are waiting on the fitness of Dean Elgar (bruised hand) Tabraiz Shamsi, who was withdrawn from the XI  at the last moment when he pulled up with a back spasm.”It’s a shame that Shamsi got injured on the first morning. I think he would have played a big role, and he will if he’s right for this (second) Test,” van der Dussen said. “I don’t think George [Linde] got as many opportunities to bowl as he would have hoped in Karachi. He’s bowling very nicely and he’s a tall guy who gets extra bounce that Keshav doesn’t get, and that makes him dangerous. I honestly think our spinners are equipped to take them on.”Whether South Africa opt to field all three specialist spinners, as they were planning to in Karachi, remains to be seen. If they do, their team composition would be completely different to a team they would field at home, even on a winter’s day in the Highveld. So Rawalpindi might have elements of same, same;  but there’s no doubt it is entirely different to Johannesburg.

The Delhi Capitals batter hit six fours in an over and went on to ‘shell-shock’ Kolkata Knight Riders

Saurabh Somani30-Apr-20214:07

Steyn: Prithvi Shaw’s six fours in first over off Mavi took the steam out of KKR

The first time Prithvi Shaw batted in a senior competitive match after his much-dissected failure on India’s tour of Australia, he hit 105* off 89 for Mumbai against Delhi in the 50-overs Vijay Hazare competition. Since then, including that knock, Shaw has gone on an absolute tear: 105* off 89, 34 off 38, 227* off 152, 36 off 30, 2 off 5, 185* off 123, 165 off 122, 73 off 39, 72 off 38, 2 off 5, 32 off 17, 7 off 5, 53 off 39, 21 off 18, and 82 off 41.Apart from the number of balls faced on certain occasions, you almost can’t make out whether those scores came in a T20 match or a 50 overs one. It’s been about half and half, eight List A games and seven IPL matches, with Shaw having reeled off 1000-plus runs in two months. Since that Australia tour, his tally across formats stands at 1096 in 15 innings from just 761 balls. All the worries about the incoming ball, his trigger movement, and his poor form in Australia have been left behind in a blaze of runs, first for Mumbai and then for Delhi Capitals.Related

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In their season opener, against Chennai Super Kings, after Shaw flattened them with a 38-ball 72, Ricky Ponting had asked him in the change-room whether he had ever batted better in an IPL game. The question was rhetorical, the Capitals coach believed that was the best he’d seen Shaw bat in the tournament. Then he went on to ask what Shaw was thinking during the innings. “Nothing,” was the answer – an answer Ponting liked because it told him there was clarity in Shaw’s mind and he wasn’t thinking of anything else when in the middle. Three weeks since that knock, Ponting might have to revise his opinion on Shaw’s best IPL innings, because the 82 off 41 against Kolkata Knight Riders had to be right up there too.This was a Shaw throwback to his prodigy days, a comparison made more apt because the bowler who started against him was the man he had captained often at Under-19 level, Shivam Mavi. Shaw seemed to be able to read the bowler’s mind, even as Mavi looked bereft of ideas in a 25-run opening over. It might be the only time a bowler looks back fondly at a wide, because his first ball was so far down legside, Shaw couldn’t get bat on it. He got bat on each of the other six, and each one flew to the boundary.”I wasn’t thinking anything to be honest,” Shaw told after the game. “I was just waiting for the loose balls, because even if it’s the first ball, I’m going to hit it. I knew where Shivam is going to bowl because we have played for four-five years now, so I knew exactly where he is going to bowl to me. So I was ready for it and with my instincts I just went for it.”Prithvi Shaw launched six fours in the first over of the chase•ESPNcricinfo LtdNot thinking extraneous thoughts. Going on instinct. Preternatural awareness of what the bowler would do. And the skill to pull it off. This was an innings that started off with the best of Shaw, and continued in that vein.It left Brendon McCullum gushing too. The Knight riders coach, who at his best played with a similar mindset and skillset, spoke of how Shaw’s innings was “the perfect template” for what he wanted his side to do. He also acknowledged how a 25-run first over in the Capitals’ chase had knocked the wind out of his team.”It was a huge psychological blow from Prithvi Shaw,” McCullum said. “I have an immense amount of respect for Prithvi because not too many people in world cricket play the game with that sort of approach. You’ve got to give kudos as well to Rishabh Pant and Ricky Ponting and the Delhi Capitals management that they’ve been able to ask a player to bat like that, and for him to buy into it. He’s a rare talent, he put us under an immense amount of pressure early.”It was a big blow for us but we should have still been able to come back. You shouldn’t be shell-shocked in one over and not be able to respond to it, but we were tonight. And that’s going to ask some tough questions of us. But I won’t stress, I thought Prithvi Shaw was outstanding, played a wonderful innings and he deserves the accolades.”In between his Australia tour and the return to runs, Shaw spent a well-documented few days with Pravin Amre to rediscover his touch. Along with his bat swing though, Shaw seems to have found a balance in his mind too.”I feel my dad has supported me very well. After getting dropped from the Australia tour, I was really not happy with myself, that ‘What am I doing?’ And my dad just said to play my natural game, work hard on it,” Shaw said. “When talent is not getting you what you want, just work hard and get that back again. These words really set a target for me and I worked hard after that. Obviously, in cricket, the graph is going to be up and down for sure. Lots of failures are going to come in my career, but I’m not really thinking about that. Just going day by day.”That batters fail more than they succeed is a fact of cricketing life. It’s even more stark in T20 cricket. If Shaw can hold on to that balanced process of treating triumph and disaster just the same even when the lows arrive, you’d venture to say that the failures may come, but they won’t stay.

Eight defeats across ten T20Is in the West Indies and Bangladesh don’t make good reading

Andrew McGlashan10-Aug-2021Australia are back home and have began their two weeks’ quarantine. They will have plenty of time to reflect on a tally of two wins and eight defeats in ten T20Is over the last month in the West Indies and in Bangladesh. There was a one-day series victory in the Caribbean which was not insignificant, but in terms of the immediate priority, it was a sobering experience.The caveats around the tour have been well documented, yet even with key players missing, it was hardly an outcome to instill confidence with the T20 World Cup two months away. The guarded warnings ahead of the trip that those declining to tour were risking their spots does not carry much weight now.”For guys to be on this tour to get the first opportunity to put their hand up and take that spot is what it’s about,” Aaron Finch had said before the series in the West Indies. “It’s tough to ignore really good international performances.”Related

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A lot of the batting numbers make for grim reading, even factoring in the tough conditions in Dhaka. Moises Henriques (135 runs at 13.50), Matthew Wade (129 runs at 12.90), Alex Carey (57 runs at 8.14), Josh Philippe (33 runs at 6.60), Ben McDermott (66 runs at 13.20) and Ashton Turner (51 runs at 10.20) have not had trips to remember.Given their experience, it is the first three of those that are of most concern, although the others raise questions about how the BBL is preparing players for the step up. Australia’s T20I results have gone backwards – five series defeats in a row – in the Covid era, which has required a greater depth of resources in expanded squads and to fill gaps of absentees. That No. 1 T20I ranking now feels a long time ago.ESPNcricinfo LtdConditions in Bangladesh were at the extreme end, and it is worth noting the home side acknowledged that as well, but it is about finding a way. Only Dan Christian’s promotion to No. 3 in the fourth game, Australia’s lone victory, suggested the agility to respond to the challenge; but it was already 3-0 in favour of Bangladesh by then. With a series win in the offing, the hosts had a batter make the difference in each of the first three games: Shakib Al Hasan with 36 off 33 balls in the first T20I, Afif Hossain with 37 off 31 in the second and Mahmudullah with 52 off 53 in the third.With a view to the World Cup, the five matches in the West Indies were perhaps a little more instructive, and that was a 4-1 margin as well. Those surfaces were probably closer to what will be on show in the UAE despite the volume of matches that will be played in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah with the IPL taking place beforehand.Even in the match Australia won in St Lucia, based around a 114-run stand between Finch and Mitchell Marsh, there was a middle-order stumble that was halted by Christian. It almost proved costly, but Mitchell Starc was able to close down Andre Russell in the final over.Australia’s batters struggled to get going in two consecutive T20I series•Munir Uz Zaman/AFPThere was a horrendous collapse in the opening game which set the tone for the series against West Indies, and in the other matches, Australia weren’t in touch. Hayden Walsh Jr was their main nemesis, although anyone taking pace off the ball stood a good chance of causing problems. With that evidence – and with what happened in Bangladesh – it would be no surprise to see oppositions stack their side with spin and pace-off options regardless of the pitches in the UAE.During the Bangladesh series, one of the cameras caught a glimpse of Justin Langer’s notebook. If there was a section reserved for positives, it would be a small one; but Marsh was outstanding with the bat, only fading in the final two innings. An often unfairly maligned player, it will be interesting to see if he can use this as a launch pad to the next phase of his career. He turns 30 in October and still has plenty of time on his side, although the Test route may now be blocked by Cameron Green – at least for now.Yet, even Marsh’s success does not really make the picture any clearer. There is no shortage of options to bat in the top four. It could yet be that Marsh needs to return to the middle order although there are suggestions that, if fit, Steven Smith could be considered in a finishing role. Such a change so close to a World Cup further highlights one of Australia’s main conundrums that this tour has gone no nearer to solving.In the bowling attack, Josh Hazlewood benefited from a run of games in the format and now looks certain to go to the World Cup. Adam Zampa held his nerve well against the power of West Indies before enjoying the pitches in Bangladesh. After picking up an injury in the West Indies, Ashton Agar was consistent in Dhaka although it remains uncertain if he has a dynamic-enough game to bat at No. 7 when needed. The return of Turner with the ball was also handy, and may yet help him in final selection.Australia will now have to hope it all comes together at the last minute. Some of the selection challenges have been exacerbated by the Covid era, but there is still a feeling that T20 remains an uneasy fit. “It’s not vital that we play games together before the World Cup,” Wade said of trying to get a first-choice side together. “Don’t think the difference between playing well in the World Cup or not is playing games together to know what each other is doing.”The World Cup hasn’t been decided over the last six weeks. Australia certainly won’t be close to favourites going into it, but they have some game-changing players to return. However, if Langer had hoped to finish this trip with a burgeoning roster of names putting pressure on those established stars, then it hasn’t worked out that way.