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Shohei Ohtani hit his 100th home run as a member of the Dodgers on Tuesday night, and he did so in emphatic fashion. Not only was it his 100th home run for the organization, but Ohtani's hit in the third inning was the hardest-hit ball of his entire MLB career.

The solo shot to right field left the bat at a jaw-dropping speed of 120 mph, according to Statcast, which could make it not only the Ohtani's hadest home run, but also the hardest hit he's ever recorded.

Pirates rookie pitcher Bubba Chandler found himself with an early "Welcome to the big leagues" moment after Ohtani parked that ball in the seats in a flash. While walking on the mound in anticipating of his next pitch, Chandler looked as if he could barely believe the home run he'd just surrendered to the best player in baseball.

Prior to Tuesday night, Ohtani's hardest hit ever recorded was a 119.2 mph single back in 2024. Now, he's shattered that with a mammoth solo home run that left the yard at an astonishing 120 mph. In the Statcast era, only five other home runs have been hit with an exit velocity of 120 mph or greater, making Ohtani's the sixth fastest recorded in history. Only Oneil Cruz (122.9 mph), Giancarlo Stanton (121.7, 121.3 mph), Ronald Acuña Jr. (121.2 mph) and Aaron Judge (121.1 mph) have had higher exit velocities on home runs.

Nearly a decade after leaving it for the world of football, Paul DePodesta is reportedly returning to the sport that made him famous.

DePodesta plans to leave his current position as the Browns' chief strategy officer to become the Rockies' head of baseball operations, according to a Thursday afternoon report from Ken Rosenthal of . The 52-year-old has served in his role with Cleveland since Jan. 2016.

Despite not having worked there in over two decades, DePodesta remains heavily associated with the Athletics and the analytics-first approach they helped pioneer in the 2000s. He served as that team's assistant general manager from 1999 to 2004; in 2012, actor Jonah Hill received an Oscar nomination for portraying a character based on DePodesta in Bennett Miller's .

In '04, DePodesta became the Dodgers' general manager, only for Los Angeles to fire him after two years. He spent time with the Padres and Mets before moving to the Browns, where he struggled under the supervision of owner Jimmy Haslam.

Colorado is coming off one of the worst Major League Baseball seasons of this century; it finished 43-119 and finished 50 games behind the first-place Dodgers in the National League West race.

Ian Chappell pays tribute to his first touring room-mate Graeme Watson

Ian Chappell25-Apr-2020You never forget your first touring room-mate; it’s not quite a love-of-your-life remembrance but a fond recall.My first room-mate on a five-month tour of Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) and South Africa in 1966-67 was Graeme Donald Watson. His nickname was Beatle as he wore his hair long like the ‘Fab Four’. He was chosen as the replacement for Doug Walters who was called up for Army national service.Beatle was a genuine allrounder who batted in the top six for Victoria and bowled hit-the-deck-hard medium-fast. Before the tour, I’d played against Graeme, but I really only knew him as a slightly unusual Victorian in that he stayed around for a beer after play.On a five-month tour where you’re regularly cooped up in the same room, you get to know a guy pretty well. The friendship is either a lasting one or it runs out of steam pretty quickly. In our case, it remained firm until Friday, when sadly cancer claimed the Beatle’s life.There are many fond memories of that tour. We shared a lot together including a solid partnership against Eastern Province where we both completed our first centuries for Australia. The match was played at St George’s Park, which was then known as Pollockville because of the presence of the brothers, Peter the fast bowler and Graeme, one of the pre-eminent Test batsmen of the time.The second-innings battle of the Graemes ended with Pollock c Chappell b Watson 120.After commencing his debut Test at Newlands with an impressive half-century, Beatle injured his ankle while bowling and finished up on crutches with his leg in plaster. That resulted in the unusual sight of late-night crutch races being held in the corridors of Deals Hotel in East London, with the other participants being the fully capacitated but slightly inebriated Dave Renneberg, Brian Taber and yours truly.Unfortunately for Beatle injuries dogged his sporting life.I toured with Beatle again in 1972 but by that time I was captain and enjoyed a single room, so he had to make do with second best. He’d been included in the touring party despite suffering a near-death experience after an incident at the MCG in the Rest of the World series of 1971-72.I was batting with Watson when an unintentional beamer from Tony Greig hit him in the nose and he was carted off the ground bleeding profusely. He was extremely unfortunate as Greig’s delivery was affected when his bowling hand hit the stumps and Watson top-edged a ball that would’ve hit him in the chest if his attempted pull shot had missed.By 1972, Chappell was captain and enjoyed a single room, so Watson (back row, extreme left) had to make do with second best•Getty ImagesIt was only on that 1972 tour when I met one of his nurses at a social function that I found out Beatle had actually stopped breathing for a while when he was in hospital. It was typical of Beatle to say very little about the incident; he made light of any injury and at times was too brave for his own good.That serious injury occurred on January 5 but with a fervent desire to be selected for the 1972 tour of England, he defied doctors’ orders and played against South Australia on February 26. In the second innings with a gale blowing in the direction from mid-off to fine leg, I told fast bowler Kevin McCarthy the only option was to operate with a strong leg-side field.A bouncer from McCarthy struck Watson on the side of the head and for a moment my heart sank. Fortunately, it was only a glancing blow and he successfully continued his innings.In another season, he bowled for Western Australia with a broken bone in his leg and Rod Marsh swears that at times he was standing as far back for Beatle as he was for Dennis Lillee.However, there was one injury that did stop him; a broken jaw. A talented dual sportsman, he was in the Melbourne Football Club squad that won the 1964 Victorian Football League grand final. When he suffered two broken jaws in quick succession during the 1965 season, that brought his football career to an abrupt halt. On that South African tour, whenever Keith Stackpole wanted to annoy Beatle, he’d call out, “Hey, glass jaw.”His cricket career involved playing for three states Victoria, WA and New South Wales. During regular drink sessions with a group of mates it was a standard joke to claim that he played with four states – he was selected for Queensland but joined World Series Cricket instead – the same number as he had wives.I was in the official party at his first wedding which was attended by then Australian prime minister Harold Holt. I was unable to attend any of the other ceremonies which was unfortunate because it precluded me from using the hilarious line of England’s fast bowling funnyman John J Warr.When JJ attended England batsman Bill Edrich’s fifth wedding he was asked, “Which side – bride or groom?” Without a flicker of a smile, he answered, “Season’s ticket.”I know his last two wives well, Karina with whom he sired two beautiful girls in Laura and Louisa, and Jan who was at his side when he passed away. Beatle had generously offered a kidney to Jan who needed a transplant, but the dreaded cancer diagnosis put an end to that plan. Fortunately, Jan received a transplant and is now recovering well.Watson had a successful business life after sport, cleverly maximising his qualifications as an architect. He excelled in solutions for sports stadium management and was involved in that capacity in the highly successful Sydney Olympic precinct.His architectural background stood out in the functional design of his house at Burradoo in the NSW Southern Highlands and the farmhouse on his property at Wollombi, just north of Sydney. That was a favourite venue as a ‘male retreat’ and I have fond memories of the sessions enjoyed there with Tabsy and Beatle that made allowances for one female – our dog Bella.Beatle lived a very full life and he was looking forward to caring for Jan in her post-operation period, but unfortunately, the tables were turned and it was she who lovingly cared for him.His last public act was a selfless one as usual. Even in struggling health, he offered to help the Southern Highlands District Cricket Association raise funds for junior development.This culminated in a sold-out dinner in early March which provided much-needed funds for the association. Beatle – with his voice fading – made a fine speech that night, full of common sense and with a vision for the future.It was a long journey from Salisbury (now Harare) to Burradoo, but it was a successful one, with a lot of laughs along the way.

Offspinner has made steady progress this summer but is a long-term investment

George Dobell at the Ageas Bowl24-Aug-2020In another era, an era before white-ball cricket dominated the middle of England’s domestic season, Dom Bess would probably be playing for his county now.He might even be playing for his county’s second XI. Either way, he would be learning his trade away from the unrelenting scrutiny that goes with the territory of playing international cricket and away from the expectation that comes with being his country’s first-choice spinner.But the world has changed. The production line that once saw a decent pair of spinners required by every county has all but ground to a halt. Young spinners emerging now usually have to learn to contribute in white-ball cricket if they are to entertain realistic hopes of sustaining a career. With first-class games squeezed into spring and autumn, they win few opportunities to learn their red-ball craft. Several talented hopefuls have drifted away from the professional game.So Bess, the talented young man that he is, has been asked to learn on the job. Instead of using all his skills and experience to ensnare batsmen, he’s at the stage of his career – aged 23 and with fewer than 50 first-class appearances – where he is still searching for a reliable stock ball and experimenting with his variations. He is, in short, a promising young cricketer who has been given accelerated promotion to fill the void left by England’s flawed domestic scheduling. It’s exactly the situation Moeen Ali found himself in at the start of the 2014 summer.Bess has bowled perfectly respectably here. On a painfully slow wicket that would have thwarted plenty of more experienced spinners and against admirably determined batsmen who would have done the same, he demanded respect and conceded fewer than two runs per over. Later in the day, when he settled on a line outside off stump, he even troubled the batsmen a few times. He did, by any realistic expectations, just fine.The problem is that at this stage it’s not obvious what Bess’ weapons are. He doesn’t gain the drift of Moeen, or the dip of Graeme Swann. He doesn’t have the pace of Monty Panesar, or the consistency of Jack Leach. As he showed in South Africa, he can provide control and prove dangerous given some assistance, but it is asking a huge amount – an unreasonable amount, really – to expect him to lead his country’s spin attack at this stage of his career.ALSO READ: Spinners thriving in Bob Willis TrophySo, why did England take a punt on Bess? There are two or three young, England-qualified spinners doing nicely in the Bob Willis Trophy this season, after all. But neither Amar Virdi nor Mason Crane has many pretensions with the bat and Matt Critchley goes for more than four an over across his first-class career. That would make it tough for him to play the holding role England are sometimes sure to require.Right now, Leach might well be a better bowler than Bess. He certainly warrants selection for Somerset ahead of him. So if England go to Sri Lanka and India this winter, Leach should play a significant role. On pitches offering assistance to spin, he has the tools to trouble batsmen. He was, you may remember, the equal top wicket-taker (with Moeen) when England won in Sri Lanka in 2018.There is, incidentally, a lesson here. It is clear that both Bess and Leach have – just as Swann and Panesar did at Northants in the early 2000s – enjoyed an accelerated development thanks to the spin-friendly pitches prepared for them at Taunton in recent years. If England are serious about developing more spin bowlers, they have to allow conditions – and a schedule – which encourage them.Either way, England prefer Bess as a long-term investment for a couple of reasons. For a start, he can bat. And brave though Leach was in his memorable one not out at Leeds and incredible though he was in his unlikely 92 against Ireland at Lord’s, those innings are considered somewhat aberrational. A bottom four of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer and Leach would leave England with a dangerously long tail.Equally, England feel that on pitches offering little, Bess may find a way to contribute a bit more – if not with the ball, then with the bat or in the field. And in Australia, where the batsmen are certain to come after him and Leach, they feel he may have more tools to cope.Dom Bess is currently England’s first-choice spinner•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesNot least among these tools is his positive attitude. Bess’ enthusiasm, his willingness to learn on the job, his apparent resilience in the face of adversity, are seen to render him suitable for the challenges ahead. There will, no doubt, be some long and tough days in India and Australia. England want a man in the side who can shrug those days off, come back for more and keep improving.It is a shame that there is currently no specialist coach with the squad to work with him. England had planned for Jeetan Patel, the former New Zealand offspinner, to join them in the bio-secure bubble, but visa regulations prevent him working as a coach. As a consequence, Bess is, for now, having to find his own way through the challenges ahead of him.You might also wonder how Moeen might have fared had he benefited from the same patience extended to the likes of Jos Buttler or Joe Denly. Moeen was, you may recall, the highest wicket-taker in the world in Test cricket over the previous 12 months at the time he was dropped.And while that decision was perfectly reasonable – it looked as if Moeen needed some time out of the firing line to decompress – the subsequent to decision not to offer him a red-ball central contract seemed to push him away from the squad just when he needed to feel embraced and valued. Again, the thought occurs that England may have coaxed more out of Moeen with better treatment. His best ball is still probably better than the best ball of any other red-ball spinner in England. And he has made five Test centuries.But you can see why England like Bess. And, by most reasonable judgements, he’s progressing nicely. We just have to be realistic in what we expect from him.

Captain admits loss of several first-choice players contributed to team’s negative mindset

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-Jan-2021Sri Lanka lost 2-0, going down by an innings in the first match, and ten wickets in the second, but captain Dimuth Karunaratne is not about to beat himself or his team up.Partly this is because Sri Lanka have felt the injuries that felled around a third of their touring squad – mostly first-choice players – were somewhat out of their control. They were unable to prepare for this tour as they normally might, thanks partly to the Lanka Premier League, which had to be pushed into December due to Covid-19, and they also could not have a practice match before the Tests. None of Sri Lanka’s players had played long-form cricket since July.”A lot of players got injured, and I think that was the biggest thing we missed,” Karunaratne said after his team lost at The Wanderers. “When we were playing without those injuries in the first Test, we were in the match and could potentially have won it. We got a good start, which is a difficult thing to achieve, and then we lost our bowlers. When you lose six or seven players, you do go into a negative mindset and that’s difficult. On these tracks it’s a huge challenge.”Perhaps because Sri Lanka have another Test series looming in less than two weeks (at home, against England), Karunaratne also chose to dwell on the happier take-aways.”As a captain I’m really worried about the result. But at least we have some young talents we can use in the future. And there are a few positives from the series. Kusal Perera is in form. Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando and Wanindu Hasaranga also did well.Related

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“We did quite a few positive things, like score the most runs a Sri Lanka team has ever scored in South Africa [their first-innings total of 396 at Centurion], and also score more runs than any previous Sri Lanka teams at The Wanderers [their second-innings total of 211]. In patches we played well, but we weren’t able to sustain that, partly because of the injuries.”On a personal note, Karunaratne had hit Sri Lanka’s only hundred of the tour in the second innings at The Wanderers, and his 103 off 128 balls was also Sri Lanka’s first triple-figure score at this notoriously difficult venue for South Asian batsmen. Before the match, he had averaged a little over 20 in the country, across 12 innings, so the hundred meant more than most.”Of course there’s a sadness at the hundred not having taken us to a win. But playing for the first time after nine months, and batting with an injured finger, scoring some runs was a huge confidence boost for me.”I had missed out on getting starts on this tour. Previously when I was in South Africa that’s the one thing I had got – 20s or 30s – but I hadn’t been able to convert. I was also really nervous as I hadn’t played in a long time. It’s tough on these pitches for anybody. I looked at what my shortcomings were, and tried to fix them.”In the first 15 overs, I didn’t have any big plans. I just wanted to leave the ball well and play positively. Once I got set I realised the way to play on these tracks is to be positive. On a pitch like this a good ball can come at any time. I targeted certain bowlers, and respected the ones I found difficult. I was really determined to score a hundred in this innings.”

Also, why don’t Sunrisers Hyderabad pick Mohammad Nabi?

Alagappan Muthu22-Oct-2020
Why does David Warner have a hard time against Jofra Archer?
It’s the curse of the line bowler. And they are almost always notorious to face.Think of how Josh Hazlewood used to wrap Hashim Amla around his little finger. Seven Tests, seven dismissals, batting average 19. Or Sachin Tendulkar against Glenn McGrath. Nine Tests, six dismissals, batting average 22.These are all-time great batsmen. But to undo them, these bowlers only concentrated on a couple of things. One – hit the deck with the seam upright. Two – target the stumps.This made sure the batsman had to play the ball and if there is even the slightest movement, he is at a disadvantage.ESPNcricinfo LtdThat is what happened with Warner vs Archer. Except Archer was bowling at scary pace. Run that dismissal over and you’ll see the left-hander getting squared up. That’s the movement away from him. You’ll see him poking his hands at the ball. That’s him panicking and forgetting about his basics.Line bowling alone is so hard to face, but at Archer’s pace, it’s nearly impossible.Why do the Sunrisers never play Mohammad Nabi?
The Sunrisers bought Nabi in the 2017 auction. So this is his third year with the side. Guess how many games he’s played for them?It’s just 14 matches; 14 out of a possible 57 matches. The Sunrisers bought a bonafide T20 superstar and have used him for only a 25% of the matches they’ve played since he’s been on their roster.This is partly because they also brought in Jonny Bairstow in 2018 and he became an automatic pick. Warner is their captain. The face of the team. And Rashid Khan is their trump card. That’s three overseas slots done and invariably the fourth one ends up going to someone who can either hit hard (initially Mitchell Marsh this year) or bowl fast (Billy Stanlake earlier).That’s been the IPL way, even though Nabi has torched bowling attacks in the BBL, spun webs around teams in the CPL and been a driving force for the Afghanistan team in all limited-overs cricket.Why did Riyan Parag bat ahead of Rahul Tewatia?
When Jos Buttler fell with 27 balls left in the innings, it seemed like the perfect time for Tewatia to walk out and wreak havoc. But the Royals sent in 18-year-old Parag instead and it slowly became clear why. He was there for the yorkers.T Natarajan has bowled more yorkers than anyone in IPL 2020. The Sunrisers had saved two of his overs for the death.Parag was the Royals’ weapon against that. In the 18th over, after watching Natarajan bowl the perfect yorker to Steven Smith, Parag shifted outside off stump, got into a crouch and took a very low full toss – definitely intended as a yorker – and scooped it over fine leg for four.Then he had the game sense to realise the bowler would go wide of off stump – try to take the batsman’s power game away. But Parag was still able to reach it and he launched a huge six over extra cover.ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster suggested the Royals’ chances of victory increased by 6% in that over.Why didn’t Archer bowl a third over in the powerplay?He was in red hot form – 2-0-5-2 – and those two wickets were Warner and Bairstow, the backbone of the Sunrisers batting. So there was good reason for the Royals to have their speed demon to continue his spell. Another wicket could have helped them break into a middle order that has rarely shown itself to be stable this season.But Archer was taken off and Manish Pandey took control.”The third over for Jofra was on my mind,” Smith said at the presentation. “We discussed it with a couple of guys. In hindsight, yeah, maybe should have bowled a third straight over.”

There are pace bowlers to keep an eye on and the superb Amelia Kerr

Andrew McGlashan26-Mar-2021Australia’s aggressionMatthew Mott has spoken about Australia pushing their boundaries. There is unlikely to be huge change to their approach to T20 cricket – they are a well-oiled outfit that rarely takes a backward step – but it will be interesting to watch their approach in the ODIs with a view to next year’s World Cup. There was a glimpse in the final match of the previous series where they racked up 325 in Brisbane; a blistering start led by Alyssa Healy capped off by a powerful finish from the middle order. When batters such as Jess Jonassen and Georgia Wareham make up the lower order there is immense depth to allow orders to play with freedom. If conditions and opportunity presents they have a batting line-up capable of large totals.Pressure on DevineNew Zealand need their captain to step up. Sophie Devine had a poor return against England with scores of 16, 6, 15, 2, 8 and 0 across six innings into the ODIs and T20Is. Kirsty Bond, a former New Zealand player and selector, recently suggested a change of captaincy was needed to revive both Devine’s and the team’s fortunes. “I know that my performances haven’t been up to scratch in the last series, but look, I more than back myself in terms of leading this team at this moment,” was Devine’s response. The prize of captaincy your country in a home World Cup is significant and it would seem unlikely there will be a change of leadership, but without doubt New Zealand need Devine’s runs.Getty ImagesThe pace packAustralia are excited about the pace-bowling resources they have coming through. Tayla Vlaeminck is back after a long injury while the uncapped Darcie Brown can bowl rapid outswingers. There is a sense Australia want to reshape their attack from the spin-dominated unit (which has been very successful) to one that has more speed on offer – a point of difference, as Rachael Haynes called it. Pushing the speedgun is one of the areas of significant development in the women’s game and, unsurprisingly, Australia want to make sure they are ahead of the rest.Who will help Amelia Kerr?It is easy to forget that Amelia Kerr is still only 20. She is both a senior figure in the New Zealand side and a key part of the future stretching many years ahead. It is no surprise that the two most recent victories they have managed – the third ODI against England and the third T20I against Australia in September – came with starring roles from her. But she needs others to develop around her. Oppositions are becoming smart at negotiating her overs with minimal damage (her excellence means they don’t always manage it) then cashing in elsewhere but it has been a positive move to elevate her in the batting order. The return of offspinner Leigh Kasperek (who missed the tour of Australia due to travel restrictions) has been a boost while Lea Tahuhu’s comeback will help the one-day side.Related

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Has Perry got her mojo back?What will the next phase of Ellyse Perry’s international career look like? She is one of the greatest players the game has seen and there is plenty of time to further enhance her standout numbers, but there is now more competition than ever. This will be her first international cricket in more than a year during which she has come back from a serious hamstring injury. In the WBBL her batting strike-rate was a talking point while she claimed just eight wickets with an economy rate of 8.25 and then in the WNCL, where she scored three consecutive fifties, she claimed just two wickets in six matches as she got used to some tweaks to her action. Will the two elements of her game come together on this tour?No. 22The first ODI next month will give Australia the chance to set a new record for consecutive wins after they equaled the mark of 21 of Ricky Ponting’s 2003 side. Many of the results in that run have not been close. The team talk of the record as not much more than a headline that others make, a result of them keeping a singular focus on their next match. But they do often recall the pain of the 2017 ODI World Cup when they lost in the semi-final to India. Since then, making amends for that has been high on the agenda. The results, so far, have been outstanding although it’s what happens next year that will decide whether it’s mission accomplished.

The washed-out, locked-out misery of 2020 is forgotten as Birmingham shows how to party

Paul Edwards18-Sep-2021In Season Four, Episode Six of CJ Cregg, the White House press secretary, is explaining to Albie Duncan what he might expect in the Spin Room following the pre-election presidential debate. Albie has been at the State Department since Gettysburg but he is unused to some aspects of late 20th century politics and is disconcerted when CJ says he will have foreign policy questions fired at him by a scrum of journalists, some of them hostile. “Is that dignified?” he asks. “Absolutely not. Don’t even hope,” comes the reply. Let us assume that anyone attending their first Vitality Blast Finals Day this year had been similarly disabused of any elevated notions. Edgbaston on the third Saturday in September is almost nothing if not raucous and, in the best sense, vulgar.So maybe it was useful to arrive at the ground early in the day, just before the fog lifted to reveal Birmingham’s distant temples of profit and when the City still wore the beauty of the morning in all its quietness. Such Romantic tranquility was brief. Before long the loudspeakers were being put through their paces. “All the people / So many people / And they all go hand-in-hand / Hand-in-hand through their parklife / Know what I mean?”Anyone unsure of their response to Blur’s question was soon treated to a crash course in Shameless enjoyment. The Mexicans arrived, as did the bananas, as did some very worldly nuns. As did the duck quacks when Tom Prest made nought. So perhaps rather than the glorious cadences of Aaron Sorkin’s drama, we should settle for the very different but equally memorable lines of Paul Abbott when considering the mighty jumble of good-natured humanity that poured through Edgbaston’s gates when they opened at nine o’clock. “All of them know one of the vital necessities in this life…” says Frank Gallagher when introducing his neighbours on the Chatsworth estate. “They know how to throw a party.”Marchant de Lange soon discovered that Chris Wood also knows how to throw a bat and we had our first crowd catch of the day; a fine snare it was, too, completed by a gentleman of vaguely Sicilian appearance although I daresay he actually comes from Balsall Heath. Five minutes or so later Joe Weatherley’s fine knock of 71 ended and it was pleasing to see him acknowledge the applause that came from all parts of the stadium. It’s a while since anyone thought anchoring a T20 innings to be a contradiction in terms.Not until the second innings in the first semi-final was the ground full. By that stage almost all of those who also wanted to see Kent’s game against Sussex had turned up. They saw Somerset’s early batsmen leave it to each other to get the runs, thereby forgetting that most of them are in dreadful nick. But then Tom Abell, who’s been in some of the poorest form of all, made fifty and a game that was lost was won thanks to Ben Green, Craig Overton and Josh Davey. They will have enjoyed that in The Blue Ball at Triscombe.Celebrations for Kent after a fine day in the field•PA Images/GettyKent’s semi-final featured a fine innings by Daniel Bell-Drummond, some underestimated bowling by Fred Klaassen and contributions to please the headline-writers from Darren Stevens. By now the crowd was warming up, a process that may possibly have been aided by alcohol consumption. One was reminded how much more fun T20 Blast Finals Day is at Edgbaston than it could possibly be at Lord’s, a venue which, for all its attempts to connect with the kids, is still a ground for great occasions applauded by folk in their best clobber. The Hundred is missing a trick.Charles Dickens would have loved Finals Day. He understood the appeal of popular entertainments very well and wrote about them in his journalism and novels. He would have taken one good look at the fancy dress, the dancing spectators and the heaving masses…and started making notes. For this is the one day in the cricket year when Mr. Bounderby makes common cause with Mr. Pickwick while Fagin’s urchins scuttle around the Hollies Stand picking the pockets of giraffes and penguins. Indeed, some might argue it is a day when the spectators matter as much as the cricket they watch.And unlike some previous years relatively few spectators left Edgbaston before the final was completed. This can be viewed as a shame because there was rather less obvious partisanship in evidence for an occasion and a format that often derive their strength from unashamed allegiance. (Some spectators from certain counties were wont to head home when their sides were knocked out.) But it can also be seen as a sign of strength in that people want to be a part of Finals Day even before they know which counties will be represented. They want to support the cricket and the cricketers and they will do so regardless. You do well not to find this encouraging. Even amid the booze and the music and ballyhoo, people do watch the games and applaud the players, never more ardently this evening than when Abell sprinted back to take the extraordinary catch that removed Joe Denly off Roelof van der Merwe; and never more appreciatively than when Jordan Cox and Matt Milnes combined to pull off perhaps the most stunning relay grab in the Blast’s 19-year history.Related

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And yes, they remember last year. They will never forget it.Finals Day in 2020 was the wettest in British meteorological history but by far its most dismal feature was the absence of a crowd. When one hears the babble of conversation in the sixth innings of this day as people wonder if Somerset can chase down 168 and when one sees the enormous congas begin in the Hollies Stand, it is difficult to credit we coped with games utterly devoid of atmosphere.But no one could doubt the intensity of the mood at Edgbaston this evening as we entered the last ten overs of the Blast season. Almost every break in overs was punctuated by a chorus: The Human League; Jeff Beck; Toto; The Proclaimers; Bryan Adams; and Neil Diamond, writer of the short-form game’s national anthem.And now the cricket has ended and it is Kent’s players who are smiling and looking forward to a good night in Birmingham. Somerset’s players are standing around in the manner of runners-up and wishing all the presentations could be over so they can go home. The groundstaff are rolling some pitches and mowing others. The stadium will need tidying as well for this has been a marvellous party and there is one helluva clean-up needed before Warwickshire try to win the County Championship on Tuesday. And no one is calling Edgbaston the Garden of Eden this Saturday evening. At least, I don’t think they are. Actually, don’t even hope.

If the public loses confidence in the product, then its viability will be called into question

Andrew Miller28-Dec-2021As anyone who lived through the 2008 credit crunch will remember, economies are essentially built on confidence. So long as the public has faith in the robustness of the institutions charged with managing their assets, those assets barely need to exist beyond a few 0s and 1s in a digital mainframe for them to be real and lasting indicators of a nation’s wealth.When doubts begin to beset the system, however, it’s amazing how quickly the rot can take hold. Is this really a Triple-A-rated bond I am holding in my hands, or is it actually a tranche of sub-prime mortgages that are barely fit to line the gerbil cage?Likewise, is this really the world’s most enduring expression of sporting rivalry taking place in Australia right now, or is it a pointless turkey shoot that exists only to justify the exorbitant sums that TV broadcasters are willing to cough up for the privilege of hosting it… a privilege that, in itself, feeds into the self-same creation myth that keeps the hype ever hyping, and the bubble ever ballooning.Related

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• England are presentable at home but poor abroad, and their home strength is under threat

• Woakes backs Root to stay on as England captain

• Joe Root: 'We need to put some pride back in the badge'

On Tuesday, that bubble finally burst. After weeks of barely suppressed panic behind the scenes, England’s capitulation in Melbourne deserves to be Test cricket’s very own Lehman Brothers moment – the final, full-frontal collapse of an institution so ancient, and previously presumed to be so inviolable, that it may require unprecedented emergency measures to prevent the entire sport from tanking.For there really has never been an Ashes campaign quite as pathetic as this one. Crushing defeats have been plentiful in the sport’s long and storied history – particularly in the recent past, with England having now lost 18 of their last 23 Tests Down Under, including 12 of the last 13. But never before has an England team taken the field in Australia with so little hope, such few expectations, so few remaining skills with which to retain control of their own destinies.Nothing expressed the gulf better than the performance of Australia’s Player of the Match, Scott Boland. Leaving aside the rightful celebration of his Indigenous heritage, of far greater pertinence was his international oven-readiness, at the age of 32, after a lifetime of toil for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield. Like Michael Neser, 31 on debut at Adelaide last week and a Test wicket-taker with his second ball in the format, Boland arrived on the stage every bit as ready for combat as England’s Test batters used to be – most particularly the unit that won the Ashes in Australia in 2010-11, which included four players with a century on debut (Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior) and two more (Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell) with fifties.The contrast with England’s current crop of ciphers could not be more galling. It is genuinely impossible to see how Haseeb Hameed could have been expected to offer more than his tally of seven runs from 41 balls across two innings at the MCG, while Ollie Pope’s Bradman-esque average of 99.94 at his home ground at The Oval, compared to his cat-on-hot-tin-roof displays at Brisbane and Adelaide, is the most visceral evidence possible of a domestic first-class system that is failing the next generation.Even on the second day at the MCG, England’s best day of the series had finished with them four down for 31, still 51 runs in arrears, as Australia’s quicks punished their opponents for a fleeting moment of mid-afternoon hubris by unleashing an hour of God-complex thunderbolts. It stood to reason that the morning’s follow-up would be similarly swift and pitiless.Ben Stokes is cleaned up on the third morning in Melbourne•Getty ImagesWatching a bowed and beaten troop of England cricketers suck up Australian outfield celebrations is nothing new, of course. But this is different to previous Ashes hammerings, because despite the Covid restrictions and limited preparation time, never before has a series loss felt further removed from the sorts of caveats that sustained previous such debacles Down Under – most particularly the 2006-07 and 2013-14 whitewashes, both of which were at least the gory dismemberments of England teams that had previously swept all before them.The 2021-22 team, by contrast, has swept nothing before it, except a few uncomfortable home truths under a succession of carpets. Despite the enduring magnificence of James Anderson – whose unvanquished defiance evokes Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh’s noble upholding of West Indies’ crumbling standards at the turn of the millennium – and despite Joe Root willing himself to produce a year of such cursed brilliance it deserves to be inducted into Greek mythology, the rabble that clings to their coat-tails is little more than the zombified remains of the side that surrendered the urn so vapidly back in 2017-18.They travelled to Australia with the same captain, for the first time on an Ashes tour in more than 100 years (and Root is destined for the same 5-0 shellacking that JWHT Douglas achieved in 1920-21); the same core bowling unit of right-arm medium-pacers, and by this third Test, the same outgunned middle order, with Root, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow on this occasion physically united with Ben Stokes, compared to the spectre at the feast that had haunted the team’s endeavours four years ago.Nothing in the interim has progressed for this generation of players, in spite of a vast amount of hot air about how exhaustive the planning for this campaign has been – most particularly from England’s dead-man-walking head coach, Chris Silverwood, whose epitaph deserves to be the same fateful phrase that he used to announce England’s Test squad to face New Zealand at the start of the summer.”The summer of Test cricket will be fascinating,” Silverwood wrote back in May, shortly after he had taken over selection duties from Ed Smith to become the single most powerful supremo in the team’s history. “Playing the top two teams in the world, in New Zealand and India, is perfect preparation for us as we continue to improve and progress towards an Ashes series in Australia at the back end of the year.” Well, that aged well, didn’t it?And yet, Silverwood is just another symptom of English cricket’s wider malaise. From the outset, and irrespective of his theoretical influence, he was only ever an uninspiring over-promotion from within the team’s existing ranks – more than anything, a recognition of how undesirable the role of England head coach has become in recent years.

“All attempts to keep English Test cricket viable essentially ground to a halt from the moment that Tom Harrison was appointed as ECB CEO in 2015”

In an era of gig-economy opportunities on the T20 franchise circuit – when barely a day goes by without Andy Flower, the architect of England’s last truly great Test team, being announced as Tashkent Tigers’ batting consultant in the Uzbekistan Premier League – who wants or needs the 300-hotel-nights-a-year commitment required to oversee a side that, like an overworked troupe of stadium-rock dinosaurs, fears that the moment it takes a break from endless touring, everyone will forget they ever existed in the first place?English cricket’s financial reliance on its Test team has been holding the sport in this country back for generations, long before the complications of Covid kicked in to make the team’s relentless touring lifestyle even less palatable than ever before. It was a point that Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, acknowledged in a moment of guard-down candour before last summer’s series against India – and one that he will now be obliged to revisit with grave urgency as the sport lurches into a new crisis of confidence, but one that is effectively the reverse side of the same coin that the sport has been flipping all year long. English cricket’s ongoing racism crisis, after all, is yet another damning expression of the sport’s inability to move with the times.”It is the most important series, then we’ve got another ‘most important series’ coming up, and then another directly after that,” Harrison said of that India campaign – which, lest we forget, also needs to be completed next summer for the financial good of the game, even if the players would sooner move on and forget. “The reality is, for international players, is that the conveyor belt just keeps going. You want players turning up in these ‘most important series’ feeling fantastic about the opportunity of playing for their country. They are not going to be able to achieve that if they have forgotten the reasons why they play.”The issue for Harrison’s enduring credibility, however, is that all attempts to keep English Test cricket viable essentially ground to a halt from the moment that he was appointed as CEO in 2015.That summer’s team still had the latent talent to seal the last of their four Ashes victories in five campaigns, but on Harrison’s watch, the ECB has essentially spent the past six years preparing the life-rafts for the sport’s post-international future – most notably through the establishment of the Hundred, but also through the full-bore focus on winning the 2019 World Cup, precisely because it was the sort of whiteboard-friendly “deliverable” that sits well on a list of boardroom KPIs… unlike the lumpen, intangible mesh of contexts by which success in Test cricket will always need to be measured.It was a point that Root alluded to his shellshocked post-match comments, where he hinted that the red-ball game needed a “reset” to match the remarkable rise of the white-ball side from the wreckage of that winter’s World Cup. But what do England honestly believe can be reset from this point of the sport’s degradation?More of an end than a beginning: England’s 2005 win has been much mythologised•AFPIt feels as though we’ve all been complicit in the long-con here. For 16 years and counting, the Ashes has been sold as the most glorious expression of cricket’s noble traditions, when in fact that self-same biennial obsession has been complicit in shrinking the format’s ambitions to the point where even England’s head coach thinks that a magnificent home-summer schedule is nothing but a warm-up act.Perhaps it all stems from the reductive ambitions of that never-to-be-forgotten 2005 series, the series upon which most of the modern myth is founded, but which was more of an end than a beginning where English cricket was concerned.The summer of 2005 marked the end of free-to-air TV in the UK, the end of Richie Benaud as English cricket’s voice of ages, the end of 18 years of Stockholm Syndrome-style subjugation by one of the greatest Test teams ever compiled. If English sport was to be repurposed as a series of nostalgic sighs for long-ago glories, then perhaps only Manchester United’s “Solskjær has won it” moment can top it.Sixteen years later, what are we left with? The dreadfulness of the modern Ashes experience has even bled into this winter’s TV coverage, every bit as hamstrung by greedy decisions taken way above the pay-grade of the troops on the ground. It’s symptomatic of a format whose true essence has been asset-stripped since the rivalry’s heyday two decades ago, with those individual assets being sold back to the paying public at a premium in the interim.It’s not unlike a Ponzi scheme, in fact – a concept that English cricket became unexpectedly familiar with during a Test match in Antigua back in 2009, when the revelations about the ECB’s old chum, Allen Stanford, caused a run on his bank in St John’s, with queues stretching way further down the road that any stampede to attend a Caribbean Test match of recent vintage.The warnings about Test cricket’s fragility have been legion for decades. But if England, of all the Test nations, doesn’t remember to care for the format that, through the hype of the Ashes, it pretends to hold most dear, this winter’s experiences have shown that the expertise required to shore up those standards may not be able to survive much more neglect.

The West Indies wicketkeeper-batter talks about his international resurgence, moving to a new IPL franchise, and the T20 World Cup

Interview by Santokie Nagulendran18-Mar-2022After a disappointing 2021 IPL and T20 World Cup, Nicholas Pooran found a second wind in international series against England and India this year. Ahead of the 2022 IPL, Pooran was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 10.75 crore (approx. US$1.43 million) at the auction. In this interview he speaks about his prep leading into the tournament with a new franchise, his time as stand-in captain for West Indies, and looking ahead to the T20 World Cup in Australia later in the year.You were the most expensive West Indian player at this year’s IPL auction. Does that sort of money bring added pressure?
As a professional player, sometimes I guess it does, especially when you’re not doing well, the media targets you, a lot of fans criticise you, so it [the fee] definitely does play a part. But as a professional it’s your job to put that noise behind you and just try to perform for the teamYou had a disappointing season by your own standards last year, averaging 7.75 with the bat for Punjab Kings. Do you feel like you need to prove yourself this year?
It doesn’t feel like that. Just because I had one bad season, it’s not going to change the player I am. I am doing pretty well in international cricket and everyone sees that. For me it’s about giving back to my team – the Sunrisers have invested a lot in me and so I just want to give my all for them – to me it’s about being the best version of myself.Related

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Looking back at that last season, what do you think were the reasons for your lack of form?
Things like this happen; everyone goes through patches in their career. First game last year, I got a first-ball duck, then next game, I got a second-ball duck. Eventually I went out to bat and didn’t even face a ball, got run out (). I’m not dwelling on it too much, I believe I am a much better player now, and I learnt a lot from that IPL season. Have you been working on anything technically?
Every player has technical flaws, but to me it’s more mental, having that clarity in my game. Once I can get into that clear space, I think I’ll be all right. As you can see in my last few T20 games, the last three international series, I’ve started to get into that mindset, knowing exactly what I want to do. So hopefully it continues and people can stop saying I need to keep proving myself.You featured at three, four and five for Punjab Kings, but for Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL, you mainly bat lower down the order. What is your preferred batting position in the format?
I’ve just started to bat at No. 3 [for West Indies] and I’m having some success there. I’m enjoying it at the moment, but for me it’s about doing exactly what the team wants. If I’m picked for a situation, a sitting role, I’ll give my 100%. So for me, I don’t have a favourite number, I know I can bat anywhere and contribute to the team.Pooran managed just 85 runs in 11 innings for Punjab Kings in the IPL last year•BCCIWhat are the differences between batting at three compared to four or five?
Massive difference. At three sometimes, if you come in in the powerplay, the ball is swinging, it’s then just a matter of facing a couple balls and you basically have the freedom to execute your skills to maximise only two fielders being outside the circle. Batting later and coming in the tenth or 15th over, it’s about having that clarity in your execution, the skill and ability to perform in those different roles. If you look around at international cricket, not many openers can finish an innings, so to me it’s about being versatile and working on your skills to adapt. But it’s definitely easier batting at the top of the innings than in the back end.Sunrisers Hyderabad also signed your West Indies team-mate Romario Shepherd. What qualities does he bring to the format?
He’s very hard-working; he’s someone I’ve seen over the last couple of years work hard at his craft. I believe he’s a really smart cricketer, he’s someone who will fight to the end and has that never-give-up attitude. We saw it against England, where he almost pulled that victory off for us. I believe in the near future he will be one of the best allrounders in T20 cricket, because he has that ability – he can bowl quick, bowl at the death, and also smash it very far.You will also be working with fellow Trinidadian Brian Lara, who is the batting coach at the franchise.
Yeah, we have had a couple of conversations in the recent past. He’s simply superb, amazing when it comes to batting and how he views the game. So yeah, looking forward to that opportunity to work with him.KL Rahul was the wicketkeeper when you were at Punjab Kings. This season there’s an opportunity to be first-choice keeper at SRH. Are you looking forward to wearing the gloves?
To me it doesn’t really matter. I enjoy wicketkeeping, and I do enjoy fielding as well. As a wicketkeeper, I’m more involved on the field, in terms of team spirit, trying to make that magic happen when things are not going our way. So, yes, I’m looking forward to the opportunity, whether I’m wicketkeeping or not. As a player who is Indo-Caribbean, do you feel a special connection when in India?

Yeah, I feel a connection. I actually kind of feel like it’s home, I really feel like that. The locals are very friendly, you just have to go there to feel that vibe. I try to learn Hindi and eat as much Indian food when I’m there as well. So to me, I definitely feel that connection.You’ve recently stood in for Kieron Pollard as West Indies captain, and you seem very confident around the players. Is leadership something that comes naturally to you?
It’s come naturally, but I’ve learnt a lot from Pollard, since the Barbados Tridents days [CPL 2017] – I saw how he went about things and developed from there. As a leader you have to talk the talk and walk the walk. You have added responsibility and want the best for your team. At the end of the day it’s about winning the game of cricket, and if I’m in that leadership position, I have to do that extra work. The added responsibility has worked out so far for me.Pooran stood in as West Indies captain after the 2021 T20 World Cup when Pollard picked up at hamstring injury at the tournament•Michael Steele/ICC/Getty ImagesWe’ve seen some local media backlash in the Caribbean against Pollard and head coach Phil Simmons in recent months. Does the team take notice of it?
To be honest, everyone has social media, we know what is happening. I can remember in the England series there were a lot of things going around, and that just made us better as a team. I think we came out and played proper cricket and were successful. That motivated us.Everybody just looks at the outcome, but there’s a lot of work to be done with the West Indies cricket team. I think we are developing, developing a bit slow, but we are seeing progress. Coach Simmons and Pollard are doing an excellent job at the moment, it’s definitely tough being a West Indian and also a West Indies fan. At the end of the day, yes, we want results, but how do we get results? We just can’t turn up and say we are going to be successful. It’s going to take a while for us to cross that bridge, but I am seeing improvements, especially with the batting and bowling. We may not be as consistent as we would like, but that’s the game of cricket; it takes time. After last year’s T20 World Cup we saw Dwayne Bravo retire from international cricket, and Chris Gayle is stepping away as well. How big has their contribution been to West Indian cricket?
Their records speak for themselves. Chris Gayle has the runs record in the format, two T20 World Cups, DJ Bravo also has two World Cups and the wickets he’s taken in international cricket. And it’s not just their records either; their leadership, they’ve been around for a long, long time. For me, if you’re involved with West Indies cricket for over 15 years, that means something special. Those two were my childhood heroes. I was fortunate to play with them and learn from them. A lot of younger players would have got the opportunity to experience just how it feels to be in the dressing room with those two guys.I also believe they are two of the happiest men alive, on and off the cricket field, and that is one of the most important things in life, to do everything with a smile.You played in the Big Bash League for Melbourne Stars in 2020. Now with the 2022 T20 World Cup looming, would you say conditions suit you more in Australia than they did in the UAE?
I believe the wickets in Australia are very good to bat on. I certainly enjoyed my time at the Big Bash in 2020, so I’m looking forward to that opportunity to play in Australia again. Not only me, I know a lot of our players would like the conditions there as well. It’s going to still be a challenge – we have qualifiers first – but we are ready for it.”Gayle and Bravo were my childhood heroes; I was fortunate to play with them and learn from them”•AFP/Getty ImagesAfter returning from the limited-overs series in India, you took some time to play local T10 Cricket in Trinidad. How did you enjoy that?
I really enjoyed it. It’s been two years without local cricket in Trinidad, it’s good to be back with the guys [Sunil Narine, Evin Lewis, Kieron Pollard all took part]. Trinidad has a lot of good cricketers, but it’s also about giving back as well. When I was younger I would have wanted international players to come back to share some knowledge and learn from them. So hopefully a youngster can learn something from me.Do you see T10 Cricket as being distinct from T20?
Definitely different from T20 cricket. I see T10 cricket as being all about freedom. Doesn’t matter as much about the game situation, with the first ball, if you feel like hitting a six, go for it, nobody is going to be angry with you. But it’s also helping the game and helping players expand their game, that fearlessness encouraged in the format brings out more in every player. You spoke with Sir Desmond Haynes, who is the new West Indies selector, about playing red-ball cricket…
We had a small conversation. It went well actually, so let’s see what happens in the future. Going forward, it’s a conversation I need to have with the selectors and coach. It’s difficult, we don’t really get much time off for ourselves. I believe there should be a compromise, but everyone sees it differently.After the IPL finishes in May, West Indies have a few white-ball series, so I don’t know when there’s actually time for me to play first-class cricket or what the way forward is. It’s a challenge. Playing Test cricket is still in my plans, but as I say, everything happens at the right time. When it’s my time to play Test cricket, I’m sure I will.Outside of Trinidad and Tobago, which is your favourite ground to play in?
Dubai International Cricket Stadium. I feel like I have a special connection with that ground, I scored a century there in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup, which means something to me. That was my most memorable moment so far in terms of my cricket career. It will always have a special place in my heart.