The fast bowler talks about his evolution as a front-line quick for New Zealand, his legendary spell at the Bay Oval, and looks ahead to the WTC final

Deivarayan Muthu30-May-20213:37

Wagner: ‘It was about finding a different method to make the bowling unit effective’

Moving from South Africa to England to finally New Zealand, and now to No. 3 on ICC’s Test bowler rankings, Neil Wagner has come a long way. The left-arm quick spoke about his evolution from a swing bowler to a menacing first-change option, the spell at Mount Maunganui last summer, and the forthcoming World Test Championship final against India in Southampton. Even two broken toes didn’t stop you from bowling nearly 50 overs across both innings and setting up New Zealand’s victory against Pakistan at the Bay Oval. How did you break through the pain barrier?
Yeah, it’s a tough one. [It was] sort of in the moment and I guess adrenaline and playing for the team – wearing the black cap is the ultimate drive and it obviously motivates you to go through that. It’s [also] just everyone else around you encouraging you to do something like that, and trying to bite through as much pain as I could to try and deliver a job. Luckily it came off.Related

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Around the time of the 12th injection during that Test, you said that you were biting a towel…
Yeah, it wasn’t nice (). But it’s just one of those things. You have to try and dig deep and find a way. Test cricket and playing for New Zealand means a lot to me, so I wanted to be out there. We don’t get too many opportunities or too many Test matches sometimes – we had only four Tests that home summer. So, for me, every opportunity is pretty special, and I just wanted to be out there with the lads, give it my all, and try and find a way to contribute. In the end, it was all worth it.And you have a bit of fear of needles?
Yeah, I don’t like needles (). It was one of those things where you had to close your eyes and just sort of deal with it.Did you have to alter your action during that Test match because of the injury?
It was one of those moments where you try to not think about it too much and just get through it. But I felt like the action was changing to overcompensate for the foot a little bit. I started feeling that my back and shoulder were getting a bit sore and mentally it was sort of draining when it got to the back end of that Test – when the game finished, everything fell off the shoulders a little bit and felt a little bit like, “Yeah, it’s over now. I’m done with it.” You switch off and straightaway start feeling the pain.”To play with your close friends, with the black cap on your head and that fern on your chest, is a pretty special feeling”•Getty ImagesDid you enjoy bouncing out Fawad Alam in the second innings? You celebrated his wicket with a vicious high five that almost knocked out BJ Watling.
Yeah, I don’t like the way I sometimes celebrate (). It just sort of comes out. I remember seeing some footage, and poor Mitchell Santner probably tried to come in for a high five, and I went quite hard there. I think it’s maybe letting off the steam, and a bit of frustration comes out bowling through the pain and trying to get a wicket, and finally when you do, it’s a bit of a relief. Looking back afterwards it’s not the nicest sight. I don’t like the sight of my veins popping and things like that. But it’s the passion that I play with and the pride I take [in my performance]. The boys give me a bit of stick and we do have a couple of laughs about it as well.Yeah, maybe [I enjoyed the wicket of Alam more] because he was putting up a pretty good fight. He has been showing that he’s a good member of the Pakistan team, playing really well and making some valuable contributions. We found it really tough bowling to him during that Test match. He didn’t offer many shots or chances, so to finally have got a shot out of him and being able to get his wicket was pretty pleasing.Then there’s the version of Wagner who runs down to fine leg, flashes a big smile, and happily obliges young fans.
I think people who know me off the field know exactly who I am and how I am. Emotions do come out sometimes – I wear them on my sleeve – but I remember what it was like when I was a kid standing on the side of the field and asking for an autograph or wanting to talk to a player. To give that little back, it goes a long way in getting kids to fall in love with the game and getting them to see the way I saw it when I was a kid growing up. People off the field know me as a friendly guy who is a lot more approachable than the guy who is celebrating after a wicket, that’s for sure ().The bowling pack has forged a strong partnership with Watling over the years. You’ve also played with him for Northern Districts. What has your relationship with him been like?
He’s a top man and will be sorely missed in this team. He’s the glue and the gel of the team and has been around for a long time now. I’ve always appreciated his honesty. He’s one of the guys who puts me back in line if need be, but will also encourage you and pick you up on the tough days. He’s always been there for me, whether for plans or ideas. No matter how tired he is, he will sprint from the keeping side, run all the way to your mark to have a chat with you with a couple of plans. He’s been a class performer for this team and he’s always seen to be the guy that has done the nitty-gritty sort of stuff well and encourages people like myself and everyone around the team. Mount Maunganui 2020. Perth 2019. Kolkata 2016. Do trying conditions or circumstances tend to bring the best out of you?
Test cricket is tough and it’s never easy playing in different parts of the world, where it can be challenging. You get to test your skills and ability against the best players in the toughest situations. That’s where you want to stand up and make some sort of impact, and I pride myself in playing a role when things are tough. I want to put my hand up and have the ball in my hand.That’s his happy face: Fawad Alam gets a faceful of the other Wagner•Getty ImagesIt’s a special thing to be a part of and to represent your country. With my background and where I come from [South Africa], to be able to get that opportunity and the sacrifices that you had to make along the way… it means a lot to play for New Zealand. The guys around me are mates on and off the field, friends for life, so I’m doing it for them too. Seeing the satisfaction on their faces is extremely rewarding at the back end of it. So to play with your close friends, with the black cap on your head and that fern on your chest, is a pretty special feeling.What does your fitness routine look like?
We’re lucky to have a trainer like Chris Donaldson, who has been a huge part of the team, and not just the bowling unit. I’ve had him from my first year starting at Otago – he was our fitness trainer then and he later joined the Black Caps. Ever since I’ve started working with him since I moved over to New Zealand, he has been monumental in my success. The way he encourages us to train really hard and do the hard yards – you’ve got to motivate yourself on some cold winter days to get up and go to the gym and do some running outdoors. He has been a huge part of it all and obviously [I spend] a lot of time in the gym, running and doing fitness stuff. Bowling-wise as well, as a group we push each other to do the hard work. So I guess a huge thanks goes to those guys and we keep feeding and bouncing ideas off each other. How have the 100-200-300-400 metre runs under Donaldson benefited you?
We all do those runs. It’s one of our running sessions and it’s one that I enjoy the most. I sort of feel like it gets me going and I get a good rhythm out of that. We do have various other running sessions that we do.We sometimes sort of joke around and say it’s a love-hate relationship. Love them during the season, when you see the rewards for it. And at the time when the email comes about the fitness and training work that needs to be done, you don’t like it very much (). It’s one of those things where you clench your teeth a little bit and go, “Argh!” Coming through a Test match and being able to back it up the next game, that’s where you give Chris a big hug and say, ‘Thanks for making us push through’, because it goes a long way to bowl those long spells and back it up game after game.Are you among the fastest sprinters in the group?
No, I’m definitely not. I like to try and push myself to be there. I think Trent [Boult], Mitchell Santner, Henry Nicholls are the fastest guys and I try to keep up. Lockie Ferguson is a pretty good runner as well. But, yeah, I can’t say that I’m one of the fastest and strongest around, but I do have goals that I know I have achieved through the years and I try to improve on them or stay around the same.You trained with Colin de Grandhomme in Mount Maunganui during your recovery from the toe injuries. How is your body shaping up for the England tour?
Yeah, quite a few of us stay in the same area in Mount Maunganui, so it makes things easier, training-wise. Being able to train with Colin, who is also coming back from injury, has been quite beneficial and it’s nice to hit the ground running. We had some amazing facilities at the Bay Oval and to get some overs under the belt in the Plunket Shield was quite beneficial for me as well. To get some bowling fitness in that sense – it’s the first time in my career that I’ve been away for ten weeks after an injury. It was a bit of a change, but yeah, it was nice to get some overs and play for Northern Districts at that time and get some rhythm leading into these three Test matches [in England].”The guys around me are mates on and off the field, friends for life, so I’m doing it for them too”•Getty ImagesWhen you burst onto the scene in New Zealand and bagged five wickets in an over in first-class cricket, you were largely a swing bowler who could also reverse-swing the ball. How did you evolve into this first-change bowler for whom the top of off is the batter’s body?
Yeah, I obviously started as a swing bowler, as someone who pitched it up a lot more than I do now or what it looks like in Test cricket. It still comes down to the conditions and what’s in front of me and what the day requires. In New Zealand, the wickets tend to flatten out quite quickly, and if the ball doesn’t swing, I obviously try to bang it in and get different modes of dismissal or try and create some pressure with dot balls by doing that. Through the years, playing more cricket and getting more experience and sort of knowing that we have two of the best swing bowlers in the world in Tim [Southee] and Trent… Rather than trying to bowl the same as they do or trying to compete with them, for me it was about trying and finding a different method or a way that’s going to make them and us effective as a bowling unit. It sort of came off and worked out at that time, and I just ended up going with it.I do still try to pitch the ball up when it’s required and if it can swing. Like I’ve shown in the last season in New Zealand against West Indies and Pakistan, if it’s required to pitch it up, we go that route. If my role is to run in and pitch it short, we obviously change accordingly. It’s quite nice to have been able to develop different skills.It took a little while to find my role or my feet in the early stages of my career in the Test team. Once you get that, you grow some confidence, knowing what you need to do and knowing your role. It’s nice that we feed off each other and with Kyle Jamieson coming into the attack as well, he brings in a different dimension. It’s nice that we all offer something different.Sometimes people tend to stereotype you as a short-ball specialist, but you have developed a knuckleball and a three-quarter-seam ball along the way. Can you talk us through the change-ups?
I do play a bit of white-ball cricket for Northern Districts. And obviously, in white-ball cricket you’ve got to refer to the yorkers and slower balls for a few bits and pieces of that. Playing that has been nice for staying fresh and mentally training different skills and things you need to do. Sometimes they can come in handy in Test cricket too, and it makes the short ball more effective when you can swing the ball upfront, and to have a slower ball up the sleeve as well.It just comes down to summing up the conditions and what’s required on the day. Obviously in England, it will be a bit different with the Dukes ball. If the overhead conditions suit to pitch the ball up, look to swing the ball or use the seam. Then, when it’s required, when the sun is out and it’s flatter, you try to bang it in shorter and then that role comes into play. It comes down to knowing your role and whatever Kane [Williamson] and the team requires from me, and I try to do it to the best of my ability to take a wicket or bowl for someone else at the other end to get a breakthrough. We know that as a unit when it swings around, one day it will be one person’s day and on another it can be someone else’s. But if we keep chipping in, playing our roles, we will be successful as a group.”I remember what it was like as a kid, standing on the side of the field, wanting to talk to a player. To give that something back, it goes a long way in getting kids to fall in love with the game”•Getty ImagesHas Jamieson’s emergence helped ease the load off yourself, Southee and Boult?
We’ve been lucky to have quality bowlers over the years now. Matt Henry, Doug Bracewell, Mitchell Santner, Colin de Grandhomme and Daryl Mitchell – everybody has chipped in when they needed to. That’s the beauty of this team – when you come in, you know your role. Jamo has come in and seamlessly fit into the group. He has been nice and level-headed and wanting to learn. And he has played some amazing cricket. So his confidence will only grow and get better as he goes on in his career. It will be exciting to see where he can take it to. He has all the attributes and it’s amazing to see how he has fit into the bowling group.Outside of this Test squad on tour, there’s Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne and Blair Tickner. Ben Wheeler has been around and Will Williams had a fine domestic season. Have New Zealand’s pace stocks ever been richer?
I don’t think it has, to be fair. Since I started, with guys like Mitchell McClenaghan who has played for New Zealand and now the names you’ve mentioned, there has been a healthy group of fast bowlers in New Zealand for a number of years. The good thing about it is that it keeps you working hard on your game to be able to get selected or play. These other guys will push you, which is pretty good, and it’s a healthy place for New Zealand cricket to be in. Sometimes it can be a coach’s or selector’s nightmare, but it’s a really good problem to have. To be able to pick through various groups of fast bowlers and to be able to rotate them as well… That sort of thing is also good if there are injuries or something like that – somebody can come in and fill those boots. R Ashwin, who plays just one format now for India, recently referred to the WTC final as a World Cup for him. You, too, play only Tests for New Zealand. What does the WTC final mean to you?
Yeah, it is like a World Cup final for me. The biggest disappointment, I guess, in my career is that I’ve never really played a white-ball game for New Zealand or never been able to crack into the T20 or the one-day game. That ship has probably sailed now and I don’t think the opportunity will ever come. For me now, it’s about putting all my focus and energy into Test cricket and to be able to play in a World Test Championship final is like a World Cup for me.I know this final is the first and there isn’t a lot of history around it, but it’s the start of something that’s pretty big. To play in a one-off Test final against India – one of the best teams in the world, if not the best team in the world – to be able to test yourself against the best on the highest and biggest stage, that’s what it’s about. It’s extremely exciting, but I don’t want to think too far ahead. Don’t want to let the occasion get to you, just treat it like another Test match and do the same things you do. It’s definitely going to be a special occasion. That’s for sure.

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.

Spinner’s climb towards latest milestone has been arduous

Andrew McGlashan10-Dec-2021Nathan Lyon claimed his 390th Test wicket on January 6, 2020, when he removed BJ Watling to wrap up victory against New Zealand at the SCG. He claimed his 399th Test wicket on January 19, 2021 when he removed Washington Sundar on the final day of the thrilling series against India.By the time some of you read this the moment may have come, but as of December 10, 2021 Lyon is still waiting to be the third Australian to scale mount 400. It will come, but it’s not coming easily.Partly Australia’s paucity of Test cricket in recent years is at play. This is just their 10th Test match since the 2019 Ashes but, regardless of that, the climb towards the latest milestone has been arduous.In the first Test against India last year there wasn’t much needed from him with the visitors’ second innings amounting to 36 and in Melbourne there was barely a target to defend. However, India played him superbly in the second two matches. Lyon’s figures in those games were 5 for 351, although it might have been different if Tim Paine had not put down two chances at the SCG.Related

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Leading into this Test he had two Sheffield Shield matches for New South Wales where he bowled 106 overs and claimed four wickets. He bowled well, at times very well, on the third day at the Gabba but the wickets column remained at zero. There was only a centimetre or so in it, though, with one delivery.When Dawid Malan had 8 he shouldered arms to one that slid on with natural variation – Lyon was trying to turn it – and it barely cleared off stump. Hawkeye said it was 1.6cm between Malan surviving and not. He could be forgiven for the decision to leave; three overs earlier Lyon had made one grip and spin extravagantly from middle and leg to zip past the edge.”There’s a little bit of turn and I can see it turning more as the game goes on,” Malan said.It wasn’t the only near-miss for Lyon. Early in his innings, Joe Root nearly ballooned an attempted sweep to short leg and the ball before he went to fifty he missed another and was nearly bowled. Between those moments Lyon landed one perfectly which exploded from a length and ragged past Malan’s edge.There is, however, some evidence – beyond the bare number of wickets – that currently Lyon is perhaps not providing quite the threat that he has in the past.Analysis of ESPNcricinfo’s data showed how England were comfortable defending Lyon on the front foot. So far in the game they have done so 60 times but have not been in control to only seven of those shots. In the past Lyon has used drift, dip and overspin to deceive batters looking to get on their front foot in Australian conditions. Out of the 61 wickets Lyon has taken at home in the last four seasons, 21 have come when batters have been out playing forward defence. That has been his most productive mode of dismissing batters in Australia.However, numbers suggest that batters are getting more comfortable defending Lyon off the front foot: according to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, in the summers of 2018 (vs India) and 2019 (vs Pakistan and New Zealand), Lyon took 19 wickets when batters were defending on the front foot – once every 47 balls.Since the last home season against India, batters have played the front foot defence to 328 balls from Lyon but have been dismissed only twice. From what remains a small sample size of three Tests, his current overall strike-rate for 2021 is 202.8.Nathan Lyon ponders a close call•CA/Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesThe contest with Root, one of the best players in the world, who is such a good judge of length and very adept at using the crease, was superb. Root took 37 runs off 54 balls against him; Malan, with the usual challenges of a left-hander to offspin, had 30 runs from 78 balls.”He [Root] batted really well, played Nathan Lyon very well,” Marnus Labuschagne said. “He’s obviously a beautiful player of spin bowling – and pace bowling – but it’s not my job to admire Joe Root’s innings, it’s my job to try and find holes in his game and help the team wherever I can to get him out.”Before the match, Pat Cummins indicated that captaining spin-bowling would be one area where he might be looking for advice. Towards the end of the day Ricky Ponting, commentating on Channel Seven, did question some of the field placements when there were no close catchers in front of the bat. At times during the Root-Malan partnership, Labuschagne and vice-captain Steven Smith could be seen chatting with Lyon.”I think it’s a wicket where you need to be crafty with your field and that’s what me and Nathan were discussing,” Labuschagne said. “Potentially where we could get another catcher, where we could use our short legs. Just trying to come up with ideas.”For Lyon, though, the wait goes on. In the penultimate over of the day Malan played and missed at a cut shot. Lyon’s hands were on his head. It’s been a familiar pose of late.

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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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.

The reason why we expect Sri Lanka will make something of the Tests against India is because in his own unobtrusive way, Karunaratne has made it so

Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Mar-2022There is a stepdad-of-the-year vibe to Dimuth Karunaratne’s leadership. When he got the job in early 2019, the Sri Lanka captaincy – never not a theatre of high drama – was in a particularly toxic place. Dinesh Chandimal had not merely been replaced as captain, but also been dumped from the team entirely.In the previous four years, three others had led the side, on top of which Chandika Hathurusingha, the coach at the time, was not only facing serious heat from the board and the sports minister himself, but Sri Lanka’s most senior player Angelo Mathews was also at an open war with him.Karunaratne came like a light rain to tone down – if not quite extinguish – the fire. Just an affable guy. You know the type. A kind word here, an arm around the shoulder there. Not the fire-and-brimstone stepdad who will erupt when you tell him about the flunked exam. Instead, he’ll peer over his glasses past his gardening magazine, bend an ear, let you figure your own life yourself.Related

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What is clear is that Sri Lanka’s Test team desperately needs Karunaratne in the picture, because remember what happens when he isn’t? In January last year, he hit a terrific second-innings century in Johannesburg but picked up a nasty fracture in his hand during the course of that knock, and had to miss the upcoming England Tests at home because of it.Sri Lanka have had some bad old times in the past few years, but nothing was more embarrassing than series. On day one of the first Test in Galle, they were all out for 135, collapsing to some profoundly innocuous offspin from Dom Bess. It was like watching someone trip over their shoelaces before being gnawed to death by a hamster, which Bess is. In their last innings of that series, Sri Lanka failed even more abysmally – all out for 126, thus sealing a 2-0 series loss.So what happens when Karunaratne comes back? They draw two Tests in the West Indies, win a series at home against Bangladesh and then beat West Indies 2-0 at home. Not the most challenging assignments in Test cricket, sure, but when the alternative is shameful capitulation, you’ll take three wins and three draws from six Tests.The reverse-sweep to get out of jail when he hasn’t hit a conventional sweep all game: Karunaratne against India in 2017•Associated PressKarunaratne himself thinks – and his thoughts are not without merit – that Sri Lanka are building to something. Building. Not frantically keeping their noses above churning water; not lurching from disaster to elation. Building. Our guy has led the charge himself. Since 2019 – and in an era that has been notoriously unkind to opening batters – Sri Lanka have had seven century stands for the first wicket. No one else has had more than five. Lahiru Thirimanne has featured in five of those; Pathum Nissanka in two. Karunaratne in all.Which in a roundabout way brings us to India, because while Karunaratne has hit hundreds against all but two of the oppositions he has faced, his best innings came against India – on the filthiest of filthy turners in Sri Lanka, the spiritual home of the filthy turner. He barely swept R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja – they shared 14 wickets between them in that match – but in his own unobtrusive way, he clawed to 141.Whips through midwicket, cuts that look pretty good but somehow don’t quite get to the boundary, drives that don’t pierce the gap in the sense that a diving mid-off can get a hand to it but can’t stop it completely and the funny-looking reverse-sweep to get out of jail when he hasn’t hit a conventional sweep all game: this is the house Karunaratne has built.In the past year, it has looked like a half-decent house actually, because his own batting form has coincided with a happy stretch for the Test side. He cracked 902 Test runs from 13 innings at an average of 69.38 in 2021. But, okay, most of those runs came against West Indies and Bangladesh. Playing India in India is a big step up, which means that 2022 is starting with probably the toughest assignment in all of Test cricket. Here is what he had to say about that.”I have only played three Tests in India, and I wasn’t able to make a lot of runs. I’m very determined that this series will be my best series in India. It’s ok that this year starts with a really tough series. It’s from the tough starts that you learn things about yourself. I’ve left my good 2021 aside, and am focusing on getting a good start this year and making it as good as last year. Contributing to a team win is what’s important.”Read that quote again. Because it’s concentrated Karunaratne. There is an awareness of his failings. An acceptance of less-than-ideal circumstances. A grim determination. Stepdad of the year.There is some expectation now that Sri Lanka will make something of this Test series. Karunaratne knows that. And he expects it himself. And the big reason why he, and we, expect it is because in his own unobtrusive way, he has made it so.

Also, do Lucknow Super Giants have enough back-up for their first XI?

Nagraj Gollapudi and Gaurav Sundararaman18-Mar-2022
Rajasthan Royals: Where does Buttler bat, and who’s at No. 7?
Last IPL, Jos Buttler played only the first half but was his team’s leading scorer (254 runs at a strike rate of 153) before the Covid-19-enfored break. He signed off with 124 against Sunrisers. In six of seven Royals matches in the first half, Buttler opened. But given the addition of Devdutt Padikkal, will Buttler continue at the top?If he opens, Padikkal will possibly play at No. 3 followed by Sanju Samson, Royals’ captain, at No. 4. That will also mean a left-right opening combination instead two left-hand openers in Yashasvi Jaiswal and Padikkal. That said, if Buttler bats at No. 3 or 4, Royals would have a power-packed middle-order that also features Shimron Hetmyer at No. 5.Related

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You would expect R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Prasidh Krishna to be Nos. 8-11. That leaves No. 7. For that, Royals would ideally want an allrounder, who is likely to also be the fourth overseas player. Rassie van der Dussen could perhaps swap batting positions with Hetmyer to create batting depth, but then Royals would end up light on bowling. So it is essentially a toss-up between James Neesham and Nathan Coulter-Nile. Coulter-Nile might just be the front-runner considering he is a bowling allrounder who scores at a strike rate of 132 in T20s and can bowl at 140-plus kph.Punjab Kings: Should Bairstow bat at No. 4?
Punjab Kings have an enviable top five in Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone and Shahrukh Khan. The only question for them is whether Livingstone should bat at one-down and Bairstow at four, a role he performs for England in T20Is when Buttler and Jason Roy open.Will the big-hitting Liam Livingstone deliver for Punjab Kings?•Arjun Singh/BCCILivingstone has played at No. 3 18 times in T20s, scoring 496 runs at an average of 33.06, with a strike rate of 144.18 and five fifties. Both Bairstow and Livingstone have good records against spin in the last two years, scoring off the slow stuff at close to 140. Livingstone has similar a strike rate at Nos. 4 and 5 too, but his average drops to the mid-20s.If Bairstow bats at No. 4, not only will he allow more freedom to the top order, but with his extensive experience, he could also guide the lower-middle order, which is likely to have Shahrukh and Odean Smith.Sunrisers Hyderabad: Where should Pooran bat?
Sunrisers have a lot of depth and flexibility in their squad: many of their batters can bat at different positions and bowl too, while a lot of their bowlers can bat. Their main decision will be where to fit Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram in the line-up.Markram performed well at Nos. 4 and 5 for South Africa in the T20 World Cup. Pooran, who had a disappointing IPL last year as well as a lean World Cup, can slide between Nos. 3 and 5. With Kane Williamson and Abhishek Sharma likely to open, Pooran can follow Rahul Tripathi (No. 3) – that would provide a good balance, and also create the left-right combination that teams crave. Markram will then be No. 5.Another option could be to have Markram and Abhishek open the innings followed by Williamson and Tripathi, with Pooran playing the finisher. Sunrisers have a happy headache on their hands.Matthew Wade: the hero of Australia’s 2021 T20 World Cup semi-final•Getty ImagesGujarat Titans: Who opens with Gill?

Jason Roy’s withdrawal left Gujarat Titans with the immediate hurdle of finding Shubman Gill’s opening partner. Afghanistan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Roy’s replacement, could end up being the reserve opener. Titans’ best option might be Matthew Wade, who provides a left-right combination with Gill, and doubles up as the wicketkeeper. Wade also has an impressive strike rate of 156.14 in all T20s as an opener since 2019 IPL, the fourth best in the world (min. 30 innings).Wade might have played only three matches in the IPL, for Delhi Daredevils in 2011, but he has a lot of experience, can be the aggressor at the top or even at the finish as he has proved, emerging as the hero of Australia’s semi-final win against Pakistan in last year’s T20 World Cup. Playing Wade at the top also gives Titans the additional option of considering Wriddhiman Saha at No. 3, a position which does not have a designated name to it yet. Vijay Shankar is the other option at one-down and don’t be surprised if Hardik Pandya fancies himself in the top order in some matches.Quinton de Kock could prove vital for Lucknow Super Giants at the top, especially early in the tournament when several of his IPL team-mates are yet to arrive•Getty Images Lucknow Super Giants: Do they have enough back-up for each role?

Lucknow Super Giants had a good auction, getting many in-demand Indian IPL players like Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi. However, they picked just seven overseas players and do not seem to have enough depth in case of injuries or unavailability. For at least their first three matches, Super Giants are likely to be without key overseas players Marcus Stoinis and Jason Holder, who are busy with bilateral series. And then there’s the loss of Mark Wood, out with an elbow injury picked up during England’s Tests against West Indies.*There are three main overseas players available from the start in Quinton de Kock, Dushmantha Chameera and Evin Lewis. With the opening slots likely to be taken by KL Rahul and de Kock, Super Giants will find it hard to play Lewis at the top. While their first XI is strong, the lack of like-for-like replacements and squad depth could prove costly.*

Expect these six players to trigger fierce bidding wars on February 12 and 13

Gaurav Sundararaman and Nagraj Gollapudi01-Feb-20228:28

Newsroom: How has Ishan Kishan missed out on the marquee list?

Ishan KishanPower hitter, 10-year player, smashes spin, and can bat anywhere. Don’t be surprised if Kishan, at 23, ends up as one of the most expensive buys of the auction. In IPL 2020, Kishan hit an astounding 30 sixes, the most in that edition. Having been signed in 2018 by Mumbai Indians for INR 6.4 crore, Kishan provided a left-hand option in the Mumbai top order. Last year, he made his international debut, and, although Mumbai did not retain him, Kishan, who is from the eastern state of Jharkhand, has been confident about doing well at the auction and is understood to have even declined offers from the two new franchise – Lucknow Super Giants and Ahmedabad.Previous franchises: Gujarat Lions (2017), Mumbai Indians (2018-21)Potential destinations: Punjab Kings, Ahmedabad, Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Lucknow Super Giants.Quinton de Kock is comfortable against pace and spin alike•BCCI/IPLQuinton de KockHe has been one of the most impactful batters in the last three IPLs. After the 2018 season, Mumbai were desperate for an overseas opener and a quality wicketkeeper so they traded in de Kock from Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 2.8 crore. It would prove to be a smart investment considering the left-hander emerged as Mumbai’s top run-getter in 2019 and second-highest in 2020. de Kock scored over 500 runs in back-to-back seasons, an uncommon feat in the IPL, and played a massive hand in Mumbai winning back-to-back trophies. During his three-season stay with Mumbai, de Kock amassed 1329 runs, which was most for his team in that period, and the sixth-highest overall in the IPL. de Kock is probably the world’s best wicketkeeper in white-ball cricket and has captained South Africa, and his ability to accelerate against both fast bowlers and spinners makes him particularly dangerous. Having retired from Test cricket, de Kock will be fresh and is likely to remain available for the whole season.Previous franchises: Sunrisers Hyderabad (2013), Delhi Daredevils (2014-17), Royal Challengers Bangalore (2018), Mumbai Indians (2019-21)Potential destinations: Punjab Kings, Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers BangaloreDinesh Karthik may be 36 but he is still a big asset•BCCIDinesh KarthikProven performer, former IPL captain at a title-winning franchise, and a successful finisher over the last few seasons, Karthik has always been a big buy at IPL auctions. He was sold for INR 12.5 crores in 2014, INR 10.5 crores a year later and INR 7.4 crores in 2018. While he can bat at any position, he has walked in mostly as a finisher over the past few seasons at Kolkata Knight Riders. Since IPL 2018, in the death overs (overs 17-20) Karthik’s strike rate is 184.01 – among Indians with at least 200 runs in that phase, only Virat Kohli, Rahul, Pant, Hardik Pandya, Samson and Dhoni have scored faster and all of them have been retained. Experience in dealing with pressure situations, reading the match from behind the wickets and leadership remain the key drivers that will once again make Karthik a potential big buy. He might be 36, but as Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo have proven already, that can be an asset.Previous franchises: Delhi Daredevils (2008 and 2014), Kings XI Punjab (2009-11), Mumbai Indians (2012-13), Royal Challengers Bangalore (2015), Gujarat Lions (2016-17), Kolkata Knight Riders (2018-21)Potential destinations: Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Lucknow Super Giants, AhmedabadJonny Bairstow could even shed the gloves and make the team as a pure batter•BCCI/IPLJonny BairstowHe stands out as one of the few overseas batters who has been consistent over multiple IPL seasons. Sunrisers Hyderabad picked him at the 2019 auction for INR 2.2 crores and he repaid that faith by forging an exceptional opening partnership with David Warner. He has scored 1038 runs at an average of 41.52 and a strike rate of 142.19 in three seasons with Sunrisers. Bairstow is also that rare overseas batter who is comfortable against both pace and spin. One of the most athletic fielders in world cricket, he could even shed the gloves and get his name on the team sheet purely as as a batter.Previous franchises: Sunrisers Hyderabad (2019-21)Potential destinations: Ahmedabad, Punjab Kings, Mumbai Indians, Lucknow Super Giants, Kolkata Knight RidersNicholas Pooran can float up and down the batting order•BCCINicholas PooranWatching him can be both exhilarating and frustrating. In all T20s since 2019, Pooran has hit 198 sixes, the third-most by any batter in this period. This includes the 2020 IPL, when Pooran hit 25 sixes, the most by an overseas batter. Also, since 2019, Pooran’s IPL strike rate has been 154.98, the fourth-highest with a cut-off of 500 runs. Not only does he stand out as a power-hitter, Pooran can also float between the top and the middle order. At 26, he has a long road of ahead of him, and having been West indies vice-captain in white-ball cricket, franchises will look at him as a leadership option too.Previous franchises: Mumbai Indians (2017), Punjab Kings (2018-21)Potential destinations: Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders, AhmedabadSrikar Bharat hit a six off the last ball to win a game against Delhi Capitals in IPL 2021•BCCISrikar BharatThe moment he lofted Avesh Khan high over the long-on boundary to seal a last-ball victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Delhi Capitals last year, he would have known it was going to be a turning point in his career. Batting at No. 3 Bharat stunned Capitals with a knock Royal Challengers’ then captain Virat Kohli termed “incredible.” An opener for the first half of his T20 career, Bharat has since espoused the belief that where he bats does not matter to him. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy last December, he became only the second Indian batter after Prithvi Shaw to hit consecutive 150-plus scores in 50-overs cricket. Bharat, at 28, is also an attractive option because franchises always fancy an Indian keeper-batter to an overseas option as it helps them with team balance.Previous franchises: Delhi Daredevils (2015), Royal Challengers Bangalore (2021)Potential destinations: Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad

New era began with a loss, and focus on bowlers than batting depth – Buttler will have to learn quickly ahead of T20 World Cup

Matt Roller08-Jul-2022It was an incongruous handover. “Today, I start my new life as an England fan,” Eoin Morgan wrote in his programme notes for his old side’s T20I series against India. “I think for now it makes sense to detach myself from the England set-up a little bit, to give Jos [Buttler] and Motty [Matthew Mott, the white-ball coach] some room.”But it was hard to escape Morgan’s presence at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday night. Rather than relaxing at home with a glass of red wine in England’s first game since his international retirement, Morgan was on site in a crisp white shirt, watching on from the Sky Sports “pod” on the boundary edge.At the start of the 12th over, when Chris Jordan returned to bowl his second over, former England batter Nick Knight was thrown on commentary. “Morgan has gone to his most experienced bowler because he knows the importance of this partnership,” he said, before correcting himself: “Buttler, even…” The change of captaincy has loomed for some time, but it will take some getting used to.Related

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Buttler has led England before in white-ball cricket – five times in T20Is and nine times in ODIs – but this was his first game in full-time charge, and represented a reality check as to the scale of the role. He has a significant burden on his workload in this format in particular – opening the batting and keeping wicket as well as now captaining – and this was the first of a dozen games in a 25-day window which will be a significant test.The first obvious difference of the Buttler era was in selection. Morgan prioritised batting depth at all costs throughout his tenure, but under Buttler in the first T20I against India in Southampton, England fielded an extra bowling option compared to the sides they played throughout last year’s World Cup, with Tymal Mills unusually high at No. 9.”That will develop over time,” Morgan said of their balance. “There’s flexibility depending on how we see fit.”But the biggest change was simply his position behind the stumps, rather than in the field. Morgan would typically field at extra cover, giving him easy access to his bowlers throughout an over to discuss plans. “I always felt I wanted to give the bowler clear direction at the top of his mark,” he explained on air.Buttler attacked by using Moeen Ali in the powerplay, and got mixed results•PA Images via Getty ImagesButtler, by contrast, generally opted to leave his bowlers to the task at hand, delegating responsibility to two senior players in Moeen Ali and Jordan when he felt a message needed to be relayed. At times, bowlers appeared isolated: during Matt Parkinson’s second over when deep extra cover, long-off and long-on were in place, there were no red shirts within 20 yards of the bowler.”If you need to talk, it’s easy to just to do the legwork as a wicketkeeper and touch base at the start of overs,” Buttler said. “A lot of the time either Chris Jordan or Moeen Ali is at mid-off or mid-on relaying messages as well. But I like the bowlers to take some ownership; I like them to try and lead that as much as they can.”And of course, doing that legwork, we can have good conversations as to what we’re trying to achieve.”Buttler made several attacking moves, not least opting to dangle the carrot to India in the powerplay by giving the third and fifth overs to Moeen. It was a qualified success: Moeen removed Rohit Sharma with an arm ball which took his outside edge, and had Ishan Kishan caught top-edging a sweep to short fine leg. However, he returned 2 for 26 in the powerplay, being swept for consecutive fours by Rohit and launched over long-on by Deepak Hooda for back-to-back sixes.Buttler had spoken in the build-up about looking to solve England’s death-bowling problems by taking early wickets, and was successful up to a point: the final six overs cost 48 runs as Jordan, in particular, thrived by bowling hard lengths, but India still managed 198 after putting England’s new-ball bowlers under pressure with their early intent.Buttler was bowled first ball as full-time England captain•Getty ImagesWith the bat, England fell a long way short, and Buttler conceded that India’s “fantastic new-ball spell” had changed the game. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh both found prodigious swing with the new ball in stark contrast to England’s seamers; in typical Morgan style, Buttler suggested that might have been different if they had “hit one to the stands to reduce the swing”.Buttler himself is among the world’s most in-form white-ball batter after following up his MVP-winning IPL season with two stunning innings against Netherlands last month. But he could use a score in one of this weekend’s T20Is against India to remove any suggestion that his batting will suffer under the burden of his new role.There was not much he could have done about his first-ball duck on Thursday night at the hands of Bhuvneshwar, whose hooping inswinger tailed in sharply to crash into leg stump. It was his fourth duck in his last seven innings as captain, but there has been no kind of pattern to those dismissals, spread out across a four-year period.Morgan’s one-word description of Buttler’s captaincy at the innings break was “exceptional”, but it will take time for both of them to become used to their respective new roles. They are close friends, and live nearby too, but Buttler’s challenge is to find his own voice and continue England’s evolution; with just over three months until the World Cup, he will have to learn quickly.

In his second IPL stint, the wicketkeeper-batter has turned matches around for Punjab Kings. He believes his middle-order prowess means he’s here to stay

Interview by Sreshth Shah12-May-2022Punjab Kings and Vidarbha wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma has been in the spotlight this season for his stylish shot-making and his ability to take his team over the line at the death. His agility behind the stumps has also seen him retain his wicketkeeper position, though he did not start as one.But this isn’t Jitesh’s first year in the IPL; he was part of the title-winning Mumbai Indians squad in 2017 though he didn’t play. Here he speaks about his late start, his breakthrough year, and finding an unusual path into cricket.You’re one of IPL 2022’s breakout stars of the season, but you have been part of the tournament in 2017 as well. Where have you been for the past five years?
Obviously in my career there have been ups and downs. In 2017, I was with Mumbai Indians when they won the tenth season. I didn’t get a chance then because Jos Buttler, Nicholas Pooran and Parthiv Patel were there. But Mumbai were clear to me that I was the back-up Indian wicketkeeper in the side. I totally understood, because all teams want to win. But it was a chance to learn from Buttler, since I was an opening batter at the time. I would look up to him, notice the way he bats and how calm he stays while batting. I still admire him a lot.Then I came back to domestic cricket and even though I was performing well, I wasn’t getting an IPL spot. Well, every team has a different demand. Maybe I wasn’t fitting in, or maybe this was God’s plan.You were picked up at a base price of Rs 20 lakh (US$ 26,600 approx) at the auction by a team that had Jonny Bairstow and Bhanuka Rajapaksa as wicketkeeper options. Did you think, “There goes my season”?
They are top-order batters, I am a middle-order batter, and that’s why we are not competing for a spot. Punjab wanted an Indian middle-order batsman.I am actually okay not keeping, but I got a hamstring injury midway through a game against Chennai Super Kings and therefore they asked me to keep. The team was impressed with me as a wicketkeeper and then Jonny [Bairstow] said that I should continue keeping.Franchises always have to see the bigger picture because they need back-ups. They look at me as a middle-order batter a wicketkeeper.Is there anything you did in the last 12-24 months that made teams look at you as a viable first-team option?
My consistent performances have always kept me in the reckoning, since I have been scoring in corporate tournaments and the Vijay Hazare Trophy. But this year I made a huge impact in the middle order, and it was the first time I was playing properly in that position – I hit 18 sixes [at a strike rate of 235], the most in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in the season.”Franchises always have to see the bigger picture because they need back-ups. They look at me as a middle-order batter and a wicketkeeper”•BCCIYou’re playing the same role here. You faced only 97 balls in the seven innings you’ve played for Punjab Kings, but your strike rate of 167 has helped the team in crucial situations. Do you want to start making your way back up the order?
As you said, I am a match-winner. I am happy that I am making a difference in the match. If I can make 20 and get a win instead of scoring 60, I am happier, because that responsibility of finishing is huge and not everyone has the capability to pull it off.What is your batting mantra?
Basically, the position in which I bat is a situation-dependent one. The middle order is not an easy place to walk in and score boundaries. You have to be flexible. If I come in in the 19th over, I need to start hitting from the top. If I come in the tenth over, then I have to play long. That’s what it boils down to.Who do you discuss cricket with the most?
Nobody, really. I don’t have a personal coach like most others. I talk cricket with my friends. But I’ve always admired and been close to Ambati Rayudu. I love his batting. The way he plays is so easy.Ambati had come to play for Vidarbha for one year. It was there that he taught me a lot, changed my technique a little bit. The way he looks at the game, the way he handles his cricket is nice, and I’ve picked it up from him.Most of the breakout stars of this year’s IPL are very young. But you made your senior cricket debut at age 20 and now you’re making heads turn at 28. What are your thoughts on getting a late start to your IPL career?
Franchise cricket is a kind of business. It’s about who can give you profit. It doesn’t matter if it is coming from a 20-year-old boy or a 28-year-old man. If a 20-year-old is doing the same, then so be it. If a 40-year-old also makes them win, a team doesn’t bother [about age]. That’s the reality.How do you approach the game? A 20-year old will not have the baggage that comes with experience for a 28-year-old.

I am totally chill because I have that seven-year experience. The 20-year-olds don’t have that. They may be more fearless, but knowing what shot to play at what point of the game comes with experience. I know my areas, how to run the game, that’s the difference. They have lots of scope to improve, which is a positive, but my positive is that I have the experience to enhance my performance.When I first came to the camp, Anil Kumble sir spoke to me. He told me I was likely for the playing XI. What I did was focus on my fitness, diet and sleep. I have been taking every session as a chance to give 100%.Against Mumbai Indians, Jitesh walked in in the 18th over and flayed 23 runs off Jaydev Unadkat to help Punjab Kings post an eventually insurmountable total•BCCI…and then came your debut, against Chennai Super Kings, after six years of waiting. Do you remember how it all played out?
A few sessions into our Punjab Kings camp, Anil sir said he found my net practice impressive. He told me to always be ready, and made it clear that my role is to bat around Nos. 5 and 6, and that I needed to prepare like that.In practice games I was given the opportunity to play differently – one game attacking and another slightly defensive – so I probably showed I have both temperaments. And when Raj Bawa did not perform well for a few days – he was unlucky – Anil sir came to me and said, “Jitesh, your wait is over now. You are going to get your chance. I know you’ve been hungry for your chance for a long time.”Everyone knew I was hungry because of how I was approaching my preparation and practice in training sessions. I was excited but also well prepared. My confidence was backed by my preparation. At match time, everyone wished me good luck. They told me it didn’t matter how I got out, and that I would be backed.You have a unique reason for playing cricket. Can you share the story?
I actually wanted to go into the armed forces. In Maharashtra school cricket, you get 4% grace in army tests if you play state cricket. I joined my school team because they played around the state level. I decided I’ll give a trial, and that’s how I started playing the sport. My dad never questioned me, and funnily enough my mother still doesn’t know that I am playing at a level like the IPL. None of my cricket friends from those days play the sport – they all have normal jobs now.Somehow cricket has followed me. There were state trials once, for the BCCI U-16 tournament, and I scored runs there. But even then I had the air force as my first option, and I told my father that again. He agreed with my ambition but just asked me to keep playing cricket to keep my fitness levels up. Next year I wanted to keep playing so I went for U-19 trials, and once I got selected there too, I thought, “I can make something out of this cricket.”