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The World T20 has been simmering during its qualifying round, but the big boys have descended and Bangladesh have almost made the Super 10. It’s about to boil over

Alan Gardner20-Mar-2014The first few days have established the atmosphere nicely, aided by Bangladesh’s sashaying around their own party looking like a million dollars, but the hubbub is about to increase noticeably. The A-listers have arrived, hoovering up the remaining canapés, distracting the snappers and showing off their entourages. Only the bolshevism shown by Ireland looks like preventing the Super 10 stage from resembling a Full Members’ club, as notions of equality and opportunity are replaced by the established batting order.The World T20, in all its unpredictable, telegenic, effervescent glory, has established itself as a tournament that gives with both hands: the games come thick and fast, high in calorie content and E-numbers, but the weight is quickly shed. With a few vigorous blows a batsman is back in form, while bowlers can “leave it all on the field” during a maximum of four overs, safe in the knowledge that they are expected to get tonked anyway. Supporters gorge themselves on boundaries and ambient pop (sic), then go home, move on.Neither is it just a warm-up for the forthcoming IPL. International rivalry has always been cricket’s strongest conduit of support and the near certainty that the hosts will qualify for the Super 10 stage sets up Dhaka as the jumping-est joint in the country. Group 2, while forbiddingly tough, will allow Bangladesh the opportunity to have a fresh crack at snooty neighbours India and Pakistan, who will resume their own argument over the garden hedge in a hotly anticipated opening to the second round on Friday evening.The port city of Chittagong, once known for its Portuguese settlements, will welcome hopefuls from Europe, Africa and Australia, though Sri Lanka’s local knowledge will be expected to help them chart a course through Group 1. At around the same time, an expanded women’s tournament will also begin in the more genteel surroundings of the new Sylhet stadium, located in a tea garden.Bangladesh and Ireland will be making their maiden appearances at the Women’s World T20, with ten teams contesting 27 matches over 15 days. Two-time defending champions Australia are in the opposite pot to England, winners of the inaugural competition in 2009, with West Indies, New Zealand and India likely to also come into contention. The semi-finals and finals will again take place as double-headers with the men’s events, though in a country with a female prime minister and where crowds in the thousands turned out to watch games at the women’s World Cup Qualifier in 2011, healthy attendances will be hoped for throughout.In the men’s competition, it is simpler to suggest who probably won’t win it than who will. In four previous tournaments, there have been four different winners, which is indicative of T20’s capacity for mischief. The specialist planning and bespoke technique teams come up with for the format has made it something akin to hit ‘n goggle but good old-fashioned confidence and momentum will play a key role in whoever carries off the title this time.Of the eight sides entering at the second round, England and South Africa look the most peaky, especially given the conditions. India’s recent results have also been poor and they have only played one T20 international since December 2012. A few weeks ago, West Indies, the defending champions, would have also been bracketed with the long-shots, having suffered a fifth T20 defeat in a row, against Ireland, but the signs in the warm-ups games suggest that they are rousing themselves at the perfect time once again.One of the favourites, Australia, have Aaron Finch, but no Mitchell Johnson. One of their spinners is a veteran, the other is very raw•Getty ImagesSri Lanka, ranked No. 1 in the world, certainly have form. They have an unenviable record of failing in recent finals – including at the last World T20 at home – but will gain confidence from putting away mercurial geniuses Pakistan in the Asia Cup earlier this month. Will the impending retirements of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene inspire a dash to victory or could the emotion cause Sri Lanka to choke up again?Pakistan have been the best team in the World T20’s short history, never failing to make the semi-finals. The charge against them is that they bowl with brio but bat like brioche (soft, light and easy to tear apart). The latter tendency came to the fore again on Wednesday, dismissed for 71 by South Africa in Fatullah. Best get them out of the way beforehand, eh?According to the bookmakers, the mantle of favourites apparently lies with Australia, perhaps draped especially around the broad shoulders of Aaron Finch, one of the few men who can rival Chris Gayle in a destruction derby. The loss of Mitchell Johnson to injury will deny them a valuable weapon on slower pitches, however, and exacting questions will be asked of their spin options, which include 43-year-old Brad Hogg (international debut: 1996) and 20-year-old James Muirhead (international debut: January 2014). Then there is New Zealand, who a wise man never discounts.The Commonwealth Games are known as the “friendly games” and so far Bangladesh has united in a display of colour and confraternity to put on the “friendly T20”. There are likely to be some flashes of enmity on the field but T20’s spirit of hedonism should quickly subsume all other emotions. The first five days of the tournament served something of a noble purpose; now, at least until the knockout stages begin, it is time for guilty pleasures.

Plays of the day from the match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, in Dubai

Devashish Fuloria23-Apr-2014The catchsmith
The moment Brendon McCullum made contact with the ball on the second delivery of the sixth over, it looked like the ball was aiming for the top of Burj Khalifa. It didn’t have the legs though. As the ball descended behind midwicket, three fielders converged towards it. Abhishek Nayar, running backwards from midwicket was the closest to it. Stuart Binny, running in from deep midwicket probably had the best chance. But Steven Smith hared along from mid-on, going backwards, slightly sideways, dived, overtook Nayar while in mid-air and let the ball be absorbed into his spongy palms.The whacksmith
Dwayne Smith probably still remembers James Faulkner’s barbs from the World T20. His four consecutive hits that quickly put the lid on the bowler’s post-Steven-Smith-catch elation certainly showed his liking for Faulkner. The first ball after McCullum’s dismissal was smashed over long-leg, the second was delicately cut past short third-man, the third drilled past the bowler and the fourth whacked over long-off. He also had taken eight runs from four balls off Faulkner earlier.The run-out
Chennai Super Kings’ innings hit a roadblock as soon as the slower bowlers were introduced. The dismissals of Dwayne Smith and Suresh Raina in quick succession meant a lot depended on MS Dhoni and Faf du Plessis to take Super Kings to safety. However, as Dhoni punched a Rajat Bhatia delivery back towards the bowler, his heart would have been in his mouth as the bowler dived to his right to attempt the catch. Bhatia didn’t get the ball, but did get a wicket – he managed to get a touch before the ball hit the stumps. Du Plessis was faffing about a couple of meters down the pitch.The wides
You could see what Dhawal Kulkarni was trying to do in his third over – the 17th of Super Kings’ innings. Afterall, not too long ago, Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara had employed the same plan of bowling wide yorkers to dig India into a hole in the World T20 final. It didn’t quiet come off as well for Kulkarni. Targetting the wide marker, Kulkarni bowled four wides – three of them in a row – which took the sheen off his otherwise impressive spell.The juggle
The army-camouflage print wicketkeeping gloves that MS Dhoni so loves proved to be less than useful as the white-ball refused to go into them after Steven Smith had missed the ball in the 10th over of the chase. Smith, out of the crease, turned back in despair to see the ball had hit Dhoni on the wrists before popping up. Dhoni still had time to grab the ball and takes the bails off, but the ball kept on going away, allowing the batsman to get back into the crease.The misjudgement
Dhawal Kulkarni sent a few tremors down towards the Super Kings camps as he hit 14 in three balls in R Ashwin’s final over to bring down the equation to 10 needed off the last two deliveries. Although he wasn’t able to time the penultimate delivery, he needed at least two from it to keep the possibility of a tie open. Pravin Tambe, however, showed a lack of awareness of the situation as he tried to turn down the second. He belatedly responded to Kulkarni’s call only to be run out at the non-striker’s end and bring the match to a close.

South Africa need search no more for a batting successor to Jacques Kallis in one-day cricket

Firdose Moonda02-Sep-2014There’s just something about Australia that gets Faf du Plessis’ back up. His first Test ton came against them in a declaration of determination. His first ODI century was against them too, an announcement of aggression.Now du Plessis has moved past the introductions with a second one-day hundred against the team considered the most confrontational around, and it is this innings that will secure him his preferred position for the foreseeable future. “It was one of the best hundreds I’ve seen in a long time,” AB de Villiers, South Africa’s captain, said. “I am very proud of Faf. He has cemented that No.3 spot.”One-drop is a soft spot for South Africa because for the better part of the last two decades it has belonged to Jacques Kallis or – when Kallis was see-sawing between availability and unavailability – to a place-holder. Colin Ingram was one, JP Duminy another, and du Plessis the third, though he was always the one most likely regarded as the crown prince should the king ever need permanent replacing.Du Plessis successfully took over Kallis’ position in Tests and has now started doing the same in ODIs. He is able to step into the giant shoes not because he is more talented than the other candidates but because he has a better understanding of the role.Like Kallis, du Plessis’ job is to provide stability. “My job is to score hundreds, so I tick that box,” he said. But unlike Kallis, who often performed rescue jobs for South Africa but seldom won 50-over games later in his career, du Plessis sees his job as being to see South Africa through. “But when you score a hundred, getting a team across the line is always sweeter.”This time he was not able to do that because he lacked support. Du Plessis acknowledged a middle-order meltdown left him stranded and he did not feel in control. “Even though we were going well and I was scoring the runs, it was a little too far away with us losing wickets all the time. I never felt quite close enough to get us over the line,” he said. “That was the difference with the previous game. We had a good partnership there – myself and AB. Forty and 30-run partnerships are not going to win you the game.”Neither is bleeding 60 runs in five-over bursts, and when asked to identify where South Africa lost the match, du Plessis said it was more with the ball than the bat. “If we have to pinpoint where we lost the game, it’s probably in Mitchell Marsh’s innings,” he said. “We probably took our foot off the gas to Marsh and he demolished us and that’s the difference between winning and losing. In that period, we weren’t on the money.”Even after Marsh had proved stroke-making did not have be stuttering, no South African batsman besides du Plessis played fluently and he believed conditions had something to do with that. “The way the wickets play here is a big reason for that. The ball gets slower so it’s difficult when you come in as a new batter to score runs because they bring the field up and it’s tricky to get singles. Once you push them out, it becomes easier.”When du Plessis gets the balance between attack and defence right, like Kallis, getting into his head or under his skin is difficult, and he seems to be in such a place now. “I am batting nicely but definitely not on top of my game. I can improve a lot,” he said. “What’s really important is that when you are in some sort of form you need to make sure you get big runs, because it can change very quickly and then 30 runs seems a long way away, so I need to make sure I keep putting in big runs for this team.”That may serve as a warning for Australia, after Marsh said seeing du Plessis step on his stumps was, “probably the only way we were going to get him out,” and that he had played a “special innings.”For du Plessis, the method of dismissal was not as amusing as it was disappointing. “It was ridiculous. It’s not nice when you are hitting the ball nicely like that. I knew I had to do something to get us across the line but you learn from these things,” du Plessis said. “Next time I will make sure I am not as deep in the crease.”Next time Australia know they will be in for another fight.

With four overs to go, Australia’s chances of victory were slim, but not impossible. Instead, Steven Smith was simply content that the Border-Gavaskar trophy was back in their grasp

Brydon Coverdale30-Dec-20143:24

‘Our priority was to win the series’ – Smith

In the first innings in Adelaide, India lost their last three wickets in the space of 20 balls.In the second innings in Adelaide, India lost their last three wickets in the space of 18 balls.In the first innings at the MCG, India lost their last three wickets in the space of 16 balls.In the second innings at the MCG, India’s last 24 balls did not get bowled.Australia’s captain Steven Smith chose not to bother. Instead, he shook the hand of his Indian counterpart MS Dhoni and walked off, happy with a draw. Content that the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was won.Five days this Test match had been going, 2623 balls had been bowled. With a win still possible, if unlikely, Australia chose not to worry about the last 24 deliveries. The fans in the stands wondered why, why did we sit around waiting for this limp conclusion?A lot can happen in 24 deliveries. It is a Twenty20 bowler’s entire match workload. It is three balls longer than it took Misbah-ul-Haq to score the fastest fifty in Test cricket, against Australia last month.Four overs to go. Four Indian wickets. Given the fragility of their tail, breaking the Dhoni-Ashwin partnership would have given Australia a chance of victory. A slim chance, maybe, but a chance all the same. They denied themselves that chance, happy to take a 2-0 lead to Sydney.”I don’t think there was a win still there to be honest,” Smith said after play. “All our bowlers were pretty cooked and it was time to finish. There wasn’t much breaking up in the wicket, there wasn’t much going on. I think that was it.”It is true that the Melbourne drop-in surface was offering little assistance. And it was true that Smith’s fast bowlers had worked hard. But they didn’t have to bowl those last four overs.Smith could have bowled them himself, with Nathan Lyon. Or David Warner could have sent down some leggies, if his bruised arm allowed him to. Yes, a win was unlikely, but you just never know what can happen.Against India at the SCG seven years ago, Michael Clarke took three wickets in one over to deliver one of the most remarkable victories, in a match overshadowed by on-field and off-field spitefulness. He did it with six minutes remaining in the Test.Here at the MCG, there were 24 balls left. Four overs that will never be bowled. Three Indian tailenders thanking their lucky stars that Smith was so generous. More than 14,000 spectators wondering why.A lot can happen in 24 balls.

Stats highlights from the game between Bangladesh and Scotland in Nelson

Bishen Jeswant05-Mar-2015156 Runs scored by Kyle Coetzer, the highest World Cup score by any batsman from a current non-Test nation. The previous highest was Klaas Jan van Noortwijk’s 134 not out for Netherlands against Namibia in the 2003 World Cup.141 The partnership between Coetzer and Preston Mommsen, the highest for Scotland in a World Cup match. It was their first 100-plus stand for any wicket in a World Cup match.95 Runs scored by Tamim Iqbal, the most for any Bangladesh batsman in a World Cup game. The previous highest was Mohammad Ashraful’s 87 in Bangladesh’s win against South Africa during the 2007 World Cup.2 Number of Bangladesh batsmen who have scored 4000-plus ODI runs. Tamim became the second batsman to reach this mark during his innings of 95. He now has 4085 ODI runs. The other Bangladesh batsman to have gone past this milestone is Shakib Al Hasan.139 The partnership between Tamim and Mahmudullah, the highest for Bangladesh in World Cups. Bangladesh’s only other 100-plus stand in World Cups also came during this tournament, against Afghanistan in Canberra, where Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib posted 114 runs for the fifth wicket.318 Scotland’s total, their highest in World Cups and the second-highest for any non-Test nation. The only higher World Cup total by a non-Test nation was Ireland’s 329 during their successful chase against England in the 2011 tournament.0 Number of times Bangladesh had previously chased down a 250-plus target in World Cups. They achieved their target of 319 in this ODI, which was in fact their highest successful chase in ODIs. This is also the second-highest score in a successful chase in World Cup history.1 Number of times that an Associate batsman has made a 150-plus score in a losing cause. Coetzer’s 156 in this game was the first such instance. Overall, this has happened 10 times in all ODIs.

The modern tactic is to hold the big hitter back in T20s, but Rohit Sharma is much more than that and using him at No. 4 means he has to play a game he is no longer used to

Sidharth Monga in Ahmedabad14-Apr-20151:26

‘We haven’t found the perfect foundation’ – Pollard

When he was injured and when Ajinkya Rahane was scoring runs at the top of India’s ODI batting line-up, Rohit Sharma insisted he wanted to come back as an opener. Luckily for everyone involved, when Rohit came back to full fitness, it was time for Shikhar Dhawan to rest, and the returning opener announced his comeback with his second double-century in ODI cricket. Rohit at top and Rahane at No.4 went well for India in the World Cup except for the odd innings when Rahane struggled to turn the strike over in the middle order. Overall though, India had gone the conventional way: give your big century-maker enough balls to attempt that century.Not surprisingly Rohit wanted to continue opening for Mumbai Indians, but there had been resistance. While he has been opening for India in T20 internationals, Rohit had opened only twice for Mumbai before the start of this season. The think-tank still wanted him to bat in the middle, the modern way of wanting to give an explosive batsman only a certain number of deliveries lest he get confused. Rohit, who backs himself as better than just an explosive batsman, insisted he wanted to open. Being the captain, he had his way, and scored an unbeaten 98 in their first game of this IPL. The trademark Rohit explosion, though, came too late. Mumbai lost comfortably.You couldn’t blame Rohit, though: batsmen around him kept getting out, and the other big hitters – Aaron Finch, Corey Anderson and Kieron Pollard – had struggled until this game. After the defeat to Kings XI Punjab, coming into the Ahmedabad game, the think-tank seemed to have convinced Rohit against his instinct. Admittedly it wasn’t the most auspicious of starts for this new experiment with Finch getting retired hurt on 10, but by then a slow platform had already been laid. Parthiv Patel and Unmukt Chand, both sent in ahead of Rohit, didn’t do much better either.Without using the hindsight of Rohit’s failure in this innings, he finds himself in an unusual situation. Unlike India, where other batsmen can pick up the slack if he falls early or even if he falls without making up for a slow start, this team is mostly Rohit or Nohit. Pollard and Anderson came good, but a bit like Harbhajan Singh’s fifty the other night, it shouldn’t have come to that, and once it did the rescue came too late.More importantly he will be asked to play a game that doesn’t come naturally to him if he asked to bat at No. 4 again. Or rather he has now scented a position that he feels is even better for him than the No. 4 where he has been pretty successful as a T20 player.When Rohit opens, especially in T20s, he gets just enough time to suss the conditions before cutting loose. Here Mumbai are sending ahead two batsmen, at least one of whom is there only to see out a few overs so that Rohit, Anderson and Pollard don’t have too long to bat.This is one of the modern theories. Like sneaking in an over from a part-time bowler just after the Powerplay, some teams consider it a success if a lesser batsman can see off a few overs and score at a run a ball. Sometimes it works – it used to with Parthiv and Chennai Super Kings – but by doing so you are not giving yourself the best possible chance to succeed; you are bringing luck into it. Luck is not getting a reprieve because the bowler overstepped – as it happened with Anderson today – luck is when Parthiv keeps slashing and edges keep falling safely. Mumbai didn’t have much of it in Ahmedabad.While Mumbai are the latest to encounter it, this is not an issue new to T20 and modern ODI cricket. Delhi Daredevils tried the same with Yuvraj Singh and JP Duminy. There is no definite strategy that will work: Kings XI succeed with best batsmen in top slots, Super Kings by holding a big hitter back. Mumbai don’t have a straightforward answer either. This is not looking a batting line-up in form, and their bowling has weakened significantly from the time they won the title. One thing is for sure, though: wherever they use Rohit, they can’t afford to waste their best batsman.

He has been much derided, has had his share of luck and tested the faith shown in him. Now he has paid it back, and with this win, so has Bangladesh

Mohammad Isam09-Mar-2015If you like an underdog character in an underdog story, Mahmudullah is your man. He rode through a lot of criticism, tested the establishment’s faith, survived a bit of fortune, worked hard to lose some weight in the last two years and it culminated in him becoming Bangladesh’s first World Cup centurion. It was apt that the record went to a batsman who needed a big score on a big occasion.Tamim Iqbal and Anamul Haque had publicly stated they wanted the honour. Tamim missed out against Scotland by five runs while Anamul had to be withdrawn due to a shoulder injury. Mushfiqur Rahim is now the batting leader. Shakib Al Hasan the best allrounder in the world. In his 114th ODI, Mahmudullah needed this century more than any of Bangladesh’s top order players.From 8 for 2 in the third over, Mahmudullah held off James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who looked to be recovering from a lacklustre campaign. He rode his luck, provided stability at one end and looked after Soumya Sarkar when he played a couple of bad shots. They put on 86 runs for the third wicket and to a player like Soumya, only five ODIs old and in the middle of a high-pressure match, those mid-pitch talks are likely to stick for a long time.It is said when Shakib falls early, Bangladesh lose half the battle. Mahmudullah debunked that, adding 141 runs for the fifth wicket with Mushfiqur. He reached fifty off 69 balls, with three fours and a slapped six over midwicket. He maintained that pace and reached his maiden ODI hundred from the next 62 balls, with four more boundaries and another six. Mahmudullah ended up on 103 off 138 balls, substance on a big occasion he has treasured for long.He slowed down after getting his century, but this was the tenacious Mahmudullah England know all too well. He was there to turn around a hopeless chase in the 2011 World Cup and ensure Bangladesh won by two wickets in Chittagong. The difference was he was a late-order spare batsman then, only necessary when the top and middle order failed.The last time we saw as big a smile in Mahmudullah’s face was when he led the team in a Gangnam jig, following Bangladesh’s 3-2 series win over West Indies in 2012. It was against West Indies again that he turned a corner in 2014. Later, he struck two smooth fifties against Zimbabwe and at the start of the World Cup, made sure an early wicket against Scotland didn’t bother Bangladesh’s chase.But things hadn’t gone quite so well in between. Mahmudullah averaged 34 and 26 in 2013 and 2014 (6.40 and 38.18 in Tests) during this time.At his best, Mahmudullah is a stylist. When out of form, he gropes and flounders. Within 12 months, he was stripped of his vice-captaincy, dropped once and was suspected of favoritism due to his relation with then captain Mushfiqur. There was no end to the vitriol and even the BCB president was getting impatient. He was dropped ahead of the Asia Cup, which drew the ire of Mushfiqur, who never openly backed Mahmudullah without cricketing reasons.An injury in the team brought Mahmudullah back, but he still wasn’t convincing in the regional 50-over tournament and the ODI series against India and West Indies.Mahmudullah was lucky to have lots of faith from Bangladesh set-up more luck, in tangible form, came in St Vincent in September last year. On the fourth day of the first Test against West Indies, when Bangladesh were trying to avoid a disaster, Mahmudullah scored his first Test fifty after 21 months. But within minutes, he pulled across the line and skied the ball and began to walk off, his head bowed. Kirk Edwards dropped the catch, he batted a little longer to repay the faith.He came back home, worked hard with trainer Mario Villavarayan to shed some pounds and continued his good run leading up to the World Cup. His celebration was evidence that Mahmudullah is not one without emotion. The last time he scored a century before this game was in a domestic first-class match in May last year. After reaching the three-figure mark he threw a hissy fit at his own team management and was banned for three matches.Shakib is perhaps the first superstar of Bangladesh cricket. But Mahmudullah, in essence, is Bangladesh. Much derided, riding on a bit of luck but operating on faith. He has paid it back, and with this win, so has Bangladesh.

Plays of the day from the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai

Mohammad Isam14-May-2015The enforcing captaincyIn a bid to pick up wickets after Mumbai Indians lost three, Gambhir, besides placing himself at silly point, had a slip and a gully in the seventh over bowled by Shakib Al Hasan. Kieron Pollard played out two deliveries but Gambhir wasn’t done.He kept Morkel from the other end for his fourth and final over, despite the bowler showing signs of exhaustion. Gambhir again placed himself at short leg when Pollard was on strike. Morkel, however, responded brilliantly, giving away just two runs and finishing with 1 for 27.The curve on the ballRohit Sharma had started to get a measure of Sunil Narine with two fours in his first nine balls. Both fours were through the off side, but Rohit wasn’t ready for what was about to come his way.Narine trotted in and bowled a peach of a delivery that could be described as a straighter one or even a legcutter. But the curve that the ball took, for perhaps less than an inch, was breathtaking. Rohit committed to play on the middle stump but the ball straightened ever so slightly and hit the off stump. Narine pumped his fist as his captain stormed in to celebrate.The pick-up lineThe Mumbai batsmen were struggling to find boundaries regularly. Hardik Pandya was fluent from early on in his innings and by the time he got into a powerful groove by hitting four consecutive fours off Umesh Yadav, it was clear Mumbai had much to rely on this young batsman.In the 18th over, Pandya took his front foot out of the line of a Narine delivery and lifted him towards midwicket. It ended up as a huge six, his first of the innings.The release shotRobin Uthappa saw Gambhir hitting a boundary off Vinay Kumar’s first ball, so he tried to get on top of his Karnataka captain. He went for a slog over midwicket but only got an inside edge. He missed another slog the next ball. Vinay stared at him while Gambhir, who had walked up to Uthappa after the previous ball, stayed back at his end.Vinay pitched the fifth ball short, but Uthappa, cleverly, stayed back and smacked over midwicket for a four. A little battle won by the batsman.The reliefPandya thanked the heavens, quite literally, after J Suchith got one to dip and dismiss Gambhir at the end of the 11th over. Pandya had, of course, dropped the same batsman on 36 the previous ball.In the same over in which Yusuf Pathan had slammed a six over midwicket, Gambhir carted one past midwicket for four before he chipped one more, this time to the right of Pandya, who ran towards the ball but couldn’t hold on to the catch. The drop meant the Knight Riders captain moved to 38. But next ball, Gambhir missed Suchith’s delivery. The camera panned to Pandya who looked upwards in relief.

Stats highlights from Pakistan’s record chase to win the Pallekele Test and the series against Sri Lanka

Bishen Jeswant07-Jul-20152:04

Younis Khan made Pakistan’s best fourth-innings score during their best fourth-innings partnership during their best fourth innings total

382 Pakistan’s total was their best in the fourth innings of a Test and also their highest successful chase. It was also the sixth highest successful chase overall in Tests.171 Younis Khan’s score was the the highest by a Pakistan batsman in the fourth innings of a Test. It was also the fifth highest individual score in a successful chase, behind efforts from Gordon Greenidge, Arthur Morris, Don Bradman and Mark Butcher.7 Number of wickets by which Pakistan won this Test, the joint-biggest margin of victory in Test history for a team scoring 350-plus runs to win a Test. The only other time this happened was when Australia achieved their target of 404 for the loss of only three wickets against England in 1948.242 The partnership between Younis and Shan Masood was the fourth highest in a successful chase. It was also Pakistan’s best in the fourth innings of a Test.11 The number of 150-plus scores for Younis in Tests, the most for any Pakistan batsman. Javed Miandad has ten.1 The number of times before today that two Pakistan batsmen made hundreds in the fourth innings – against New Zealand in Hyderabad (Sind) in 1984. Younis (171) and Shan Masood (125) scored centuries in the fourth innings of this Test.5 Number of batsmen stumped in the fourth innings after scoring a century – three of those five are from Pakistan. Masood was stumped on 125 in the fourth innings of this Test.22 Instances of teams scoring 350-plus totals in the fourth innings of Tests since 2005. Before 2005, it had happened only 27 times.4.9 Tharindu Kaushal’s economy rate in the fourth innings, the worst for any Sri Lankan bowling at least 20 overs in the fourth innings. Kaushal bowled 31 overs and conceded 153 runs.1 Number of previous Tests in Sri Lanka in which the highest total of the match was made in the fourth innings. It happened in a Test between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at the SSC in 1998. Pakistan’s fourth-innings total of 382 was the highest in this Test.20.30 Percentage of Pakistan’s fourth-innings runs scored by Younis in matches that he has played. Younis has 1333 fourth-innings runs, while all the other Pakistan batsmen combined have scored 5223 runs in these matches.

Netherlands had gone through 16 matches without winning in four-day cricket. That changed when they beat Scotland by 44 runs to go to the top of the Intercontinental Cup table

Peter Della Penna in The Hague11-Sep-2015Netherlands have had a peculiarly difficult time mastering multi-day cricket. Odd, considering they are among the most successful Associate countries of the past decade: three straight World Cups from 2003 through 2011 not to mention a pair of World T20s in 2009 and 2014.Canada, Kenya, even Namibia have all been to the final of the Intercontinental Cup but not Netherlands. They have found winning a single game of first-class cricket difficult let alone stringing a series of them. Prior to this week’s I-cup victory over Scotland, Netherlands have come out trumps only four out of 27 times since the competition was founded in 2004. There are 15 losses among that number as well and their record at home was especially poor – one win and eight defeats.Netherlands’ best finish in the competition came in 2007-08 when they came in fifth out of eight teams. Beating UAE that April in Sharjah had been their last success in four-day cricket. It has taken seven years, and 16 matches, but finally Netherlands are back on the board again.There had been two great opportunities to break the streak sooner. Both at home in Amstelveen and both against countries who had yet to win a first-class match. They wasted a 74-run first-innings lead in 2009 as Afghanistan chased down 207 with one wicket to spare. Had Netherlands won then, they would have cut short their losing streak to three matches.A bigger upset was to follow this summer, when they could not stop Papua New Guinea from running down a target of 305. There had been a Sisyphusian feel to that match as Assad Vala and Mahuru Dai denied the Dutch with a 200-run fifth wicket partnership. A similar feeling may have crept in on Friday when, after taking two wickets in the first three overs of the day to peg Scotland back at 52 for 5 in pursuit of 201, Rob Taylor joined Richie Berrington for an ominous stand.”Obviously Berrington and Taylor batted really well and this was the kind of wicket that when you get in, you could stay in. It was never easy for people to start though,” captain Peter Borren said after the win. “They batted beautifully and [both were] really good, disciplined innings. But I was really happy with the way we bowled during that period anyway. We bowled with a lot of discipline with our three young quicks – Kingma, van Meekeren and Gunning – they all ran in hard for both innings and put the ball in the right areas.”We knew that we were probably one breakthrough away and that wicket that Michael Rippon got, Richie Berrington lbw just before lunch, that opened an end for us. They’ve still got good players but for guys just coming to the wicket, it’s not easy and you’re always in with a chance as a bowler.”Before lunch that was a big wicket for us. I’m glad we took advantage of it but I guess the reason why we ended up winning this game was a lot of work from those three seamers.”The frontline seamers may have done the bulk of the work, but Borren’s career-best 4 for 1 was no less significant. In light of his shoulder troubles – he had surgery last year – Borren’s recent bowling workload has been far less than it was when he began playing for Netherlands. He might not be back to full pace yet, but after cleaning up Matthew Cross and Con de Lange on back-to-back deliveries and with victory within sight, adrenaline started kicking in. There was more vigor, more purpose with each charge up to the crease.”For me it was nice to get some wickets,” Borren said. “I suppose the ball was pretty scuffed up on one side. The wicket was a little bit abrasive and it was just nipping back in, getting a little bit of reverse and the pitch also wasn’t bouncing much towards the end of this match. I guess if I ran in and bowled wicket-to-wicket, I was going to be pretty well suited to these conditions.”Netherlands secured victory 14 balls into Borren’s post-lunch spell and the seven-year itch had been scratched off. From this XI, only he and Pieter Seelaar have known the joy of winning an Intercontinental Cup match, and Borren was pleased that the younger players can now understand that feeling, one he described as more satisfying than winning 50-over or T20 games.”We haven’t won one of these matches for a long time,” Borren said. “It’s a great feeling. I’ve been trying to say to all the boys to win one of these games, you have to work hard and it’s an amazing feeling when it happens, but a lot of our guys haven’t won a four-day game before so I’m just really proud of the effort the guys put in. It’s just an awesome feeling and I’m really stoked.”