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A swashbuckling batsman or a ferociously quick bowler can win people over in an instant. Other players inveigle their way into your affections over time

Alex Bowden26-May-2014″I’d have no chance of getting into this team,” said Paul Collingwood, when asked whether he might be worth a place in England’s World T20 squad. Even before the side had lost to Netherlands, plenty of England fans disagreed with that statement.Collingwood’s argument that “it’s no longer a nudge-and-nurdler kind of game” rather undervalues his . He isn’t the first to make the mistake of focusing on more obvious hallmarks of quality, but it’s ironic that a man who spent a whole career slowly winning over the ordinary fan should seemingly have failed to win over himself.The older I get, the more I realise that very often the cricketers I end up appreciating the most, aren’t the ones with the most obvious attributes. I don’t think this is a personal thing, so much as a weird form of natural selection. If an ostensibly limited player is around for any length of time, it generally means that they are doing something subtle yet important far better than anyone else and often it takes a while to notice this.Whereas a swashbuckling batsman or a ferociously quick bowler can win people over in an instant, a player like Collingwood sort of inveigles his way into your affections over time. Like many things in life, instant appeal is often fleeting. In contrast, this kind of slow-build appreciation tends to possess solid, lasting foundations.So what was it that fuelled Paul Collingwood’s slow-burn appeal? It’s not that easy to put your finger on, but clues can be found in the way he was described by commentators and journalists. The one line that always cropped up was, “He makes the most of his talent.”This was the most backhanded of compliments and everyone knew it. The subtext was that Collingwood had to make the most of his talent because there was so little of it, and as soon as a proper batsman came along, England would be moving on.But let’s get something straight: batting is about scoring runs. If you score runs, you are a good batsman. History has brought us all manner of weak-willed stylists and technically correct teasers who have flattered to deceive, so quite why “making the most of your talent” should be undervalued is beyond me.Batting is about finding that balance between risk and reward; scoring runs while preserving your wicket. Whether you are able to play an inside-out lofted cover drive off a 95mph inswinging yorker or not, the task is essentially the same. You must work within your limitations – whatever they may be – and find a way to score runs.We have a saying in the north of England that is intended to cut short any talk of “what might have been” following a contentious on-field event. If someone’s complaining about a decision, we turn to them and say, “Look in t’ book”. The saying is intended to emphasise the irrelevance of anything which doesn’t affect the final score. In a way it seems just as appropriate when assessing a batsman’s worth.

We tend to perceive swagger and strut as being indicators, when often they are merely papering over cracks. True self-assurance doesn’t require an audience

Anyone trying to argue in favour of a stylish fifty over a gritty hundred should be instructed to look in t’ book. Style is not unimportant, but it is secondary.Paul Collingwood was making the most of his talent when he reached 94 in what had seemed destined to be his final Test innings against South Africa in 2008. At that point, having worked so hard to save his career, he hit a six. To a casual onlooker, a six is just a six, commonplace these days, but with so much riding on the outcome, this shot was brassy in the extreme. It betrayed rare courage, which is another quality you cannot appreciate in an instant.This is also true of self-confidence. We tend to perceive swagger and strut as being indicators, when often they are merely papering over cracks (or even chasms). True self-assurance doesn’t require an audience. It is self-contained and manifests itself in deeds, not peacocking.England fans squirm at any mention of Adelaide 2006, but this collective blindness conceals one of the more resilient, self-confident and admirable innings by an England batsman in recent years. Before the match, the Australian press was asking whether Collingwood was England’s worst-ever No. 4. Was he cowed by being publicly questioned and ridiculed, and was he then wracked with nerves after ending the first day on 98 not out?No. He came out on day two, reached three figures and then doubled his tally for good measure, because the real job – the job for the team rather than himself – wasn’t yet done. If his second-innings display is widely considered to have been a major cause of England’s fatal paralysis in that match, it should also be noted that he did at least finish as the not-out batsman.Collingwood was the complete antithesis of the spineless Pom who crumbles at the first “g’day”. For him, it was all about scoring runs; taking wickets and catches; and occasionally missing the ball often enough that your team salvaged a draw.Every England fan will be forever grateful for his four-hour 74 in Cardiff in the 2009 Ashes, and the even more gloriously lumpen twin innings in South Africa in 2009-10 that also led to nine-wickets-down draws. The 99-ball 26 in Centurion was one thing, but the leaving/missing case study at Newlands, when he made only 40 in more than four and a half hours was something else.His genuine lack of ego was easy to overlook when he spent tour after tour ferrying the drinks in his early days with the England squad, and it was also a quality that could later be observed – but perhaps still not fully appreciated – in his delight at winning the 2010-11 Ashes despite a lack of personal success.At Newlands, however, that same lack of ego came to the fore as a low-key strength afforded to very few. Beaten time and again, he looked nothing short of foolish. But after the match, knowing the contribution he had made, Paul Collingwood could point to the result and simply say: “Look in t’ book.”

Also, Vijay Manjrekar’s nickname, Abid Ali’s no-ball, oldest double-centurions, and this decade’s leading players

Steven Lynch21-Oct-2014In Scotland’s World Cup warm-up game in New Zealand the other day, the last wicket fell to the final ball of the 50th over in both innings. Has this ever happened in an official one-day international? asked Gulu Ezekiel from India
That’s a good spot, as the tenth wicket in each innings of that match in Lincoln went down to the last possible ball. It was an exciting game: Scotland ended up just one short of the handy total posted by what was just about a fully representative New Zealand side. It wasn’t an official ODI, though – for a start both sides chose from 12 players. There has not yet been an official one-day international in which the last wicket in both innings fell to the last possible ball: the closest approach is the tied match in St Vincent in March 2012, when Australia scored 220 in 49.5 overs and West Indies replied with 220 in 49.4. Interestingly, the most balls bowled in an ODI in which all 20 wickets fell (excluding wides and no-balls) was 640, in the 1983 World Cup final (a 60-over match) between India and West Indies at Lord’s.Where did Vijay Manjrekar’s nickname “The Wanderer” come from? asked Dilip Varghese from India
I hadn’t heard this one, although I see it is mentioned on a couple of websites. I asked our Indian office – and got some blank looks there too. And so Sambit Bal, ESPNcricinfo’s editor, emailed Vijay’s son, Sanjay Manjrekar. Sanjay’s reply was to the point: “Never heard of that one. His nickname was Tatt.” That one came about, according to Ajit Wadekar, because Vijay fancied himself as an offspinner: Roy “Tatt” Tattersall was England’s main offie on the tour of India in 1951-52, and dismissed Manjrekar for 48 in his debut Test in Calcutta on that trip.Leicestershire finished bottom of the County Championship in 2014, and didn’t win a match for the second year running. Has any team been this bad before? asked Bob Tyrrell from England
Before this year there had been only 18 instances of any team failing to win a match during an entire County Championship season. But not only Leicestershire managed it in 2014: Northamptonshire suffered a similarly barren time on their return to the First Division. The only team other than Leicestershire in 2013 and 2014 to go winless in successive seasons is, again, Northamptonshire. They didn’t win at all in 1936, 1937 or 1938. During 1939 they looked set to go an unprecedented 100 matches without a win. However, after gliding winlessly to 99, they then won the 100th game, against Leicestershire at Wantage Road, by an innings!Apparently Abid Ali, the Indian bowler, was no-balled for throwing in a Test. His action always looked fine to me, so why was this? asked Giles Barrett from England
The Indian allrounder Abid Ali played 29 Tests, although with the ball he never improved on his figures of 6 for 55 on debut, against Australia in Adelaide in 1967-68. After the Australian leg of that tour the Indians moved on to New Zealand, where in the second Test, in Christchurch, they fell foul of the Central Districts fast bowler Gary Bartlett, who took 6 for 38 to set up a six-wicket victory. However, according to their captain, the Nawab of Pataudi, “All the Indian players, including myself, considered Bartlett’s action to be suspect.” But he wasn’t called for throwing, in that or any other match. As New Zealand moved towards their target, Abid Ali deliberately chucked one delivery in protest at Bartlett’s escape… and was promptly no-balled for throwing himself by umpire Fred Goodall.Graham Gooch scored 210 against New Zealand in 1994, when he was 40. Is he the oldest to reach 200 in a Test? asked Jeremy Lawrence from England
Graham Gooch was actually the fifth – and most recent -batsman past the age of 40 to score a Test double-century in a Test. He was a couple of months short of his 41st birthday when he made that 210 against New Zealand at Trent Bridge in 1994. Dudley Nourse, the old South African captain, was about three months younger when he made a famous 208, complete with broken thumb, in 1951 – also at Trent Bridge. Patsy Hendren completed his unbeaten 205 for England against West Indies in Port-of-Spain on his 41st birthday in February 1930, while his frequent team-mate Jack Hobbs scored 211 against South Africa at Lord’s in 1924 when he was 41 years 197 days old. But the oldest Test double-centurion of all was a team-mate of Nourse in that 1951 series: South Africa’s spiky opener Eric Rowan was seven days past his 42nd birthday when he made an epic 236 against England at Headingley.Which players have scored the most runs and taken the most wickets in Tests in the current decade (2010s)? asked Kishore Achuria from India
The leading Test run scorer so far in the current decade is Alastair Cook, with 4769: Kumar Sangakkara (4439) and Michael Clarke (4314) are both past 4000 too. Among batsmen who have had at least 20 innings, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (71.18) has the highest average, ahead of Sangakkara (66.25), Hashim Amla (63.80) and AB de Villiers (61.89). The leading Test wicket-taker in the 2010s so far is Jimmy Anderson, with 232, ahead of Dale Steyn (211). Graeme Swann (193) and Stuart Broad (191) come next. In one-day internationals the leaders are Virat Kohli (5395 runs) and Lasith Malinga (181 wickets); in T20s it’s Brendon McCullum (1292) and Saeed Ajmal (66).

Stats highlights from the fourth day of the second Test between South Africa and West Indies in Port Elizabeth

Bishen Jeswant29-Dec-2014176 The partnership between Marlon Samuels and Kraigg Brathwaite, the highest third wicket partnership for West Indies against South Africa.64 Years since an overseas pair put together a higher partnership than the 176 runs posted by Samuels and Brathwaite at this venue. Australia’s Arthur Morris and Neil Harvey shared a 187-run stand in 1950, which is the highest partnership by an overseas pair for any wicket at this venue.3 Number of times that a team has been bowled out for less than 300 after two batsmen have posted centuries – Australia (against West Indies, 1968), South Africa (against India, in 2010) and New Zealand (against India, in 2009). West Indies are currently on 275 for 9, with New Zealand’s 279 all out against India being the lowest score for which a team has been bowled out after two batsmen have made centuries.4 Instances of two West Indians making hundreds in the same innings in South Africa. The venues at which West Indies have achieved this feat are Durban, Cape Town, Centurion and now Port Elizabeth.3 Number of hundreds scored by Brathwaite in 2014. He is only the seventh West Indian opener to make three hundreds in a calendar year, with the others being Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Chris Gayle, Conrad Hunte, Lawrence Rowe and Kieran Powell.2 Number of West Indian openers who have made centuries in South Africa. Prior to Brathwaite’s hundred during West Indies’ first innings, Chris Gayle had scored two hundreds during West Indies’ 2003-04 tour to South Africa.

It may be hard to keep track of a tournament on the other side of the world but it is time to dispel the negativity

David Hopps13-Feb-20151:36

NYC Speaks – Who will win the World Cup?

England will sleep through much of this World Cup. The time difference between New Zealand and Australia makes that inevitable. Perhaps that is a good thing because, by and large, England sure has been sleeping through the build-up.A few media types stirred on Thursday to deride the opening ceremony. Danny Boyle it wasn’t. A man of a certain age singing “Howzat” – nearly 40 years after he briefly sent teenaged girls into raptures – and an administrator saying “May the best team win”, with the emphasis on the wrong words as if he had spent too long practising it in the bath, was Australia’s contribution to popular culture.Australia might win the World Cup but New Zealand won the opening ceremony.And before we move on, England were represented by ballerinas in Union Jack tutus dancing to “Money Can’t Buy Me Love” by the Beatles. What on earth do we make of that? Maybe it was intended as a subliminal message to the ECB, a warning that after a decade trying to stabilise cricket’s finances, the nation is in danger of falling out of love with the game. Or maybe it was a preview of the half-time show in this season’s NatWest Blast.Wake up, England! Rediscover that love. The World Cup is upon us. It is about to begin; yes, now. It is time to push aside the pessimism and negativity and soak up the delights in store. Otherwise in England this will become the Rip Van Winkle World Cup, where you will all wake up a long time hence to discover that the tournament is finally over, your muskets are rotting and rusty, your beards a foot long (even if you are a woman, because it is a very long tournament) and your dog is nowhere to be found.

In India you will struggle to find a bar not showing the cricket. In England, you struggle to find a bar that is

Wake up, England. Who cares how you do it. If it grabs your fancy, you can even satisfy your mobile phone obsession and use Wakie, an alarm clock app which promises to pair you up with a total stranger who will call you to get you out of bed in the morning. Imagine that. You are slumbering through a World Cup group game when Ian Bell rings you up and says: “Get out of bed for heaven’s sake, I’m 58 not out, I’m working my guts off here.”Believe it or not, there are parts of the world where ESPNcricinfo’s 100 Day Countdown to the World is a perfectly natural thought process. Not in England though. Even the football World Cup is only allowed a week’s anticipation at best. If a comet was hurtling towards earth and predicted to wipe out the entire planet, until the precise moment when it began to blot out half the sky it would just have to take its chance along with the supermarket run, the meet-up in the pub and a discussion about why they bothered making a second series of .In Bangalore, the headquarters of Cricinfo, where I have decamped for the tournament, the sporting obsession is palpable. World Cup previews and re-runs flicker from every TV screen. The only place that will matter on Sunday will be Adelaide as India do battle with Pakistan. In India you will struggle to find a bar not showing the cricket; in England, you struggle to find a bar that is.The Indian prime minister has sent tweets to every member of the squad. A British prime minister, even an Old Etonian, would first check with focus groups whether being associated with cricket was a good idea in an election year. They would advise him to tread very carefully. Back in 1999, England made a mess of the opening ceremony, firework smoke engulfed the VIPs and Tony Blair told an aide that it did not entirely fit his vision of “Cool Britannia”. The 2005 Ashes apart, cricket in England has rarely been cool.England’s players soak up the atmosphere in Australia but the World Cup will be watched from under the duvet at home•AFPTo be English in Australia is to be the butt of a nation’s humour. There is no cheerier way for Australia to begin the World Cup than indulging in their traditional bagging of the English. Presumably this is a more of a survival mechanism than ever after their prime minister chose Australia Day to give Prince Philip a knighthood.Buy a coffee: “You’re English? Ah, that’s bad luck.” Ask for a beer: “Your team are s***, mate.” At least the taxi drivers rewarm the old jokes. “I couldn’t live in England – it’s cold, overcrowded and full of the English.” On Friday, a plane circled the city carrying the banners that have adorned advertising hoardings all week: “Missing: pair of balls. If found, please return to the England cricket team.”There is a lot of flapping of gums. But at least they are enjoying themselves.It was a relief to arrive in India with the World Cup about to begin. Inconvenient for sure, because a day after leaving the central heating broke down, and the tickets for Dara O Briain will go to waste, and there is a wedding in the diary that will have to be given a miss.But it has been a wonderful escape from English negativity: the complaints that the tournament is too long, the reluctance to buy into the hopes and aspirations of a reshaped one-day side that is at least showing signs of adventure and ambition, and a general carping about the game that has become a default position that many cricket lovers cannot quite escape.Wake up, England! But only when you are ready to join the fun.

Sixty-six years ago, a century eluded the legendary West Indies batsman. He now has another chance, without bat in hand, to reach that magical figure

Tony Cozier26-Feb-2015Of all the numbers stacked against the name Everton de Courcy Weekes in scorebooks the world over, 90 carries an unfortunate significance.It was his score in West Indies’ first innings of the fourth Test against India in Chepauk, Madras, now Chennai, in January 1949. Ten more runs would have extended his overall record of five successive Test hundreds that has never been surpassed; he was cut short by a run-out decision by the square-leg umpire that Weekes now euphemistically describes as “rather doubtful”.Sixty-six years on, the figure 90 carries an altogether happier connotation for a celebrated cricketer, now Sir Everton Weekes, Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG), holder of Barbados’ Gold Crown of Merit (GCM), who enters the tenth decade of a fulfilling life on Thursday.Of surviving West Indies Test players, only Andy Ganteaume, the diminutive opening batsman with the unique record of scoring a hundred in his one and only Test innings, is older, at 94.In an interview five years ago for the series , Weekes told me he felt that if he made it to the end of that year he would get to the three figures in life that eluded him in cricket in Madras.The evidence is encouraging. He lives on his own in a modest bungalow ten minutes away from the fishing town of Oistins on Barbados’ south coast. He swims regularly off the popular nearby beach, if not quite the same habitual Monday-to-Friday routine of a few years back.He drives himself and cooks for himself (okra and spinach his specialities) and avidly follows the game, either in person at Kensington Oval, scene of several of his finest innings, at Empire Club in the Bridgetown suburb of Bank Hall, where he blossomed into one of the most prolific batsmen of any era, or watching the World Cup on television.”Yes, I’ve hardly missed a ball,” he replied, as if surprised by my incredulous question. The live coverage of the night matches is relayed to Caribbean stations between 11.30pm and 7.30am; it’s certainly a chore to last all the way through, even for those of us somewhat short of his vintage.Once a champion bridge player who represented Barbados at major international tournaments, Sir Everton would play “five to six hours a night and practised just as much in the day”.”It’s a game like golf, I suppose. Once you get into it, you become addicted,” he said. And Weekes was addicted. Now poker is his preference, and he indulges his continuing passion for cards at weekly sessions with friends.Above all, he maintains the humility, deep knowledge of the game and sense of humour that made him so engaging as a colleague during his many years as an analyst in the radio commentary box.

He lives on his own in a modest bungalow ten minutes away from the fishing town of Oistins on Barbados’ south coast. He swims regularly off the popular nearby beach

After retirement, he became a West Indies board member, a coach, a selector and team manager and an ICC match referee. He served on several government statutory boards.In 48 Tests between 1948 and 1958, he was one of the most exciting batsmen in the game at a time when West Indies were first established as a potent and positive force in the world game. Richie Benaud, who had six Tests for Australia against Weekes, said simply that “he set out to hammer bowlers”.”He was a fierce hooker, puller and square-cutter, but at the same time, a terrific driver,” he said. It was the square cut that is mostly stored in my memory bank.Weekes’ average of 58.61 is second only to the great George Headley’s 60.83 in the galaxy of West Indies batting stars, seventh on the overall list. Not far behind are Frank Worrell, his bosom buddy from their pre-teen matches at Empire Club, and Clyde Walcott.With the coincidence of sharing the same first letter in their surnames, and of being born within a mile and a year of each other in Bridgetown, Barbados’ capital, they formed a combination inevitably and always known as the Three Ws. They shared 39 hundreds in 143 Tests between them; Walcott averaged 56.68 in 44 Tests, Worrell 49.48.Significantly, in the fading days of British colonialism, all three broke the long-standing racial barrier of a sport always held as a badge of excellence by the islands of the cricketing Caribbean. Walcott was the first black captain of British Guiana in 1956, Worrell the first of the West Indies and Weekes of Barbados in 1960. Each was an unqualified success. As with Weekes, Worrell and Walcott, both now deceased, were also knighted.Like so many West Indies players, Weekes came from an underprivileged, inner-city environment. He was born no more than a quarter-mile away from Kensington Oval, the Test venue, but was denied membership of the Pickwick Club that occupied the ground and was, at the time, exclusively white. His only entry was through the gate before sunrise to help roll the pitch and cut the grass.”The first Test I saw was West Indies against England in 1935,” he recalls. “I was ten years old and stayed on after helping the ground staff, otherwise I couldn’t have paid the entrance fee. I specially remember George Headley and Wally Hammond.”His own cricket was confined to matches in open spaces in the neighbourhood and in the road between houses. His first organised cricket was at 13 for Wiltshire, a team in the village league; that he was the youngest and smallest of the players gained him no mercy from his seniors.Everton Weekes still makes it a point to watch every ball of West Indies’ games, wherever they are played•WICB Media”The pitches were never well prepared so you had to be innovative,” he said. “The first time I got on to a properly prepared pitch I wondered just how do you get out.”The improved conditions were in the Barbados Regiment team that was in the main club competition; Weekes was, as he related, “local, acting, unpaid lance-corporal 6752, Weekes ED”. He was also the leading batsman.It was enough to earn him his debut in the Barbados team in 1945, aged 20, against Trinidad and Tobago in Port-of-Spain. Three years later he was in the Test team. Weekes contended that his unique record of having hit just one six in his 81 Test innings was due to his upbringing.”If you hit the ball in the air and broke someone’s window, you weren’t getting that ball back, so we had to keep it on the ground,” was his simple enough explanation.He can still give details of the solitary six. The second Test against Australia at the Queen’s Park Oval in 1955 was petering out to a draw when he allowed himself the liberty of hoisting Bill Johnston over long-on.”If you only hit one six in your Test career you should remember it, shouldn’t you?” Weekes says.But was it really just one six? On one of my tours of India, an obviously keen statistician brought the scorebook of the Calcutta Test of 1948. There it was, against the name ED Weekes in the book: a six. I put it to him when I got back to Barbados.”Yes, I remember it. They were overthrows. We’d run two when the ball came in from the deep field and it was so wide of anyone, it went on to the boundary,” he said. So still a solitary genuine six.It was the match in which Weekes completed the fourth and fifth of his consecutive hundreds – 141 against England in Kingston, 128 in Delhi, 194 in Bombay, 162 and 101 in Calcutta. Weekes rates the 162 as his best. “Everywhere I tried to hit the ball, I hit it,” he said. “To do that for four hours or thereabouts was what made it so special.”The sequence started in peculiar circumstances at Kingston’s Sabina Park the previous March. Weekes had been dropped after modest returns in the first three Tests, the first in the Caribbean after World War II. He then received a last-minute call-up to replace the injured George Headley, but an overnight stop in Puerto Rico on the flight to Kingston to fix some trouble with the plane’s engines meant he didn’t arrive at Sabina until after lunch, with West Indies, fortunately, in the field.

“I repeatedly told the young players I coached to learn to temper the ability to do well with the expectancy of failure as well”Everton Weekes

“When I did get there, I asked if I was still in the team and was told I was. Of course, that couldn’t happen now. When I came on, I was booed all the way. The substitute who came off was JK Holt, a Jamaican favourite. Next day, the same crowd came on to the field to lift me off after I got my hundred.”Weekes had a straightforward theory for his five-in-a-row consistency.”Making runs is a habit,” he maintained. “Why not enjoy it when you get into that habit, for there’ll come a time, once you play long enough, that you’ll lose that habit.”I repeatedly told the young players I coached to learn to temper the ability to do well with the expectancy of failure as well.”West Indies’ burgeoning strength was confirmed by series wins over England at home and India in India between 1948 and 1949. The real breakthrough came in the 3-1 triumph in England in 1950.”I get fairly emotional when I talk about that tour as I felt we did so well with so little,” he admitted. “In fact, we’d been written off by most of the press as a pick-up side from the Caribbean”.He rated the batting as “pretty strong” but noted there were no great fast bowlers, while Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine (“those two little pals of mine”, as the calypso called them) were a couple of untried 20-year-old spinners on their first tour.From then until his final series, they all played together for West Indies, Weekes batting alongside the other Ws and catching at slip or fielding in the covers to Ramadhin and Valentine.He was 32 when he retired from Tests; his 197 at Kensington Oval in the first match of the home series against Pakistan in 1958 was his only hundred on the ground he had known since he was a boy. It suggested he had more to give.Indeed, he continued leading Barbados for another six years and, in 1965, aged 40, was cajoled to lead a Barbados “colts” team in a two-day match against the touring Australians. His class was still evident in his 105 before he retired at tea.So why did he go when he did?”I wasn’t enjoying the cricket and I wasn’t enjoying the administration at the time,” he said. It is a reason with which several West Indian players in later years can identify.Now, as he turns 90, Sir Everton de Courcy Weekes is enjoying the cricket and life – and he doesn’t have an administration to bother him.

While New Zealand’s impressive and unbeaten run make them clear favourites, West Indies are as capable as any team of pulling a performance out of nothing

Andrew McGlashan19-Mar-2015Unbeaten New Zealand, unpredictable West Indies. The qualification paths for the two sides playing the final quarter-final were poles apart. New Zealand’s progress was sealed with a six by Kane Williamson against Australia (apologies to MS Dhoni) while West Indies’ was sealed with a scamper against UAE.New Zealand’s three early games in a week gave them a kick start and left them well ahead of the pack. Since then, especially after the drama of the Australia game, they have often been kicking their heels waiting for their subsequent matches. They completed their group stage, sitting comfortably top of the pile, then waited to see who they would meet in Wellington.West Indies, by contrast, have always been at the centre of the will-they, won’t-they debate. An opening-match defeat against Ireland was always likely to leave them battling, but back-to-back wins against Pakistan and Zimbabwe sparked them only for heavy defeats against South Africa and India to threaten elimination. Then there was concern over the weather; they allowed UAE to fight back from 46 for 6 but in the end got home with time to spare.Brendon McCullum and Mike Hesson have been keen to stress they believe New Zealand have been stretched at various stages of their qualifying campaign. That is true, but none of them were the ultimate make-or-break moment. Momentum, and perhaps a little belief, was on the line – but not their World Cup campaign. West Indies have had to play every day as though it might be their last.Now form and the manner of qualification can mean everything and nothing at the same time. It is a point that has not escaped those with a close eye on New Zealand’s fortunes. On the eve of the tournament, McCullum actually picked out his greatest fear as being that one, uncontrollable display that takes the game away.”When you talk about major fears that’s probably it. You’re dominating a game, in a position of authority and one of those match-winners comes out and takes game away from you,” he said back in Christchurch before New Zealand faced Sri Lanka.The belief around New Zealand has strengthened throughout the tournament, but the fear of the one-off remains. “The worrying fact is that when you get to quarter-finals, any one player in the opposition can have a great day,” said former captain Stephen Fleming. “It doesn’t matter who you play against – in the knockouts each team is going to have someone who can do that. That’s the only worrying aspect from an outsider’s perspective.”And West Indies, for all their qualifying stresses, are as capable as any team of pulling a performance out of nothing. Chris Gayle has a bad back and Marlon Samuels can sleepwalk through a game, but they can both score big hundreds. Darren Sammy and Andre Russell can slog one up in the air, but also out of the ground. Jason Holder and Jerome Taylor can concede ten-an-over but also take 4 for 20.West Indies have scored three individual hundreds to New Zealand’s one, but the top order limped against Ireland, India and South Africa (the latter in the face of 408 for 5). New Zealand were pushed to limited chasing 152 against Australia and needed most of their resources against Bangladesh, but were very convincing against Sri Lanka, England and Afghanistan.Holder has already talked about getting into New Zealand’s middle order. While they eventually hauled themselves over the line against Bangladesh, it was not without problems. But, ultimately, they have still won. It takes a lot to break New Zealand’s belief at the moment, but West Indies’ confidence and composure forever seems on a knife-edge. On the ground where Tim Southee blitzed England with 7 for 33, New Zealand are likely to want to bowl first to allow him and Trent Boult to set the tone as they have so often done.As Richard Hadlee stressed on Thursday, it is not just a month’s work on the line. “This is four years of planning and preparation to get to seven hours of cricket and if you’re good enough, you’ll get another seven hours,” he said. “Get it wrong in the quarter-final, drop a catch, top order fails, the bowlers don’t get it right, the fielding is not as good as it has been, those sort of things and it can all be over in that seven-hour period.”Injuries have also impacted one side far greater than the other. Darren Bravo went home after two games, Gayle’s back injury is always looming and Sulieman Benn has also struggled. In contrast, the worst New Zealand have had to contend with is Adam Milne’s shoulder and few flying-ant bites in Hamilton.Gayle, it seems, will appear come what may in Wellington. And that embodies the threat West Indies bring to the quarter-final. They are creaking, prone to imploding and forever on the cusp of another internal meltdown. Yet, they could ride on a performance from at least half a dozen of the team.”When you think they’re down, one of their players comes out and plays an explosive innings or bowls a spell that can take you out of the game,” Hesson said earlier this week. “Sometimes it’s easier to play a side that’s a bit more predictable whereas the West Indies on their day are exceptional.For all the scouting New Zealand will do, the videos they will watch and plans that have worked so well for more than a year it becomes difficult to prepare for a side who even themselves do not know which version will turn up.

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jun-2015Zulfiqar Babar ended a promising stand between Kaushal Silva and Dinesh Chandimal by removing Chandimal in the 85th over. When Mohammad Hafeez pouched Kithuruwan Vithanage’s return chance, Sri Lanka were 261 for 6•Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP/Getty ImagesSilva, though, was a steadying influence for Sri Lanka and his patient knock averted a collapse•Getty ImagesSilva went on to bring up his second Test hundred. He was unbeaten on 113 as Sri Lanka went to lunch on 273 for 6•Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP/Getty ImagesPakistan’s spinners ran through the lower order to bowl out Sri Lanka for 300. Silva, caught behind off Babar for 125, was the penultimate wicket•Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP/Getty ImagesPakistan were rocked by quick wickets in their first innings, Dhammika Prasad removing openers Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad inside the first three overs•Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP/Getty ImagesVice captain Azhar Ali was trapped lbw by Rangana Herath for 8 as Pakistan went to tea on 38 for 3•Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP/Getty ImagesDilruwan Perera went through Younis’ defence, dismissing him three short of his 30th Test fifty, Misbah fell in the 35th over as Pakistan went to stumps on 118 for 5•Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images

Much like the similarity in the low scores of India and Australia wicketkeepers in the first unofficial Test in Chennai, there lies a resemblance in their current state too – these are testing times for them

Deivarayan Muthu in Chennai28-Jul-2015The blazing sun beats down on the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Naman Ojha and Matthew Wade, though, are floating on thin ice. These are testing times for Indian as well as Australian wicketkeepers.Brad Haddin, who had been the engine room of the Australian middle order in the 2013-14 Ashes at home, finds himself thrown out of gear this time. He opted out of the Lord’s Test citing personal reasons and was later jettisoned for the inexperienced Peter Nevill on the eve of the third Test.Australia A wicketkeeper Wade, who was chosen for the 2013 Ashes, has slipped down the pecking order too. It was Wade who benefitted from Haddin’s first instance of opting out due to personal reasons when he left the West Indies in 2012 and the Australian selectors opted for Wade for the next 10 Tests. But Nevill has overtaken Wade since then.On the Indian front, when MS Dhoni was rested from the Zimbabwe tour, the selectors picked three back-up wicketkeepers in Robin Uthappa, Kedhar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu, ahead of specialist wicketkeepers Ojha, Wriddhiman Saha and Sanju Samson.While Saha, who became the first player to score a century in an IPL final, was left wondering what went wrong, Ojha and Samson were given second chances by the selectors. Ojha was picked for the ongoing series against Australia A and Samson was added to the T20 squad in Zimbabwe after Rayudu’s injury.Samson made his international debut in the second T20I in Harare but Uthappa was the man behind the stumps. Coming in at No. 7, Samson managed only 19 off 24 balls as India went down to Zimbabwe by 10 runs.Ojha did not impress much either, in the first unofficial Test against Australia A in Chennai, though India A captain Cheteshwar Pujara praised his wicketkeeping skills. He had ground 10 off 56 balls before getting bogged down and holing out to mid-off. In the second innings he was undone by a Marcus Stoinis offuctter for only 4.”He [Ojha] is keeping well. The ball was turning, the ball was keeping low. So, he did a good job,” Pujara said. “I think the first catch in the first innings was a very good catch. The way they [Ojha and Saha] bat, the way they keep, they are different players. I don’t believe in comparisons. So, ultimately who comes into the side depends on what the selectors want.”Ojha had propelled himself into the radar of the selectors when he produced 835 runs in seven Ranji Trophy matches in 2013-14 and went on to strike 430 runs in three innings, including a double-century and two centuries, against an Australia A attack that included Ben Cutting, James Faulkner, Mitchell Marsh and Nathan Lyon (who played only the first match).Ojha’s prolific form in Australia earned him a maiden call-up to the India squad for the last two Tests in England as cover for back-up wicketkeeper Saha. However, he din’t get a game. Ojha also did well in the last Ranji Trophy season but the selectors feel he isn’t there yet. He needs to blend runs and talent with temperament if he is to get there.And so should Wade. He scored 572 runs in nine Sheffield Shield games at 49.48 last season but it wasn’t good enough; Nevill had racked up 764 runs in 10 matches at 76.40 and had only one dismissal less than Wade. New South Wales wicketkeeper Ryan Carters isn’t too far behind, either. He had a breakout 2013-14 Sheffield season with 861 runs at an average of 53.81 and racked up a 198 against Queensland last season in December.And Wade did not help his own cause, making only 2 and having nothing to show for behind the wicket in the first unofficial Test in Chennai.Ojha was ignored for the Sri Lanka tour as well, though India’s chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil had said: “We have a standby wicketkeeper we have nominated.”  The clock is ticking for Ojha. The clock is ticking for Wade too. The clock is ticking for the other wicketkeepers as well.

A look back at the best individual performances from the three-Test series between Sri Lanka and India

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2015Chandimal’s counterattack
Sri Lanka had no business winning the Galle Test. They were bundled out for 183 in the first innings, conceded a lead of 192, and soon found themselves floundering at 95 for 5 in the second. With an innings defeat looming, Dinesh Chandimal unleashed his own brand of reverse-sweeping pandemonium to catch India off guard. Chandimal ended with an unbeaten 162, and his knock gave Sri Lanka something to bowl at.Herath spins India out
Despite Chandimal’s blitz, Sri Lanka had only 175 to defend. Rangana Herath ensured that was more than enough. Fighting weak knees and a troublesome back, as well as whispers calling for his retirement, Herath picked up 7 for 48 to bowl India out for 112, sealing a memorable win for the hosts.Rahul’s redemption
After returns of 7 and 5 in Galle, KL Rahul took centre stage at the P Sara Oval. He worked his way to an important 108, helping India compile 393. There was only disappointment for Rahul – that he did not push on for a bigger score: “Personally you do feel like you could have done a lot better.”Rahane makes it count at No. 3
Playing his first Test at one-down, Ajinkya Rahane formed the spine of India’s second innings. Rahane’s patient 126, his fourth Test ton, brought much-needed calmness to the batting order, and carried India to a massive lead of 412.Ashwin enters the record books
R Ashwin’s 5 for 42 in the second innings of the P Sara Test not only capped off a fine victory for India, but broke a host of records. The haul took him to 17 wickets in the series – the most by an Indian in Sri Lanka – and meant Ashwin had 12 five-fors in his first 27 Tests, with nine of those coming in wins.Pujara ends a 20-month drought
Cheteshwar Pujara, who was included in the playing XI at the SSC, had not scored a Test hundred since December 2013, or even played a Test in eight months. But over the course of 289 deliveries, Pujara offered a reminder of his credentials in the longest format, scoring a gritty, unbeaten 145, and became only the fourth Indian opener to carry his bat through the innings.Fiery Ishant takes on Sri Lanka
A pumped-up Ishant Sharma was all over Sri Lanka in the final Test. Consistently hitting the good lengths, Ishant prized out five Sri Lanka wickets in the first innings, running through the hosts’ middle order on his way to 5 for 54. Ishant would pick up three more wickets in the second innings, and he celebrated each of them with a cathartic roar, as India romped to their first away series win since 2011.Mathews fights a lone battle
Angelo Mathews is no stranger to rebuilding Sri Lanka’s collapsed innings, and in the final Test, he was tasked with that job yet again. With his team-mates falling like a pack of cards, Mathews stuck around for a majestic 110, but he could not prevent defeat.

While their performances in India weren’t the most eye-catching, Farhaan Behardien’s all-round competence and coach Russell Domingo’s hours of homework were vital to South Africa’s limited-overs success

Firdose Moonda26-Oct-2015Summertime and the living is easy… at least if you’re South African. Two series, two wins and that’s before you’ve realised where those contests were, who they were against and what they were the precursor to.For the record, it was against India in India in the first three weeks of a ten-week tour. South Africa’s wins included a first-ever T20 series victory in their first-ever T20 series in India and a first-ever bilateral ODI series win in five attempts. So yes, it was pretty damn special and it came with all the frills and fireworks a special occasion merits.There were the three captain’s knocks from AB de Villiers, one a heroic hundred in a losing cause, there was the consistency from the old hand, Faf du Plessis, that eventually blossomed into an innings of craft and cramp, there was the redemption of Quinton de Kock, who announced himself as an international cricketer against India again and there was the revelation of Kagiso Rabada who proved pace is pace and nothing compares. If you had been following the series at all you already know all those things and you also know that while they are the standout reasons South Africa won, they are not the only reasons.South Africa won because around de Villiers, du Plessis, de Kock and Rabada, there were others, chiefly Farhaan Behardien and Russell Domingo. The finisher and the fine-tuner have played silent roles in South Africa’s success and it’s time to make some noise about them.Behardien was South Africa’s fourth-highest run-scorer, ahead of Hashim Amla and JP Duminy (although Duminy missed the last two matches with injury) and has reached a level of consistency expected of a lower-order batsman. He is no Kieron Pollard – he is only about half the size – but he has become the finisher David Miller was supposed to be. In this series, he scored 124 runs and boasted an average of 41.33, thanks to two unbeaten scores and this year, he has played 20 ODIs, batted 15 times and averages 40.00, with a strike rate of 104.16.Add to that the fact that Behardien can bowl some of the fifth bowler’s overs. Although he was not a strike bowler, he had an economy rate of 6.15, marginally better than Duminy’s 6.71, which meant South Africa did not have to force the issue of a seam-bowling allrounder, especially since it seems they don’t have too many options. Including Chris Morris or David Wiese, who missed this series with injury, runs the risk of shortening the batting line-up but South Africa may not have to do that if they can put their trust in Behardien.Like Ryan McLaren, Behardien has had his doubters and in the same way McLaren did, he has benefitted from consistency in selection and silenced them. Behardien understands he may not be the next superstar and has made peace with his limitations. Teams need people like that as much as they do the big names.Someone who knew that all along was Domingo. In fact, he knew it so well that when he saw he was not going to add value as a cricketer – and that was way back when Domingo was still a club player – he decided to become a coach instead. That was 18 years ago, when the concept of the international coach was not as limited to the former player as it is now. These days, the prevailing opinion is that a Gary Kirsten or an Andy Flower can offer more than a Domingo or a Mike Hesson, but both are steadily proving the stereotype wrong.In his two-and-half-years in charge, Domingo has already gone where no other South African coach has gone before. He is the only one to have won a World Cup knockout game. Before this tour, he had been in charge for 14 ODI and nine T20 series and South Africa had won eight of the former and two of the latter. That may not immediately sound impressive but it included victories in Sri Lanka in both formats, in New Zealand, in the UAE and at home. They have done all of that while going through waves of change that have included the retirements of some of the stalwarts.Domingo has overseen the transition by sticking to a simple strategy of trusting the numbers but adjusting the gameplan to suit conditions. He does his homework before South Africa play and although knowing the ground average won’t help a team win a game, it will tell them whether they are on the right track. Knowing that spinners have done better than seamers from a particular end or that slower-ball bouncers are better options than yorkers at the death somewhere is also valuable insight.These days, South Africa speak with authority on those aspects of the game they may previously have simply admitted to not knowing much about. They tell local media that they expect bounce when everyone is gazing at a pancake or that the new playing conditions mean they are more likely to use short balls later on so they can have men caught at deep midwicket. That kind of thinking is Domingo’s and it has become South Africa’s. They enjoy being more informed and take pride in the nerdishness.After all, in a typical South African summer time, the living is often easier for those who got through the end-of-year exams knowing they had passed than for those anxiously awaiting the outcome. And right now, South Africa are top of the class.