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.

Even as Australia come to terms with 2-0 series loss to Pakistan, the wheels of change are slowly turning in the Sheffield Shield, reshaping old methods and ideas to meet the new realities of international cricket

Daniel Brettig04-Nov-2014Between the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Test matches, James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s CEO, expressed total faith in the capacity of Michael Clarke and Darren Lehmann to turn Australia’s fortunes around. “I’m really confident that this week we’ll see a different and improved performance,” he said. “One of the things I’ve been really impressed with under Darren Lehmann is the way the team’s adapted, and I think with Michael Clarke’s leadership and experience in those conditions we’ll adapt this week.”Based on recent Test match results, Sutherland’s confidence was well-placed. But even as he said those words, he was aware of gears grinding slowly and noisily in reverse in the Sheffield Shield, of domestic wickets being recast to better reflect international conditions, and of batsmen and bowlers having to learn how to better operate in climes prepared specifically to trip them up in India, England and now the UAE. The idea of a quick fix in the space of a week was optimistic.As far back as 2011, following the disastrous home Ashes series that concluded in January of that year, Sutherland had spoken of his concerns about Shield pitches no longer reflecting the sorts of conditions found in Tests, even in Australia. “For batsmen they have to work hard and it’s difficult, but at the same time it can lull bowlers into a false sense of security as to actually how good things are,” he said following that year’s Shield final. “If you go and have a look at Test pitches around the world, they are very, very hard, very, very dry and they have very little grass on them.”So in the years since, underneath the publicity generated by the Argus review and the Australian team’s fluctuating results, Cricket Australia have quietly debated the relevant issues with the states. These did not just include pitches but also the styles of play and players being promoted in the Shield, as the national team sought spin bowlers, batsmen capable of long innings and pacemen conversant in both conventional and reverse swing.It has not always been an easy conversation, with successful players and states arguing that they were doing the right thing by performing, so why change? But the penny appeared finally to drop in 2013, due perhaps, in part, to the dire India results that showed, among other things, how one-dimensional Australian cricketers had become. At North Sydney Oval for a CA sponsorship announcement shortly after the tour, Sutherland spoke not only about the “homework” fiasco but also how the experience of Australian cricketers had to be broadened.”As we saw in India, you can’t buy the experience of playing in those sorts of conditions, they’re very much alien to what we have anywhere in Australia,” he said. “You need that experience and part of it is making our Shield pitches more like Test pitches, but it’s also broadening the experience and the resilience of players to work through different conditions. The best players are the ones who can adapt to pitches all over the world – that’s where someone like Allan Border is an out-and-out great because of his ability to adapt his game.”Last summer’s Test results did not reflect that search quite so much as the rejuvenation of Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin and the unity forged by Lehmann and Clarke. But it is arguable that the more significant long-term trend over the summer was actually witnessed in the Shield, where several years of cajoling by the team performance manager Pat Howard, among others, finally resulted in the preparation of pitches more equitable to batsmen and spin bowlers. Both disciplines received a spike in their productivity, while pacemen had to work harder.Trevor Bayliss: “The batsmen don’t face very much quality spin at home, and then the skill set for that is not as good as it could be”•AFPThis tweaking must be balanced to a certain degree – Australian cricket does not need six facsimiles of the Dubai playing surface in Shield competition any more than it needs six green seamers. But the sense was of some kind of balance being regained. In the words of the New South Wales’ Trevor Bayliss, who coached his state to victory under the new conditions last summer and is now subbing in as national Twenty20 coach while Darren Lehmann flies home from the UAE:”If you look at when wickets were very flat, it was more important to bowl spin. Now we’ve had a few different years, the batsmen don’t face very much quality spin at home, and then the skill set for that is not as good as it could be if you’re facing it day in, day out. From a pace-bowling point of view, it’s easy to take wickets because there’s a fair bit in the wickets, but then you get onto these flat wickets that sorts a few of those bowlers out as well. Somehow we’ve got to get back to good cricket wickets, something in it for new ball bowlers, then flattens out to a good wicket and then day three and four it spins. That way we’ll produce more rounded cricketers in all conditions.”The state that suffered most by the change was Victoria, who for some years had been among the most outspoken advocates of doing things their way to secure trophies, rather than thinking more broadly about the production of Australian players. A change to the job specs of the state coach Greg Shipperd and others was significant to that end, raising the identification of international cricketers above the collection of silverware.But the adjustment to a style of play more conversant of spin and tall first-innings scores did not come easily: the Bushrangers finished bottom and averaged only 12 wickets a match – Australia’s weary UAE tourists will know how they felt. “I think part of that was definitely the change in conditions,” Shipperd said. “That was a Cricket Australia directive and I think a directive that was timely because most certainly the conditions had slipped way out of kilter across the country in terms of the balance between bat and ball.”I think the response to that directive was excellent across Australia and our bowling group weren’t good enough to deal with those better wickets. That’s the challenge going forward because hopefully those wickets will stay the same and make it a real challenge for bowlers to get batters out and batters to stay hungry to score significant runs.”

“You will note that with the revised Sheffield Shield points system we are rewarding teams that can dig in and fight for a draw, because there will be times at international level where that’s important.”Pat Howard, Australia’s team performance manager

Further pressing the matter of Shield conditions was the introduction of a fresh points system for this summer, which rewards teams for batting positively in the first innings but also for pushing to 100 overs, an increasingly uncommon innings length in recent seasons. Incentives were also added in terms of points for securing a draw, something conspicuously absent from the former system, which placed a premium on outright results and functioned sturdily until states began to look jealously upon the points tallies regularly racked up by Queensland on the grassy Gabba strip.Having shown a striking ability to twist past England and South Africa in bouncy conditions, Australia have been unable to stick against Pakistan. Dogged fourth-innings efforts and persistent spells are not necessarily the skills most desired by Clarke and Lehmann, but they will be increasingly required in the Shield and by extension, it is hoped, in the national team. Patience as well as pace.”We like to play attacking cricket, but that all depends on the conditions and the position of the game,” Howard said. “You will note that with the revised Sheffield Shield points system we are rewarding teams that can dig in and fight for a draw, because there will be times at international level where that’s important.”Not everyone is a fan of the new system. Bayliss would have kept the simpler former model. Shipperd is warmer to the concept but has raised a couple of queries about it also, namely the loss of the “contest within a contest” for first-innings points and the disparity of scoring conditions at various grounds around Australia.That said, Shipperd and Bayliss both remain open to the concept, even if before taking up Australian duty the latter had told his players not to think too much about the bonus points and simply to “play for the win as we usually do”. “It will all be interesting to see at the end of the season wash-up,” Shipperd said, “but Pat Howard is known for being prepared to take a risk in the pursuit of advancement, so the rest of Australia’s behind him.”Howard will be relieved to hear that, given he has often butted heads with senior figures in Australian cricket, not least for his non-cricket background. In the aftermath of the Abu Dhabi defeat, he stressed that the grinding gears of Australia’s domestic competition still had a way to go to help ensure that Australia are not caught out quite so badly as they have been by the Pakistan.”To be a great side, we have to be able to win consistently on the road and it’s clear that we still struggle to cope with dry sub-continental conditions,” he said. “We’re working hard to address our weakness against spin by getting more overs into spinners in the Sheffield Shield and installing dedicated spin pitches at the NCC. We will also continue to use spin-coaching consultants to help our bowlers and batsmen perform better in those conditions, as well as running a range of assimilation tours to the sub-continent for our elite development squads. All of those things will bring about improvement, but in no way are they an overnight solution. It will take time and hard work.”As unsightly as the UAE has been for Australia, it should at least remind players and administrators alike that their pitched battle has some way to run yet.

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.

Left-arm seamers took 12 wickets in the thriller between New Zealand and Australia, the most ever in an ODI

S Rajesh28-Feb-20156 Number of one-wicket wins World Cups. It was New Zealand’s first win by that margin in World Cups, and Australia’s first defeat.161 The number of balls to spare when New Zealand hit the winning runs. It’s Australia’s second-biggest ODI defeat in terms of balls to spare – they lost with 180 balls remaining against Sri Lanka in Brisbane in 2013.151 Australia’s total, their joint second lowest in a World Cup game, and their lowest when batting first. The only time they were bowled out for less was in 1983 at Chelmsford, when India dismissed them for 129. West Indies bowled them out for 151 at Headingley in the same World Cup. It’s also Australia’s fifth-lowest total against New Zealand, and the second lowest in terms of overs batted.26 Runs scored by Australia for the loss of eight wickets, after being 80 for 1 at one stage. It’s their worst eight-wicket collapse in ODIs, beating two instances of 8 for 27: against Pakistan in Dubai in 2009, and against Sri Lanka in Brisbane in 2013. (Click here for Australia’s worst collapses from the second to the ninth wickets.)Trent Boult’s 5 for 27 was his best in ODIs, and only his second haul of more than two wickets in 20 innings•Associated Press5 The number of times Australia have been bowled out in fewer than 32.2 overs in all ODI matches. It has happened only once in the last 29 years, and once ever when they’ve batted first – against Sri Lanka in Brisbane in 2013, when they lasted only 26.4 overs.5 Number of times, in the last ten ODIs in Auckland, that the team batting first has been bowled out for less than 210.12 Wickets for left-arm seamers in the match – Mitchell Starc took six, Trent Boult five, and Corey Anderson one. It’s easily the most wickets they’ve taken in a single game – the previous best was 9.6 Wickets for Starc, conceding 28 runs, his best ODI figures. It’s the fourth best by a left-arm seamer in World Cup games, and also fourth among all Australian bowlers.5 Wickets for Boult in the innings, his first five-wicket haul in ODIs. His previous best was 4 for 44, against Sri Lanka in Dunedin last year. Those are the only two instances in 20 innings that Boult has taken more than two wickets in an innings in ODIs. His four best bowling analysis in ODIs have all come in 2015.11.33 Mitchell Johnson’s economy rate in the match, his worst in ODI cricket. He leaked nine fours and four sixes in 36 balls.21 Balls it took Brendon McCullum to reach his half-century. It’s the joint third-fastest in World Cups, and also McCullum’s third fastest in these tournaments. He got one off 18 balls against England a week ago, and off 20 balls against Canada in the 2007 World Cup. The only other instance of a 21-ball fifty in World Cups was by Mark Boucher, against Netherlands in 2007.142.39 McCullum’s strike rate in 12 ODI innings in 2015 – he scored 487 runs in 342 balls, with one century and four fifties. Among batsmen who’ve played at least 150 balls this year, two batsmen – AB de Villiers and Luke Ronchi – have a better strike rate.1 Today was the first instance of Daniel Vettori bowling within the first eight overs in a home ODI since the beginning of 2002.15 Runs scored by Australia in the first over of their innings. It’s the joint highest in the first over of a World Cup innings since 1999: Australia had scored 15 in the opening over of the 2003 final, which was bowled by Zaheer Khan.7-0 Win-loss record for the teams chasing in the last eight day-night ODIs in Auckland. One game was tied.

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.

His blazing fifty put the seal on a dominating performance, but David Warner had already made his mark on the game with some inspired bits of captaincy

Alagappan Muthu in Bangalore13-Apr-20150:54

‘The boys delivered well’ – Warner

David Warner’s 57 off 27 today was his quickest half-century in the IPL. Yet, the more telling impact he had in orchestrating Sunrisers Hyderabad’s victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore was as captain. It was only his fifth match in charge of a team, more so a team whose resources are alien to the ones he’s used to in the Australian one-day side. Tasked with a medley of 120-kph seamers and Trent Boult to ensure one of the most explosive batting line-ups was limited to a total Sunrisers’ own of much lesser wattage could run down, he trusted his T20 instincts. Often, it seemed like he asked himself the kind of balls he would hate to face and the kind of field he would hate to be up against and just went forward.The gamble
Giving Ashish Reddy the ball in the 16th over looked like a fool’s gambit. A medium-pacer who has bowled 767 deliveries in T20 cricket to trundle in to AB de Villiers and Darren Sammy at the death. Deep end, check. Deep end populated by two ravenous sharks, double check.The expected results came to pass – de Villiers stole a couple of twos, so eager was he to retain strike, and swept the third ball beyond the fine-leg boundary. Ten runs found with minimal risk and three balls still left. Warner didn’t mind. All through the day, he has had a plan, and he has been faithful to it. His bowlers responded with panache.Reddy pulled his length back and got de Villiers away from the strike. Last ball of the over. Big, powerful Sammy on strike. Reddy ambled in again, nailed the yorker and trumped Sammy. Cue the aeroplane celebration, which seemed fitting considering the manner of the wicket, and then that old yell of “Come on!” from Warner. Those two words had rankled the Indian team in Australia, but Sunrisers Hyderabad were only too eager to rally around the war cry from their captain.The big gun gunned down
Warner experimented with his dibbly-dobbly seamers for one reason – to have a Trent Boult-sized ace up his sleeve when de Villiers decided to unleash.Sean Abbott had helped himself to 13 runs off Praveen Kumar in the 18th over and even ensured that de Villiers would be on strike for the next. Boult’s first ball was a tad too full and was express delivered to the boundary. It was a rare moment when a batsman beat Warner’s field – long-on and deep midwicket dove one after the other but the shot bisected them.Warner held his men in check – long-on, deep midwicket, deep square leg – to protect the bowler from slogs and the failsafe – deep point. Boult bowled to the failsafe by shortening his length a touch and pushing the ball wider. De Villiers swung for the fences and skewed the ball to Shikhar Dhawan running in from the off-side boundary.David Warner’s faith with Ashish Reddy was rewarded with the big scalp of Darren Sammy•BCCIThe fishing trip
Virat Kohli had been vibrant in the Powerplay, but with the field spread and without the comfort of his pal Chris Gayle at the other end, his innings began to fade so much that one young fan cried out, “Kohli, you’re boring me.”He was soon bowled for 41 off 37 while trying to manufacture a boundary. Reward for tight, disciplined bowling from another trundler, if perhaps a more household one, in Ravi Bopara.Mandeep Singh strode into the M Chinnaswamy stadium, which was far more interested in the man who greeted him – de Villiers. At 93 for 3 in the 12th over, Royal Challengers needed one end secure so that de Villiers could mimic a revolving door at the other and swat balls to the leg-side boundary.Warner understood that perfectly. In fact, it is easy to imagine him giving the same advice to his new partner if he were batting in that situation. So having read the play, he kept only one man inside the circle on the leg side and Bopara acquiesced with a legcutter.Mandeep’s closed face came down on the ball. It came down too early. The ball looped towards short cover. Warner was the man. He darted to his right. It was still too far from his reach. Time to dive. Then his right hand shot out. The Bangalore crowd held their breath and craned their necks. Warner greeted them, ball in hand and broad smile intact.The quick finish
The front-line batsmen were undone by sticking to a simple game plan. So why change against the tail?Bhuvneshwar Kumar had indulged in a slower ball to Varun Aaron and was smoked over long-off. Warner abandoned his post at extra cover to have a short chat with his bowler, and then occupied long-off just in case there was another biff. The best fielder posted down the ground meant one thing, but Aaron did not see it coming. A perfect yorker. The stumps in disarray again. Straightforward.Harshal Patel copped the other length lower-order batsmen despise. The leg-side boundary was well manned, but mid-off was asked to come up and third man was sent back to control the outside edge. Captaincy 101. Boult banged one into the middle of the pitch. Bowling to tailenders 101. It was too quick for Harshal, whose pull came off the splice and was held at midwicket.Muting the crowds
“Nope. Maybe on the field a little bit.” That was Warner’s reply when asked if marriage and fatherhood would affect his batting style at the start of the IPL. Today, he offered 57 hard-hit additions and no one dared argue. Not even the normally robust Chinnaswamy crowd. The DJ’s attempts to wake those famous “R-C-B, R-C-B, R-C-B” chants were almost ignored. The people were pouting, like children after their favourite cartoon was cancelled.Warner banished the first ball of the chase – a full toss – to the cover boundary, pummeled two fours and a six in the second over and walloped Aaron, the fastest bowler of the match, for a hat-trick of boundaries. Sunrisers’ required rate was only 8.35, he was going at a strike-rate over 200. He had not just bested Royal Challengers, he had found the mute button to one of the most unfailingly raucous crowds in India.

Ravi Shastri, India’s team director, talks to ESPNcricinfo about his vision for the team, the structure of the support staff and the possibility of a long-term role with the side

Nagraj Gollapudi06-Jun-20155:34

Ravi Shastri on the possibility of a long-term role: “I am not thinking anything ahead. I am thinking Bangladesh, and that’s it.”

He might not commit about whether he wants to take a long-term role, but Ravi Shastri, India’s team director, has a clear goal for the team: play hard, play to win and become a “competitive” Test unit both at home and away.
Having agreed to extend his tenure as the team director – a role which continues to be interim – for the forthcoming Bangladesh tour, Shastri has a road map on the way forward. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, he outlined his vision for the team, why he is confident the absence of a head coach will not hurt India, and how the recently appointed three-man advisory panel of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman can enhance the quality of cricket in India.Virat Kohli told us about the massive boost you provide to the Indian team. “He is sensible and someone who gives you a lot of confidence and a lot of assurance,” is how he summed your presence in the dressing room. Such praise must help your confidence, too?
It is nice to hear what Virat said but I must compliment the entire coaching staff. The coaching bunch we have are experienced people. Our main job is to make the job of a player as easy and as comfortable as possible so that he is in the right mental state of mind before he goes out in the field of play. So our main job is to prepare them in the best possible way so that they can go out, play aggressive, free cricket, and express themselves.
And to make this happen, it is not one man who is the catalyst, it is the entire coaching staff that is responsible – right from the bowling coach to the batting coach to the fielding coach who have done a magnificent job in the eight months we have been with the team.
When it comes to Virat, he is outspoken, he is straight. What you see is what you will get with him. That is the kind of mindset that is spreading within the team as well. It is an honest bunch. Apart from Virat being outstanding, I thought the Test series (in Australia) was the catalyst. Even today, 80% of people who know their cricket say they enjoyed watching the Test series.Why did you decide to take up the offer of being the team director once again?
It is just a 14-day tour. You need some continuity so you are in the flow. This (Bangladesh) tour will be over by the 25th of this month (June). I will be in conversation with the board at some stage to see what their plans and what they think of my plans, and then take it from there. At the moment, the focus is on Bangladesh and the focus is to carry on the good work we have done in the last eight months.So to be clear, you have been appointed till the Bangladesh tour?
Yes. There is no question about that – my job is the Bangladesh tour. And after that we’ll have to sit and talk.Are you willing to take a long-term role?
I am not thinking anything ahead. I am thinking Bangladesh, and that’s it. The last time we spoke, you stated that the roles for team director and head coach are different. Do you still maintain that?
Absolutely. (The role of the) Team director is more of overseeing the coaching staff. At the same time, with the experience that I have around the cricketing circuit, not just as a player but as a broadcaster, I can play the mentoring role, too.Do you think there is still a role for a head coach in the Indian team?
There are three (assistant) coaches there and one of them can act as a head coach. If need be, there could be an additional one (head coach). If he is going to get something specific to the table, why not?Not much has been spoken about the three coaches. What kind of roles have Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun and R Sridhar played?
Look at the performances. I don’t have to speak. You took 77 out of 80 wickets in the World Cup. You batted 19 days of Test cricket out of 20 in Australia. Not many sides do it. And (we) didn’t end up losing every damn thing – we lost 2-0, but you gave yourself a chance of pushing them or even having the upper hand in every one of those four Test matches. And, of course, everyone saw the standard of fielding in the World Cup.”You saw what happened in the World Cup – suddenly India had a fast-bowling attack. It surprised a lot of people, didn’t surprise me one bit.”•Getty ImagesWhat is your vision?
The vision is very clear: that you want to be a very competitive Test side in the years to come. In the next couple of years, you want to be a Test side that is ready to play hard and competitive Test match cricket in any part of the world.To become competitive, you also mentioned in the past the pressing need to develop a fast-bowling department. “We have to get or develop bowlers who can get 20 wickets regularly,” you had said. How do you go about doing that?
We are already on the way. They have learned a lot in Australia. You saw what happened in the World Cup – suddenly India had a fast-bowling attack. It surprised a lot of people, didn’t surprise me one bit. But you can see that the work is in progress. It is not going to happen overnight. It is still going to take some time. But if they can apply the discipline that they showed in the World Cup in Test matches, the turn around the corner will be sooner rather than later.Harbhajan Singh has been included in the Test squad for Bangladesh. Where exactly can he make an impact, other than bringing in loads of experience?
(He brings in) Loads of experience. He is a bowler who has a fire in his belly. The fact that he has come into the side after a long time, I’m sure he will be hungry for wanting to again kick-start his career. It is a challenge for him and he has been the kind of bloke who has always thrived on a challenge. It is good to see him back. I think with (R) Ashwin he will make a very, very good combination. Both are experienced bowlers now.From the time you took over as team director until now, what is the biggest change you have seen, something that you want to carry forward?
The self-belief and the attitude. The desire to play aggressive, hard cricket against the best in the world. They showed that in England towards the end in the ODI series. They showed it right through in India and then carried it into the Test series in Australia and the World Cup. That is why I keep saying people talk about the seven out of eight wins in the World Cup, but the majority of the people who know their cricket, and cricketers I have met, they cast their mind back to the Test series in Australia. They say it has been a long time since they have seen any team going to Australia and competing in that fashion.When you enter the dressing room now, what will your message be?
Cricket should be played as a unit where you go out there and look to dictate terms, where you take the game forward. It is only when you have two teams thinking in that fashion do you get brilliant cricket. In my era, it was West Indies, they always looked to win. Then came the Australians who are always doing that, always going at three-and-half to four runs per over and trying to win. New Zealand have shown that of late. And India showed it in Australia when they competed. That is why it was a fabulous Test series. A lot of people (might say) oh, “India lost 2-0”. But if you go and ask any Australian, (they will say) those 19 days of Test cricket were worth watching again and again. So it is about being able to go there and give yourself a chance to dictate terms and think in that fashion.You talk so passionately about this team and heading the unit. What stops you from taking a long-term role?
I told you. One step at a time. I am not running away anywhere.The appointment must come as a positive step for you considering there has been a perception that you were close to the previous BCCI administration (under N Srinivasan)?
I have been with the BCCI for 35 years. What I am today is because of the BCCI and the opportunity and platform they gave me to play the game of cricket at a young age. During that period of time, including my broadcasting career, I might have gone through 10,12,13 (Board) presidents. Okay, let me tell you one thing: I am a guy with my own mind. And I am my own man. And I live for cricket. What people speculate and what the perceptions are, I have no right in stopping them from thinking or perceiving what they want. My job is to get out there and give my best for the game of cricket and, in particular, for the BCCI because they are my guardians. I don’t make any bones about that. I don’t care what the world thinks.How will the three-man advisory committee appointed by the BCCI be handy going forward?
It will come in extremely handy because they will have plenty to offer. They are contemporary cricketers who have just finished the game and they have been around a long, long time where they have seen the game evolve and new formats have come into play. Their knowledge and experience will be very, very handy for the BCCI.Is it correct to say the panel will not interfere with the coaching think-tank?
I would imagine their general brief would be to advise on what is the best way for Indian cricket and domestic cricket to go forward. If I were to be part of this panel, my endeavour would be to give inputs as to how BCCI cricket and Indian cricket teams at all levels – A team, Under-19, grassroots – can be taken forward.

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