Key numbers from the first Test, including Steve O’Keefe’s control percentage and Australia’s scoring pattern against R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja

Bharath Seervi and Gaurav Sundararaman25-Feb-20170 Wickets taken by Steve O’Keefe from the Pavilion End, from nine overs. All 12 of his wickets came from the Hill End. O’Keefe did not bowl from the Pavilion End after his first spell in the first innings. In the second innings, he began from the Hill End and continued bowling from that end unchanged. Of the 20 India wickets, 16 were taken by a bowler bowling from the Hill End. Of the four taken by bowlers bowling from the Pavilion End, three were taken by Nathan Lyon, the last three dismissals in the match.79 The control percentage for Indian batsmen against O’Keefe, which means 21% of the time he drew false strokes from the Indian batsmen. Despite taking 12 wickets in the game, O’Keefe wasn’t the bowler who forced the highest percentage of false shots from batsmen; against Nathan Lyon, the control percentage for India’s batsmen was only 70, which suggests he was unlucky to not take more than five wickets in the match. In fact, India’s two spinners main drew more false shots than O’Keefe: Australia’s control percentage was only 76 against R Ashwin and 73 against Ravindra Jadeja. However, O’Keefe’s fuller length, and the fact that he got less turn, ensured that he got the edges and the wickets, while the other spinners beat the bat more often.67 Average of India’s top-five batsmen against left-arm spinners before this series – each of them averaged above 45, with Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli averaging above 100. In this match, each of them were dismissed by O’Keefe at least once and their collective average fell to 56.25. In the 2016-17 season, other visiting left-arm spinners picked up 11 wickets giving away 839 runs, an average of 76.27. In this match alone, O’Keefe picked 12 wickets at an average of 5.83.14 Dismissals for India while playing a defensive shot. Australia, on the other hand, lost 14 wickets while looking to attack and six while defending.4 Number of reviews India took when fielding, and were wrong on all occasions. On the other hand, Australia reviewed only once when fielding and got it right. Australia batsmen reviewed six times and got two right while India batsmen got one right in three attempts. In the third innings, off two consecutive overs of Jayant Yadav India reviewed and got both wrong thus finishing their reviews and in the 56th over when Steve Smith could have been out if India had reviews left. In the fourth innings, both openers reviewed Umpire’s decision and had failed, thus India lost both their reviews very early in the innings. Overall, both teams used seven reviews, the visitors had three successes and hosts only one.

When batting When fielding Team No. of reviews Successful No. of reviews SuccessfulIndia 3 1 4 0Australia 6 2 1 165 Percentage of runs scored by the Australian batsmen on the off side against R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Jadeja conceded 72% of his runs came on the off side while the figure was 60% for Ashwin in the same region. During his century, Steven Smith scored 77% of his runs against Jadeja on the off side while 75% of runs scored against Ashwin were towards the leg side. Smith did not play against the spin much, thereby reducing the risk of getting dismissed.79.01 Percentage of dot balls Smith faced off Jadeja. Against each of the other three bowlers – Ashwin, Umesh Yadav and Jayant – he did not have more than 56% in dot balls. He had a strike rate of over 60 against each of the other three bowlers, but only 38.27 against Jadeja and finally lost his wicket to him.12 Percentage of runs scored by Australia off the sweep and reverse sweep. Australia scored 39 runs through the sweep and 17 runs through the reverse sweep while losing one wicket to the same. This has been an effective shot in the sub-continent. India, on the other hand, had the opportunity to sweep only eight times scoring 18 runs from those.

Amid the euphoria of their post-World Cup ODI revival, England showed fallibility in pressure matches and in less-than-perfect batting conditions. These very failings led to their undoing in a global semi-final on a tricky, used pitch in Cardiff

Andrew McGlashan in Cardiff14-Jun-2017The last time England and Pakistan met in the knockout stages of a one-day tournament was Melbourne in 1992. English hearts were broken by Imran Khan and Wasim Akram. It was also when they were last regarded as a genuine force in the 50-over game until this current crop of players came together over the past two years. Now, 25 years later, Pakistan have done it again. This time it was barely contest.It had looked like the stars had aligned for England with the bowling attack, even in the absence of the injured Chris Woakes, finding its teeth during the matches against New Zealand and Australia to supplement an awe-inspiring batting order. They were the only unbeaten team through the group stage and the one issue was the form of Jason Roy, who lost his place to Jonny Bairstow for the semi-final.Even that change appeared to have improved things for England. Bairstow made 43, albeit not entirely convincingly, in a solid start. Unlike 1992, the lbws went England’s way too: Bairstow was saved by a narrow umpire’s call off the second ball of the match and Alex Hales reprieved after he’d been given out to one that pitched outside leg. They were also facing a Pakistan attack without Mohammad Amir, who had been ruled out with a back spasm.Instead it turned into a punishing day. The mitigation of it being a tricky used pitch – the same one which had hosted the final group game two days ago – quickly diminished as Pakistan made light of conditions. Fakhar Zaman, one of the finds of the tournament, broke the back of the chase with a century stand alongside Azhar Ali at more than five-and-a-half an over. In every aspect of the game, Pakistan were better.There had been signs that England would struggle to blaze their way to 300-plus, but little to suggest the demise which would unfold when they were 128 for 2 in the 28th over and on course for at least 250. Then Joe Root edged a cut against Shadab Khan, having not found the boundary for 36 deliveries. From the 30-over mark of the innings, when England have so often more than doubled their score, they managed just three fours amid some outstanding bowling.But even allowing for the quality of the bowling, England appeared timid. One of the questions asked of this side is how they adapt when 300 isn’t par, or even below par. There had been glimmers of a different approach on slower pitches in the West Indies earlier this year, but the opposition were poor. When the ball zipped around against South Africa at Lord’s and called for some circumspection they were 20 for 6. This time the damage did not come early, but when the boundaries dried up there did not appear a Plan B.Was it the pressure of the knockout scenario? For all the success and run-gorging over the last two years, this was the highest-pressure game the side had faced. Also, during their post-World Cup revival there have been examples of England collapsing even with a bilateral series on the line. It happened against Australia in 2015, when they were skittled for 138 at Old Trafford, and South Africa last year in Cape Town. Some might point to last year’s World T20 final as another example of where they failed in the pressure situation, but that ultimately came down to an over after they had hauled themselves back into the match. When this performance started to go badly, it spiraled and was never retrieved.The innings swung between an attempt to keep the attacking mantra going – Bairstow’s top-edge to deep square leg and Eoin Morgan’s run down the pitch and swing at Hasan Ali – and an inability to then milk the bowling when the going was tough. Ben Stokes had appeared to leave his timing at Edgbaston, facing 64 balls without a boundary of which 34 were dot balls.In England’s innings as a whole there were 160 dot balls (their fifth-most since the World Cup) and if only 50 of those had become a single, 250 was there for the taking – a target that would have seen Pakistan start the chase under more pressure. There was room for a more drop-and-run approach from the middle order.They weren’t without a chance defending 212 with a vulnerable Pakistan middle order, but they barely reached it. The openers took advantage of the hard new balls to skip well ahead of the rate and by the time spin was introduced in the 15th over the score was 81 without loss. Adil Rashid could be milked. Towards the end of the chase, Jos Buttler missed a stumping and there was a no-ball called when England had too many fielders on the leg side. Neither made a jot of difference but summed up their day.So England’s wait for a global one-day title will stretch to at least 44 years. The 2019 World Cup has always been stated as the ultimate aim, but that will be of scant consolation today. This will hurt. And for some time.

ESPNcricinfo previews Northamptonshire’s prospects for the 2017 season

Alan Gardner01-Apr-2017Last season:

In: Nathan Buck (Lancashire), Max Holden (loan, Middlesex)
Out: Olly Stone (Warwickshire)
Overseas: Rory Kleinveldt (SA), Seekkuge Prasanna (T20)2016 in a nutshell
Northamptonshire had what some critics are calling “their most Northamptonshire season ever” in 2016. They went in with barely 15 men on the playing staff, faced continued uncertainty over their financial position (“we’re counting every loo roll,” said the chairman in May), recovered from a turgid start to finish mid-table in the Championship, lost a thrilling Royal London quarter-final by one wicket off the final ball of the match and lifted the NatWest Blast trophy for the second time in four seasons. Ben Duckett epitomised Northants’ uninhibited approach to the uncertainties around the club, plundering more than 2700 runs in all formats and walking off with the PCA Player of the Year and CWC Young Player awards. The highlight was T20 Finals Day, when their Moneyball approach (perhaps that should be “no-Moneyball”) saw them triumph against the odds once again.2017 prospects
Could well be another rollercoaster. Promising young fast bowler Olly Stone has left for Warwickshire (though he missed most of last season with injury anyway) but Nathan Buck has come in from Lancashire and may prove an inspired signing – still only 25, he was on the radar of England Lions five years ago. What Northamptonshire lack in squad numbers they will attempt to make up for in camaraderie, with continued success in white-ball cricket the primary focus, highlighted by the recruitment of former England batsman James Taylor as a consultant for the Royal London Cup. No team has managed to retain the T20 title but, if Northants can become the first, they will also draw level with Leicestershire on most wins (three). Championship success looks less likely, although they did finish 2016 impressively with four wins out of their last six.In charge
Since taking over in 2012, things have seldom been easy for David Ripley but he has achieved some extraordinary successes. An unexpected Championship promotion came the following year, as well as a first T20 title (Northants’ first trophy in 21 years) as the club began to embrace a data-driven approach to the format, led by their “statto” head coach. Alongside the shrewd captaincy of Alex Wakely, Northants seems to have found an ideal blend, encompassing modern tactics, attention to detail and old-fashioned team bonding. Along with bringing Taylor on board for 50-over cricket, former Wantage Road favourite David Sales is now helping out part-time as batting coach.Key player
Rory Kleinveldt, back for a third season as overseas player, has become symbolic of performance trumping perceptions at Northants. Kleinveldt’s brief international career is now behind him and, although his kit size looks a little closer to XL these days, he is still a vastly effective allrounder at county level. He has taken 124 wickets across all formats for the club, to go along with more than 1200 runs, and is a respected voice in the dressing room where what you can do is valued more than how you look.Bright young thing
Duckett blazed a trail from talented youngster to England international in little more than a season, while 18-year-old allrounder Saif Zaib has long been highly regarded in Northants circles. Hopeful of making a big impact will be Middlesex loanee Max Holden, a year older than Zaib but yet to make his senior debut. A left-handed opener, Holden captains England U-19s in the long format and, on their tour of India earlier this year, scored 170 as part of a record 321-run stand with Somerset’s George Bartlett. Ripley has been a fan for years, having tried to sign him for Northants’ academy in 2011.ESPNcricinfo verdict
When it gets down to brass tacks, you’ve got to credit the Steelbacks. They won’t be much fancied, as the betting suggests, but that will not bother Ripley and Wakely as they look to mastermind further success on a shoestring. The question of whether Duckett finds his groove again, after a mixed winter away with England, might determine how far they go in the white-ball formats and a lack of depth could limit their Championship chances – but for county cricket’s version of the Wimbledon “Crazy Gang”, up against it is how they like it.Bet365 odds: Specsavers Championship: 14-1; NatWest Blast: 12-1; Royal London Cup: 16-1

After two months away from the game, Alastair Cook is back in action with Essex and facing up to the post-captaincy chapter of his England career

George Dobell03-Apr-20172:21

Cook ready for next phase

Whatever Alastair Cook was meant to be doing with a cricket net – erecting it, presumably – at Copdock Cricket Club, there was a while when it seemed to be getting the better of him.Thrashing around like a recently caught salmon, Cook’s contribution to the NatWest Cricket Force event turned out to be more about boosting morale than adding practical assistance. As he abandoned the net and attempted to paint the new score-box, the thought occurred that a post-cricket career in DIY seems unlikely.But perhaps such a moment serves as a useful metaphor for a man in search of a new role? On his first official outing since resigning the captaincy, Cook admitted that the transition from key man to last year’s man had not been entirely comfortable. It’s not that he regrets his decision – he still feels it was right for him and the team – but he knows he will never have a better job and there is, undoubtedly, a sense of loss.It would be easy to portray Cook as a man from a different era. While the rest of the world has decided impatience is a virtue, Cook is still waiting for the ball he can nudge off his hips. While it seems some are more interested in travelling in style than arriving safely, Cook is still proceeding cautiously. While the new generation amaze us with the shots they can play, Cook is still making a living from the balls he leaves.And yet, he’s only 32. And, in a side whose problems of late have been less about scoring too slowly as being dismissed too quickly, he has qualities that remain of value. While neither of his most significant immediate predecessors – Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss – returned to the side once they had given up the captaincy, Cook’s story is far from over. Keaton Jennings and Haseeb Hameed have offered promise in their brief opportunities, but the procession of opening partners Cook has had in recent years underlines his enduring value to the Test team. He may have lived the first line of his obituary, but he still has an important role for England.Alastair Cook helps out at Copdock Cricket Club for NatWest Cricket Force•Getty Images”It has good days and bad days,” Cook says of the decision to resign the captaincy. “It’s such a big thing to give away.”I don’t like the word ‘relief’. A lot of people have said it, but it hasn’t felt like that. I don’t know why.”I won’t miss going into all the extra press conferences. But being at the centre of it, being involved in a lot of decision-making, was the excitement of the job. Not doing that any more, will probably take a while to get used to.”Ultimately I know it was the right decision for myself and the team but that doesn’t make it any easier. It has been time to move on as a person and a player.”A period away from the game – he did not, he says, pick up a bat for two months following the India tour – has given him time, not just to recover his enthusiasm for it, but reflect on his period as captain and cricket’s apparently diminishing place in the public consciousness. And while he is amused by the much-quoted statistic that suggests he was less recognisable to young people in England and Wales than the wrestler John Cena, he also acknowledges its significance.”My best mate sent it to me and said ‘don’t worry, he’s a legend’,” Cook says. “It made me laugh in one sense.”But it’s probably a realisation of where cricket is in this county. There’s a lot of work to be done. It shows we can’t take this great game for granted. We – everyone – has to work hard so that it is looked after for the next generation.”Cook became aware of cricket’s problem during the 2013 Ashes. While there had been a time when an Ashes win was worthy of open-top bus rides and MBEs all round, the success of 2013 was met, if not with ambivalence, then certainly not the enthusiasm of a few years previously. As a result, it was decided his team would attempt to engage more with supporters and the realisation dawned that, for all the money gained from subscription TV, the value of free to air could not be overstated.”That 2013 series was quite an interesting one in terms of the fact we did win and it didn’t really capture people’s imagination,” Cook says. “Whether people had taken success against Australia for granted, or it was expected that we would beat that team, I don’t know.”For whatever reason, it didn’t [capture the public imagination]. That asked a few questions to everyone. Is it about winning? Is it about entertaining? Ultimately it’s about both. As professional sportsmen, you’re there to win games of cricket. You’re judged on how well you do: did you score runs and win? The balance is: are people coming to watch you play?”We did certain things to be more approachable. We had more interaction with the public. We saw that responsibility from 2013. We saw we needed to do that. Peter Moores started that in 2014 and it’s been taken on more and more. The players have been brilliant at doing that. It helps with the kind of cricketers we have. You’ve seen when we’ve won certain games, we signed autographs for an hour and a half. Players have realised that is very important to the game and to their job and the future of cricket.”Sky have been unbelievable supporters of England cricket and done a lot to financially secure the game. But it would be great if we can get it [the new-team T20 competition] on terrestrial TV. I’d love to see a Test on terrestrial TV again. It can only help.”England’s Ashes victory in 2013 failed to capture the public’s imagination•PA PhotosHe never, he says, felt obliged to change his style of game – or his style of captaincy – to embrace the modern fashion for more aggressive cricket. And while you sense there is still some frustration at the perception of his ODI side – they were, for a while, ranked No. 1 in the world and went close to securing that first global ODI trophy – time has helped him accept its flaws, too.”We should have won that game,” he says, referring to the Champions Trophy final of 2013. “If it was a 50-over game I think we would have won quite easily. We were playing some really good one-day cricket.”Would it have changed how my one-day captaincy was looked at? Absolutely. If you’ve won a major trophy, yes.”But should’ve, could’ve. Ultimately we didn’t win a major trophy. And the game changed very quickly with the changes to the laws, and we were very slow to adapt. I have to take a lot of responsibility as I was captain.”Cook will return to List A cricket this summer – his most recent List A game was in December 2014, just before he was sacked as ODI captain and dropped as a player – but he is realistic enough to know there will be no England recall. “The side is looking for different players than what I can deliver,” he says. There is unlikely to be a T20 return simply because England’s Test schedule would appear to prohibit it, but he is an advocate of the new-team competition: “it’s certainly something the ECB should try,” he says.But he is back in the nets with Gary Palmer, the freelance batting coach he uses, and he is still looking for ways to improve. With a more open technique, he is said to be hitting the ball better than for some time – he made a pre-season century against Middlesex – and has rediscovered his enthusiasm for a game that, by the end of the India tour, looked as if it had become a bit of a trial.”It’s the next phase of my career,” he says. “I’ve really enjoyed playing for Essex in pre-season and that’s the most important thing. I’m refreshed and raring to go. It’s time to move on.”Alastair Cook was speaking during NatWest CricketForce at Copdock CC. Now in its 17th year, NatWest CricketForce has grown into one of the largest sports volunteering initiatives in the UK, with over 2,200 local clubs registering this year. Find out more at natwest.com/cricket

Toby Roland-Jones, who had a starring role on his Test debut, came through a scheme that is under threat

George Dobell at The Oval31-Jul-20174:17

#PoliteEnquiries: Does Moeen compare with Murali, Saqlain and Ashwin?

When a game finishes as dramatically as the Oval Test, it would be easy to overlook all the moments that led to the final outcome. Moeen Ali’s hat-trick – the first he has taken at any level of the game – was certainly a fitting ending to the ground’s 100th Test.It stretched a remarkable run of records Moeen is accumulating in recent times: already one of just three men to score 1,000 Test runs and take 30 Test wickets in a calendar year (Ian Botham and Jacques Kallis are the other two) after a strong 2016, he recently reached the milestone of 100 wickets and 2,000 runs quicker than Garry Sobers, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Botham et al, gained a place on the honours board at Lord’s denied the great Shane Warne and returned the best figures by an England offspinner at Trent Bridge since 1956. It can’t keep being dismissed as an aberration, can it?Now he has become the first man in history to take a Test hat-trick at The Oval and the first England spinner to take one anywhere since 1938. He has 18 wickets at a cost of 14.72 in this series. And, with the confidence to give the ball more air and attempt more variation, there is no reason to doubt there is more to come.But the seeds of England’s victory were sown long before Moeen claimed that hat-trick.Most crucially, they were sown on the first day when Alastair Cook negated a dangerous attack and some treacherous conditions to set a platform on which Ben Stokes was able to build. Then, after Stokes had contributed the most mature performance of his career to date, Toby Roland-Jones was able to exploit conditions which might have been tailor-made for him. An assured debut from Tom Westley and typically selfless half-century from Jonny Bairstow rammed home the advantage.While it is true Roland-Jones will rarely encounter Test surfaces offering as much assistance to his style of bowling as he found in the first innings here, his virtues – height, accuracy, an ability to hit the seam and adapt his bowling to the circumstances – will have value everywhere. That includes Australia. While he faces a huge fight to keep his place once the likes of Chris Woakes and Mark Wood recover their fitness, it would be a major surprise if he is not part of the Ashes squad now.Such was Stokes’ hostility and Roland-Jones’ accuracy, James Anderson was not called upon to bowl until more than an hour into the final day. He finished the second innings having bowled the fewest overs of the England attack; a scenario that has been unthinkable for much of the last decade, when a succession of England captains have turned to Anderson at the first opportunity.Is this an example of his waning powers?Up to a point, perhaps. There’s little doubt that Anderson’s pace is diminished and little doubt he is not too far from the end now. But it is only a Test since he claimed a five-for and, even here, he bowled 26 overs for 51 runs and claimed three wickets. At worst, he demanded respect and retained control.So he, too, will surely go to Australia. And if his diminishing role on the pitch is compensated by the wisdom and experience he provides to other bowlers, so be it. “There’s a reason he fields at mid-off,” Joe Root said afterwards. “Don’t underestimate what he brings to this team.”But it was, without doubt, England’s more disciplined and sophisticated first innings batting that set-up this win. After the laissez-faire nonsense of some recent performances, England showed a willingness to graft that will complement their natural flair. This was probably the most pleasing element of their performance.Could Toby Roland-Jones have been lost to the game?•Associated PressOther seeds were sown long before that.There were three men in this England side who had developed, in part at least, through the MCC system. Both Westley and Roland-Jones graduated through the MCC Universities scheme (MCCU), while Dawid Malan was an MCC Young Cricketer (MCC YC).Westley and Malan may well have ‘made it’ without the MCC’s assistance. Westley was already on the radar of Essex when he went to Durham University, while Malan had played first-class cricket in South Africa before benefitting from the MCC YC scheme that is designed to catch late developers and the best of those who are missed by the county system.But Roland-Jones? He had slipped out of the county scene when he went to university. Originally in the Middlesex system as a batsman, he benefited from a late growth spurt that bestowed new gifts upon him as a bowler. Had he not gone to Leeds-Bradford, he would probably have been lost to the game.The MCCU scheme is a remarkable asset to the English game. Set-up by former England opener Graeme Fowler in 1996, the aim was to ensure young people did not have to choose between education and cricket. By providing them with good quality coaching and playing opportunities at the same time as allowing them to gain a further education at one of six centres (Cambridge, Oxford, Cardiff, Durham, Leeds-Bradford and Loughborough), the scheme not only encourages some into sport who might otherwise be lost, but prepares those who do break into the professional for the life after their sporting retirement.The most famous graduate is probably Andrew Strauss, but there have been many more including Zafar Ansari, Sam Billings, Monty Panesar and Heather Knight of recent England players. At present, somewhere approaching 25% (the ratio has risen recently) of current county cricketers have come through the programme. Many more go on to coach at schools or in clubs. Nearly all finish with a degree to fall back upon when their playing career ends. It has one of the great, though largely unheralded, success stories of English cricket in recent years. It is doubtful anything has done more to avoid hardship in future generations of cricketers.But the scheme is under threat. Partly because some believe the games do not warrant first-class status – and it is true, they are sometimes uncomfortably one-sided – and partly because it is currently funded almost entirely by the MCC, it has recently been the subject of an extensive review by independent consultants, Inside Track. Now a working party (including Strauss and the MCC’s head of cricket, John Stephenson) has been formed to study the review and consider its recommendations.It is possible the universities’ first-class status will be rescinded entirely – which might well disincentive some students into attending university or pursuing a career in cricket – or, as an outside possibility, be left unchanged.A more likely option would see the university centres amalgamated – perhaps into something like MCCU North and MCCU South – for their first-class games against the counties and into a Combined MCCU team for the 50-over competition. That, it is argued, might concentrate the standard of the sides while continuing to provide the carrot of first-class cricket to prospective students. Whether it would encourage as many students into the scheme as is the case at present is debatable.There is another aspect to this. We do not have to look very far to find example of cricketers – sometimes highly successful cricketers – who have fallen on hard times after their playing career has ended. It has, at times, looked like an epidemic. While the PCA does tremendous work in helping players prepare for the challenges of life after cricket, little can help more than a good education and time to mature in a benevolent yet still high-performance environment. The one-sided nature of some MCCU contests might be considered a price worth paying when compared to such gains.While the example of Roland-Jones provides timely evidence of the cricketing merit of the programme, it is to be hoped that the working party gives proper consideration to the duty of care the game owes to the next generation of players by preparing them for more than cricket.Morally and practically, the MCCU scheme is working. Tinker with it at our peril.

Who among these bowlers has an ODI hat-trick, and who doesn’t? Take a shot at our quiz

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2017

The attitude towards England’s off-field behaviour all stems from that fateful night in Bristol, but the players need to help themselves to shift it

George Dobell in Perth11-Dec-2017If there was one moment that summed up the hysteria currently surrounding the England squad, it came at the end of the warm-up game in Richardson Park when Moeen Ali was asked if “you and your team-mates will be able to stay away from pubs between now and Thursday”.You would think most reporters sent to cover such a game might know by now that Moeen is a practising Muslim and therefore appreciate that such a question might be considered pretty crass. As Moeen responded dryly: “I’m not much of a pub guy, to be honest.”But the moment did serve to highlight how the image of the England squad has long since separated from reality.The reality of this England squad, containing as it does, such clean-cut young men as Alastair Cook, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood (another teetotaller) and Moeen (to name but four of many), is that they arrived in Australia with a single-minded determination to retain the Ashes. You’re more likely to see them early in the morning running in the park than drinking in a bar late at night.The image, however, is of a group of lads on a stag night for whom sessions in the field are a necessary evil in between sessions in the bar.It’s unfair and it’s inaccurate. But it’s the perception now. And once perceptions are set, they are harder to shift than red wine stains on cricket whites.It’s an image reinforced every time an England player behaves like a fool. Few people can seriously believe Jonny Bairstow or Ben Duckett committed serious indiscretions but, at a time of heightened sensitivity, their actions have provided ammunition for those who want to sustain the narrative that talks of a squad out of control or a team in an alcohol-fuelled crisis.And it’s an image reinforced every time anyone from either set-up is interviewed. The England management, knowing they can’t be seen to minimise incidents that, deep down, most of them feel are trivial, inadvertently fan the flames when they talk of “unacceptable” behaviour or impose fines upon players for actions that, if they are honest, they saw every week of their own touring lives. Moeen, with the best of intentions, did the same on Sunday.Duckett may well need to recalibrate his work-life balance but he is nothing worse than a good-natured halfwit who has been scapegoated by the ECB to show they mean business. A thousand former players – and at least one in the current team – are thinking ‘There but for the grace of God…’ A more senior, more valuable, player might well have been treated more leniently.The Australia management, meanwhile, need only sigh and look serious. Darren Lehmann, the Australia coach, played it magnificently over the weekend when, with the gravitas of a weapons inspector, he suggested the Duckett affair was “not funny”, thereby passively giving credence to the theory that there is a serious problem at the heart of the England set-up.England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow is locked in private conversation with England’s security officer Sam Dickason•Getty ImagesThat’s Darren Lehmann who, a few days earlier in a interview, recalled a story from his career where, having been up all night celebrating Yorkshire’s County Championship success in 2001, he drank the remnants of some champagne out of his helmet before going out to bat. When Australia have a drink it’s portrayed as bonding and banter; when England do so it’s portrayed as aggression and alcoholism.Really, we’re only days from the headline: “England player fails to use coaster in bar”, accompanied by a po-faced interview in which a former player suggests it reflects a lack of respect for Australian furniture and the downfall of British society.All England’s problems here stem from that fateful September night in Bristol. They didn’t just lose a fine allrounder, their best fielder and the balance of their team. They gained a ball and chain. The events of that night hang over this England squad like a cloud; it nags at them like a toothache; they drag it around like an anvil. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the affair, the incident has handed this squad some heavy baggage and a narrative that may well come to define the tour.But it remains absurd and unfair to judge the entire squad on the actions of one man who isn’t even here.It would probably be harsh to pin the blame for all this on the England management. They can’t legislate for a guy greeting an opposition player with a ‘good-natured’ head-butt, any more than they legislate for players pouring beer over one another. And even in a late-night venue such as The Avenue, which could hardly pretend to be salubrious, there is something fundamentally antisocial about a sports team living down to its stereotyping.However, the management might reflect on the wisdom of imposing a curfew. Not only might it have been interpreted as an acceptance of a need to curb a drinking culture within the team, but the decision to relax it on a few, selected nights might also encourage binging. It might encourage a sense of ‘we’d best make the most of this because we’re not going to be allowed out for another couple of weeks’.You wonder, too, how the relationship between the players and their security guards might develop now. It was, after all, those guards that reported Duckett’s behaviour to the team management. They had been asked to, of course, and they are employed by the ECB. But we do not want a situation where the players feel they are being judged and assessed even when they are encouraged to let their hair down or, even worse, a situation where they try to give their security detail the slip.And, all this talk of a drinking culture is a red herring for the issues that actually require confronting. If England really want to improve in Test cricket, they will look at the marginalisation of the county championship programme, the departure from technical coaching throughout the game, and the reliance upon English conditions in home Tests that has provided an illusion that all is well. These subjects may not make for catchy headlines or simple narratives, but if England want to improve their cricket, it’s those factors they’ll need to look at, not what time their players go to bed.It would be much easier to sustain that argument, however, if the likes of Duckett Bairstow et al could just be a little more sensible. Sure, they haven’t been so bad. But they have to understand that eyes are upon them. They have to act accordingly.

Bhuvneshwar and Shami continued their impressive run at Eden Gardens as India’s fast bowlers stole the spotlight from their spin twins

Bharath Seervi19-Nov-20173 – Number of times India’s fast bowlers have picked all 10 wickets in a Test innings at home. The combined effort of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav is the first time they have done so in over 30 years. The previous instance was against West Indies in Ahmedabad in 1983 when Kapil Dev took nine wickets and Balwinder Sandhu took one. The first time this happened was against England at Wankhede in 1982 when Kapil and Madan Lal shared five wickets each.1986 – The last time three fast bowlers picking two or more wickets for India in an innings of a home Test. Coincidentally, this happened against Sri Lanka in Kanpur, with Kapil, B Arun, India’s current bowling coach, and Chetan Sharma being the trio. Overall, this is the fourth such instance for India at home.31 – Wickets Shami and Bhuvneshwar have combined to pick at Eden Gardens in last three Tests they’ve played here – against West Indies in November 2013, New Zealand in September 2016 and in this match. All other Indian bowlers combined have managed only 17 wickets in these three matches at an average of 29.64. In comparison, Shami and Bhuvneshwar have combined average of 17.77. Shami has picked at least three wickets in each of the five innings while Bhuvneshwar has two four-wicket hauls. Among 23 India bowlers who have picked 10 or more wickets at Eden Gardens, Shami and Bhuvneshwar have the best two averages.

Bowlers Wkts Ave SR 4-forsShami & Bhuvneshwar 31 17.77 32.29 5All other India bowlers 17 29.64 64.64 024.79 – Average of fast bowlers at Eden Gardens in last five years. Among 15 venues that have hosted Tests in this period, only Pune, which has hosted a solitary Test – against Australia earlier this year – has a better average (17.77) for the quicks. In four Tests in last five years at Eden Gardens, pacers have picked up 69 wickets at 24.79, while spinners have 49 wickets at 32.93. In five years prior to that, in three Tests at the venue, spinners had a better average (46.59) than pacers (59.90)9 – Overs bowled by spinners for India in the first innings – eight by R Ashwin and one by Ravindra Jadeja. It is the least that India’s spinners have bowled in the first innings of a home Test. The previous record was in the Delhi Test of 1987 against West Indies, when the spinners bowled 16 overs.2010 – The last time India had century opening partnership in their second innings of a Test before Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul did it in this match. The previous one was between Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir against South Africa in Centurion. This is India’s second century stand for the first wicket this year and both have been put on by Dhawan and Rahul against Sri Lanka.1 – Number of bigger opening stands for India at Eden Gardens than the 166 between Rahul and Dhawan in this match. The highest is 191 by VVS Laxman and Navjot Sidhu against Australia in 1997-98. This is the first century partnership for the first wicket for India at Eden Gardens since 1999, and only the fourth overall.9 – Scores of 50 or more for Rahul in Tests this year, in 13 innings – the joint-most along with Dean Elgar (20 innings). Rahul failed to convert the first eight fifties into hundreds but is unbeaten on 73 at end of day four in this Test. Rahul is the first India batsman in six years to make that many scores of 50 or more in a calendar year; the previous player to do so was Rahul Dravid in 2011.

On a pitch with copious amounts of seam movement, two very different batsmen did in large parts what comes naturally to them to lay a platform for India

Sidharth Monga in Johannesburg24-Jan-2018Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli. Two more different persons, two more different batsmen will be hard to find. You sometimes wonder if they have any common interests that can help them get through the long days spent next to each other in the slips. And then they bat together. With completely different vocabularies and grammar. One man wants to refuse errors, the other wants to refuse to let the bowler settle. One man can wait out 53 balls on nought while not playing a loose shot to a decent ball, the other is usually near a hundred if he faces 53 dot balls in an innings.They watch each other and must surely admire the qualities they don’t have themselves. Surely Kohli watches Pujara and admires the discipline with which he figures out what line he has to play and what line he can leave? “He has lots of shots, and the way he batted today, I don’t think any other batsman could have batted like that,” Pujara said of Kohli after adding 84 for the third wicket with him on day one at the Wanderers, easily worth 150 on a normal pitch. This pitch had copious amounts of generous seam movement available.”This is one of the toughest pitches I’ve played on,” Pujara said. “And as we saw, it was difficult to score some runs, especially in the first session. It was difficult to rotate the strike. It has a lot of bounce, it has seam movement. And there is enough pace now. So we had to work hard to score runs, but the total we have I think it is as good as scoring 300 on any wicket. As we saw, we got a wicket, and if we bowl well, I think we’ll get them out. I would say it was a good day for us.”South Africa will be the first ones to concede they were not at their best with the ball and in the field, but the pitch was still really difficult. You needed to bowl really bad balls or bowl decent ones to really good attacking batsmen to be hit on this pitch. In Pujara and Kohli, South Africa found that combination. Pujara waited and waited and waited, and refused to risk making a mistake for a run until he finally got a ball too straight and too full. Kohli backed his eye, picking the length early, getting into attacking positions every ball, and defending or leaving as a second thought. Neither man was averse to doing what didn’t come naturally to him: when Pujara was in, he threw his bat at every loose ball; Kohli faced 86 dots out of 106.Normally you would perhaps criticise the extreme defence of Pujara or – at moments – the reckless attack of Kohli. Here a defensive batsman needed to dig deep into his reserves of discipline, and an attacking batsman needed to capitalise on every small opportunity before one with his name arrived. You need luck to survive on such a pitch, and they both had it.Too late from the point of view of winning the series, the return to this balance of defence and attack was a step closer to the template that served India’s batting well on their previous overseas cycle. For some reason that balance has gone wonky this time around. While Kohli has maintained his attacking instincts, M Vijay is playing too many shots and half-heartedly so, Pujara until this innings was not sure what game to play, and the batsmen after Kohli have no idea what their game should be because they have no security in the side.Pujara and Kohli did their best to vindicate the bold call to bat first on a spicy pitch. “I think as the game progresses, we are very sure that this wicket will be difficult to bat on,” Pujara said. “As we saw even in the later stages of today, the cracks are opening up and a couple of balls deviated a lot. I mean, I haven’t seen deviation like that before. As the game progresses I think this wicket will have variable bounce and cracks will open up, so it will be difficult to bat on. That’s the reason we chose to bat first.”However, not every bowling innings from South Africa will feature balls too wide or too short, not every day will they have AB de Villiers dropping a catch. The platform set by Pujara and Kohli was a great opportunity for India to post a formidable total. They should be extremely disappointed with the shots played in the lower-middle order and the lower order. They won’t be now but they should be asking themselves if they needed five seamers and to lose the cushion of a sixth batsman. What they have now is competitive but will ask for a repeat of this kind of extreme discipline and attacking skill in the second innings too.Before that, India will need their bowlers to make sure South Africa don’t get ahead on the first innings. “I think we’ll be looking to get them out before 150,” Pujara said. “And, obviously, looking at this total, I think the second innings will be very important. Seeing the weather forecast, I think it will be overcast and there will be more help for the fast bowlers.”

Saqib Mahmood can hit 90mph and, as Lancashire prepare to reap the benefit, England will be watching his every move

Paul Edwards12-Apr-2018Rather like the villagers on the Mexican border in the film classic, , the England selectors are looking for help. And similar to the farmers eventually assisted by Chris (Yul Brynner) and his friends, they do not care if the fastest gun comes from the west or any other point of the compass. This could be an intriguing season for George Garton, Tom Helm and Saqib Mahmood.It is still early April and scarcely a ball has been bowled but if composure and a cool readiness for the battle are criteria for selection, the 21-year-old Mahmood is well placed. As the Lancashire players posed in their new kit and the faux Northern video artistes wolfed their bacon barms at Media Day, Mahmood spoke with impressive clarity and purpose about where his cricket might take him.”I find it exciting that the selectors are looking for guys with pace and hopefully, I come into that sort of bracket,” he said. “You can have pace but you have to have the skill. I feel I have those things and it’s now a question of showing it for Lancashire. I’m moving the ball both ways at pace, which is what gets you to the highest level.”People who do not know Mahmood might accuse him of coltish arrogance. He has, after all, taken only 19 first-class wickets and 44 in all cricket. But there is a quiet reflectiveness about his speech which suggests mature self-assessment has taken place.Saqib Mahmood takes a break at Lancashire’s photo call•Getty ImagesHe knows that dismissing Kumar Sangakkara in the final first-class match of the maestro’s career got him noticed and he understands very well that his being able to bowl at 90mph has attracted attention. He is ready for the ballyhoo should he be fast-tracked from the Lions to the full England team.What is more, he knows that for some young pace bowlers the glare of publicity has often been followed by a blaze of obscurity. He has spent the winter preparing for what might come along this summer.”I attended a Lions training camp in Brisbane and Perth before Christmas and it was great to be out there and to put white-ball performances in,” he said. “You have to try different things with the red Kookaburra ball but with my pace I can make things happen on a flat wicket. I’ve got a unique action and I do get the ball to reverse when it’s doing that.”Then I was picked for both of the tours after Christmas. I’d never been to the West Indies before and I learned a lot out there. Now, if I do get picked for England to go to the West Indies, I know exactly what to expect and I don’t have to be there for a couple of weeks getting used to the conditions.Mahmood followed up with nine wickets at 14.88 in three matches in the North v South games with several members of the England hierarchy, including Andrew Strauss, looking on.Saqib Mahmood cleans up Surrey’s Ollie Pope in the North v South series•Getty Images”I really wanted to put performances in with the selectors watching,” Mahmood said. “I was a little nervous last year but this year I adapted my game to bowling in the middle and at the end. That’s where I’ve struggled in the past but I really showed what I could do with my yorkers and my death skills.”But if Mahmood does win further international recognition this season some close observers of Lancashire cricket may recall not his Lions performances overseas but the many occasions when Glen Chapple took the young bowler out to the middle during the lunch intervals of games in which he was not playing.Rather like a geometrician on a field-trip, Chapple would take out a series of poles which he placed precisely at certain points in Mahmood’s run-up and then on the pitch. These attempts to get his apprentice to run in straight and to hit specific lines are now bearing fruit; they can be added to the minute changes in wrist position and the finger pressure on the seam which are gradually turning Mahmood from an apprentice into a young craftsman.”Saqib is very disciplined and pays real attention to advice and help,” said Chapple. “But he is encouraged to formulate his own ideas and thoughts. He bowls quick, he can reverse the old ball and is working on his ability to move the new ball both ways and, like any young bowler, he is working to improve his consistency without taking away the extra pace he has. On the TV gun, he will bowl 90mph, some days more. But there might be more to come from him. I think he will have a blend of everything when he is the finished product. He will be a skilful bowler as well as being fast.”Saqib Mahmood bowls for Lancashire•Getty ImagesIndeed, Chapple’s poles may soon occupy as potent a place in Lancastrian folklore as the Farnworth Social Circle nets from which Haseeb and Ismail Hameed brushed the snow a very few winters ago. It was that work ethic which helped win Hameed his first Test cap and it is not absurd to think that he, Mahmood and Liam Livingstone may all be in the England side before the end of the season.”It’s a big summer for me but I don’t just want to play, I want to be an influential player,” said Mahmood. “When I was coming back from a niggle, I was clocked at 88mph and that was bowling into a mitt. If you can employ skills at 90mph it puts you on a different level.”Test cricket is the biggest challenge. You’re not doing it for one hour or three, you’re doing it for five days. It’s a mental and physical challenge and I get a real buzz off winning a four-day game.”