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ESPNcricinfo takes a look back at how the New Zealand players performed during their series win over West Indies

Andrew McGlashan23-Dec-2013

10

Ross TaylorIs a player ever worth a full 10? It’s hard to argue that Taylor isn’t. Three hundreds in a variety of conditions and almost 500 runs. For a player who began the year considering his future after being sacked as captain it was a magnificent way to end 2013. Comparisons with his mentor Martin Crowe will continue and now they don’t appear out of place, even if tougher attacks await him.

9

Trent BoultSkillful, precise, menacing. There was barely a bad spell from Boult, save perhaps the opening day in Hamilton where he suffered a hangover from the career-best 10 for 80 in Wellington. Sure, he’ll face stronger resistance from many batting line-ups, but the sharp late swing – and not just with the new ball – makes him a constant threat. This year has set up his career.

8

Tim SoutheeDoes not always get the rewards he deserves for high-class spells of swing bowling. Not express pace, but can sustain a decent clip and his stamina is far improved of a few years ago. His third-day spell in Wellington of 9-1-19-3 during the follow-on was his best of the series. Reached 100 wickets in Hamilton. A very sharp slip fielder, but his batting is more miss than hit.

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Kane WilliamsonMissed the first Test with a thumb injury, then looked a classy batsman in the matches he played. His back-foot strokes are outstanding – just needs to work on chasing deliveries outside off stump that he could leave alone. Bowling remains very useful and his catching can be breath-taking as witnessed by his grab in Hamilton to remove Shivnarine Chanderpaul.Brendon McCullumEnded a three-year wait for a hundred in Dunedin but couldn’t quite sustain his batting after that and continues to divide opinion in New Zealand cricket. However, he captained with verve and held his nerve about the follow-on in Wellington which proved fully justified. His attacking instincts are aided by a strong new-ball attack, but the runs will need to continue.Corey Anderson continued to suggest he could be a long-term solution to the allrounder’s role•Getty ImagesCorey AndersonHas all the makings of a top-class allrounder. His batting is a touch unrefined at the moment, but does not look out of place at No. 6 even if Sunil Narine posed him problems. His poise at 44 for 4 in Dunedin bodes well for future rescue acts. Did more with the ball than was probably expected and his economy is an added bonus. Another safe catcher.BJ WatlingCemented as the Test wicketkeeper because of what he brings with the bat as much as the gloves. His innings in Wellington was another example of his ability with the lower order. No huge mistakes behind the stumps.

5

Hamish Rutherford Started with a sparkling innings in Dunedin and ended unbeaten in the Hamilton chase, but careless dismissals undermined his series and he has yet to fulfill the promise shown by his debut 171 against England.Ish SodhiHad a minor role in the final two Tests. It would have been fascinating to see how he’d handled the pressure if the seamers hadn’t dismantled West Indies in the second innings in Hamilton. Dunedin showed much promise, as well as reminders of how raw he is. Will New Zealand hold their nerve with him when India arrive? Batting helps bolster the lower order. Fielding needs work.Neil Wagner You can’t deny the effort, but an average of over 45 will test the faith of the selectors against stronger batting teams. However, he does extract wickets during flat periods of play and got better as the series went on.

3

Peter FultonAfter his twin hundreds at Eden Park in March, Fulton is starting to tread water again at Test level. Like Rutherford, Fulton made one half century. Still very vulnerable to the moving and struggles to rotate strike against spin. The domestic form of players such as Tom Latham will be making him nervous.Aaron RedmondFollowed the Fulton route with a belated recall to cover for Williamson, but it may have been a brief return. Technically he remains next in line if an injury occurs.

At some point, Australia’s uncertain top order was going to cause trouble they could not recover from. Without two days of defiance, or perhaps help from the weather, Port Elizabeth will be that occasion

Daniel Brettig in Port Elizabeth22-Feb-2014Late in the afternoon Hashim Amla punched a tiring Ryan Harris through cover off the back foot, eluding the despairing dive of Steven Smith. As the ball sped away to the boundary, Smith punched the turf not once but twice, his irritation emblematic of the red mist descending on an Australian side now more or less at the mercy of South Africa. Smith could not be held personally responsible for this slide, having once again played a spiky innings with the tail. But there was a wider sense of Australia receiving their comeuppance this day, of earlier sins returning to haunt them by way of accumulation.No matter how brazen Brad Haddin has been, how skilful Smith or how spirited the tail beneath them, Australia’s middle and lower orders could not be expected to keep bailing out their batting brethren. As it was, the last six wickets still contributed significantly more than the first four, squeezing 165 runs to 81 and thus avoiding the possibility of the follow-on. It was a fair effort but not a miraculous one, and consigned Michael Clarke’s team to some hours pondering their fates in the field.Apart from the extraordinary pace of Mitchell Johnson, the Ashes sweep of England had been built primarily upon the batting rearguards of Haddin and Smith. Others had contributed, but nowhere near as pivotally as these two – Clarke, David Warner, Chris Rogers and Shane Watson ended the series with healthy tallies, but of those only Clarke notched a first innings century. At Centurion, the discrepancy was again evident but again obscured, this time by the efforts of Smith and Shaun Marsh from the unsteady platform of 98 for 4.In the aftermath of the crushing victory that was ultimately reaped from that uncertain beginning, the Australians were bullish about the fact that they would not be troubled by this pattern. Clarke, when queried on his top order on match eve in Port Elizabeth, remarked that he was very happy with the way the batsmen had performed in the first Test, pointing to the hundreds of Smith, Marsh and Warner. Yet even amid their own introspection about an opening defeat, South Africa had enough reason to hope that if they could put Australia under pressure, they would be able to clatter through.

‘Our shot selection was poor’

Australia’s captain Michael Clarke admitted poor shot selection had played a part in his side’s first innings downfall and acknowledged he needed second innings runs himself to ease out of a mounting streak of low scores.

“Credit where credit is due, I think South Africa bowled very well,” Clarke said. “Having more than 400 runs on the board obviously helps and when you’ve got a period of about 25 overs to bowl you can certainly have a crack, give it everything they’ve got. I think they’ve just executed very well – and our shot-selection was poor.

“Unfortunately our top order didn’t perform as well as we would have liked. It was an uphill battle today for the rest of our batters. We’ve got some work to do in the second innings that’s for sure. I think the wicket has deteriorated a little bit but more than anything else it’s staying low so we’re going to have to make sure we’re switched on in the second innings.”

Clarke has not passed 25, let alone 50, since his first-innings hundred in the second Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval, and said his underwhelming scores did not reflect the way he was striking the ball.

“I feel the complete opposite, I feel in great nick. I felt sharp, I felt like my feet moved really well in the first innings against a pretty good attack with their tail up,” Clarke said. “I haven’t made as many runs as I would have liked but I feel like I’m working as hard as I have been, I’m hitting the ball sweet, I think my shot selection was extremely poor with my dismissal. I’ve got to be better than that. Hopefully in the second innings.”

A long innings from Graeme Smith’s men duly ensued, helped significantly by a St George’s Park surface that lacked the spiteful bounce and pace of Centurion. If anything, its characteristics have more in common with those surfaces prepared in England last year, when Andy Flower devised a plan to blunt Australia’s strengths on pacy pitches by compounding their weakness on slow ones. Patience is vital on such pitches, and there was too little of that on show when the tourists replied to 423.The overnight tally of 112 for 4 from 25 overs illustrated a desire to keep the game moving, but the wickets column left an awful lot to be done. Warner, who had played edgily but boldly on the second evening, was intent on doing same when he resumed, but lacking early strike he miscalculated against Vernon Philander and nicked into the slips, where for once Smith held a catch. To lose Warner early was arguably the most important moment of the day, for his exit left too much for Smith and Haddin to do once more.Haddin’s aggression was critical to the destruction of England, though in four Tests out of five he did so batting first, and thus not looking up at a scoreboard showing a major differential to be made up. Throughout that series he was also aided by a liberal allocation of good fortune, whether through dropped catches, edges not going to hand or calculated gambles repeatedly paying off. They have not done so in South Africa so far. In Centurion a premature slog sweep gifted a wicket to Robin Peterson, and in Port Elizabeth a firm-footed attempt to drive against Dale Steyn’s reverse swing resulted in middle stump lying flat on the ground.Smith was more fluent, and fortunate when Peterson turfed a simple chance forward of square leg. But he too ran out of miracles, falling victim to a DRS review that the third umpire Aleem Dar went along with on quite flimsy circumstantial evidence. The on-field official Richard Illingworth had not been convinced, and the bemusement of Clarke and the coach Darren Lehmann at the reversal of the original verdict was plain for all to see. Nevertheless, wickets such as these often fall the way of the team making the running, and it was optimistic to expect Smith being able to conjure enough runs to reach first-innings parity in the company of Nos. 10 and 11.Bowling a second time, the tourists were serviceable but handicapped by the match situation. The sight of Clarke moving a man to the legside boundary second ball of the innings after Smith’s flick for four off Johnson spoke volumes for the priority being damage limitation as much as wicket-taking. Harris in particular looked tired and sore, his wonky knee creaking ever closer to the surgery scheduled for his return home. Johnson, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon had their moments, but could not force a rush of wickets. Haddin’s drop of a difficult chance from the silken Amla as the shadows grew long enhanced the sense that his golden summer was at an end.That all means a major fourth innings salvage job for Australia, an assignment requiring plenty of steel from the batsmen if they wish to preserve their lead going into the final Test at Newlands. Two batsmen, Rogers and Clarke, look decidedly out of sorts, while Marsh and Alex Doolan are finding their way. The third day demonstrated that Smith and Haddin cannot be relied upon to produce telling innings every time, so another batsman or three must stand up over the next two days. Unless they can do so, and follow up more sturdily in Cape Town, Australia’s pretensions to the throne of world’s top team will remain just that.

Plays of the day from the match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium

George Binoy25-May-2014The interception
In the final over of the Rajasthan Royals innings, Brad Hodge slogged a length delivery from Kieron Pollard towards cow corner. He had timed and placed the shot well and the ball seemed destined for a one-bounce four. Then there was a blur of blue. Corey Anderson had sprinted from deep midwicket and got to the ball just as it bounced over the boundary. He grabbed at it with his left hand, caught it and flung it back – doing all this while running at full tilt – before falling to the ground.The guitar hero
Pollard and Shane Watson have previous from the 2013 season, and Pollard took an outstanding catch to dismiss Watson today. After mis-hitting Harbhajan Singh towards wide long-on, Watson watched as Pollard covered lots of ground by running forward and to his right from the boundary, and then dived forward to catch the skier just before it hit the ground. He bounced up immediately and broke out an exuberant air-guitar celebration.The deterioration
Jasprit Bumrah is developing a reputation of being a capable death bowler, and he began the 19th over against Royals with three blockhole deliveries that the batsmen could only take singles off. He then began to miss his length but the next two legal deliveries were low full tosses that also yielded only singles. The last ball of the over, however, was a full toss on leg stump and James Faulkner swung it over the square-leg boundary.The contrasting shots
In the 11th over of Royals’ innings, Karun Nair tried to reverse-hit the legspinner Shreyas Gopal from outside off stump. He was cramped for room and managed to get a fraction of bat on the ball to send it racing past the keeper for four. Nair had been aiming square of the wicket and the execution was not pretty. His shot to the next ball, however, was outstanding. Nair drove a full ball against the turn through midwicket with hardly any flourish but his timing was perfect and the result was the same as his unorthodox shot the previous delivery.The start
Mumbai were facing an asking rate of 13 to qualify for the playoffs and there was no time to waste. Bowling the second over, Dhawal Kulkarni’s first delivery was a loosener – a short ball. It was also Michael Hussey’s first ball, but he was not having a sighter. Hussey pulled from outside off stump, and the ball disappeared into the screaming fans beyond the midwicket boundary.

Mahela Jayawardene’s farewell innings was not his most fluent, but at the end of it all, there was no wistful lingering or sentimentality – just a typically restrained acknowledgement of an exhilarating ride

Andrew Fidel Fernando at the SSC17-Aug-20146:56

Giles: Jayawardene was a run-accumulator who drove you to despair

The farewell innings had not been perfect. At times in his career a Mahela Jayawardene hundred seemed almost inevitable at the SSC, but throughout his stay at the crease on day three and four, he was some way from his fluent best.Still, he had endeavoured to deliver most of his vintage shots, mostly on day three. He had cover-driven Wahab Riaz, late cut Abdur Rehman and slog-swept Saeed Ajmal. The upper cut, the on-drive and the inside-out shot over cover had all been played with success, too.Having gone to stumps yesterday on 49, an expectant crowd had come on a cloudy day to watch him make 50 at the very least. He defended his first four balls of the morning, then paddle-swept the fifth for four to reach the milestone. The crowd was on its feet. Firecrackers went off for well over a minute. But in the middle, Jayawardene had acknowledged the applause with typical restraint.Moments earlier, Sangakkara had hit the two runs the pair had required to complete their 19th hundred-run stand, and, if nothing else, the SSC saw its heroes meet each other mid-pitch one final time for that familiar soul-brother handshake.Sangakkara was out first on Sunday, and he waved his bat as he left the field – unusual, because he had scored only 58. Was he acknowledging the end of the great alliance with his friend? They finish second on the all-time list for batting pairs with 6554 runs together, but their average of 56.5 together is comfortably the highest among batting pairs who have made more than 5000.But was Sangakkara saying goodbye to more than just his partnership with Jayawardene? With no Tests in Sri Lanka for almost a year, home crowds may have seen the last of him with the bat, too.Jayawardene’s last act with the bat brought a hush from those who had come to watch him, but in many ways, the end fit the man. Saeed Ajmal has dismissed him more than any other bowler in Tests. He was also getting substantial turn and bounce, removing Sangakkara in his previous over. But for 17 years, Jayawardene has had an incurable itch to attack; to dominate the bowling, often when the odds were stacked against him.On 54, Jayawardene danced out of his crease for one final time, aimed a stroke over mid-on, and mistimed it, having not got to the pitch of the delivery. Ahmed Shehzad tracked the skied ball from midwicket, before completing a tumbling catch around mid-on.There was no wistful lingering, no sentimental hanging around. Jayawardene walked off the field as the SSC rose to its feet. Only in the last 20 paces before crossing the rope did he raise his bat, and soak up the applause for one final time as a Test batsman. For the crowd, and for the man, the last 17 years had been some ride.

Stats highlights from the fourth ODI between England and Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Bishen Jeswant07-Dec-2014115 Number of ODIs hosted at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, the fourth-most at any stadium, overtaking the Harare Sports Club (114). The only venues to host more ODIs are the Sharjah Cricket Stadium (216), the Sydney Cricket Ground (144) and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (138).90 Runs scored by James Taylor, his maiden ODI fifty. He had only played two previous ODIs, both against Ireland, in 2011 and 2013, scoring 1 and 25 respectively in those games.93 The partnership runs between James Taylor and Joe Root for the third wicket, England’s best for any wicket this series. England had two partnerships of exactly 84, for the first and sixth wickets, in the third ODI at Hambantota.1020 Runs scored by Kumar Sangakkara in 2014, the third most by any batsman. The two others to score more than 1000 ODI runs this year are Angelo Mathews (1183) and Virat Kohli (1054).4 Number of consecutive years where Sangakkara has made 1000-plus ODI runs in each year. He is the first Sri Lankan, and third batsman overall, after Kohli and Saurav Ganguly, to achieve this feat. Sangakkara made 1127 runs in 2011, 1184 in 2012, 1201 in 2013 and 1020 in 2014.30 Sixes hit by Jos Buttler in 40 ODIs, the most by an England wicketkeeper. Craig Kieswetter had hit 29 sixes in 43 ODIs.9 Number of wickets taken by the Sri Lankan spinners during England’s innings. This is the seventh instance of Sri Lankan spinners taking nine or more wickets, including an instance where they took all ten. Five of these seven instances have been at home, and two of those against England.3 Number of Sri Lankan spinners who took three wickets each – Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis and Tillakaratne Dilshan. This is only the second instance in ODIs of three spinners taking three or more wickets in the same innings. The only other instance of this happening was by Bangladesh against Zimbabwe in 2009.1527 Runs scored by Mahela Jayawardene against England in ODIs. He is one of only three batsmen to have scored 1500-plus ODI runs against England, the others being Viv Richards (1619) and Ricky Ponting (1598).

Last week Irfan Pathan bowled for the first time in a first-class game after two years. Relieved with his comeback, he is now focused on getting through the season and helping Baroda progress to the knock-out stage

Amol Karhadkar12-Jan-2015Between November 2012 and January 2015, Irfan Pathan played only three first-class matches as a specialist batsman, the result of a long struggle with injury. Last week, for the first time in more than two seasons, Irfan made a comeback with the ball, opening the bowling for Baroda in their Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh. In the lead-up to the match, there was controversy over reports that Irfan had threatened to leave Baroda if he wasn’t picked but by the end of the game, that stress had been forgotten and was replaced by relief and the creation of new goals for the season.”It was good to be playing again, doing what I love the most. Really looking forward to the rest of the season,” a relieved Irfan told ESPNcricinfo. “When you play after a long layoff, there is always anxiety whether everything will fall in place. That went really well. In fact, contributing to the team’s cause made it perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to return to the field.”Irfan scored 98 in Baroda’s first innings and finished with a match haul of 3 for 70 runs off 29 overs. More than his batting, the fact that Irfan has resumed bowling augurs well. In October-November 2012, Irfan played seven days of first-class cricket – for India A in a tour game against England in Mumbai, followed by a Ranji Trophy game against Karnataka in Vadodara – before an injury breakdown.He recovered from his shoulder injury in time for IPL 2014 – where he played 10 matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad – but did his knee in during the Twenty20 league and was ruled out for more than six months. During that time, he worked with Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, his orthopaedic consultant, and physio Ashish Kaushilk who had also helped him through the injury lay-off in the previous season. He resumed bowling in December and is hoping to be fit for the remainder of Baroda’s league matches.While he was glad to return to the field for Baroda, Irfan said he was disappointed with some Baroda Cricket Association officials who had reportedly tried to portray him in bad light. Reports suggested that Irfan had threatened to leave Baroda if he was not included in the squad for the match against UP.”It was disappointing to see some of the dressing-room discussions being made public, that too with a negative tone,” Irfan said. “The selectors and the BCA wanted me to prove fitness, which I did by playing two three-day club games. Still, some of them were raising doubts unnecessarily, so I told them that five associations are interested in hiring me. If Baroda cricket, which will always remain my first love and first priority, does not want me, then I might as well move on.”But it was a statement made in the spur of the moment. That’s why it hurts that it appeared in the papers, that too on the first day of the match. But I have discussed the episode and I am glad everyone involved in it is mature and we have decided to move on.”Irfan was happy that his performance in the match justified his selection. His returns bettered the performances of Praveen Kumar, RP Singh and Munaf Patel, who also featured in the game.”Of the four India pace bowlers playing in the match, I was the most successful pacer. That is something for me to be happy about,” Irfan said. “More importantly, the fact that my brother [Yusuf, who picked six wickets in the first innings] and I played a crucial hand in Baroda’s first victory of the season matters a lot to us.”Before the game against UP, Baroda had five points from three games and were placed seventh on the Group A table, in danger of relegation. However, the 10-wicket win against UP has lifted them to second place in the group and they are now in contention for the knock-out stage.Helping Baroda qualify for the quarterfinals is Irfan’s prime objective now. On a personal note, he has set himself a target of 20 to 30 wickets from five games and hopes to get noticed by the national selectors again”The target [of wickets] may vary depending on the conditions. The wicket in Lucknow was low and slow so pacers had little role to play in it,” he said. “Whereas, I have been hearing some of the pitches are really conducive for seam bowling this season. So the personal goal is bound to change depending on the conditions.”

James Anderson had tormented Lahiru Thirimanne on their previous meetings but the roles were emphatically reversed in Wellington

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Wellington01-Mar-20152:37

‘Sangakkara’s innings eased pressure’ – Thirimanne

The best bowlers in the world have a way of scrambling young batsmen’s brains. In the last English summer, James Anderson eroded Lahiru Thirimanne’s game so intensely, it sometimes seemed he only needed to sneeze in Thirimanne’s direction to reduce him to dust.Thirimanne by then was no easy target. This was a man who had won his team an Asia Cup months before, and played crucial innings in a World T20 win – including a top-score in the semi-final. But as Anderson sent poison down that fifth stump line that would later enfeeble Virat Kohli as well, Thirimanne’s belief grew frailer and frailer. Sri Lanka persevered with him till the end of the tour but, not long after, he was dropped.

***

Nine days after Tim Southee’s swing had eviscerated England on the same pitch in Wellington, Thirimanne is crouched and tense as Anderson steams in. The first ball – a short one on the hips – is defused into the leg side.Anderson himself is not at his best this World Cup. But if there is a top-order batsman in the world he would fancy throwing him a cheap wicket, it would be Thirimanne. Across all internationals, he has had his scalp 10 times. So he begins pushing it across the batsman next over, trialling a variety of lengths, but staying largely on the same line, like a fisherman angling at his lucky spot on the river.For now, Thirimanne doesn’t bite. He is back and across to defend with the full face when Anderson drops short. Forward and across when he is full. For four balls he does this, then something strange happens. Thirimanne is the man suddenly waiting for Anderson to stray. He gets one on the pads. He works it away.

***

Daryl Cullinan despises being known as Shane Warne’s bunny. For batsmen, being repeatedly dismissed by a bowler is so much worse than simply having a weakness against a particular team. Fans begin to talk about it. Worse, they begin to joke about it. This is the batsman’s livelihood. For young cricketers especially, batting is also an integral part of their identity. It cuts close to the bone when you become an incompetent in the public imagination.There were whispers early in England’s ODI tour of Sri Lanka that Moeen Ali’s offspin had a hold over Kumar Sangakkara. At this stage of his career, Sangakkara is in no mood to suffer this. He worked the spinner out and top-scored in that series. In the Tests against New Zealand, when suggestions that he was weak against Trent Boult began to emerge, Sangakkara went to the nets again. He would hit a first-innings double ton against New Zealand in the next match.

***

Thirimanne is on strike again as Anderson begins his third over. The ball is full, just wide of off stump again but, once more, Thirimanne has his foot to the pitch of the ball, and this time meets it with a drive. It travels briefly in the air, but it’s too straight to interest the mid-off fielder. He gets his first intentional boundary. The belief grows again. There is an ambitious lofted drive two balls later, which fetches the batsman two. Next over Anderson is picked away on the leg side for another couple.It is in the ninth over – Anderson’s fifth – when the battle really begins to turn. Anderson is coming around the wicket now. How many times in his career has he straightened balls down the line to left-handers, and caught them plumb in front? Yet, even with only 13 runs having been scored off his first four overs, he feels the need to change his angle, and virtually rule out a mode of dismissal. The pitch is not helping. The angler is growing impatient.Lahiru Thirimanne became the youngest World Cup centurion for Sri Lanka•AFPThe first ball is full, wide and juicy – exactly the kind Thirimanne was getting out to at Old Trafford and Edgbaston – but he is on bended knee in Wellington now, creaming this one through a crammed cover field. The shoe is switching feet. The tables are turning. Anderson is under fire now. Thirimanne has got him on hook.Four balls later, he pitches one up to Thirimanne again, angling it slightly, hoping to shape it away. Thirimanne batsman sees it is too wide. Out comes the drive again, but this it is an even bolder rendition. He opens the face and cracks it square. It’s coming out of the middle. It’s scorching a line to the fence. Thirimanne admires the shot, stands tall and looks toward the southern stand. Sri Lankan flags are billowing. Thirimanne is winning this one.That over, which cost 10, would be the final one in Anderson’s spell. Anderson would come back during the Powerplay and almost have Thirimanne caught, but the batsman was already on 98 at that stage. In the end, Anderson would bowl exactly half of his 48 deliveries at Thirimanne, and Thirimanne would hit him for more than a run-a-ball.Another England tour is scheduled for Sri Lanka in 2016 and Thirimanne will meet his nemesis again. But he has hit a hundred against Anderson now. He is the youngest batsman to make a World Cup hundred for a country that has seen a lot of batting talent bloom at these events. Next time they meet, fans might remember Thirimanne’s immense role in this outstanding chase. Next time they meet, no one will be laughing.

It was relief, rather than raucous, rampant celebration for South Africa because relief has to be the leveller for a side who have made history but still have more history to make

Firdose Moonda at the SCG18-Mar-2015And breathe. This is what the collective exhale of 23 years of expectation feels like.It is not an unbridled rush of joy – the kind that sends Imran Tahir bolting whenever he takes a wicket – it is just a release. For a South African side that has been suffocated for so long, by themselves, their slew of support staff and the significant expectation shoved down their throats, it is a release and a relief that was a long time coming.For six World Cups, the disappointments have collected like layers of silt and settled on the shoulders of each successive squad. This one could not escape that. There were questions about their strength from the time their squad was selected. Would they be balanced enough? Bat deep enough? Have enough options to make up a fifth bowler? And after the group stage, there was the other question, the one that had been answered in the negative against India and Pakistan – would they be able to chase? In their quarter-final, they answered the last two of those, by dominating in such a way that the first two became irrelevant.Their attack won the game before their balance or their batting needing to be tested and in so doing, allowed South Africa to showcase the strength they have spent so long trademarking as their own. Fast bowling. Aggressive bowling. Short-ball bowling. Incisive, obliterating bowling. When you think of South Africa, that is what you think of but at this tournament that hid in the shadows until now. Sweet relief. It’s back.Dale Steyn was back. His vein popping was back. His scary eyes were back. And he was back with a partner and a follow-up bowler who both looked the part. Relief.Kyle Abbott was picked ahead of Vernon Philander because South Africa could see the SCG track promised bounce and carry. Combined with his pace and passion, South Africa could create a pressure cooker at both ends of the pitch and then “follow up with a lot of heat,” as AB de Villiers put it, with Morne Morkel. Relief.South Africa were not the ones holding their breath. Sri Lanka were. Kumar Sangakkara was. The runs were. Relief, but then could have come release.Sri Lanka’s line-up are more than just capable against spin, they can be merciless against it. They bided their time against the pace pack, presumably to target the spin but JP Duminy did not let them. Not long ago he was just a part-time offspinner who would be used to get rid of some overs in the middle phases of a match, today he was a disciplinarian, holding the line so tightly that he gave almost nothing away. Relief.

Allan Donald, part of the heartache in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003, embraced Russell Domingo, not with a chest-bumping machismo but with genuine tenderness.

Then, he became the only South African with a World Cup hat-trick to his name. The tournament surprises in mysterious ways too.None more mysterious than Imran Tahir, who has come into his own as a limited-overs bowler, particularly at World Cups. Tahir seems to thrive on big tournament pressure. For South Africa, who are filled with players who seem to shy way from that, having one person who is willing to take it head on is a relief.Tahir’s variations are becoming the literacy test for batsmen and most are failing to read it. Mahela Jayawardene may be the highest-profile example of that. Tahir has had Jayawardene baffled since the middle of last year when he dismissed him in three successive ODIs. Today, he added a fourth to that. That wicket had Sri Lanka 83 for 4 and separated the two men who could have done the most damage to South Africa. Relief. So much relief Tahir allowed himself t enjoy it with one his customary over-the-top celebrations. “It’s because I just enjoy every wicket,” he said. And why not?As a whole, South Africa do not allow themselves to get as carried away as Tahir because of the burdens they have borne. Even when they dismissed Sri Lanka with more than 12 overs still left in their innings and a small target to chase, they did not seem to be pre-empting success. They couldn’t. Doing that has been their undoing before. Instead they just enjoyed the relief of knowing that this time, surely, it would not be.When Quinton de Kock hit the winning runs, his inner-child wanted to celebrate it with all the gusto it deserved. He wanted to fist-pump his way to the boundary. He hit the ball but he stopped, mid-salute, before his emotions could overtake him. Relief brings reason before it brings anything else. He took in the moment, and let others take it in too.In the dugout, Allan Donald, who had been part of the heartache in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003 and had watched it unfold in 2011, embraced Russell Domingo. Not with a chest-bumping machismo but with genuine tenderness. The rest of the support staff, more than a dozen of them, just grinned. Relief all round. Relief, rather than raucous, rampant celebration because relief has to be the leveller for a South African side who have made history but still have more history to make.For now, they have broken through the ceiling that has capped them at every World Cup they have ever participated in and won a knockout game but they have not yet won the World Cup. And they are not under the illusion that they have. All they know is they have cleared the path and given the country the breath of fresh air it has spent more than two decades gasping for.

Results on the field have remained inconsistent, but Delhi Daredevils have the ingredients in place for a bigger push next season

Arun Venugopal16-May-20153:54

We need to find a winning culture – Duminy

Tournament overview

Ahead of IPL 2015, Delhi Daredevils had more than one challenge confronting them. Firstly, they had to up their game on the field. After two consecutive years of finishing last, Delhi Daredevils’ big buys had misfired in 2014. Secondly, with the team not being taken seriously enough as a championship contender, their profile needed a boost.The owners decided to do something about it and made a statement of intent four months ahead of IPL 2015 by offloading 13 players, including Kevin Pietersen, Ross Taylor, Dinesh Karthik and M Vijay.With their purse fattened they splurged money on Yuvraj Singh, the costliest buy in the auction at Rs 16 crore, as much to strengthen their squad as to attract advertisers, perhaps more of the latter than the former. There were other big investments in the form of Angelo Mathews (Rs 7.5 crore), Zaheer Khan (Rs 4 crore), Amit Mishra (Rs 3.5 crore), Shreyas Iyer (Rs 2.6 crore) and Gurinder Sandhu (Rs 1.7 crore).As Daredevils’ campaign winds down, they will perhaps have mixed feelings. If they were to strictly go by the bottomline – Daredevils will finish seventh – then things haven’t improved a great deal.But a closer look would reveal that they have made incremental gains to their performances and, with a bit of luck, could have been placed higher. What also hurt them was their inability to string together consistently good performances, their graph an alternating pattern of wins and losses. Captain JP Duminy conceded that his team fell short when it came to closing out games.

High Point

Going into the season, Daredevils had an embarrassing record to set straight, that of losing nine IPL matches in a row, and two last-ball defeats, against Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, made it 11 on the trot. The long-awaited win finally came against Kings XI Punjab, with Mayank Agarwal and Yuvraj Singh scoring fifties. They followed it up with a four-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad courtesy Duminy’s all-round performance. That was the only instance of Daredevils winning two consecutive games.Shreyas Iyer has justified his Rs. 2.6 crore price tag with over 400 runs in his debut season•BCCI

Low Point

At the end of eight games, Daredevils, after crushing Kings XI Punjab by nine wickets, had won four and lost as many. They were in with a decent shout of qualifying for the playoffs at that point, but then went off the boil, losing four games in a row. Daredevils also suffered a 10-wicket defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore after being bowled out for 95.

Top of the class

When Shreyas Iyer was signed for Rs 2.6 crore, there was disbelief and curiosity in equal measure. Iyer, Mumbai’s highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy, was an investment that appeared to appreciate as the season went on. One of the best young players of IPL 2015, Iyer, 20, is comfortably the leading run-getter for Daredevils with 419 runs* at an average of 34.91, including four fifties.Despite the impressive numbers, Iyer admitted his preparation wasn’t ideal ahead of the IPL. “I wasn’t prepared as I didn’t know where I’ll bat,” Iyer told ESPNcricinfo. “The preparation was not the best but I took the confidence of a good Ranji season.”

Flop buy

At the other end of the spectrum is Yuvraj Singh, who didn’t do much justice to his price tag. He managed 237 runs at 19.75 and didn’t do much with the ball either.

Tip for 2016

Daredevils have in the past been guilty of changing the core of their team too often. This time, as Duminy said, Daredevils are on the “right track”, and have the building blocks in place for next year. If they can ensure continuity and put together some consistent performances, the results might not remain elusive for too long.

Stats highlights from the third ODI between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Colombo

S Rajesh19-Jul-2015135 – The margin of victory, Pakistan’s second-best in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. The biggest margin, of 146 runs, was also at the Premadasa, in 2009, when Pakistan scored 321 and then bowled Sri Lanka out for 175. It’s the fourth-best for Pakistan against Sri Lanka at any venue. It’s also Sri Lanka’s third-highest margin of defeat in a home ODI.24-11 The win-loss record for teams batting first in day-night ODIs at the Premadasa since the beginning of 2005. The last six day-night games here have all been won by the team batting first.5-11 Sri Lanka’s win-loss record when chasing in day-night ODIs at the Premadasa since 2005; when batting first, their record is 11-4.316 Pakistan’s total, their second-highest against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Their best is 321, six years ago at the same ground, in a match they won by 146 runs.1 Number of times Pakistan’s top six have all scored at least 35 – this was the first such instance. It’s only the third time their top five have all topped 40; the previous two were both in 2005.93 Runs scored by Pakistan in their last ten overs, their second-highest against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Their best is 107, at Premadasa, in the match in which they scored 321.7 Number of times Lasith Malinga has conceded 80 or more runs in an ODI. It was his fourth such instance in a home ODI, and his first against Pakistan. Five of those seven instances have occurred since the beginning of 2012. Malinga’s most expensive figures in an ODI are 1 for 96 in 7.4 overs against India in Hobart in 2012.8 Fifty-plus opening stands for Pakistan in ODIs in 2015, the joint-highest this year, along with Sri Lanka. Pakistan’s average opening stand of 56.27 is the best among all teams in 2015.77 Sarfraz Ahmed’s score, his second 50-plus score in 34 ODI innings. Three of his four highest ODI scores have come in 2015. His highest remains an unbeaten 101 against Ireland in the 2015 World Cup.