The gaffes in the field could have left India in an uncomfortable position on the first day in Mohali were it not for their bowlers, who never let England run away with the game

Alagappan Muthu26-Nov-20162:41

Ganguly: Jayant’s ball to get Bairstow was brilliant

Mohali offered box-office material on Saturday and here’s hoping enough fans of Charlie Chaplin were watching.It began with Ravindra Jadeja, his body the shape of a slanted A and his mouth a pronounced O as an edge off Alastair Cook whooshed past. What a gag. One of India’s best fielders had missed an honest-to-goodness catch.Then R Ashwin got punked everywhere he went. At short midwicket, he made a silly by dropping a dolly. At mid-on, he misfielded so badly Virat Kohli almost facepalmed. At square leg, in the final hour of the day and just as he thought he had the ball covered, it bounced awkwardly and nearly broke a tooth.The most comedic incident, though, at least as far as the press box was concerned, was the toss. Heads craned as the coin went up, then they were thrown back in laughter as Cook promptly chose to bat. Before the first hour was done, he had been given two lives. None of this sounds like a day that ends with India taking eight wickets, does it?Clearly the bowlers deserve a lot of credit for this turn – only the metaphorical kind was on offer despite fears otherwise – of events. They never let England run away with the game.Mohammed Shami had two chances put down in his first spell. He was asked to create a third by his captain 10 minutes before lunch. He bounced Moeen Ali out.From swapping out the spinner for a quick to the setting of a leg-side trap, that wicket was the culmination of a plan coming together. India had a short leg in place. They had also kept a man about 10 yards inside the boundary at fine leg specifically for the top-edge. Normally on such pitches – slow with not much bounce – that man would be positioned squarer to control the runs. Kohli was gambling. Shami was his ace in the hole.The ball was fast, it rose up towards Moeen’s head, triggered the instinct to hook and subdued the good sense that would have told the batsman he was trying to drag it from outside the off stump and, as such, his timing would be off. Having gone through a horrible first hour – and that doesn’t take into account India losing their first-choice opener KL Rahul to injury again – that was a moment of pure joy. Kohli actually skipped over to the catcher M Vijay to share high-fives.Having had two catches dropped off his bowling early in the day, Mohammed Shami still responded to his captain’s call with the wicket of Moeen Ali•AFPWith seven balls to stumps, Umesh Yadav finally convinced an outswinger to overcome its shyness and go hug Chris Woakes’ off stump. Umesh had been warned for following through on the danger area in his fourth over. Going wider of the stumps eventually helped him trouble the England batsmen more because the right-handers felt they had to play most of his deliveries with the angle into them. After that, it was only a matter of being accurate because he was finding sideways movement – both conventional and reverse.”I am improving day by day with the matches that I am playing,” Umesh said. “I talk to my coaches Anil bhai [Kumble] and Sanjay bhai [Bangar]. Pace comes with a disadvantage. If you don’t pitch it right, you will go for runs. They advise me to bowl in one particular area. My impact area is outside the off stump from where I can bowl my outswingers and make the batsmen play a lot more.”It’s a bit cold and there’s some moisture in the wicket. The ball is moving. It’s not that if the wicket is flat the new ball wont swing. New ball will swing if you have faith. Me and Shami know that we can swing it till the ball is new. We are trying to bowl outside off stump channel from where we were getting our outswingers. There is good carry in the pitch also at good pace.”India’s spinners weren’t lagging behind either. Jadeja’s two wickets were the combination of a tried and tested method – strangling the batsman for runs – enhanced by a new skill: drawing them out of their crease. To accomplish that, a man who has thrived by firing darts at the stumps, bringing bowled and lbw into play, had to deceive his opponents with flight.Jadeja bowled 31 deliveries to Ben Stokes. Twenty-eight of them were dots. Sensing the batsman would be looking for a big shot, he held one back and since he had also tossed it up and put in a lot of work with his action, it drifted away too. Stokes had premeditated his charge, was tricked into driving inside the line and then stumped. This sequence – apart from being a delight to watch – tested the theory that batsmen find it easier to score against the ball turning into them.Ashwin redeemed himself, taking a wicket off his first ball and could well have had England’s top-scorer Jonny Bairstow caught behind for 54. India’s premier spinner may not have been ripping it from one corner to another, but his variations of pace and trajectory were beautiful. When Buttler was new at the crease, playing only his second first-class match since being dropped from the Test side in October 2015, Ashwin fed him a few flatter deliveries to push him back before an offbreak with a considerable amount of overspin came along. The batsman, to his credit, managed to adjust to the extra bounce and pat it down with soft hands. Buttler should have done the same against Jadeja in the 69th over. He couldn’t and England’s biggest partnership of the innings – 69 runs for the sixth wicket – was rather tamely broken.Jayant Yadav was the least accurate among India’s bowlers, but it was he who showcased how difficult this pitch could become. Drier at the full and good-length areas, where some crumbling has already happened, it encouraged one ball to go on with the arm to take Bairstow’s outside edge as he defended inside the line. The next one gripped the deck more and turned sharply to beat the inside edge and pin the right-hander lbw.With India being good, bad and ugly all in one day, the Kohli cam had plenty of work to do. He glared. He fumed. He screamed. He wrung his hands in disgust one minute, high-fived with glee the next. However, after stumps, he was simply a man content. At least until 9.30am on Sunday, when the show would start all over again.

Stats highlights of the second day’s play between India and England in Mohali

Shiva Jayaraman27-Nov-20161 Number of India players who have made 500 or more runs and taken at least 50 wickets in Tests in a year before R Ashwin in 2016. Kapil Dev did it twice for India, in 1979 and 1983. There have been only ten such instances overall. Ashwin completed 500 runs in 2016 during his innings of 57 not out in Mohali. (All numbers from Tests which overlapped into the next year are included in the year in which the Test started.)5 Number of 50-plus scores by Ashwin in 12 innings in Tests in 2016 – equalling the second most for India. Only Cheteshwar Pujara with seven in 13 innings is ahead of Ashwin. Virat Kohli also has five such scores in 15 innings this year.16 Wickets taken by Adil Rashid at an average of 28.18 in this series so far – the most by any bowler and the fourth highest by an overseas legspinner in a Test series in India. Rashid has taken at least three wickets in an innings four times already in this series.

Bowler Season Wkts AveRichie Benaud 1959/60 29 19.58Richie Benaud 1956/57 23 16.86Danish Kaneria 2004/05 19 31.52Adil Rashid 2016-17 16 28.18Imran Tahir 2015/16 14 21.35Shane Warne 2004/05 14 30.07Jim Higgs 1979/80 14 50.142001 The previous time a visiting team scored a total higher than England’s 283 after having been four down for fewer than 100. Australia had made 349 in the Mumbai Test on that occasion after losing their fourth wicket on 98. England’s 283 in the first innings is the highest total out of the 33 times since that Mumbai Test that a visiting team has lost its fourth wicket before 100.7 Number of 50-plus scores by Pujara in 13 innings in 2016 – the most he has hit in a year. He has made 748 Test runs this year at an average of 62.33. It also equals the most 50-plus scores by any batsman in a season in India. Sunil Gavaskar (twice), Dilip Vengsarkar and Virender Sehwag are the others with seven 50-plus scores in a Test season in India.12.60 Rahane’s batting average in this series; he has made just 63 runs from five innings. This is the first time since his debut series against Australia – when he played just one Test – that Rahane has not hit at least one 50-plus score in his first five innings of a series.1990 The previous time before Karun Nair in Mohali that an India debutant was run out in Tests. Anil Kumble was run out against England at Old Trafford on that occasion. Nair is the 12th India batsman to be run out on debut.3 Number of times before Virat Kohli that an India batsman made 40 or more runs in each of his first five innings in a series. Rahul Dravid made five such scores against England in 2005-06. Navjot Sidhu did it in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in 1997-98 and Sunil Gavaskar did it in England in 1979. Kohli has scores of 40, 49 not out, 167, 81 and 62 in this series so far.

AB de Villiers broke the record for being the fastest to reach 9000 runs in ODIs

Bharath Seervi25-Feb-20172:34

AB de Villiers and the trek to 9000

205 Innings taken by AB de Villiers to complete 9000 runs in ODIs – the fewest among the 18 batsmen to get there. Sourav Ganguly was the previous fastest – 228 innings.9005 Number of balls de Villiers took to score 9000 runs, again the fewest. The previous record holder was Adam Gilchrist – 9328 deliveries.54.04 De Villiers’ average – easily the best among those 18 batsmen. MS Dhoni (50.96) is the only other batsman to average over 50, the other 16 average under 45. De Villiers’ average is in fact the highest among all 202 players with 2000-plus runs.AB de Villiers bettered Sourav Ganguly’s record to become the fastest batsman to 9000 ODI runs•ESPNcricinfo Ltd2 South Africa batsmen to have scored 9000 or more runs. Jacques Kallis was the first and he took 242 innings to get there.189 Sixes for de Villiers in ODIs. Only Chris Gayle (229) and Dhoni (196) had more sixes than de Villiers at the end of the innings in which they completed 9000 runs.24 Centuries for de Villiers – the second most among batsmen when reaching the 9000 milestone. Only Sachin Tendulkar had more – 25.

Out of four Tests in Bengaluru, Australia have won two of them and will be hoping to add one more to the tally

Bharath Seervi03-Mar-20172 Wins for Australia in Tests at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the last 20 years – most at any Indian venue. In four Tests in Bengaluru, they have won two, lost one and drawn one. At all other venues combined in this period, they have been victorious only thrice in 17 matches, losing 12 of those.2-4 India’s win-loss record in 10 Tests at the Chinnaswamy Stadium since 1997. Their win-loss ratio of 0.50 is the worst among the 10 home venues that have hosted five or more Tests in the last 20 years. Both those victories came in their last three Tests, against Australia and New Zealand, and prior to that they hadn’t won a Test at the venue since 1995.36.67 Australia’s batting average in four Tests in Bengaluru in the last 20 years, the best among the six Indian venues where they have played two or more Tests. Their bowling average in Bangalore is their second-best among those six venues.7 Centuries by Australia batsmen at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the last 20 years – the most at any Indian venue. At no other venue have they scored more than three centuries. Indian batsmen have scored only three centuries in those four Tests in Bangalore against Australia.451 Average first-innings score in the last seven Tests in Bangalore. In five of those Tests, the team batting first has scored above 400, with Australia doing it thrice. Out of the five instances, only once has the batting team lost – Australia in 2010 after scoring 478.31.54 Average of the fast bowlers of the visiting teams in Bangalore in the last ten Tests compared to India’s fast bowlers who have averaged 43.28. There have been three five-wicket hauls by overseas fast bowlers compared to two by India’s quick’s. The spinners have had nearly identical numbers – 37.35 for foreign teams and 38.24 for India.0 Number of five-wicket hauls by spinners at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in first-class matches since the start of the 2014-15 season, in eight matches. At the same time, fast bowlers have picked up four such hauls. Slow bowlers have averaged 43.07, compared to seamer’ 29.33. No first-class matches have been played at the venue since India’s last Test against South Africa in November 2015, due to renovation of the drainage system in the venue.139 Runs scored by M Vijay in India’s last Test against Australia in Bangalore, in 2010, which was his maiden century. He averages 55.90 against Australia in 21 innings, with four centuries. The average against Australia is his second-best against any team. Three of his four centuries against Australia have come in the second match of the series. This Test will also be his 50th Test.112 Runs required for Steven Smith to complete 5000 Test runs. If he gets there in the first innings of the match, he will be the joint third-quickest ever in terms of innings behind Don Bradman and Jack Hobbs. In terms of matches, he will be the joint second-fastest with Sunil Gavaskar.0 Australia players from the current squad who have played Tests at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. None of their players from their last Test at the venue in 2010 are active now. Most of the current players have played matches in other formats there.

The coaching and captaincy duties have changed hands for Punjab, but the core group that remains intact will have to find ways to overcome scars of the last two seasons

Shashank Kishore04-Apr-20174:09

Agarkar: Captaincy could make Maxwell consistent

Likely first-choice XIManan Vohra, Glenn Maxwell (capt), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Eoin Morgan, David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, KC Cariappa, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma, T NatarajanReservesBatsmen – Shaun Marsh, Hashim Amla, Martin Guptill, Armaan Jaffer, Rinku Singh
Bowlers – Swapnil Singh, Pardeep Sahu, Rahul Tewatia, Varun Aaron, Anureet Singh, Matt Henry, Ishant Sharma
Wicketkeeper – Nikhil Naik
Allrounders – Gurkeerat Singh, Darren SammyStrengthsTwo consecutive poor seasons might have forced most sides to make changes. Kings XI Punjab, though, have retained faith in the core group of players, who were part of both, the highs of 2014 – when they finished runners-up – and the disappointments that have followed.They have a strong batting – three of the world’s best limited-overs players aren’t guaranteed a spot in the starting XI – which is helpful considering M Vijay’s participation in the tournament appears to be doubtful.The team also arguably has the best Indian bowling line-up. Sandeep Sharma’s swing, Mohit Sharma’s back-of-the-hand slower deliveries, Ishant Sharma’s experience and Axar Patel’s control make them a potent force. Add to it their latest recruit T Natarajan, the left-arm pacer on whom they splurged INR 3 crore, and the attack looks well-rounded. Natarajan, the franchise believes, is the Indian version of Mustafizur Rahman, who brings to the fore an element of surprise with his cutters and subtle variations in pace.This isn’t a side that looks intimidating, but it has the smarts to upset the opponent’s designs.WeaknessesA lack of experienced spinners could leave them vulnerable on potentially tired surfaces as the season progresses. Glenn Maxwell and Gurkeerat are part-timers at best while the legspinning duo of Pardeep Sahu and Rahul Tewatia have hardly played in 2016-17. There is a chance that the team has to rely solely on their pacers to deliver wins.The franchise has defied conventional wisdom by naming Maxwell as captain despite him not having prior experience leading a side at any level. Only time will tell if it was a risk worth taking, given they had two seasoned T20 leaders in Eoin Morgan and Darren Sammy in their ranks.Where they finished in 2016, and what’s different this year?With just four wins in 14 matches, Kings XI were the bottom-placed team for a second successive season. In the aftermath, there were a few changes, to the coaching line-up. Sanjay Bangar resigned as head coach, while Virender Sehwag, chief mentor until last season, was promoted as director of cricket operations. He will be assisted by J Arun Kumar, the new head coach, who shepherded Karnataka to win titles in all formats for two successive seasons.What have their players been up to? Hashim Amla: After a poor Test series in Australia where he was repeatedly snuffed out in the slips, the opener returned home to become the eighth South African to score a century in his 100th Test. He’s been through an inconsistent patch since. While he was part of an ODI and Test series win in New Zealand, he has scored only one fifty-plus score in his last 11 international outings. Eoin Morgan and Darren Sammy were team-mates not too long ago in the Pakistan Super League. Morgan left midway to lead England to a ODI and T20 series win in West Indies, where he rode a top-order wobble to make an ODI century in the series opener in Antigua. Prior to that, he was one of England’s most productive batsmen during the limited-overs leg of their Indian tour. Sammy, in the meantime, led Zalmi to the title, often providing the flourish in the end-overs. His leadership and spectacular slip-catching made him a crowd-favourite both in the UAE and in Lahore, which staged the final. Axar Patel injured his thumb while fielding as a substitute during the fifth and final India-England Test in Chennai and was subsequently ruled out of the limited-overs leg of the series. He watched from the sidelines as his state side Gujarat clinched their maiden Ranji Trophy title. He returned to action in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the domestic 50-over competition, and took seven wickets in four matches.Overseas-player availabilityShaun Marsh injured his back during the final India-Australia Test in Dharamsala and may not be in the starting XI immediately. Martin Guptill is also on a comeback trail since injuring his hamstring during the ODI series against South Africa last month, and could be in contention only from the third week of the competition. He will leave on May 10 for a tri-series involving New Zealand, Bangladesh and Ireland, though. Matt Henry will join him too. Eoin Morgan will be unavailable from May 1, when he’ll take off to lead England on their tour of Ireland.Home and away record in 2016They won two games at home and away, in a campaign where they were all but out of the reckoning halfway through the season.PollTest your Kings XI Punjab knowledge

Aakash Chopra analyses some of the major talking points from the match between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad

Aakash Chopra12-Apr-2017Why did Harbhajan open the bowling?
Since Sunrisers Hyderabad had two left-hand batsmen at the top, Rohit Sharma gave the new ball to Harbhajan Singh with a slip and a short cover in place. The two fielders in the deep were long-off and deep midwicket, which suggested a stump-to-stump line. The first two balls of the third over provided Warner some width, and he dispatched both to the boundary. The extra bounce on the red-soil pitch at Wankhede allowed him to go aerial through the offside off the back foot. The next four balls finished within the stumps and ended up as dots.Why did Mumbai persist with McClenaghan?
In the past Mumbai Indians have been quick to make changes to their playing XI but. But under their new coach Mahela Jayawardene, they seem to be more patient. Fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan has had a very ordinary start to this season but, despite having options in Mitchell Johnson and Tim Southee, Mumbai stuck with him. Not that his lack of form was lost on Mumbai, for he wasn’t brought in the first six overs, and his spell was done by the 15th over. The strategy of playing him and then giving him the easier middle overs shows how much Mumbai value him.Why were Sunrisers slow at the start?
While Mumbai rarely offered width and bowled tight lines, a plausible reason for Sunrisers’ slow approach could be the lack of depth in the batting line-up. In Henriques’ absence, their middle order read Deepak Hooda, Yuvraj Singh, Ben Cutting, Naman Ojha, and Vijay Shankar. Such a line-up inspires little confidence. But such reasoning should not take the attention away from Dhawan’s T20 numbers. He only has a strike rate of 115 in the Powerplay and 121 overall in the IPL. The presence of an explosive batsman in Warner makes for an ideal foil, but Warner himself was slow off the blocks today.Where should Rohit bat?
There’s an ongoing debate on where Rohit should bat for Mumbai. Most people believe that since he is successful as an opener in limited-overs cricket for India, he should be right there at the top, in place of Jos Buttler, for his franchise as well.Parthiv Patel is quite similar to Dhawan, for his Powerplay strike rate is 112, and he needs a partner who attacks from the outset – and Buttler fits that role. While that thought process can be understood, it’s imperative for Rohit to bat no lower than No. 3. In Mumbai’s match against Kolkata Knight Riders, Nitish Rana came at one drop and got runs too, but was pushed down to No. 4 against Sunrisers. It was Rohit who batted at No. 3 here, and now it’s fair to assume that Rohit will continue to bat at this position.Whom should you bowl early against Rohit?

Twice in three games, Rohit has been dismissed by a legspinner. In Pune, it was Imran Tahir’s front-of-the-hand flipper that got him. Then Rashid Khan deceived him with a googly. Quality legspin, it appears, can trouble Rohit at the start of his innings.What was the impact of the dew?
Firstly Sunrisers did not have enough runs to feel comfortable and then the dew just made their bowlers’ life even more difficult. In the first innings a few wickets fell to slower deliveries as the ball was dry and was gripping the surface, but the slower ones in the second innings just skidded through. While the outfield was swept with rugs during the strategic time-outs, the pitch was left dew-slicked. Slowly but surely the dew made the pitch greasy, which in turn rendered changes of pace useless. In addition, even attempting a yorker became difficult given the ball was hard to grip. Mustafizur becomes half the bowler if you take away the slower deliveries and yorkers, and this was evident in his bowling analysis: 2.4-0-34-0.

As a batsman, Matthew Elliott was unable to fulfil the expectations of many, but he hopes to help others do so as a coach

Daniel Brettig06-Jun-2017In 1997, Shane Warne released his first book, . Legend has it he fought tooth and nail with the publisher to ensure “Own” was included in the title. In it, Warne chose two names that would feature less prominently in any post-1999 publications. One was Steve Waugh, the other Matthew “Herb” Elliott.Of his fellow Victorian, Warne observed: “He has a simple, correct technique, time to see the ball and play his shots and an appetite for big hundreds. He’ll make at least 5000 Test runs for Australia. Fingers crossed.”Warne’s judgement was inked into the manuscript before the completion of that year’s Ashes tour, on which another bold prediction was made. Elliott’s 199 at Headingley was his second hundred of the series in challenging conditions, leading Ian Chappell to intone in commentary that the left-hander would make a Test 200 “very soon”. Elliott never did, playing only ten more Tests over seven years.Twenty years later Elliott sits in a Melbourne café and ponders Warne’s prediction, before laughing. “Goes to show he’s a poor judge, isn’t he, Warney! Nice words but I only fell about 4000 short…”It is in the gap between the prediction and the reality that Elliott’s value to Australian cricket now lies. Recently employed as a coach at the National Cricket Centre after nearly a decade at arm’s length from the game, he is intent upon using the lessons of his career to help others make as much of their talent as possible. He believes it should start with the ability to keep setting new goals at whatever level a player reaches.

“Once you go mentally, it’s a very difficult game because you spend so much time involved in it, playing, watching, training. Things start to go south pretty quickly”

“My goal was just to play for Australia. I think when you get there, it’s really important just to reassess a little bit on what you want to achieve and what you want to do,” Elliott says. “Getting there is an achievement, but it shouldn’t be the end goal. Playing for a period of time and testing your game out in lots of different conditions against lots of different players, I think that’s the ultimate challenge.”Maybe I was a bit naïve… getting there wasn’t enough for me, but I was just happy being in that dressing room, and I didn’t adopt that mentality I had playing for the Vics, that I really want to be a senior player here and set some standards. I was just happy to be there.”Happy and unhappy, as it happens. A fateful collision with Mark Waugh, at the SCG in his second Test, left Elliott with a wrenched knee and a legacy of pain and restricted movement. He rushed back to take part in the 1997 tour of South Africa, then barely made it onto the plane for the Ashes. While the joint settled down in England and he played the series of his life, by the time he got home, Elliott was not much fun to be around, and the runs dried up thereafter.”Physically I’d started to have some problems with my knees, and that really weighed me down a bit,” he says. “When you’re playing and you’re sore all the time, you become a bit of a pain in the arse to be around, and I probably was a pain to be around because it just wears you down, not only physically but mentally.”At one stage I wasn’t going to go [to England] because it was really playing up before we left. I got through the tour, came back, had both my knees arthroscoped at the same time after the tour, then probably came back way too quick into the Aussie summer, because you want to make sure you retain your place. That all happened quickly, and in the end I think I had about eight scopes on that right knee and it starts to compromise how you want to train.Elliott pulls one at Headingley during his 199 there in 1997•Getty Images”It wasn’t the only factor but it was one of the ones why I started to wobble a bit and unfortunately not achieve the things I wanted to when I was playing. Cricket’s one of those games where mentally you’ve got be as fresh as you can for as long as you can. Once you go mentally, it’s a very difficult game because you spend so much time involved in it, playing, watching, training, so when you start to struggle a bit mentally in terms of feeling that fatigue, things start to go south pretty quickly.”Memories of Elliott in 1997 tend to focus on his considerable panache – one flat pull shot off Allan Donald at the Wanderers that sailed over the boundary at head height, a flurry of shots at Lord’s for a first Test hundred, then many more at Leeds. But he was fortunate, too, dropped several times during the first hundred, then critically by Graham Thorpe early in the second. That luck was in shorter supply when he got home, and when he was recalled for the West Indies in 1999, where he was swiftly sorted out by Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.That trip carried another lesson for Elliott, about battling his natural tendencies towards the defensive. “The sort of person I am, and was as a player. I needed to be more positive,” he says. “When I started to come under pressure and felt I was only one game away from being dropped, I needed to come out and play a little more aggressively. I tended to play within myself a bit, and that’s something I reflected on as an older person.”It was really important for me to not focus on the outcome, and stay in the moment, and from there I’d tend to play more positively. But that was me, and it’s easy to reflect now that when you’re in the moment, I just withdrew a little bit.”

“When I started to come under pressure and felt I was only one game away from being dropped, I needed to come out and play a little more aggressively. I tended to play within myself a bit”

At length, Elliott performed with great distinction for Victoria, and also made a handsome century in a Lord’s limited-overs final for Yorkshire. His time with Bushrangers taught him about how teams need to evolve.”It really had a lot to do with shaping how I coach teams and how I go about it,” he says. “We had some big personalities involved in Victorian cricket when I first started, and even to be in the room was a big thing. We had Deano [Jones], Merv [Hughes], Paul Reiffel and Warne, and all these other guys who played. So some strong characters in that room, and one of the things that’s interesting about Victorian teams is a footy culture thing.”It’s this notion that you’ve got to be best mates and all got to get along together for the team to function well, and I think it’s a myth. We struggled with that at times, that we had to develop this closeness to be able to operate well as a team. I call it the footy culture, and to me you don’t have to do that. The challenge is bringing those individuals together for a common cause, but also embracing some of their individual traits as well.”I don’t think we ever quite got that balance right, particularly early on. Over time different people came in and were able to influence how we started to operate. John Scholes had a huge role to play in terms of being able to do that. He was terrific at bringing a team together, and under John we started to have a lot more team success and started to push towards playing finals and being at the pointy end of seasons.”But by the time Elliott accepted an offer from South Australia, his knee was starting to make long innings exceedingly difficult, and after a brief sojourn to the Indian Cricket League, his playing days petered out. At that point there was no inclination to pursue a coaching career in the game.Shane Warne predicted Elliott would go on to make 5000 Test runs, but was proved wrong•Getty ImagesInstead, he followed a pathway opened up by a construction and economics degree at the University of South Australia. With his wife, Megan, and their young family, he went from Adelaide to Bendigo to Melbourne, where he settled into a four-year stint as a civil estimator for the construction firm BMD.It was a world away from batting, but in some ways echoed coaching and selection – Elliott had to make estimates on the costs and expected windfall of a given project, before handing his work over to the builders. “Hopefully,” he says, “you’ve estimated enough money for it that you’re able to turn a dollar from it.”Family, rather than career, drew Elliott slowly back towards cricket. His two oldest sons Zach and Sam, play for Fitzroy-Doncaster in Victorian Premier Cricket, while his youngest, Will, is weighing it all up. “He had to come to me this year and we had a heart to heart, and he said, ‘You know what, Dad, cricket’s not my thing, I don’t love it’, and he plays footy, basketball and other things,” Elliott says. “We haven’t given up on Will coming back to the game just yet, the older boys and I flag that for discussion every now and again and see what we’re going to get.”When on annual leave from BMD, Elliott coached the Under-17 Victoria Country team at the national championships, ultimately leading to his applying for and taking the NCC job. The diversity of his own experience, as a cricketer, a civil estimator and a father, were all helpful factors in winning a role where he will be reunited with former team-mates like Ryan Harris and the national coach, Darren Lehmann.

“This notion that you’ve got to be best mates and all got to get along together for the team to function well – I think it’s a myth. We struggled with that at times”

Looking forward, Elliott is striving for balance, not only between cricket and life but also youth and experience – he notes how Harris evolved far later than he did. He also sees how a young cricketer has more time than he thinks to emerge as a quality player, but equally less than he might imagine to carve out his own niche after retirement.”In the end we can’t just want one thing from these guys,” Elliott says. “We want to produce talented players who come out and entertain us and be super skilful, but that’s only one part of the overall picture. I think it’s unfair to say, ‘Don’t worry about the rest of it’, because the reality is, only a couple of guys are going to come through and do that. I know for myself I got into that way too late, because you think you’ve got more time than you have. Time tends to slip away fairly quickly, and before you know it, you haven’t addressed some of these things.”These guys are certainly aware of that. The study and the effort they put in outside of playing and training is terrific. But it’s difficult – if it was easy, everyone would be doing it, so they understand the challenges. There’s an exciting group of young players about to emerge in Australian cricket, not only from this group but every year you see so much ability and talent around. The system is strong, we can always make it better, but we’ve got to be a little bit patient.”In this era there is impatience. We want them ready at 18 or at 20, but they’ve got a lot more time than they think. We’ve got to be patient in terms of not rushing them too quickly because there’s all sorts of things happening to them. You could have ten years, from 25 to 35, a wonderful international career. If that’s our model then these guys are only babies.”Elliott leaves the field for the last time in an Australia domestic match, in the Ford Ranger Cup in 2008•Getty ImagesElliott is an advocate for diverse and difficult conditions around the world. “Something I think that’s fantastic about cricket around the world at the moment is teams using their own conditions to advantage,” he says. “It should be hard to win away. What a great challenge to be able to take it to them in conditions more familiar to the home team.”For the game to survive, conditions need to be different and challenging. The first two Tests in India this year, every ball was a massive contest, people were hanging on, couldn’t look away for what might happen. I hope the message out of that is, if there’s a bit in the wicket – the worry is what that does commercially, if you don’t get the game going five days, but I’d much rather see a game go for four and be a real contest between bat and ball than drag on for five.”Commercial reality has affected that [in Australia]. They’ve got to pay for stuff, there are multipurpose venues with drop-ins, so having a centre wicket block is not ideal for them. Drop-in pitches are creating these very similar, beige conditions, in terms of what players are experiencing, so then when they are exposed to different things, naturally they’re going to struggle because they haven’t had that rounding. But that’s up to us to identify those things and provide other opportunities, because that’s not going to change.”After years of fighting his knee, meanwhile, Elliott is happy to relate that he has found balance in that respect also. “We’ve got a good relationship, my knee and I,” he says. “If I don’t do too much, it doesn’t give me much grief. As long as I don’t go running or doing anything stupid, we’ve got a good relationship.” Similarly constructive relationships with Australia’s young batsmen may mean that Elliott becomes responsible for players who actually do make it all the way to 5000 Test runs and beyond.

Promoted to No. 3 ahead of Rohit Sharma in a chase of 179, Nitish Rana’s late charge blindsided Kolkata Knight Riders just when they had the match nearly in the bag

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai 10-Apr-20171:47

Agarkar: Mumbai have found a gem in Rana

Gautam Gambhir and Nitish Rana have been team-mates in the Delhi state team for a few years now. In March, during the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Gambhir, a senior player in the Delhi team, had a spat with coach KP Bhaskar over the exclusion of a few youngsters, including Rana, from the team. Gambhir felt Bhaskar was “creating an atmosphere of uncertainty” among youngsters, who were left feeling insecure, and insisted he was trying to make a secure environment for them.”I could not have let this man (Bhaskar) play with careers of young players like Unmukt Chand and Nitish Rana,” Gambhir had said last month. Gambhir may not have thought then about the bundles of confidence his actions would have drilled into Rana.On Sunday, in the IPL 2017 match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians, the two were on opposite sides. Sitting in the dug-out because of the hot and humid conditions, Knight Riders’ captain Gambhir watched Rana take the match away from his side. Mumbai had promoted Rana to No. 3 in a surprise move, and he more than surprised the opponents.With the Mumbai openers adding 65 in a chase of 179, the stage had seemed set for Rohit Sharma at No. 3. Instead, Rana, who had batted at No. 4 in Mumbai’s first match, emerged unexpectedly. Mumbai soon lost Jos Buttler and Rohit in the space of nine balls and, at 74 for 3 with the required rate over 10, and the onus was mostly on Kieron Pollard. Rana did his bit too. Offered some flight by Kuldeep Yadav in the 12th over, he slog-swept a four and executed a beautiful lofted drive over cover for a six.A collective effort of accurate bowling from Kuldeep, Chris Woakes and Sunil Narine brought the equation to 60 off 24 before Pollard fell for 17. Rana and Hardik Pandya were the only recognised batsmen left in the Mumbai line-up. Two points to Gryffindor Knight Riders, almost certainly.Nitish Rana has batted at No.3 only twice in six IPL games but has made fifties in both matches•BCCIRana, however, showed exemplary composure and brought out his lower-order experience. He dispatched two international bowlers – Woakes and Trent Boult – to different parts of the ground, using drives, pulls and flat-batted shots and, with help from Hardik, brought the equation down to 30 from 12.That innings alone would have made Gambhir proud of Rana, although the Knight Riders’ captain would also have wanted his side to win. Instead, Rana was gifted two full tosses by Ankit Rajpoot: one was scooped all the way and the other lofted over mid-off for 10 runs in two balls. Rana brought up a half-century off 28 balls and with 20 to get, the Mumbai crowd was not going anywhere. He handed a catch straight to point the next ball but Hardik stayed on to clobber a six and two more fours to stun Knight Riders.Mumbai coach Mahela Jayawardene later said Rana was moved up the order to get the left-right combination, and was part of a strategy they intend to try out against different oppositions.”We’ve just been very flexible with our line-up since we have that left-hand right-hand combination, we can play around with different oppositions,” Jayawardene said. “The way Nitish batted today…he’s a very talented player and showed a lot of character. Hopefully, he grows stronger in the tournament and we can see more of that from him.”Gambhir would have liked it had Rana struck a quick-fire fifty a month ago for Delhi – he was dropped after scores of 5, 5, and 0 – and if he had played more games. Had Knight Riders held on to their catches and won the game, he may have been singing praises of Rana’s valiant fifty in a losing cause. Instead, Rana caught Gambhir and his team by surprise after they had done most of the hard work for a win, creating some uncertainty over whether Knight Riders can shut out oppositions in close matches.

In the wake of Zimbabwe’s defeat to Sri Lanka, after being in control for the best part of five days, we look at other instances where underdogs have fumbled positions of strength

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jul-2017Inzamam denies Bangladesh first Test winBefore their series in Pakistan in 2003, Bangladesh had never taken a first-innings lead in a Test, leave alone winning one. In the final Test of the series, they put in their best performance yet, and by the end of it, Inzamam-ul-Haq and a number of Bangladesh players were in tears, as Pakistan won by one wicket. Defending 260 in the fourth innings, Bangladesh were well on course for victory, having reduced Pakistan to 205 for 8. When a comedy of errors involving Inzamam resulted in Umar Gul’s run-out, five runs were still needed and No. 11 Yasir Ali took strike. Five balls later, a teary-eyed Inzamam was embraced by all and sundry and showered with rose petals, while the Bangladeshis were lost in disbelief.De Silva, Ranatunga nail record chase to deny ZimbabweA record chase in Colombo, a series of questionable umpiring decisions, and Sri Lanka going through in the end. Nineteen years ago, a game with eerie similarities to this one was played at the Sinhalese Sports Club. Sri Lanka’s most experienced pair put on a record 189-run partnership to chase down 326. After legspinner Paul Strang delivered Zimbabwe an unlikely first-innings lead, Andy Flower’s unbeaten 105 left Sri Lanka a formidable target to chase in just five sessions. But some umpiring decisions went against Zimbabwe, leaving them bitter after the loss. Dave Houghton, Zimbabwe’s coach, made it clear he thought the umpires had robbed his team.Ricky Ponting’s nerveless 118 saw Australia through in a close chase•Getty ImagesPonting leaves Bangladesh with ‘a moral victory’Bangladesh had the upper hand for the better part of the Test, hammering 355 runs on the first day and gaining a 158-run first-innings lead. Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie bundled Bangladesh out for 148 in the second innings, but Australia still had to chase 307 on a deteriorating pitch. Mohammad Rafique ran through the middle order, but Ricky Ponting’s 367-minute century steered Australia home with three wickets to spare.Vettori breaks Bangladesh heartsLike the best Test matches, this one see-sawed for 14 out of 15 sessions, and New Zealand were left needing 36 runs with five wickets in hand going into the final session. Bangladesh took out Daniel Vettori, who had come in at No. 4 and compiled a patient 76. Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram saw out a tense final period, and Bangladesh lost yet another home Test from a position of strength, having set New Zealand 317 to win after earning the first-innings lead.

With a decade’s worth of miles logged charging in for England, Stuart Broad’s body has its share of wear and tear but he has no intention of trading in his uniform for a pipe and slippers anytime soon

George Dobell at Lord's 04-Jul-2017It may be stretching a point but, as Stuart Broad describes “managing” his aches and pains and the hard work James Anderson has had to endure to recover from his latest injury, the final scene of floats to mind.In that scene, Anderson and Broad – OK, it was Paul Newman and Robert Redford – are holed up in a stable and desperately patch themselves up with improvised splints and bandages in order to fight their way out. At the risk of spoiling the ending for anyone who hasn’t seen it, it doesn’t go especially well for them.It’s an exaggeration, of course. Broad and Anderson haven’t been so badly injured – though the window between Anderson’s injuries seems to be closing – and South Africa aren’t the Bolivian army, though Hashim Amla averages 56.21 against England in Test cricket and remains plenty good enough to kill off another career or two before he is done.It’s more that Broad’s conversation – his talk of the special boots, of strapping the fat pads on his feet and managing the condition for the rest of his career – provides a reminder of how many miles there are in these legs, of how long England have relied upon them and that, one day in the not too distant future, they’re going to have to find another pair of bowlers to rely upon.Anderson and Broad have been leading England’s attack since March 2008; the best part of a decade. Anderson has bowled 5,000 more deliveries than any other England Test bowler. They’ve taken 835 Test wickets between them – Broad needs only 16 more to go past Ian Botham into second place on the list of England’s Test wicket-takers – and played their part in England reaching No. 1 in the Test rankings, and memorable victories in India, Australia and South Africa. Their reputations are assured.Which makes it all the more remarkable that they keep coming back for more. And all the more remarkable that Broad, now aged 31, retains the hunger and humility to continue to find ways in which he can improve.Despite not appearing in ODIs for England since 2016, Broad still maintains hope for a white-ball recall ahead of the 2019 World Cup•Getty ImagesIn particular, of late, Broad has been trying to improve his form against right-handed batsmen. Having worked hard on bowling round the wicket to left-handers – his Test average against left-handers since June 2015 is 18.40 – he feels he had let his technique against right-handers slip a little and, as a consequence, lost a little of the shape and pace that has rendered him such a successful bowler. His average against right-handers in the same period is 25.69.”I bowled a lot around the wicket to left-handers against Australia in 2015,” Broad recalls now. “Then we went over to South Africa, who had two left-handers opening the batting, and I grooved a lot to left-handers.”I saw some numbers came up that I maybe averaged 40 against left-handers and I had to get that down. Since I’ve gone round the wicket, I think it’s at 15 or 16. But with bowling a lot round the wicket and trying to open my body up to get that shape on it, I hadn’t drilled enough over the wicket for that not to happen a little bit.”So I’ve been doing a bit of work on having the ability to be around the wicket, and then over the wicket. I’m never a massive away-swinger, that’s not what I do, but I want to be able to stand the seam up straight and run it down the slope.”The issue was first spotted by fast bowling guru Steffan Jones while the pair were at Hobart Hurricanes. Jones, the former county seamer who has moved into coaching, noticed Broad was falling away in delivery when bowling over the wicket and recommended a quicker run-up which would result in Broad getting through his delivery stride faster and allowing him less opportunity to fall away. Broad responded by bowling with increased pace in the BBL and also started to regain just a little of the away movement that makes him so dangerous.”The thing I took from Stef was the run up speed,” Broad says. “I’ve worked with Andy Pick – the Nottinghamshire bowling coach – and Ottis Gibson – the England bowling coach – too. A lot of it is to do with this front arm keeping tight [close to the body] because if it drifts out too much then you’ve got to balance the left side. So if I keep that right arm in tight, then it comes over straighter and I can move it away. Look, you’re not going to see me trying to do that like Jimmy. But I’ll try to hit off stump and get a little bit of nibble either way.”It’s great. I’ve just turned 31 and I’m still finding things in my action to improve to make myself a better bowler, which is exciting. You don’t ever want to fall into that trap of not having anything to work on.”If ever Broad thought that, it was a stance dispelled by the decision to drop him from England’s white ball teams. While he retains aspirations of winning a return to England’s ODI side for the 2019 World Cup, he knows he might be reliant on a series of injuries. Equally he knows that, with the likes of Mark Wood and Chris Woakes pressing, he needs to work hard to delay the day when he – like Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison before him – is replaced in the Test side by younger men.Broad may be growing older but still maintains a youthful zest for action•Getty ImagesHaving not represented England for 198 days – his longest spell without international cricket since April 2007, when he was recalled after 223 days without a match – he says this return “feels like a debut.””I’m going to keep pushing and training and trying to get myself better in white-ball cricket up until 2019 because anything can happen leading into a World Cup,” Broad says. “The World Cup dream is still there. If someone goes down on the eve of the tournament you want to be in the best possible shape for someone to call on you. I’ll just keep working and trying. We saw this summer there were a few niggles flying around.”I’ve gone from being a prospect who gets an extra game because I might be good in the future, to a situation where I have to perform every game, which is good. I’m the sort of person who seems to thrive on that added pressure and I tend to raise my game a bit when there’s a bit more on the game.”I think some pressure from younger bowlers will do me the world of good. I’ve been in a period in the last three or four years to need to perform to stay in the team and warrant staying in the team but I’ve been bowling probably the best of my career over the last four years and with some tweaks I’ve made in county cricket hopefully I can really push on.”And the pace? Can he still crank it up above 85mph? It’s been a feature of many of his best spells – the match-winning efforts in Durham and The Oval and Joburg and Trent Bridge – that he had been able to find that extra pace that gets the ball moving later and bouncing higher.”I’m sort of past the stage of trying to look at the speedometer,” he says. “I know that I have an optimum speed that’s about 84-85mph where I get my extra bounce and if I really have to ramp it up I can go higher than that, for a spell of bouncers or something. But I know that about 83-85mph with movement is where I need to be.”I want to keep going for a while. I don’t think I’ve had a gap like this playing for England and it reminds you how special it is and how lucky you are to be a part of it. When you’re not part of the one-day team, like I’m not at the moment, you do miss it so when you get the opportunity to play it feels like a debut if that makes sense. I’m lucky enough to have played over a hundred Tests but this feels like a debut.”