Even India’s spinners were outbowled by their South African counterparts

Hemant Brar21-Jan-20221:36

Pant: India didn’t get enugh wickets in middle overs

Jasprit Bumrah is a world-class bowler – both in Test cricket and in the limited-overs versions. But in the last couple of years, he has lacked the potency with the new ball in ODIs. Since the 2019 World Cup, he has picked up just one powerplay wicket in 43 overs across 11 innings.Bhuvneshwar Kumar hasn’t fared much better: in the same period, he has three powerplay wickets from 41 overs.That has resulted in India being by far the worst bowling side in the first ten overs. Since the last World Cup, their bowlers have picked up only ten powerplay wickets in 23 ODIs. They have also given away 5.74 runs an over – the most by any team – and their bowling average of 132.10 is more than double that of the next worst (Zimbabwe’s 63.45). In comparison, India’s opponents in those games picked up 24 wickets in 22 innings at an average of 53.00 and an economy rate of 5.78.Stand-in captain KL Rahul was asked before the South Africa series if that concern was addressed in team meetings. “We have talked about this and we have some ideas, some plans, and we want to try those in the coming series,” he said. “That will give us an indication about whether we’re doing things right, and if our strategies or tactics are right.”Clearly, whatever India tried didn’t work as their new-ball woes haunted them again during the second ODI in Paarl. Chasing 288, South Africa cruised to 66 for no loss in the first ten overs. On a surface that was supposed to make batting difficult in the second innings, they registered their highest successful chase since 2017.Apart from the sub-par returns with the new ball, what has hurt India in this series is the lack of a third wicket-taking fast bowler in the playing XI.In the absence of Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, they are forced to play both Venkatesh Iyer and Shardul Thakur, leaving no place for someone like Mohammed Siraj. But they are caught between a rock and a hard place. They need someone from the top six to chip in with a few overs if a regular bowler goes for too many or, worse, breaks down. And the importance of Thakur’s batting was highlighted today, as without him, India would have struggled to cross 275.2:41

Manjrekar: Time for India to go back to Kuldeep Yadav

But what was baffling was the Indian spinners being outbowled by their South African counterparts on a pitch that resembled one from back home. The last time India visited South Africa, in 2017-18, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal had wreaked havoc. They topped the bowling charts, picking up 33 wickets at a combined average of 15.09 to help India win the six-match ODI series 5-1.This time, with Kuldeep out of form and favour, and Chahal not at his best, India struggled to take wickets in the middle overs too. R Ashwin, playing his first ODI series since June 2017, wasn’t very effective either.In the first ODI, Chahal and Ashwin had combined figures of 1 for 106 from 20 overs, while Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi and Aiden Markram had 4 for 124 from 26 overs. On Friday, the Chahal-Ashwin combo went for 1 for 115 from their 20 overs, while Maharaj, Shamsi and Markram picked up 4 for 143 from 26.In the first match, Ashwin started by flighting the ball but soon switched to a flatter trajectory, which neither stopped runs nor fetched wickets. Chahal bowled a few good deliveries but also erred in line from time to time. The South African batters, especially Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma, cashed in on it, using sweep as their main weapon.Today, Ashwin was introduced into the attack as soon as the fourth over after Quinton de Kock took Bhuvneshwar apart. He started in the same manner, tossing the ball up and even bowling a maiden to Janneman Malan. In his third over, he produced a stumping chance but Rishabh Pant fluffed it. To rub it in, de Kock, the man reprieved, hit the next ball for a six and went on to score 78 off 66 balls, setting the platform for a series-clinching victory.Chahal bowled a little better, picking up 1 for 47, but it wasn’t good enough.”I think they [the South African spinners] were a little more consistent in their lines and lengths,” Pant said after the match. “Yes, our spin unit could have done a little better but you have to see we are playing one-dayers after a long time, we are just getting used to the momentum of the 50-over cricket. So there are lots of factors we can talk about. Hopefully, we can correct all these mistakes in the coming matches.”

Sunrisers Hyderabad had a chance to dismiss Rovman Powell when he had scored 18 off 14. They let it slip, and he duly made them pay

S Rajesh05-May-20223:05

What has gone wrong for Sunrisers Hyderabad?

Kane Williamson has had a wretched IPL with the bat so far – his strike rate of 96.1 is the lowest among batters who have faced at least 100 balls this season – but tonight his usually reliable catching let him down too, when he dropped a regulation chance from Rovman Powell in the 15th over of Delhi Capitals’ innings.Capitals had scored 135 for 3 after 14 overs, but Powell hadn’t yet fully got into his stride: he had 18 off 14 at that point. After that chance, though, he went into overdrive, slamming 49 off 20 balls. Five of his six sixes, and all three of his fours, came after that let-off.ESPNcricinfo LtdAccording to ESPNcricinfo’s Luck Index, that dropped chance cost Sunrisers Hyderabad 14 runs, which means had the catch been taken, Capitals would have finished on 193, not 207. This calculation is based on a complex algorithm, which assumes that if Powell were dismissed off that delivery, the 20 extra balls he faced would have gone to the batters who didn’t bat in the innings. In those 20 deliveries, according to the algorithm, Capitals would have scored 35 and not 49.In the end, the margin of defeat was more than 14, but it can be argued that Sunrisers might not have been so desperate for the big hits had the target been 14 runs fewer.Capitals dropped a catch too, when Lalit Yadav missed a tough one at long-off from Nicholas Pooran in the 18th over, but in the context of the match that chance didn’t cost them much: Pooran hit a six off the next ball and was then dismissed, caught at long-on.

And when was the last time a spinner took a ten-for in a Test in New Zealand?

Steven Lynch19-Jul-2022Reece Topley took nine wickets in the last two ODIs against India. Was this a record for England, or indeed any country? asked David Jackson from England

The tall left-armer Reece Topley followed 6 for 24 at Lord’s – England’s best figures in ODIs – with 3 for 35 at Old Trafford.Topley was only the third Englishman to collect nine wickets in two consecutive ODIs, following Steve Harmison, who took 4 for 39 against Bangladesh at The Oval and 5 for 33 vs Australia at Bristol in May 2005, and Chris Woakes (4 for 67 at Bristol and 5 for 54 at Headingley against Pakistan in June 2019).The overall record is 13, by Pakistan’s Waqar Younis, who followed 7 for 36 against England at Headingley in June 2001 with 6 for 59 against Australia at Trent Bridge two days later. Five men have managed 11 wickets across two successive matches: Gary Gilmour (Australia) in the 1975 World Cup semi and final; Azhar Mahmood (Pakistan); Rashid Khan (Afghanistan); Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pakistan); and Mustafizur Rahman in his first two matches for Bangladesh in 2015.I saw that Matthew Wade played again in this year’s IPL, nearly 11 years after his last appearances. Was this a record? asked Narail Singh from India

The Australian wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Wade played three matches for Delhi Daredevils in 2011, then did not feature again in the IPL until this year, when he played for Gujarat Titans, the eventual champions. This gap of nearly 11 years is indeed a record for the IPL, beating the previous mark by nearly three years. That was set by Colin Ingram of South Africa, who did not appear between 2011 and 2019.Another Australian, seamer Sean Abbott, had a gap of more than seven years between two appearances for Royal Challengers Bangalore in April 2015 and another for Sunrisers Hyderabad in May 2022, while the New Zealander Jimmy Neesham did not feature between May 2014 and September 2020. The leading Indian on this list is the Bengal wicketkeeper Shreevats Goswami, with just under six years between May 2012 (for Rajasthan Royals) and May 2018 (Sunrisers).Reece Topley’s three distinguished wickets at Old Trafford amounted to around 28,000 ODI runs – was this a record? asked Michael Donovan from England

Reece Topley’s 3 for 35 at Old Trafford was made up of Shikhar Dhawan (6324 ODI runs before the match), Rohit Sharma (9359) and Virat Kohli (12,327) – a grand total of 28,010. ESPNcricinfo’s nimble number-cruncher Shiva Jayaraman tells me this is the 12th-highest aggregate for any trio of wickets in an ODI innings.Top of the list is an unexpected name: when the Scotland seamer Josh Davey winkled out three Sri Lankans in a World Cup match in Hobart in March 2015, his victims were Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, who had a grand total of 36,401 runs at the time. Next comes the Jamaican seamer Daren Powell, whose 4 for 27 for West Indies against India in Cuttack in 2006-07 included Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who had 34,605 ODI runs between them then.Josh Davey’s three wickets – Dilshan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene – in the 2015 World Cup match against Sri Lanka had a total of 36,401 runs between them•Getty ImagesBoth Dan Vettori and Muthiah Muralidaran took ten-fors at the Basin Reserve in 2006-07. Was this the last time a spinner took ten in a Test in New Zealand? asked Callum Wakefield from New Zealand

The match you’re talking about was the second Test in Wellington in December 2006. Daniel Vettori took 10 for 183 in the match for New Zealand, but Muthiah Muralidaran’s 10 for 118 helped Sri Lanka win by 217 runs.These were indeed the last ten-fors by spinners in a Test in New Zealand; there had previously been only eight others, including another by Vettori (12 for 149 against Australia in Auckland in March 2000). By contrast, there have been 18 ten-fors by seamers in Tests in New Zealand.What’s the highest IPL total without an individual half-century? asked Sukhinder Varma from India

This record changed hands during the 2022 season, when Punjab Kings made 208 for 5 to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in Mumbai on March 27; their top scorers were Shikhar Dhawan and Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who both made 43. They exceeded Kolkata Knight Riders’ 206 for 5 (Andre Russell 48 not out) against RCB in Bengaluru in 2019.Delhi Capitals also beat the old mark in 2022, with 207 for 8 (Rishabh Pant 44) against Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai in May. The only other IPL total of 200 or more without an individual half-century is Mumbai Indians’ 202 for 7 (Abhishek Nayar 45 not out) against CSK in Chennai in 2008.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Bowlers tighten up at crucial moment to allow one final Bazball blast for the summer

Vithushan Ehantharajah11-Sep-2022As Zak Crawley timed and Alex Lees thudded their way to 97 for no loss, charging towards a series-winning target of 130 like revellers chasing a night bus, there was sense we were getting the ending we deserved. Here were two players, limited in their own ways but ever-willing, who haven’t quite found their comfort zone but, as they did in the chase against India at Edgbaston earlier this summer, embraced the fact comfort was not their thing and eased those closest to them.It felt emblematic of this absurd three-match Test series, right down to the fact 33 were needed when they went off for bad light to give us another day of it all. It’s been an awkward, low-quality affair, but entertaining in bursts, providing this three-Test series with a winner inside just nine days. The good kind of bad, like sniffing a permanent marker, battered haggis, or “London Bridge” by Fergie.Indeed day four of this third Test as a whole felt like a microcosm of what has been: an absurd tangle of good bowling spells in favourable conditions and some shambolic batting on both sides. England kicked off losing the final three wickets of their first innings in the space of 16 balls, before all 10 in South Africa’s second effort fell in 56.2 overs. And while on the one hand you could commend the hosts for not adding to that tally, it’s worth remembering Lees was dropped off the very first ball of the chase and was almost run out off the eighth. Crawley, immaculate otherwise, was dropped at midwicket on 51, then edged between wicketkeeper and first slip.South Africa have managed just one half-century between them, to England’s two centuries (Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes) and three fifties (both from Ollie Pope before Crawley’s effort) at the time of writing. Marco Jansen, who inexplicably missed the second Test, has the highest batting average for the Proteas at 27.33, which is more than twice as high as Joe Root’s – yes him – a dismal 11.50 from four innings. England as a whole only had four averages above 20 (Foakes 44.33, Pope 42.00, Stokes 37.25 and Jonny Bairstow 22.33) coming into this final innings. Lees and Crawley could join them if they finish the job on Monday.Related

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Robinson reinforces faith with career-best five-for

Given some of the shots we’ve seen this summer – good, bad and plenty ugly – it is clear the messaging from Stokes and the reinforcement from Brendon McCullum has encouraged free-wheeling and, ultimately, to embrace a little immaturity. While the latter has understandably irked traditionalists, perhaps they might find comfort in the fact that rarely has England’s bowling been as mature and responsible as it is right now. And it was because of their work after lunch that Monday’s return will be a short and sweet finale after a rewarding summer of graft.All 10 South Africa dismissals on Sunday came within 111 runs, but the 58 that came first appropriately sets the scene. It took Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee just 8.5 overs to wipe off a first innings deficit of 40, with gorgeous sunshine illuminating some risk-free strokeplay and guides through the slips, aided by some manageable lengths. CricViz recorded that 33% of England’s deliveries were fuller than 6m from the stumps in the first innings, yet only 19% were in that range in the first 11 overs of the second.By lunch, the only victim was Erwee, finally brought uncomfortably forward by Stokes’ third delivery of the innings (and the match). South Africa went into the break with a lead of 30, nine wickets in hand and plenty more of the game on their plates than they had 24 hours ago.And then came the shift. Suddenly, everything was a little tighter. Those loose deliveries that gave the openers and No. 3 Keegan Petersen enough satisfaction to tick along were nowhere to be seen. “After lunch we had real intent,” Stuart Broad said. It showed.Everything seemed a little bit smarter, too, and all without the ball in hand that little more switched on. Broad dug deep to create some drama to such an extent that Elgar didn’t think to review an lbw against him that was sliding down. Even to the batter, it just felt right. Pope took a sharp catch to his left at fourth slip to remove Petersen. Suddenly, the runs stopped – typified by Khaya Zondo taking 23 deliveries to get off the mark – as England sped the game up for their own ends.Wiaan Mulder, survival on his mind for his 69 minutes at the crease, was undone with extra bounce from his 52nd and final delivery, as Ollie Robinson registered his first of the innings and 50 dismissals in just his 11th Test. No. 51 came when a little less bounce did for Zondo, who swayed into a leg-before dismissal.Ollie Robinson roars after a review went his way•AFP/Getty ImagesThen of course, there was the obligatory monster spell from Stokes, with two wickets in 11 overs split over tea. The first took them to the interval – bowling Marco Jansen an over after he had him caught (Pope again) off a no-ball – the second arriving two deliveries after the break when he completed his over with Kagiso Rabada’s tame guide to Harry Brook in the cordon.With that, England had taken back control Broad and James Anderson reclaimed it beyond doubt with the final dismissal to leave South Africa bereft and all out on 169.”That was the best we’ve bowled as a unit all summer,” Broad said, 3 for 45 in his back pocket that not only has him as the leading wicket-taker in the series (14) and the summer (27) but has also moved him three above Glenn McGrath and into fifth on the all-time list with 566 dismissals.Perhaps Broad, at 36, might embody all that is working in the field under Stokes and McCullum. It begins, in some ways, with the parking of any egos and the desire to do right by the team which he embraced when giving up the new ball to Robinson. And it extends with the way he feels rejuvenated by the field settings which are almost exclusively catchers rather than sweepers. As chaotic as the batting can seem, the bowling plans are akin to blinking contests. England have won most of them this summer.”Baz’s mindset is you take the scoreboard completely out of the equation at all times so not worrying about economy rate, your mindset is always how am I getting wickets in this over? Which sounds quite a basic obvious thing, but I’ve played under a lot of really good captains who were very much all about economy rates.”So Straussy’s [Andrew Strauss] number one rule was you had to go at under three an over to build pressure and create pressure and wickets in that way. And that worked and we were really successful doing that. But people like Steven Finn probably didn’t play as much Test cricket as they could have done because of that philosophy, whereas this mindset is every over you start, ‘How are you getting the batter out what’s your way of getting a wicket’, so that’s been quite refreshing.”The rejuvenation in Broad’s voice is clear. Though he is expected to miss the Pakistan series ahead of the birth of his first child, he seems pretty certain he will carry on through to the Ashes next summer. The credit, he believes, should go to the two in charge. It is “fresh”, “invigorating” and “sort of no consequences, trying to play on the front foot the whole time”. Everything we identify Broad with, basically.A music journalist once wrote the difference between Busted and Blink 182 was that one were a group of teenagers pretending to be musicians and the other was a group of musicians pretending to be teenagers. You don’t need to squint too hard at the names on the batting cards of England and South Africa to figure out which of these line-ups should know better and which are still trying to find out.But there can be no doubt ahead of a final dash to dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s for a sixth Test win of the summer that the reason England’s pop-punk brand of cricket has been so successful is the exemplary fundamentals and educated approach of their bowlers. A group of right-armers once criticised for being too samey are now one of the same: relentless, incisive and enjoying their cricket like never before.

In a match that swung wildly one way, then the other, the optimists among you had reason enough to believe this Sri Lanka team is resurgent

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Sep-20222:51

Maharoof: I would call Asitha Fernando a warrior

Are you watching the Sri Lanka men’s side play this year? I guess, unless you are invested in their fortunes, there is no obvious reason to. They are ranked seventh in Tests, eighth in ODIs, and eighth in T20Is. They are very decidedly not a world-beating team.But in terms of fun had, surprises delivered, heart-stopping moments provided, they are living on the edge, folks. If you’re a pessimist, they are a side on the verge of falling into cricketing irrelevance, having allowed their domestic cricket to regress for decades. In this reading, the wins are merely the final, powerful palpitations of a once-great side, raging against the dying light.Related

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If you’re an optimist, they are resurgent. They have a world-class legspinner in Wanindu Hasaranga, a solid fingerspinner in Maheesh Theekshana, and a captain who is finding his batting groove in T20Is, with others in the top order contributing sporadically. They are fighting back, getting back to their punching-above-weight ways.This win against Bangladesh, in a match that careened in one direction, swung wildly to the other, and then back and forth several more times, provided evidence for either argument.The pessimists can point to the spectacular luck Sri Lanka had. Kusal Mendis’ innings is a case study. He could easily have been out for two, when he edged Taskin Ahmed behind, but was dropped by a diving Mushfiqur Rahim. He could have been even more easily out on 29, when Mushfiqur actually did catch him. But the bowler, Mahedi Hasan, had overstepped, and he was called back. On 31, he lightly gloved a ball that was going down the legside, but Bangladesh failed to review the not-out decision. He went on to make 60 off 37 – essentially providing the base to Sri Lanka’s chase.Asitha Fernando (left) on T20I debut hit the winning runs for Sri Lanka•AFP/Getty ImagesThe finish was monumentally lucky too. Asitha Fernando had batted in only eight T20 innings before this match (his T20I debut), and had hit four fours off the 25 balls he’d faced. In this game, he walked in with Sri Lanka needing 13 off seven, and banged two fours off the three legal deliveries that came at him, essentially sealing the match.Even Bhanuka Rajapaksa was surprised. “Asitha Fernando hit runs that we didn’t expect him to hit, and won the game for us.”The optimists have a case too. Hasaranga, the best bowler in the team, got taken apart, but the batters came through, however fitfully. Dasun Shanaka, in the T20I year of his life, hit 45 off 33 to take the game deep. Chamika Karunaratne then pushed it even deeper, until the win was in striking distance for even the tailenders. They will point to the intangibles – to Fernando’s tenacity, to the excellent groundfielding that prevented a truly monstrous score, to the team’s increasing tendency to win tight games.They are in for a tough week ahead, though. Afghanistan have already thrashed them. Pakistan and India are much better teams on paper. Their players have had established domestic T20 leagues over the course of the last few years, while Sri Lanka have been scrambling to make their own tournament an annual fixture. If you were a pessimist, you might argue this is a Sri Lanka team running on cricketing fumes.But if you’re the other kind of person, they had a bad day against Afghanistan, found a way to chase down 184 against a decent Bangladesh attack, and will ride into the next stage on that confidence.

Archer is set to return to action in the league after having recovered from multiple injuries

Firdose Moonda08-Jan-2023Tristan Stubbs (Sunrisers Eastern Cape)
The biggest buy at the auction, with a price tag of R9.2 million (USD 520,000), Stubbs will be keen to show his worth at his home base. He was picked up by the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, based in Port Elizabeth, which is also where he began his professional career. He rose to prominence in the 2021-22 season, when he was the second-leading run-scorer in the CSA T20 Challenge, scoring 293 runs in seven innings, including three fifties, at a strike rate of 183.12. Almost two-thirds of his runs in that tournament came in boundaries. Stubbs was picked up by by Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2022, but only played two games and is expected to be much more of a feature in the SA20. He hits the ball cleanly, is quick between the wickets and is an asset on the field. We may even catch him bowling some offspin. Dewald Brevis (MI Cape Town)
The next big thing in South African cricket has already played in the IPL and the CPL and was a pre-auction pick for MI Cape Town for SA20. Brevis is a fearless hitter with a 360-degree game and has some big numbers to his name from a small sample of matches. After finishing as the leading run-scorer in the Under-19 World Cup early last year, he was contracted to Titans and has made an almost immediate impression. He smashed a 57-ball 162 for the Titans in the CSA T20 Challenge in October and was the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament, boasting a strike rate of 176.75.Related

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Jofra Archer (MI Cape Town)
Cape Town secured another big coup when they signed Jofra Archer as their wildcard. He is set to return to competitive cricket for the first time since March last year. Archer has been managing an elbow-injury and a lower-back stress fracture and has taken small steps to his comeback, starting with some matches with the England Lions. He has also been named in the England squad to play three ODIs against South Africa, which take place at the end of January, and the SA20 provides him with an ideal opportunity to find form ahead of the international fixtures and the IPL, where he has been retained by Mumbai Indians. At the SA20, Archer will join a pace attack that includes Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Odean Smith and Olly Stone, which makes them among the most formidable in the tournament.Ireland’s Josh Little has been in demand in franchise T20 cricket•Abu Dhabi T10Josh Little (Pretoria Capitals)
“Technically the second,” as the man himself put it, Irish player to play in a league with IPL association (after Eoin Morgan), Josh Little’s rise in 2022 has earned him the status of a T20 superstar. He was the second-leading bowler in T20Is last year with 39 T20 wickets at 18.92 and was the joint-second-leading bowler at The Hundred with 13 wickets at an average of 8.00. He has also been contracted to the Gujarat Titans at the IPL and will now play in the SA20 for Pretoria Capitals, with a brief stop in Zimbabwe for Ireland’s ODI series. Little is known for his ability to bowl at pace, exploit swing through the air and move the ball off the seam, which makes South Africa an ideal venue for him to display his talents. His fast-bowling team-mates include Anrich Nortje and Wayne Parnell which means Capitals would give Cape Town some tough competition in the pace stakes.Quinton de Kock (Durban’s Super Giants)
2022 was the leanest year of Quinton de Kock’s T20I career – in terms of average (25.30) – but he had a standout IPL, where he was the third-highest run-scorer overall. After his retirement from Test cricket in 2021, there are whispers over de Kock’s international future but South Africa could still get the best of him in the SA20. He has been put in charge of the Durban Super Giants despite a patchy run with international captaincy a few years ago. The good news for the Kingsmead-based side is that while de Kock seemed all at sea as a Test captain, his T20I form actually improved when he was leading South Africa. Between September 2019 and December 2020, he captained in 11 matches and scored 416 runs at 41.60, including three fifties, during the period.Donovan Ferreira (Joburg Super Kings)
Little-known Donovan Ferreira became one of the biggest buys of the auction when the Joburg Super Kings splashed out R5.5 (USD 320,000) million for him and you may be wondering what they saw. Ferreira has played 26 T20 matches in South Africa and was the sixth-highest run-scorer at the provincial T20 cup in the 2021-22 season with 152 runs in five matches at a strike rate of 153.33. He scored an 88-ball 98 for the Titans in a one-day cup match against North-West this summer and seems to have caught the eye of those with deep pockets. Plenty will be expected of him in this competition.Andile Phehlukwayo (Paarl Royals)
As one of the most notable names to be overlooked at the auction, Andile Phehlukwayo was given a lifeline by the Boland-based team, who signed him as their wild card, and have essentially offered him the chance to resurrect his T20 career. Phehluklwayo has fallen down the pecking order at international level, with Dwaine Pretorius and most recently Marco Jansen being preferred over him. Phehlukwayo had also missed out on selection of the last T20 World Cups. Known for his ability to bowl change-ups and his finishing skills with the bat, the SA20 is Phehlukwayo’s chance to remind the selectors of his all-round skills.

The New Zealand offspinner started out as a keeper-batter before turning to slow bowling. Now he’s front and centre in his team’s attack on the subcontinent

Deivarayan Muthu16-Jan-2023Michael Bracewell was nicknamed “Beast” by Sam Wells, his former team-mate at Otago, because of his intensity during gym workouts, and the name has stuck. His role, however, has kept changing over the years.Bracewell used to keep wicket and bat at the top for Otago back in the day, but after he stepped out of his comfort zone and moved to Wellington, he got an opportunity to roll his arm over more often. He isn’t a big turner of the ball and doesn’t have a bagful of variations, but his accurate offspin has seen him emerge as the third prong in New Zealand’s spin attack, behind Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi.On the recent ODI leg of the Pakistan tour, which New Zealand won 2-1, Bracewell gave up just 117 runs in 30 overs for four wickets, his economy rate of 3.90 the best among all bowlers in the series. Bracewell has also contributed with the ball on flat pitches at home, but it is his remarkable control in Pakistan that has encouraged New Zealand to play three spinners, plus part-timer Glenn Phillips, in the lead-up to the ODI World Cup in India later this year.Related

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“Yeah, it has been an interesting process,” Bracewell says ahead of the ODI series opener against India. “I got to bowl a lot more in Wellington when Jeetan Patel retired, and I put in a lot of work with him while he was there, and suddenly I was getting more opportunities to bowl because though we had some really good spinners, they were all turning the ball away from the right-hander and turning it into the left-hander.”So getting the opportunity to bowl in Wellington was cool, and obviously now for New Zealand my role is mainly as a bowler and batting down at No.7. So it has been an interesting transition, but I’m really enjoying it and learning a lot along the way. It’s one of those things that being around guys like Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel and Ish Sodhi… I’m learning lots about spin bowling and trying to put it into practice as quickly as I can.”While Sodhi often gets the ball to rip and Santner relentlessly attacks the stumps with subtle variations, Bracewell brings something different to New Zealand’s spin attack: drift. He is used to working with the breeze for Wellington at the Basin Reserve and also had international success by using the breeze to his advantage. In the series decider in Karachi last Friday, Bracewell fooled Babar Azam with drift and dip, having him stumped for 4 off 13 balls.”The prevailing wind there is really nice to bowl into,” Bracewell says of bowling at Wellington’s home ground. “It’s probably a bit more challenging for me when there’s no breeze. Then I have to work harder to get the ball to drift. But it [drift] is something I’ve had to deal with pretty quickly in Wellington and it’s something I try and use to my advantage.”In Pakistan, Bracewell also fronted up to operate in the powerplay and handcuffed the batters by bowling into the pitch. Bowling in the powerplay is easier than doing the job in the middle overs, he thinks.Bracewell bowls in the first ODI in Pakistan. His economy rate of 3.90 was the best across both teams in the series•Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images”I like to think of batters trying to attack spinners in powerplay,” he says. “It makes things nice and simple. You sort of know that the batter is going to come and try to hit you, so you can bowl defensively there. Through the middle, it’s a little bit tougher, where you try to weigh up when they’re going to take a risk and try and read it as much as you can. In the powerplay certainly, international batters try and put pressure on spinners, so you sort of know how a batsman is going to try and attack you and try and you can defend from there.”Whereas through the middle you always have to weigh up that balance of attacking and defending. So I think it keeps things simple when you’re bowling in the powerplay and you have to try to bowl your best ball as much as you can and not give a batter too much width.”New Zealand have always had a large pool of fast bowlers. Despite the absence of Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Matt Henry and Adam Milne, they tested Pakistan in Pakistan. They are now building similar depth on the spin front too. Santner, Sodhi and Bracewell aside, left-arm wristspinner Michael Rippon and left-arm fingerspinner Rachin Ravindra have been part of the team’s white-ball mix in the recent past. Bracewell attributes the overseas success of New Zealand’s spinners to their accuracy on the easy-paced bash-through-the-line tracks at home.”In New Zealand, it’s pretty hard to bowl spin. I think you have to be really accurate on grounds that don’t offer a lot of assistance to a spin bowler, and also the size of the boundaries [is smaller],” Bracewell says. “You have to be super-accurate and really adaptable, and I think that puts you in good stead when you go around the world, because you can’t rely on the pitch to give you the assistance. You really have to try and beat batters in the air, and when you get to conditions that do turn a little bit, it’s probably a different style of bowling. You have to probably bowl a little bit quicker and into the surface to get something out of it.”Bracewell also showcased his ball-striking ability when he powered New Zealand’s successful chase of 301 from 120 for 5, with an unbeaten 127 off 82 balls against Ireland in Malahide last year. From standing tall in the crease, he has now lowered his stance to generate more power and access more areas in the field. He backs himself to be flexible and grow into his batting role with more opportunities.”Batting in the lower order, you sort of come out and face a variety of bowling – sometimes spin and sometimes pace,” he says. “You have to learn to be adaptable and come out of any situation and try and be effective. For me, I try to keep things as simple as possible and try and keep my head still and watch the ball. Then try and react. Hopefully, the situation will take care of itself. It’s certainly something that’s a challenge. I’m probably used to batting at the top of the order [for Wellington] and starting against pace, but [batting down the order] is something you have to learn pretty quickly and try and understand what’s required of your role at the time.Bracewell with Glenn Phillips during their partnership of 66 in the first ODI, in Karachi. Bracewell top-scored for New Zealand with 43 from No. 7 in that game•Associated Press”I think I’m slowly learning how to bat down the order a little more and I feel it’s something I can add a lot of value to the New Zealand side [with] once I get my head around it a little bit more and understand the role a bit better. But I’m really enjoying the role I’ve been given at the moment and I enjoy being out there in those pressure situations at the end of the game, trying to get us to a decent total or get us over the line while chasing.”Michael isn’t the only Bracewell who is pushing for a World Cup spot. His cousin Doug, the Central Districts quick, is also on tour in India, having replaced the injured Henry. With Tim Southee being rested for the series in India and Trent Boult in action in the ILT20 in the Emirates, Doug might get a look-in for New Zealand at some point. Bracewell is looking forward to the prospect of playing together with his cousin.”We didn’t spend a whole lot of time growing up together because I grew up in the bottom of the South Island and he grew up in the North Island, so we used to see each other a couple of times a year and we played both rugby and cricket,” he says. “But it’s more so in recent years that we’ve been playing domestic cricket together, and now we’ve spent more time together at international cricket. So it was certainly an honour to receive my first [ODI] cap from Doug and it’s always awesome to take the field with him.”This India tour is a dry run for the ODI World Cup in the country later this year. “With the World Cup being in the subcontinent, these tours [Pakistan and India] are hugely beneficial for us and for guys who haven’t played a lot in the subcontinent,” Bracewell says. “For the guys who have played more, it’s a chance to refine their games and going back to what really works in the subcontinent. It has been hugely beneficial to play against a really strong Pakistan side and it’s going to be no different against India.”They [India] are obviously a really strong side and are coming off a strong performance against Sri Lanka. But it’s just about keeping learning and try to improve as a side. We’re really looking forward to the challenge of playing against India in India and learning as a group, with that World Cup at the back of our mind. It’s something we want to keep striving to get better for.”Bracewell was relegated to the bench during last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, but he could have a bigger role to play, with ball and bat, in the World Cup in India – and also before that.

His towering frame and ability to generate steep bounce could give NZ’s attack a point of difference in Pakistan and India

Deivarayan Muthu08-Jan-2023Henry Shipley often imagined himself as Shane Bond during Christmas Day clashes with his cousins when he was a kid. Having earned his maiden New Zealand call-up, Shipley, now 26, is on the verge of becoming a Black Cap himself.While Shipley can generate sharp pace, he is more of a bowler in the mould of Kyle Jamieson than Bond. His towering frame (1.96 metres) and ability to produce steep bounce often draws comparisons with Jamieson. It’s something that even selector Gavin Larsen has acknowledged.”Bounce is the key for him, given his height, but equally the reason he gets given the new ball at times for Canterbury is he has the ability to move the ball in the air,” Larsen had said after selecting Shipley in the New Zealand squads for the tours of Pakistan and India. “Anyone that can bowl à la Kyle Jamieson with that sort of a height, swinging in and getting bounce, the potential is there that he will be a handful.”In the absence of Jamieson, who is still recovering from a back injury, Shipley is expected to provide New Zealand’s attack with a potent point of difference on what could be flat tracks in Pakistan and India. Bowling to the likes of Babar Azam and Virat Kohli could unnerve a rookie, but Shipley plans to shut out the outside noise and just do his job.Related

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“I think it will just be cool to say [post-tour that] I’ve been over there, and not be too worried about what happens I guess,” Shipley said. “We want to come away with some wins and hopefully win both series, but it’s [about] just getting over there, getting your feet on the ground and doing your job that’s at hand.”Shipley’s national call-up is reward for his remarkable consistency with the ball on the easy-paced hit-through-the-line one-day pitches and small grounds in New Zealand in domestic cricket. In November, he took career-best List A figures of 6 for 40, including a hat-trick in the Ford Trophy opener for Canterbury against Wellington. It was the first hat-trick for Canterbury and only fourth overall in 52 years of the tournament.Shipley continued his rich form in the Ford Trophy and is currently the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with 12 strikes in five games at an economy rate of 4.20. Earlier in last season’s 20-over Super Smash, he had emerged as the top wicket-taker, with 18 scalps in 11 games at an economy rate of 7.25 in Canterbury’s run to the final, where they lost to Northern Districts.Shipley’s Canterbury coach Peter Fulton has had a hand in his progress. “Fulty is a pretty straight up character,” Shipley said. “He tells you what you need to do to get better and he can be pretty black and white. When you don’t have that clarity, it can be quite hard to understand what it is that’s going to get you to the next level. He simplified it from the very beginning and kind of took my thoughts away from it and let me do my work at the domestic level.”Working with international players like Tom Latham and Daryl Mitchell at Canterbury has also helped Shipley. He has now reunited with them in Pakistan.”I don’t know [on what has clicked for him recently]. I think there can be some individual success but on the back of a team performance as well,” Shipley said. “I’ve been quite lucky with Canterbury, and we’ve had a lot of success in all three formats and the guys around you pave the way for the individual side of things.”Shipley hails from a strong cricketing background. His uncle Mark Priest was a stalwart for Canterbury and even played 21 international games for New Zealand while his father James is a “cricket tragic”.”My old man is a bit of a cricket tragic, and my uncle played a bit of cricket for New Zealand and Canterbury,” Shipley said. “So that [cricket] was always around me growing up and I’ve always been involved with Canterbury Country, Greendale and Darefield [clubs]. I guess it was something not I didn’t have a choice, but it was put in front of me from an early age and I kind of just took it from there.”However, the path to the top hasn’t been smooth. Shipley has been on New Zealand’s radar for a while, but multiple injuries have derailed his career. The injuries bothered him so much that at one point he stopped enjoying his cricket. Shipley has now learnt to embrace setbacks and just wants to cherish every moment on the field.Henry Shipley has been at the forefront of Canterbury’s recent success•Getty Images”I guess I’m never really looking to play safe,” Shipley said. “I think injuries are just a part of it and I guess they’re frustrating whenever they pop up and I’m sure they’re going to pop up in the future. It’s one of those things where you try and get on the park and stay there and enjoy it as long as you can.”For a while there, I was probably so conscious of that side of the game that I never really just enjoyed playing and perhaps something in the last 24 months has changed and the attitude has been to just enjoy being out there each game.”Shipley can also give it a good whack with the bat, as his T20 strike rate of 137 indicates. Larsen backs Shipley to become a genuine allrounder.”He’s a player who has been on our radar for a few years now – probably five-six years,” Larsen said. “He has performed really well over the past couple of years. I consider him to be a genuine allrounder. He’s tall and he’s a power-hitter. So, he offers a really good all-round skillset. Genuine allrounders are like gold dust in cricket and we would like to think he will develop his skills on this tour and push hard for us.”Trent Boult, Jimmy Neesham and Martin Guptill have all turned down their New Zealand contracts to become T20 freelancers, but the domestic system is still robust enough to feed promising talents like Shipley to the national side. A strong early impression in Pakistan and India could potentially propel Shipley into New Zealand’s World Cup plans.

A look at some of the head-to-head contests that could decide who wins the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

S Rajesh06-Feb-2023Lyon vs Pujara and KohliThere has been much talk about how Australia’s batters will handle India’s multi-pronged spin threat on surfaces that are likely to provide plenty of assistance for them. But India will need to be equally wary of Nathan Lyon.Lyon’s record in India is impressive without being outstanding – 34 wickets in seven Tests at 30.58 – but he has improved over time: in 2012-13, he averaged 37.33 from three Tests, but in 2016-17 it dropped to 25.26. Moreover, the economy rate also improved from 4.4 in 2012-13 to 2.88 when he toured next, suggesting that he can also offer control from one end while the fast bowlers attack from the other.