All posts by n8rngtd.top

Holding, Waqar, Nehra, Donald and Mahmood debate pros and cons

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Apr-2020
Not allowing sweat or saliva, murdering the bowlers: Ashish Nehra
What is ball-tampering? When you scratch the ball on one side with your nail, bottle cap, with your spikes or any other means. But that does not make the ball reverse. You have to use saliva, sweat, murray mints etc. to not just shine the ball, but also make the other side heavy. That is how you traditionally get reverse swing.The other significant thing to keep in mind is fast bowlers need to practise using the artificial substances that will be permitted during a match under the umpire’s supervision. You can’t just expect fast bowlers to arrive at a Test match and suddenly start swinging the ball even conventionally.Bowlers need to have the experience of using these artificial substances, like wax or shoe polish, you are talking about to shine ball and understand its behaviour. Also different balls – Kookaburra, SG Test, Dukes – will behave differently on different surfaces. So there are plenty of unknowns as far as I am concerned.How many times am I allowed to approach the umpire to use the artificial substance to shine the ball? When we put saliva, at times I would rub that after every second or third delivery. There are different ways to shine the ball. Sometimes you don’t shine the other side completely, especially if your ball has landed on the seam. Sometimes the ball goes to boundary or into the stands and comes back damaged, then you shine the ball in a different way.You shine a Kookaburra in a different way, a Dukes in a different way and you shine SG Test in a different way. You shine a new ball differently. When the ball is old and it is reversing. sometimes you put more sweat. When the ball is not reversing you are only using spit. When there is a new ball you only put very, very little spit wherever there is a scratch. What I’m trying to say is there are several different ways of shining the ball.Let’s say a Test match is on and the ball, SG Test, is semi-new, about 25 overs old. But it is not reversing and the ball has become a bit soft. Umpire is refusing to replace the ball. Now if you put too much spit on SG Test the ball gets more and more softer. Then you don’t get the zip as a fast bowler or even as a spinner.Also you have to make sure that your team-mates are not using too much sweat or spit in such a scenario. I was told by [Javagal] Srinath when I was young when to shine and not to and similarly I passed the tips to other youngsters – that it is better to keep the run-rate tight and once the ball starts to reverse when it is a bit more old then we can apply sweat or spit to facilitate further swing.So legalising use of some artificial substances to shine the ball under supervision is not suddenly going to help swing the ball. Because you are used to working on the ball naturally using spit and sweat at different points on different balls in different conditions on different surfaces.I feel a better choice could be to allow a team to pick one player who will be specifically in charge of using saliva on the ball when there is a need to shine. That is a much better alternative because that way we can continue to naturally work on the ball.By permitting artificial substances to aid swing, the ICC is going back on its own rules. But as far as I am concerned allowing wax, vaseline etc on the ball is not exactly equivalent to ball-tampering. If it actually says go ahead and rough the ball from the other side, then probably the bowlers will welcome the move. Because with a bit of practice, the bowlers will dominate the batsmen, who are bound to say it is unfair. But if you are saying the artificial substance is allowed to be used only on the shiny side and the other side cannot be touched, then you might see more instances of teams piling huge totals.Personally I feel not allowing the use of sweat or saliva is once again murdering the bowlers.
Bipin PatelI don’t understand the logic: Michael Holding
I have read that ICC is contemplating preventing people from using saliva on the ball due to Covid-19 and allowing them to use foreign substances on the ball to keep the shine on but in front of the umpire. I don’t understand the logic behind that.Before they got to that point they said, if they restart cricket, it has to be played in a bio-secure environment. They were saying cricketers, for instance, would have to isolate themselves for two weeks to make sure that everything was fine for when they got to the venue before the match started. And everyone involved (with the match) will have to do the same thing.Now if you are saying everyone is in the bio-secure environment, you are staying in the same hotel, you are not moving for the length of time you are playing the matches, if that is the case, why are you worried about someone’s saliva? That person, according to what you are doing, should be free of Covid-19. If the ICC thinks that the two-week period to prove that you are free of Covid-19 is not foolproof, then that means you are putting everyone in that environment in jeopardy? Why would you want to play cricket under those circumstances? It’s either safe or it’s not. No guessing, please.

Not possible to prevent a bowler using his sweat or saliva – Waqar Younis
As a fast bowler, I reject this because this [using saliva and sweat] is a natural process. A ball exchanges hands all day. You run in, huffing and puffing, so you sweat and that gets on the ball. Also, using saliva is natural rather than on intent. It’s a habit and you just can’t control this aspect.I don’t know how this discussion came up, but I feel people who want the game to be played are frustrated with the lockdown. They are overthinking it. I doubt this new idea of using (artificial) substance instead of saliva is a solution. You can make a bowler use a predefined substance on the ball, but at the same time, practically it’s not possible to prevent a bowler using his sweat or saliva.
AFPInterested to hear what big-name batsmen have to say – Allan Donald
I absolutely agree with legalising ball-tampering. I said so in an article sometime in the 2000s. It happens anyway. We see guys throwing the ball on the ground and umpires say to throw it up and it’s pretty obvious what they are doing.It could work if it is well-monitored. There’s no reason why, if you are really struggling at the SCG and you are looking for reverse swing, you shouldn’t be able to try and get some by working the ball. It evens the game out.I don’t mean you should be able to bring bottle tops onto the field or bite the ball, but I genuinely think there is scope for working on the ball, if it is well controlled. For example, maybe you could throw the ball into the ground for a period of time and that that time elapses. I had never thought of shoe polish. I suppose you’d take a whole box out there and get buffing.When I first started, I had a chat with the great Imran Khan and he told me they used to wet one side of the ball a lot, with moisture, with sweat and get it heavy and keep the other side shiny. It was hard work and it took a long time, so if there’s another way, that might also work. We know in baseball they use something, I think it’s still a mystery, to get the ball to swing in and dip.I’m quite surprised to hear this is being considered. It’s quite enlightening. I’d be interested to hear what the big-name batsmen have to say about this because I am sure there will be a few comments. But I say if there’s anything that can work, we might as well give it a crack.
How will they monitor what substance to be used – Azhar Mahmood
I don’t mind such a move although I am more interested in how they will monitor what the substance to be used is. I think the ball manufacturers could have a big role to play in what is used, as they will know best what kind of substance is best suited to the leather that is being used on the ball. It could be that bowlers are allowed to use a small bottle, like a hand sanitiser bottle, of the substance to use as shine on the ball.”

Four other instances of players redeeming themselves after a horrendous beginning

Debayan Sen28-Sep-2020On Sunday evening in Sharjah, after scoring just eight runs from 19 balls, Rahul Tewatia was completely out of sorts and fast proving to be the reason the Rajasthan Royals would fail in their bold march towards achieving the highest chase in the IPL. Then just in a matter of eight balls, including six sixes, Tewatia did the impossible, becoming a hero from a villain instantaneously.Following are four such instances of players redeeming themselves after a horrendous beginning.Malinga stops CSK’s pounding heartThe 2019 IPL final in Hyderabad pitted the league’s two most successful franchises against each other. The Mumbai Indians had posted a modest 149 on the board, and after a steady start, captain Rohit Sharma’s best-laid plans were faltering in the face of controlled aggression from the blade of Shane Watson. Watson took a special liking to Lasith Malinga, scoring at a strike rate of 200 against the Sri Lankan spearhead, who travelled for 42 off his three overs with the last over looming, in which the Chennai Super Kings needed nine to win.Malinga bowled the last over, with Watson taking strike on 76 from 56 – the only other options could have been either of the Pandya brothers or Kieron Pollard, who had not bowled in the match till that point. This is where Malinga showed his value, bowling full, fast, and with subtle variations of line. Watson could take just four off the first three balls and was run-out looking to come back for the second off the next ball. With four runs required, Malinga conceded two to Shardul Thakur and then executed the near-perfect bluff, a floating yorker on the middle stump that the batsman failed to connect.Travis Head bangs into 2016In terms of similarity with Tewatia’s heroics, Travis Head’s virtually single-handed blitz to help the Adelaide Strikers win a home BBL game on the last day of 2015 against the Sydney Sixers must rank right up there. The Strikers were chasing 177 and Head wasn’t exactly smoking it around the Adelaide Oval, batting on 45 from 38 from No. 4, when Adil Rashid joined him at the fall of the fifth wicket in the 17th over. The equation at the end of that over read 51 needed from 18 balls, exactly the same facing Tewatia in Sharjah.Head’s scoring sequence from there read thus: 4, 6, 4, 6, 6, 1, 0, 2, 2, 6, 0, 1, 6, 6, 6. Sean Abbott conceded 45 from nine balls as Head scored 56 all off his bat to win the game for the Strikers with three balls and five wickets to spare. In the process, he brought up the small matter of the first BBL century for his team.Shane Watson’s 117 is the highest individual score in an IPL final•BCCIIshant denies England Champions TrophyThe 2013 ICC Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston became a 20-over shootout thanks to the weather, but the odds were pretty much in the home side’s favour with three overs to go, and 28 needed to gun down India’s modest 129, especially with Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara both well set. Ishant Sharma had gone for 27 off his three overs, and with Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and spinners all yet to have bowled out, it seemed a gamble to hand Ishant the ball for the 18th over, especially after Morgan smacked a long hop second ball for six. Ishant then sprayed one wide from over the wicket and repeated the same after changing his angle, and all seemed lost.A slower ball saw Morgan miscue one towards midwicket, and off the very next ball, Bopara picked square leg against another short delivery. R Ashwin had two catches in two balls, and the match had transformed in a jiffy. The next two balls fetched just a single for Tim Bresnan, and Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin combined squeezed the life out of the English chase in the next two overs, leaving India winners by five runs.Watson joins dots for powerful finishAnother IPL final featuring the Super Kings, and another time Watson was at the forefront. The 2018 final in Mumbai featured the Sunrisers Hyderabad, who had set a competitive target of 179. Watson came out to open with Faf du Plessis and struggled for rhythm early on against the tight lines and swing obtained by Sandeep Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. At one stage in the fourth over, the Super Kings were at 11, and Watson had just faced his tenth ball without scoring. He drilled one boundary off the next ball, but du Plessis fell in trying to force the pace off the last ball of the over.With 5 off 13 at one stage, Watson was really struggling, until a hoick off Sandeep through the leg side fetched him his first six, and from there, he was a man transformed. His unbeaten 117 came off just 57 balls, included 11 fours and eight sixes and gave CSK the title with a thumping eight-wicket victory against one of the best bowling attacks in the league.

Also, Pant and Pujara break a 72-year-old record

Gaurav Sundararaman11-Jan-20211979 – The previous time India batted for longer in the fourth innings than the 132 overs they batted in this Test. On that occasion, India batted 150 overs against England at The Oval to save the Test. The Oval and SCG Tests included, India have batted longer than 100 overs in the fourth innings of a Test on only five occasions since 1979.ESPNcricinfo Ltd6 – Number of instances of any team batting more than 130 overs (or the equivalent of 130 six-ball overs) to save a Test in Australia. It has happened only twice since 1971. The previous instance was when South Africa batted 148 overs in 2012.256 – Balls played by Hanuma Vihari and R Ashwin in their sixth-wicket partnership. There have only been three instances of more balls played for the sixth wicket in the fourth innings, in a win or a draw. The highest is 353, by Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer against Pakistan in Hobart in 1999.Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant broke a 72-year-old record•Getty Images2 – Number of longer sixth-wicket stands for India in the fourth innings. The 256 balls played by Vihari and Ashwin helped India to draw, but the top two instances came in losses: KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant added 204 in 267 balls in 2018 against England, while Sachin Tendulkar and Nayan Mongia batted 266 balls in 1999 against Pakistan.148 – Runs added by Cheteshwar Pujara and Pant for the fourth wicket. This is the highest fourth-innings fourth-wicket stand for India, eclipsing a 72-year-old record held by Vijay Hazare and Rusi Modi, who added 139 against West Indies in Mumbai.Related

• 'He was crawling on the floor. He couldn't get up or bend down' – Ashwin's wife on his battle with pain in third Test

• Ajinkya Rahane: Draw at SCG 'as good as winning a Test match'

• R Ashwin: 'I was ready for the fight' despite the massive odds

• 'Bitterly disappointed' Tim Paine admits he let his bowlers down

• R Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari's epic stand seals remarkable SCG draw

97 – Pant’s knock was the second-highest score by a visiting wicketkeeper in the fourth innings in Australia. Only England’s Alan Knott scored more than this, in 1975 in Adelaide. Pant has scored 512 runs at an average of 56.88 in 10 innings in Australia, and has scored 25 or more in each of his ten innings there.3 – Wickets lost on the final day by India. Only once since 2001 has three or fewer wickets fallen on the final day in Australia. This was when South Africa played 126 overs to save a Test in Perth in 2005.128 – Balls faced by R Ashwin in the fourth innings – it ranks fifth on the list of most balls faced by an India No. 7 in the fourth innings.134 – Innings played by Pujara to reach the 6000-run mark in Tests, making him the 11th from India to get to that milestone. Only five of them have taken fewer innings to get there: Sunil Gavaskar (117), Virat Kohli (119), Sachin Tendulkar (120), Virender Sehwag (123) and Rahul Dravid (125).

A two-match series in Pallekele will present two uncertain teams a stiff examination of their Test-match mettle

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Mohammad Isam19-Apr-2021

Sri Lanka

Spin bowling
To win in Sri Lanka, spinners generally need to take a lot of wickets. One of Sri Lanka’s problems has been that since the retirement of Rangana Herath, their spin attack has fallen away somewhat. Where their spinners collectively averaged 27.80 at home in Herath’s last three years, they average 32.62 since his exit.In this series, they will be without Lasith Embuldeniya, their most promising slow-bowling prospect, after he picked up a serious soft-tissue injury in the Caribbean. They are also without Dilruwan Perera, whose effectiveness had dipped substantially (he averages 32.17 at home since Herath’s retirement in November 2018). They’ll likely rely on wristspin via Wanindu Hasaranga or Lakshan Sandakan (or both), with Dhananjaya de Silva’s offspin in support. But neither Hasaranga nor Sandakan have seemed up to leading a Test attack so far, partly because their control has been inconsistent between spells.Although this series is being played in Pallekele where seamers may play more of a role than they do in Galle, Sri Lanka will likely need big wickets from the spinners too.Batting collapses
Although since December Sri Lanka’s batting has been sporadically impressive, such as in the first innings at Centurion or the second innings at North Sound, these successes have been interspersed with dramatic, harrowing collapses. In their last 12 Test innings, Sri Lanka have failed to make 200 on five occasions. Two of the worst nosedives came in their last series at home, against England, against modest bowling, when they were out for 135 and 126 – innings in which they surrendered the series. If they go into self-destruct mode again, they could cede another match.Fitness
Coach Mickey Arthur has been adamant that players raise their standards, and have ruled certain players out of contention purely on fitness grounds. And still, Sri Lanka’s long history with muscle and soft-tissue injuries continues to plague them. In addition to being without Embuldeniya in this series, they are also missing seamer Kasun Rajitha, while rookie batter Pathum Nissanka has been struggling with a niggle as well (but is expected to be fit for the series). There are many theories on why injuries seem to plague Sri Lanka more than most other teams. Some find fault with the conditioning, others point to a lack of recent cricket, or to developmental issues going back to the players’ formative years. Whatever the case, rare is the series from which Sri Lanka emerge with all their key players intact.Can Mehidy Hasan Miraz step up with the bat and perform the allrounder’s role in Shakib Al Hasan’s absence?•AFP/Getty Images

Bangladesh

Overseas troubles
Bangladesh’s Test record is such that it is considered inevitable they will not threaten on foreign soil. They have won only one away Test in the last five years, and since that one win, which came in Sri Lanka in 2017, they have lost each of their nine Tests on the road, all by heavy margins.A big part of their problem is the inability to take 20 wickets abroad – a feat they have only managed five times in their history. Their spinners have been effective on favourable pitches at home, but these have left the fast bowlers with little to do. This lack of bowling at home translates into a lack of rhythm and effectiveness abroad. It has been eight years since a Bangladesh fast bowler won them an overseas Test.The Shakib-sized hole
What would make it more difficult for Bangladesh in Sri Lanka this time is Shakib Al Hasan’s absence. His stature as a Test allrounder makes him particularly difficult to replace. Mehidy Hasan Miraz performed admirably against West Indies recently but he has a lot to do to earn the allrounder’s tag. This time the selectors have picked the 34-year old Shuvagata Hom as a batting allrounder when five years ago, during his last Test appearance, he was counted as a bowling allrounder. This is the sort of confusion that can arise when Shakib isn’t around; no Shakib is always an advantage to the opposition.Catching
Bangladesh’s catching was one of the most worrying aspects of their disastrous New Zealand tour last month. They dropped ten catches in the ODIs and T20Is, which cost them results and momentum, and netted a bit of embarrassment as well. When the team returned from the tour, newcomer Nasum Ahmedoffered an explanation for the dropped catches that was the stuff of internet memes: “Their sky is very clear and their weather is nothing like ours.”The real story, however, was different. The 2-0 home defeat to West Indies in February shook the team, leading to a team-wide lack of confidence. As is often the case in cricket, this lack of confidence made for a poor fielding side.

Afghanistan star is currently the joint-highest wicket-taker at the Hundred

Matt Roller16-Aug-2021Rashid Khan comes on to bowl in the 275th game of his six-year T20 career, playing for his 13th different team under his 23rd different captain at his 64th different ground. Most of the Hundred’s star overseas names pulled out long before the start of this season but Trent Rockets made Khan their No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft and he is not the sort to let people down.Khan runs in with Manchester Originals flying at 70 for 1 off 40 balls in a must-win game for Rockets, with Phil Salt, his Sussex and Adelaide Strikers team-mate and one of his best friends in cricket, in his sights. Khan’s first ball is a low full toss towards leg stump, and Salt gets down to sweep, top-edging a catch straight to Samit Patel at short fine leg.Related

• Asif Ali thanks his believers as he comes good in green again

• Rashid Khan, but so can Asif Ali, as Afghanistan's best efforts fall short

• Plan B for Afghanistan: Travel to Sri Lanka via Pakistan and Dubai

• Rashid Khan crucial in sending Trent Rockets into knockout phase, Dawid Malan seals the deal

• The Hundred playoff scenarios: Five sides still in contention for women's eliminator; three teams eye men's final

There is no exuberant celebration. Instead, Khan smiles wryly, winking at Lewis Gregory and then bumping fists. Two balls later, Colin Ackermann attempts a sweep and is struck on the shoulder by a wicked googly, which gets him lbw. Khan roars out an appeal, then high-fives Tom Moores with his tongue sticking out to the side. The usual grin is missing.Khan takes a superb running catch in the next set of five, then yorks Carlos Brathwaite with a quicker one to take his third wicket in his first six balls. Originals have lost five wickets for four runs, and Khan is involved in all of them. His trademark aeroplane celebration comes out before he is mobbed by his team-mates. He has turned the game on its head in the space of ten minutes.The wickets were Khan’s 381st, 382nd and 383rd in his T20 career, nudging him back into fifth in the all-time list, and the sacrifices he has made to become the world’s best spinner in the format are immense. He told the before this tournament that he has spent 25 days at home in the last five years, and he has lost both of his parents in the last three. “I don’t get enough time to be with the family but at the same time it is the start of my career so I have to struggle,” he said.His performances over the last three weeks – which have put him joint-top of the Hundred’s wicket-taking charts – have come within a wider context. He has posted on social media several times about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, usually with a simple message: “Don’t leave us in chaos. Stop killing Afghans and destroying Afghanistan.”On Sunday, his tweet after the Taliban seized Kabul by force, leading the president and thousands of foreign nationals to flee, was particularly straightforward: “Peace,” followed by three praying emojis and three Afghan flags. Last month, he addressed the situation by saying: “As a player it makes you super sad. It hurts a lot, but at the same time we are just trying our best to do something special in the field to make [people at home] happy.”Patel, his team-mate, acknowledged that Khan had been “subdued” in comparison to his usual exuberant self. “He wasn’t as upbeat as normal, and that’s understandable,” he said. “It’s so fresh and we had the game to concentrate on, which was a good distraction for him. He tried to put in a match-winning performance and that comes from his inner self.

“For Rashid to turn up and put on a performance like this under the pressure that he is currently under.. it’s probably one of the most heartwarming stories of the Hundred”Kevin Pietersen

“He’s 100% committed in any game that he plays. I’ve been lucky enough to play franchise cricket with him and I know that you cannot fault Rashid Khan – he’s an absolute gem to have in any team, in all aspects. The way he plays his cricket is full on and that’s a credit to Rash. He’s a world-class performer.””There’s a lot of things that are happening at home,” Kevin Pietersen said on Sky Sports during the innings break. “We had a long chat here on the boundary talking about it and he’s worried: he can’t get his family out of Afghanistan and there’s a lot of things happening for him.”For him to turn up and put on a performance like this under the pressure that he is currently under… for him to be able to forget that stuff and navigate his story and continue the momentum that he has – I think that’s probably one of the most heart-warming stories of this Hundred so far.”Khan is ubiquitous in T20 cricket worldwide: you can flick on any game from any league worldwide and there is every chance that he will be playing, celebrating, or slicing helicopter shots for six over point. Nobody has played as many games as him in the format since his debut in 2015 and nobody has taken as many wickets.The result is that we take this phenomenon for granted. Khan is a 22-year-old Afghan, bowling quick legspin and hitting sixes everywhere from Adelaide to Abu Dhabi and from Trent Bridge to Trinidad. He has been a trailblazer for cricketers from his nation to the extent that every team in the world wants him to play for them.His life and his career have unfolded with the constant backdrop of bloodshed and pain at home, at a time when most people have associated the word ‘Afghanistan’ with a war rather than a country. It is a credit to Khan that even with the backdrop of political turmoil and internal conflict, many now associate it with him, too.

Long been compared to Graeme Smith, the captain stands tall to inspire South Africa with a gutsy performance

Firdose Moonda07-Jan-20222:31

Cullinan: ‘This is welcome news for everyone who follows South Africa’

Dean Elgar was down. He had been hit on the shoulder and the ribs, but it was the blow from Jasprit Bumrah that ricocheted off his body to hit the grille of his helmet, that grounded him.He needed on-field treatment but pretended not to. And when he was done, he got hit again. “I think they should stop hitting me because I don’t seem to get out,” Elgar said. “I draw on that pain. Some call it stupid, some call it brave. If I am willing to put my body on the line, so should everyone else.”Related

• How do you bowl to a batter like Dean Elgar?

• Ishant or Umesh – who should replace Siraj in Cape Town?

• Resolute Rassie van der Dussen plays forgotten hero amid Wanderers glory

• Stats – SA end losing streak in Tests against India with record chase

• Elgar: 'When KG's got his tail up, there's no better bowler than him'

Was that a veiled dig at Kagiso Rabada? We’ll never know. What we do know is that Elgar approached him before the match about his conduct both on and off the field and demanded that he stepped up. “Playing for your country, you are expected to do that, irrespective of how you are feeling. It’s just another article – I am kind of over those articles.”Sorry, Dean. This another article about how you thrive on toughness. It’s another few dozen paragraphs about the way you hacked the ball like you gut a fish, the ones you wore and the bloody-mindedness you showed. But it’s also more than that.Undoubtedly, this is South Africa’s best moment of the last three years. They have had Test series victories over an under-strength Sri Lanka and in the West Indies, but not even their four T20 World Cup wins in five matches will equal the sense of occasion that this victory in the New Year’s Test brought. It came against the run of play after a trying Boxing Day week.Dean Elgar punches the air after hitting the winning four•AFP via Getty ImagesSouth Africa entered this Test on the back of an undercooked effort with the ball at SuperSport Park and a batting line-up that could best be described as promising but fragile. Their biggest name, Quinton de Kock, who was due to miss the rest of the series on paternity leave, retired from the longest format altogether. And India brought the strongest seam attack in their history to the venue where they have never lost a Test in this country, the Wanderers. What could possibly go right from there?Ask Elgar. “I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way of winning a game of cricket,” he said. But there is a way.It starts with the basics. South Africa’s bowlers were much more focused on the opening day. They had two opportunities, at 101 for 2 and at 162 for 4, to press home the advantage but the set batters gave their wickets away. The bowlers bailed them out again, restricting India to a tough, but chase-able total. And even though South Africa had never reached a target of 220 at this ground, and India had one of the most challenging attacks they had faced in recent times, with more than two days to play and a massive point to prove, for Elgar, it was game on. The situation was tailor-made for his stick-it-to-them style of play.This is going to sound familiar, isn’t it? Because he is a left-hander with a leg-side heavy scoring preference, he is rough as rhino skin and now also captain of the Test team, Elgar has long been compared to Graeme Smith and dubbed a mini-Biff. That’s true in more ways than just size.

I draw on that pain. Some call it stupid, some call it brave. If I am willing to put my body on the line, so should everyone else.Dean Elgar

Elgar has scored lots second-innings runs in winning chases, much like Smith used to do. Of Smith’s 27 hundreds, four came in successful circumstances. Those were memorable occasions, in Wellington, Birmingham, Perth and Cape Town, and each time, Smith had a wing-man. It was Mark Boucher against New Zealand, Gary Kirsten in England, AB de Villiers with a blistering century against Australia and Hashim Amla at Newlands. Smith averaged 87.76 in successful fourth-innings chases. Elgar averages 78.75 in the same circumstances, with three fifties, including Thursday’s 96*.So, Elgar is not quite half as tall or half as broad as Smith, he has not won half as many matches, and he doesn’t have half of the team (if we’re honest, he doesn’t have any of the team) Smith had. But his performance was doubly impressive.On resuming on 46 after a lengthy rain delay, which wiped out more than two sessions, Elgar reached his half-century off the eighth ball he faced. R Ashwin bowled it full, and he creamed it through mid-on. It was the best-timed shot of his knock up to that point and then he had to settle in again. He was beaten by Mohammed Shami, squared up by Shardul Thakur, sent one flying over the slips for four (deliberately, of course), and then, with the target approaching 50, showed some real skills. His drive down the ground past Shami and his steer to third man are the shots Elgar should frame. So too, the pull and the upper cut off Mohammed Siraj. And at the end, the flick off the pads that brought the win.Dean Elgar may sometimes be down. But in this match, he was never out.

Why did England pick a man they have usually handled so delicately to bowl at a spinners graveyard?

Jarrod Kimber10-Dec-2021″Don’t fall asleep because you might not wake up.” That’s what Jack Leach was saying to himself in 2019. That was when he had sepsis in New Zealand. Leach also has Crohn’s disease.England have done everything they can to keep him fit and healthy. Giving him the very best treatment to ensure he can be ready when they need him.When selected he’s been an almost single-use entity on the field. Since that New Zealand tour, they’ve used him when and where he’s suited. Leach averages 31.12 in Tests because England have waited for pitches that turn, or batters he has good match-ups against.Related

• Malan and Root put up big third-wicket stand as England fight back

• Wood stands out as England tick all the wrong checkboxes

• Chastening day casts doubts on Leach's further participation

• Stokes knee injury leaves England with nervous wait

And then they turned up at the Gabba, a place where overseas spinners don’t work, where there is little spin, a team of left-handers, and they chose him over Stuart Broad’s 524 wickets.There Leach got a different kind of treatment from the Australians, 1 for 102 from 13 overs.

****

England analyst Nathan Leamon once said that we obsess too much over the selections of the ninth, tenth and eleventh best players in a team in cricket.And he’s right. So much of the cricket media and public’s obsession is over the players who make the smallest impact. Part of that is quite simply because during a Test, a poor selection becomes a story for days, as we try to work out what would have happened with the road not travelled.That happened here with the non-selection of Broad. England got into trouble in this Test because they were dismissed for 147. Broad has a Test century to his name, but it’s doubtful he would have changed that score much.He might have helped with the ball, with Chris Woakes starting poorly. Having Broad out there would have been a simple way to regain control. And as Brisbane’s biggest newspaper will grudgingly admit, he’s bowled well there over the years for 12 wickets at 24.5; even if half of those wickets were from one innings.But what about the man they chose instead, Leach. For a team with so much off-field support, he would seem to be one of the most baffling choices to make for a touring side in Australia for quite some time.

“The Gabba has a weird kink – it actually gets tougher to take spin wickets the longer the match goes. Wickets fail at 51.1 in the first innings, but in the second that is 57.3”

Leach is a spinner who needs a lot of assistance off the surface. That’s common, but he goes from everyday friendly finger spinner to Thanos on a ragging wicket. The best way to tell this is that Leach averages 21.49 at Taunton. In the rest of the UK it’s 32.68. This is also backed up by his average of 27.32 in Asia. And in five Tests at home, he averages 20 overs a match. That’s incredibly low for a frontline spinner.So what kind of help does the Gabba give spin bowlers in the last five years? Seam is averaging around 27 compared to spin’s 53. Lyon is averaging 45.50 here in that time. In the last 41 years, the Gabba has one five-wicket haul to a tourist, John Emburey’s 5-80. Only Daniel Vettori has more than seven wickets in total there. This is the opposite of what Leach needs.The Gabba has a weird kink too. It actually gets tougher to take spin wickets the longer the match goes. Wickets fail at 51.1 in the first innings, but in the second that is 57.3. As most tweakers prefer the second innings, this isn’t ideal. But it’s terrible for someone like Leach, who massively depends on the surface falling apart. In the first match innings he averages 48.82; in the second that drops to 20.95.Then there are the Australian batters, of which four of the top seven, and six of the eleven are left-handed. Leach – like most left-arm orthodox bowlers – is terrible against southpaws. Against right-handers, he averages 24.7, and against lefties that’s 61.5. The problem for Leach is that Smith and Labuschagne average over 40 against left-arm orthodox in the last five years (for Smith, that’s a weakness of sorts). Really only Pat Cummins – who is a poor player of spin generally – is weak against it. That’s not a lot of potential victims for Leach.Not that it matters that much, but Broad has averaged 25.2 against left-handers in the last five years. As you may have heard, he’s been pretty good to David Warner as well.Australia were always going to target Leach, because Ben Stokes was under a fitness cloud, and this was a weaker bowling attack without James Anderson and Jofra Archer. Leach doesn’t have a lot of weapons when someone attacks him on a flat pitch. If it’s a left-hander, without footmarks, he’s naked.Only 25 overseas spinners have more than 20 wickets in Australia. Five of those have played a Test this millennium. Only Geoff Miller of the England spinners has an average under 30 with more than 20 wickets. Panesar doesn’t even qualify (13 wickets at 48.92). Swann has 22 at over 50.Leach has enjoyed success in spinning conditions•BCCIThe problem for most spinners is that generally side spin is more important around the world. In Australia, side spin is helpful, but overspin needs to be with it. The bounce. Most spinners could work this out, but they’d have to bowl in Australia over a couple of series to perfect it. They often get smashed in their first one and are shelved afterwards.Your best chance of taking wickets in Australia is if you are tall, or can master overspin. Weirdly England have a tweaker like this in their group, Dom Bess. He actually profiles like an Australian offspinner, for all his problems with landing the ball where he wants it. And he would have been handy against a team of left-handers. Bess is in Brisbane at the moment; he just took 4-80 against Australia A.

****

Australia attacked Leach almost twice as much as any other frontline bowler.Leach has bowled 95.5% of his career pro deliveries with the red ball. He has 17 List A games and two T20s for 36 combined wickets. He has no white-ball experience. England have protected him from these kinds of situations, and now here he is, in an Ashes Test, being destroyed.Warner hit him for two big sixes. Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne basically scored at two runs a ball against him. His wicket came from some good bounce but mostly because Labuschagne was showing him the same amount of respect he would a fourth-change club bowler.Fans and the media suggested Leach bowled too flat, tossed up, aggressive, and straight. The truth is, he bowled too much.Moeen Ali probably should have been England’s spinner here if he was still playing. Bess would have been a decent back-up with so many left-handers on display.England’s treatment of Leach’s health has been admirable. They used to select him when everything was in his favour which helped him. If there was any problem with this, it was that they never let him develop other skills by using him only when it suited. Or let him play that much at all. In 2020 he didn’t get a Test. This year he didn’t play during the home summer. Hard to go from targeting a team of right-handers on ragging Indian wickets to a team of lefties on a spinner’s graveyard with no Tests in between.England are known to be meticulous with their planning for major series and tournaments. And then they turned up at the Gabba with a bowler absolutely not suited to the job in so many obvious ways.On the third day, England gave him the ball when they had run out of options. Of course, that is part of why he was in the team in the first place.Australia went after Jack Leach, but England’s treatment was worse.

Also: how many women have scored World Cup centuries in a losing cause?

Steven Lynch08-Mar-2022Sakibul Gani followed his 341 on debut with 98 and 101 in the next match. Has anyone scored more runs after three first-class innings? asked Azweer from India, among many others

That astonishing start from Bihar’s Sakibul Gani has seen him score 341 against Mizoram in Kolkata (the record score for anyone on first-class debut), followed by 98 and 101 not out against Sikkim at Eden Gardens (the first match was at the Jadavpur University Campus).Gani’s 540 runs is a record for a player’s first three first-class innings, surpassing 494 (12, 290 and 194) by the New Zealander Bill Carson for Auckland in 1936-37. Gani made 38 and 23 in his next match, so did not pass the Australian Bill Ponsford’s records of 616 runs after four-class innings, and 724 after five. The records for six and seven innings – 831 and 900 runs – were set by the Afghanistan batter Bahir Shah in 2017-18. Ponsford reached 1000 runs in his eighth innings, the record at the moment.Sophie Devine scored 108 in the World Cup opener, but still lost – how many other women have scored a World Cup century but finished on the losing side? asked Deborah Mitchell from New Zealand

That hundred by New Zealand’s captain Sophie Devine in the opening match against West Indies in Mount Manganui last week was the sixth time that an individual century had not been enough to bring victory in a Women’s World Cup match. The seventh was not long coming: Nat Sciver scored an unbeaten 109 for England as they ran Australia close next day in Hamilton.Devine was the third New Zealander on the list, after her current team-mates Suzie Bates, with 102 against Australia in Cuttack in February 2013, and Amy Satterthwaite, who hit 103 a week later against England in Mumbai.There have also been two cases for India: Harmanpreet Kaur made an undefeated 107 in vain against England in Mumbai in 2013, and Punam Raut 106 against Australia in Bristol in 2017. The other instance – and the highest such score – was made by Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu, with 178 not out against Australia, also in Bristol in 2017. Despite Athapaththu’s remarkable effort, Sri Lanka managed only 257 for 9 in their 50 overs, which Australia chased down with some ease; Meg Lanning hit 152 not out.In the men’s World Cups, it has happened on 40 occasions.I heard that Shakib Al Hasan is the only batter in ODI history whose average never fell below 30 in his entire career. Is this true? asked Fahim from Bangladesh

Well, it’s partly true: Shakib Al Hasan currently averages 37.62 in one-day internationals, and the lowest his average has ever been was 30.91. But, given a qualification of 30 innings, there are no fewer than 31 other men whose average has also never been below 30 (including Eoin Morgan, who once averaged exactly 30). Of these, three have never averaged below 40: Imam-ul-Haq of Pakistan, whose lowest to date is 49.18, and the retired Australian pair of Michael Hussey (47.89) and Michael Bevan (42.33). This record is perhaps overly dependent on someone making at least 30 in their first ODI innings.Shane Warne played 145 Tests without ever representing Australia in a T20I•Jack Atley/Fairfax Media/Getty ImagesWho has played the most Tests without ever playing a one-day international, and what’s the equivalent record for T20s? asked David Knight from England

Leaving aside players like Godfrey Evans, who won 91 Test caps but had retired before the first one-day international in 1971, the ODI record is held by England’s Mark Butcher, who won 71 Test caps without ever featuring in England’s one-day team (this always struck me as slightly odd, as he had a very respectable record in List A cricket). Next comes the New Zealand fast bowler Neil Wagner, who has so far played 58 Tests without a single white-ball appearance. The former England captain MJK Smith played 50 Tests, but no ODIs, although his international career only just stretched into the ODI era. Of players who made their Test debut after ODIs started, Butcher and Wagner lead the way, then come the Sri Lankans Kaushal Silva (39 Tests) and Tharanga Paranavitana (32), alongside England’s Rory Burns (32 Tests).Moving to T20Is, Shane Warne played 145 Tests without appearing in a 20-over international, which started towards the end of his great career. Considering only players who made their Test debut after the first official T20I early in 2005, the leader is Cheteshwar Pujara (95 Tests), ahead of Azhar Ali (91), Dimuth Karunaratne at 75 and Kraigg Brathwaite and Dean Elgar bracketed together on 74. All of these players did play some ODIs.What are the best bowling figures by a captain in ODIs and T20Is? asked Ramaswamy Gohel from India

The best by a captain in ODIs is 7 for 36, by Waqar Younis, for Pakistan against England at Headingley in 2001. Next, rather surprisingly perhaps, comes Viv Richards, with 6 for 41 for West Indies against India in Delhi in 1989-90. There have been three more six-fors, by Dwayne Bravo (2012-13), Gulbadin Naib (2019) and Waqar again, with 6 for 59 two days later in 2001 at Trent Bridge.There are a further 21 instances of a captain taking a five-for in a one-day international. Waqar did it three times in all, and Greg Chappell, Jason Holder, Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram twice.In T20Is the best figures by a captain are 6 for 18, by Argentina’s Hernan Fennell against Panama in a World Cup Americas Region qualifier in Antigua in November 2021. Next comes Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, with 5 for 6 against New Zealand in Pallekele in September 2019.There are four other cases of a captain talking a five-for in a T20I, by Moazzam Baig (Malawi), Charles Perchard (Jersey), Ahmed Raza (UAE) and Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh).Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

The emergence of Umran Malik has put the spotlight on the state’s quick bowlers. Are there more like him? The answer seems to be a resounding yes

Interviews by Mohsin Kamal27-Jun-2022When Umran Malik made his IPL debut last year, people began asking, “How many more undiscovered Umrans in Jammu and Kashmir?” The conversation grew more animated this season as 22-year-old Malik lit up the IPL. He sent down three of the five fastest deliveries of the competition (the fastest of them at 156.9kmph) and took 22 wickets – the second highest by a fast bowler in the season, just one behind Kagiso Rabada.Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) have been among the weaker sides on India’s domestic circuit. They have made it to the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals just twice in their 62-year history. But fast bowlers have always made a mark. A quick survey of the current J&K squads reflects this. In their 21-member squad for Ranji Trophy 2021-22, there were as many as eight fast bowlers. The numbers were similar in the various age-group teams.Related

• Umran Malik, bringing the IPL alive with raw pace

• Meet India's fastest bowler, Umran Malik

• Jammu & Kashmir's pace future in good hands with Mujtaba Yousuf and Aquib Nabi

At the IPL, apart from Umran and Rasikh Salam, who was a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad before he was ruled out with an injury, four other J&K fast bowlers served as net bowlers for franchises – Sharukh Dar and Umar Nazir at Sunrisers Hyderabad, Basit Bashir at Punjab Kings, and Auqib Nabi at Gujarat Titans.We spoke to a few former J&K players and coaches about the past, present and future of fast bowling in the region.

Why is fast bowling so common in Jammu and Kashmir?

Samiullah Beigh, former J&K captain: The major reason is that the infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir is not comparable with other places. For batting and spin bowling, you need a lot of equipment, skilled coaches and other facilities, but fast bowling is all about natural raw talent. We are physically better built because of our eating habits.Irfan Pathan and Baroda-based coach Milap Mewada (right) have been instrumental in finding and highlighting fast-bowling talent in Jammu and Kashmir•ESPNcricinfo LtdThe other thing I believe is the passion for cricket here. A few years back I was playing in Mumbai and a lot of players there told me, “In Azad Maidan, you can see a factory of players playing.” Then I showed them a scene of our Eidgah ground [Srinagar], where on a single pitch, about two to four teams play together – two on the vertical side and two on the horizontal side.Abdul Qayoom, former J&K captain and coach: In 1984 I was playing as a wicketkeeper-batsman in junior cricket and I went to Jammu for the CK Nayudu Trophy trials. I kept wickets for a couple of days in trials but on the evening of third day, I was bowling to tailenders for fun. There was a coach named Gautam sir. He came to me and said, “Abdul, from tomorrow you won’t keep wickets but bowl fast!” I was surprised, but as he was our coach, I agreed. That day onwards I became a fast bowler and went on to play for J&K for years. I don’t know whether it was my physique or height or whatever that made him convert me into a bowler. This is the case with almost every one of us – we are kind of naturally built for fast bowling. I also believe it is because we belong to a high-altitude region, so our stamina and physique is better than, say, someone from Delhi or Mumbai.

Is fast bowling new to J&K or has it always been there?

Beigh: J&K has been blessed with fast bowling from the very beginning. Our cricket history suggests that in 90% of the matches that we have won so far in Ranji Trophy and other domestic competitions, pace bowlers have contributed the most. Our batting and spin bowling has always been weaker than our opponents’ but it’s the fast-bowling department where we are on top.I will share an interesting incident: back when Bedi sir [Bishan Singh Bedi] was here, he was of the opinion that no matter what the pitch offered, a team should always bat first. So one day he asked us what we would do if we won the toss. I was supposed to be the captain that year and I was the only one who said we should bowl first. He got a bit angry and gave his reasons but I explained to him that J&K has always banked on its fast bowlers. And the best condition for pacers to bowl is the first session of the first day.Four J&K bowlers were drafted as net bowlers in IPL 2022, among them Basit Bashir, of whom people expect great things•Basit Bashir/InstagramQayoom: When I used to bowl, everyone outside J&K would say, “” [He’s a horse, he never gets tired]. Before me, Abdul Rauf, Abdul Qayoom Khan, Mehboob Iqbal, also used to bowl fast and they would hear similar things. So we took it from them, and then the upcoming generation learned it from us and it is continuing even now. I mean, in J&K, fast bowlers have been the role models. They are the ones who have achieved big things.Abid Nabi, former J&K fast bowler and India U-19 player: When I was playing, there was no sign of a speedometer. You could only check your speed if you played at international level. But I think J&K always had bowlers who bowled extremely quick. There was a J&K bowler named Surendra Singh Bagal. He made it hard for even international players to bat against him. There were also Abdul Qayoom, Asif Peerzada and many others in the past.

How is J&K’s fast-bowling talent different from the rest of India’s?

Milap Mewada, J&K senior team coach from 2018 to 2020: The entire pedigree of fast bowlers in J&K is very different. Everyone you come across wants to bowl quick. There are so many seam bowlers that even someone like Umran didn’t make it to the team sometimes, as there were already a lot of senior bowlers performing well.The major difference is in stamina. I am currently working with the Hyderabad Ranji team. I came across a couple of guys who are also bowling fast. If I make them bowl for too long, they will break. They can bowl fast but can’t sustain, but if I compare them with someone like [senior J&K fast bowler] Mohammed Mudhasir, they are nowhere. He never says no to fast bowling. Whenever you ask him, “Mudhi, three overs”, he always raises his hand. He’s a very senior player, so imagine what he was like as a young bowler!Former J&K captain Samiullah Beigh: “I was part of the zonal team six times in my career but I used to carry drinks despite having the highest wickets among the bowlers.”•Samiullah Beigh

Why haven’t many bowlers from J&K made it big?

Beigh: The simple reason is that till around 2013, the system of selection was wrong. It used to only favour big cricketing teams like Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka. No selector used to watch Plate group matches of Ranji Trophy. The maximum reward for doing well was a place in the zonal team but the captain of these teams would always be someone from a place like Delhi. They would refer players from their own states. I was part of the zonal team six times in my career but I got to play just once in Duleep Trophy, that too after my bus had passed. I used to carry drinks despite having the highest wickets among the bowlers. It happened to me and it must have happened with Abid Nabi, Abdul Qayoom. I think the same would have happened to Umran but thanks to the IPL net-bowling stint, he was spotted at the right time.Nabi: There was no one to talk about us earlier. No one would put an arm around our shoulders or guide us. I remember in 2004, I was in England playing county cricket and the Indian team was also on tour there. Many of their fast bowlers got injured and I had clocked 151.3kmph while playing U-19 around then. But no one recommended my name, so I never got to play.

Will Malik’s emergence change things?

Qayoom: After watching Umran, I truly believe that a lot of youngsters will take up the game more seriously. We are currently holding a talent hunt in J&K and I can already see many kids trying to bowl fast. They now think that if they bowl quick, they will be noticed. I visited Anantnag in south Kashmir and Baramulla in the north and a lot of pace bowlers are showing up. Despite having zero infrastructure here, a talent like Umran emerged. So if we improve facilities, a lot of Umrans will come to the forefront.Nabi: If Umran Malik plays at international level and does well even in one match, it will help J&K’s upcoming fast bowlers. In the past there used to be talk that J&K has good fast bowlers but nobody believed it. But now after watching Umran, India and the rest of the world will finally accept it and see for themselves. During my time, nobody would look at us. I finished as the highest wicket-taker in U-19s quite a few times but I wasn’t even considered for zonal teams initially. I think all of this will change after Umran’s success.Mewada picks fast bowler Mujtaba Yousuf (extreme left) and bowling allrounder Auqib Nabi (extreme right, back) among his players to watch•Sahil Magotra

What do the BCCI and the J&K cricket association need to do to ensure the state’s fast-bowling talent doesn’t go in vain?

Mewada: I believe the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) has to go to the ground level and bring out the talent. This is what they are there for; the association itself is a part of the BCCI. They have enough funding, so they can hire professionals and try to utilise them to the best.I, as a coach, will keep Umran in the top category and prepare two more guys for his back-up. When I think I need two more Umrans or Mohammed Mudhasirs, I won’t get them suddenly, so to identify and train them I need to form a system. It should be a continuous process.Beigh: I believe J&K is a gold mine of fast bowlers and a lot of bowlers from here can serve India, but the BCCI has to do one thing to ensure that: they need to appoint a permanent fast-bowling coach and a fast-bowing trainer, not part-time or for a single season. They should then work with fast bowlers here every single day; do conditioning in the morning and coach them in the evening. This is the only way the crop of raw pace bowling will be reserved and we will see many more Umrans.

Which upcoming J&K fast-bowlers should we keep an eye out for?

Mewada: Mujtaba Yousuf and Basit Bashir, two very young and talented bowlers, Akash Choudhary from Jammu, and a very talented fast-bowling allrounder Auqib Nabi. They are really good.Beigh: Mujtaba Yousuf – I like his bowling action and run-up. Sharukh Dar – he’s already a net bowler with Sunrisers Hyderabad. He swings the ball both ways at pace. I am quite hopeful that he will play at the higher levels. Third one is a young guy from Kupwara: Basit Bashir. I have predicted that if he improves a few things, he may play for India within a few years. He is a terrific bowler with pace, swing and height.

With a penchant for sweeping and a love for the long-format, Mark Chapman is hoping to make the most of his time on tour with New Zealand A

Ashish Pant02-Sep-2022The last time New Zealand A fronted up against India A in a red-ball series, Mark Chapman was instrumental in helping his side take a huge first-innings lead in Christchurch. As the two teams face off again, this time in India, Chapman, at 28, is hoping to play more of a senior role and stake his claim for a Test spot.Brought up on a diet of white-ball cricket in Hong Kong, though, the longer format did not always come naturally to Chapman. Born to a New Zealand father and Chinese mother, he is one of the few cricketers to have played international cricket for two countries – Hong Kong and New Zealand. He made his T20I debut aged 20 and his ODI debut a year-and-a-half later, both for Hong Kong. In New Zealand, he had to learn the nuances of red-ball cricket on the fly. A sound technique and the ability to nudge the ball into gaps helped bed him into the Auckland set-up, and he has gone on to become one of their mainstays.”I do have strong ambitions in red-ball cricket. There is nothing more rewarding than scoring a hundred in a red-ball game or getting a first-class or Test win,” Chapman told ESPNcricinfo. “You can’t beat that feeling.”Growing up, most of the cricket that I played was white-ball and short-form, so that is where my experience sort of lay but as I began to play for Auckland a little bit more, we obviously played multi-day cricket – it’s something that I have had to learn on the go and something that I have really come to enjoy.”Chapman has played 35 first-class matches so far, in which he has 2287 runs at an average of 41.58, including 14 fifties and four centuries. Not shabby at all for someone who took to the longer game relatively late.”I have really come to appreciate the challenges of the red-ball game and really see it as the pinnacle of cricket in terms of mental application and mental test,” he said. “So, yeah, Test cricket is something that I would love to play.”Chapman’s style of play is a bit different from a lot of his New Zealand team-mates. Unlike those who look to play straight having grown up on bouncier surfaces, Chapman relies on the sweep a lot, which in a lot of ways is to do with him playing more in Asian and subcontinental conditions in his formative years.He hopes that his penchant for sweeping will help him on this tour of India, where New Zealand A are playing three red-ball and three white-ball games.

“I have really enjoyed trying to read the game and playing the situation that is in front of me. There is no better and more rewarding feeling than being there at the end and hitting the winning runs.”Mark Chapman

“I played in Asia growing up, and the sweep shot was something that I needed to use to be able to access boundaries and score some runs, particularly in slightly slower conditions,” Chapman said. “It’s been something that I have always had, and something I have worked hard on particularly for this tour, because in New Zealand, where the wickets are slightly better and don’t turn a lot, you may not necessarily use it.”Playing in my early days for Hong Kong, I was a little bit smaller, so I had to become pretty efficient in rotating the strike and that [sweeping] was, I guess, my way of keeping my strike rate up with the odd boundary.”Chapman made his international debut for New Zealand in a T20I against England in 2018, and got his first ODI for them later the same month. Since then, though, he has been part of just a handful of internationals and a Test call-up remains elusive, but Chapman insists he isn’t in a “desperate rush”.”This generation of New Zealand cricket has been really strong, and we’ve made a lot of World Cup finals and done well in the Test Championship. The competition for the places in the team has been really competitive,” he said. “I have just been chipping away at my game. For me, it is just about being a better cricketer every day regardless of the outcome and just enjoying my cricket as well, because it can be a long hard slog at times particularly when you are travelling a lot and not necessarily playing as much as you would like.”He’s had a good 2022. Chapman started off the year propelling Auckland to their second Ford Trophy title in three seasons. He was instrumental in helping New Zealand record their highest T20I total of 254 against Scotland in July, and then hit his second ODI century – seven years after scoring his first for Hong Kong – a couple of days later.”Obviously, ambitions are to really nail the [national] spot in a format or two – you love to be playing as much as you can,” he said. “Particularly in the more recent years, I have really enjoyed trying to read the game and playing the situation that is in front of me. There is no better and more rewarding feeling than being there at the end and hitting the winning runs.”If he can do just that in India, it could be a huge stepping stone in his path from the fringes towards a coveted Test spot.