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“We ebb and flow at times really well,” Carey says of his association with Cameron Green after they put together their latest big partnership

Alex Malcolm28-Dec-2022There was a telling moment when Alex Carey brought up his first Test century.While Carey had his head down, sprinting for the first of three runs after square-driving Marco Jansen, his batting partner Cameron Green had both his arms aloft in celebration. Carey’s own celebration was fairly understated, especially when compared to David Warner’s on day two. But Carey had much to be proud of. He was the first Australian wicketkeeper to score a Test century since 2013 and just the seventh overall.But showmanship and self-adulation are not in Carey’s DNA as a cricketer. He is more likely to boast about his highlights as a one-time professional Australian Rules footballer. Understated is who he is as a cricketer. He has become the drummer in Australia’s band and an incredibly reliable and much-loved one at that.Related

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There were concerns about how Australia would replace Tim Paine ahead of last year’s Ashes. There was even an undercurrent throughout Australian cricket querying whether Carey was the right choice despite being the long-time understudy, given the raw talent of Josh Inglis or the consistency of Jimmy Peirson. And that undercurrent has remained even after a year in the job.But it will have disappeared now after a classy century that has all but put the MCG Test in Australia’s safekeeping. In reference to replacing Paine specifically, for the quality of Paine’s glovework and his performance as leader in a difficult period, Carey always represented a significant upgrade as a batter both in his record at first-class level and his skillset.Carey’s first Test century showcased all those skills. His elegance, power, and wide array of strokes were all on display.Carey unfazed as wickets fall around him

Admittedly, he had the benefit of feasting on a weary South African attack. He had walked out at 363 for 3 in the 85th over at the end of a 37-degree day with Australia leading by 176. But there was a point early on day three where Australia’s innings might have fallen in a heap. Anrich Nortje ripped through Travis Head and David Warner in consecutive balls and then Kagiso Rabada had Pat Cummins caught behind four balls later. Carey was just 16 not out as he watched it all unfold, with Australia 213 in front.But Carey was unperturbed and unfurled one of the shots of the match. It was a part-Gilchrist, part-Lara flashing square drive with anchored feet, off a Nortje rocket at that. From there he produced the full array. There were uppercuts over third, controlled check-drives down the ground, reverse-sweeps and sweeps off Keshav Maharaj, and pulls and cuts galore.He formed a superb partnership with Green, who fought bravely with a fractured finger to post an unbeaten half-century and share a 117-run stand with Carey to demoralise South Africa.Alex Carey celebrates after scoring his first Test century•Getty Images”I actually didn’t think he was going to walk out the race today,” Carey said of Green after play. “But to see him put on a brave face, bat beautifully and allow me at the other end to bat as well… allowed us to put on a really good partnership.”The two complement one another beautifully and it shows. In ten innings together at Test level, they have combined for 511 runs at 51.10 per stand with two century partnerships. It is the perfect blend of yin and yang. A shorter left-hand batter and a tall right-hand batter make them a difficult duo to bowl at. But their personalities and game styles blend very well. Green is a worrier, constantly asking questions of his partner about what the bowlers and the pitch are doing. Carey is the complete opposite, keeping things simple and keeping Green calm. But Green’s attention to detail keeps Carey locked in. Carey’s busyness and intent to rotate and score brings Green out of his shell. The quality and stubbornness of Green’s defence at times reminds Carey to find the right Test-match tempo to his batting and that he doesn’t need to score off every ball.”I think we ebb and flow at times really well,” Carey said. “Today it was probably on me to score a bit (and) more on him to grit through and he did that amazingly. I don’t really know how to explain it. I think just with certain guys, you just have that calmness and confidence. It’s been fun so far, and hopefully a few more big partnerships and no doubt he’ll get his ton.”They produced match-winning stands in Lahore and Galle earlier this year and this, too, while not the defining partnership of the match, is still likely to result in an Australia win.The stroke that took Cameron Green to his half-century•Getty ImagesCarey remains team-first, and the team loves him for it
It is those shared partnerships that led to Green’s spontaneous celebration for his mate’s milestone. But also, there is a recognition of how unselfish Carey has been as a Test batter. People have been quick to point to his average at times as a measure of why Carey’s place as Australia’s wicketkeeper should not be assumed, particularly as there have been critics of his glovework.But Carey’s unselfishness with the bat has not gone unnoticed within the team, even if it has elsewhere. Four times in his first 12 months of Test cricket, he has sacrificed his wicket cheaply trying to advance the game for his team. If you remove those innings from his record, he would average over 40.And his glovework remains his number-one priority. Prior to day three at the MCG, even though he was not out with the bat overnight, he spent the first part of his warm-up doing specific keeping work catching spin in the nets in preparation to keep long periods to Nathan Lyon in the second innings.Carey later took an excellent catch down the legside off Cummins to remove Dean Elgar. But his century now gives Australia options given they are set to lose Green at No. 6 for the Sydney Test.Three of Carey’s first-class centuries have come batting in the top six as has his lone ODI century. He has a first-class century batting at No. 5 for South Australia against a New South Wales attack featuring Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Lyon. Australia haven’t had a wicketkeeper picked specifically to bat at No. 6 since Matthew Wade nearly a decade ago.”Whatever opportunity I get for the Australian cricket team I’ll put my hand up to do,” Carey said.He remains team-first at all times, and his team is grateful for that.

Trio of world-class wickets briefly steals the show, but Pakistan battle back before the close

Vithushan Ehantharajah11-Dec-2022You know you’re leaving Multan city centre when you get to the fruit stalls that line the road, just before the open expanses take over en route to the cricket stadium. Yet even among the many overflowing with sweet oranges, you will struggle to find any on a par with the three Jaffas dished out after lunch on Sunday of the second Test.Only 20 percent of the oranges grown here get exported, compared to the generations of fast bowlers forged from these soils, who get sent the world over to share the glory and craft of pace. Thus, the local palettes are finely attuned. Only the quickest speeds, the latest swing, the most lavish moment, and immaculate wrists will do. Combine all that to knock out the stumps as if they’ve stolen something and, well, you’ve got a direct line to any Pakistani’s heart.For 12 overs within a period of 14 at the start of the second day’s middle session, those switchboards were jammed with calls from James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood, all offering different amounts of each with dismissals that ensured England maintained a solid footing in this match.The best and most juicy of the three came first. Anderson, a 40-year-old veteran enjoying a new lease of life under the resident fun-loving minimalists of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, produced a delivery to rival even the very best of his 674 wickets. For this England regime, the stripping-away of the stresses of Test cricket has come through simplifying its most important parts, and as England resumed after the first interval, wicketless after Pakistan had chipped 64 runs in 15 overs off a target of 355, the oldest swinger in town had ball in hand for the first time in the innings.This was only the third time since 2009 that Anderson hadn’t taken the new ball at the start of an innings, but the second time in a week, so we may soon have to stop dwelling on that. His role has evolved in this side to such an extent that he is both leaning on his experience to act as a mentor to his counterparts, but has also reverted to being something on a strike bowler. Here, England needed to produce something out of nothing. Anderson delivered the goods within five deliveries of the restart.Babar Azam had his off stump pegged back by Ollie Robinson•Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesYou knew it was a good one because even the victim, Mohammed Rizwan, effused his love for Anderson at the end of play. He seemed to relish the fact that he was the punchline for this moment; his Stockholm syndrome condensed within the fractions of a second the ball was released, seam-perfect on an off-stump line before jagging away just enough to leave Rizwan’s blade on read. “I love him because of his bowling,” Rizwan beamed, “and obviously I had no answers of his questions.”The wicketkeeper-batter had turned makeshift opener in Imam-ul-Haq’s absence, and even quipped it was as if he had been done with a Dukes ball. The Kookaburra is not quite the kryptonite to Anderson that it is to other English seamers, and nor are these conditions. In the last ten years alone, Anderson averages 20.65 in Asia which, remarkably, is lower than his average at home during this period (20.91). That figure is still a stellar 22.94 if you factor in his pivotal, if less statistically remarkable, role on England’s victorious Test tour of India, in which MS Dhoni, no less, said he was the difference between the teams.On a pitch where the tunes are getting harder to come by, as each turn of the heavy roller compacts it further to deaden the bounce and movement, Anderson made that delivery sing.You don’t always get wickets with balls like those, but anecdotally it seems that Anderson does more than most. Perhaps, because he produces so many of them, probability works in his favour. It makes you wonder how many have been lost to the annals of time simply because they failed to clip a bit of wood – edge or stump – or a front pad.So, the tone had been set and the parameters were clear. Special things were required, and quickly. Three overs later, Robinson stepped up.When Robinson first trained with England as part of an enlarged group in 2020 to mitigate for Covid restrictions around training, he earned the nickname “McGrath” for his unerring accuracy. Funnily enough, he is a very good mimic of bowling actions, and McGrath’s not a bad one to replicate. He often experiments in training: during the Ashes last winter, in a bid to try a few new things, he spent the best part of a net session bowling like Mohammad Shami after watching him in action during India’s series with South Africa the night before. And off the back of his senior partner’s brilliance, he too produced a Jaffa worthy of export.Mark Wood bowled Abdullah Shafique to turn the screw•Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesExcept, he did it his own way. Having played around with his angle at the crease – wide to offset the right-hander’s head position, then tight to the stumps to further upset his bearings – Robinson arrived in between for the penultimate ball of the 19th over. The release, as ever, was perfect. The merest whiff of reverse took it in, but not so much as to be threatening the stumps. Then it pitched.One of Robinson’s key facets is he seams the ball more than anyone in England. Despite his relative lack of pace, the logic – right at the start of his Test career – was that the energy he imparts on the ball is such that he is bound to do something, on even the most unresponsive tracks abroad. So it was no surprise to the England management that Robinson was able to make the ball talk in these conditions. It was a bit more of a surprise to the batter, mind you, who had made his mind up to leave just after release. The fact it deviated by a foot almost excuses the lack of shot. If you worried about deliveries out there, you wouldn’t leave the house.This was, by the way, the third time Robinson has bowled a batter who has offered no shot. That works out at a percentage of 5.2 percent of his 58 dismissals to date. By comparison, of Anderson’s 294 victims since 2015, only four have been done in similar fashion – 1.4 percent.Oh, and it wasn’t any ordinary batter, either. It was Babar Azam. You know, the crown prince of batting, leader of the opposition, possessor of a technique so immaculate you could eat your dinner off it. And here he was, being made to look foolish in his own backyard (where he averages 60), in front of his own people (for whom he can do no wrong with the bat), by the man who had taken him out 24 hours earlier as well. In so doing, Robinson became the first seamer to bowl Babar twice in a match. He is midway through only his 12th Test cap, is currently averaging less than 20, and is already doing things others can’tThe final offering came from Wood. That the Test side have been able to call on his pace for the first time since March was as much a boost to the locals, wowed by his exploits during the T20I series a couple of months back, and anticipating his fire with the red ball this time. Every scuttle to the crease was accompanied by crescendo-ing hums from the stands. Though he would take out one of their own at the start of the 29th over, the hollering that pushed through the disappointment was loud and clear. And why not – he had satisfied the carnal urges of a pace-savvy audience with the first uprooted stump of the tour.Related

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Clocking in at 87.1mph, it was slow by the standards that Wood set on day one when he ticked over 97mph in the seventh over of Pakistan’s first innings. Making up for the 10mph drop, however, was the slightly lower, more catapult-like right arm which exaggerated the reverse to such an extent even the impressive Abdullah Shafique, set on 45 with his eye in for all of 93 balls, had no answer for the 94th, which cut through a previously impenetrable defense with ease.Wood’s immediate celebration was directed at the floor, having bowled himself off his feet in a bid to hit the pitch hard, as Anderson and Robinson had done before him. Though the trio of wickets were all different, the thread running through them was aggressive accuracy.Just 16 runs were conceded in their 12 overs tagging in and out of the attack: 60 of their 72 deliveries were either on a good length or just short of that, ensuring batters got little to drive. Their precision was such that, at times, only a leg slip was employed alongside wicketkeeper Ollie Pope. The stumps were the primary target – everything else was an aside.It highlighted the strength of having a bowler as captain, even one whose official designation is an allrounder. At lunch, Stokes gauged the ball would start to move that little bit more through the air and emerged with a clear plan. It is worth noting he tailored the plan during Anderson’s opening over. Prior to the removal of Rizwan, Jack Leach had been warming up to take the Stadium End, but during the celebrations of the ball of the tour, Robinson was instead told to take the next over. Leach’s left-arm spin would have to wait to make its own crucial difference four overs before the close.We are in the midst of citrus season here in Pakistan, so maybe it was only right that the home batters would be the recipients of England’s most fruitful period on a day that, ultimately, belonged to the hosts. Pakistan will return on Monday just 157 away from their target of 355, with batting still to come. The juice from that early squeeze quenched England’s desire for a clearer route to the tail. Nevertheless, the risk of a bitter aftertaste remains.

The hills are alive with the sound of Test cricket breathing – healthily but labouredly

Alan Gardner15-Jun-2023Talking about the death of Tests is a contractual obligation of cricket writing – even in the 1880s, learned scribes were worrying that it wouldn’t keep up with thrilling new forms of entertainment like hoop rolling and the can-can. But while the Light Roller enjoys indulging in doom-mongering as much as the next semi-humorous monthly column, the arrival of the English summer has brought with it renewed hope for the game.Following on from the hotly contested World Test Championship final – certainly a couple of the umpiring/selection decisions were hotly contested – this week we have the start of the Ashes. What a time (for the format) to be alive!The spectacle of Australia and India contesting the Test mace in England is, for some folk, the acme of international cricket; no plucky New Zealand to politely crash the party this time. To be honest, for those outside the Big Three, it probably feels as if this is the unavoidable endgame for international cricket (even if CA, the ECB and the BCCI aren’t quite as tight as they used to be). If there was any halfway legitimate excuse to make India an official participant in the Ashes, then you can be sure these guys would have tried it.Related

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Anyway, until the age-old rivalry takes a tip from the IPL and starts including a mandatory number of Indian players, we’ll work with what we’ve got – and the first Bazball Ashes promises to be an all-you-can-eat buffet of vibes and bluster. In one direction you’ve got Stuart Broad bantering harder than he’s ever bantered before, while Ben Stokes promises to “make memories for England” while dressed as some sort of athleisure vicar. In the other, Pat Cummins is pushing to oversee a “legacy-defining” twin success, as his countrymen queue up to question whether Bazball really exists at all.(Steve Waugh, old Mr Mental Disintegration himself, questioned whether England had a Plan B, without realising Plan B Bazball – as are plans C through Z.)There must be a genuine question around whether Test cricket can handle the next few weeks, given the hype around a) the men’s Ashes, and b) Bazball. It feels like a cricketing version of the Large Hadron Collider, with the game’s most-potent red-ball particles being fired at each other at incredible speeds – we might end up finally discovering the secrets of the format, or create a singularity from which nothing can escape.At which point, the players on both sides could get back to the thing that really motivates them: golf.

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“Hi there, welcome to the ICC. Let me show you around. Can you I get you a cup of coffee?Oh, what’s that, Geoff – we’re still waiting on the coffee beans? Didn’t we put that order in, like, six months ago?Okay, sorry about that. Anyway, our goal here at the ICC is to grow the game of cricket around the world…What’s that, Geoff? You saying you have a piece of paper there that says we’re now just India’s piggy bank? They shake us and money comes out of our a$$? Ah, okay, they’ve made that official now. I suppose BCCICC does have a ring to it…Well, we do have a World Cup scheduled for later this year. Shall I tell you about the planning for that? It starts in a few months, I think we have the fixtures here somewhere… Geoff? Geoff?”

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It’s not often that the Light Roller can look back through our archives and say: we called it. But there’s a first time for everything, and after predicting that was on its way back to the top, we were delighted to see the showrunners take the hint and bring back Zaka Ashraf, arch-nemesis of incumbent chairman Najam Sethi. Pakistan’s equivalent of the Chuckle Brothers, only with less impressive moustaches, Sethi and Ashraf played “to me, to you” with responsibility for the board through ‘s glory years. Now, with the current season heading towards its climax – can Pakistan prevent the Asia Cup from being wooed away by powerful suitors? – the two old stagers are squaring off in the wings. And what could be more helpful to the board’s capacity to stand up to the BCCI than a couple of administrators trading court orders and shouting at clouds?

Regardless of how Australia lead into a global event, they usually find a way of being in the mix when it matters

Andrew McGlashan30-Sep-20232:22

What role will Travis Head play at the World Cup for Australia?

World Cup pedigree: Australia have a proud history in the ODI World Cup having won the title five times, including a hat-trick in 1999, 2003 and 2007. They were also triumphant on home soil in 2015 led by Michael Clarke but fell at the semi-final stage in 2019 where they were steamrolled by the England juggernaut. They have, however, had a world title since then when they somewhat unexpectedly claimed the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE. Regardless of how Australia lead into a global event, they usually find a way of being in the mix when it matters.Recent form: After looking promising, it has become indifferent. They started their September lead-in – which has arguably involved too many matches – by going 2-0 up in South Africa before the home side won three in a row to take the series. They were then comprehensively beaten in the first two matches against India before securing a consolation victory in Rajkot. The top order looks in pretty solid form, but there are question marks lower down and concerns over the death bowling.Selection: One late, and significant, change with Marnus Labuschagne, who wasn’t in the one-day plans a month ago, replacing the injured Ashton Agar after the selectors opted to carry an injured Travis Head through the first part of the tournament. Head, who broke his hand in South Africa, is not expected to be available until the midway point of the group stage. It leaves Australia with just one specialist spinner in Adam Zampa and a lot resting on Glenn Maxwell.Squad: Pat Cummins (capt), David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Adam ZampaMitchell Starc was atop the wicket charts in the last two ODI World Cups; a treble in store?•BCCIKey player: Mitchell Starc has a wonderful World Cup record having been the leading wicket-taker in 2019 and sharing the tag with Trent Boult in 2015. Australia have been short of new-ball wickets in the lead-in, which has often left them exposed at the death. So Starc’s ability to exploit the first few overs where the white ball might move could be vital. He will also be an important wicket-taking threat in the middle overs and an option at the death. However, he is coming off an injury having picked up a groin strain at the end of the Ashes, so has not had much game time leading into the tournament.Rising star: Overall, it’s a very a senior squad so this has to go to Cameron Green even though he has been around the scene for a few years. It’s been a difficult build-up for him after he suffered a concussion in South Africa, which ruled him out of three matches. He has struggled to find rhythm with the bat and was plundered for 103 off his 10 overs in Indore. Having opted for the IPL this year, where he went for mega bucks, he has only had a handful of nights at home since March. But there is little doubting his talent. Has anyone mentioned he has buckets for hands, too?World Cup farewells? With the T20 World Cup next June, the players from this squad who also feature in the 20-over side will make it to that event, but in terms of 50-over cricket, this tournament will mark a changing of the guard. David Warner will soon retire, and Steven Smith will be 38 by the next ODI World Cup, as will Maxwell. Starc will have called it a day, too, and probably Josh Hazlewood. Pat Cummins may not reach 2027, either. Mitchell Marsh is viewed as the next ODI captain but another four years could be a stretch.

And are Geoff and Mitch Marsh the only father and son to win World Cups?

Steven Lynch28-Nov-2023I noticed that ten of Virat Kohli’s 50 ODI centuries have come against Sri Lanka. Is this the most by anyone against one opponent? asked Malcolm Anderson from England

That’s a good spot, as it is indeed the record: apart from Virat Kohli against the long-suffering Sri Lankans, no one has scored as many as ten centuries against the same opposition in one-day internationals. Kohli has also scored nine against West Indies, and the previous overall record-holder Sachin Tendulkar made nine against Australia. Tendulkar also hit eight hundreds against Sri Lanka, while Kohli and Rohit Sharma currently have eight against Australia.The Test record is held by Don Bradman, with 19 centuries against England. Sunil Gavaskar made 13 against West Indies, and Jack Hobbs 12 against Australia; Steve Smith currently has 12 against England.In women’s ODIs, Australia’s Meg Lanning scored six centuries against New Zealand, while the England pair of Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver-Brunt have made four against South Africa and Australia respectively.I noticed that Shadab Kabir played three ODIs for Pakistan and was out for a duck each time. Has anyone else done this (or done even worse? asked Riaz Siddique from Pakistan

The unfortunate Shadab Kabir played three ODIs in September 1996, bagging a duck against England at Trent Bridge and two more against India in Canada. He didn’t bowl, and held only one catch – but he did finish up with a Man-of-the-Match award. Perhaps we should really say that he shared an award, as the entire Pakistan team was given the award for a good all-round display in his debut match at Trent Bridge!Two other men started their ODI careers with three ducks – Nicholas de Groot of Canada during the 2003 World Cup, and Ireland’s Peter Gillespie in 2006. De Groot made 11 in his fourth match, and Gillespie (who had been dismissed third ball, second and first) finally got off the mark with two in his fifth and last game, after not batting in the fourth.A left-hander, Kabir did score some runs in Tests. He won five caps, and his 148 runs included 55 against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2001-02. In first-class cricket, Kabir made 11 centuries, the highest his 176 for Karachi Port Trust against Sui Northern Gas in a Patron’s Trophy match in Peshawar in 2003-04.Are Geoff and Mitchell Marsh the only father and son to win the World Cup?asked Kelly Livingstone from Australia

Geoff Marsh was part of the Australian side which caused something of an upset by winning the 1987 World Cup. Marsh scored 24 as they beat England by just seven runs in the final in Kolkata.Geoff’s son Mitchell Marsh was out for 15 as his side made a hesitant start to their chase in the recent World Cup final in Ahmedabad, but it all came out right in the end for the Australians, enabling Marsh to complete this unique family double. Actually he already had a winners’ medal, as he was part of the squad that won at home in 2015, although he didn’t play in the final against New Zealand after appearing in three of the group games.His brother Shaun Marsh played two matches in the 2019 World Cup, before a ball from Pat Cummins broke his forearm in the nets. For the full list of related ODI players, click here.Geoff Marsh played the 1987 World Cup final, while his son, Mitchell, featured in the 2015 World Cup squad and played in the 2023 final•Ryan Pierse/Getty ImagesIndia beat England by 100 runs in the World Cup even though they scored only 229 themselves. Was this some sort of record? asked Mohan Chowdhury from India

India’s 229 for 9 against England in Lucknow was the second-lowest total to result in a win by 100 runs or more in a World Cup match: South Africa (225 for 7) beat England (103) by 122 runs at The Oval in 1999. The lowest total in any one-day international that resulted in a win by 100 runs or more remains England’s 171 at Edgbaston in 1977 – they then bowled Australia out for 70. That was the match in which both Greg Chappell (5 for 20) and Gary Cosier (5 for 18) took five wickets for Australia, still the only time this has happened in an ODI.Don Bradman took two wickets in his Test career. Is it true that he dismissed the same batter both times? asked Mustafa Al Sharif from the United Arab Emirates

I’ve answered loads of questions on here about Don Bradman’s batting – see above for a start – but I can’t remember very many about his bowling! Bradman very occasionally sent down some optimistic legbreaks. He bowled in only nine Test innings, his most famous spell arguably coming at The Oval in 1938, when he badly injured his ankle during his brief spell and couldn’t bat. It’s said that England’s captain Wally Hammond only called a halt at 903 for 7 after he’d been assured the Don would not be able to go in.Bradman did take two wickets in Tests, as you said, but they weren’t the same person. In Adelaide in 1930-31 , he trapped the West Indies wicketkeeper Ivan Barrow lbw for 27. Bradman’s second victim, two seasons later in Adelaide again, was none other than the aforementioned Hammond, who missed a full toss and was bowled for 85. It didn’t matter much overall – England went on to a 338-run win and took a 2-1 lead in the Bodyline series – but Hammond was furious at getting out to his rival, who had supplanted him as the leading batter in the world.In all first-class cricket Bradman took 36 wickets, with a best performance of 3 for 35 for the Australian tourists against Cambridge University at Fenner’s in 1930. He took three more wickets in the second innings, finishing with match figures of 6 for 103.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

Scorchers’ route has just become difficult – they face Strikers at home first, and if they win they have to play either Heat or Sixers away

Tristan Lavalette17-Jan-2024When Laurie Evans signed off from the BBL season, having smashed 72 off 34 balls, he received a standing ovation from a rowdy 33,412 Optus Stadium crowd in the mood for celebrating.Moments later, Cooper Connolly and Nick Hobson – the unexpected heroes from Perth Scorchers’ epic title victory last season, achieved with a win over Brisbane Heat – pummelled a ragged Sydney Sixers attack to lift the defending champions to a mighty score of 197 for 4. It was Scorchers’ second-highest total of the season and they appeared set to continue a recent domination of Sixers, who had won just once from five matches on the harder and bouncier Optus Stadium surface.The confidence on the parochial west coast seemed justified with the prevailing feeling that Scorchers would clinch the all-important second spot and then knock over top-placed Heat in the Qualifier before once again staging another final at their home fortress.Related

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But, by the end of an astonishing match, with endless twists and turns in the latest chapter of a remarkable rivalry, Scorchers were left stunned by a brilliant chase led by opener Daniel Hughes and finished calmly by skipper Moises Henriques.The normally heaving Optus Stadium was reduced to silence with Scorchers’ bid for a historic hat-trick of titles having to go through a much more difficult route. Scorchers face surging Adelaide Strikers in the knockout final at home on Saturday, and if they get through that will have to play either Heat or Sixers on the road.The result means Scorchers will not host the final. Before losing to Sixers, Scorchers had won 17 of their last 18 matches at home. It’s a result that has provided a tonic for their rivals.”It’s so hard to come here and win, especially for a semi-final or final, which is what we don’t have to do now,” Hughes said. “We don’t have to come back to Perth to win the competition, so that was a big motivation for us.”

“We’re looking forward to seeing what he can do. I would imagine that he’ll come in on Saturday. And hopefully he can have an impact”Adam Voges on the returning Marcus Harris

Scorchers’ title defence has undoubtedly been rocked, but this veteran group has overcome significant hurdles in their previous title runs. They spent almost all of BBL 11 on the road due to Covid-19 restrictions and last season were hit hard by injuries and withdrawals, including losing Evans, who had his contract terminated following a positive drugs test.”I thought we batted beautifully… it [the target] was above par and they had to bat exceptionally well to chase it down. And that’s what they did,” Scorchers coach Adam Voges said. “It’s taken a pretty special performance and the last ball of the game [to beat us].”We’re disappointed. But we know our fate now.”Like the other finals teams, Scorchers have been impacted by a clash with the upcoming ILT20 in the UAE. Evans, who hit 292 runs at 58.4 with a strike rate of 189.61 this season, took the flight for Dubai on Wednesday morning and left a major hole in a middle-order that will continue to be without injured skipper Ashton Turner.Laurie Evans’ departure – for the ILT20 – could hurt the Scorchers batting•Getty ImagesScorchers’ batting resources might be further stretched with opener Steve Eskinazi undergoing scans after retiring hurt early in his innings following a blow to his knuckles.It points to late signing Marcus Harris being an almost certain call-up against Strikers. Having recently missed out on a Test recall, Harris returns after playing 14 matches for Scorchers from 2014-16.”With Marcus… he’s played with us before. He knows the conditions, the players, and he’s fit in seamlessly already,” Voges said. “That was a big part of the decision-making to bring someone in who knows our group and we know him pretty well.”We’re looking forward to seeing what he can do. I would imagine that he’ll come in on Saturday. And hopefully he can have an impact.”Having loaded up on bowling for much of the season, Scorchers reverted to stocking up their batting by including Hobson for their last two games. Hobson has grabbed his opportunities with powerful late hitting against Heat and Sixers, but Scorchers were exposed with the ball during an unusually sloppy performance from their frontline quicks.Matt Kelly could be drafted back in to the Scorchers XI for the finals•Getty ImagesScorchers might be tempted to recall seamer Matt Kelly, who has been a reliable option over the years. He has missed the entire domestic season so far due to a quad injury, but has recovered and is available for selection.”We’ve got Matt Kelly sitting on the sidelines and ready to go, so we can bring him in if we choose to,” Voges said. “It’s nice having that power-hitting that Nick Hobson has been able to provide for us, but we’ll sit down and just have a look at what things look like and come up with an eleven from that.”After their normally miserly quicks missed their lengths, especially speedster Lance Morris who leaked 48 runs from four overs, Scorchers face the daunting task of curbing Strikers captain Matthew Short.Short, who hit the most runs ever in a ten-match BBL regular season, blasted 76 not out and 74 against Scorchers this season with the teams splitting their pair of games. He looms as key in a game expected to attract 45,000 fans to Optus Stadium.”We need to make sure that we execute a bit better because he’s clearly the form player and best player in the competition at the moment,” Voges said. “He’ll be a big deciding factor on Saturday.”

Former West Indies selector Roland Butcher was part of the panel who plucked out the young quick bowler

Andrew McGlashan02-Feb-2024One of the first people involved in West Indies cricket to set eyes on Shamar Joseph has recalled the excitement at seeing him bowl.Roland Butcher, who played international cricket for England, was a West Indies selector until earlier this year and was present at various stages through Joseph’s rapid rise which made global headlines with his 7 for 68 at the Gabba to bowl West Indies to a famous eight-run win despite an injured toe.It was last year at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua that Butcher was convinced they had found a special talent. He quickly took his thoughts back to fellow selector Desmond Haynes and the wheels were set in motion.Related

• Baracara's speed demon: the Shamar Joseph story

• Ball-by-ball: Shamar Joseph rips through Australia at the Gabba

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“I immediately saw this guy bowling and thought, wow, this guy has got talent,” Butcher told ESPNcricinfo. “Went back to the hotel and sat down with Desmond and said, I saw a boy today who I believe is what we’ve been looking for. He’s the real material as a fast bowler.”Joseph took a five-wicket haul in his second first-class match and then earned a place on the A tour to South Africa where he claimed 12 wickets in two games. But even before then, Butcher had his eyes on the Australia tour.”What I saw was a guy with great athletic ability,” he said. “He’s not a big lad, but he’s strong and extremely fit. You could see that in him then, and once he started playing for Guyana, you saw the easy run up and the pace and the areas that he bowled. He’s not a guy who is all over the place. He bowls good areas but at serious pace.”It surprised us all that he’s done it so quickly but we always believed he had the talent. We took a chance, a calculated risk. I believed Australia was the perfect place for him to play because the pitches obviously favour fast bowling but you still need to know how to bowl there.

We knew his capabilities but don’t think we expected that sort of impact. How can you?Roland Butcher

“What you saw in Australia is what he did in that first game. The same lengths, movement, pace, everything you saw he did in the first game.”Butcher and Joseph had first crossed paths a couple of years earlier at a cricket clinic in Berbice, Guyana, when he and Andy Roberts had been invited to visit by the local board.”We had a long conversation. I saw him and realised he had talent,” Butcher recalled. “We spoke about it, I said listen, you have a lot of talent and I believe if you get serious about the game I know what could happen.”Then during the Super50 last year in Trinidad he came and sat down and said do you remember when you spoke with me about taking the game seriously. Then he said, six to eight months later he decided to take it serious.”Shamar Joseph sustained his pace throughout his matchwinning spell•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesAlthough Butcher’s contract as a selector has ended, the pair kept in regular contact during the Australia tour with Butcher passing on advice about bowling in the conditions.”He’s not a bang it into the pitch bowler,” he said. “We talked about not getting carried away with the bounce and bowling a fuller length and about being quicker through the air.”They were all attributes on display at the Gabba where he continually challenged the defence of the Australia batters and was still getting movement with the pink ball as it grew older. His stamina, too, stood out as he touched 150kph deep into the matchwinning spell.”We knew his capabilities but don’t think we expected that sort of impact. How can you? The impact he’s had is unreal,” Butcher said. “What he has achieved is unbelievable. From his background, what he had to do…he’s one of the most natural athletes I’ve seen for a long time.”You have to remember where he came from. You must have real love for the game and serious desire to play in a place where there’s hardly any cricket, hardly any facilities, a very difficult place to get to. The support he got from within his village, he must have had huge desire to be a cricketer.”The story has already shifted to what happens next for Joseph. He has T20 league deals (an ILT20 stint has been curtailed by the toe injury) but has committed to always being available for West Indies. Their next Test series is against England in July.”I talk to him about things happening quickly, the type of people he needs around him to handle this kind of thing,” Butcher said. “That will be key now in terms of him getting good advice. He’s got a strong family background, so I have no doubts he won’t get carried away. He’s the catalyst for dragging that young team forward.”

Does Pant walk back into the ODI setup? Will Rahul lead in the 50-over format? A look at the big questions facing India’s selectors ahead of Wednesday’s meeting

Shashank Kishore16-Jul-20242:36

How do India rebuild their T20I side under Gambhir?

Will Rohit, Kohli, Bumrah play the Sri Lanka ODIs?

In his role as a media professional, new India head coach Gautam Gambhir has previously been critical of senior players resting between high-profile assignments. But with India slated to play 10 Tests from September to January (five at home and five in Australia, all part of the 2023-25 WTC cycle) there is a possibility that Rohit, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah will be rested for the Sri Lanka ODIs, leaving the selectors to pick a new 50-overs captain as well.

Is KL Rahul the obvious choice as stand-in ODI captain?

KL Rahul stood in as captain when India last played ODIs, in South Africa last December. If fully fit, Rahul is likely to return to ODI setup as a middle-order batter at the very least, if not as a wicketkeeper too – a role he performed during India’s run to the 2023 World Cup final. There’s also familiarity between Rahul and Gambhir, the pair having worked together as captain-coach previously at Lucknow Super Giants.KL Rahul and Sanju Samson are both contenders to take the gloves in the Sri Lanka ODIs•BCCIHowever, there could be a consideration made for Shubman Gill, who incidentally just led India to the 4-1 T20I series win in Zimbabwe. Over the past year, Gill has become a dominant force in ODIs – he’s the second-highest run-getter worldwide in the format since the start of 2023.Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma might extend their break to the Sri Lanka ODIs•BCCIWhether Rishabh Pant, for the first time since his accident in December 2022, returns to the ODI setup and takes the gloves will be another big call for the Agarkar-led committee to make. Rahul aside, they also have a formidable wicketkeeping option in Sanju Samson, who struck his maiden international century in India’s most-recent ODI, against South Africa late last year. Samson’s overall ODI numbers are laudable – he has three half-centuries and a century in 14 innings (average 56.66), while scoring at nearly a run-a-ball (strike rate 99.60).

What about Shreyas Iyer?

Shreyas Iyer lost his BCCI central contract this February, seemingly for failing to prioritise domestic cricket by not turning up for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. Iyer cited persistent back trouble, which “no one was agreeing with”, as one of the reasons for that. However, since then Iyer has turned things around by leading Kolkata Knight Riders to their first IPL triumph in ten years. Iyer has a prolific ODI record too – he was India’s third highest-run scorer in the 50-overs World Cup, behind Rohit and Kohli, hitting 530 runs in 11 innings including two hundreds and three fifties. He also hit the second-most sixes in the tournament.Shreyas Iyer had a fantastic ODI World Cup before he ran into contract issues•AFP/Getty Images

Who from the Zimbabwe series could find a look-in in Sri Lanka?

With Rohit likely to rest, Yashasvi Jaiswal has made a strong pitch to earn a maiden ODI cap. Jaiswal, a reserve opener in India’s T20 World Cup winning squad, struck a 53-ball 93 last week in Harare to seal the T20I series against Zimbabwe.Ravindra Jadeja’s T20I retirement could pave way for Washington Sundar’s inclusion. Washington is coming off a Player of the Series winning performance in Zimbabwe; he finished the series with eight wickets in five matches at an economy of 5.16.Abhishek Sharma, who struck a maiden T20I ton in only his second international innings, and Ruturaj Gaikwad could be picked as reserve openers for the T20Is and ODIs respectively.

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Harigovind S23-Oct-2024