They’ve battled injuries and unexpectedly slow pitches, but they’ve scrapped their way into the Super 12s

Sidharth Monga20-Oct-2022As far as banana peels go, Sri Lanka found themselves on a big one, which in turn was placed on an oily surface. Playing the first round of the 2022 T20 World Cup, after coming in as Asia Cup champions, they struggled to adjust to a slow, two-paced Geelong pitch and ended up paying for it with a defeat to Namibia. Add to it a soft outfield that can leave you vulnerable to injuries.Five of the Sri Lanka players have been injured so far. Dilshan Madushanka tore his quad during training on the eve of the first match. Dushmantha Chameera did his calf during the second game. Pramod Madushan and Danushka Gunathilaka injured their hamstrings. Pathum Nissanka has now gone for a scan of his groin.Related

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Maheesh Theekshana feels the risk of injuries is high on this ground. “Even when we’re batting, we can see how the ball is not going to the boundaries; the ball stops early,” he said. “There’s a lot of tension on the body. That’s why there are more injuries.”Then, on the day after their defeat against Namibia, Sri Lanka saw a forecast for rain on Thursday, the final day of the first round, which left them even more anxious. And these are not conditions where you can blast away an opposition. You have to swallow your pride a little.Sri Lanka fell back on conservative, unsexy cricket to get back on their feet. Their first win, against UAE, was centred on Nissanka’s 74 at a strike rate of 123.33. In their next game, Kusal Mendis went at a run a ball for his first 17 balls against Netherlands. Just what you are taught not to do in T20 cricket. But they knew they couldn’t make the conditions bend to their will.”When we saw the pitch, I didn’t think it would be that slow in the morning,” Mendis said. “It’s very slow, and the spinners turned the ball. You can’t get to your normal game. Even if you jump out of the crease, it’s a bit slow. So we had to bat normally for 10 or 12 overs. Because we did that, we were able to score heavily in the last five.”[It’s] a little bit different here. In Australia, you come expecting bounce and pace. Here you have to play your normal game in the first six overs. Then we can hit out in the last ten overs. In the first game, we struggled. The wicket was slow. We didn’t know how to play on this pitch. The second and third game, I knew how to play here.”Often in T20s, not taking risks is the risk. Mendis was willing to take that risk. The pitch was perhaps slightly better than in the first two matches. Once he realised the slower ones were not gripping as much, Mendis played with the ground dimensions: short square boundaries and a long hit down the ground.Mendis managed to hit 23 balls between fine leg and midwicket, which brought him 62 of his 79 runs, including all five sixes. This points to a few loose balls especially as some of the slower ones didn’t grip. But it also points to ruthless execution and upscaling of his ambition as he went along.Sri Lanka didn’t quite avoid the banana peel but have managed to get back up. It has taken a heavy toll, but there’s no time to lick their wounds. They will have to regroup quickly, adjust to real Australian tracks, and keep finding answers and replacements as they go along.

The team is in flux and the SLC in chaos, but the captain has hung around to try and rescue them from no-win situations

Andrew Fidel Fernando23-Apr-2021Being men’s Sri Lanka captain can occasionally feel like a no-win situation. To begin with, you’re in charge of a side that has failed to seriously arrest a six-year decline. (It’s been said for ages that Sri Lanka are “in transition”, but as they are seventh on the Test rankings six years after their last great batter retired, maybe the transition is complete, and they are now just a much worse team).Such has been the turnover of the captaincy across formats, you’ve also got to watch your back at all times. The previous Test captain, Dinesh Chandimal, was dumped – not just from leadership, but from the team altogether – following a bad tour of Australia. Not long before that, Angelo Mathews was sacked from the limited-overs job for (and this is honestly the official reason) being too chonky and running out too many partners he was chonky.And then, there is elite cricket’s premiere manufacturer of industrial-strength buffoonery to deal with, aka SLC. Maybe you’re a new captain and you want to build a productive relationship with the coach? Look, this board is big on their hiring-and-firing. The coach will be out of here soon enough. Or maybe you want some consistency in selection? Hard luck, friend. Try again. Or perhaps you’re hoping that whenever a player gets injured, there’s a decent Test-ready substitute waiting to take his place? Lol. Have you seen the first-class system? Disciplinary hearings, embarrassing media releases, player names spelled wrong on jerseys, shouty press conferences, greasy politicians, money being skimmed on broadcast deals – this is life.Into this infuriating set of circumstances, drop a man who seems almost impossible to infuriate. Affable. That’s Dimuth Karunaratne. When his keeper insists on a terrible review, he smirks. When catches go down; no wild gesticulations. Wry smiles, pats on the back, a quiet word – these are the signature Karunaratne moves. When you’re operating in the upper reaches of a system as maddening as this, to be this inoffensive is not far from being an achievement.Related

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Perhaps most importantly, the man has just stuck around. He’s kind of made it his thing. Years before he led the team, he was constantly on the verge of being dropped, but dusted off a 64 here, a 77 there, and made himself difficult to be parted with. This has gone on for so long that when he has lean spells now, it almost seems inevitable that a score is coming. In South Africa, in December and January, he began with 22, 6 and 2, before signing off with 103 – at The Wanderers no less. Similarly, in the West Indies, he’d hit 12, 3 and 1, then an important 75 as Sri Lanka strove to draw the second Test.In this innings on Friday, he made the least convincing start out of the five Sri Lanka batter to come to the crease, scratching around, playing and missing, failing to pierce the field, making only 16 from his first 65 deliveries (in the same period, opening partner Lahiru Thirimanne had made 43). There was almost a return catch, big lbw shouts (one of which was given out and overturned), running stutters, and periods under which bowlers put him under substantial pressure. But oh, look, end of day, there’s an 85 not out on the scoreboard, and, well, who should it belong to but this guy? That it was made at the relatively sedate strike rate of 40 should surprise no one.As with his batting, his tactical nous as captain has never been spectacular, but neither has it been terrible. He attacks with the field, but has the misfortune of captaining a profoundly fragile bowling attack (Lahiru Kumara seems to have tweaked a hamstring and may be out of the series). When it became clear that the pitch was offering his bowlers less than nothing in this match, Karunaratne changed tack and got them bowling dry – attempting to frustrate the opposition since they could not be blown away. Captaincy that is far from inspired, and yet, not completely unfruitful.He’s no one’s idea of perfection (as opener or captain), but right now, he’s what they’ve got, and like a good stepfather, or a substitute teacher trying to get the class through the syllabus, the guy is making a fist of it. When Bangladesh made 541 in the first innings, Sri Lanka were essentially in a no-win situation. And bless him, Karunaratne hung around.

Ireland seamer returns record haul to help Manchester Originals qualify

Matt Roller01-Sep-2022Midway through Ireland’s T20I series against Afghanistan in Belfast, Josh Little noticed a notification on his phone. Phil Salt, who he had spent three weeks with Dambulla Giants at the Lanka Premier League last Christmas, had messaged him on Instagram to say that Simon Katich was keen to sign him as a replacement player for Manchester Originals in the Hundred.”He said that Kat was keen to get me in,” Little recalled, speaking to the BBC. “I said, ‘good one’. But then I got a call the next day and headed down after playing Afghanistan and came here.”Little, 22, has only bowled 44 balls for Originals since replacing Sean Abbott but is already their joint-highest wicket-taker, featuring in three consecutive wins and returning the competition’s best-ever figures, 5 for 13, in Wednesday night’s effective quarter-final against Oval Invincibles.It has been an improbable rise, one which has epitomised Originals’ unlikely run to the knockout stages after starting the tournament with three consecutive defeats. They have lost their star players – Abbott to Australia, Andre Russell to the CPL and Jos Buttler to injury – but unlikely match-winners have emerged in the form of Wayne Madsen, Paul Walter and Little.Related

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The planning behind Little’s record-breaking spell on Wednesday night was remarkably simple. Originals had discussed a theory that Invincibles’ top order was susceptible to short balls and with one boundary at Old Trafford significantly longer than the other, Little looked to bang the ball into the pitch and use the dimensions in his favour.”It was just about keeping it simple and trying to get them hitting towards the big side,” Little explained. “One side was short, one side was long, so I just tried to keep it as simple as possible. The wicket was offering a little bit so I was trying to use my pace up and then my skills at the end: slowies and yorkers.”He struck twice in his three balls in the powerplay, as Jordan Cox and Will Jacks pulled hard-length balls to deep square leg and short midwicket respectively, then turned the game back into Originals’ favour with the crucial wicket of Sam Billings, well-set on 53 off 32 and looking to pull him over the shorter boundary.”Laurie [Evans, their captain] said to me he would try to sweep my first ball,” Little explained. “I saw him walk across and tried to push it a bit wider.” Rushed by Little’s extra bounce from just short of a good length, Billings picked out Tom Hartley, running in from long-on. In his final set, Hilton Cartwright toe-ended through to Salt while ducking a bumper, and Matt Milnes miscued a short ball to mid-off.Little has already appeared in the LPL and the Abu Dhabi T10, and earlier this year spent two weeks at the IPL as a net bowler for Chennai Super Kings. His main takeaway, he told the Irish journalist Nathan Johns’ podcast earlier this year, was “to keep it simple and be good at what you’re good at”.”I’m just delighted to be a part of it,” Little said, after he had helped to secure Originals’ spot in Friday night’s eliminator against London Spirit at the Ageas Bowl. “It’s a great bunch of lads and I’m enjoying every minute. When things are going well, you want to run with it. I’m just hoping we can get another win down in Southampton after a long drive tomorrow.”Josh Little came into the Hundred on the back of strong T20I performances against Afghanistan at home•Sportsfile/Getty ImagesThere has been plenty of scepticism about the accuracy of the speed guns in the Hundred – Richard Gleeson, who has occasionally touched 90mph/145kph for England, was clocked at 93mph/149kph on Wednesday night – but Little has clearly rushed batters for pace during his walk-on role in the Hundred.”Someone like that is relatively unknown to franchises and overseas players,” Evans said. “He turned up and bowled with some real pace at me in the nets on his first day and I thought, ‘he’s not bad’. To come in and perform like he has… he’s got a lot of pace, and a lot of talent.”He has found an extra yard this year as the result of a technical change implemented while working with Ryan Eagleson, Ireland’s fast-bowling coach: looking to drive his back leg through straighter than he had been to help him maintain his momentum. The whip of his wrist on release can make him difficult for batters to pick up, and he has always been a hostile, aggressive bowler: England supporters may remember him bouncing Eoin Morgan out on his ODI debut in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup.And while Little’s success in the Hundred has been brief, it could yet be a significant moment for Ireland. Since they became a full ICC member, their players have been unable to appear as locals in English domestic cricket and have struggled – with the notable exception of Paul Stirling – to win opportunities as overseas players.As a result, Ireland have been forced to develop their own young players without relying on the county system; Little’s performances suggest that they are managing to do so. With a quiet international schedule next summer, do not be surprised to see much more of him in English domestic cricket in the near future.

Veteran allrounder doesn’t yet know if Royal London Cup final will be his last professional game

Valkerie Baynes16-Sep-2022″It hurts,” says Darren Stevens a month after Kent, the county he has called home for 17 years, announced they would not be offering a new contract – one which would have seen him play to the age of 47 and beyond.It’s present tense, but this time – having lived on year-by-year deals with the club for several years, memorably forcing their hand at the end of the 2019 season – he has accepted the decision.”I don’t want to fight any more,” Stevens told ESPNcricinfo. “I feel like for the last five years I’ve been fighting for a contact where in three of those five years I’ve got Player of the Year, so I don’t know how that actually works.Related

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“It was gut-wrenching and really disappointing and it still hurts because I feel like I still have a lot to give for Kent cricket, on and off the pitch. But unfortunately the decision’s been made by the hierarchy.”I’d like to think I’ve still got the fight in me to churn out a couple of hundreds and a couple of five-fors but unfortunately I’ve not been picked in the four-day stuff. That’s disappointing as well, so I can’t really put a fight up. So yeah, it hurts. It hurts.”Stevens’ last chance to give for Kent will be in Saturday’s Royal London Cup final against Lancashire at Trent Bridge. It comes after he helped propel his side into the knockout stages with a 41-ball 49 in a two-wicket victory the last time the two sides met, which was also Stevens’ final appearance at Canterbury.He smashed 41 off just 24 balls and conceded only 37 runs from his 10 overs as Kent eased past his former club, Leicestershire, in the play-off. Then his 84 from 65 balls broke Hampshire hearts in the semi-final after Kent had wobbled to 20 for 2 inside six overs and 68 for 3 inside 15 chasing 311.He admits it will be strange walking out with the team knowing that it’s probably the last time with Kent but not knowing whether it will be for the last time ever. Stevens has only played five of Kent’s 12 Championship games so far this year and, with just two fixtures remaining, he has low expectations of being picked again.”It will be emotional,” Stevens said. “We’ve had too much thinking time this week. I’ve been talking about it a lot and I’ve been thinking about it more than I would do.

“They don’t think you can be a player in a changing room and then go straight into coaching in a changing room [but] the group of lads that we’ve got at Kent, I feel like I’m like a mentor to them anyway”

“I’ll be a bit nervous but when you get across the rope, you’re back on your job and I’ll have a clear mind on what I’m doing, batting or bowling. It’s hard to explain. It might be my last game for Kent, it might my last professional game.”Somebody asked me a while ago about walking out at Kent in a four-day game for the last time. Well, I think I’ve already done that.”But it was like, ‘say it was the last game of the season, what would that be like?’ And I said, ‘you can’t ask me that question because I can’t answer it.’ I don’t want it to stop but it might be taken out of my hands.”Having railed against retirement, saying he still adores playing, Stevens is determined to seek a fresh deal at another club. He has held talks with two counties he doesn’t wish to name at this stage about a player-coach role.It’s the sort of job he wanted at Kent, where he has settled with his wife and two young sons after moving from Leicestershire in 2005. He spent this season building his coaching experience as a bowling coach for South East Stars and working with a school in Canterbury, but the club were not prepared to offer him such a position.”They don’t think you can be a player in a changing room and then go straight into coaching in a changing room,” Stevens said. “I’ll look at it differently, because it’s from a selfish point of view… the group of lads that we’ve got at Kent at the moment, I feel like I’m like a mentor to them anyway, not only a team-mate and a good friend.”You naturally just do it, I feel like I naturally just help. A lot of the lads at the moment, they talk to me a lot about their batting and some of them about their bowling. That’s where I want to go.Stevens will bow out with Kent at the end of the season•Getty Images”I’d love to stay at Kent but obviously they’ve made it very clear that they’d like me to go away and then maybe one day I’ll come back. We’ll see what happens.”Stevens said he had found it particularly hard seeing Kent struggle in the Championship – they are third from bottom in Division One and face a three-way battle with Somerset and Warwickshire to avoid being relegated alongside last-placed Gloucestershire.Stevens hasn’t played a four-day game since mid-May. He scored 148 runs at 24.66 during his limited appearances in the Championship and took four wickets at an average of 92.75.”They gave me the one-day stuff, I’ve done okay in the one-day game,” Stevens said. “Looking at that semi-final knock, that was probably as good as I’ve played for a long time.”Unfortunately they’ve taken it of my hands so I can’t perform in four-day cricket because they’ve not given me an opportunity. But the other thing with that is we’re losing games.”For the last 17 years for Kent, when we’ve been in trouble it’s been my job to try and get us out of trouble and when I’m sitting there watching us lose games it really hurts. But there’s nothing I can do bar support he lads as I always do. But it hurts when I see my team losing.”Should his team find themselves in trouble against Lancashire on Saturday, all Kent eyes will be on Stevens to do his job one more time.

His accuracy against South Africa was a throwback to the 2017 Champions Trophy glory days

Danyal Rasool06-Feb-2021The Rawalpindi Test may still be finely poised, but in many ways, the end of South Africa’s innings is where the credits should have rolled. And if one day they ever make a movie about Hasan Ali, the conclusion of South Africa’s first innings may be a suitable place to wrap up.We have all seen those horror films where everyone in the audience knows if you enter a certain room, you are not going to emerge from it unaffected, if at all you do emerge. And if you’re a Pakistan cricketer – a Pakistan fast bowler, more specifically – that room is the rehabilitation facility post-injury.The pre-credits warning kill of such a film would likely be Umar Gul, unaware of the dangers that lurked in that dark corner of the building, which he entered with a stress fracture of his back around the mid-2000s and it wouldn’t be a couple of years before he managed to return to his best. Those niggles, however, would never quite go away; and by 2010, Gul was regularly on and off the fitness table, and in and out of the side. His pace had dropped, the threat had gone and he would spend the rest of his days in the obscurity of the Pakistan domestic scene. Roll the opening credits.Related

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Hasan had already seen the careers of Junaid Khan, Rumman Raees and most recently Mohammad Abbas – whose game is so outwardly docile you wouldn’t imagine any kind of medical treatment could impinge upon his performances – begin to regress after a spell out on the sidelines. That gave him every cause to worry about his own back injury that the PCB made clear last year would require prolonged rehabilitation and possible surgery.There can be no sequence of words scarier to a fast bowler, especially one from Pakistan who has already seen what happened to his counterparts in similar situations. In the days prior to that, Hasan had been dropped from the PCB’s list of centrally contracted players; he still remains without a central contract for now. It made clear the PCB did not view him as part of their short-to-medium-term plans, with speculation that his career at the highest level was over.From the plans Hasan seemed to be making in the weeks and months following that setback, he might as well not have understood what the medical diagnosis was. He set his mind not only to returning at the highest level in record time, but also decided he wanted to come back in his favourite format – Test cricket.”One thing is very clear – I like Test cricket a lot,” he told reporters in a virtual press conference after the third day’s play against South Africa. “I always dreamed of playing Test cricket, and now I’m a Test cricketer. This is the format I would pick over all the others, and you want to keep your motivation and work ethic up if you want to play Test cricket. I told the management I was ready for all three formats and prepared myself such that even if I got a go in Test cricket, I’d be raring to go.”He was. After a season in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy where he was the most prolific fast bowler with 43 wickets, he earned a recall to the Test side eight months after that crushing, career-threating diagnosis. In the first Test in Karachi, he was a casualty of a pitch designed to neutralise South Africa’s pace bowlers, but come Rawalpindi, Hasan showed Pakistan what they could still expect from him. He began by taking Dean Elgar’s outside edge just before tea on the second afternoon, and if that was a standard, banal, new-ball dismissal, the others were all trademark Hasan from the days of Champions Trophy 2017 glory and the world number one ranking.The speed at which Hasan’s return to the highest level has occurred may continue to adjust expectations upwards•PCBRassie van der Dussen had no chance against an inswinger that made a beeline for his off stump first up, and today, Hasan turned the dial up to 11, running through the opposition’s lower order that had specifically been bolstered by an extra batsman. Yasir Shah and Nauman Ali could afford to take a back seat as Hasan first cleaned up George Linde with a slower delivery that had as much swagger as the hallmark “Generator” celebration that followed, before one reversed through the gap between Keshav Maharaj’s bat and pad. Anrich Nortje decided to shoulder arms to a ball that began on a fifth stump line, before it clattered into off stump, with the stricken stump combined by the lack of a shot forming a picture of perfect surrender. Hasan thus wrapped up the innings with a five-for in just his second Test in almost two years.People might have enjoyed that at home in front of their TVs with a cup of tea, having previously shouted at him and berated him for allowing his pace to drop and swing to recede, as if stress fractures of the back could be shaken off like morning drowsiness. The warp speed at which Hasan’s return to the highest level has occurred – as well as how close to his delightful old self he looked for large parts of this Test – may continue to adjust expectations upwards for a man still gingerly trying out his rehabilitated body. It is worth remembering that those wickets, that swing and even that celebration doesn’t come as easily as he sometimes made it look.”Staying away from cricket for 16-17 months after being a part of all three formats was difficult. But I’ve worked day and night to get back to where I was, demonstrated both my form and fitness in domestic cricket, and thankfully that has translated to international cricket,” Hasan said of his comeback.”When players return, it’s true that a lot of players can’t get the same pace back. But if you work hard enough, those things come back to you. I still remember that I used to do rehab several times a day and then the Covid pandemic struck and I was stuck at home. That is frustrating of course, but I never let my work ethic drop. I got lots of injuries but if you work hard, nothing is difficult anymore.”And yet, even more importantly, Hasan refused to allow himself to go down the dark mental paths during what must undoubtedly have been crushingly uncertain times. A scroll through his social media feeds included light-hearted clips enjoying himself with his family and friends, his exercise routines and answering fans’ questions in jovial, uninhibited ways uncommon in the age of brand-managed sports stars.”It was a very tough time for me, but you’ll always have good and bad days,” Hasan added. “I try to keep a smile on my face and relax. Life goes up and down but if you don’t enjoy it, then what’s the point? You only live once, so smile through it. I used social media to show my fans that I’m motivated through the tough times, and I’m sure they appreciated it.”The joie de vivre had never gone away, and now the quality is back, too. There’s always the fear of an unexpected post-credits scene, but for now, the critical reception has to be positive.

The visitors’ fast bowling will challenge Australia’s in-form batters but South Africa’s fragile batting needs to set decent totals to defend

Ian Chappell18-Dec-2022History – even the most recent version – has shown that fast bowlers play a crucial role in winning in Australia. In the last 15 years only two teams, South Africa and India, have beaten Australia at home in a test series more than once. In each case – Dale Steyn in South Africa’s and Jasprit Bumrah in India’s – a fast bowler played a leading role.That’s not to say a paceman did it all on his own – they had plenty of help – but the fast bowlers set a leading example. The most remarkable of those victories was India’s in 2020-21, when they were bundled out for 36, had their captain then fly home, lost Bumrah to injury in the final Test, and yet still narrowly beat Australia at Fortress Gabba.That was an incredible feat led by India’s then junior fast bowler Mohammed Siraj.Related

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If you fully explore Australia’s Test history, the importance of pace is brought home even more starkly. In 1932-33, England dominated, with Harold Larwood being the genuine pace-bowling threat. England, whose wiser captains Len Hutton and Ray Illingworth plumped for pace, again dominated Australia with Frank “Typhoon” Tyson in 1954-55 and John Snow in 1970-71 being the successful pace bowlers.Then it was the turn of West Indies for a period of 14 years, where they monstered Australia at home, winning four times with a successful quartet of very fine fast bowlers.That turns the spotlight back on South Africa, who arrived this month in Australia with a fine quartet of fast bowlers. In Kagiso Rabada they have a proven pace bowler in Australia. However, in addition they have Anrich Nortje who bowls at genuine pace; Lungi Ngidi, who is a clever fast bowler; and left-armer Marco Jansen, who swings the ball at a good speed.There is no doubt that South Africa have the fast-bowling quality to succeed in Australia. The big question is whether the fragile batting can produce enough runs to give their bowlers a shot at victory. Through the previous winning sequences in Australia, there was always at least one class batter in the opposition who helped the fast bowlers make victory possible.This is where South Africa fall down, as they only have their captain, Dean Elgar, as a proven performer in Australia. Elgar is a tough competitor but not a class batter. South Africa will require useful contributions from their other batters if they are going to produce match-winning totals.Adding to South Africa’s batting troubles is the Australian attack. The strength of Australia and a big reason for their recent success at home has been a very strong bowling squad. Even slightly depleted with the loss of Josh Hazlewood from at least the Gabba Test, Australia are still strong in bowling.However, what will give South Africa heart is that India defeated Australia when the home side’s full bowling quartet was in operation at the Gabba. Nevertheless, it still required some remarkably aggressive batting from India to defeat Australia’s attack, led by the indefatigable Pat Cummins.Despite Australia’s bowling prowess, it will be the form of their best quickie in captain Cummins who will test the fate of the South African batters. If they handle Cummins well or he is injured, Australia will have to rely on the other fast bowlers to fill the void.What South Africa’s pace quartet will do if they bowl well in Australia is fully test in-form batters who haven’t been properly subjected to a top-class bowling attack for a while.Much of South Africa’s success or otherwise will come down to the leadership of Elgar. If he captains the bowlers wisely so they trouble Australia’s batters, it will become a winning contest. If, however, the Australian batters are able to counter their pace opponents, the home side will prevail comfortably.While genuine fast bowling provides a reliable path in Australia, it doesn’t always guarantee victory. To win, South Africa need to bowl and field superbly, as well as produce some decent totals.

Will any of the new signings make a mark as the tournament resumes?

Andrew McGlashan17-Sep-20211:44

Ricky Ponting ‘thrilled’ to reunite with Delhi Capitals

David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

IPL so far Innings 6; Runs 193; Average 32.16; S/R 110.28
He is one of the key players in Australia’s World Cup plans, but Warner lost the captaincy of Sunrisers and his place in the team shortly before the IPL was suspended. He questioned team selection before he was demoted while the tempo of his batting was proving problematic for a side that was top-order heavy with overseas batters. There may be a natural opening for him to return, however, with Jonny Bairstow withdrawing from the competition.

Steven Smith (Delhi Capitals)

IPL so far Innings 5; Runs 104; Average 26.00; S/R 111.82
Smith suffered a recurrence of his elbow problem during the first stint of the competition and has spent the last few months nursing himself back to fitness in pre-season training with New South Wales. He has steadily been increasing the volume of balls he hits at nets – which normally tallies into the hundreds for someone who loves batting – but the pressure of match scenarios could be the real test. He was not in the starting XI when the competition began before a couple of handy displays and it remains to be seen how he fits into the balance of Capitals’ batting order.

Glenn Maxwell (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

IPL so far Innings 6; Runs 223; Average 37.16; S/R 144.80
After his forgettable returns in 2020, Maxwell had enjoyed a promising first half to the tournament in India as RCB found themselves in the top half of the table. A lot of Australia’s hopes would appear to rest on Maxwell’s shoulders with the bat because of the point-of-difference he can bring to the line-up so his form over the next few weeks will be watched closely.Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith and David Warner will be among those searching for pre-World Cup form•BCCI

Marcus Stoinis (Delhi Capitals)

IPL so far Innings 6; Runs 71; Average 23.66; S/R 144.89 | Wickets 2; Average 54.50; Econ 10.90
It is an interesting dynamic that the key role Stoinis could play in Australia’s side – that of middle-order finishing – is being refined at the IPL rather than in the BBL where he bats in the top order for Melbourne Stars. Under Ricky Ponting’s guidance at Capitals he has shown promise given a regular position lower down the order. Don’t discount his bowling, either, especially if pace off the ball becomes important.

Josh Hazlewood (Chennai Super Kings)

IPL so far N/A
Hazlewood did not travel for the first part of the competition, opting to finish the season with New South Wales before spending time at home. He played eight of the T20Is on the recent tours of West Indies and Bangladesh, one of the most sustained periods in the format of his career, where he worked on developing cutters and changes which brought eight wickets in four games against Bangladesh.Related

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Moises Henriques (Punjab Kings)

IPL so far Innings 2; Runs 16; Average 8.00; S/R 80.00| Wickets 1
Had limited chance to make an impact earlier in the year and then struggled on Australia’s recent tours, especially in the tough conditions of Bangladesh and missed the World Cup squad. The delay to New South Wales’ season means he will likely miss less domestic cricket than would have been the case.

Dan Christian (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

IPL so far Innings 3; Runs 3; Average 1.00; S/R 37.50
Christian, who was recalled to the Australia side for the first time in four years for the recent tours, hasn’t made the 15 for the World Cup but will be among three travelling reserves. He couldn’t get past 1 in the first stage of the tournament.Nathan Ellis is one of the Australians to pick up a replacement deal•Getty Images

Chris Lynn (Mumbai Indians)

IPL so far Innings 1; Runs 49; S/R 140.00
Lynn made a decent start in Mumbai Indians’ opening game but dropped out of the side when Quinton de Kock became available and spent the rest of the time warming the bench.

Ben Cutting (Kolkata Knight Riders)

IPL so far N/A
Like Lynn, Cutting does not have a state contact in Australia and was not used by his team in the first part of the competition. With Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Shakib Al Hasan the all-round overseas options it’s tricky to see where he fits in unless injury strikes.

Nathan Coulter-Nile (Mumbai Indians)

IPL so far Wicketless in one match
Another who has effectively become a T20 freelancer, Coulter-Nile is likely to find it tough to get a starting position.

Nathan Ellis (Punjab Kings)

T20 record Matches 33; Wickets 38; Average 25.02; Econ 8.03
A hat-trick on international debut continued Ellis’ rapid rise and followed two successful BBL seasons where he had already shown his skills at the death. With Kings needing replacements for Riley Meredith and Jhye Richardson there is a good chance he’ll get game time. He is a reserve in the World Cup squad

Tim David (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

T20 record Innings 55; Runs 1420; Average 35.50; S/R 153.18 | Wickets 5; Average 53.20; Econ 8.96
Not an Australian (he was born in Singapore) but he is eligible for the national side and is getting noticed with his performances around the world. The last few months have taken him from the BBL to the PSL to the Hundred and the CPL before landing a replacement role at RCB.

Ben Dwarshuis (Delhi Capitals)

T20 record Matches 82; Wickets 100; Average 23.73; Econ 8.19
In 2017-18, left-arm quick Dwarshuis was included in the Australia squad for the T20I tri-series involving England and New Zealand. Though he didn’t debut and hasn’t featured since, he has remained a consistent performer in the BBL and last season was the joint second-leading wicket-taker as Sydney Sixers secured back-to-back titles.

Poor use of resources and not utilising Impact Player rule to best effect eventually cost them a playoff spot

Sidharth Monga22-May-20233:13

Moody: Rajasthan Royals were hurt by the batting form of Buttler, Samson and Hetmyer

Right from the time Shane Warne put together his motley crew in the inaugural season, Rajasthan Royals are a T20 hipster’s team. They don’t play to a formula. They experiment. They push the boundaries. They invest in lesser-known players. Like other teams from the north, they don’t have a parochial fan base, but they do appeal to a neutral observer.In this run itself, Royals have used R Ashwin in a way that helped rejuvenate his T20 career, they have used a pinch anchor, then retired him when his job was done, they have played a part in the beautiful development of Yashasvi Jaiswal by gradually expecting more from him, and they have nominated a captain who talks about T20 as a different sport to the rest of cricket.There is so much to like about Royals, but they are no longer a hipster team now. Two years ago they had Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, among the best that money can buy. Their bowling attack now has three IPL champions. They have a whole analytics wing that helped them develop metrics for players to go after in the auction. They don’t fly under the radar anymore; more is expected from them.Related

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Hours after their hopes of making it to the playoffs had ended with Mumbai Indians’ win in the penultimate match of the league stage, the Royals leadership would have experienced the cruelty of it all. Royal Challengers Bangalore lost their match in 19.1 overs, thus tipping their net run rate just below Royals’. You wonder how much some of the questionable tactics are hurting the Royals personnel now that they have ended the season in the fifth position, just one win short of qualification for playoffs.In the decisions that are made before the start of the match, which probably include the coaching staff and the analytics team, Royals were the only team that didn’t make proper use of the Impact Player.In 13 matches that they used the Impact Player, the substituted player and the substitute put together created a total impact of 99.4 according to ESPNcricinfo Smart Stats, easily the worst among all teams. The next lowest was 128.2. It gets way worse for matches they batted first in. In seven matches, the Impact Player created a total impact of 6.9, the next worst being 61.6.It should come as no surprise. In most matches, Royals’ XI was the same for batting first and fielding first: six batters, five bowlers. It defeated the whole purpose of the Impact Player: extra depth in each innings.This was the year Royals’ long-term investment in Yashasvi Jaiswal blossomed•Associated PressThanks to the quality of their attack – which also was hampered by the non-availability of Trent Boult for a few games – they didn’t feel the pinch that much when they bowled first because they would end up with seven batters in the chase.That is probably why they chose to chase in their sixth and seventh matches – against Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers, respectively – when the ideal choice, especially in a day match in Bengaluru, was to bat first. In both these matches, they failed to use Jason Holder’s batting at all, sending him behind Ashwin, who has improved a lot and has been used superbly as a disruptor by Royals but is still less of a limited-overs allrounder than Holder.In the failed chase in Bengaluru, they sent in debutant Abdul Basith, who had played 73 balls in all T20 cricket, ahead of Holder.Trying to fit into the middle-overs enforcer role that the injured Prasidh Krishna used to play, Holder didn’t quite deliver what he and his team would would have expected. Not using Holder the batter, and not getting the best out of Holder the bowler, Royals just wasted an overseas slot, which could have been used to build the trio of world-beating spinners with Adam Zampa joining Yuzvendra Chahal and Ashwin.Trent Boult picked seven first-over wickets in IPL 2023•Associated PressIt didn’t help that Kuldeep Sen, who made a superb start to his season and could have been the third fast bowler, injured himself during his first match, in Chennai.Scarred twice when chasing, Royals now began to choose batting in every game instead of asking more of the batters in the chase, even in a night match at Wankhede. That promising start to the season – four wins in their first five matches – was now whittling away, and it all came to a head against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Jaipur.This was a perfect storm of pre-game and in-game calls that kept going wrong. On a pitch that they felt they needed three spinners, Royals couldn’t play Zampa because they also wanted to reinforce the batting with Joe Root. Then they picked Obed McCoy, who hadn’t bowled at all since the T20 World Cup in Australia last year, as the Impact Player but proceeded to bowl legspin in the 14th over. M Ashwin, who had already gone for 23 in his two overs, went for 19 more.Chahal dragged the game back for Royals, but they didn’t bowl their best bowler in the 19th, instead giving Kuldip Yadav that over and keeping Sandeep Sharma for the last. In the end, it came down to a no-ball from Sandeep on the last ball, but it needn’t have.This is not to say that Samson or the team management didn’t have the team’s best interests in mind, but they made too many tactical errors to be able to maximise their potential. It will hurt all the more that this was the year in which their long-term investment in Jaiswal blossomed, they found a solution for the Riyan Parag problem in Dhruv Jurel, the two spinners bowled well while their home venue provided them pitches conducive for them, and Boult kept giving them first-over wickets.The quality of the individuals in the side still brought them to the brink of qualification, but they just made one mistake too many.

Eoin Morgan’s future remains up for discussion after semi-final defeat to New Zealand

Matt Roller11-Nov-2021Five-and-a-half years separated England’s T20 World Cup defeats to West Indies and New Zealand in Kolkata and Abu Dhabi, respectively, but in one sense, nothing had changed. Both times, they scrapped up to par after losing an important toss. Both times, they took early wickets to make themselves clear favourites. Both times, their hard work was undone by a flurry of missed yorkers flying over midwicket for six at the death.But their players’ reactions after Daryl Mitchell hacked Chris Woakes’ full-toss away for four revealed a difference. Whereas in 2016, England’s players were distraught, unable to comprehend the manner of their defeat, there was a sense of acceptance on Wednesday night. There were grimaces, head scratches and thousand-yard stares, but no Ben Stokes in tears on his haunches.Therein lies a contrast between the two Englands. Against West Indies, Liam Plunkett was the oldest player in their side at the age of 30; against New Zealand, Liam Livingstone was the youngest at 28. Against West Indies, Eoin Morgan was the only one to have played a game of IPL cricket; against New Zealand, all 11 had. The 2016 squad was encouraged to embrace their combination of “a little bit of naivety with a huge amount of talent” by Morgan, but this squad was battle-hardened.Related

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The result is that this feels like a missed opportunity for England. There are mitigating circumstances: they were missing five first-choice squad members on Wednesday night – Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Tymal Mills, Jason Roy and Stokes – and after fine margins fell their way in the 50-over final two years ago, they went against them this time around.But the generation that spearheaded their white-ball revolution will not carry on together forever. Perhaps more pertinently, there will be few World Cups in either format over the next few years in which India perform quite as poorly; England were on the right side of the draw but failed to capitalise.The age profile of England’s side – in which everyone was between 28 and 35 – is not a problem in itself, not least given Archer and Curran’s absences. The experience of Chennai Super Kings’ ‘Dad’s Army’ squad was cited as the reason for their IPL wins in 2018 and 2021, but also for their seventh-placed finish in 2020. “It’s interesting how the narrative can change really quick,” Aaron Finch, Australia’s captain, said this week. “Ten days ago our team was too old; now, we’re an experienced team.”There is no shortage of talent among England’s young players. Kane Williamson hailed the depth which he saw first-hand as a mentor at Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred this year while their second-string side thrashed Pakistan 3-0 in an ODI series in July, even as uncapped English players are sought-after in the free markets of the Big Bash, the PSL and the Abu Dhabi T10.But the relentless schedule of upcoming World Cups means that there is no natural end point for this era, and England will need to manage their transition. The decision to axe Plunkett after 2019 was controversial but has been vindicated, while the timing of similarly ruthless calls will be vital with World Cups in each of the next three years: T20I in 2022 and 2024, and ODI in 2023.For England, the elephant in the room remains Eoin Morgan’s future•Getty ImagesEngland gave opportunities to a group of young players on their tour to New Zealand two years ago but only Curran has broken into the first-choice squad, with Tom Banton and Pat Brown’s development stagnating due to injuries and loss of form. They have another opportunity to experiment in Barbados in January, when they play five T20Is in nine days against a West Indies side going through its own evolutionary phase, and must not waste it.Their white-ball specialists should be available for that tour but their multi-format ones will be on Ashes duty. That creates a chance for Harry Brook and Will Jacks to win caps, while the group of players aged 24 or 25 – Joe Clarke, George Garton, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson and Phil Salt – can prove that they have benefitted from exposure to England environments or long winters on the franchise circuit. It took four years and over 100 domestic T20 appearances after his second T20I appearance for Livingstone to win a third cap; the bar to break into the first team is high.England must consider too whether it is sustainable for players to be regulars across formats. Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, Woakes and Mark Wood will all fly to Australia for an Ashes tour this weekend, and have all been pushed to breaking point by England’s schedule: four of them withdrew from the second half of the IPL – Buttler due to paternity leave – and the other, Wood, had pulled out of the auction altogether. Bubbles have exacerbated the problem, but England’s fixture list will remain a gruelling treadmill long after they have been burst.The elephant in the room is Morgan’s own future. He reiterated his intentions to continue as England’s white-ball captain until next year’s T20 World Cup after Wednesday night’s defeat, but his form this year – an average of 17.71 and a strike rate of 118.61 – has been wretched. It is by no means impossible that he will come good again – his career-best run in 2019-20, when he was hitting a six every 9.9 balls in T20 cricket, has quickly been forgotten – but at 35, it is hardly guaranteed.He insisted he is “still offering enough within the side”, but the sights of Adil Rashid frantically drying a soaking-wet ball in the 18th over and Woakes conceding his seventh six in three death overs this tournament suggested a rare off-night as captain. Morgan is the most powerful man in English limited-overs cricket and will be given the chance to bow out on his own terms. But semi-final defeats demand introspection: Morgan’s own exit strategy will determine how long England’s golden generation of white-ball players are able to cling on themselves.

If you’re Indian, make your own luck on Sunday: be smart and get off strike as quickly as you can

Osman Samiuddin23-Oct-2021First the good news. You’re an opener. This is a T20. The field is up, the ball is hard, it’s the best time to bat.Now the bad news. The guy about to run in to bowl is Shaheen Shah Afridi*.Your guard is set. You’ve done some visualisation. Adjusted your eyes to the light. Loosened the arms and shoulders. Made sure the blood is pumping in your feet. Most importantly, you’ve fist-bumped your partner.The analyst has spoken to you or maybe he sent you some notes on WhatsApp. If they’re honest and rational and keep emotion out of this, they will have told you there’s a good chance you might not survive this first over. Maybe they put it out there in a cold, hard figure: there’s a one in three chance you won’t survive this over.Related

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Wait, what? One in three? For batters, but even more for openers like yourself, who live against the overwhelming reality that one teensy-weensy delivery out of the millions they face can ruin a life, one in three is not great odds at all. Sure, the calculus is a crude one: the analyst might have told you that since his T20 debut in February 2018, Afridi has taken a wicket in the first over 20 times in 61 innings (and once he took two in the first over, so 21 wickets in first overs altogether). Second place is no place (Imad Wasim with 13, if somebody asks). Crude, yes, but you know it’s not untrue.Now is not the time, but cricket might start noting an equivalent metric for bowlers, of the first 10-balls strike rate of a batter it has started paying heed to.Forget that. If the analyst is good, he would have cushioned this with more positive reinforcement. Such as that you survive two of out three. And that of the times Afridi has struck in the first over, he has ended up on the losing side 12 times. So, even if you fail, you might win which, let’s be real, is good to say but more complicated to feel.Anyway, at least you know what’s coming. To be prepared is half the victory they say. Afridi is tall and left-armed, so there is the angles and the release points to contend with but it’s not an unorthodox action. The wrist is a little wild, with more whip game going on than Indiana Jones but overall, this is not Jasprit Bumrah or Lasith Malinga. Neither is it the side-armed sling of a Wahab Riaz or Mitchell Starc.If you are right-handed, he is most probably going to go very full and bring it back into you. Sometimes it’s absolute banana-swing and if you’re lucky, it’s going to go down leg for wides, or strike you outside leg. Nice sighters when you think about it. Except, he is just tuning his radar. Very quickly, he is going to get one right and then, well, cricket has so evolved we now have smart balls with chips in them recording all kinds of data, but the ol’ swing-backer from the left-armer to the right-hand batter remains, on most days, incomputable.Beating with late movement, Shaheen Shah Afridi style•ESPNcricinfo LtdIf there is any swing, he will get it in this over, no matter if it is Dubai, Lahore or Manchester. If it’s not banana, it’ll be the bendy-straw kind: straight for 90%, then a late, sudden bend. Also, he needs no time to nail the yorker, the immaculate kind that slips underneath the toe-end of a bat wherever it may be. Given that controlling a hard, shiny new ball and its swing is difficult enough, it’s a little special how quickly he gets that right.The bullish voice in your head is telling you that it’s fine, we have de-weaponised the yorker. But you are a batter and so there is a cautionary voice too, telling you that for an incoming yorker from a left-arm bowler, your balance needs to be perfect. And at the start of an innings that can be the most difficult thing to do.Also, sometimes it won’t swing. It’ll just be quick, straight and full. Good luck with that one.Pace is pace, yaar…•ESPNcricinfo LtdOr, you know, it will look straight, wobble a bit and then… no, did that actually go the other way a little?

Is this even legal? @iShaheenAfridi with a soul crushing yorker!#HBLPSL6 | #MatchDikhao | #MSvLQ pic.twitter.com/2gdX6zCACq

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) February 26, 2021