All posts by h716a5.icu

The Blue Jays saw their World Series title dreams end on a cruel double play in the 11th inning of Game 7's loss to the Dodgers, a heartbreaking finish for Toronto that will likely haunt the franchise for quite some time.

The Blue Jays had their best chance of clinching it in the ninth, when pinch runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa came mere inches away from what would have been a walk-off game-winning run. Two innings later, Toronto found themselves down 5-4 and couldn't get the break they needed against Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamomoto, and Los Angeles went on to win their back-to-back World Series championship.

After the loss, Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was seen sitting in the dugout by himself, as he was the last player to leave. It made for quite the lonely picture of the $500 million man who once seemed like he could lead Toronto to baseball's biggest prize this October:

Fox's cameras also caught Guerrero wiping away tears immediately following the 5-4 loss in an emotional moment:

Suffice to say, Blue Jays fans at Rogers Centre who were praying for their first title since 1993 were feeling the same way.

Entering Saturday night's do-or-die matchup, Guerrero reportedly had a simple message for his teammates, who may have been feeling jittery ahead of the elimination game. Guerrero said, "If you're nervous tonight, look at me." He showed poise and leadership when his team needed it most, and made some impressive postseason franchise history with his bat in the process, but ultimately came painfully short of closing out a championship run for the Blue Jays.

"I got to be very thankful, very grateful for our fans, for the city," Guerrero told reporters postgame. "I'm sorry, because we couldn't give that title that we know the entire city wants."

And who is the first Test cricketer to climb Mt Everest?

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2020How many can you get right in our quiz on firsts in cricket?

A remarkable innings hasn’t completely dispelled the doubts about his suitability for Test cricket

George Dobell09-Aug-2020Just when England were ready to change that stupid lock and make him leave his key, Jos Buttler goes and produces an innings like that.By the time Chris Woakes joined Buttler on Saturday, England’s position looked hopeless. Buttler’s too. After an untidy performance with the gloves, he knew he was under pressure to perform.Somehow, it appeared to focus his mind. Gone was the tentative, diffidence that has characterised Buttler’s batting over the last 18 months or so. In its place was the Buttler familiar from limited-overs cricket: positive; inventive; destructive and focused.That positivity was crucial. Having just seen Ollie Pope dismissed by an unplayable delivery that reared and took the glove, Buttler and Woakes knew that batting against a second new ball – due in 35 overs when they came together – was likely to prove deeply problematic. So they decided to take it out of the equation.ALSO READ: Stokes to miss rest of Pakistan series with family matterThat they did so in vastly different styles did England no harm at all. For while Woakes tended to give himself room to cut and drive through the off side, where he scored 63 of his 84 runs, Buttler upset Yasir Shah’s plans with his quick footwork and ability to sweep and reverse sweep even out of quite substantial foot marks. He scored 38 on the leg side and 37 on the off.There’s risk inherent in such shots, of course. And there were a couple of top-edges which, another day, might have ended up in the hands of fielders. But these are the calculated risks that Buttler was picked to play and his fast hands and utter commitment to the plan proved equal to the challenge.Besides, what was the alternative? Trust his defence and get them in singles? That’s not Buttler’s game. And it wasn’t that pitch. By the time Pakistan did have access to the new ball, it was all too late. But it was telling that the stroke that brought victory – less a stroke and more of an edge, really – came from the 13th delivery with the new ball. It moved alarmingly and the edge would have gone to third slip had Pakistan been able to afford to have one. England’s tactics were fully vindicated.Let nobody be in any doubt as to the state of the surface. We had already seen Ben Stokes dismissed by one that reared out of the foot marks. At one stage Buttler was struck in the chest by a top-spinner that reared alarmingly; at another he top-edged a pull when the delivery seemed to stick in the pitch. It was desperately tough.Jos Buttler pulls through midwicket•Getty ImagesThat there was not a single maiden bowled in the 33 overs the pair batted together isn’t an especially flattering reflection on Pakistan’s tactics. But it’s difficult to save the singles when batsmen keep smashing boundaries. And Buttler, in particular, could give a whippet a decent race. More experienced captains than Azhar Ali would have been left scratching their head by this stand.Equally, you can forgive Pakistan’s spinners looking a bit flustered. To bowl into a foot mark and be reverse-swept for four is perplexing. To then bowl almost the same ball and be swept or driven is bound to leave a bowler confused. Shadab Khan looked intimidated and dragged a couple down. Buttler, rocking on to the back foot, pulled him for six as reward.So, where does all this leave Buttler? James Vince, for example, was dropped after making 76 in his last Test innings. Will this 75 save Buttler?Almost certainly. There was very little evidence England were prepared to move on from him anyway. It was actually his third good innings in succession, too. And while he’s still short of runs in general as a Test batsman – this was his highest score since September 2018 – it was a reminder of the potential he possesses.The problem here, though, is that Buttler is at the stage of his career where England would have hoped “potential” had been turned into “performance”. Buttler is a dangerous batsman, for sure. In the way Jermaine Blackwood and Shahid Afridi might be described as dangerous. But he’s 30 in a month and has been playing for more than a decade. That first-class average of 32.36 doesn’t lie. If he’s going to bat in the top six, or even top seven, such innings have to come much more often.So, the fundamental issues remain. He doesn’t score quite enough runs to justify a role as a specialist batsman and he doesn’t keep quite well enough to provide the assurances England require there.

Modest in victory, generous to rivals and selfless even when under personal pressure, you can see why England want Buttler around

Maybe that’s unfair. The keeping mistakes in Manchester were out of character. And it was revealed after the game that his father has been unwell recently and spent Friday night in hospital.Generally he has been sound with the gloves and, standing back to the seamers, has taken some outstanding catches. The worry is his ability to stand up to spinners. And with England currently hoping to play seven Tests in Asia this winter, that’s a weakness that could be exposed. An innings of 75, however classy, doesn’t change that.One option would be to recall Ben Foakes. Buttler himself said Foakes had provided him with a “wake-up call” as to the standards required at Test level.That would leave Buttler fighting for a place as a specialist batsman. But we’ve been here before. The reason Buttler was given the gloves back in November was that he was struggling to retain his position on his batting alone. Woakes, for example, has the same number of Test centuries, more first-class centuries and actually saw England home on Saturday; nobody is suggesting he bats in the top six.So it probably won’t happen. Instead, England will hope Buttler’s hard work with the coaching staff, and keeping consultant, Bruce French, will reap rewards. He certainly won’t lack for effort or good intentions.Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes build their momentum-changing stand•Getty ImagesAnd that’s another factor here. For Buttler’s humility after his innings on Saturday was revealing. He knew he hasn’t been contributing as much as he would have liked; he knew he owed the team a performance. But instead of unleashing a Denesh Ramdin-style rebuke to his critics, he accepted he “didn’t keep well” and that he was playing for his place. Modest in victory, generous to rivals and selfless even when under personal pressure. You can see why they want such a character around.Joe Root deserves some credit, too. Root’s captaincy seems to attract quite a lot of criticism but it may depend on how you define the role. For while there may be reasonable quibbles with some of his tactics – that spell after lunch on day two, for example, when he bowled himself for a few overs instead of one of his four seamers – that is a tiny part of the job. More important, surely, is the ability to build a sense of shared purpose and unity within a squad; to instil an environment which is both hard working but relaxed; to get players playing for one another and the team more than themselves. The evidence suggests Root is rather good at that.In recent days, it has twice emerged that a well-timed word here and there has made all the difference. In Southampton, Stokes found a note telling him to captain his own way; in Manchester, Buttler was urged to “remember who you are” as he went out to bat. Root might not always have handled Jofra Archer perfectly, but he seems to have learned from the experience to become a wiser, more empathetic captain.Yes, Root isn’t scoring the runs he would like, but England have now won six Tests in a row under his leadership. More than that, they’ve evolved from a point where they were at each other’s throats a few years ago and were none too popular with opponents, either. Root is doing a lot right as captain. If he feels he needs Buttler as one of his trusted lieutenants, well, maybe he has a point.

The best dismissals by India’s latest pace-bowling find from the Test series

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jan-2021Cameron Green lbw, MCG, first innings
On his first day of Test cricket, Siraj showed an ability to do what no one else had done in the series so far: swing the old ball. In the 62nd over, he got a couple to shape away from Cameron Green and then swung one back into him, hitting him in front of middle stump. The ball was nice and full so there was no danger of it going over the stumps.David Warner c Cheteshwar Pujara, SCG, first innings
In Sydney, Siraj was handed the new ball and he showed he could swing that too. In the fourth over, he swung one appreciably away from David Warner and got the edge. The ball looked like it would pitch just outside off but swung, and by the time it got to Warner it was wide and had him playing away from his body.Will Pucovski c Wriddhiman Saha, SCG, second innings
Siraj struck early in the second innings in Sydney too, this time with one that left the right-hand opener. The line was perfect, just outside off, and the in-between length had Pucovski stuck on the crease. The slight movement off the seam had him squared up and nicking to the wicketkeeper.David Warner c Rohit Sharma, Gabba, first innings
Fourth-choice bowler before the series, Siraj, after a spate of injuries, was the leader of the attack by the final Test. And he set the tone with a wicket in the first over of the game. He set Warner up like a seasoned pro. His first ball to him shaped into the batsman. Then one full and wide. Then a little shorter. And then one on the perfect length, pitching on middle and just going on with the angle away from Warner, who played at it half forward and got a thick edge to second slip, where Rohit Sharma took an excellent catch.Marnus Labuschagne c Rohit Sharma, Gabba, second innings
Australia had reached a dominant position in the fourth Test, 156 ahead with just two wickets down in the second innings and their two best batsmen at the crease. It was Siraj who dismissed them both with corkers to keep India in the game. First went Labuschagne, who got a peach in the channel outside off. It was on a length and bounced more than expected, taking a thick edge to second slip.Steven Smith c Ajinkya Rahane, Gabba, second innings
Siraj had dropped Smith on 42 off Washington Sundar, misjudging a catch at long-on. He then also dropped Green off his own bowling. Under pressure, he steamed in and bowled an effort ball that landed short of a length and reared up at Smith, hitting his glove and flying to gully. The delivery is even more special in retrospect as Australia’s quicks were not able to extract the same kind of life from the Gabba pitch.

Leagues have the advantage because the narratives that nurture fandom can develop more easily around them

Ahmer Naqvi24-Apr-2021The older you get, the more you learn to value routine. You realise how it can give shape to days that otherwise easily veer off into nothingness, how it can form a structure for your life, how it can order things in your head. Routine gives context and narrative to our actions – this is what we do and how we’ve always done it.Thoughts of routine rolled around recently just as the PSL did. Among the first things that stood out were social media posts celebrating “that time of the year again”. That phrase, in particular, is striking – the PSL takes place around February and March every year, and in its six editions has come to offer a set of traditions. The anthem release and its subsequent reception, for example – in fact, the last two years have also seen a tradition of controversy around the release of the anthem, with vast social media campaigns undertaken in its wake.Many social media accounts posting memes either emerge from dormancy or pivot towards cricket for a few weeks. Brands launch splashy cricket-themed campaigns, and restaurants use cricket-inspired names for every deal and dish. Everyone from celebrities to politicians starts littering their pronouncements and posts with PSL references.Related

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Watching these traditions play out earlier this year, it was difficult to think of a similar “time of year” for international cricket. There was Sharjah cricket on Fridays in the ’90s, and there is the tour of England that reliably happens in the northern-hemisphere summer; and events like the Boxing Day Test in the southern hemisphere. But beyond that, there is no real association of international cricket with predictable routine. And the more you think about it, the more bizarre it seems.After all, routine is a big ingredient in all sorts of sports. In the USA, for example, each major sport has a specific part of the year it is associated with – the Super Bowl at the start of the year, the NBA playoffs in the early summer, the World Series in the fall. When the coronavirus pandemic caused rescheduling of these events, the disruption in routine was one of the main reasons television ratings fell for them.

With the exception of the Ashes, no bilateral series follows a predictable, repeatable schedule. Instead, cricket fixtures are determined by potential broadcast revenue, and the wealth and power of boards

In international cricket, by contrast, the lack of routine is endemic. With the exception of the Ashes, no bilateral series follows a predictable, repeatable schedule. Instead, cricket fixtures are determined by potential broadcast revenue, the wealth and power of boards, and the relationship between them. In the past ten years, for example, India have played their Big Three brethren (England and Australia) in 50% of their Tests. At the same time, they have boycotted their one-time arch-rivals Pakistan; what was once the marquee rivalry in world cricket is now a match-up that is rarely seen. India have played four Tests against Bangladesh since the start of 2011. England have not played Zimbabwe – a fellow Full Member remember – in an international of kind since September 2007.That makes it significantly harder to generate and sustain narratives. When a competition loses the ability to provide exciting, compelling narratives about its rivalries, its stars and its history, it leads to a decrease in interest. International cricket’s set-up – with 12 Test-playing sides – should ideally operate as a league, but instead it is effectively a tiered system, with the richest teams most frequently playing those it is most lucrative for them to play. The World Test Championship (WTC) is a belated attempt to address this, but even before the its first cycle was played through, the ICC’s chair thought it needed to go back to the drawing board.Early in 2020, pre-pandemic, a visit to the Gaddafi Stadium and the National Stadium for two matches between the Karachi Kings and the Lahore Qalandars revealed crowds whose noise and excitement matched those of Pakistani crowds when India were the opponents.At one level it shouldn’t be a surprise that matches between Karachi and Lahore – the two largest, richest and most influential cities in Pakistan – are a big deal. But these two franchises who have only been around since 2016. Indeed, when franchise-based T20 leagues first arrived, many snickering commentators wondered why fans would care for corporate-run sides with ridiculous names and zero history. But because these were matches between cities/regions that already had the context of a historic rivalry beyond sport, and because games were held on a predictable, regular schedule in an easy-to-understand format where every team was equal, the interest and fandom grew exponentially.ESPNcricinfo LtdFrom the very first PSL onwards, the rivalry between Lahore and Karachi was the biggest draw and the intensity of this rivalry has only grown since. And the PSL is hardly the only example of franchise sides rapidly creating a rivalry between them. The Wikipedia page for the Karachi-Lahore PSL rivalry suggests the Mumbai Indians-Chennai Super Kings rivalry page as similar content.Since 2016, a young fan in Pakistan has had the opportunity to watch the Karachi Kings take on the Lahore Qalandars a dozen times, twice every year (three times in 2020, when they met in the final as well). By contrast, the same fan could only have watched seven matches between Pakistan and India. As noted above, it is hard to sustain context and narrative without routine. There is no doubt that India and Pakistan have a storied rivalry, but when you barely get to watch it, how invested can you get in it? Karachi’s and Lahore’s natural competitiveness finds an outlet every year in the PSL.True, franchise sides regularly change squads and staff, their uniforms, their catchphrases, even their names; some disappear altogether, to be replaced by new teams. But this is where the importance of routine comes in – franchise sides still play one another more regularly and reliably than international teams, and that allows for narratives to form more readily.This is perhaps why many of the narratives that dominate international cricket routinely feel forced, or why the rivalries are not nearly as close or exciting as advertised. For instance, the media seems to hype any successful, wealthy team without acknowledging that said team hasn’t taken on all available challengers. For example, by 2011 many in England were claiming that their Test side was among the greatest in history after a famous Ashes win. That side was then whitewashed by Pakistan in the UAE. Indeed, Pakistan over a period of seven years in the UAE had a record of eight Test wins, two draws and no losses against England and Australia. And this is just one example. We have seen even the most celebrated sides of all time have slip-ups, whether it was Clive Lloyd’s West Indies in New Zealand or Steve Waugh’s Australia in India.

While no ICC event can truly be a success without India, every league in the world outside of the IPL that has succeeded has done it without any Indians in them

South Africa, despite being possibly the most consistent Test side this century, with a glorious seven-year run from 2007 as possibly the best long-form side, during which span they lost just one series out of 25, haven’t played a five-Test in 16 years. New Zealand, who have 25 wins to five defeats at home in Tests in the last ten years, have not played more than three Tests in any series in the 2010s. The so-called top sides fail fairly frequently against these teams, yet it doesn’t result in any change to the meandering system that determines the international calendar.And if you find this baffling, consider the ODI circuit, where tons of meaningless bilateral series are played each year, though they have little impact on the World Cup. The World Cup Super League is a belated attempt to address this, but like the WTC, it proposes modest changes, and inconsequential bilateral matches that don’t affect the rankings are still allowed to be played alongside.Where international cricket offers this haphazard, meandering schedule, with no real context for the majority of its encounters, and no real sense of which teams are better, franchise cricket offers the opposite.ESPNcricinfo LtdIt doesn’t impact the fans alone. For sponsors and broadcasters, an India-Pakistan series would be the ultimate jackpot, but as long as that series does not come to pass, they can prepare and plan and invest more rationally and securely in franchise cricket. Each league is played around the same time every year, the teams all play one another. Advertising campaigns and fan-engagement initiatives can all be created and rolled out accordingly. The same is true for the media, which can dedicate resources to creating content for each league on a predictable cycle. You can plan a year in advance to run a weekly show about the PSL, but developing one dependent on a national team’s schedule would be more difficult and fraught with uncertainty.Solving this problem in international cricket would require the sort of political weight that the ICC just doesn’t have. The WTC was a relatively modest proposal bereft of radical changes to the existing structure – or lack of one – yet it feels unsustainable already. Creating a future for the sport, where, for example, every major team plays all other teams regularly, feels impossible.The success of franchise leagues – not just the commercial behemoth that is the IPL, but other leagues in the Caribbean and South Asia – shows that franchise cricket doesn’t need the blessings of the richest sides to prosper. While no ICC event can truly be a success without India, every league in the world outside of the IPL that has succeeded has done so without any Indians, who are barred from playing in them. And in each of these leagues, particularly the CPL and PSL, the biggest new stars inevitably seem to be local players, which suggests that sustaining fan interest isn’t completely dependent on foreign players.Most importantly, perhaps, players from Associate sides can make a living and even become superstars via franchise cricket. The success of Nepal’s Sandeep Lamichhane in franchise leagues has provided him with the stature and earnings he couldn’t have acquired representing Nepal on the international circuit.

For boards, the idea of running their own franchise-based leagues makes more and more sense, rather than asking more powerful boards for a piece of the international pie

Far too many see this debate as one between formats – T20s and Test cricket. They think it is casual fans and greedy administrators who are advocating one format over another. That isn’t incorrect, but the reason for the focus on T20 is that it the format of franchise cricket, and the predictability and regularity of the schedules in franchise cricket makes it more enticing. If international cricket had a regular calendar, or if the franchise model was adopted for other formats, we could well see sustainable commercial and cultural interest in those longer formats. The international cricket calendar, rather than Test cricket, is the anachronism.Seven years ago, pre-PSL, when Pakistan was still enduring its home-cricket exile, a domestic T20 competition generated enough interest and excitement to encourage the board to use the commercial potential of domestic T20 to make up for revenue lost from not being able to host international cricket in Pakistan. Today that exile is thankfully over but it is still apparent that the rich boards are not interested in helping the others grow. That is why, for boards, the idea of running their own franchise-based leagues makes more and more sense, rather than asking more powerful boards for a piece of the international pie.Taken together it means that unless aggressive and far-reaching action is taken, international cricket’s days might well be numbered. For far too long, international cricket has gone along as it always has because there wasn’t any great alternative, but the rise of franchise cricket offers a truly viable option for fans, sponsors, media and administrators. It is difficult to see that advantage being reversed any time soon.

Dawid Malan could be set for a longer run while Eoin Morgan needs to catalyse his team into action

Andrew Miller03-May-2021Moeen Ali More unobtrusive excellence from a liberated player. Moeen picked off 15 free-flowing runs from eight balls against the Sunrisers Hyderabad to ensure there would be no loss of momentum after a 129-run opening stand between Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis, then he lumped five sixes in a 36-ball 58 against the Mumbai Indians, which ought to have been ample until Kieron Pollard got busy in an extraordinary 219-run chase.In between whiles, his offspin has been a quietly vital weapon in MS Dhoni’s armoury – three more overs this week, including an exceptional piece of matching-up against Mumbai: one over, one run, one wicket as the dangerous Quinton de Kock chipped a return catch into his midriff. Any more of this, and England will have no option but to take note for the T20 World Cup.Sam CurranTo borrow a phrase from Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, Sam Curran is a f***ing mentality giant. Nothing else can explain his insatiable lust for the sharp end of IPL combat – never better exemplified than his heroics against Mumbai, which could have won the game twice over had the support been there from his team-mates, with the ball and in the field alike. With Pollard running riot in his extraordinary 87 not out from 34 balls, Curran nailed his yorkers with extraordinary poise, prising out Krunal Pandya to a plumb lbw while conceding just two runs in his third over, the 17th of the innings.Then, in arguably an even more pronounced display of cojones, he battled back from being bashed for back-to-back sixes in the 19th over to claim two for three in his next four balls. Had Pollard not been on strike with 16 left to get, it would have been the game’s decisive contribution. As if that wasn’t enough fun for one week, he secured intra-squad bragging rights in the England camp by bouncing out the Sunrisers’ Jonny Bairstow.Jos ButtlerIt’s a debate that has been in slight abeyance since the injury to Ben Stokes, but if there were any lingering doubts about Jos Buttler’s value as a T20 opener, they were emphatically scotched against the Sunrisers this week. It has taken him the small matter of 282 matches to reach his maiden 20-over century, but he made it worth the wait in a brutal 124 from 64 balls.It’s true, there are few players in the world with Buttler’s finishing powers – his last 74 runs came from an eye-popping (and wrist-cocking 25 balls) as he slammed sixes at will with that inimitable crack of the bottom hand – but in toughing it out at the top to reach a 39-ball fifty, he also laid himself a platform that lesser players might not have managed. He showed the early glimpses of a return to his best form in making 41 from 32 balls against Mumbai, before being done in flight by Rahul Chahar. But in setting up a vital win that has vaulted the Royals from the bottom of the table to fifth, Buttler may have hit top gear at the perfect moment for his injury-plagued side.Jonny BairstowIt’s been a pretty terrible week for the Sunrisers. You suspect that the fall-out from the axing of David Warner as captain has only just begun, particularly after Sunday’s crushing loss to the Royals. But Bairstow’s form at the top of the order has been one of their few saving graces this season, even if he struggled to produce his best this week. Sam Curran had his number against Chennai. It was always asking a lot for Bairstow to match Buttler’s impact in the clash with the Royals, even if his 30 from 21 balls seemed to have got his side on the right track until he holed out to long-on. If the Sunrisers are to haul themselves off the base of the table, Bairstow and his new captain Kane Williamson may need to strike up a bromance to rival what he once enjoyed with his deposed leader.Eoin MorganHarsh words were spoken after the Kolkata Knight Riders slumped to their fifth defeat in seven against the Delhi Capitals on Thursday, with coach Brendon McCullum particularly critical of a becalmed top order that had creaked along at barely a run-a-ball in the first 10 overs of their innings – a platform that didn’t exactly allow Morgan to die wondering as he gave himself room off his second ball and slapped a flat slog to long-off for a duck. Nevertheless, it was another non-contribution from a skipper who’s struggling to get his no-fear message across to his players.Eoin Morgan returned to form against the Punjab Kings but his team hasn’t found momentum yet•BCCI/IPLAt least he can take personal credit for KKR’s second win of the campaign earlier in the week, after coming in at 17 for 3 in the third over against the Punjab Kings, and anchoring a chase of 124 with 47 not out from 40 balls. Therein lies a truth about Morgan’s preferred approach to T20 cricket. If you’re going to malfunction at the top, at least do so quickly enough for your team-mates to bail you out.Dawid Malan… which brings us to Malan’s long-awaited T20 bow, a run-a-ball 26 for the Kings against the Capitals that inadvertently encapsulated all of the concerns for England’s incumbent No.3. His low-octane approach often comes off in the closing overs, but when it doesn’t, it adds up to a whole lot of not a lot – on this occasion, a Kings’ scoreline of 87 for 3 in the 14th over that never looked like being enough, even after Mayank Agarwal had turned on the afterburners in a brilliant 99 from 58 balls. Malan got his chance due to KL Rahul’s untimely bout of appendicitis, which suggests it may not be a one-off. His next few outings could be very instructive, especially given Moeen’s polar opposite approach in a similar role.Chris JordanJordan has had to bide his time for the Kings, but his introduction to the line-up for three matches this week has been a qualified success. He played a low-key but vital role in the Kings’ victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore, serving up his four overs for 31 including a purposeful post-powerplay over that built on an aggressive opening gambit from the seamers, while against KKR, he was the only batter in the entire line-up to strike at above 100, as he thumped 30 from 18 balls from No. 8 in an otherwise flat-lining innings.The four remaining England players at this year’s IPL – Chris Woakes, Sam Billings, Tom Curran and Jason Roy – have spent another week bench-warming, although the one who might be closest to a call-up is Roy, given that Warner is out in the cold for the Sunrisers, and that the temptation to reunite his mighty white-ball partnership with Bairstow must be compelling. Not just yet… Manish Pandey got the gig against the Royals, but watch this space.

From Anderson masterclass to unbeaten fifties for Hameed and Burns, everything went right for hosts

George Dobell25-Aug-2021Days like this don’t come along very often. Golden days when the edges are found, the catches are taken and the openers reply in such convincing style that it appears they are playing on a different wicket. As James Anderson, who conceded just six runs in India’s completed first innings, put it, “It doesn’t get much better than that.” It was hard to disagree.You surely have to go back to Trent Bridge in 2015 for anything close to such a dominant first day of a Test for England. Indeed, only three times in history has a team batting second ended the first day of a Test with a lead having not lost a wicket. The last time England managed it, on Boxing Day 2010 in Melbourne, was one of the all-time high points of the side’s Test history.”With both ball and bat we’ve displayed exactly what we wanted to do,” Anderson said afterwards. “These days don’t come around very often so you just have to be happy when they do.”The only difference with Melbourne is that I was keen to bowl there and I wasn’t today for some reason. I was trying to tempt Joe [Root] into batting if he won the toss. I think he was leaning towards a bowl but we’ll never know.”It was Anderson who set up the performance. His new-ball spell, a masterclass in skilful swing bowling, should be studied by anyone who wants to follow in his footsteps. It was a reminder, too, that for all the talk of aggression and verbal intimidation, it is clear-headed, calmly applied skills that tend to win the day over macho posturing.But it will have been equally pleasing for England to see their support bowlers weigh in with seven wickets between them. They are currently without at least six seamers who would have played ahead of some of those in action here, so to see Craig Overton, in particular, produce a sustained spell of seam bowling was reassuring. In that area, at least, England are well supplied.Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson and James Anderson shared eight wickets between them•PA Photos/Getty ImagesNothing, however, was as pleasing to English eyes as the openers scoring runs. This was, it must be noted, England’s 22nd opening pair since the retirement of Sir Andrew Strauss in 2012. In the last five years, they had – before today – managed only one century stand between them. This, worth 120 so far, is already the highest in that period and was, remarkably enough, only their third in England and against India this century.Both played well. But it was, perhaps, the performance of Haseeb Hameed which will give the most pleasure. It is no secret that he has had a tough time of things since his brief exposure to the international stage in 2016. He lost his place in the Lancashire side and was eventually released. But, under the benevolent eye of Peter Moores, at Nottinghamshire, he has recovered his confidence and form and here looked every inch the international batter those performances in India suggested he could be.”I couldn’t be happier for him,” Anderson, a former teammate at Lancashire, said. “Since he’s come back into the Test set-up you can see how much he’s worked on his game, how he’s become a better player. One thing he’s always had is the right temperament for international cricket and we saw that today in bucket loads. He was calm, he was measured and he had a game plan which he executed brilliantly. To see him play that way is not something we’re surprised by. Everyone is absolutely delighted for him.”The way the two guys played towards the end of the day with the bat was outstanding and exactly what we’ve been asking for.”When you bowl someone out for less than 100 you’re never quite sure whether you’ve bowled well or if the wicket is not as good as you think it might be. To see both sides bat on it and see the way our openers went about their business just felt so calm. They were solid in defence, left well and put away the bad ball when they got one. I just thought it was brilliant Test match batting.”Related

At Headingley, India were undone by a master of his craft

James Anderson: 'Emotion got the better of me' after Bumrah barrage

James Anderson puts things right after learning lessons of Lord's

India 78; Hameed 60*, Burns 52*, England 120/0

Virat Kohli's famous last words, or how India misread the conditions

India, it must be acknowledged, had a poor day. While there is some mitigation to their batting – they came up against a great swing bowler in conditions which suited him – they might also reflect that they erred in their decision to bat first. And while some of those top-order batters were almost blameless, a couple of others (Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma in particular) were more than a little culpable. That lower order – despite the unlikely heroics of Lord’s – is an accident waiting to happen, too.It’s harder to excuse their efforts in the field. From the moment in the first over when Jasprit Bumrah, attempting to return the ball back to the bowler, instead threw it over his head and to the boundary leaving Ishant Sharma to retrieve it, they were oddly close to shambolic. Sharma bowled – and fielded – as if the imposter who ran on with the team at Lord’s (Jarvo, as he was known) had somehow found a way to further breech security protocols and actually found himself in the team, while there were also overthrows, mis-fields and a drop. Sometimes you wonder if Virat Kohli’s high expressed emotion is really the best way to manage a side.England, at least, had reflected on Lord’s and concluded they had let the verbal confrontations cloud their minds for a while. They wanted to put that right here.”There was a bit of chat about that,” Anderson admitted. “The first three or four days at Lord’s we played brilliantly and didn’t get involved in too much discussion. After that maybe it did affect us a little bit. We have made a conscious effort of trying to focus on us, what we do well and trying to ignore anything else, like the outside noise or whatever else might be going on.”None of this means England’s problems are over, of course. Or even that this game is won. We know that, in the most recent Test here, England prevailed despite having been bowled out for 67 in their first innings. We know, too, that England’s attack is potent in such conditions. It’s in conditions where lateral movement is tougher to gain where they have questions to answer.But this was hugely encouraging. And after the disappointment of Lord’s it set up the rest of this match – and perhaps the series – beautifully.

There is a clear frontrunner but the selectors also have other options to look at

Nagraj Gollapudi15-Jan-20222:06

Is Rishabh Pant a dark horse to be India’s next Test captain?

Rohit Sharma
Rohit is the frontrunner mainly because he was appointed the Test vice-captain by the Indian selectors ahead of the recently concluded South Africa series. However, a hamstring injury ruled him out of the series. Rohit had taken over the vice-captaincy role from Ajinkya Rahane, who has struggled for fluency with the bat for the past few years despite an impeccable Test-captaincy record. In contrast, Rohit has emerged as India’s best batter since he returned to the Test team in January 2021 for the final two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In those two matches, Rohit also served as Rahane’s deputy when Kohli returned home after the first Test for the birth of his child. India went on to beat Australia 2-1 to secure a historic triumph. The selectors’ strong faith in Rohit reflected in their decision to appoint him as India’s white-ball captain ahead of the South Africa tour. With the second edition of the World Test Championship final as well as the ODI World Cup coming up in 2023, the selectors might not mind having Rohit lead in all three formats as that could help with stability in the decision making.