All posts by h716a5.icu

Scramble for squad places isn’t over yet, as shown by compelling internal struggle at Chester-le-Street

Cameron Ponsonby30-Aug-2023During the five-hour drive up to the Seat Unique Riverside stadium from London today, Google suggested an “alternative route” that was 27 minutes slower. That is not an alternative route, that is the wrong way.The same sentiment could be expressed about England’s World Cup squad selection, with the omission of Harry Brook, left out in favour of Dawid Malan, Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy, an example of brains whirring and coming to a conclusion that, on the one hand, does still get you to Ahmedabad, but on the other takes you via Melbourne to get there. Surely there’s a better way.So much was proved today, as Brook furthered his case for World Cup inclusion with a flawless 43 off 27 balls to ice a middling chase against New Zealand, as England cruised to a seven-wicket win with six overs to spare.”He’s been unbelievable,” England seamer Brydon Carse said of his Northern Superchargers’ team-mate’s progress over the last year-and-a-half. “I’ve been fortunate enough to spend quite a lot of time with Harry and to see him go about his business over the last 18 months has been a joy to watch”He’s such a laid-back character, he loves batting obviously, but away from cricket he’s a laid-back character who enjoys spending time with his family.”I’m glad I haven’t had to play against him, he just seems to be hitting it all around the ground and just the tempo he’s playing at, it’s great for him and for English cricket.”This innings was Brook’s second reminder in as many matches of his standing as the star of English cricket, today and tomorrow, having initially responded to the squad announcement with a remarkable 41-ball century in the the Hundred, an innings which prompted Jos Buttler to clarify that the door wasn’t entirely shut on Brook’s World Cup campaign: “There’s still a long time before everyone is meant to get on the plane, so we’ll wait and see what happens.”Liam Livingstone and Harry Brook saw England home in the chase•Getty ImagesButtler, in this instance, was playing the role of Kevin McAllister’s Mum in , and bolting upright as he realises he’s left Harry at home for the World Cup.The upshot is that Wednesday’s match against New Zealand was the first of four T20s, followed by four ODIs, in which Brook will test out the depths of England’s buyer’s remorse, while Malan and Livingstone fight to avoid becoming the David Willey of 2023. Roy, rested for this series, can expect to return to the ODI set-up next week under increased pressure, as not only did Brook shine, but Malan and Livingstone equally rose to the occasion. Malan made 54 off 42 balls to break the back of England’s chase, while Livingstone bowled beautifully to record figures of 1 for 25 off four before finishing the chase off with a quickfire 10 off four balls.The reasoning behind their respective selections is that Malan, as well as being a relentless white-ball run-machine in recent years, provides a left-handed option that can target the opponent’s left-arm spinners and right-arm wrist spinners. In an otherwise disjointed innings, Malan succeeded on this front, taking the New Zealand spin pair of Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi for 32 runs off 16 deliveries. On a macro level, this was vintage T20 Malan. A slow start (4 off 10 balls), followed by relentless aggression when faced with his match-up to take him to yet another international half-century, off 40 balls all told. In the longer format, that latter trait is more valuable than the former is damaging, and Malan will have done his chances no harm this evening.Related

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Similarly, Livingstone played his role with the ball to perfection, bowling with genuine skill to pick off the key wicket of Daryl Mitchell, while his figures would have been even more impressive had his final ball not been launched for six by Adam Milne. Livingstone was even preferred to Adil Rashid to bowl a fourth over, with England’s premier legspinner sending down just the three run-a-ball overs on this occasion.The selection of Livingstone rests largely on the variety he brings with the ball. He’s capable of bowling both offbreaks and legbreaks, and data from CricViz shows that in T20Is, his economy-rate bowling offies is 6.95 with an average of 34.00, compared to 8.33 and 25.34 when bowling leggies. Livingstone is a more-than-capable bowler, but with just two scores of above fifty in an England shirt in 35 innings, he will be under pressure to make a telling score before the squad is finalised in a month’s time. Will England prefer a Jack of all trades in Livingstone, or a master of one in Brook? His towering six to wrap up victory was a timely reminder of his explosive power with the bat.And where exactly was Brook in all of this? Well, he was at the other end being Harry Brook, cruising along at a strike-rate of 159 without ever looking in a rush to finish the job.Two fours and three sixes, each as enormous as the other but in three completely separate directions, further illustrated why all of Michael Atherton, Jofra Archer and Kevin Pietersen – arguably the father, son and holy ghost of English cricket – have each individually expressed their shock at his absence. Buttler himself has said that Brook has nothing to prove, but Brook did it anyway. Someone is going to be the victim of the cruellest omission. Brook is doing his damnedest already to make sure it isn’t him.

Tactics board: where the first semi-final between India and New Zealand, in Mumbai, could be won and lost

Sidharth Monga13-Nov-20237:44

Kumble: India batters need to watch out for extra swing if they chase

Don’t lose the match in the first 15 oversIdeally just win the toss.Even before the Wankhede Stadium revealed its conditions, a Mumbai semi-final against a big-hitting team was the one conceivable banana peel for the dominant Indian side. A six-hitting contest is not what India want to get into. They haven’t drawn a big-hitting side for the semi-final, but the conditions here have emerged as a challenge of another kind for the side that loses the toss.The average score batting first at the Wankhede this World Cup has been 357 for 6 and 188 for 9 when chasing. Those chasing numbers have been bolstered by the once-in-a-lifetime double-century on one leg by Glenn Maxwell. The reason is that the new ball has been swinging and seaming more under the lights, and for longer. The average powerplay score goes from 52 for 1 in the first innings to 42 for 4 in the second. From there on, it has generally kept getting better for the batters in the first innings while only Maxwell has found a way back in the second.Now, miraculous, Maxwell-like freakishness can’t be the strategy going into the match. You have to find a way to limit the target if you lose the toss, and then almost bat like it’s Test cricket for the first 15 overs. What we have seen is that it gets easier to bat in the night but you have to make sure you don’t lose more than two wickets by the time it is night.ESPNcricinfo LtdHawkEye data suggests the swing stops being uncomfortable after about ten overs, but problems with seam movement persist till the 15th over. After about 20 overs, though, batting tends to get easier than in the afternoon.So, if India lose the toss, for example, don’t expect Rohit Sharma to play the way he has been playing this World Cup. Expect the same care from the New Zealand top order if they happen to be chasing.Put pressure on JadejaNew Zealand did knock India out of the 2019 World Cup, but they are up against a superior side in superior form this time. India’s bowling attack, now that Mohammed Shami is in it, is drawing comparisons with the best ODI attacks of all time. That, though, is if you are comparing five frontline bowlers with five frontline bowlers.Related

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Therein lies New Zealand’s opportunity. To find a way past this formidable attack, they have to take down one bowler. And the only match that Ravindra Jadeja has bowled ten overs in and not taken a wicket this World Cup was against New Zealand. There are three left-hand batters in their top six followed by Mitchell Santner. They will want to do better against Jadeja than the last time when he conceded only 48.India will try to get past the two opening left-hand batters even before Jadeja is introduced. In another time, if Hardik Pandya had been available, they might even have thought of going out of the box and playing R Ashwin, but that seems out of the question now.Don’t let Ravindra bowlNew Zealand have more bowling options than India but only four specialist ones. A big part of New Zealand’s success has been the success of their part-time spinners Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra in an era when part-time bowlers are going extinct because of one extra fielder inside the circle and two new balls. It is unbelievable that neither of these part-time spinners has gone at even a run a ball.New Zealand will likely try Ravindra more than Phillips because there is no left-hand batter in the top six for India, but expect India to go after them in an attempt to force New Zealand to go back to their main bowlers sooner than they would like. This lack of a fifth specialist bowler will also allow India to sit in on the seamers if they lose the toss.Give Santner the respect he deservesSantner in the last World Cup semi-final vs India: 10-2-34-2.In the league match vs India in this World Cup: 10-0-37-1.He is a high-quality left-arm spinner, who happens to enjoy a good match-up against India: 15 of his 16 victims in this World Cup have been right-hand batters. He has also conceded 1.25 per over more when bowling to left-hand batters. India don’t have any left-hand batter before No. 7. However, if they can get the better of the fifth bowler, they needn’t try anything extraordinary against Santner. Just avoid giving him wickets.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe Rohit threatRohit’s explosive starts have started a chain reaction where Virat Kohli is not even put under any pressure. Not that he can’t bat quickly, but if he is not required to, it is very difficult to get Kohli out in the conditions we get in ODIs.Of course, New Zealand would love to bowl in the night and test both of them with the moving ball, but they have to prepare for the afternoon. And if India are batting first, the best way to put Kohli under pressure is to get Rohit out early. Rohit in this form, though, has been butchering the new ball and killing contests in the powerplay itself.If you look at how New Zealand bowled against Rohit in Dharamsala, you will see not a single bouncer tried. If Rohit is batting in T20 mode, it might perhaps not be that bad a shout to bowl in T20 mode.The last time T20 got serious for a considerable period of time was when the two World Cups were played in 2021 and 2022. In that period, the theory going around the world was to bowl short to Rohit – he averaged under 14.75 then against the short ball in all T20 cricket, and 14.33 in T20Is. Rohit loves the pull and the hook, and takes quick runs with it, but it also tends to bring about dismissals.If New Zealand do get Rohit early, they can hope to control the middle overs with left-arm spin against right-hand batters and hard lengths from the quicks.

England’s bravado was admirable, and what we’ve come to expect

Vithushan Ehantharajah05-Feb-20242:43

Harmison: England not guilty of ‘going too hard’

The bravado was admirable, and what we have come to expect. A team that has taken it upon themselves to question – even threaten – Test cricket’s traditional whims made their latest one on Sunday evening. No target would put them off. Brendon McCullum said they would have even had a go chasing 600.They ended up falling eight short of half that figure in pursuit of a “milder” target of 399. It would have been the highest chase of the Bazball era, and in India outright. In the end, the ethos wrote a cheque the batters could not cash.Having knocked 67 off for the loss of one last night, only 225 more was managed on day four. That those came in just two sessions is both noteworthy and redundant. The journey was quick, and yet the destination was still all of 106 runs away.The factors for defeat are all on the scorecard. On a pitch where the ones that got in had to make it count, India boasted Yashasvi Jaiswal’s first-innings 209 and Shubman Gill’s 106 in the second. England had a pair of seventies from Zak Crawley and, barring 47 from Ben Stokes in the first innings, no scores of note from a middle order with the most experience of these conditions.Related

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Even while the inexperienced trio of Shoaib Bashir, Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed held firm in a toe-to-toe with Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, India held the edge with Jasprit Bumrah. Match figures of 9 for 91 featured at least three match-turning spells, starting with a day two burst that handed India a first-innings lead of 143 and, ultimately, the Test.It was a reminder of the small margins and fleeting windows of opportunity when you play Test cricket in this part of the world. Getting that refresher with the series tied 1-1 ahead of a 10-day break before the third Test makes it easier to mull over. And as England knocked a football around on the outfield at around 5pm local time, long after the stumps had been pulled and the crowd had spilt out into Visakhapatnam, you sensed this was not a defeat that would derail them.”I think they’re playing very well,” said India head coach Rahul Dravid. “Whether you call it Bazball or whatever you call it. I know it’s just a term – I’m not sure how happy they are about it – but they’re playing really good cricket. I mean, let’s be honest, I think they played well.”England arrived on Monday determined, if slightly offset by a virus that had affected Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes and Hartley. They charged through the opening session, with 127 runs ticked off the remaining 332 required at the start of play. The problem was the loss of five wickets.Two batters did their job. Rehan continued his cavalier Sunday night cameo into Monday morning, swinging, charging, and, on one occasion, gorgeously caressing through the off side before Axar trapped him lbw for 23. By then, Crawley had settled back into his groove, caressing his usual drives and tucks through midwicket, all while facing up to most of Bumrah’s initial five-over spell.Zak Crawley was out lbw just before lunch•Getty ImagesA well-executed charge and punch down the ground brought him an eighth boundary and a second half-century of the match. Three overs later, Pope picked the wrong ball from Ashwin to cut. It still required something special from Rohit Sharma, who obliged with a stunning reaction catch at first slip, shooting up his left hand like a kid in class who knows the answer before anyone else.And he did, to be fair, particularly by not wavering as Joe Root introduced some uncharacteristic maelstrom. An innings which perhaps showed just how serious the damage to his right little finger may be. He spent most of day three off the field after damaging it in the 13th over of India’s second innings.He reverse-swept his first ball for four, scuffed his third up and over the keeper attempting a similar shot, skipped down and planted Axar into the stands for six with his seventh and then survived a strong leg-before review against him on Umpire’s Call.An ugly hack off his 10th, aiming for cow corner but finding the hands of Axar at backward point, gave Ashwin career wicket number 499. And off Root went with 245 still to get. Usually the sherpa in the pursuit of such summits, coming to the crease boasting a fourth innings average of 120.00 under Stokes and Brendon McCullum, Root was already back at base camp with the team less than halfway up the mountain starting to consider chewing on their own feet.Joe Root was caught slogging•BCCIA stand between Crawley and Bairstow had reached 40 by the time Rohit made his best call of the morning. With 20 minutes before the break, Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav were reintroduced. In the space of five deliveries, Kuldeep had accounted for Crawley – an lbw achieved through a tight DRS call to overturn a “not out” decision on the field – before Bairstow was prised out by Bumrah to send us to an early lunch.Even with Stokes coming back out after lunch alongside an able facilitator in Foakes, the 205 on the table would always be a tough ask. Only 16 had been cleared when Stokes inexplicably got himself run out.A thick inside edge as Foakes pressed forward to Ashwin saw the ball roll into the vacant square leg region. The single was on, but Stokes approached it with leisure, watching it all the way into Shreyas Iyer’s hand before speeding up. A direct hit found him short by inches.”It was like one of those dreams where you’re trying to run faster but you can’t,” explained Stokes at stumps, still trying to square it with himself. “I knew I had to go faster, but for some reason, I just couldn’t. It was a really bizarre couple of seconds.”As it happened, the rest seemed to go pretty quickly despite stubborn resistance from Foakes and Hartley. An eighth-wicket partnership of 55 did bring about some anxiety in the stands, particularly when both batters exchanged sixes early in their stand.But in waltzed Bumrah once more, hoodwinking Foakes with a slower ball for a return catch, then knocking out Hartley’s off stump to seal an emphatic equalising win.”You don’t get any points losing by five, you don’t get less points losing by 100,” said Stokes, by way of justification of trying to get it done today rather than use more of the available time. Not that he or England needed an alibi.Their chasing record has taken a hit, but still an impressive 8 out of 11 successes under Stokes. What will sting is they have been bested over these four days by the weakest India XI they will face on this tour. Some of the big guns are due back for the final three, adding an extra layer of intrigue on to an already thrilling series.England now head to Abu Dhabi for a break, with little but rest and relaxation on the agenda. Focus will soon shift to going again in Rajkot, exactly like this.

He’s thrilled crowds in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Lucknow this season. Will Dhoni do it against LSG in Chennai on Tuesday?

Deivarayan Muthu22-Apr-20241:05

‘Just incredible’ – Moody, Jaffer marvel at Dhoni’s success in IPL 2024

August 7, 2005. India vs West Indies in Colombo. MS Dhoni rocked up with a flowing mane and hit 28 off 13 balls, the highlight being a spectacular scooped four off Tino Best, to help finish India’s innings with a flourish.Almost twenty years later Dhoni, who will turn 43 in July, continues to do Dhoni things. He’s turned up with the vintage mane to pump vintage sixes. On April 19 in Lucknow, he cracked 28 not out off just nine balls for Chennai Super Kings, with three fours and two sixes, one of which was an inventive scoop off Mohsin Khan.Dhoni had anticipated a wide yorker from left-arm over, and though Mohsin had shortened his length, he adjusted to shovel-scoop the ball over the keeper’s head for six.”I wish I could say I was the one who taught him that [scoop] shot,” Michael Hussey, the CSK batting coach, said on the eve of their match against Lucknow Super Giants in Chennai. “But that would be lying (laughs); he’s just in a wonderful place in his career.”Bowlers are coming up with different plans against him. He’s been probably the greatest finisher of all time, so they [the bowlers] need to come up with different ideas. That’s one of the wonderful things about MS. He continues to evolve and even at this stage of this career, he will continue to make himself better and make it harder for bowlers to bowl to him.”This is the dazzling Dhoni of old. When he burst onto the scene, he played no-holds-barred shots and even spoke of his dislike for keeping some of his shots down.Somewhere along the way, after he took over as India’s captain, Dhoni traded that no-holds-barred approach for a low-risk one and refused to expose the next man to pressure. He adopted a similar batting approach at CSK too in the IPL. He was indeed the finisher, but his batting was based on reducing risk.Even while hitting sixes at the death, Dhoni would maintain a stable base and target the arc between long-on and deep midwicket. The helicopter shot was a low-risk option for Dhoni because that’s something he had been practising – and playing – since his tennis-ball cricket days in Ranchi.ESPNcricinfo LtdDuring all that time, Dhoni didn’t do scoops or shuffle around his crease. This season, though, he has been digging deep and going against the grain in his quest to access the boundary. When Khaleel Ahmed was trying to bowl wide yorkers from left-arm over, like Mohsin, with a packed off-side field in Visakhapatnam, Dhoni jumped across his stumps even before the bowler had bowled and whacked him over the extra-cover boundary.It was his first innings this season and the first since he underwent knee surgery immediately after winning IPL 2023. But after thrilling Visakhapatnam with an unbeaten 37 off 16 balls, Dhoni was spotted with a brace around his knee that suggested the issue was still hampering his mobility.Dhoni and the CSK management have worked around the problem by slotting him into a new role: rock up in the closing stages and maximise his six-hitting ability. Dhoni’s earliest entry point in five innings this season was 16.2 against DC in Visakhapatnam. And in his most recent game against LSG in Lucknow, CSK’s team management held him back at No.8 and even promoted their Impact Player Sameer Rizvi up the order.MS Dhoni slammed 28 off nine against LSG•BCCIDhoni has excelled in this super-specialised role of managing the last two-three overs of a T20 innings, clattering 15 boundaries in 34 balls, which means he is finding the rope or clearing it roughly every two deliveries.The limitations caused by the knee injury have also prompted him to look at different pockets of the ground. Dhoni’s leg-side strike rate is 366.67 this season, which isn’t much of a surprise. Close your eyes, and you will see Dhoni launching the ball over deep midwicket or wide long-on. Though the sample size is fairly small, Dhoni has been destructive on the off side as well, striking at 215. In terms of his overall strike rate, Dhoni’s 255.88 is the best among all players who have faced at least 30 balls this IPL.The numbers establish a compelling case for Dhoni to bat up the order, but his body may not allow it. He seems to have accepted that and is tailoring his training sessions to play short, sweet cameos.”It’s inspirational, isn’t it? His batting this year, even in the pre-season training, has been very crisp,” CSK coach Stephen Fleming said after CSK’s away game against LSG. “The team isn’t surprised with what he is doing because his skill level during the pre-season was very high. Other years he has obviously had problems with his knee and he is sort of recovering from that which is why there is only a certain amount of balls he can really function well.Related

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“I think everyone wants to see him for longer as do we, but that amount of time is about right. We need him for the tournament and that two-three over cameos – he is owning that space. It’s up to the rest of the batting unit to get us to a good position where he can push us over the top. He is doing that pretty much every time at the moment, which is great to watch.”Visakhapatnam, Mumbai and Lucknow have all been treated to Dhoni’s sixes this season. Though Dhoni – and Ravindra Jadeja – left Chepauk in splits with a prank earlier this month, the Chennai crowd is yet to see the six-hitting Dhoni in flesh this IPL.Dhoni hitting sixes is an event that transcends the context of the match these days. In Chennai, it’s an emotion. Visuals of real-life Dhoni smashing sixes off Mark Wood were played at a popular movie theatre in the lead-up to the re-release of the reel-life movie – – during the previous IPL in the city. Those sixes sparked frenzied celebrations, with fans whistling and grooving to the tune of their crunching the ball.CSK’s fans are hoping that Dhoni will give them reason to against LSG on Tuesday evening as well.Stats updated until PBKS vs GT game on April 21

Poor sales for Sunday’s decisive fourth day at Lord’s as fans begin to vote with their feet

Matt Roller01-Sep-2024It should have been a crowning moment on this sun-soaked Sunday afternoon in north-west London. Olly Stone backpedalled from mid-on to settle underneath a catch off Chris Woakes’ bowling, clinching England’s fifth consecutive Test win and their second series win of the summer.And yet, England’s players celebrated this 190-run victory over Sri Lanka in front of a swathe of empty seats. This was not a sign of Test cricket’s decline, but a retort from fans to the administrators who have spent years taking them for granted: with a starting price of £95, thousands upon thousands of tickets for the fourth day of the Lord’s Test went unsold.”It was kind of weird,” said Ollie Pope, England’s stand-in captain. “A few of us have been strolling in each day, and we were like, ‘Jeez, it seems quiet today.’ I’m not sure if people expected the game to be done by day four or what… It’s a shame it wasn’t a full house: it was obviously a good day’s play where we had to work hard for those eight wickets.”Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) were braced for a low crowd and estimated that around 9,000 people turned up to a venue that holds more than 30,000. The club committed to a review of fourth-day pricing while chief executive Guy Lavender cited England’s dominant win against West Indies at Lord’s in July – which took barely seven sessions – as a contributing factor.It is a paradox of Bazball: by accelerating the pace of Test matches, as part of a bid to make the format as attractive to fans as they can, England have inadvertently dented ticket sales for the fourth and fifth days. Twice in five Tests this summer, they have completed victory by mid-afternoon on the third day; the other three have all finished on the fourth day.And, on the rare occasions in the Bazball era when matches have gone to day five, the gates have invariably been thrown open for free, albeit with an enthusiastic take-up. This was most famously the case at Trent Bridge in 2022, when a final-day full house roared Jonny Bairstow to a heady, agenda-settting hundred against New Zealand.Related

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Pope suggested that the low turnout might owe to the “heavy schedule” this summer “with the Hundred, T20 Blast and a lot of Test matches as well”. Asked if England need more support from administrators, he said: “It’s not really for me to comment on… [but] it is great to have as many kids and families in as possible, and learning to love the game.”No matter England’s stated aims, the vagaries of the format can still leave fans short-changed. “We pride ourselves on wanting people to come into the ground and feel like they’ve had a really enjoyable day of cricket,” Joe Root said on Saturday – shortly after Pope had declined to bowl spinners in tandem under floodlights, thereby bringing the third day to a premature close.Lavender defended MCC’s reluctance to cut prices at short notice in a statement issued on Saturday. “It is difficult to dynamically discount tickets in hindsight when thousands of supporters have applied through our 2023 ballot process and paid the full price…” he said. “We will be paying particular attention to the structure of fourth-day tickets in our pricing reviews, given the way that Test cricket is now being played.”Even MCC’s attempts to make amends ended up backfiring. Prices were cut to £15 for adults and £5 for Under-16s from 3.45pm, but the discount was not advertised to the public ahead of time. As a result, there was no notable change in the size of the crowd in the final session.The club often make pronouncements about their concern for Test cricket’s future, most recently at president Mark Nicholas’ inaugural ‘World Cricket Connects’ forum. Yet by selling tickets for such extortionate sums – the empty seats in the top tier of the Grand Stand on Sunday were priced at £140 each – MCC are directly contributing to the sense of a format in decline.It is not as if MCC is desperate for money. The club reported a pre-tax operating surplus of £8.8 million last year, and will imminently be given a 51% stake in London Spirit by the ECB with an estimated value in the region of £60 million. Regardless, lower ticket prices may have ended up bringing in more revenue through fans’ matchday spending around Lord’s.Two weeks ago, Lord’s staged the Hundred final in front of crowds of 22,009 (women’s) and 28,860 (men’s) – both significantly more than watched England complete their win on Sunday. But it would be disingenuous to suggest the difference is a reflection of supporters’ preference: tickets for the Hundred were priced at barely one-third of those for the fourth day of the Test.Test cricket remains hugely popular in England: Sunday’s low turnout was something of an anomaly in a summer of strong ticket sales, despite low-ranked opponents in West Indies and Sri Lanka. When India arrive for a five-match series next summer, tickets will sell out even at premium prices.This is not a unique problem to Lord’s: there were empty seats in the Party Stand throughout the first Test in Manchester last week, and there are plenty of fourth-day tickets still available at The Oval for the third Test. But Sunday’s no-show should send a clear message: if fans feel they are being ripped off, they will vote with their feet.

Under the guidance of director of cricket operations Mithun Manhas, they are eyeing their maiden semi-final appearance in the Ranji Trophy

Himanshu Agrawal07-Feb-2025Jammu & Kashmir are in the Ranji Trophy knockouts after five years. En route, they have beaten higher-rated teams like Mumbai and Baroda to finish with the second-highest points from the group stage. This is only the third time they have entered the quarter-finals in their 55 years of participation in the tournament.Their campaign has had shades of the 2019-20 season, where they made the knockouts on the back of six outright wins in nine matches. They were within touching distance of the semi-finals then, before nerves got the better of them against Karnataka.That season should have been the springboard for higher honours. Instead, the following four years have been about inconsistency, lack of proper build-ups to seasons, infrastructure issues and administrative apathy.Related

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Things have been slightly different this time. The Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) had emphasised on proper conditioning through match time in the build-up to the season, and that seems to have given the players a better footing. They had a proper pre-season camp, followed by a competitive pre-season tournament – Buchi Babu in Tamil Nadu – prior to the Ranji season. The players haven’t had to hit the ground running.With Srinagar unable to host matches because of the harsh winter conditions, J&K’s only other available ground, the Gandhi Science College ground in Jammu had to be renovated quickly, and that work started late last year. It’s possible even JKCA didn’t factor in the possibility of the team qualifying in the manner they have – they finished as group-toppers and earned the right to host the quarter-final against Kerala, starting February 8.They play in Pune instead. But if it is a red-soil surface, as it is likely to be, J&K won’t complain, having performed exceedingly well and beaten Mumbai and Baroda on such surfaces in their own backyards.

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J&K’s run hasn’t been because of their big-ticket players. Umran Malik hasn’t played a game owing to form and injury issues, Rasikh Salam has mostly been used in T20s, and Abdul Samad, a player with big-match capabilities, hasn’t quite been able to come on the way everyone anticipated him to when he broke through in 2019-20.Samad is still their second-highest run-getter this season with 393 runs, but he’s only been a support player to the likes of batter Shubham Khajuria, allrounder Abid Mushtaq, right-arm quicks Auqib Nabi, Yudhvir Singh and Umar Nazir, and offspinner Sahil Lotra.Nabi has enjoyed a breakthrough run five years after first playing for the state. Now 28, Nabi is this season’s second-highest wicket-taker with 38 wickets, including five five-wicket hauls. In fact, he is one of only two pacers in the top ten in the wicket-takers’ charts.

“Before he came on board, I feel we lacked in off-season camps and preparation. In these three years, we have had a different coach for batting, bowling and fielding. Every year when the season ends, Mithun summons all the players and asks what was lacking during that season. And with everyone’s feedback, that thing [which was lacking] is implemented next year”Shubham Khajuria on the impact of director of cricket operations Mithun Manhas

Nazir, meanwhile, was instrumental in running through Mumbai’s top order on the opening day two weeks ago, taking 4 for 41. This included the wicket of Rohit Sharma, which he didn’t celebrate because he’s a “big fan” of the India captain. Nazir has been the perfect back-up to Nabi in the pace department. And like Nabi, Nazir too has over the years built up solid experience.”For the past two years, we have been playing red-ball tournaments outside of our own state,” Nabi said. “We also played the Buchi Babu tournament in Tamil Nadu. So our practice was very good. The same team that plays Ranji also went there. So it helped us a lot.”One of the sounding boards for this team is Mithun Manhas, the former Delhi captain who now leads their cricket operations as director. Manhas took over after Irfan Pathan and Milap Mewada left as mentor and coach respectively following Covid. Success hasn’t come overnight; it has taken three years for Manhas and the others to get it right. Manhas’ challenge will now be to ensure, unlike earlier, this isn’t a case of taking two steps forward and then three back.This season, Manhas brought in Paras Dogra. At 40, he’s the oldest member of the side, but also the most experienced, having played 142 first-class games at the time of writing. Dogra took over the captaincy, a tough ask for anyone coming in. While he has been short of runs (216 runs in 12 innings), his experience has certainly lent a degree of calmness.Dogra has had the support of Ajay Sharma, the former India batter, who was brought on as head coach three years ago. While the start to his tenure wasn’t great, the JKCA hasn’t been swayed by short-term results.Prior to the season, former Rajasthan batter Dishant Yagnik was brought in as fielding coach. He conducted camps along with Ajay for the batters. Then there were other moves which helped, like the BCCI deciding to split the Ranji Trophy season in two to avoid games getting affected by fog during peak winter in north India, something that cost them last year.Shubham Khajuria is Jammu and Kashmir’s leading run-scorer this season•PTI “All our three home games in 2023-24 were badly hit,” Nabi said. Barely any action could take place over four days in the matches against Himachal Pradesh (65.3 overs), Delhi (42) and Uttarakhand (39) in Jammu. While the first two of those games took place in early January, even the one against Uttarakhand in early February was fogged out. It meant J&K could hardly challenge for a knockouts berth.However, the tweak to the calendar worked in their favour. After a high-scoring draw against Maharashtra and an innings victory against Services in Srinagar, they also beat Tripura in Jammu, before getting on a roll in their away games.

****

For the first time, J&K brought on a bowling coach in an official capacity two years ago when Manhas called up former Rajasthan quick Pudiyangum Krishnakumar. Until then, Abdul Qayoom, the former J&K player, had been in an overseeing role. “We never had a bowling coach before him,” Nabi said. “So I’ve practiced a lot with him. I worked with him on my outswing, and I have been getting very good outswing since then.”Khajuria, J&K’s highest run-getter this season, credited Manhas for the resurgence, especially when it came to the planning part.”I feel we lacked in off-season camps and preparation,” Khajuria said. “In these three years, we have had a different coach for batting, bowling and fielding. Every year when the season ends, Mithun summons all the players and asks what was lacking during that season. And with everyone’s feedback, that thing [which was lacking] is even implemented next year.”He also underlined how the preparation was different.”After the [List A] Vijay Hazare Trophy got over, we reached Jammu on January 6. Thereafter, we had our camp from January 9 onwards; we hardly took a two-day break in between,” he said. “We practiced there till January 15, and realising the massive difference between the weather in Jammu and Mumbai, the association sent us to Mumbai on the same day itself. That was eight days before our match, during which we practiced there.”Both Nabi and Khajuria were part of the XI in the 2019-20 quarter-final heartbreak. As experienced players now, they have had a ringside view of the challenges the team has had to endure since.Auqib Nabi, with 38 scalps, finished the league stage as the highest wicket-taker among fast bowlers•PTI “The biggest problem is that we don’t have any infrastructure in J&K; it is coming up a bit, but it’s still not a lot,” Nabi said. “For instance, I come from Baramulla, where we don’t have enough nets to practice. We have to practice on our own.”There are not many turf cricket in Kashmir. Some [players] go out of state to practice. But over the last one or two years, JKCA has helped us play a lot of matches. So there has been a lot of improvement in our performance.”And people with expertise in the domestic circuit – Ajay Sharma is a Ranji Trophy legend – has only helped. Especially people like Khajuria.Over the course of the ongoing domestic season, Khajuria has cracked 255 in a Ranji game against Maharashtra, 159 against Chhattisgarh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, and 85* against Uttar Pradesh in the [T20] Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – all of them the highest by a J&K batter in the respective tournaments’ history.”Ajay sir has been asking me to play the long innings,” Khajuria said. “Often, I used to get out in the 30s or 40s. That has stopped happening now. So the mindset has changed. Earlier, the environment of J&K’s dressing room was not like this either. [But] now, everyone talks about winning. We have had [three] different Man-of-the-Match winners across our five victories. Everyone has contributed. Now it is the case of trying to win every match.”The next week could take J&K to new frontiers. They have never made a Ranji semi-final previously and there’s nervous excitement bubbling. How they channel it could determine their road ahead.

India, Pakistan’s next opponents in the Champions Trophy, will almost inevitably seek to expose this frailty

Andrew Fidel Fernando21-Feb-20252:31

Mumtaz: ‘Very disappointing to watch Babar’s lack of intent’

When the masters of playing spin are at their peak, the thoughts that dominate the higher functions of the mind are not necessarily about the next ball, the pitch, how fast it is turning, how much flight is being given, and how fast or slow it comes, but where the fielders are, how they manipulate them and by extension the opposition captain.Here’s Shivnarine Chanderpaul, a very good player of spin, talking about Brian Lara, who was arguably the best spin player ever (no one dominated Shane Warne Muttiah Muralidaran, quite like Lara):”I know Brian, when he bats, he hits the ball behind point, very hard. Sometimes he got spin on the ball, and sometimes he doesn’t put spin on the ball. And he does it deliberately. It depends on where the guy on the point boundary is fielding. If the guy on the boundary is out square, then he puts spin on the ball so it keep running away further behind and the guy can’t catch it. And sometimes they put him behind, and Brian hit it with no spin so it go in front for four. He still the ball, but he does not put spin on the ball. He’s an amazing batter. Serious.”Babar Azam had been an amazing batter – serious – too. Until the end of 2021, Babar averaged 89.94 against spin in ODIs with a strike rate of 89. These are, from a bowling team’s perspective, “get him off strike and try and bowl as many as you can at the other guy” numbers. Babar was weaker against pace bowling, by which I mean he averaged only 57.22 against seam bowling.Related

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But spin? Uff. He’s never swept his way to hundreds, as others often do on Asian surfaces. But there were jaunts down the crease to clip balls through wide long-on, sinkings deep into the crease to play that whip shot through midwicket, cuts either side of point, and the regular array of Babar cover drives. When he slog-swept, the ball tended to travel over wide long-on, rather than square leg. No one much cared at the time, where it was going. Because it was going somewhere pretty often.That a wall has been hit and a decline has been entered since then is public knowledge by now. The Babar of February 2025, has demons to overcome. Oppositions know this well. New Zealand, the kings of finding little gaps in the armour of opposition and wriggling through them to the semi-finals of major tournaments, landed on a big one in the tournament opener. Babar, by his high standards, doesn’t love the ball that turns into him. Since 2022, he’s loved it even less.Until the end of 2021, he’d averaged 51.72 against balls that turned in (offspinners and left-arm wristspinners combined). From 2022 onwards, he’s averaged 31.80 against balls turning in. The killer stat is the strike rate – where before the end of 2021 it had been 88.49 against bowlers whose stock delivery turned the ball into him, since then it has dipped to 67.65.And where Babar was once a batter who would dictate fields to bowling teams, sides such as New Zealand, who play the percentages beautifully, have begun to dictate terms to him. In the Champions Trophy opener, Babar scored 22 off 35 balls off bowlers whose stock delivery came in. These were not offpsinners of the highest quality. With apologies to the index finger of Michael Bracewell, the man is clearly a better batter. For Glenn Phillips, offspin is clearly his third-best cricketing discipline, to follow his spectacular fielding and manic batting.Babar Azam played a scratchy innings against New Zealand•ICC/Getty ImagesThat the two were so adept at keeping Babar quiet is down to their field placements too. For much of that innings, there was a short midwicket in place, which would have made Babar think twice about that whip to the legside that is a favoured middle-overs shot. A more confident Babar would have hit over the top, smoked boundaries either side of that fielder, and wormed his way in the brain of the opposing captain. He made 64 off 90, when to be up with the required rate he would have had to make better than a run-a-ball. It was, if we are being brutally honest, a match-losing innings.In ODIs at least, the batting against spin has been Babar’s primary problem. In fact, his batting against pace has improved – he averages 57.52 against pace since 2022, when he’d averaged 47.35, both strike rates hovering around the 90 mark. Oppositions know this now. Babar opened the innings Wednesday, but he faced 57 balls of spin, to the 33 deliveries of seam bowling.India have such a surfeit of spin options, that they will almost inevitably seek to expose this frailty. They have Kuldeep Yadav as one bowler who can turn the ball into Babar. In the squad, also is Washington Sundar.Spinners turning the ball into a great right-hand batter tend to fare poorly, generally speaking. But we are not in a great phase of Babar’s batting right now. India will also come armed with the knowledge that this particular great player of spin is scratching his way to fifties, rather than dictating fields to oppositions. And in Dubai, they will likely play on a track that will envenom the kinds of bowlers Babar does not love facing right now.

Hosts bowling looks in need of a refresh after being blunted for 143 overs in India’s second innings

Vithushan Ehantharajah27-Jul-20251:19

Harmison: ‘A little bit farcical towards the end’

Ben Duckett asked sarcastically how much of the last hour Ravindra Jadeja, 89 not out, and Washington Sundar, on 80, would need for their centuries. Zak Crawley, cutting right to the chase, called it “embarrassing”.It turns out all they needed was about 15 minutes. Ben Stokes, eventually, had his offer to shake hands on his first non-rain-affected draw accepted. And, though those 15 minutes made this formality much colder, neither Jadeja nor Washington cared. Likewise, the crowd, now predominantly Indian, who had stuck around for the cherry on top of this impressively composed rearguard from their heroes.Another time, England will have seen such joyous scenes from their opponents as a reflection of their superiority. It was on this ground 20 years ago that a great Australia team lauded it up on the away balcony after escaping nine down to keep the Ashes series at 1-1. “Look, the mighty Aussies are celebrating a draw with England – we’ve got them now…” Michael Vaughan had told his players then.Related

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India cannot win this series now, but Shubman Gill could offer a similar view of the sour attitude displayed by England in the dregs of day five. They fought hard and ended up rattling an opponent that had hitherto dominated this Test match. As understandably frustrated the hosts were at being kept on the field for – eventually – 143 overs, India may well view the frayed tempers, which exacerbate the tired bodies, as an extra advantage going into the final Test. Getting out of the series with a 2-2 scoreline would make this a successful tour.If England were irked by Jadeja’s milestone-hunting, they could have just dismissed him first ball. Jofra Archer got one to lift and take the left-hand batter’s edge, but Joe Root missed two attempts to claim it at first slip.Archer was flying, having removed Gill for 103, though even that took three attempts. Saturday’s drop by Liam Dawson at gully (with Gill on 46) was followed on Sunday by Ollie Pope (with Gill on 81) at cover.It is pretty obvious England’s anger at how the match concluded was not squarely on two players bagging deserved hundreds. Though they arrived on Sunday morning still with eight wickets to get after two wicketless sessions the day before, and just 137 of their 311 first-innings lead intact, confidence was high.Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar kept England waiting, and waiting, and waiting…•AFP/Getty ImagesThe rough outside the off stump of the left-hand batters – India with three to come when Gill and KL Rahul resumed – and the uncertain bounce, particularly for those bowling from the James Anderson End, filled them with hope. And yet, even with the two drops, they only created five chances in the final 80 overs, 63 of which came with the second new ball.For once, the Dukes balls played ball. Neither side had it changed over the course of the five days. That Crawley was warned by the umpires for throwing the ball short of wicketkeeper Jamie Smith to scuff a surface for some reverse swing showed the ball remained hard throughout.”It’s been a series so far of hard toil, in particular the bowling units from both sides,” Stokes said at the end, himself having been afflicted with calf, left hamstring and right bicep tendon issues in this match alone, even if they have been compounded by the 140 overs in his body since the start of the series.”You’ve really had to work really, really hard for your rewards. We’re not going to hide away from the fact that it’s been a very tough four games so far for the guys who have played, in particular the bowling unit.”

“You have discussions with all your bowlers around what we can look at doing differently. ‘What do you think is the most threatening? Can we look at doing this?’ We tried quite a few different plans, set a few different fields to make the Indian batters feel a bit uncomfortable”Ben Stokes on his conversations with Liam Dawson

Pitches like these, even if they have been tailored to England’s needs to an extent, are why they have assembled a battery of quicks who are either tall enough to hit the deck hard enough to extract what life there is, or fast enough to cause discomfort.Injuries have dwindled those resources, meaning rotation across the four Tests has been non-existent. Archer replacing Josh Tongue from the third Test onwards has been the only change to a pace attack running on fumes.Gus Atkinson would have likely come in for Chris Woakes in Manchester had he been deemed fit enough. Though he was unable to get into Surrey’s first team this week, he will come into contention for the fifth Test. Jamie Overton, who did play for Surrey against Yorkshire (albeit only bowling in the first innings, with 0 for 81 from 14 overs) will join him when the squad meets up in London.Mark Wood had initially earmarked the final match for a return from knee surgery, but has been held back. And though Stokes says he will give the current attack – including himself – as much time as possible to recover ahead of Thursday’s start at the Kia Oval, a refresh of the pack is overdue.3:12

‘Would they have walked off?’ – Gambhir on Stokes’ draw offer

Meanwhile, Dawson’s return to Test cricket put a new slant on England’s spin position. An eight-year hiatus brought just one wicket in the first innings but all the control you would expect from a 35-year-old left-arm spinner who has been the cream of the domestic crop.His economy rate of 2.02 across a mammoth 47 overs in India’s second innings was double-edged. Reliable but for no reward.On the one hand, his metronomic bustle was integral to how Stokes managed his tired quicks; able to shuffle through them to utilise the up-and-down on offer while Dawson had the Brian Statham End locked down.A switch of ends allowed Archer to prise out Gill, and the pair shared nine overs after lunch that brought little other than a few nicks for Dawson. Had Root held Jadeja, it could have been a more fruitful union.Dawson seemed particularly forthright with Stokes, the pair discussing tactics at great length on either side of the tea interval. They departed having analysed the rough, leading to Dawson operating around the wicket to the left-hand batters after the break with a 7-2 leg-side field. That was abandoned after two swiped Jadeja boundaries in five deliveries.2:15

Why was Liam Dawson ineffective?

“You have discussions with all your bowlers around what we can look at doing differently,” Stokes said of their animated conversation. “What do you think is the most threatening? Can we look at doing this differently?”We tried quite a few different plans, set a few different fields to make the Indian batters feel a bit uncomfortable.”Stokes does enjoy that back and forth with his bowlers. And the pair shared a nice moment when Dawson’s competitive edge meant he wanted to keep going at Jadeja and Washington in the hope of ending their century quests. Stokes offered a consolatory hug to let him know his work was done. There will be more to do this week.Could Dawson have done more here? Perhaps he should have varied his position on the crease and, say, gone wider to the left-hand batters to offer more of a pronounced challenge of either edges. Maybe more variations of pace?England do believe Dawson has been unlucky, eliciting 31 false shots in the second innings without reward. And yet, a solid but unspectacular return has you wondering how Shoaib Bashir might have gone here.Ben Stokes ponders his options as India frustrate England in the field•PA Images/GettyIndia would have probably knocked off the deficit sooner had the offspinner been playing. But the raw Bashir, with his unpredictability – and higher release point – might have sparked something.There is a reason England did not go back to Jack Leach when Bashir broke his finger at Lord’s. It is the same reason they plumped for Bashir at the start of the 2024 summer over the man who is forcing him to leave Somerset. In Dawson, they see the variety of a banker who is a talented allrounder. But here, they would have liked Bashir’s big-revs, big rip, big dip from a great height.Sunday, for all the ill-feeling, did at least vindicate the decisions the England management have made to grow and fine-tune their approach. But it is a vindication that, right now, will not nourish them all that much.As the team sipped beers in the home dressing room on Sunday evening, they would have toasted their hard work. Another cheers to Root ascending to second on the Test run charts. A further one to Stokes marrying a first five-wicket haul in eight years with a first century in two.But for all the history and glory achieved, they will want to forget about this day as quickly as possible.

Pick between three Tests, with each of them having thrilling moments to offer

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jun-2025Update: This poll has ended. The ENG-AUS 2019 Leeds Test moves into the final.Dravid conquers Australia and Adelaide, 2003It was Kolkata 2001 all over again, except the support act took over the lead role this time.Instead of 445, Australia scored 556 batting first here, with Ricky Ponting hitting 242 at a strike rate of 68.75. But unlike their 171 in Kolkata, India scored 523, keeping the match on an even keel, more or less, and it was the Rahul Dravid-VVS Laxman partnership for the fifth wicket, worth 303 runs, that made it possible. Here, Dravid scored 233 from No. 3, and Laxman 148 from No. 6.Like in Kolkata, Australia’s second innings was a letdown; all they got was 196, setting India 230 to win, and the star of the show, which gave India the upper hand, was Ajit Agarkar, whose 6 for 41 thwarted Australia as they were looking to put the game beyond India.Dravid had scored that many in the first innings alone, but this time he only had to make 72, hitting the winning runs when he cut Stuart MacGill through the off side. It remains one of India’s great victories in Australia, achieved at a time when they didn’t come as thick and fast as they do now.Kusal Perera’s one-man show in Durban, 2019
Sri Lanka were coming off a 2-0 pummeling in Australia, their captain had just been sacked, and an inexperienced team, led by Dimuth Karunaratne, landed in South Africa.Then, in what was one of the most dramatic Tests in history, Sri Lanka emerged victorious, chasing down 304 with one wicket to spare. They had lost their ninth wicket while still 78 runs off their target. Kusal Perera then scored 67 of the the remaining 78 runs in an incredible finale on the fourth afternoon, along with the No. 11 Vishwa Fernando, as they saw their team home. Towards the end, you knew where this was going, even if it was just a matter of one good delivery.At lunch on the day, Sri Lanka were 166 for 5, still 138 runs away, after which Keshav Maharaj ripped through the lower-middle order, leaving them at 226 for 9. That brought Fernando to the middle, and he was entirely focused on survival. He faced 22 balls before he got off the mark.As Fernando clung on at one end, Perera defended with unreal calm, and even took several blows to his body on his way to the target. Batting for 309 minutes, he farmed the strike, and picked his opportunities to attack and push the score forward. Along the way, he also made his career-best Test score of 153*.The Stokes show at Headingley, 2019A Test that might not have otherwise stayed for too long in the memory, it was the unbroken 76-run stand for the last wicket between Ben Stokes and Jack Leach that lifted it to where the greatest Test matches in history are clubbed together.And, of course, the fact that in those 76 runs, one batter scored 74 (in 45 balls) and the other 1 (in 17 balls)! Not to forget that the winners had scored 67 in their first innings and then hit 362 for 9 in a Test where 246 was the next-best total.Australia won the first Test, and the second was drawn, so England wanted to win this one at Headingley to stay in the Ashes contest. But after Australia were bowled out for 179 in the first innings, all England could put up was 67, with Joe Denly top-scoring with 12. Back to Australia, and this time they put up 246.Was the pitch getting better for batting? It didn’t seem so when England were 15 for 2 in their chase of 359, and then 159 for 4 with Joe Root gone, and then 286 for 9. Stokes, the No. 5, was on 61 at the time. Off 174 balls.But with last-man Leach for company, Stokes switched something on. He hit four fours and seven sixes from that point, keeping Leach away from the strike as much as possible, before finishing it off with a flay through the covers off Pat Cummins. Done and dusted!

Australia’s dominance with the bat masked a surprisingly sloppy day in the field as they dropped six chances

Vishal Dikshit16-Oct-20253:44

Review – Watch out, Healy is back!

The edges were flying off Bangladesh left-hand opener Rubya Haider’s bat against the new ball, off both Megan Schutt’s swing as well as Darcie Brown’s pace. One landed short of first slip, one flew wide, another just managed to get out of a diving Phoebe Litchfield’s hands in the slips, and one leading edge fell safe not far from the pitch.At the start of the tenth over, Brown drew another edge off Haider’s bat and this time the ball was headed straight into Alyssa Healy’s mitts. Healy barely had to take a step to her left for the catch around waist height, her gloves right behind the ball, but when she clasped her hands around it, the ball just popped out. Healy wore a rueful look while stealing a glance at her team-mates. She couldn’t seem to believe she had put down a sitter.Healy wouldn’t have blamed herself as much when she sprinted to the stumps to try and get her gloves under a Shorna Akter leading edge in the 28th over – she couldn’t make it, but this was the toughest of the lot. The list, however, kept getting longer for Australia. Three overs later, the safe hands of Beth Mooney couldn’t hold on to one at first slip, and by the time the Bangladesh innings ended, Australia had put down six chances in all, four of them requiring diving efforts.Related

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Healy was the first to admit after Australia’s ten-wicket thrashing of Bangladesh that she “was a little bit poor behind the stumps” and their overall fielding effort was something to “reflect on” as they head to Indore for their last two league matches.Player-of-the-Match Alana King, who finished with 10-4-18-2, said, “I think they were all probably tough catches. I don’t think there was an easy catch. And no doubt we’ll definitely review that. We pride ourselves on our fielding and something that we want to be putting on display. So I think just with those high balls and us probably being a bit aggressive in the field, we wanted to get the players to hit over us. So to have an attacking option and players diving for the ball, we love to see that. I think that creates great energy amongst the group and a positive mindset as well. So no doubt we’d love every catch to stick, but unfortunately the nature of cricket, that doesn’t happen too often.”Just cricket – despite your best attempts, the laurels of the past, and all the trophies in the cabinet, some off-days slip in without a major reason.Healy had gone through her intensive keeping drills each time Australia have turned out for a nets session. Yet, the ball had been evading her in strange ways. When King was turning the ball viciously from outside leg to around off, one just went straight past the batter’s pads down leg and Healy was left watching with a sheepish grin. Against India too, one went right through her. Healy had more time to collect that ball off Annabel Sutherland. The ball went on to rattle the helmet behind her for five penalty runs.Alyssa Healy hit 20 fours in her century•ICC/Getty ImagesJust like her keeping sessions, Healy had been sweating it out in the batting nets too, calling it a “frustrating experience” earlier because she had “no rhythm whatsoever”. Since the last ODI World Cup, which Australia won under Meg Lanning in 2022 with Healy hitting back-to-back hundreds in the knockouts against West Indies and England, she hadn’t scored the kind of runs she was used to.Australia didn’t play any more ODIs in 2022 after that World Cup, and when they returned to action in early 2023, Healy picked up a calf injury. When she turned out in the 2023 Ashes, she lasted all of 28 deliveries in three ODIs for scores of 8, 13 and 7. It took her another six innings to score a half-century. Though she started 2024 on a slightly better note, a foot injury at the T20 World Cup, a knee issue, and a recurrence of the foot injury kept her out of action for much of 2025.After intense rehabilitation, she made it in time for this World Cup, but scored 30, 9 and 27 in the three bilateral ODIs against India in the lead-up. The big scores were still proving elusive when she fell for 19 and 20 in the opening two games, against New Zealand and Pakistan.Sobhana Mostary was dropped by Alyssa Healy•ICC/Getty ImagesBut like she did in the 2022 edition, it was only a matter of time before she brought out her best, in a high-profile game against India in front of a sold-out crowd in Visakhapatnam while chasing a record 331. She appeared a bit watchful for the first four overs, but took off with her trademark short-arm jab for four and soon dispatched Kranti Gaud, who had dismissed Healy three times in 35 balls in the bilaterals, for 6, 4, 4 and 4 for a 19-run over. Healy went on to knock the stuffing out of the India attack for her seventh ODI century that finally made her feel “it was my day today” after over three years.She had to wait three years for that century but the next one took just three days, this time while chasing a modest 199 against Bangladesh. That she was now at ease and back in her rhythm was evident in how she let out a beaming smile from under the helmet after her 43-ball half-century. She made room with ease, shuffled across the crease for sweeps, raced from 50 to 100 in just 30 balls, and there were signs of the fear she used to make her oppositions feel. And she’s back at the top of the run chart at this World Cup, like it was 2022.”[It’s] just incredible to see what she’s done,” King said of her captain after the game. “First of all, to do it against India, it was massive and she was pretty bloody determined to do so. But then to not let the foot off the throat and do it again tonight just shows where her mindset’s at. And she’s pinged the ball beautifully and to have Phoebe [Litchfield] down the other end in tandem, hitting the ball as clean as I’ve seen her, and to chase down a pretty big total, none down, I think that’s something that’s going to ooze confidence in our whole line-up.”Who knows how much Bangladesh would have scored had Healy taken that catch early on; who knows what would have happened if Fargana Hoque had held on to one at short fine-leg when she misjudged one completely with Healy on 67. For now, even though Australia are not at their best, they wouldn’t want to take the “foot off the throat” of opponents, but hope that the catches stick – it’s not really Australia till that happens.