And which batsman with 5000 or more ODI runs has scored the most ducks?

Steven Lynch26-Jun-2018England’s 481 broke the record for an ODI innings by 37 runs. Has there been such a big jump before? asked Jon Danby on Facebook
That amazing onslaught at Trent Bridge last week improved the record for the highest total in one-day internationals from 444 (by England against Pakistan in 2016, also at Trent Bridge) to 481. In 2016, England had bettered the previous record by just one run – Sri Lanka’s 443 against Netherlands in Amstelveen in 2006.The improvement of 37 runs was the biggest since the 1975 World Cup. Before that started, the record was 266, by England against India at Headingley in 1974; on the first day of World Cup cricket, England amassed 334 for 4 against India at Lord’s in 1975, to raise the bar by 68.Since then the record was raised to 338 (Pakistan v Sri Lanka in Swansea in 1983), 360 (West Indies v Sri Lanka in Karachi in the 1987 World Cup), 363 (England v Pakistan at Trent Bridge in 1992) and 398 (Sri Lanka v Kenya in Kandy in the 1996 World Cup. Then, in a famous match in March 2006, Australia improved that by 36 runs to 434 in Johannesburg, only for South Africa to overhaul their total a few hours later with 438 for 9, the record that Sri Lanka broke later that year.In Test matches, the biggest improvement to the record total was 213, by England in 1929-30: they amassed 849 against West Indies in Kingston, to smash their own previous mark of 636, scored against Australia in Sydney in 1928-29.Australia had two centurions in the Durham ODI, but lost. Has this ever happened to them before? asked Stuart from South Africa
Australia lost the fourth one-day international in Chester-le-Street last week despite Aaron Finch making 100, and Shaun Marsh 101. Rather surprisingly, perhaps, it was the 27th time a team had lost an ODI despite recording two individual hundreds. The first instance was in 1982-83, when Pakistan lost to India in Lahore even though Zaheer Abbas made 105 and Javed Miandad 119 not out.Australia had suffered this fate five times before: against India in Jaipur in 1986-87 (Geoff Marsh 104, David Boon 111), v Sri Lanka in Adelaide in 2011-12 (David Warner 100, Michael Clarke 117), v India in Nagpur in 2013-14 (Shane Watson 102, George Bailey 156), v India in Sydney in 2015-16 (Warner 122, Mitchell Marsh 102 not out), and v South Africa in Durban in 2016-17 (Warner 117, Steven Smith 108).In the first World Cup match, in 1975, England made the first triple-hundred total in ODIs, bettering their own previous best of 266•PA PhotosOf the batsmen who have scored 5000 runs in ODIs, who has been dismissed most often for 0? Is it Eoin Morgan? asked Ashish Mishra from India
England’s captain (and new leading run scorer) Eoin Morgan is actually well down this particular table: he’s bagged 14 ducks so far in 205 one-day internationals, the latest in the fifth ODI against Australia at Old Trafford. There are 35 scorers of 5000 runs above him on the list, which is headed by Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya – he made 34 ducks, four more than Shahid Afridi and six ahead of Mahela Jayawardene.Afghanistan were bowled out twice in a day in their inaugural Test match. Has this happened to any other team? asked Pandit Gupta from India
Afghanistan were bowled out for 109 and 103 on the second day of their recent introduction to Test cricket, against India in Bengaluru. This was the first time a team had suffered this fate in their inaugural Test, if that’s what you mean: it has happened only three times overall. India were bowled out twice by England on the third day of the third Test at Old Trafford in 1952. And Zimbabwe have done it twice in recent years, both against New Zealand: in Harare in 2005, and in Napier in 2011-12.In all, 24 wickets fell on the second day in Bengaluru. Only two days’ play in Test history have seen more wickets go down, both on spiteful rain-affected pitches in Ashes Tests: 27 fell on the second day at Lord’s in 1888, and 25 on the first day in Melbourne in 1901-02. There were also 24 wickets on the second day at The Oval in 1896, while more recently 23 went down on the second day of the match between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town in 2011-12. For the full list, click here.What’s the lowest total in ODIs to include an individual score of 150? asked Anandh Ramesh from India
The lowest total in one-day internationals to include an individual innings of 150 or more is Sri Lanka’s 229 for 5 in Mumbai in May 1997, when Sanath Jayasuriya led the chase of India’s 225 for 7 by hammering 151 not out from 120 balls. Shane Watson did better percentage-wise in clubbing an unbeaten 185 of Australia’s 232 for 1 to overhaul Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2010-11. In third place – with the highest for an all-out innings, and also for someone who ended up on the losing side – is Tony Ura’s 151 out of Papua New Guinea’s 235 against Ireland in Harare during the recent World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe in March.Leave your questions in the comments or use our feedback form

And was Imam-ul-Haq’s 74 the closest not-out score to a century on Test debut?

Steven Lynch22-May-2018When Chris Gayle made the highest score in IPL history, he scored at a strike rate of 265. Is that the best for any IPL century? asked Chris Smalley from Australia

Chris Gayle’s amazing unbeaten 175, for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in Bengaluru in 2013, came from just 66 deliveries – that’s a strike rate of 265.15 runs per 100 balls.Two other IPL centuries just shade this, although neither threatened Gayle’s for size. David Miller’s unbeaten 101 for Kings XI Punjab against RCB in Mohali in 2013 came from 38 balls, a strike rate of 265.78, while Yusuf Pathan’s round 100 for Rajasthan Royals against Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium in 2010 needed just 37 balls – a strike rate of 270.27.Given a minimum of 25 runs, the highest strike rate for any IPL innings is 422.22, by Chris Morris, who made 38 not out from just nine balls, including four fours and three sixes, for Delhi Daredevils against Rising Pune Supergiant in Pune in 2017. For the full list, click here.What are the highest innings totals without any extras in Tests and ODIs? asked Arvind Naik from India

The highest Test total not to contain a single extra is 328, by Pakistan against India in Lahore in 1954-55. That’s quite a way clear of the next highest, South Africa’s 252 against England in Durban in 1930-31. There are only five other innings of 200 or more that did not contain any extras, the most recent being Bangladesh’s 231 against West Indies in Mirpur in 2011-12.In one-day internationals, the record is India’s 265 for 1 against Bangladesh at Edgbaston in the 2017 Champions Trophy. The only other innings over 200 without any extras is Scotland’s 229 for 3 against the United Arab Emirates in Edinburgh in 2016. The record for T20Is is Pakistan’s 129 for 7 against Bangladesh in Mirpur, also in 2016.Anya Shrubsole: best ODI bowling figures at Lord’s•Getty ImagesHas anyone been left not out nearer a hundred on debut for Pakistan than Imam-ul-Haq? asked Latif Mahmood from Pakistan

That’s a good spot, as only three people have made a higher not-out score on debut for Pakistan than Imam-ul-Haq’s unbeaten 74 in the second innings against Ireland in Dublin – and they all reached three figures: Azhar Mahmood (128 not out against South Africa in Rawalpindi in 1997-98), Mohammad Wasim (109 not out v New Zealand in Lahore in 1996-97), and Saleem Malik (100 not out v Sri Lanka in Karachi in 1981-82. The only other Pakistani to make an unbeaten half-century on Test debut is Faisal Iqbal, with 52 not out against New Zealand in Auckland in 2000-01.The highest not-out innings by a debutant who missed a century is 85, set by England’s Phil Sharpe against West Indies at Edgbaston in 1963, and equalled by Javed Omar in carrying his bat for Bangladesh against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 2000-01.Who recorded the best bowling figures in a one-day international at Lord’s? asked David Payne from England

There have now been 60 men’s one-day internationals at Lord’s (of English grounds, only The Oval has staged more, with 66), but only nine instances of bowlers taking five wickets in an innings. Of those, probably the most famous was Joel Garner’s 5 for 38 for West Indies against England in the 1979 World Cup final, but actually the best figures are Daniel Vettori’s 5 for 30 for New Zealand v West Indies in the NatWest Tri-Series final in 2004.Darren Gough is the only Englishman on the list, with 5 for 44 against Australia at Lord’s in 1997, while Australia’s Brett Lee is the only bowler to claim two-five-fors there – 5 for 41 against England in 2005, and 5 for 49 against them in 2009.All these, however, are bettered by Anya Shrubsole’s 6 for 46 for England against India in the women’s World Cup final at Lord’s last year. Her England team-mate Katherine Brunt (5 for 25 v South Africa in 2008) and Australia’s Cathryn Fitzpatrick (5 for 47 against England in 1998) have also taken five wickets in an innings in a women’s ODI at Lord’s.I thought the rule for following was 200 runs’ difference. But against Pakistan in 2001, England’s lead was 188 and still they enforced the follow-on. How was this possible? asked Vikas Vadgama from India

The point about that match at Lord’s in 2001 is that the first day was completely washed out. If that happens the match is treated as a four-day game, and the Laws state that in that case the follow-on margin is only 150 runs. So England were able to enforce the follow-on despite being only 188 in front (and went on to win by an innings).A similar thing happened last week in Ireland’s inaugural Test in Dublin: it became a four-day game after the first was washed out, which allowed Pakistan to enforce the follow-on even though they only led by 180 after the first innings.Leave your questions in the comments

Luke Ronchi was always an attacking batsman, but the freedom of T20 franchise cricket has made him one of the most effective scorers in the format

Tim Wigmore25-Aug-2018Luke Ronchi was once best known as the answer to a trivia quiz question. He is the first cricketer to represent both New Zealand and Australia: “It’s a cool thing to say.” But after giving up international cricket, he has turned himself into one of the world’s best T20 batsmen.Since the start of 2017, he is the fastest starter in T20s*, hits boundaries most frequently, and has the fastest overall strike rate. And, as a wicketkeeper who opens at elite level, he gives his franchises bountiful options in how they assemble their teams.Ronchi was always capable of pyrotechnics. In a Sheffield Shield game for Western Australia against Queensland in 2007, he scored a century in 51 balls. His second fifty came up in an absurd 11 deliveries. He brought such explosiveness to his two stints in international cricket – there was a 28-ball 64 against West Indies during his brief international career with Australia, and 170 not out off 99 balls for New Zealand against Sri Lanka, the highest ODI score for a No. 7 – but rarely. Ronchi’s averages in his two main formats – 23.67 in ODIs and 17.95 in T20Is – indicate a player who struggled for consistency.”The mental side of cricket is where I made most of my mistakes,” he reflects. “I’ve always been an aggressive batter, but I think picking and choosing the right times to do it, and not getting too nervous before I’m batting, is where I struggled with things.”ESPNcricinfo LtdEarly last year Ronchi chose to retire from international cricket after the Champions Trophy. The decision was a catalyst for his transformation. From the day he told Mike Hesson, then New Zealand’s coach, of his plan, he was “just more relaxed going out to play,” he says. Even as a naturally aggressive player, Ronchi was affected by the strain of playing in high-octane matches, which cluttered his mind and therefore inhibited his performances.”When I was playing internationally I was trying too hard to do too much. I’m just going into games a lot more relaxed now, and a lot more carefree. From that I think I’ve performed a heck of a lot better.”Since the chat with Hesson, Ronchi has regarded his cricket as akin to a postscript to his main career. And so he has reconnected with the boy who used to belt balls without any thought of the consequences.”Franchise cricket is a lot more laid-back,” Ronchi says. “Because I guess international cricket takes such a toll on people that they get to this and want to be able to have a bit more fun and just be a bit more relaxed. For someone – like at my age – who has finished playing internationally, the franchise stuff is almost like a finishing off of a career where you can go out, you can have some fun, play some good cricket, meet some really good people, and still learn and try to improve your game. I see it as a completely different way of playing cricket compared to international cricket.”My mind is in a lot more calm state than it was for the majority of my career. So it’s been quite a nice feeling going to places, wherever they may be, and being nice and relaxed, and not worrying too much about what’s going to happen. Just going out and seeing the ball and trying to hit it, pretty much.”ESPNcricinfo LtdRonchi’s metamorphosis has not only been driven by his freed-up mindset. Teams are now routinely using him in what he considers the best place to bat in T20: as an opener. “There’s only two fielders out. You have a bit of fun.” In T20Is he opened once for Australia, in 2008, and once for New Zealand, in 2017, when he got a first-ball duck.Through his extraordinary run, he has stuck to a simple method. Preparing to walk out to bat, he tries to be “relaxed and calm, and just be nice and chilled in the changing room.”Ronchi has no preference on whether his side are batting first or chasing. “Either way, it’s whatever happens on the day, whatever the pitch is dictating – I’ll just go and do whatever.” If his team are batting first, he thinks about what might be a good score and relays that back to his team, though it changes little in his role.”Just react” is his mantra. “If I can’t hit a boundary, then you drop it down – a three, two, one. I look for a boundary first and then after that just get as many as I can.”Ronchi endeavours to pare T20 batsmanship back to its essence, freeing his mind from overly thinking about the situation in the match, what has come before or where a ball fits into a particular over. He laughs about the concept of hitting a boundary and then accepting a single next ball; effectively he treats every delivery the same. In keeping with his approach of simplifying the game, he eschews premeditated shots. “I play better when not thinking about what may come down and just reacting to whatever happens.”Ronchi hit a title-clinching 26-ball 52 for Islamabad United in the PSL final in March this year•AFP/Getty ImagesEarlier in his career Ronchi sometimes struggled with trying too hard to impose himself on the opposition, something that he has learned does not suit his game.”I’m not looking to slog. I’m trying to play my shots, or just react to what’s bowled,” he says. “If I try to whack the ball then I don’t hit the ball as well, so my best way of playing is just trying to time it, and then the better I time the ball, the better things work out. So I’m more of a timer of a cricket ball than a whacker.”Paradoxically, at the heart of his success is embracing failure. Ronchi understands that for batsmen failure is wired into T20. We speak the day after he has been dismissed for a duck in Guyana Amazon Warriors’ opening game of the Caribbean Premier League season, but he remains unperturbed.”My role – especially batting up at the top in T20 – is to try to get the team off to a bit of a flying start. Go out there and have a clear mind and just react to whatever is bowled to me. I’m either going to get out early on – like I did last night – or I’m going to get us off to a decent enough start.”Ronchi’s fundamental approach is not new, but his wholehearted embrace of what this requires is.”I’ve always had that sort of a mindset. But I think in the past I was more worried about mucking up, so I was trying to do too much in a short period of time. Once you think that way then then you’re actually going to fail more anyway, because you’re too tense and not relaxed. You’re not watching the ball, and all the basics of cricket that make you perform the way you want to perform. So now I’m a lot more relaxed going into my innings.”ESPNcricinfo LtdSuch late-blooming brilliance – Ronchi is 37 – has brought frustration to go with the fulfilment. “It’s probably more annoying that I didn’t have this mindset for the majority of my career. Because then you would have performed better, it wouldn’t have played on your mind as much.”Fear of failure can be debilitating for a T20 batsman, encouraging them to value their wicket too highly and so not score quickly enough. Ronchi has no such fear. And so he has the fastest strike rate over the first five balls, the first ten and in the Powerplay since the start of last year; he also has comfortably the fastest smart strike rate, ESPNcricinfo’s metric that compares individual strike rates with those of others at a specific point in a game.”When I’m performing well, I’m not really thinking anything. The clearer I am in my mind, the better things work out.”Attacking with such lack of inhibition from the opening ball means that Ronchi needs to face fewer deliveries to make a crucial impact. This is especially true when he plays in low-scoring leagues, like the Pakistan Super League and Bangladesh Premier League. In the CPL, Ronchi plays his home games at Providence Stadium, where the slow, turning tracks have resulted in the lowest ground average score – barely 140 – of anywhere in the world in the past two years. That means that, compared to batting on other grounds, here a player like Ronchi needs to face fewer balls and make fewer runs to shape the match.Still, he often bats for a lot more than a few balls. He has made a fifty once in every four innings since the start of 2017. In this year’s PSL, he made 435 runs – the most in the entire tournament – and hit five half-centuries in 11 innings, culminating with a 26-ball 52 to help Islamabad United win the final.”Once I get on a roll, I just keep it as simple as I possibly can, so that I know that in my own mind things are going quite well.”Role clarity and support from franchises has been at the heart of Ronchi’s success. He began this year’s PSL with scores of 3 and 0. But, according to Hassan Cheema, the manager of Islamabad, “We knew that no matter how poor a run of form he is in, he will play. We knew that the day he comes off, that’s a third of the game sorted for you. If you bowl and finish competently with a Ronchi onslaught, you’ll most probably win.”ESPNcricinfo LtdNot quite everyone agrees. Even as he has soared, the suspicion remains that Ronchi remains undervalued on the T20 circuit. He has not played in the IPL since five games for Mumbai Indians in 2008 and 2009, which now seem like a past life; Kolkata Knight Riders showed interest in Ronchi in this year’s auction, but he went unsold.”You just have to cop it on the chin,” he says. “I mean, everyone wants to go, and enjoys going, but if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen.”He was also released by Leicestershire despite having enjoyed a fine season in 2017. They preferred Cameron Delport, who has nothing like Ronchi’s recent T20 pedigree, instead, and failed to match their quarter-final performance of 2017. This ranks as a bewildering decision even if Ronchi is too modest to say as much.When he will finish up, he is not quite sure. His less arduous schedule, free of international cricket, allows far more time at home with his young family; outside of tournaments, he maintains a training regime but almost never picks up a bat. While batting with such insouciance and effect, there is no reason to contemplate retirement at all.”I’m just taking it as it comes. I don’t really want to put a time frame on it – ’cause then you’ve sort of extra goals.”Ronchi plays best when free of all the outside noise and he can just bat. His wonderful late-career transformation – from pub quiz trivia to among the leading T20 players in the world – is not done just yet.*All stats are up to date till the start of this season’s Caribbean Premier League

Royal Challengers Bangalore crippled the Kings XI line-up with a flurry of short balls, taking out their most prolific pair inside the Powerplay

Srinath Sripath14-May-2018Have bowlers finally cracked the Rahul-Gayle puzzle?
KL Rahul and Chris Gayle have carried Kings XI Punjab’s batting throughout IPL 2018, scoring nearly half their total runs so far. Rahul, in particular, has been unstoppable, often batting through the innings and taking them home in chases. If there’s been a weakness, it is that the duo had been dismissed eight times in 19 combined innings by the short ball before this game. It is a tactic that doesn’t work at all times, as their combined strike rate of 169 against short balls shows. But against express pace, as Kolkata Knight Riders’ Andre Russell showed in their previous game, it has proven to be an effective option early on in the innings.Graphic: Umesh Yadav’s shorter lengths in the Powerplay did the trick•ESPNcricinfo LtdRoyal Challengers made full use of this opportunity, persisting with the short stuff even as Rahul and Gayle went after them with hooks and cuts. Umesh Yadav landed 10 of his 18 balls in the short and short-of-length regions, and while those went for 15 runs, his extra pace managed to force mistimed pulls from both the Kings XI openers, which headed straight into the hands of fielders in the deep. Their success didn’t end there: Mohammed Siraj landed one in the same region and had Karun Nair caught at slip the very next over to leave them on 47 for 3 at the end of the Powerplay.Where has Kings XI’s middle order gone?As many as 10 Kings XI batsmen, including R Ashwin, have batted at No. 3 through to No. 6, and together they average an abysmal 17.63 between themselves. It is the lowest aggregate among the eight teams, and after a combined 44 innings, the Kings XI batsmen have managed only one fifty in those positions. Moeen Ali, in his post-innings chat with the host broadcaster, emphasised how RCB put in their best plans and resources to get rid of the openers, after which things would ease up for the bowlers in the middle overs.Graphic: Kings XI’s middle order hasn’t fired this season•ESPNcricinfo LtdGayle and Rahul managed 39 runs between them on Monday, their lowest combined aggregate this season in the nine games they have played together. Just as Moeen mentioned, those two early wickets were enough to trigger an unstoppable downward spiral.How much does this win improve RCB’s chances?Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel knocked off the 89 they needed in just 8.1 overs, pushing their net run rate up to +0.218, wiping out their negative NRR going into their last two games. If they win their remaining two games, at home against Sunrisers Hyderabad followed by an away game against Rajasthan Royals, they have a good chance of qualifying for the playoffs as the fourth-placed side, especially with this improved net run rate.RCB improved their net run rate from -0.26 to +0.22 with a thumping win over Kings XI•ESPNcricinfo LtdTheir win also raises Mumbai Indians’ hopes of making it to the last four – they could still go through with just 12 points, thanks to their strong net run rate. Sunrisers Hyderabad have also been assured of two shots at getting into the final; this result confirms a top-two spot for Sunrisers.

A season that began amid uncertainty has culminated in a remarkable resurgence for one of the oldest and proudest clubs in the land

Alan Gardner at Canterbury20-Sep-20181:38

Worcestershire relegated after Essex hammering

With all due deference to mathematics, the celebrations were on hold. But the reaction after Kent claimed the tenth Glamorgan wicket to complete an innings win on a cool, blustery September morning told a Canterbury tale. The men of Kent knew they were heading back to Division One of the Championship, after eight seasons of toil, and the applause that rolled down from the Cowdrey, Woolley and Underwood & Knott stands spoke of joy as well as relief.A season that began amid uncertainty, following the departure of their captain and leading batsman, Sam Northeast, to Hampshire and with his successor, Sam Billings, absent at the IPL, has culminated in a remarkable resurgence: Royal London Cup finalists (Kent’s first trip to Lord’s for a decade), they reached the knockout stages of the Vitality Blast, and have now secured promotion.As data analyst Dan Weston pointed out on Twitter, Kent have won more games overall this year, and have a higher win percentage, than any other county – including Division One champions Surrey. That sentence alone (perhaps even just the words “data analyst” or “Twitter”) may have caused an unexpected frisson among regular visitors to the St Lawrence Ground.Billings was down on the outfield minutes after wrapping up victory, being glad-handed by all and sundry. Jeremy Cowdrey – son of Colin, brother of Chris and Graham, and a member of the Kent committee – was moved to do a headstand, such was the pervasive mood of elation. “I don’t know what that was all about,” Billings laughed afterwards.

@alanroderick here’s the headstand! pic.twitter.com/1OdSB4YP0S

— Jeremy Cowdrey (@jeremycowdrey) September 20, 2018

For Kent’s captain and wicketkeeper, this has been an especially satisfying season. There were those who doubted the wisdom of Billings’ appointment given he was going to miss the first six weeks of the season – not to mention Kent’s trip to the Caribbean, where they reached the semi-finals of the Super50 Cup – but after returning as an IPL winner with Chennai Super Kings, he has overseen the dramatic rise of a young squad.The workload of leading, keeping and scoring runs might have daunted some, but Billings just wanted to get stuck in. He had become used to (if not satisfied with) a bit-part role with England, as well as cameo appearances in various T20 leagues around the world, but reckons a return to the county grind was the best thing for him.”I just needed to play cricket,” he said. “I’ve been on and off the whole time, been carted around running drinks everywhere. Ultimately it’s just been pleasing to be settled and play some cricket. As a group we’ve benefited, but also from my sanity point of view… I’ve enjoyed my cricket more than ever this summer.”You can’t beat coming home and playing for your home county. I’ve been at the club since I was eight years old. To win games of cricket this year, in all formats, with this group of players and the set-up we’ve got at the moment, it means a hell of a lot. I’m Kent through and through, so it’s been a fantastic year.”It is a decade since Kent were relegated for the first time, becoming the last of the 18 counties to experience life in Division Two. They briefly returned to the top tier in 2010, and were disgruntled to miss out on promotion despite finishing second in 2016 (when only one team went up due to the switch to an eight-team top flight), meaning they have spent nine seasons out of ten in the lower half of the Championship, English first-class cricket’s ghetto – the “stigma” of which former coach Jimmy Adams referred to wearily, while unsuccessfully trying to navigate a path out.Darren Stevens celebrates with Joe Denly and Zak Crawley•Getty ImagesWith Northeast negotiating his departure and the club’s chief executive, Jamie Clifford, leaving at the start of the year for a position at Lord’s, many expected another summer of flux. Kent’s new captain missed their pre-season tour due to England duty, while his deputy Joe Denly won a call to the Pakistan Super League, but Billings suggested their absence actually helped Kent’s 2018 prospects “because people had to step up”.Head coach Matt Walker focused on tightening up the culture of the dressing room and the club made key signings on and off the field. Paul Downton, sacked by England as managing director in 2015, returned to the club where his career began as a player. His work as Kent’s first director of cricket has helped modernise a county where previously the captain and coach had to spend much of their time dealing with committee business.”In the past we’ve had different things going on behind the scenes,” Billings said. “Paul Downton has been a huge revelation, we’ve been pushing for a director of cricket for a number of years. It enables the coach and the captain to deal with the first team and the second team and the players. It takes a lot of stress away from Walksy and myself. We can focus on winning games of cricket.”Former South Africa quick Allan Donald also arrived as Walker’s assistant, after a protracted year gaining his coaching qualifications. His influence was immediate – “When he talks, you listen,” Denly said – and he encouraged the Kent dressing room to consider the Championship as their own version of Test cricket, the highest level of the game.The emphasis, according to Denly, became one of “no grumbling” and playing for each other.”It’s pretty simple, a ‘team-first’ attitude,” said Walker, a member of the last Kent team to play in Division One. “We wanted to create a family. It hasn’t probably been like that for a little while. We set ourselves some standards, some values that we live by – nothing major but just some non-negotiable standards that are kept daily.”To be honest, I didn’t expect it to happen this quick. I thought this year was going to be a bit of a stepping stone. At the start of the year, I was more interested in getting the culture right … Everyone wants to play Division One cricket. We want to test ourselves against the best teams in the country, we want to have a chance of winning the overall County Championship.”Matt Henry has been prolific for Kent•Getty ImagesKent actually lost their opening game, at home to Gloucestershire, with Denly admitting he was “anxious” about stepping in as captain. He has since been happy to assume a role in the leadership group, as Billings has impressively stamped a mark in his first season in charge.”He’s a very passionate guy, Sam. When he gets out, we tend to give him a bit of space in the changing room,” Denly said. “But he thinks about the game very well, he’s very shrewd – just little moments throughout the season, where he’s brought bowlers on, made little adjustments in the field, and we’ve got wickets from that. He’s got a good cricket brain.”Their success has come via contributions throughout the side. Denly, a potential Test tourist this winter, is Kent’s leading run-scorer, just ahead of Heino Kuhn, the South African Kolpak signing identified as the sort of player who would compensate for Northeast’s runs. Zak Crawley, a Tonbridge School graduate whose 168 set up victory over Glamorgan – Kent’s fifth in a row and tenth this season – has enjoyed a breakthrough 2018, while Darren Stevens continues to chug in like a venerable steam engine, last week signing a contract to play into his 44th year.They have also enjoyed the services of perhaps the overseas signing of the summer, New Zealander Matt Henry, who has scythed his way through Division Two, taking 74 wickets at 14.67. His arrival was an unexpected benefit of Billings’ perpetual gig as England 12th man, after he spoke to Henry while they both carried drinks during the winter. “I said do you fancy coming to play some county cricket, and he was like ‘I’m all over it’. I managed to tap him up during the Christchurch ODI!”Like Billings, Henry still has aspirations to succeed at international level. But there was little doubting what Championship success meant to this group, when a couple of hours later Sussex’s failure to claim a fourth batting point against Warwickshire was confirmed. An exuberant chant burst forth from the players’ dressing room, and reverberated around the ground: “We are going up, say we are going up! We are going up, say we are going up!”The prospect of contesting the Division Two title against Warwickshire at Edgbaston next week remains, but Billings won’t be stopping there. “Kent is a sleeping giant. It’s a huge club, in terms of county cricket. This resurgence is only the start.”

Was he a potential great who underachieved for most of his career, or was he a good Test cricketer who enjoyed one glorious spell of over-achievement?

Karthik Krishnaswamy05-Dec-20181:04

The Gambhir Numbers You Must Know

From the start of India’s 2008 series in Sri Lanka to the end of their 2010-11 tour of South Africa, Gautam Gambhir averaged 60.52 and scored eight hundreds over a period of 24 Test matches. He made centuries in five successive Tests, falling just short of Don Bradman’s record of six, and scored at least a half-century in 11 successive Tests, a feat previously achieved only by Viv Richards.In 34 Tests either side of that Richardsian and almost Bradmanesque phase, Gambhir averaged 28.28.Two years after he last played for India, Gambhir has announced his retirement from all cricket, and the question must be asked once more: was he a potential great who underachieved for most of his career, or was he simply a good Test cricketer who enjoyed one glorious spell of over-achievement?It is a question befitting one of Indian cricket’s most complex and vexing figures.

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What are the things we remember cricketers by?In Gambhir’s case, there are many that should spring immediately to mind. The square-cut, the nudge off the legs, the cleared-front-leg hoick over wide mid-on. The nimble feet against spin, the chips over midwicket and extra-cover. The crazy charge down the track to Thisara Perera, exposing all three stumps, when he was three runs short of joining Clive Lloyd, Richards, Aravinda de Silva, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Mahela Jayawardene as centurions in World Cup finals. The elbowing of Shane Watson, the argy-bargy with Virat Kohli during an IPL game. The eagerness to put on that shiny Kolkata Knight Riders helmet and station himself at bat-pad when Sunil Narine bowled, particularly when MS Dhoni was new to the crease. The rat-a-tat clatter of media-trained cliches in press conferences; the on-the-sleeve patriotism, often edging into dangerous shades of nationalism, in social-media pronouncements. Above all, that default facial expression: half-glare, half-scowl, fully Gambhir. It’s almost like his surname – in Hindi it can mean serious, grave, grim, solemn or severe – predestined him to carry that expression around the world’s cricket grounds.Gautam Gambhir defends the ball•Getty ImagesThe image that pops into my head when I think of Gambhir is of a cricket shot, a forward defensive. The bowler is Ajantha Mendis, the terrifyingly indecipherable Ajantha Mendis of 2008, and the ball is delivered from over the wicket, initially angling across the left-handed Gambhir, drawing him forward, pitching on middle-and-off or thereabouts.The image isn’t of one forward defensive in isolation. It is, rather, like a lenticular print, of Gambhir pressing forward, landing lightly on the ball of his front foot, his toes in line with the Mendis delivery. Angle the print one way, and it is a carrom ball, straightening into Gambhir; angle it the other way, and it’s the offbreak, turning away from him.Gambhir’s footwork has situated him perfectly to deal with both possibilities. Since only his toes are in line with the ball, his front pad isn’t in the way of his bat coming down straight in case the ball turns into him. At the same time, his front leg is close enough to the initial line to enable him, with a full bend of his knee, to get his head over the offbreak and either defend it or, if the degree of turn is extravagant, pad it away.ALSO READ: From Tests to T20s – Five Gambhir classicsI don’t remember with any degree of certainty whether Gambhir played this particular sequence of forward defensives at the Sinhalese Sports Club, in Galle, or at the P Sara Oval. That in itself is testament to his consistency – 39, 43, 56, 74, 72, 26 – over a series in which Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly struggled to come to terms with Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan. All I remember is watching his footwork and thinking to myself, ‘Here is a seriously good player of spin.’That ability against spin helped him gain a firm footing in India’s Test line-up in what was his first full series back after two years out of the side. He had averaged 36.00 in his first 13 Tests, scoring a hundred against Bangladesh and a 97 against Zimbabwe but often failing to convert good-looking starts into bigger innings against better teams. His strike rate through that period was 60.21 – indicative of a gifted strokeplayer who didn’t always have the patience or shot selection to go with it.The Gambhir of 2008 was different, and he would go on to show this both home and away, and against both spin and pace. Over the next two-and-a-half years, there would be hundreds at home against Australia, England and Sri Lanka, and two in New Zealand. One of them, a match-saving epic in Napier spanning 10 hours and 43 minutes, was an innings both atypical and career-defining. There would be three fifties in four innings, against Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, on the 2010-11 tour of South Africa, including two in Cape Town, the first helping keep alive visions of a series win and the second, spanning four-and-a-half hours on the final day, helping protect India’s share of a fiercely contested series.ALSO READ: ‘Batting with you in Napier was extra special; – Tendulkar leads Gambhir tributesBy the end of that South Africa tour, India were firmly entrenched as the world’s No. 1 Test side, and Gambhir’s Test average was 51.33. A World Cup victory would follow, with Gambhir’s 97 in the final calming India’s nerves after the early loss of Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar in a chase of 275.At this point Gambhir was 29. His best years, surely, were ahead of him.

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Gautam Gambhir punches one on the off side•PTI Given what top-class fast bowling can do to reflexes dulled by age, even those of the greatest of batsmen, it perhaps wasn’t wholly unexpected that the careers of Dravid, Laxman and Tendulkar ended the way they did, their final chapters dominated by 4-0 series defeats in England and Australia.But what about the next generation? What about those born in the late 70s and early 80s, from whom at least two more good years could have been reasonably expected? What about Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh, and what about Gambhir? Why did all of them, one after the other, fade away as international cricketers after the euphoria of April 2, 2011?WATCH: Top-scoring in 2007, 2011 finals stuff of dreams – GambhirWas it the euphoria itself, the feeling of having scaled that peak and not having too much more left to achieve?Was it the ill-conceived idea that all of them jump into a full IPL season mere days after that draining World Cup? Three of them – Sehwag, Yuvraj and Gambhir – carried fitness worries into that IPL, and another – Zaheer – a notoriously injury-prone body. All of them were duly ruled out of the West Indies tour that followed, and all of them arrived in England at less than full readiness.But why that was the beginning of the end of their careers, and not merely a trough they later recovered from, can never fully be explained.This much, however, can be said: Gambhir never stopped trying to rediscover the essence of what had once made him, briefly but incandescently, one of the world’s best batsmen. He tinkered with his trigger movements, opened up his stance. He led Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles. Where others in his situation picked and chose when to play domestic cricket, their interest waxing and waning depending on the proximity of the IPL auction, he kept turning up for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy. He clashed with authority figures in one of India’s most politicised state associations, scored enough runs to keep meriting automatic selection, and became a father figure to a group of talented young players.All this ensured he remained relevant, and earned him recalls to India’s Test squad in 2014 and 2016-17. They didn’t go as he might have liked, but, as with everything else he did, he gave it his all.

Despite the evidence of history, we continue to pin our hopes on teams chasing 300-plus in the fourth innings in Tests

Jarrod Kimber12-Jan-2019Something doesn’t feel right. The ball thumps into Roshen Silva’s pads and England go up, but it feels like a theatre appeal. No one truly believes it. Sri Lanka started their chase needing over 300 runs and they still need over 150. Their top four are gone, but luck, fate, momentum, or whatever made-up thing you hold dear, is on their side.The partnership has gone past 50, which is over 16% of the chase, and these two now appear permanent at the crease. Despite the early wickets, the tough pitch and England having a plethora of bowlers, you can see how Sri Lanka will win the second Test.There’s a noise that cricket fans make in chases like this, as if cricket’s global consciousness tightens at once, and it squeaks. In a Test chase, partnerships bring this extra sense of assurance. Fans of the chasing side dare to dream, bowling fans panic, and cricket seems to be on the verge of making something magical happen. A lucky swipe that lands in a gap is no longer seen as a sign a wicket is coming; it’s proof the game has changed. Oh, look, now crows are on the outfield; clearly they signify the death of this bowling attack.All rational thinking suggests that the chasing side almost never wins when they chase big totals. We’ve seen them fail to do so our entire cricketing lives. Depending on your age, you’ve seen this in our incredible current batting era, the great Test years from the ’70s to the ’90s, or before that, in the days of uncovered pitches. And yet here you are, with all that cricket-watching knowledge and plenty of stories from your grandparents. You’ve read the books, swiped the notifications, listened to the wireless and sat in front of countless illegal streams, and yet you still believe.We don’t behave rationally in chases. In the history of Tests, a target of 300-plus has been set 666 times; only 30 times has the chase been successful. No matter how much this partnership feels like an indestructible force because of whatever cricket god you pray to, or what your cricket senses are telling you, the bowling team almost always wins with runs on the board. Despite your raised heart rate, in 300-plus chases, only 4.5% of the times do the batsmen win. It’s less than a one-in-20 shot.England win by 57 runs.***This decade, teams have won 3.2% of chases over 300. It’s the lowest – by a distance – since the 1960s, when pitches were still uncovered. This decade also has the highest percentage of 300-plus chases set – 53% of all chases. So batsmen have never had to chase this many big totals before, and they’ve rarely been worse at it.Fourth-innings batting has been a struggle this decade, as you can see from the runs-per-wicket average, which has dropped 15.4% from the last decade. It’s the lowest average decades-wise since the 1910s. It’s a batsman’s game for three innings, then the bowlers take charge. (The 1940s looks like nothing else in fourth-innings history because it only had 27 fourth innings, which included a couple of big drawn scores, and a world-record chase.)