Stats highlights from the second ODI between England and India, in Cardiff

Bishen Jeswant27-Aug-2014304 India’s total today. India also scored 304 in the last ODI they played against England in Cardiff, in 2011. In both games India also lost six wickets. Further, both games were decided by the D/L method, with only difference being England won in 2011.0 Number of times England have scored 300-plus in a successful chase at home. As mentioned in the previous stat, England have won an ODI at home after bowling first and conceding 300-plus, but the revised target was below 300 in that rain-hit game. Overall, England have bowled first and conceded 300-plus on 23 occasions, losing 19 times and winning three, with one tie. For context, India has won 13 ODIs after bowling first and conceding 300-plus.133 India’s winning margin today. In terms of runs, this is India’s second biggest victory against England in ODIs. The only time England lost to India by a bigger margin was in Rajkot in 2008. India have beaten England by 100-plus runs four times.2091 Number of runs that MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina have scored for the fifth wicket while batting together in ODIs. They are the only pair in ODI cricket to have posted 2000-plus runs for the fifth wicket. Next on the list are Michael Bevan and Steve Waugh, who have posted 1372 runs together. For any wicket, Dhoni and Raina have put together 3244 runs, which is the third most for any batting pair in the last 10 years.1 Number of ODI hundreds that Raina now has outside Asia; he has three fifties at such venues. In Asia, he has 29 scores of 50 or more, including three hundreds. Raina has played 130 ODIs in Asia and 63 outside.12 Number of 50-plus scores Raina has now scored against England. Raina has 33 scores of 50 or more in ODIs, which means 36% of such scores for him have come against England. He averages 47.70 against England in ODIs. The only teams he averages more against are Bangladesh and Hong Kong, against whom he averages 101 each.4 Number of batsmen who have scored ODI centuries at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. Three of these batsmen are Indian – Raina, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli – with Bangladesh’ s Mohammad Ashraful being the other. The highest score by an English batsman in Cardiff is 88 – Ian Bell against Pakistan in 2006.3 Number of times R Ashwin has dismissed Eoin Morgan in ODIs. In six ODIs, Morgan has scored 25 runs off 47 – a strike rate of 53 – off Ashwin.83.5 Ravindra Jadeja’s batting average in ODIs in England. This is the fourth-highest batting average for any player who has played at least five ODI innings in England. Jadeja has only scored 167 runs in England, but has benefitted from remaining not-out in four out of his six innings there.16 Number of times in his 178 ODI bowling innings that Anderson has conceded more than 50 runs and gone wicketless. Anderson has conceded 50-plus runs on 53 occasions.

The duration of the Test series will allow Alastair Cook and MS Dhoni to reassess the strategies, or provide enough time to get thoroughly exposed

Sidharth Monga04-Jul-2014Roger Waters might well have been thinking of Alastair Cook when he wrote in that “hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way”. Take some license and add MS Dhoni to it, for their stories as captains have a lot in common. Starting July 9, over 42 days packed with 25 possible days of Test cricket in England, the two captains will be under intense scrutiny. Knowing them as captains, they are likely to hang on and on until the desperation is not quiet anymore.Cook and Dhoni both like order, set-pieces so to speak. The ball is 60 overs old; let’s get a spinner and a part-timer on. The opposition is six down; let’s attack only the tailender. Let’s not change batting orders mid-series. Even in personal lives, the highs and lows of cricket don’t seem to be a matter of life and death. Both men are conscious of not expressing too much despair or joy on the field; neither wants attention on himself. At the best of times, they bring this predictability to their operation that calms their teams down. No wild celebrations on winning, no rockets given after losses. When the cricket is over, Cook goes to his farm and tends to sheep; Dhoni opens up bikes and reassembles them, gets acquainted with army weapons and army ways. They won’t be able to get away over the next month and a half.They have had massive highs and lows. Dhoni has won the World Cup, World Twenty20 and Champions Trophy, but he has also gone three years without an overseas Test win, or a defining contribution with the bat over these 13 Tests. Cook has won an Ashes each off his bat and as a captain, has done the unthinkable by leading a series win in India, which are probably two of the most cherished results in England cricket, but he has also overseen the devastating whitewash in Australia, has done the unthinkable by losing a home series to Sri Lanka, and has now gone 25 innings without a century. Over this English summer, they must lay themselves bare on the field. One of them, or both, or even neither, will get the monkey off the back.Cook and Dhoni. Dhoni and Cook. Possible mates. Possible nemeses.•BCCIYou can imagine Dhoni and Cook will like each other over a drink. They might love to discuss how not many in the outside world understand their ways. Surely they believe there is merit to what almost the whole world considers defensive, non-instinctive captaincy? “A hundred and eighty-seven Tests between us, and people are still questioning us.” “A hundred and eighty-seven Tests between them, and they are still letting Tests drift on the field.” They might even enjoy a game of poker, sitting expression-less, keeping their cards close to their chest, not letting anyone know what they are thinking. Except there won’t be a lot of raising done. They could spend hours talking about Duncan Fletcher, who holds both of them dear. They might discuss how one of them was saved by his board president, and how the other’s boss considers him and his family “the sort of people we need”.Cook and Dhoni. Dhoni and Cook. Possible mates. Possible nemeses. For Cook has given Dhoni as much grief as anyone else in international cricket. Piling on those runs in the home series, leading a side that consigned India to their most rueful Test defeat in recent memory, winning after conceding 325 on the Bombay Bunsen. Dhoni had his own back when he pulled out an Ishant Sharma-sized rabbit out of his hat in the Champions Trophy last year, cruelly ending England’s quest for their first big title in 50-over cricket.Even when Shane Warne says that the fourth day against Sri Lanka at Headingley was the worst bit of captaincy he has ever seen in Test cricket, Dhoni can pull out a few examples of his own to steal that thunder from Cook. Wonder if Dhoni found that fourth day all too familiar. Then again, Cook can claim Dhoni doesn’t have such days at home. It takes a really awful day of cricket to be able to manage this in home conditions.

They might even enjoy a game of poker, sitting expression-less, keeping their cards close to their chest, not letting anyone know what they are thinking. Except there won’t be a lot of raising done

Consequently Cook will be under more pressure than Dhoni, who still has the limited-overs success to fall back on. After all he did survive the two whitewashes and the home series loss to England. Cook’s selectors and public are not likely to be that forgiving. Cook need not look past Dhoni if this feels like pressure. It matters nought to Dhoni what the public or the pundits think. It doesn’t affect his game, it doesn’t affect his team’s game. They won the Champions Trophy weeks after the biggest scandal in Indian cricket in this century, and it had involved Dhoni’s IPL team and his biggest supporter in India, N Srinivasan.Srinivasan does his bit by protecting the team, by making sure nobody who will criticise them – like Shane Warne or anyone at Sky might England – will be employed by the host broadcaster. It is still unlikely Warne will be able to send Dhoni into a public meltdown. You need a thick skin to be India captain for this long.It’s not all doom and gloom for the series, though. It won’t all start at 11am in Nottingham with third man, deep point, deep cover and deep midwicket as the brave new version of three slips and a gully. These two are exceptional international cricketers, and you don’t achieve what they have achieved in their careers without mental strength. When Cook hammered India in 2011, it was part of a resurgence after almost a summer where he couldn’t buy a run. Dhoni began India’s turnaround at home with a series-turning double-century against Australia.Michael Clarke and Mark Taylor might not approve of this, but with both the captains evenly matched as tacticians, preferring attrition to assault, this has the makings of a tight series. The duration of it will allow the leaders to reassess the strategies, or provide enough time to get thoroughly exposed. The stakes – surely higher for Cook than Dhoni, but he has the better bowlers – could even make the captains come out of their shells. Just as long as a proper batsman is not batting with a tailender.

Ben Stokes has learned plenty from a bumpy year with England and believes the team can still confound low expectations at the World Cup

Alan Gardner04-Nov-2014″I’m not a psycho.” The very fact Ben Stokes has to utter these words, from behind a wide grin, tells you something about his character and the combustible reputation he has developed in the last 12 months. Stokes’ spunky streak endeared him to England fans in his debut Test series, the misery-freighted Ashes whitewash; shortly after, in the Caribbean ahead of the World T20, it caused him to break a wrist punching a locker.That, he admits, was taking being combative too far, though it was frustration at failure that got the better of him. As England began afresh in the summer under Peter Moores, Stokes had to fight again, this time for his place in the side.He remains an uncertain starter for England in ODI cricket but, with the squad having assembled in Loughborough for a three-day training camp ahead of their seven-match tour of Sri Lanka and the World Cup rapidly approaching, his old-fashioned moxie may be just what a team lacking in self-confidence needs.Being nicknamed “Psycho” is not necessarily an impediment in the sporting arena – as former Nottingham Forest and England left-back Stuart Pearce would acknowledge – but Stokes is nevertheless keen to stress his increased maturity. Aged 23, he is already a father and his partner, Clare, is expecting their second child. The due date is a week after England begin their World Cup campaign and Stokes seems as relaxed about that as he now is around metal storage units after getting out cheaply.Stokes’ passion and ability have already endeared him to England fans, who well know how a charismatic allrounder can ignite the team’s fire, but his utility is likely to depend on “channelling emotions in the right way on the pitch”, as he puts it.”I think now, as I have played a lot more cricket, you can’t let emotion get on top of you because it can actually take away how you deliver on the pitch,” he said. “As a kid, I lost my temper quite easily and tended to look away from the actual game itself. Now I know how to manage that and make sure I’m getting the best out myself.”Stokes not planning baby birth dash

While many cricketers in the modern day interrupt touring to return home for the birth of a child, Ben Stokes is ready to take the old-fangled route and put work first.
Stokes’ second child is expected on February 21 – a day after England’s World Cup match against New Zealand and two days before they play Scotland – but he is not currently contemplating a round-the-world dash.
“We have spoken about it but we don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t want to miss any cricket and she’s totally on board with that,” he said. “If I can get back and it doesn’t affect any cricket, then, yes.
“It sounds pretty heartless to say I’m laidback about the birth of my child but I’m lucky that Clare completely understands my job and the situation. She actually said ‘If we tell your daughter the reason you weren’t at the birth is you were playing for your country, I reckon she will think that’s quite cool’.”

Anger management is a term that has cropped up recently, in the wake of cases involving James Anderson and Andrew Gale, but Stokes said the locker incident had not led to any special sessions with the England psychologist, Mark Bawden. “It wasn’t like I had lost my mind,” he said, before conceding: “Obviously it got brought up. I just said I can’t be doing that. I’m not a psycho.”Perhaps a more fitting description is “competitor”, and Stokes is still likely to flash a malevolent glare at opponents in the heat of battle, but it seems fatherhood has helped provide a useful equilibrium.”The one thing from having a child is they are exactly the same no matter what sort of day you’ve had, whether it’s been good or bad. They bring you completely down to earth and take you away from all the emotions you can have from playing a sport. You tend to forget about everything that has happened when you walk through the door, so I guess it has changed me.”As the joke about how many psychiatrists it takes to change a lightbulb goes, the key is wanting to change. Stokes is now a senior player with Durham and his Man-of-the-Match performance in the Royal London Cup final, when he took responsibility for his team’s run chase, showed the sort of temperament international cricket demands. England, too, want to change perceptions about their approach to the 50-over game and Stokes believes it is in their hands to do so.”Over the last couple of years one-day cricket hasn’t been our strongest format but we want to be one of the best teams in the world at it,” he said.When Stokes made his international debut, as part of Alastair Cook’s ODI side in 2011, England were on an upward curve that would see them briefly ranked No. 1 in the world. Since then, they have only won two bilateral series (excluding one-off matches) out of nine and are considered firmly in outer orbit as far as World Cup chances go.Whether they succeed or fail in Sri Lanka, where conditions will differ markedly from Australia and New Zealand, is unlikely to dramatically alter perceptions but, for England as well as Stokes, the trip will be about fostering belief and settling on plans. Stokes played three of the five ODIs against India at the end of the summer and is beginning to adapt to his role as fourth seamer, batting at No. 7.”I’ve been up and down the order quite a few times now so for me at the moment it is just about getting a solid position,” he said. “I know my role more with the ball but I had a chat with Mooresy towards the end of the one-day series about batting seven and that did do me some good. You can lose early wickets and have to build an innings, which I’m more used to, but then you can also be in the situation I was in at Headingley where you go in at the end and try and get as many runs as possible. So it’s just about being versatile.”Stokes thinks he is a better player than he was in Australia last winter and he will hope to show it at the World Cup, which will also provide an opportunity to play in the country of his birth. Stokes’ parents are from Christchurch, where England take on New Zealand – the day before another member of the family is expected to arrive – and it is perhaps because he has so much to look forward to that Stokes has little time for those writing off Cook’s team.”Hopefully the people who have said that will be eating their words. We’re 100% confident of what we have got coming ahead and we’re definitely giving ourselves the best chance to be hopefully lifting the trophy.”

Also, most brothers in a Test XI, and the fastest to 20 ODI centuries

Steven Lynch28-Oct-2014Ben Dunk scored 229 in a one-day game the other day – and lost. Was this a record? asked Sandeep from the United States

Ben Dunk’s 229 for Tasmania in that amazing match against Queensland in Sydney last week was the third-highest of 16 double-centuries scored in List A (senior one-day) matches – including three in one-day internationals – and easily the highest score by someone who ended up on the losing side. The only higher individual innings are Alistair Brown’s 268 for Surrey against Glamorgan at The Oval in 2002, and Shikhar Dhawan’s 248 for India A v South Africa A in Pretoria in 2013. The previous highest score in a losing cause was 196, by Namibia’s Gerrie Snyman, in a World Cricket League match in Windhoek in 2007-08 which the UAE managed to win by five wickets.There were 800 runs scored in the Matador Cup game between Tasmania and Queensland – how many higher aggregates have there been? asked Jack Warwick from Sydney

The 800-run thriller in Sydney also mentioned in the first question comes in sixth on the list of the highest aggregates in List A matches. Highest of all was the 872 runs scored in the head-spinning one-day international between Australia (434 for 4) and South Africa (438 for 9) in Johannesburg in March 2006. That beat the 867 runs piled up in the C&G Trophy match at The Oval in 2002 in which Alistair Brown hammered 268 for Surrey against Glamorgan. There’s another one-day international high in this table: India (414 for 7) and Sri Lanka (411 for 8) amassed 825 runs between them in Rajkot in December 2009. For the full list, click here.Did Virat Kohli become the fastest player to reach 20 one-day international centuries during the recent match at Dharamsala? asked Ian Hugo from Nigeria

Virat Kohli’s 127 in Dharamsala, in what turned out to be the final match of West Indies’ sadly truncated tour last week, was indeed his 20th century in one-day internationals. It came up in his 133rd innings in his 141st match, much quicker than the next man, Sachin Tendulkar, who got there in 197 innings (204 matches). Six other men so far have scored 20 or more ODI hundreds: Sourav Ganguly (who got there in his 214th innings in his 222nd match), Herschelle Gibbs (217/224), Chris Gayle (226/231), Saeed Anwar (243/246), Ricky Ponting (244/250) and Sanath Jayasuriya (350/359).Zimbabwe have selected the three Masakadza brothers for their Test series in Bangladesh. Has this ever happened before? asked Kyle Masters from Zimbabwe

They weren’t all selected for the first Test in Mirpur that started on Saturday, but if they do all subsequently appear together it will be only the fourth time in Test history that three brothers have appeared in the same match. WG, EM and GF Grace all played for England against Australia at The Oval in 1880 (the first Test ever played in England); three Hearnes featured in the match in Cape Town in 1891-92 – Alec and George for England, and Frank for South Africa – while Hanif (in his last Test), Sadiq (in his first) and Mushtaq Mohammad all played for Pakistan against New Zealand in Karachi in 1969-70.Is it true that West Indies have not yet successfully chased a target of more than 300 in ODIs? asked Azweer from India

Rather surprisingly perhaps, it is true – just about, since the highest score West Indies have made to win a one-day international batting second is exactly 300, chasing a target of 298, to beat South Africa in Centurion in February 2004. In all there have now been 52 instances of a team scoring 300 or more in the second innings to win an ODI, no fewer than 15 of them by India. For full details of West Indies’ biggest successful chases, click here.Dolphins scored 367 without loss in South Africa the other day. Is this a record total without losing a wicket in a one-day game? asked Saurav Jain from India

Dolphins’ total in their Momentum Cup game against Knights in Bloemfontein last week was indeed a new record for a team that didn’t lose a wicket during its innings. The unbroken stand of 367 between Morne van Wyk (who scored 175 not out) and Cameron Delport (169 not out) was also a new record for any wicket in List A matches, beating 331 for the second wicket by Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid for India against New Zealand in Hyderabad in November 1999. Knights made a good fist of their reply, reaching 342 for 7: Reeza Hendricks cracked 181. The previous highest first-wicket stand – and the old record for the highest completed innings without a wicket falling – was 326 for 0 made by Ghulam Ali (155 not out) and Sohail Jaffar (153 not out) for Pakistan International Airlines against Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan in Sialkot in April 2001. For the list of highest totals in List A matches, click here.And there’s an update to last week’s question about Vijay Manjrekar’s nickname, from Sreeram in India

“I have heard the nickname ‘Wanderer’ mentioned for Vijay Manjrekar in a quiz. The reason suggested was that he represented several different Ranji Trophy teams, which was rather unusual at the time. He played for Bombay, Bengal, Andhra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan during his Test career, which lasted from 1951-52 to 1964-65, and for Maharashtra afterwards.”

If you had to pick one batsman who could remain unfazed by the fans’ expectations and bat as close to his normal self as possible in a World Cup match against Pakistan, it’s hard to look beyond Virat Kohli

Abhishek Purohit in Adelaide15-Feb-20153:09

Insights: Kohli’s phenomenal conversion rate

‘It was only 300. It could easily have been 320, or even 330. Eighty-three runs were scored in the last 10 overs, but only 27 came from the last five. India’s batsmen are unfortunately followed by India’s bowlers. They will have to pay for tapering off after a fabulous platform was built by the top order.’Those who were fretting about India being 20 or 30 short at the innings break need not have bothered. Three-hundred might be the new 250 in ODIs. Three-hundred plus may have been chased down seven times even in India-Pakistan games. But this was a World Cup game.Six times out of six now, the side winning the toss in an India-Pakistan World Cup match has decided to bat. Five times out of six now, that side has gone on to win the game. The only loss while defending needed one of the great one-day innings of all time from Sachin Tendulkar in Centurion in 2003, to chase down 274. Look at some of the other totals successfully defended – 216 in 1992, 287 in 1996, 227 in 1999, 260 in 2011.If runs on the board is money in the bank, runs on the board in an India-Pakistan World Cup match is pure gold. There may be a run on your bank, but the gold will always have solid value. Arguably, no current ODI batsman illustrates this value better than Virat Kohli.Kohli is every bit the modern cricketer. But in many ways, he is also like one of those good old ODI batsmen of the 1990s who built long, productive careers with reliable, efficient batting. He is flamboyant, but he is solid first. He can take apart attacks in a matter of overs, but he will first look to bat long. This approach brought him his 22nd ODI century on Sunday, putting him on par with Sourav Ganguly, who played 300 innings to Kohli’s 143 so far.The afternoon before, MS Dhoni admitted that an India-Pakistan game was not a normal match, but that India’s endeavour was to keep the incremental pressure as little as they could. If you had to pick one batsman who could bat as close to his normal self as possible in a World Cup match against Pakistan, it had to be Kohli.Kohli thrives on pressure and rises to the big occasions. A much younger version of him made a century in India’s opening game of the last World Cup. The Test captain version of him made twin centuries in his first game as leader on this very ground. He gets the loudest roars – louder than even Dhoni – when Indian player names are announced on the giant screen, and also the longest, wildest cheers when he walks out to bat.Flamboyant, reliable, efficient: Virat Kohli is every bit the modern cricketer•Getty ImagesDuring the post-match presentation, he was told that Indian fans now think of him as the new Tendulkar, and asked how he managed to live up to such massive expectation. “I just look to stand up to them because I hate to lose and I play passionately. I like the expectations,” Kohli replied.It would have been extremely difficult. The team hotel is just across the river Torrens from the ground, and the players would have seen the thousands of fans shouting their way across the bridge hours before the game was to begin. The atmosphere in the streets around was infectious. It was hard not to get sucked into all the emotions associated with an India-Pakistan encounter.Kohli admitted that it had been a tough couple of days to focus with so many people around the hotel. “But you have to stay in your space at the international level.”It is an ability to enter into the zone where he feels comfortable enough to play his game under extreme pressure. Which allowed him to execute his role of batting through and providing the space for Suresh Raina to thrive at the other end.It was also not an easy pitch to bat on initially, as Dhoni said. There was some variable pace and Pakistan’s fast bowlers were disciplined. But Kohli was able to do what was required – bide his time, rotate the strike, keep building. Not only was he able to shut out that differential pressure Dhoni had spoken about, he also utilized it to sharpen his focus.Once India had the weight of runs on the board, that differential widened considerably. Many Pakistan batsmen went to balls that Misbah-ul-Haq said they could have survived.It was not about the specifics of getting 320 or 330. It was about the sheer, immeasurable, psychological weight of a big total that Kohli had brought to bear on the chasing side. In an India-Pakistan game at the World Cup, that has proved to be too much to overcome.

The Michael Clarke back-and-hamstring sideshow will go on, but it is James Faulkner’s injury that has greater potential to hurt Australia’s World Cup campaign

Brydon Coverdale02-Feb-2015On Monday morning, Michael Clarke appeared on the show on Channel Nine, and spoke on Triple M radio. He had also addressed the media on Saturday, when he played grade cricket in Sydney as part of his comeback from hamstring surgery. Overnight, Shane Warne had made the bold statement that: “I don’t think Australia can win the World Cup without Clarke”.For all the air-time and column inches devoted to Clarke’s recovery and February 21 fitness deadline, all the gossip about a possible rift in the team surrounding his return to the captaincy, Clarke’s injury should not be the one worrying Australia most right now. They should be more concerned about James Faulkner walking off during the win over England in Perth on Sunday.Cricket Australia’s official line was that Faulkner had soreness in his side/rib area. An update is expected in the coming days, but Australia must desperately hope it is not a side strain, for Faulkner would be hard to replace in the World Cup. Australia can win the World Cup without Clarke. They can also win it without Faulkner, but his loss would be the greater of the two.There are few players more important to Australia’s one-day team right now than Faulkner. Last month he finished equal third in the ODI Player of the Year tally at Allan Border Medal night, having run second last year. He was Australia’s leading ODI wicket taker in 2014 with 19 victims, but his batting is what makes him so invaluable.This is a man who generally bats at No.8, yet is ranked 21st on the ICC’s ODI batting rankings. That puts him ahead of Clarke, David Warner, Steven Smith and Brendon McCullum. He finishes off chases more clinically than Mark “The Beast” Labbett, and has the best second-innings batting average of any player in a World Cup squad.In seven of his 38 ODIs, Faulkner has been at the crease when the winning runs were struck. His finishing ability with the bat is peerless right now, if not worldwide then certainly in Australia’s one-day team. He proved in Sunday’s final, with an unbeaten 50 from 24 balls, that he can finish off a first innings just as effectively.And all this from a so-called bowling allrounder. Faulkner at No.8 is a luxury that Australia have become used to in the one-day format. It can be validly argued that a team relying so heavily on its No.8 is in dangerous territory, that the top seven should do the job more often in a 50-over contest. If Australia lose Faulkner, they risk the bottom falling out of their innings.Faulkner makes things happen. If a match is drifting, throw him the ball, or send him in with a licence to hit out. Rarely does he have a bad game. Moises Henriques would be a leading candidate to take Faulkner’s spot in the squad, but in Australia’s best XI his absence would likely open up the possibility of more game time for Mitchell Marsh.Assuming full fitness for Australia’s World Cup squad, a probable starting XI might consist of David Warner, Aaron Finch, Shane Watson, Steven Smith, Michael Clarke, Glenn Maxwell, Brad Haddin, James Faulkner, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, and one of Josh Hazlewood or Pat Cummins.Including Marsh for Faulkner makes sense, but Marsh is a batting allrounder and has never bowled more than seven overs in an ODI. The balance of the side would be altered; Australia would need more from Marsh and Watson as bowlers. It is workable, but less than ideal. Neither man possesses the change-ups that earn Faulkner so many wickets. Replace Faulkner with a bowler and the batting suffers.Replace Clarke with either George Bailey or Shaun Marsh and the batting might suffer a little but, Bailey’s lack of form notwithstanding, not greatly. Since the start of the tri-series in Zimbabwe in August, Clarke has played just two of a possible 18 ODIs, and was injured in both. Australia’s one-day team has become used to operating without Clarke, and winning regardless.Recently they are much less accustomed to being without Faulkner. The medical diagnosis is yet to come, but Australia’s side will be hurt if Faulkner’s is strained.

Deivarayan Muthu27-Mar-2015Attack-first approach: New Zealand’s strategy to contain runs? Get wickets. The field shown in the picture was not at the start of the innings nor was it with the opposition in shambles – it was in the 14th over of the semi-final as New Zealand relentlessly attacked, even when the option was there to spread the field.•ICCTrent Boult: Need a wicket right now? Call Boult. His mastery of swing and his consistency have played a pivotal part in New Zealand’s progress. On his way to toppling Geoff Allott’s New Zealand World Cup record of 20 wickets, Boult took 5 for 27, studded by a spell of 5-3-3-5, in the trans-Tasman tussle in Auckland. Boult has bowled out six times in eight matches compared to Tim Southee’s three and Daniel Vettori’s four and has six wickets more than Southee and Vettori, who are level with 15.•Getty ImagesIntensity in the field: … And the bowlers have been backed up by some sharp fielding. McCullum has led by example there as well, often leaping, sliding, diving, flinging and prowling at the covers. Vettori also stepped up and matched McCullum’s reflexes when he backpedalled, leapt and pulled off a stunning one-handed catch to dismiss Marlon Samuels in the quarter-final against West Indies.•Getty ImagesBowling depth and readiness: Adam Milne picked up only five wickets in six matches, but his extra pace and lift meant he was preferred over the experienced Kyle Mills and Mitchell McClenaghan, New Zealand’s most successful ODI bowler in the last three years. Even when Milne sustained a heel injury ahead of the semi-final, New Zealand went for the rookie Matt Henry, who wasn’t even in the World Cup squad a couple of days before the big game. McCullum explained the selection: “We have just gone for the aggressive option. A wicket-taking option. Best first-change option. When in doubt, go for the aggressive option.”•Getty Images

Australia and New Zealand will always be linked because they are, in fact, more than mere geographical neighbours or brothers

Sharda Ugra in Melbourne28-Mar-2015Early on Saturday morning, I sent out a question to a large number of friends and relatives across several generations of Indians. They are unconnected to cricket and the question was this: Who was the first famous Australian and New Zealander they had heard about?The answers returned: Don Bradman, Sir Edmund Hillary, Richard Hadlee, John Wright, Allan Border, Martin Crowe, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Daniel Vettori, Brett Lee, Pat Cash, Ricky Ponting, Ross Taylor, Ian Thorpe, Russell Crowe, David Boon,
Kiri Te Kanawa, Rupert Murdoch, Kylie Minogue, George Calombaris, David Lange, and Bob Hawke (the last two from my brother, who has zero interest in cricket).Barring Sir Ed, the cricketers turned up over and over again. Always cricketers. Say “Australia” or “New Zealand” to Indians and the largest demographic of recall will be cricketers. As though it was all people in Australia and New Zealand did. Play cricket and climb mountains. Surrounded by kangaroos and kiwi fruit, no doubt. And hobbits.People in India may have thought of “Australia-New Zillan” (that’s how we pronounce it) in the same breath but their cricketers were always known as distinctly different. The Aussies were hard as nails, tough talkers, fast bowlers, attacking batsmen. The Kiwis were less flinty but adhesive, not easily dislodged if they didn’t want to be, capable of surprise and boil-overs, producing, out of some invisible hat, mesmeric spells of bowling and possessing batsmen who could go crackle and pop.It will be those cricketers at it again on Sunday morning India time in the final of the 2015 ICC World Cup. Co-hosts, big country, small country. Big brother, little brother. Much like the 2011 World Cup final. Co-hosts, big country, small country. Except India and many of its south Asian brethren do not think of themselves as brothers but more like annoying neighbours.Australia and New Zealand though still speak the same language (enough about the accents), their armies fought under the ANZAC banner in World War I, and even their flags look similar, barring the number of stars. It’s a four-hour flight from Auckland to Melbourne and there is a two-hour time difference between the two countries. What kind of fight could you pick from that far? What rivalry could you sustain?As a turns out, a very deep-seated one which the “tyranny of distance” (to quote *Split Enz) keeps fresh for ages. For an outsider, particularly an Indian, the Australia-New Zealand sporting contest is hard to grasp as it is entrenched in neither politics nor geography nor culture. Yes, we heard about the underarm incident and yes, it was terrible, but that was ages ago.But that’s the whole point. This rivalry belongs purely to sporting history that carries itself over to many parts. No wars have been fought, but sporting grudges between the two are nursed for a very long time. Not like drinks are after a day’s play but like an ancient college t-shirt is worn for security and comfort.Underarm has sustained itself as a biting counter to all the sheep jokes. On Saturday, one of the Melbourne tabloids went into a fairly bird-brained “why we’re better” two-page graphic. It compared, among other things, the tenure of the country’s two female prime ministers, their actors, athletes, singers, supermodels and so on.No doubt there’s someone in New Zealand reminding everyone that the All Blacks have been stamping on the Wallabies forever, and that Wellington Phoenix are on top of Australia’s premier soccer league, the A-League. Then we hear that Russell Crowe is angry because his application for Australian citizenship has been refused. But hey, the Kiwis say, at least we’re mature enough to go to vote on whether we need a new flag or not.For every sheep joke made by an Australian, Underarm 1981 is used as an immediate counter•Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesAucklander Scott Pearson sat next to me on the flight from Sydney to Melbourne and had, on his tablet, pictures of his MCG tickets and the Beige Brigade uniform he owns (both shirt and trousers) but wasn’t sure what he was going to wear on finals day. He had calculated that the MCG crowd could well be ten Aussies per Kiwi, and gave a simple analysis of the essential difference between the two peoples.”Because we are so small, New Zealanders are more amenable to everyone and everything around us,” he explained. “Australia is so large, that they can do whatever they want. They are the America of the South Pacific.”America-sized in everything: collecting Olympic medals, world sporting titles – and thus, bragging rights. Australia’s highest-paid athletes are NBA player Andrew Bogut and golfer Adam Scott. New Zealand’s top two are yachtsman Russell Coutts and footballer-coach Ryan Nelsen. At one time, it used to be Tiger Woods’ caddy. Seriously. Mock that if you will, but which football team stayed undefeated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup? That’s right. New Zealand.At the pre-final press conferences, Brendon McCullum spoke in low, clipped tones about his team playing their attacking brand of cricket with “humility.” He used the word not once but twice. About 45 minutes later, Michael Clarke walked in and announced his retirement from ODI cricket. Flashlights, camera, action.

No wars have been fought, but sporting grudges are nursed for a very long time, not like drinks are after a day’s play but like an ancient college t-shirt is worn for security and comfort

A “national character” is difficult to nail down, but it was a conversation with an IPL insider that offered an insight about how teams dealt with cricketers from different nationalities. At the end of a net session, he said, the Indian cricketer would head over to the coach to ask how the session had gone. The West Indian would have to be asked how it had gone. The Australian would come over and tell the coach how well it had gone. The coach would have to go over to the New Zealander, put an arm around his shoulder and tell him that that the net had gone well. Now this is a sweeping generalisation, which does not take into account individuals and their singular distinctions, but it does make for a good story.In the World Cup final, though, Australia will not crow and New Zealand will not be looking for reassurances. Despite differences in personality and sporting issues, Australia and New Zealand will always be linked together because they are, in fact, more than mere geographical neighbours or brothers, big or small. They will always be the two contenders in a contest. Without one, the other would be incomplete. There would be no contest. And then, where’s the fun? What’s the point?That the World Cup final will be played between the hosts is only fair. For six weeks, their order and method have handled frequent collisions with the tumult and chaos of the rest of the cricket world. The decks are now clear and a sporting rivalry that belongs only to sport itself, will stretch itself, be heard and be seen.The World Cup final. Australia v New Zealand. Those cricketers from the furthest corner of the South Pacific, nearer to Antarctica than to the rest of us in the cricketing world. Those cricketers. They’re at it again.*The article had earlier attributed “tyranny of distance” to Crowded House. It has been corrected to Split Enz

As James Anderson surpasses Ian Botham to become England’s leading Test wicket-taker, ESPNcricinfo picks out six of his best performances

David Hopps17-Apr-2015Test 21: 7 for 130 v New Zealand, Wellington, 2008Anderson had already played 20 Tests by the time England arrived in Wellington, but this was a watershed moment as the dropping of Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison pronounced that England had moved on from their victorious 2005 Ashes attack. Anderson, teaming up with Stuart Broad in only his second Test, took five wickets in the first innings, befuddling Matthew Bell, Jamie How and Mathew Sinclair with natural outswing as New Zealand soon slipped to 31 for 3. Anderson and Broad would be stood together in three straight Ashes triumphs on a journey to the top of the Test rankings.Test 25: 9 for 98 v New Zealand, Trent Bridge, 2008No Test venue has bestowed favours upon Anderson more enthusiastically than Trent Bridge, a haven for swing bowlers. In eight matches in Nottingham, he has taken 53 wickets at 19.24 apiece and the ground has played host to both his 10-wicket hauls and six of his 16 five-fors. The New Zealanders succumbed to him swiftly. He had six wickets by the close of the second day and responded with a bashful acknowledgment of the crowd and a diffident media conference. A seventh wicket followed before a fleeting hoper of all 10 slipped away.Test 49: 11 for 71 v Pakistan, Trent Bridge, 2010Trent Bridge again – and one of his most devastating displays in what was to become a shaming Pakistan tour under the captaincy of Salman Butt. Pakistan were hustled out for 182 and 80, their second innings flirting dangerously with their lowest score in Test history. Anderson completed a 354-run win with 6 for 17 in the second innings, curving the ball both ways with consummate skill as he took his first 10-wicket haul and recorded the best match analysis by an England bowler for six years.Test 57: 7 for 127 v Australia, Sydney, 2010-11Australia has always been a demanding tour for Anderson, who could make the garrulous Duke ball talk at will, but who often found the Kookaburra as taciturn as they come. He has known the pain of two Ashes whitewashes Down Under, but in 2010-11, his 24 wickets made up a resolute contribution to England’s series win. By now he was approaching his peak, his artistry backed up by greater resilience and a shrewd tactical brain. If he was at his most challenging on a cloudy first day in Melbourne, where England retained the Ashes, it was in the final Test at the SCG where the Ashes were won and he finally won the respect of the Australian public.Test 76: 6 for 127 v India, Kolkata, 2012-13Anderson’s Test record in England is markedly superior to that overseas, with as much as 10 runs a wicket difference. There was precious little in his favour at Eden Gardens, apart from supreme skill and will. He had been a bit-part player in Mumbai as Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar paired up for one of the greatest spin-bowling displays in England’s history, but in this third Test, he summoned all his knowledge and persistence, drew comfort from occasional hints of reverse swing, and ensured that Alastair Cook’s side moved closer to a first series win in India for 27 years. Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli were among his first-innings victims.Test 83: 10 for 158 v Australia, Trent Bridge, 2013Surely the defining Test of Anderson’s career and, appropriately, in Nottingham. Who can forget Trent Bridge 2013? This was one of the greatest Tests of modern times: Ashton Agar’s 98 as a 19-year-old debutant; the first of Ian Bell’s third hundreds in the series as he put the back-cut back in vogue again; and Broad’s brazen choice to stand his ground after an edge had bounced off the keeper’s gloves to first slip. Anderson’s gruelling 13-over spell before lunch on the final day brought 3 for 29 and put England on the brink of victory but Brad Haddin added 65 with James Pattinson for the last wicket and, as Australia got within 15, Anderson, almost cruelly, was bowling again. Haddin inside-edged to Matt Prior, what umpire Aleem Dar did not spot, DRS uncovered and Anderson briefly forgot his exhaustion to lead a jubilant charge around the outfield.

He was one of the most admired young keepers in the country but Michael Bates is currently without a county and hoping for one more chance

Alan Gardner09-Apr-2015It is tempting to characterise Michael Bates as the last wicketkeeper. His old-fashioned skills – fast, soft hands, jack-in-the-box agility, unflagging concentration – are not so valued in an age where keepers are judged as much on their contributions with the bat as the gloves. If they drop a few, well, according to the market, that’s a price worth paying as long as there are runs in the bank.At the moment Bates is, more accurately, a lost wicketkeeper. Not yet lost to the game but definitely searching for his place. Despite a reputation that effectively made him a cult player on the county circuit in his early twenties, Bates was let go at the end of last season by Hampshire, where he had been since the age of nine. Hampshire were crowned Division Two champions but Bates lost on points in his own personal bout with Adam Wheater, brought in from Essex as competition in 2013.He admits it was a difficult decision to take. While his former team-mates are preparing for the new season, he has been “trying to keep busy and do my own thing”. For the first time in five years, he is not involved, although that doesn’t mean any less of a focus on cricket. He will play with Wiltshire in minor counties, as well as club cricket with Oxford, while waiting and hoping for another opportunity.Bates knew that the clock began ticking with Wheater’s arrival but, having helped Hampshire to a T20 and List A double the season before, he felt he deserved more time to establish himself. Despite his glovework quickly winning him a following after he succeeded Nic Pothas, 2012 remains Bates’ one full campaign.”The season that I played every single game was a very successful one, I feel like I had a huge part to play in that. And I do feel fairly hard done by that straight after that season, they signed Wheater,” he says. “I thought that was quite unfair, but I guess professional sport can be ruthless. But in this instance I do feel hard done by.”Although the arrival of Wheater caused some disgruntlement among the members, Hampshire’s motives were clear. Like Bates, he was an England U-19 wicketkeeper; unlike Bates, he averages close to 40 in first-class cricket.As a batsman, Bates knew he had work to do but he believes he could have had more support. His keeping has been compared to that of Chris Read and James Foster, the premier practitioners of their time and now venerable contributors with the bat as well, for Nottinghamshire and Essex respectively. It is interesting to look at their careers and compare numbers.

Wicketkeeper, batsman?

Michael Bates
FC – 46 matches; 1124 runs @ 21.20, 1 hundred; 136 catches, 7 stumpings
List A – 36 matches; 92 @ 8.36; 23 catches, 4 stumpings
T20 – 37 matches; 63 @ 10.50; 16 catches, 10 stumpings

James Foster at 24
FC – 56 matches; 2068 @ 27.57, 2 hundreds; 137 catches, 14 stumpings
List A – 49 matches; 621 @ 20.7; 62 catches, 13 stumpings
T20 – 4 matches; 1 @ 0.33; 1 catch

Chris Read at 24
FC – 93 matches; 3021 @ 25.18, 2 hundreds; 266 catches, 7 stumpings
List A – 114 matches; 1383 @ 20.34, 130 catches, 25 stumpings
T20 – N/A

Bates was released by Hampshire shortly before his 24th birthday, with one first-class hundred to his name and an average of 21.20. When Foster and Read were at the same age, more than a decade ago, they each had two hundreds and averages in the mid-20s; not only were they highly regarded at county level, both had also been capped by England. The contrast is a poignant one for Bates.”I’m sure at my age, with the bat, they were probably where I am now,” he says. “They’re lucky enough to have had the opportunity, the backing to gain that experience, to learn about batting and now look where they are – both captaining their respective teams, leading from the front. I feel like, if I’m given the opportunity, there’s no reason why I can’t achieve exactly the same.”I would have liked at least to have a couple more seasons with the gloves, to be the No. 1 keeper at Hampshire. That was the first season that I’d had completely under my belt. I learnt a great deal, there were many ups and downs and having to play every game as a youngster was a pretty tough ask. But I’m sure I would have gone from strength to strength. If I’d had a couple more seasons, I do think I would be away, there wouldn’t have been any questions. In my opinion, if I did have an extended opportunity I would have taken it and the rest would have been history.”Not only does Bates want to prove the point for his own sake, but also to justify the faith of those who feel Hampshire got their priorities wrong. Bates won’t quite go so far as describing himself as the best wicketkeeper of his age group but his most ardent supporters would put him in the top one.”It’s been very humbling, getting feedback from fans, on the various social media sites – the stuff that people write is very complimentary. Unfortunately that doesn’t change the situation I’m now in, I haven’t got a team, would love one and would love to be able to prove doubters wrong but also back up what all these people out there are saying about me, all these complimentary things. I would love to be back on that pitch, putting it all into practice and showing them what I can do.”Adam Gilchrist had already begun to change perceptions around the time that Read and Foster were being picked by England primarily for their keeping – both would eventually lose out to Matt Prior, a punishing batsman who managed to overcome his flaws with the gloves – and T20 probably accelerated the shift. Nevertheless, in a game of fine margins, a specialist behind the stumps can still play a decisive role.Bates’ greatest moment in his career so far came when he ensured Hampshire would win the 2012 CB40 trophy on fewer wickets lost by standing up to Kabir Ali’s medium pace with the scores tied and taking a low full toss to deny Warwickshire the single they needed. “I personally don’t think there’s any coincidence in the fact that we won two limited-overs trophies that year and I was an integral part of that behind the stumps,” Bates says.”People have said to me, if you had kept an era or two before, you potentially could have been playing for England. I still consider it to be an art in itself and hopefully that doesn’t get lost, hopefully people eventually realise the value of a keeper. They’re always going to have to bat, that’s the fact of it, in the modern day that’s never going to change. But I stand by the fact it is a skill in itself and it has a huge part to play in any form of cricket.”Bates, of course, is hoping that he still has a part to play in the game. He trained alongside Foster at Essex over the winter but has otherwise worked in a bar, a sports shop, and interned at a sponsorship company. He is not sure what the future holds but is intent on “giving cricket one last go”. Bates is a wicketkeeper out of time – and time is running out.