A half-century of England-Australia contests only whets the appetite for more

Mark Nicholas12-Jun-2023It was a fine time to be alive – the Beatles and The Stones; George Best, Garry Sobers and Rod Laver. Nothing much else mattered frankly, except the Engand cricket team. Who could forget, however young they may have been, The Oval in 1968 when members of the crowd helped the ground staff mop the sodden outfield and open the door through which Derek Underwood marched to claim 4 for 6 in 27 balls and secure a drawn series with just six minutes of the five days remaining, it was Ray Illingworth’s team that toured Australia in 1970-71 who most fired our love of the Ashes. For those among us keen enough to smuggle transistor radios under their pillows at night and listen to the crackling sound of airwaves that told us stories of a vast and cinematic land where the sky was sapphire blue, the sun baking hot and the flies on the side of the locals, imaginations ran riot.We revelled in the commentators’ description of the Chappell brothers – Ian with his collar up, chewing gum as if that alone were a fight, and Greg, all upright elegance and gorgeous timing. We marvelled at the distant thought of a young Dennis Lillee – long hair flowing in the wind and bouncers flying – along with Rod Marsh, who, we were told, flew with gloves on to try and catch them. There was John Gleeson, the mystery spinner, whose bent-finger grip of the ball was learned from Jack Iverson; Bill Lawry, immortally named “the corpse with pads on” and Graeme “Garth” McKenzie, who had made a name with Leicestershire in county cricket and seemed too nice to bowl fast. A formidable bunch.But in Geoffrey Boycott we believed. Sure, he blocked the life out of many a day’s play, but there was something admirable about the bloody-mindedness in this bespectacled and apparently tortured Yorkshireman, who seemingly knew little of the world around him and everything about batting. The distance between him and the enigmatic and often moody writer of poetry, John Snow – who doubled up as England’s rather brilliant fast bowler – was vast but they were players in the same team, and even as winter closed in on West London, were the main subjects of imitation in the street outside the Nicholas home.Related

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The commentators painted pictures so vivid, it felt as if we were actually watching it all, and in magnificent Technicolor too. When we drifted into sleep, the dreams of a future in this exciting world became the dreams of our lives.Illingworth’s lads won the extended seven-match series 2-0, with Boycott and Snow the key protagonists. Ted Dexter, working on the tour as a journalist, thought Boycott’s unbeaten hundred at the Sydney Cricket Ground the greatest innings he had seen by an Englishman and Snow’s 7 for 40 to clean up the match pretty much the best fast bowling. Later, he added Andrew Flintoff with the ball at Lord’s in 2009, and Ben Stokes with the bat at Headingley in the summer of 2019. We shall come to that thing of beauty in a while.The Ashes summers of 1972 and ’75 in England were stymied by controversy of the worst kind, and both dramas took place at Headingley. First up, the fusarium. Sounds ridiculous but Derek Underwood took ten wickets in the match on a pitch infected by a fungus that killed the grass. He wasn’t called “Deadly” for nothing, and on an iffy pitch of any sort, he could pick off pretty much anyone who walked to the wicket. “It was uncanny that it affected only a strip 22 yards by eight feet and the rest of the ground was perfectly healthy,” said Greg Chappell. EW Swanton left it at “The pitch was an embarrassment.”Thommo + Lillee on the rampage = a happy captain: Ian Chappell relaxes with a cold few in the dressing room in Sydney in 1975, Australia 3-0 up in the series•Alan Gilbert Purcell/Fairfax Media/Getty ImagesThree years later, things at Headingley got worse. To pull off a record chase of 445 and win the third Test, Australia required a further 225 on the final day with seven wickets in hand, but when the groundsman removed the covers soon after dawn, he found the pitch vandalised. Chunks of turf had been gouged from the surface and filled with oil. The first clues as to why came when the early spectators were greeted by the sight of perimeter walls painted with the slogan “George Davis is innocent.” Davis was a London cabbie sentenced to 20 years for armed robbery. Protestors had been campaigning for his release for a year and eventually got it. Two years later he was convicted of another robbery and sent down for 15 years. His brother was behind the movement and was to say “We can get the Ashes back anytime. But not my brother.” As it happened, it was raining by tea and the match wouldn’t have run the distance anyway. Once, it was oil for the angry and now orange powder and paint is used by Extinction Rebellion to protest against oil barons. How the great world spins.Meantime, down under in the winter of 1974-75, Jeffrey Robert Thomson had struck terror into the minds of the English batters and the hearts of those who watched from behind their sofas 10,000 miles away. In harness with Lillee, he was unstoppable, unleashing some of the most devastating pace and bounce ever seen, while snarling with a splendid sense of theatre. Richie Benaud said that Frank Tyson was the fastest bowler through the air he ever saw, and added that Thommo must be the fastest off the pitch. Did we feel for the England batters or did our ears prick up with excitement at the mention of these two extraordinary bowlers? The latter, I’d say, because their message of both aggression and rebellion perfectly suited the age in which popular culture and music had overtaken traditional boundaries and innate conservatism.By 1977 and the arrival of Ian Botham, World Series Cricket was on the table and cricket’s place in the order of things was to change forever. As Tony Greig said goodbye to his adopted land, Botham lurched through the gates to claim the throne as mighty allrounder and then England’s captain. Not that it lasted long. In 1981 after the second Test at Lord’s, he resigned the captaincy and returned to the ranks under Mike Brearley. The rest, as they say, is history. Botham played two great innings – one of them miraculous – and bowled with a previously unseen ferocity in that series. England came from behind and won. It was a glorious summer, made so by the wedding of Charles and Diana and this other, rather less decorated (at that time), hero of the people.And so the story ran and ran. Television and radio advanced, news expanded, data went deeper, social media allowed a global conversation, and politics continued to invade sport through its popular appeal – in short, anyone and everyone could have their say.Warne bowls Andrew Strauss at Edgbaston in 2005 with a close relative of the delivery that got him his 700th Test wicket, in Melbourne a year and a half later, off the same batter•Clive Mason/Getty ImagesThe Ashes featured household names on tap – Border and two Waughs; Gower and Gatting; more Botham, Merv Hughes, Mark Taylor, Mike Atherton, Darren Gough, and the incomparable Shane Warne, who lit up the stage he has now left so suddenly and too soon. Of all cricketers, Warne most held our attention. He was everywhere, front page and back; a glittering star in a game often reluctant to fully appreciate them. From 1989 to 2002-03 the Australians were exceptional and England not so. Warne rescued the narrative of the little urn almost single-handedly by giving something new, engaging and irresistible to the audience.”The art of leg-spin,” he says in his autobiography, “is the creation of something that isn’t really there.” He goes on: “It’s a magic trick, surrounded by mystery, aura and fear.” That’s it – fear. From the slow release of a cricket ball, Warne created fear. Or put a different way, Snow, Lillee and Thomson intimidated batters by hitting them on the head; Warne intimidated batters by eyeing them up and explaining the inevitability of him taking them down. He talked baloney much of the time, invented new descriptions of the same spinning ball and made it abundantly clear that he owned the ground on which they played. He has bowled the most Ashes balls and taken the most Ashes wickets. Don Bradman is his batting counterpart and both are well ahead of the rest.Warne was the outstanding player of the famed 2005 Ashes, when England regained the urn after 17 years. Had he not trod on his stumps one Edgbaston Sunday morning, he might well have cooked up a win from nowhere and galvanised his team to go on and take the series. As it is, England triumphed amid wild scenes of celebration that extended to an open-top bus parade through London, which ended, with the players much worse for wear, in front of tens of thousands of people at Trafalgar Square. It wasn’t that Admiral Nelson played any part but it was almost surreal that he was there, watching over such nationalism.The Australian team hated the excess in all that and turned their attention to revenge, which was exacted without mercy at home not much more than year later. England were crushed by the last hurrah of a truly great cricket team that had been led by Allan Border, then Taylor, Steve Waugh, and the best No. 3 batter to wear the green and gold since Bradman, Ricky Ponting. Warne and his compadre in the field of combat, Glenn McGrath, bowed out at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but not before Warne had claimed his 700th wicket with another dazzling ball to Andrew Strauss.Flintoff amps it up against Brett Lee at Lord’s in 2005; he took 24 wickets in that series. Four years on, he produced another epic performance at the same ground•Getty ImagesStrauss led his own team to victory at home in 2009, with Flintoff every bit as much the talisman he had been in 2005, when he had done a bit of a Botham on the country. At Lord’s, Freddie bowled so relentlessly fast and straight that Ian Chappell was moved to say he had not seen better; and remember, Chappelli hung out at first slip to Lillee and stood firm at the top of the order against Andy Roberts and Michael Holding.Strauss’ even more memorable victory came in Australia 18 months later, with extraordinary if very different batting from an eclectic group that included Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen setting up Jimmy Anderson and Graeme Swann to knock over Ponting’s suddenly vulnerable team. Since then, it has been comfortable wins at home for Australia and success at home for England.Until 2019, when it went to the wire.For Botham and Flintoff, read Stokes and the legend of Leeds. England were behind in the series, Headingley was do or die. Humbled for 67 in the first innings, Joe Root’s unlikely lads needed 359 to win in the fourth. The last day fell this way and that, a roller coaster in the true sense of sporting uncertainty. Stokes, having bowled two astonishing and long spells with a dicky knee and at great pace, dug in to douse the Australians’ flame before launching into an all-out assault that, in thrilling fashion, put out their fire. History will record the nearly factors – sixes inching over fielders’ heads; the Marcus Harris drop at third man (a difficult chance reminiscent of Simon Jones at Edgbston in 2005); the wasted, and last, Australian review, when moments later Leach was trapped in front of all three; the Leach run out that wasn’t; the Stokes lbw escape – but it will rejoice in the most magnificent innings, the best many of us reckoned we had ever seen.These are the matches and players I have known. I am no less excited now than I was then: well, perhaps a little, but only because the boyish enthusiasm has long gone. Of the players I didn’t see live, the contest between those great mates Keith Miller and Denis Compton would have been one to behold. So too between Benaud and Bradman; Hutton, Hammond and Hobbs; Trumper, Macartney and Grace. Perhaps Harold Larwood, most of all, during Bodyline, against the fine Australian batting of the day, or Bill O’Reilly: the legspinner who was the best bowler Bradman ever saw.Ben Stokes at Headingley in 2019, during the Test that now bears his name in folklore•Ryan Pierse/Getty ImagesO’Reilly raged against the machine, attacking officialdom with a rarely seen confidence and wit. His Catholicism saw him in scrapes, not least with Bradman, a Protestant, but his energy and concern for the Ashes never wavered. He called out for an even contest between bat and ball and a complete commitment from those lucky enough to represent their respective countries. He spared no one if criticism was due.One weekend in the early 1920s, O’Reilly received a call to go to Bowral – which he probably did by train and then bike, kit bag slung over his shoulder. He was later to call it a “dreadful mistake”. Early in the game and standing at square leg, he saw a diminutive figure approaching:”What struck me most about him was the difficulty he seemed to be having taking normal steps as he approached the wicket. His pads seemed to reach up to his navel. His bat was small and had reached the sere and yellow stage, where the yellow was turning to dark tobacco.”It was the boy Bradman, who made 234 not out.Later, Bradman made 5028 runs in 63 Ashes innings at an average of all but 90. Within these figures are 19 hundreds, 12 fifties and a highest score of 334.Who is next, one wonders. Maybe not another Bradman or Warne but for sure, players will emerge with the capacity for wonderful performances and to answer the call of the crowd. The greats of the game say that the Ashes defines you and it’s true – ask any of the 22 named at the toss on Friday morning. They will say the same. Bring it on.

Even though they needed 29 off the last over, the finisher took charge and got them through

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Apr-2023

Rinkuuuuuuuuuu pic.twitter.com/6u3bBm6d37

— Shreyas Iyer (@ShreyasIyer15) April 9, 2023

Judgement on tourists’ first meeting with new England needs a little more time

Andrew McGlashan16-Jun-2023It was a field Australia would not have been allowed in a T20 powerplay. In the third over Pat Cummins, the No. 3-ranked fast bowler in the world, armed with a new Dukes ball and an average of 21.74 had three fielders on the boundary for Ben Duckett.Leading into this Ashes, which has been dominated with whether England could do it against this attack and in turn how they would respond, Australia openly said that it was their field placements where a response to Bazball was most likely to be seen. They were true to their word. A few minutes earlier, Cummins had stood at the top of his mark to begin the series with a deep backward point in place. Australia had reacted to Bazball before a delivery had been bowled.Zak Crawley promptly got onto the front foot and crunched a drive through the covers. Mitchell Starc to Rory Burns this was not. By the time Cummins bowled his second over, there were three fielders back on the rope with just two slips and a gully catching. Whereas normally there would be a stacked slip cordon waiting behind the batters, now there were as many fielders on the boundary.When Nathan Lyon was introduced for the 10th over he started with four men out. Ollie Pope was 11 off 18 balls and there was long-on, deep midwicket, deep backward square and deep backward point. Within the first session of an Ashes series, England were essentially able to milk a bowling attack. The first 25 overs produced the lowest percentage of dot balls in a Test since 2002.”From a bowling front things went pretty well,” Josh Hazlewood, who had won the selection race with Mitchell Starc, said. “Obviously there’s things we’d change looking back and we’ll probably dig into that. It’s a different way of going about it, different fields at different stages. Some worked, some probably didn’t.”Related

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Even though Bazball is now a year old, it is still often difficult to fully digest what England are doing with the bat, particularly when Joe Root reverse scoops Cummins and Scott Boland over deep third for six.Did Australia’s plan, formulated heavily by the work of coaches and analysts, to effectively go defensive work? England bounced along at 5.03 an over (marginally behind the 5.13 they scored at on the opening day in 2005). Australia did not bowl a maiden until the 37th over from Hazlewood and sent down just two for the day. But they claimed eight wickets having had to bowl first on what is a pretty docile surface.”Think you have to look at the end score, so eight for under 400, basically all out for 400. You’d take that on that wicket for sure, whether it takes 80 overs or 160. It’s the same score,” Hazlewood said. “We have to start to look at things a bit differently, not so much strike-rates and economy. It’s just about wickets and the score and if we can keep it as simple as that think it will go a long way towards wrapping our head around the new Ashes.”They could even have had a wicket caught a deep point. Boland bowled a short, wide delivery to Harry Brook who flayed it into the off side, but Travis Head was slow to react from the boundary and couldn’t hold on as he sprawled forward. The slowness of the pitch largely took out the short ball as a viable option for a sustained approach.Travis Head drops a catch from Harry Brook•Getty ImagesDespite the boundary-riders the scoreboard kept rattling along. It felt Australia had conceded ground very early, but they insisted they didn’t lose control. As a rather rough comparison, England hit 40 fours and five sixes today in 78 overs while in Mount Maunganui, where they declared on 325 for 9 after 58.2 overs, they hit 48 fours and one six.”There’s a lot more ones probably but if we shut down the boundaries then that score really doesn’t really go through the roof at sevens or eights,” Hazlewood said. “If we can keep it at five an over and keep taking wickets throughout the day that somewhat keeps them in check.”Last week, coach Andrew McDonald said the bowlers would have to accept a higher economy rate and it’s something they are buying into.”We talked between the final and this game, we caught up a few times with the coaches,” Hazlewood said. “You’ve got a red ball in your hand, got whites on, you think if I bowl top of off then it should be respected but think those days are long gone no matter who you are playing. India went at a fair clip last week as well. We are used to seeing that sort of stuff and it’s almost about taking the batter out of it and keep bashing away.”Australia made regular-enough inroads during the first half of the day to have their noses in front at two stages: when Boland produced an excellent delivery to clip Crawley’s glove with the last ball before lunch then when Brook and Ben Stokes fell in quick succession.With England 176 for 5, Australia were probably one quick breakthrough away from having a chance of keeping them to 250. There would have been very different reflections on the day. But Root and Jonny Bairstow, two Yorkshire mates, combined with an impish stand of 121 in 23 overs. Even when that was broken Australia couldn’t stem the scoring. However, the final twist (if it is such a thing these days) of Stokes calling his players in meant they were off the field before the close.In 2005 when England racked up 407 in 79 overs, there was a view that they had squandered the potential for a bigger total. History shows how that played out and there will be far fewer of those conversations this time given the now sustained approach to Test cricket. But in a similar way to how it took that match to play out to is conclusion to understand the context of the opening day, so too will a fuller judgement on Australia’s first meeting with Bazball need a little more time.

England arrived at Lord’s as underdogs and left as favourites

Matt Roller29-Jun-2023England arrived at Lord’s as outsiders on Thursday morning, and left the ground 10 hours later as favourites. Not bad, for a team derided in several quarters as “brainless” and forced to defend their approach on a day where they gained a foothold in an Ashes series that had threatened to slip away from them.After 61 overs, England are 278 for 4 against a team whose spinner looks highly unlikely to bowl again in this match and are only 138 runs behind on first innings. Yet the focus has fallen squarely on a passage in which they lost three wickets for 34 runs, largely ignoring the 244 for 1 they added either side.Jonathan Agnew, the BBC’s cricket correspondent, interviewed Ben Duckett moments after stumps were drawn. “What about the general mood in the dressing room [about the fact] that three frontline batsmen get out in that fashion with such a clear plan, and with the spinner off the field injured?” he asked.Duckett was bemused. “I’m not sure how to answer that,” he said. “I’m surprised about the question. We’ve played positive cricket for the past 12 months and we’re certainly not going to change. We’re very happy with the position we’re in. If we can eke closer to them and even get a lead, I think we’re on top in this game.”The exchange laid bare the extent of the transformation in England’s attitude towards risk. Once, there was a right way to play, an unwritten moral code which dictated that the superior way to get out is while defending; now, there is no stigma involved in attacking, no tacit understanding that certain shots are off limits.Related

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England lost three wickets to the short ball in that period after tea, all of them playing attacking shots. Ollie Pope toe-ended Cameron Green to deep backward square leg; Duckett hooked Josh Hazlewood to deep fine leg; Joe Root plinked Mitchell Starc to square leg, where Steven Smith dived forward to take an excellent low catch.And it could have been worse. Root had earlier gloved behind to Alex Carey, only to be reprieved when replays confirmed Green had over-stepped, while Harry Brook – perhaps the most frenetic of England’s batters during a chaotic passage – was put down by Marnus Labuschagne at square leg, again taking on the short ball.This was, unquestionably, Australia’s moment. A frontline bowler down on a pitch that Smith described as “pretty flat and benign”, their change in plans – a short-ball barrage with fields set to match – brought them three quick wickets and brought them back into a game that had wriggled out of their control.But to hammer England for getting out playing attacking shots misses the point completely. Their mini-collapse did not exist in a vacuum, but in the context of a day where they had been so dominant that Australia – the recently-crowned World Test Champions, no less – were forced away from their own strengths: “We had to revert to different tactics,” Smith conceded.Ben Duckett cuts through point•PA Images via Getty ImagesEngland did not reach 188 for 1 by ducking, weaving, blocking and leaving, but by playing in the manner that comes naturally to a team filled with batters who have been brought up in the T20 era and who trust their attacking shots more than their defence. “I’m not happy I got out, but I’d rather get out like that,” Duckett said.Duckett rode his luck through his innings, with a handful of miscues that did not go to hand, but an element of risk is built into his game. Across his innings, he only left two balls, neither of which he felt he could have reached, and played 21 pull shots; the 21st got him out, but the first 20 brought him 23 runs.”10 metres either side of him there and I’ve got 100,” he reflected on his dismissal for 98. “I’d only have been disappointed if I’d have gone away from my natural game and it’s a shot that I play and it’s a shot that I’ve scored plenty of runs over my career doing so I’m not happy I got out, but I’d rather get out like that.”In another era, Pope would have walked back through the Long Room fearing a verbal barrage after being caught on the boundary on 42. Not now. “No-one in that dressing room will be disappointed with how he got out,” Duckett said. “Everyone will be a bit gutted that it didn’t go for six.”Popey said, ‘I’m going to get that side of it, and smack it into the stands.’ I said, ‘Go and do it.’ He was so unlucky to get a toe-ender there. If that’s anywhere near the middle, or even a top edge, it’s going miles back for six. It’s the way we play our cricket. If they’re going to have plans like that and we’re going to go into our shells and just get bombed out… that would be going totally against what we do.”Only when Ben Stokes walked out did England’s innings regain a semblance of calm – and even then, Brook did his best to further his commercial relationship with Major League Baseball by slugging another Green short ball for three through mid-off, either side of two more cross-batted swings for four through the leg side.Perhaps England could have batted differently for that half-hour. “Most of the bowlers probably didn’t want to keep charging in and bowling short stuff,” Smith said. “If you get under [duck] a few, it might stop but they kept taking it on.” Perhaps they could have been more ruthless, and reached the close two or three wickets down.But to fixate on three miscues risks missing the bigger picture. On Thursday, England scored at 4.55 runs an over against the best seam attack in the world, forcing their way into the ascendancy barely 24 hours after inserting Australia under heavy cloud cover and taking three wickets for 316.England have won 11 out of 14 Tests by embracing their strengths, dialling up the aggression and taking bowlers on – and they might well win this one, too. 18 months on from the limpest defeat in recent Ashes history, they can be forgiven for briefly leaning too far the other way on a day they dominated.

He was happy with the batters’ progress as the series went on, but said “it was an eye-opener for the bowling unit”

Firdose Moonda03-Sep-2023The South African season is only five days old but they have already seen how much work they need to do to match up to the top teams in the world.Yes, South Africa were testing some new combinations, but they were blanked 3-0 in the T20I series by an experimental Australian side. After the third match, their white-ball coach Rob Walter admitted “our next best have got work to do”.”The game is riddled with risk,” he said of the T20 format. “Sometimes it’s going to pay off and other times it isn’t. I was happy with the progress we made.”That statement applied specifically to the batting: after being bowled out for just 115 in the first T20I, South Africa made 164 for 8 and 190 for 8 in the second and third, respectively. But across the three matches, Reeza Hendricks was the only South Africa batter to make a half-century; Australia batters scored five, two of them by their new captain Mitchell Marsh. Still, Walter saw “some light at the end of the tunnel” in terms of how South Africa went about their innings in the third T20I, specifically in the way they recovered from 12 for 2.But, the only newcomer to contribute with the bat was Donovan Ferreira, who struck 48 off 21 balls on debut, while Matthew Breetzke (one innings) and Dewald Brevis (two innings) scored five runs each. Brevis’ much-anticipated arrival to the international stage, after he topped the run charts at last year’s Under-19 World Cup, did not go as expected. He holed out in the opening game looking to clear long-off and was caught behind for a first-ball duck in the second before being benched for the third.Walter, however, is looking forward to his future involvement with the senior side.”Dewald didn’t get many runs in his two opportunities but there is no doubting his quality and ability,” he said. “The positive was to give him an opportunity to test the waters in international cricket, so he has now got a good sense of playing a good team – what does that feel like.”Breetzke, who came out to bat in the first over on Sunday – after Temba Bavuma got a first-baller – and fell trying to take on the boundary fielder, also received praise from Walter for his approach.Donovan Ferreira made an impressive debut•Gallo Images/Getty Images”Matthew didn’t get many runs but it was great to give him an opportunity to make his debut,” he said. “Watching him go through his work and his training throughout this series, I am excited about what he has to offer. Even his dismissal – the courage to make a play in that situation is sometimes worth more than the actual result.”Ferreira’s knock was the standout as he “showed something special on debut”, as Walter put it. “To play like that and to hit the ball like that – it is exciting if we have these types of players in the ranks.”South Africa’s only bowling debutant was Gerald Coetzee. He has already been capped at Test and ODI level, but here he had a tough time. He picked up three wickets in as many outings but conceded 10.98 per over.By contrast, Australia’s new caps all impressed individually, starting with 21-year-old legspinner Tanveer Sangha. He took 4 for 31 on debut, barely more than 24 hours after arriving in South Africa, and was the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the series despite sitting out the second game. Matthew Short scored a match-winning 66 off 30 balls in the second match as Australia chased down a target of 165 with 31 balls to spare. Spencer Johnson took 2 for 33 in the first match and was the most economical bowler on either side in the third.The difference in the quality of contributions from the younger players was not lost on Australia’s batting coach Michael di Venuto. “Maybe our fringe players are slightly ahead of where the Proteas players are at the moment,” he said, but quickly cushioned his answer with a confidence booster for the hosts. “That’s not to say they can’t catch up quickly. I wouldn’t be panicking if I was in their dressing room.”Among the mitigating factors for South Africa appearing undercooked is that they have not played international cricket in almost five months since hosting West Indies at the end of last summer. It’s oft-repeated that what takes place in training cannot replicate the intensity in the middle, and this series was further proof of that. Though South Africa’s batting line-up was the most untested department, it was their bowling attack that struggled to consistently threaten Australia despite its experience.Lungi Ngidi, the leader of the attack in the absence of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, went wicketless across the series. His variations proved ineffective as he ended up with an economy of 13.78. Lizaad Williams, Coetzee, Marco Jansen, Tabraiz Shamsi and Bjorn Fortuin all conceded more than ten an over; Aiden Markram (8.33) was the only one from the South African camp to go for less than ten. As a result, the bowling attack never looked like one that could win a series, and Walter did not shy away from that reality.”There’s no running away from it – their batting skill was better than what we had to offer with the ball,” he said. “We got a hard lesson in terms of not executing our skills. It was an eye-opener for the bowling unit.”South Africa are yet to appoint a bowling coach for their white-ball outfits after using former internationals Rory Kleinveldt and Quinton Friend in bit-part capacities but Walter confirmed that Eric Simons will accompany them through the ODI series and the World Cup. Simons is a former national coach and has years of experience with Chennai Super Kings in the IPL and their franchise subsidiaries across the world, and South Africa will lean heavily on his knowledge of subcontinent conditions as they prepare for the ODI World Cup.Their squad for the tournament will be named on Tuesday.

And is Virat Kohli the fastest to 20 ODI centuries?

Steven Lynch12-Sep-2023I noticed that Jos Buttler captained England on his birthday recently. How rare is this? asked Jennifer Roberts from England

Jos Buttler skippered England in a one-day international against New Zealand last week in Cardiff on September 8, his 33rd birthday. Things started well as he top-scored for England with 72, but he ended up on the losing side.Captaining on a birthday is reasonably common: this was the 31st such instance in men’s ODIs, and it was followed next day by the 32nd – Dasun Shanaka skippered Sri Lanka against Bangladesh during the Asia Cup in Colombo on his 32nd birthday. The only other Englishman to do it was Andrew Strauss, in what ended up as a sensational defeat by Ireland during the World Cup in Bangalore on March 2, 2011, his 34th birthday.Tamim Iqbal has made something of a habit of this, captaining Bangladesh in three ODIs on his birthday (March 20) in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Viv Richards and Arjuna Ranatunga both did it twice.There have been 15 instances in men’s T20Is, including another one by Shanaka (in 2022), and one by New Zealand’s Tom Latham (April 2), who also did in an ODI.There have been more cases in Tests, but only 21 occasions when a captain had his birthday on the first day of the match, when he presumably tossed up. The first instance of this actually featured both skippers: on March 11, 1953, in Georgetown, Jeff Stollmeyer (West Indies) turned 32, and Vijay Hazare (India) 38.Virat Kohli captained India in a Test against South Africa in Mohali that started on his 27th birthday (November 5) in 2015, and in a T20I against Scotland on his 33rd, in Dubai during the 2021 World Cup.I read that Tim David was the first to play a one-day international having previously played T20s for a different country. Is that correct? asked Mason Edwards from Australia

It’s not quite true. The hard-hitting Tim David played his first one-day international for Australia last week, against South Africa in Bloemfontein last week. He had previously played 28 T20Is, the first 14 of them for Singapore, where he was born in 1996. The particular distinction achieved by David is that he is the first man who made his official international debut for a country that doesn’t play ODIs to appear in one, obviously after being selected by a country that does play them. (In case it helps the explanation, Mark Chapman, who is now playing for New Zealand, previously appeared for Hong Kong – but they did have ODI status, and he played two such matches for them, as well as 19 T20Is, before New Zealand chose him.)By a remarkable coincidence, the first woman to achieve this unusual double completed it on the same day as David: on September 9, Mahika Gaur made her ODI debut for England, against Sri Lanka in Chester-le Street, after 19 T20Is for United Arab Emirates (and two in recent weeks for England). The UAE’s women’s team does not have ODI status.Which man has the best bowling figures in The Hundred? asked James Narracott from England

The best bowling figures in the men’s Hundred are 5 for 11, by the South African-born Manchester Originals legspinner Calvin Harrison against Northern Superchargers at Old Trafford last month. Harrison bettered the mark set in 2022 by another Originals player, Josh Little, who took 5 for 13 against Oval Invincibles, also at Old Trafford.There have been three other five-fors, by Marchant de Lange (5 for 20 for Trent Rockets), Imran Tahir and Henry Brookes (who both took 5 for 25 for Birmingham Phoenix). For the full list, click here. The only bowler to take five wickets in an innings in the women’s Hundred is Fi Morris – 5 for 7 for Manchester Originals against Birmingham Phoenix at Old Trafford in 2023.Hashim Amla is the fastest to 20 ODI hundreds, getting there in 25 fewer innings than the next fastest, Virat Kohli•AFPVirat Kohli scored his 20th ODI hundred in his 133rd innings. Has anyone got to 20 faster than Virat? asked Vikram Ramaswamy from India

The only man to reach 20 one-day international centuries quicker than Virat Kohli’s 133 innings is the South African Hashim Amla, who got there in 108. In third place is Australia’s David Warner who scored his 20th century in his 142nd ODI innings, against South Africa in Bloemfontein last week.Only 12 others have scored as many as 20 centuries in ODIs. AB de Villiers reached the mark in 175 innings, Rohit Sharma in 183, Ross Taylor 195, Sachin Tendulkar 197, Sourav Ganguly 214, Herschelle Gibbs 217, Chris Gayle 226, Saeed Anwar 243, Ricky Ponting 244, Tillakaratne Dilshan 279, Sanath Jayasuriya 350 and Kumar Sangakkara 366.Both captains during India’s Asia Cup match against Nepal were called Rohit. How rare is this? asked Husein Bharmal from Oman

The captains in that Asia Cup match in Pallekele last week were Rohit Sharma of India and Rohit Paudel of Nepal. The only previous instance of the captains sharing the same first name in ODIs was in Perth in 1990-91, when Australia were skippered by Allan Border and England by Allan Lamb.Border and Lamb also opposed each other in one Test, in Brisbane a few weeks earlier; other instances involved Herbie Taylor (South Africa) and Herbie Collins (Australia) in three Tests in 1921-22, and Jack Ryder (Australia) and Jack White (England) in one match in 1928-29. The only case in T20Is was by Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan) and Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan) in 2013-14.Molly Dive (Australia) and Molly Hide (England) opposed each other in four women’s Tests (three in 1948-49 and one in 1951), and Mary Duggan (England) and Mary Allitt (Australia) in three in 1963. Clare Connor (England) and Clare Shillington (Ireland) captained in an ODI in Pretoria during the 2005 World Cup. (I’ve tried to use the forenames by which the players were usually known, but nicknames or shortened versions of names might mean these lists are not quite complete, so, for example, Steve Waugh and Stephen Fleming did not show up in our query.)Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

The best batting team of the tournament posts another 350-plus total in the World Cup

Sampath Bandarupalli01-Nov-202382 Sixes hit by South Africa in seven matches in this tournament, the most by a team in a men’s ODI World Cup. They surpassed England’s 76 sixes in 11 matches in the 2019 World Cup.10.2 Sixes per ODI by South Africa in 2023, the best hit-rate for a team in a year (min: 100 sixes). They have hit 194 sixes in 19 ODIs this year, the second most in ODIs, behind the 209 by West Indies in 28 matches in 2019.8 Consecutive 300-plus totals by South Africa while batting first in ODIs. It is the longest streak in men’s ODIs, bettering the seven by Australia in 2007 and England in 2019.ESPNcricinfo Ltd4 South Africa’s 350-plus totals in this tournament, the most in a men’s ODI World Cup. They now have nine totals of 350-plus runs in all World Cups, which is the joint highest alongside Australia.4 Quinton de Kock’s hundreds in this tournament. He is only the third batter with four or more centuries in a ODI World Cup, after Kumar Sangakkara (four in 2015) and Rohit Sharma (five in 2019).545 Runs by de Kock in this World Cup, the first batter to score 500-plus in a men’s ODI World Cup for South Africa, surpassing Jacques Kallis’ 485 in 2007. His tally is also the highest for a wicketkeeper in an ODI World Cup, overtaking Sangakkara’s 541 in 2015.2 Double-century stands between de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen in this tournament. They are only the second pair with two partnerships of 200-plus runs in the men’s ODI World Cup, after Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga.ESPNcricinfo Ltd8 Hundreds by South African batters in this World Cup – de Kock (4), van der Dussen (2), Aiden Markram (1) and Heinrich Klaasen (1). These are the joint-most hundreds for a team in a men’s ODI World Cup, level with Sri Lanka’s eight in 2015.357 for 4 South Africa’s total in Pune is their highest in men’s ODIs against New Zealand, surpassing the 324 for 4 in 2000 in Centurion.1999 The last instance of South Africa winning a World Cup game against New Zealand before their 190-run win in Pune on Wednesday. From 2003 to 2019, they lost all five matches against New Zealand at the World Cup.190 The margin of New Zealand’s defeat is their second-biggest at the World Cup. Their worst defeat is by 215 runs against Australia in 2007.ESPNcricinfo Ltd9 Number of ODIs won by South Africa in 2023 by 100 or more runs, the most such wins for any team in a calendar year, surpassing the eight by Pakistan in 1999. South Africa have won by 100-plus runs margin in each of their last eight ODIs where they batted first.