Picket fencing. Old wooden benches. Grass banks. It could easily be the Basin Reserve in Wellington… but it’s not

Abhishek Purohit20-Feb-2015Picket fencing. A gravel walking path around the picket fencing. Old wooden benches. Grass banks. A busy road skirting the edge of the ground. Could easily be the Basin Reserve in Wellington. It is the Junction Oval, or the St Kilda Cricket Ground, in Melbourne. Known more as the ground where Shane Warne played club cricket, and also made his first-class debut, the Junction Oval resembles the Basin Reserve in another aspect. In its heritage grandstands.The building and taking down of stands at grounds tells a story in itself. The old grandstand at the Basin Reserve was built in 1925. Spectators are no longer allowed inside it due to it being considered a potential hazard in the earthquake-prone region. The Vance Stand, which came up in the 1980s, is used instead. A few years later, the disused luncheon area in the old grandstand was turned into the New Zealand Cricket Musuem, which welcomes visitors to this day.Junction Oval used to have as many as four stands, says Stephen Wain, who has been around at the ground for years and serves as administration manager for St Kilda Cricket Club. Two of them still stand, and a third, smaller, newer pavilion has come up at the straight boundary.The Blackie-Ironmonger stand reminds you right away of the Basin grandstand. Named after the “most durable and talented spin bowling combination” in Victoria cricket, both of who represented Australia, the stand came up in 1945. High, pillared, corrugated iron roof. Long benches. Red-brick sides. It transports you back in time, and unlike the one at the Basin, is still used. It may not have a national museum, but it does house a collection of the club’s memorabilia, as well as the team changing rooms. It also contains a small enclosure for media personnel, though the view is from deep square leg.The benches will disappear soon to be replaced by seats, says Wain, for as historic as they are, they are not comfortable to sit on. Some leather cushions were helpfully placed on a few for the moment.The Kevin Murray grandstand, named after the great Australian rules footballer, was shut down after being deemed a fire hazard. The vintage staircases, two pairs of which still take you up Blackie-Ironmonger, were removed from the Kevin Murray stand. It still has the wooden floorboards intact, says Wain.Two stands were pulled down years ago. One was wooden, and used to be quite popular with fans. But there were a series of fires in the region in the late 1980s, and the authorities were not willing to take any chances. You can never be too careful with smokers in a wooden structure. One cigarette is all it takes, says Wain. “Poof”, and the entire thing could have come down.The fourth stand had something called concrete cancer, explains Wain, saying that chunks of material were falling off. One of them landed on the top of the club president’s car. That sealed the stand’s fate. A mound full of grass takes its place now.There is also a giant scoreboard next to the new pavilion. “When it is 35 degrees outside, it feels like 55 degrees inside,” says Wain. And when it is cold outside, it is freezing inside. Happens when you are sitting inside a hollow steel structure. The scoreboard was brought to the ground from a racecourse.The ground’s facilities failed to meet first-class standards in recent years, and there was a plea from Warne to the state government to help in upgrading the venue. A newly elected administration promised funds, and Wain says part of the proposed facelift includes a three-storey multi-purpose building in place of the smallest, youngest pavilion. That will be another story then. Blackie-Ironmonger will stay on though. Reminding visitors of the Basin.

A hero of the 1979 World Cup final, Joel Garner looks back at his performance in that match, and generally at putting the fear of God into people

Interview by Henry Cowen26-Mar-2015The lesson
5-37 and 3-28 |
I played against Lawrence Rowe in the late 1970s and I bowled at him for an hour and a half. I couldn’t get him out but he couldn’t hit it off the square and couldn’t score any. At the end of the day, Charlie Griffith walked into the dressing room and said: “Boy, you’ve just wasted a whole hour and a half. This game could have been over today and now you’ve got to come back tomorrow.” I said that I had tried and he said, “I know you tried but you tried too hard. What you should’ve done is bowl a straight ball!” The next morning I bowled an in-swinger, an out-swinger and then a straight ball: he was out caught bat-pad. Charlie just looked at me as if to say, “I told you so.”The collections
334 wickets in three seasons,
I took so many wickets at Littleborough! It was just as I was starting and I was on a funny contract. We played Saturdays and Sundays and what happened was, if you got five wickets for fewer than 30 you got a collection and if you scored 50 you got a collection – we lived off the collections. Every Saturday you played you were like a mercenary – you’d turn up, do your bit and have some fun.The debut
4-130 & 2-60 |
My debut was special and it was at home which made it extra special. I wasn’t too nervous – if you knew me and had seen me play cricket that would have been clear. Then there were injuries to Michael Holding and Wayne Daniel. Colin Croft and I were the natural replacements. I came on to bowl first change after Vanburn Holder pulled up in the third over and I got the first wicket. Ironically, it was Colin who took the catch. We started our Test careers together.Garner towers over his team-mates during a match in 1986•Getty ImagesThe World Cup win
5 for 38 |
Our plan was very much to keep it tight and wait for the batsmen to make mistakes. In ODI cricket you don’t always have to bowl to get wickets, you can get wickets by keeping the game as tight as possible and that’s exactly what happened. We kept putting the batsmen under more pressure, more pressure, more pressure. When we got rid of Brearley and Boycott all the other fellas came out and had to push the game on so all I had to do was basically bowl straight at the stumps.The headache
6 for 56 |
This was not one of our more productive tours! We played good cricket and continued to play the kind of cricket we were used to. What we found challenging was the umpiring decisions; Australia sent a film crew over to New Zealand to see what was happening – they spent three hours filming, said they understood what was going on and left! It was a tour we were glad to get behind us. The umpires did get to me a bit: it’s the first time I ever had a headache, the first and last time, believe it or not. The pressure was building. I think 10 minutes after we lost the game I had a splitting headache that lasted until four o’clock in the morning and it’s never happened since.Garner took a five-for in the 1979 World Cup final•PA PhotosThe payback
2 for 12, 59* |
I had great times at Somerset. The money was incidental: we had fun. I remember playing against Sylvester Clarke at Bath and he bowled two bouncers at me. I said, “Boy, you’re not going to get me out. This game’s going to finish and there’ll be other games when I’m bowling to you. Don’t you bowl these bouncers at me.” He came off and Roger Knight came on and I told him that if Sylvester Clarke couldn’t get me out then he wasn’t going to get me out either. I hit him for three sixes over long-on and we won the game. This was a one-day game in the middle of a four-day match – so we had two days left of the four-day match when this had finished. Later in the year, we had a return game at Surrey. I knew Sylvester had forgotten. I said to the umpire, “watch this”, and I bowled a slower-ball bouncer and he gloved it behind. He stood and waited for the decision and Sam just said to him, “What are you waiting for?” That’s how we played.The jester
6 for 23 & 5 for 57, 40* & 2 |
The thing is, we used to have so much fun playing against each other. When I was facing one of my boys – and vice versa, I’m sure – I knew them so well that I knew exactly when they were going to bowl a bouncer. I was playing for Somerset, facing Malcolm Marshall’s Hampshire at Bournemouth, and I could see him running in. I thought ‘You idiot, you’re going to bowl a bouncer’. I managed to get a single and I met him down the other end and said “I can’t hit you but I can hit the guy at the other end so I’m going to give it a bit!” Trevor Jesty was bowling at the other end and I got to 40 in no time. Malcolm couldn’t believe it; he said “Are you serious man?” I just said “The next man can’t bowl as fast as you so he’s going to get hit!” We had a lot of fun.Return of the kings: the West Indian players of the ’70s and ’80s relive the good times•AFPThe comeback
0-44 & 5-56 |
This was one of the highlights of my Test career. We went to Australia and we didn’t carry the trophy with us, we forgot it. Australia were leading the Test series after they won the first match and drew the second. We were playing the third Test and it was in danger of getting embarrassing. They batted for all of the fourth day and got to about 300-2 and we said: “Hey, we can’t go through this embarrassment. We’ve got to get some men. We’ve got to get some wickets.” We then bowled them out in a session, chased it down, won the match and retained the trophy by virtue of drawing the series. That was one of the better times, having to come from behind to win to save face.The final game
3-95 |
I wasn’t too uncomfortable retiring, I’d bowled a lot of overs, had a few operations and I knew my body couldn’t take it any longer. I have no complaints about playing cricket, none whatsoever: if I had to do it again, I’d do it all over again. The rest of the West Indies boys and I still have fun as a group. Up until two years ago we used to come together for a weekend in October. We’d go to an island, spend a weekend together and just do nothing. There would be 12-14 of us, the whole lot. It’s something we should do again, get the fellas back together.All Out CricketThe partnership
2-73 & 2-37 |
It’s hard to pinpoint career highlights, some of the best moments were about team success and some were more individual. I remember one moment very clearly, though, and it shows how tight we were as a unit. In 1984 we were playing at Leeds when I heard that at home in Barbados my uncle had been killed. We had started the Test the day before, on the Thursday, and I said to Malcolm [Marshall]: “I’ve got to be out of here by Tuesday”. It was Friday and the Test was only a day old. He said “No problem. Whenever you’re bowling, I’m going to be bowling as well.” He got seven wickets in the game and I only got four but I didn’t put the ball down because the two of us had decided we were going to bowl together so that I could go home. That’s one of the things that I remember very, very vividly.

It was Grant Elliott and New Zealand’s time in Auckland. Not South Africa’s

Firdose Moonda in Auckland24-Mar-2015Time. Something that can belong exclusively to some people even while being the presence of everyone else. This time, it was supposed to be South Africa’s.Although Brendon McCullum described New Zealand’s unbeaten run – a feat matched only by India in this tournament – as the “greatest time of our lives,” things seemed to be happening at the right time for South Africa too. They came out of two losses in the group stage to own their quarter-final the way no team has owned a knockout match in World Cups before – theirs was over in the shortest time – and they seemed to be identifying the right times to do the same in this match.Just as the time came where they would normally fall apart, South Africa held on. This time, it looked different.They were 21 for 1 when Faf du Plessis walked to the crease and 43 for 2 after Matt Henry, the outside pick who had only played eight internationals before this one, bowled a second successive maiden. Pressure was building, Henry was growing in confidence, so much so that he was willing to mock-throw the ball back to du Plessis after it was defended back to him.Four years ago, in the quarter-final against New Zealand in Dhaka, du Plessis retaliated. There were times when he was even the one doing the provoking. Four years later, he was just patient. He took the sagely stroll to the square leg umpire that he has perfected in Test cricket and composed himself. He carried on.It took him 51 balls to get 25 runs and South Africa until the 25th over to get 100. The going was heavy but du Plessis showed himself a great weight-lifter in matches gone by. Even in limited-overs. They were waiting for the time when they could counterattack later on and they had their arsenal waiting. But the later on, never really came.Seven of the overs South Africa would have used to accelerate were washed away and they made the most of the five they had left. The time that got taken out of the game was not an excuse. “We adapted after that,” AB de Villiers said. “I felt it was enough.”He was not alone in that. A chase just shy of 300 runs had never been successfully completed in a World Cup knockout before but there is, as they say, a first time for everything. That’s the kind of sentiment New Zealand have spent this campaign riding on. Their feel-good advertisement with the beaming image of McCullum, bat slung over one shoulder, voice lilting as he urges them to “Dream big,” has become catchy. Big time. This time McCullum heeded his own words.His time at the crease was aimed at reducing the required run-rate as quickly as he could and he did that. Four years ago, South Africa would not have known how to stop the bleeding. They would not have been brave enough to turn to a spinner. Four years later, they went straight to Imran Tahir. He delivered a maiden over, which flummoxed Martin Guptill and frustrated McCullum. With the first ball of the next over, McCullum was gone.When will it be South Africa’s time?•ICCMorne Morkel’s time seemed to have finally come. The gentle giant has been South Africa’s quickest and most consistent paceman over the last 18 months. He was also the most pumped up at their official send-off. Morkel is usually a social media mouse, but at that event he posted a selfie facing the thousand-strong crowd with a thank-you note. He wanted them to know how much the World Cup meant to him, especially as it is likely his last. Morkel had been frank with the media beforehand and told them that, at 30 now and 34 in 2019, he was unlikely to make it to another major tournament. He would not be the only one thinking that way. He was also not the only one in tears afterwards.But before South Africa’s time ran out, they came into their own. Four years ago, under pressure, they seemed to lose their heads. Four years later, they put them together. De Villiers held counsel with Hashim Amla and du Plessis after almost every ball, particularly the first over Vernon Philander delivered, as they tried to work out a way to stop New Zealand’s clock.Philander was a curious pick for the match anyway because he had been carrying an injury through the tournament. He strained a hamstring a month ago against the India at the MCG and recovered only to relapse twice. Kyle Abbott was an emergency replacement for Philander against Pakistan, at this very ground, and then again in the quarter-final. Despite Abbott’s strong performances, Philander was always expected to come back into the squad if he was fit enough. Not necessarily fit. Just fit enough.Enough. The same word de Villiers used to describe what he thought about the number of runs South Africa had. Enough was not enough then. Questions will be asked about whether enough is enough over Philander’s fitness but they would be misplaced. Philander was South Africa’s most economical seamer of the day. He was managed well – taken off after an opening over in which he got slammed, only given eight overs, and substituted in the field when South Africa though they needed more agility – but it was not his fault.It was not anyone’s fault. Fault does not come into this. But no-one can explain what does? Fate? Maybe.Fourteen years ago, Grant Elliott was an ordinary Jo’burg boy looking for his big chance. He came all the way to New Zealand to do it and now he calls this place home. No-one can begrudge him that. But did he have to show how much his new home means to him against his old home?Elliott was gracious as a victor can be to the vanquished. After he hit the winning runs, he was at Dale Steyn’s side before any of the South Africans. Afterwards he said he felt “compassion” towards his former countrymen as he wrestled with the joy he felt within himself. He broke then tension about conflicting emotions when he revealed he will miss his sister’s wedding at the weekend to play in the final but will try to “give her a very nice gift”.That was not what he gave South Africa. Instead, he broke their hearts. He undid all Tahir’s hard work, the time he had spent throughout this tournament turning around the South African spin mindset. He undid all the committed fielding when the usually sharp South Africans put him down, first when a ball fell between three of them, then when JP Duminy almost took out Farhaan Behardien trying to catch one on the rope. Then he undid their best bowler, Steyn, in a way few batsmen ever do.It was Elliott’s time. Not South Africa’s. But they will leave this tournament wondering when that will ever change. Maybe next time.

The 2015 World Cup saw plenty of one-sided contests, and one of the reasons was the way teams batting first exploited the last 15 overs

S Rajesh03-Apr-2015The 2015 World Cup lasted 48 matches, and was spread over six weeks. Over this period of relentless action, one of the aspects that stood out – unfortunately – was the number of one-sided contests. Match after match went by where the result was often a foregone conclusion even before the first innings had ended. Given the way the tournament progressed, it was quite fitting that the final was similarly lopsided too, with Australia’s seven-wicket victory with 101 balls to spare being one of the easiest wins in World Cup finals.There were a few tight games – the New Zealand-South Africa semi-final was easily one of the most memorable ODIs ever, while the low-scoring thriller between New Zealand and Australia was intense and action-packed from the first ball to the last. There were a few others as well, but those were exceptions in what was largely a tournament filled with one-sided games: out of 48 matches, 20 were decided by more than 50 runs, and 12 by a margin of five or more wickets with two or more overs to spare. That means two-thirds of the total matches were pretty one-sided (though there may have been passages of play within those matches which suggested a close contest). Thirteen games were decided by margins of more than 100 runs, and nine by more than five wickets ten overs to spare.These numbers were pretty similar to the numbers from the 2011 World Cup (see table below), but the difference this time was the lack of competitive games even when the top sides played each other. In matches between the top ten teams in the 2015 World Cup, only three out of 26 matches met the criteria for a close game defined here – a margin of less than 20 runs, or less than three wickets or six balls to spare: the Bangladesh-England game (15 runs), New Zealand versus Australia (one wicket), and the New Zealand-South Africa (one ball to spare). That’s one close encounter every nine matches. In the 2011 World Cup, there were six such close matches out of 26 – that’s twice as many as in this World Cup – including a tie between India and England.The New Zealand-England game in Wellington was just one example when a match between two of the top ten teams turned out to be a complete no-contest, as England were bundled out for 123 and New Zealand chased the target down in less than 13 overs. In 2015, about 70% of the matches between the top ten sides ultimately turned out to be one-sided (18 out of 26), a slight increase from 2011 (16 out of 26). (This includes games like the one between Australia and Pakistan, which promised much but turned on a dropped catch and ultimately resulted in a comfortable win for the hosts.)

Result margins in 2015 and 2011 World Cups – all matches

Result margins 2015 2011Less than 20 runs 2 3Less than 3 wkts or 6 balls to spare 4 3Tie 0 1% of close games 12.5 14.58More than 50 runs 20 16By 5 or more wkts and 2 overs to spare 12 17% of one-sided games 66.67 68.75

Result margins in 2015 and 2011 World Cups – matches between top 10 teams

Result margins 2015 2011Less than 20 runs 1 3Less than 3 wkts or 6 balls to spare 2 2Tie 0 1% of close games 11.54 23.08More than 50 runs 13 7By 5 or more wkts and 2 overs to spare 5 9% of one-sided games 69.23 61.54The difference in 2015 was also the number of matches where the teams batting first racked up huge scores and won comfortably even in games between two top ten teams. In matches between the top ten teams, there were 13 such instances, compared to just seven in 2011. India beat Pakistan and South Africa in this manner, as did West Indies against Pakistan, and South Africa against West Indies. The run rates in the first 35 and last 15 overs for the teams batting first and teams chasing in this World Cup offer an insight into what has made the difference this time: in the last 15 overs, teams batting first scored at 8.82 runs per over, which was 40% more than the run rate during the same overs for the teams chasing.In the 2011 World Cup, the corresponding percentage was only 15%. The pressures of a chase invariably means teams chasing don’t score as many runs at the back end of their innings as teams batting first – instead they look to make up by scoring more in the earlier part of their innings – but usually the difference is about 15-20%; in the 2015 World Cup, the teams batting first scored 40% more in the last 15, and that differential was a bridge too far for the chasing teams to make up in the earlier overs. The new rules, which allow only four fielders outside the circle in the non-Powerplay overs, have helped teams bat with far greater freedom especially in the last ten overs, and while these rules are obviously the same for both sides, the pressures of chasing have clearly hampered teams batting second, preventing them from exploiting the rule change to the same extent.

Run rates for teams batting 1st and chasing in the 2015 World Cup

First 35 overs Last 15 oversTeam batting 1st 4.71 8.82Team chasing 5.28 6.32

Run rates for teams batting 1st and chasing in the 2011 World Cup

First 35 overs Last 15 oversTeam batting 1st 4.53 6.34Team chasing 4.79 5.5The New Zealand innings in the final followed an unusual scoring pattern, where they collapsed from 150 for 3 after 35 overs to 183 all out, but through most of the tournament, the template for winning a match for the team batting first was to keep wickets in hand through the first 35 overs, build a solid foundation, and then pile it on in the last 15.In matches between the top ten teams, of the 20 times that teams had five or more wickets in hand after 35 overs, they won 16 – that’s four out of five matches. Apart from the final, the only instances of teams losing from these positions were England (161 for 4 after 35) against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh against New Zealand (161 for 4 after 35), and Zimbabwe against India (158 for 3 after 35). All of these games were in New Zealand, where chasing targets seemed to be a lot easier than in Australia.Teams batting first obviously utilised the fielding restrictions superbly in the last 15, but since the rule change in November 2012 and before the World Cup, this fielding restriction hadn’t resulted in similar success for teams batting first keeping wickets in hand: the win percentage for teams with five or more wickets in hand was around 50-55% in the earlier periods. In the World Cup, though, it suddenly spiked to 80%.

Teams losing 5 or fewer wickets after 35 overs (ODIs between top 10 teams)

Period Won Inngs %age2015 WC 16 20 80Nov 2012 to 2015 WC 100 183 552011 WC 11 20 552010 to Oct 2012 111 218 51With so many runs being scored in the last 15, this was also a tournament where doubling the 30-over score was achieved very frequently – 61% of the time, compared to less than 40% in the earlier periods. The 35-over score was doubled at a 15% frequency, when it hadn’t gone past 5% in the earlier periods.The new rule of four fielders within the circle had been in existence for a couple of years before this World Cup, but never before did batting teams exploit it like they did in the tournament. Some of the batting during the last 15 was so brutal – and the bowlers so helpless – that it could well lead to a rule change later this year. For the bowlers and fielding captains who struggled through the slog overs in the World Cup, that wouldn’t be a moment too soon.

Teams doubling totals after 30 and 35 overs*

Period 30-over doubled Inns %age 35-over doubled Inns %age2015 WC 17 28 60.71 4 26 15.38Nov 2012 to 2015 WC 68 172 39.53 2 170 1.182011 WC 4 21 19.05 1 22 4.552010 to Nov 2012 45 208 21.63 5 207 2.42

How cricketers reacted to a humdinger of a semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Mar-2015

What a great game of cricket. SA did not lose that game. NZ won it. Well played NZ. And to the Proteas you can be proud of your campaign.

— Jacques Kallis (@jacqueskallis75) March 24, 2015

South Africa DID NOT CHOKE! They got beaten by a better team today…AB led the team wonderfully well! But, well done NZ! See you in Sydney!

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) March 24, 2015

What an unbelievable game. So proud of the @BLACKCAPS and what they have achieved. Also feel the raw pain of @OfficialCSA on an amazing day.

— Stephen Fleming (@SPFleming7) March 24, 2015

Let's take a moment to sit back right now and say, regardless of the result, what an absolute humdinger of a game.

— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) March 24, 2015

Well played NZ well deserved!! Cricket the true winner best game of the Cup!! Grant Elliot cool head magnificent innings!! #ontothefinalsNZ

— Brian Lara (@BrianLara) March 24, 2015

Congrats South Africa on this performance and your tournament. Quite simply the best match I've ever been to live! Worthy of a final

— Scott Styris (@scottbstyris) March 24, 2015

Its tough to see a side lose in a match like the semis. Well played South Africa. (1/2)

— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 24, 2015

Big Congratulations to New Zealand for making the ICC World Cup finals and playing amazing cricket… #CWC15 (2/2)

— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 24, 2015

What a game of cricket in NZ, please hold your heads high South Africa, you've done everyone proud as you gave it absolutely everything !!

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) March 24, 2015

WHAT A GAME!!!! The eruption of Eden park there was spine tingling huge! Grant Elliot take a bow #cricketisawesome

— Graeme Swann (@Swannyg66) March 24, 2015

Still proud of my bois, good fight thru out the game. Great game of cricket by u buggers. U can stand up tall and b proud of ur perfomance.

— Lonwabo Tsotsobe (@LonwaboTsotsobe) March 24, 2015

I didnt expect that. Wow!! I really thought the game was won with the bat for SA… well played New Zealand

— Alviro Petersen (@AlviroPetersen) March 24, 2015

Bad luck SA. You can see how emotional they are and you feel for them.They wanted this desperately. They gave it all they had. #CWC2015

— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) March 24, 2015

What a semi final! I feel for the SA boys. Well done to NZ.

— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) March 24, 2015

2am start, didn't miss a ball. @grantelliottnz run chase king. lock me in a room Sunday, was particularly bad company for the last 10 hrs.

— Peter Borren (@dutchiepdb) March 24, 2015

Stats highlights from an incredible final day at Lord’s

S Rajesh25-May-20151610 The aggregate for the entire Test, which is the highest ever in a Lord’s Test. It’s also the highest since 1930 for a Test in which all 40 wickets have fallen. In the entire history of Test cricket, it’s fifth highest when all 40 wickets have fallen.8-1 England’s record against New Zealand at Lord’s – their only defeat was in 1999. Overall, in the 100 Tests that the two teams have played, England have won 48 and lost 8.523 New Zealand’s first-innings total, which is easily their highest in a Test they have ended up losing. Their previous highest in a defeat was 433, against Australia in Christchurch in 2005. This is only the 14th instance in Test history of a team losing after scoring 500-plus in their first innings, and the fourth against England.134 England’s first-innings deficit, which is their second-highest which they’ve overcome to win a Test against New Zealand. At Old Trafford in 2008, they conceded a deficit of 179 and yet ended up winning by six wickets. Overall for England, it was the tenth-highest first-innings deficit which they have overcome to win a Test.17.92 New Zealand’s average runs per wicket in the fourth innings in seven Tests at Lord’s. Their scores include 220, 219, 131 and 68.2 Number of times, in his ten-Test career so far, that Ben Stokes has scored a century and taken three wickets in a Test. Andrew Flintoff achieved it once in his entire career. Overall, the double of a century and three wickets in a Test has been done 35 times by England players.9 Instances of New Zealand bowlers taking a five-for in a Lord’s Test. The last bowler to do so before Trent Boult was his new-ball partner, Tim Southee, in 2013. Southee took his five-for (6 for 50) in the second innings too, in a Test New Zealand lost by 170 runs. Richard Hadlee achieved the feat three times – in 1978, 1983 and 1986 – while Dion Nash took two five-fors in the same Test, in 1994.0 Runs added by New Zealand’s second wicket in the entire Test; in the first innings, their first and second wickets fell at 148, while in the second, their first two wickets fell at 0. It’s only the second time that their second wicket hasn’t added a run, in a match when they’ve batted twice. The previous instance was in 1958 at Headingley, which is the venue for New Zealand’s next Test in this series.2 Fifty-plus scores ducks made by New Zealand’s openers in this Test: in the first innings, both Martin Guptill and Tom Latham made fifties, while in the second, both were dismissed without scoring. It’s the first such instance for New Zealand in a Test match. Only once before have two openers from a team both scored ducks in an innings and 50-plus in the other – in the India-New Zealand Test in Mohali in 1999, India’s Devang Gandhi and Sadagoppan Ramesh both got ducks in the first innings, and 70-plus scores in the second.0 The score for both New Zealand openers in their second innings. It’s only the sixth time both their openers have been dismissed without scoring in a Test innings; the last time it happened was nine years ago, in May 2006 in Johannesburg. It’s the third such occurrence at a Lord’s Test – the previous one also involved New Zealand, in 1986.3 The number of ducks among New Zealand’s top six batsmen in their second innings. It’s only the tenth time this has happened for New Zealand in Tests, and the last such instance was in March 2012, against South Africa.

Cricket South Africa made a major faux pas at the launch of a new Twenty20 tournament called the Africa T20 Cup – mis-spelling the name of the competition itself. Cue jokes on Twitter

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Apr-2015Spelling the tournament’s name wrongly in the logo – Arfica instead of Africa – is a mistake that is hard to defend. Perhaps the most generous explanation came from @Maloosa.

Maybe #Arfica is a play on Our Africa and it will become the new "it word" for the T20 Cup!? @OfficialCSA

— Melissa Bailey (@Maloosa) April 21, 2015

Others were more sarcastic.

Ingore teh htaers @OfficialCSA. Presonally I cna't see aynthing worng wtih yuor lgoo. #ArficaT20Cup

— Warren Robertson (@WarrenRcomedian) April 21, 2015

It's only a spelling mistake but has got everyone talking and the tournament trending in certain areas no doubt. Clever marketing #ARFICA

— Chris Cornelis (@onlyfoolsgamble) April 21, 2015

Fair play to Cricket SA, it's not easy to rebrand a whole continent #arfica

— Steve (@stevo1270) April 21, 2015

Many took to reworking songs and sayings about Africa.

This time for Arfica.

— Antoinette Muller (@mspr1nt) April 21, 2015

I always loved that song #Arfica by #Otot

— Simon (@Badgercricket) April 21, 2015

#TIA – this is Arfica

— Adriaan Jonker (@aikmanjonker) April 21, 2015

Some people enjoyed the goof-up.

Proteas could bowl England out for 0 in the first test, but the Arfica T20 Cup launch will still be my cricketing highlight of the year.

— Sean Wilson (@SimplySean_) April 21, 2015

Cricket South Africa later apologised for the mistake, managing to throw in a joke as well.

We apologize for the oversight on the #AfricaT20Cup logo. We’re glad we could provide you with a good (l)arf though…

— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) April 21, 2015

The lack of a backlift restricts the Australian opener’s range of strokes, especially the drive, but he has managed to use his limitations to his advantage

Aakash Chopra15-Jul-2015Chris Rogers went deep inside the crease to chop Moeen Ali’s short ball through the third-man region for a couple to reach another fifty, and with it to become the fifth batsman and the first opener to score seven consecutive Test half-centuries. Considering the number of runs (24,000, and 186 scores of 50 and above) he has scored at first-class level, his consistency shouldn’t come as a surprise. But since he was so late in making it to the international scene, every landmark he achieves raises eyebrows.While many Australians start their international careers fairly late, Rogers seems to be a little different. It won’t be too off the mark to assume that a paucity of batting talent in Australia forced the selectors to look at him, for his style of play isn’t really Australian. While a player like him would traditionally be rated highly in England, in Australia even his successes are received with some amount of cynicism. Even though the decline in Australian batting quality is quite apparent, their mindset hasn’t changed much: they still prefer picking players who can assert themselves on the game and opposition, and more importantly can take the game forward. Rogers does neither. Instead, he plays the traditional brand of cricket that dictates leaving everything outside off if it’s full and waiting for bad balls to come his way. He is the sort of player who is effective but will rarely change the flow of the game in a session or two.Rogers’ batting is built around minimising risk, and for that, minimal movement of the bat and feet. While most Australian batsmen grow up learning the importance of standing tall and cocking the wrists while taking the bat upwards in the backlift, Rogers crouches in his stance and breaks his wrists while taking the bat upwards in the backlift. In fact, the way he lifts the bat, the wrists have little role to play, for the weight of the bat is not distributed between the forearms and the wrists; in his case, it’s the forearms that bear nearly all the weight.The position of his right arm in his stance is similar to how it would be if you were cradling a baby. The advantage of this position is that the batsman can achieve the perfect pendulum movement, for the bat comes down in one direction, following the same path every time.

Like all good Test openers, Rogers has acquired a good sense of where his off stump is and takes pleasure in allowing balls to go through to the wicketkeeper

On the other hand, players with a high backlift run the risk of minor deviations in the path as they take the bat upwards and bring it down in the stroke. For Rogers, the flip side is that breaking the wrists so early means the bat does not going higher in the backlift regardless of the flight of the ball or whether he wants to play an aggressive shot or not.In an ideal world, the bat must go higher if the bowler has flighted the ball a little more and if you want to play an aggressive shot. By doing that, you use the momentum generated in the downswing to hit the ball harder. Rogers gives himself no such luxury and depends solely on the pace provided by the bowler. It isn’t surprising that his favourite areas of scoring against pace are either behind square on the off side or off his legs on the on side. He is a reluctant driver of the ball; in fact, he rarely plays the big, booming drive. His backlift (or the lack of it) dictates that he simply pushes the ball down the ground and makes peace with whatever he gets in return.Ricky Ponting was a powerful driver of the ball partly because of his emphatic backlift•Getty ImagesBowling to someone like Rogers is straightforward: you must not bowl short or provide width, while bowling an off-stump line, and you must stay away from his pads. In theory, every international bowler should be able to execute this, and Rogers ought to find it difficult to score runs. But years of playing the game have made Rogers acutely aware of his own game. He knows what he’s good at, and more importantly, knows what he isn’t capable of doing. Since he does not play the big, booming drives, he in effect pushes balls that are really full and hittable through the off side. Like all good Test openers, he has acquired a good sense of where his off stump is, and takes pleasure in allowing balls to go through to the wicketkeeper. His near non-existent backlift means that his hands are reasonably soft on the bat handle, and that enables him to present a dead bat while defending, which means soft edges often don’t carry to the slip cordon.Rogers’ batting is a throwback to an era gone by. At 37, he doesn’t have too much international cricket left in him. There aren’t too many of his ilk left, and we ought to enjoy him while he lasts, as he goes about using the pace to put the ball behind point and nudging it off his pads.

In the absence of James Anderson and with the attack being blunted it was England’s allrounder who brought the urn within reach

George Dobell at Trent Bridge07-Aug-2015It is a painful coincidence that, just as England should be – barring a miracle – clinching the Investec Ashes on Saturday, the Premier League football season will be starting once more.That brief window in the year, between football seasons, Olympic games, European and World Championships, will shut and the breath of oxygen cricket enjoys will be cut off once more. Just as the English game has something to celebrate and relish, it will go back to existing in its own little bubble. However much it has to shout about, it will not be heard above the din created by football.With so little cricket – and no live cricket – on free to air TV, it will prove desperately hard for the ECB to fulfil one of the aims of its recent planning strategy. Earlier this year, it emerged that the ECB identified the need for the game to create “folk heroes” to help it regain relevance and popularity with the mass market.That is a shame for, as England celebrate their success, they can also look forward with excitement. For while the 2013 Ashes was won by a team at the end of its life cycle, this success comes with a team at the start of one. A team that is committed to playing attractive cricket, engaging with the public and helping make the sport relevant again.And, while there are several exciting, young players in this side – Joe Root, at 24, stands out – there is an obvious potential “folk hero” in Ben Stokes.Stokes is, give or take, the cricketer that just about every young player wants to be when they first start to play the game. He bats with belligerence, he bowls with pace and his fielding is so good, you wonder if he could catch Lord Lucan.He has character, too. In an age when many sportsmen appear – in front of the media, at least – homogenised and sterile, Stokes remains just a little bit, and in the very best way, untamed. Any Australian who thought he might be intimidated by trash talk or bouncers was soon put right when Stokes, in his second Test, scored a maiden century in Perth when all about him fell away.

Stokes bowled beautifully, swinging the ball a prodigious distance, while also showing admirable control, stamina and pace

“We did see that,” Stokes said with a chuckle, when asked about Steven Smith’s pre-series comment about England “not getting close” to Australia. “But hopefully we’re going to win the Ashes tomorrow.” His unspoken message was simple: talk is cheap.He has, at times, seemed a bit daft. There was the incident where he punched a locker in Barbados, the time he was sent home from a Lions tour for embracing the nightlife a little too enthusiastically, and a couple of times when bowlers have provoked him into some unwise strokes.So he has needed to grow up, but not change. For it is Stokes’ fearlessness that renders him special. It is his love for the heat of battle and his desire to be involved when others might go missing.England have had many cautious, percentage cricketers. They have had many players who put the ball in good areas, bat with patience and field tidily. And that is just fine. They are useful skills.But Stokes is priceless. And he is the other sort. He is the sort that will disregard caution, relish the fight and, on his day, turn games in a session with bat or ball. And if it goes spectacularly wrong sometimes – and it will – it is a price worth paying as he will unsettle opponents and, given exposure, inspire another generation of supporters to the game in much the manner that Ian Botham once did. It would be folly to try and change him. England have a gem. It would be wretched if the schedule or the media or the expectation changed him.He appears to relish responsibility. Since he was promoted to the No. 6 position, at the start of the summer, he has averaged 41.40 (despite just five runs in his last three innings) with one match-defining century (against New Zealand) and three other half-centuries. His strike rate of 77.52 might have been deemed decent in limited-overs cricket not so long ago; now it helps demoralise opposition in Tests and speed games away from them. In the months before that, after the end of the Ashes in Australia and when he batted at No. 7 or lower, he averaged just 8.66.Similarly, here, he rose to the challenge with the ball. With James Anderson absent and both Mark Wood and Steven Finn lacking rhythm, England needed Stokes to deliver. By the time he was thrown the ball, the Australia opening pair had posted 50 and the attack, with Moeen Ali again struggling, was starting to look thin. The absence of Anderson was, for the first time in the game, starting to hurt.But Stokes bowled beautifully. Swinging the ball a prodigious distance, he also showed admirable control – conceding just over two an over despite an attacking field of four slips and a gully – impressive stamina – his first spell last for 11 overs – and decent pace, as he reached 89.9 mph at his peak. At one stage, he claimed three wickets in 13 balls – three of Australia’s top four – and two balls later, took a sharp, low catch at short cover-point to account for Smith.While his stock ball is an inswinger that evokes faint memories of Imran Khan – such a delivery accounted for Peter Nevill, leaving one that swung sharply to trap him in front of middle – he also has the ability, on a good day, to move the ball away from the right-hander, thereby creating confusion and uncertainty in the batsman’s mind.It is probably relevant, though, that four of his victims were left-handers. While two, Shaun Marsh and Chris Rogers, were drawn into playing at balls leaving them, Mitchell Johnson was simply unfortunate to receive a straight one that demanded a stroke and swung late enough to take the edge.Ben Stokes finally made the breakthrough after an 113-run opening stand•Getty ImagesPerhaps Stokes’ strength, and the extra pace that provides, earned the wicket of David Warner. Attempting a short-arm pull, he seemed hurried and could only manage a top edge.His figures do not flatter him. While his bowling average in the series was nudging 100 before this Test, he has suffered more than most from dropped chances this summer – Ian Bell has now dropped four catches off Stokes in the slips – and bowled some selfless spells in tough conditions in the Caribbean so Anderson and Broad could be spared. This haul might be regarded as overdue reward for his work. He already has only one fewer five-wicket haul in Test cricket than Andrew Flintoff.”I’ve always been able to swing the ball,” Stokes said. “But I’ve never had the chance to bowl for England when the conditions are so in favour of swing. I play my cricket at Durham, where the ball swings, so I felt comfortable. It was good to get a bit more responsibility, really.”It was fitting that he should provide such a performance in the match that seals the Ashes, too. England’s balance – their ability to bat down to No. 8 and field a five-man attack – might well be seen as the difference between the team. Stokes has played a huge role in providing that.Good allrounders change everything. It was Flintoff’s period of excellence that helped Michael Vaughan lead England to the Ashes in 2005. And it was Botham’s excellence that helped cement Mike Brearley’s reputation as one of the great captains. Alastair Cook now has a player that balances his side and can excel in all disciplines. He has a game-changer.If England could only find a way to get Stokes on to more TV screens, he could make a difference far beyond defining the result of matches.

The India tour gives the South African wicketkeeper another chance at sealing his spot in the national team

Firdose Moonda25-Sep-2015The closest Dane Vilas thought he would get to international cricket was when he was Allan Donald.Seven years ago Vilas was a dedicated provincial player, adequate but not exceptional, captaining the Lions franchise’s academy side in Potchefstroom, a student town 120 kilometres south-west of Johannesburg, which was also home to the Lions bowling coach Gordon Parsons and his wife, Hester, the sister of Hansie Cronje.When Hester’s brother Frans, who was making a movie on Hansie’s life, told his family that he was struggling to find extras who were both athletic and articulate to play the role of some of Cronje’s team-mates, she suggested Vilas’ name.Vilas’ height (six feet), his hair colour (a blond that’s not quite bleached) and his angular face reminded Frans of Donald, so though Donald was four inches taller, with a little less hair and a harder expression, Vilas was cast as him. That Vilas was an English-speaking wicketkeeper-batsman and Donald an Afrikaans-speaking bowler whose English was almost exclusively learnt in Birmingham made no difference. Welcome to the movies.

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These days wicketkeepers tend to be batsmen who can’t bowl. Standing behind the stumps is a “second skill”, according to coach Ray Jennings, because most teams cannot afford to have a place reserved for a gloveman whose main strength is safe hands.

“Dane may actually be the South African Gunn & Moore have sponsored the longest”Anne Vilas

“If we are honest about it, wicketkeeping around the world has become worse in skills terms, because keepers are relying on their ability as batsmen to make it into teams,” Jennings said. “There isn’t an understanding that if you keep badly you will be dropped on that alone – as long as you can bat as well.”That means sometimes the best wicketkeeper may not make it into a team but the best wicketkeeper-batsman will.In October 1997, Nic Pothas was widely regarded as the best keeper in the country. He was Transvaal’s first choice, had played 41 first-class matches and scored 1849 runs at 33.01. Mark Boucher, three years younger, was a rising star who had been with South Africa’s Under-19 team but had played only 14 first-class matches, in which he had scored 689 runs at 38.27.Boucher was much less experienced but his potential loomed large, and his bullish batting was partly the reason why he was picked ahead of Pothas to replace an injured Dave Richardson in a Test in Pakistan.For the next decade and a half, apart from three Tests in 2004, Boucher was South Africa’s Test keeper and there was no obvious competition. Despite scoring a century against West Indies A a month after Boucher’s debut, Pothas played for the national side only as his injury replacement, and his career eventually took him to the county circuit.Keeper Nic Pothas was denied a place in the South African side because Mark Boucher’s batting was believed to be better•Getty ImagesMorne van Wyk should have been Boucher’s challenger – he had a batting average over 40 for four seasons and over 50 for two – but never got a look in. Instead, Thami Tsolekile replaced Boucher briefly but then fell off the radar and emerged again only as Boucher’s career reached its twilight. There were no other candidates to keep wicket, perhaps because no one wanted to be a wicketkeeper in a system where they did not stand a chance.”The same thing happened with bowling, when South Africa would insist on an attack with four seamers and no spinner, and then found we had not developed spinners,” Jennings said. “We have to stimulate every side of the game so that players in every discipline can feel they have a chance and there will be opportunity.”

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Vilas started playing cricket in 1994, when he was nine years old. What set him apart then was that he had better equipment than any of his peers.His mother, Anne, is the managing director of Opal Sports, the South African agency for Gunn & Moore. “Dane may actually be the South African Gunn & Moore have sponsored the longest,” Anne joked.

Vilas was on the fringes of the franchise team and captained the academy, but by the time he featured in the Cronje movie, he seemed to have reached a glass ceiling

Anne, whose brother was a wicketkeeper for SA Schools, was “always keen” that her three sons play sport, so she sent them to King Edward VII school (KES), the alma mater of Ali Bacher and Jimmy Cook. “I thought that even if they only make the B team, they would be pretty good.”Of the three boys, Dane was the most successful. He was a regular in the school teams, where he performed well, but it was not immediately clear that sport could be a career option for him. He was picked for a provincial side only once while in school, when he played for the Gauteng U-13 B team, and Anne accepted that while Vilas would be a decent school sportsman, it would possibly be difficult for him to progress beyond that. “It’s not often that if you are not in the provincial system through the age groups that you will go further.”After school, Vilas played at Old Eds, the KES old boys’ club, while working as a sales assistant for his mother. He was also occasionally involved with the provincial side. He was on the fringes of the franchise team and captained the academy, but by the time he featured in the Cronje movie, Vilas seemed to have reached a glass ceiling, although he appeared to want to break through.Jennings, who was on the domestic coaching scene at the time, remembered Vilas as a committed cricketer, “a fanatic, a very hard worker, who would be in the nets until the sweat ran off him”.At the start of the 2010-11 season, Cobras were looking for a keeper and thought Vilas would fit their requirements. It would mean moving to Cape Town, which Anne said was “difficult for the family but good for Dane”. Nobody really thought the move could open doors to the national side.Quinton de Kock impressed with the bat in limited-overs games before his dip in form gave Vilas another chance•AFPVilas was solid behind the stumps and with the bat he averaged 48 in 2011-12 and above 30 every season since then, but more importantly he was building a career as a professional cricketer. “He really loves the game, which is important when you are one of those players who may not make it,” Anne said.

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By the time Boucher announced his intention to retire in mid-2012, a replacement had been lined up. Tsolekile was nationally contracted, had travelled as the reserve keeper, and he claimed he was promised he would get to take over from Boucher in the home series against New Zealand and Pakistan in 2012-13. But when an eye injury forced Boucher to quit earlier than planned, AB de Villiers was given the gloves as the emergency replacement.At that point, wicketkeepers on the domestic scene would have been forgiven for giving up. The national selectors made it clear that they were not casting the net wide, primarily because with de Villiers keeping they could play an extra batsman.Then de Villiers’ back started to give way. His value as batsman, fielder and captain was being compromised by the burden of keeping wicket, but by then Quinton de Kock had emerged to take his place behind the stumps. Carefree but calculating, aggressive but artful, at 19, de Kock had already played for South Africa, been dropped and re-selected by the time he was needed to take the load off de Villiers.

“What I do know is that Dane’s work ethic and skill and desire is there. Now it’s about how he performs”Ray Jennings

And as he broke batting records – de Kock was only the fifth batsman in history to score three ODI centuries in succession – other keepers in the country lost hope.

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Vilas had been picked for a solitary T20,against India in March 2012. “He’d been playing for a couple of years for the Cobras and we thought it was not impossible that he might get picked for South Africa,” Anne said. “But after that T20, I thought that was it.”Vilas did not bat in the match and he was only required in the field for 7.5 overs before rain stopped play. Rain was to play a major role in his next South African debut as well.

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After the 2015 World Cup, South African cricket structures shifted dramatically, underlined by a stronger commitment to transformation. In the aftermath of the World Cup exit, Cricket South Africa announced increased quotas at franchise level, and eventually, following a protracted controversy surrounding Vernon Philander’s selection for the semi-final against New Zealand, explained how the system applied to the national teams as well.Vilas’ international debuts were marred by rain, but the selectors want to give him a fair shot•AFPThe commitment to change was obvious from the squads selected to tour Bangladesh, particularly in terms of the number of black African players. Against that backdrop, Vilas was a surprise inclusion. He was travelling as a reserve, much like Aaron Phangiso, and with the focus on providing more opportunities to players of colour, Vilas was probably lucky to be included at the expense of Tsolekile or even Rudi Second.Vilas was “shocked” by the call-up, and even more shocked when, two days before the game, he realised he would be making his Test debut. De Kock was struggling with his form since his comeback from an ankle injury, and with de Villiers out of the tour due to paternity leave, there was no one else but Vilas, who had also become a father four months before the series.”He just loved the experience being with the team,” Anne said. “Dane likes structure and he liked the kind of structure that set-up had. And then to make his Test debut – that was just the cherry on top. He was so excited to make his Test debut and we were so proud of him. We had thought of going over when he told us he was going to play, but on short notice and with the possibility of rain, we decided not to go.”Play was possible only on the first day. The remaining four were washed out. An experience that started off as “amazing” for Vilas turned “bittersweet”, especially since he didn’t know whether his Test career would go the same way as his T20 one.

De Villiers’ value as batsman, fielder and captain was being compromised by the burden of keeping wicket, but by then Quinton de Kock had emerged to take his place behind the stumps

Immediately at the end of the Bangladesh tour, de Kock redeemed himself with a hat-trick of hundreds on South Africa A’s tour of India. Vilas, also part of that squad, scored a fifty in a List A match and 75 in an unofficial Test, but he did not know if that was enough. There was uncertainty over everything, including Vilas’ batting ability, but the selectors decided the only way to obtain some clarity would be to give Vilas a fair chance. He is the first-choice keeper for the upcoming tour of India.”We don’t know how good Vilas is because he hasn’t had the chance to show us yet,” Jennings said. “From a wicketkeeping point of view, I don’t think there is much between Vilas and de Kock, but from a batting point of view, I don’t know,” Jennings said. “What I do know is that Dane’s work ethic and skill and desire is there. Now it’s about how he performs. India will be about standing up to the wicket and making sure the skills are good enough. There will also be uneven bounce and spin. After India we will have a better idea of who is in front for now.”At 30, Vilas will have fewer years to give than de Kock, who is now 22, but Jennings does not believe age will be a factor. “The best player must play, and if he is a bit older, then there needs to be a succession plan in place. It’s much more important to have a strong system. Competition means there is a person pushing from the bottom and the person already there cannot get into a comfort zone and stop growing.”Vilas has never had the luxury of complacency in cricket, except when he was pretending to be Donald. Now he is a real international cricketer. Welcome to the movies.