Stats highlights from the third day’s play of the second Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Hamilton

Bharath Seervi20-Dec-20151984 The last time Sri Lanka were dismissed for a lower score than the 133 they made today, by New Zealand in Tests. On that occasion Sri Lanka were bowled out for just 97 runs in Kandy, chasing a target of 263. Apart from this, the only other instance when Sri Lanka were dismissed for a lower total in Tests against New Zealand came in 1983 – in only their second Test against the hosts – when they were dismissed for 93.62 Runs for which Sri Lanka lost their entire side after the opening pair added 71 runs. There have been only five other instances when a team has lost ten wickets for 62 or fewer runs after the opening wicket had put on a 50-plus run stand. The last such instance had also come in New Zealand in 2001 when the hosts were bowled out for 131 chasing a target of 431 runs against Pakistan. On that occasion, New Zealand’s opening pair had put on 91 before the entire side collapsed for just 40 runs. Incidentally, four of the six such instances have involved New Zealand and three of them, including this one, have happened in Tests in New Zealand.2 Number of times Sri Lanka’s last nine wickets have added fewer than 62 runs in a Test innings. The last such occurrence was at the SSC in 2000-01 against England when they lost their last nine wickets for 60 runs. This is also Sri Lanka’s worst such collapse in a Test outside home.36.3 Overs Sri Lanka’s second innings lasted – their eighth-shortest innings in which they have been bowled out in Tests. This is also the second least overs in which they have been bowled out by New Zealand. Their shortest innings in Tests came against Australia in the Boxing Day Test of 2012 when they were bowled out in just 24.2 overs.4 Number of times 16 or more wickets have fallen in a day’s play in Tests in Hamilton. On the third day of this Test, New Zealand lost six wickets – one in their first innings and five in their second – and Sri Lanka lost all ten wickets. The last time 16 or more wickets fell on a day in Hamilton was in 2013-14 when 17 wickets were lost on the third day of the Test between the hosts and West Indies. The most wickets that have fallen in a day’s play at this venue are 22, in Hamilton in 2002-03 in a Test involving India.2 Five-wicket hauls by New Zealand bowlers in home Tests in the last 24 innings, since March 2012. In the same period, there have been nine five-wicket hauls by visiting bowlers in New Zealand; seven of those being six-fors. No New Zealand bowler took five-for in this Test as well, Tim Southee had the best figures in both innings – 3 for 53 and 4 for 26.15 Catches by BJ Watling in four innings in this series – joint-highest by a wicketkeeper from two or fewer matches in a Test series. Kamran Akmal did it against West Indies in 2005 and Watling himself in the series against India at home in 2013-14.5 Fifty-plus scores for Kane Williamson in his last six innings against Sri Lanka: scores of 69, 242*, 88, 71, 1 and 78*. Overall, he has made 797 runs in 12 innings against them at 88.55, including two centuries and five fifties.6 Number of New Zealand batsmen to face at least 8000 deliveries in Tests before Kane Williamson, who completed facing as many deliveries during his unbeaten innings of 78. Stephen Fleming has faced the most for New Zealand – 15652. Williamson has batted an average of 94.21 balls per innings in his career which is the third highest after Mark Richardson (113.83) and Andrew Jones (100.58) among all New Zealand players who faced at least 5000 balls (since balls-faced information is available).5 Instances of Sri Lanka fast bowlers taking nine or more wickets in a Test match, including Dushmantha Chameera in this Test. He has taken four of the five New Zealand wickets to fall in the second innings so far and had taken five wickets in their first innings. Incidentally, three of the five such instances have been in New Zealand.

Sri Lanka’s seam bowlers were the heroes in their five-wicket win against India in Pune. Stats highlights from the game

Bharath Seervi09-Feb-20161:08

India’s win-loss ratio of 0.625 at home

2 Totals lower than 101 for India in T20Is – 74 against Australia at the MCG in 2007-08 and 92 against South Africa in Cuttack in 2015-16. The 92 all out against South Africa was India’s last home T20I before this one. It is only the fifth time India has been bowled out in T20Is.2 Sri Lankan bowlers who took two wickets in the first over of their T20I career in today’s match – Kasun Rajitha (making his debut) and Dasun Shanaka (bowling for the first time in his T20I career). Rajitha dismissed Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane in the first over of the innings, while Shanaka took the wickets of Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni. Kaushalya Weeraratne is the only other Sri Lanka bowler to take two wickets in his maiden T20I over. Only two bowlers have taken three wickets in their first over on their T20I debut: Mansoor Amjad (Pakistan) and Tyrone Kane (Ireland).8 Wickets by Sri Lanka fast bowlers in this match – the most for them in a T20I match. They had taken seven wickets four times in the past. Against India, it is the third time fast bowlers have taken eight wickets in a T20I.3 Number of times India have lost six wickets in the first 10 overs in T20Is. Their previous two instances were more than five years ago: against New Zealand in Christchurch in 2008-09 and against Australia in Bridgetown during the 2010 World T20.1 Number of times India have lost two wickets in the first over of a T20I – this was the first such instance. They lost two wickets in seven balls against Sri Lanka in Colombo (RPS) in 2008-09. For Sri Lanka, it was the fourth time they took two or more wickets in the first over. They took three against West Indies at The Oval in the 2009 World Twenty20 semi-final – Angelo Mathews was the bowler then.4 Sri Lanka bowlers who have taken three or more wickets on their T20I debut. Rajitha took 3 for 29 in this match.7 Number of times a player at No.9 or lower was the highest run-scorer for his side in T20Is. R Ashwin’s unbeaten 31, at No. 9, was India’s top score in this match. The last such instance was for Pakistan against England in Dubai in November 2015 when Sohail Tanvir was the top-scorer with 25 batting at No. 9.17* Previous highest score for Ashwin in T20Is – against England at the Eden Gardens in 2011-12. His score of 31 not out is the second-highest for India by anyone batting at No. 8 or lower in T20Is. Only Irfan Pathan’s 33 not out, also against Sri Lanka, is higher. In the eight innings where Ashwin has batted in T20Is, he has been dismissed only three times.2 Wickets by Shanaka in 26 T20 matches before this game, in 66 balls across seven innings. He took 3 for 16 in three overs in this game. His previous best figures were 1 for 14.2 Number of India players who have played 50 or more T20Is, including Raina who appeared in his 50th T20I in this match. MS Dhoni has played 56 matches. Overall, Raina is the 30th player to play 50 or more T20Is.

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Feb-2016Australia, who were playing their first Test in New Zealand in six years, chose to bowl on a lively pitch•Getty ImagesJosh Hazlewood made the new ball talk, and soon enough removed both New Zealand openers•Getty ImagesBrendon McCullum’s landmark Test did not start his way. He was caught in the slip cordon for a duck•Getty ImagesAustralia’s quicks scythed through the middle order, reducing NZ to 97 for 7•Getty ImagesDespite handy lower-order resistance, New Zealand were bundled out for 183•Getty ImagesNew Zealand began their comeback through Tim Southee, who had both openers caught behind•Getty ImagesHowever, Steven Smith and Usman Khawaja’s counter-attacking stand took Australia into the ascendancy•Getty ImagesMark Craig removed Steven Smith just before stumps, but Australia finished the first day on top, trailing New Zealand by just 36•Getty Images

In the second part of a two-part interview, West Indies board president Dave Cameron talks about the CPL money the players receive, and why he keeps his distance from them

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi07-Apr-2016We have asked players whether they have spoken directly to or met Dave Cameron.
And what do they say?No one has.
But I am available. I have told them directly. I have told them through the manager that I am available. They are next door in the Trident [hotel in Mumbai].Have you gone out of your way to reach out?
I have gone out of my way on more than one occasion. In South Africa I went to dinner with them.Is it true that more than half the players did not turn up there?
Not as much as half. A few of the players did not turn up. It was shortly after October 2014 [when the team pulled out of their tour of India]. It is a lot of emotions, and emotions wrongly placed because a lot of players sat down and analysed what West Indies has done. Those “India 15” players have benefited tremendously since 2013, with the CPL coming in. You should ask them about that – how much more money they are making from when West Indies used to run the Caribbean T20 to what they are making now. The CPL is WICB’s product.Again, WICB has received the flak for selling the CPL to a foreign entity. But who has benefited? Our players. We did that so that our players could move from earning US$5000 per season to $150,000-160,000 at the top end. All of those 15 players are earning at that level. Have they lost $150,000-160,000 due to the new restructuring? No, they have not. I can categorically show you that these players are making a lot more money solely from the WICB.Let us go to October 2014. It was one of the saddest chapters in West Indies cricket. Reacting to the pull-out last January, you said: “I don’t believe they are even aware about what they have done.” Why did you say that?
Because we are two years behind where we could have been now had we not had that situation in India. We have struggled for the last two years with our finances, etc. And look at what we have been able to achieve with winning Under-19 [World Cup] and being here in the semi-finals of both men and women’s World T20. My whole objective is about the players and how we can use our players, once we are on the same side, to generate more revenues for WICB and for them.The underpinning thing about the MoU with the players is that they get 25% of our commercial revenues over a four-year period. And that is very, very critical. So they have fixed payments – match fees, retainer – but on a four-year rolling cycle the WICB would review how much of the commercial revenues are there, based on how much players have received. Then they will all get bonuses once the numbers exceed. If numbers don’t exceed, we are not taking back their money. It is a genuine partnership.So once we make more money, the players stand to benefit. The upside is for the senior players, not for regional players. Our percentage payments to our first-class and international players are in line with all the major Full Member countries, like Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

“Winning the World T20 or being here in the World T20 is because of [what] the WICB has done. The players here, where did they come from?”

According to you, who pulled out of the India tour – the WICB or the players?
We have been having a lot of discussions about that. The fact of the matter is, the tour was called off. I don’t necessarily want to go into that.The press releases sent by the BCCI stated the WICB had abandoned the tour.
If the WICB pull out, what is the difference? If the players walked out, what is the difference at this point? The happy thing is, that is behind us and the future is ahead of us. Again, we have not been credited enough for how we took it on the chin, because all those players were sent to South Africa right after that India tour.Except for Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard.
The president has no veto in selections, as is the case in some countries. The West Indies selection process is totally independent of the board. The only job we have is telling who becomes captain.You were derided for not flying down to meet the players in India at the time. You said that past WICB presidents, Pat Rousseau and Wes Hall, had reached out to players in times of strife, but what purpose did that serve?
I absolutely don’t believe that that would have changed anything, because immediately after I found out that there was an issue, I offered to Skype all the players and speak to them. One day you will get the full story about that.And that is not an arrogant view, as people might conclude?
No, not an arrogant view at all. My response to Sir Wes, when he asked me that question, was: “Sir Wes, we have had strikes or potential strikes for the last 14 years. And we have all gone and met the players and given in. And we are ranked eight or nine [on ICC rankings]. I am not sure going and meeting them would have solved it.”As a matter of fact, for the first time my board said to me, “President, you are not authorised to do anything to this agreement because you paid the guys money for the last year and a half when you had the opportunity to change the agreement. You have demonstrated good faith. You have worked with the WIPA to get the MoU done. For the last how many years, every time we are trying to move the process forward, so that we can create a professional set-up, we get held to ransom. We are just tired as an organisation.”Wes Hall had strikes against him. Sir Julian [Hunte] had a couple of issues. It started under Pat Rousseau. It happened to Teddy Griffith. Everybody went and gave them [the players] what they wanted. Did our system get any better? It got worse. We have moved from No. 1 in the world in 1995 to eight and nine in Tests and ODIs.”We have 11 women players who are on retainers and that is why our women’s cricket is growing strong. Track and field and basketball have been the sports that have taken away all our athletes”•Getty Images/ICCWhat is happening to the previous BCCI administration’s claim of $42 million in damages for the aborted tour?
We will do a joint media release for you as soon as both boards are ready.Moving back to the first-class structure, right through your tenure you have said the lack of professional structure set West Indies cricket back by 20 years. How much have things improved since the CPL, PCL and Super50 have started?
It is tremendous. We are not where we need to be at. I don’t believe the administration we need around the players is at the level we want to be at. The coaching is something we are working on seriously. We need to upscale our coaches.The big advantage is just that we now have players who can actually see themselves as cricketers without having to go elsewhere and try and find a job in far-off places like the UK. For the first time we have a bunch of umpires who are on retainers.We have 11 women players who are on retainers and that is why our women’s cricket is growing strong. The positive coming out is that cricket is now a career. Track and field and basketball have been the sports that have taken away all our athletes. Now parents can look at cricket and say: if my son gets into the lowest rung of the regional cricket structure, he can make $30,000 as a starting salary, which is more than what a lawyer makes coming out of a university in the Caribbean. Once you start attracting talent, you are forcing people to get better.Around 1998, when England changed their county set-up, where only two overseas players were allowed in per county, we got hurt the worst. As our players got exceedingly worse, we lost all of those contracts. England was our finishing school. That is where players really went and learned professionalism.Take the example of England batsman James Taylor, who scored a hundred in the last Ashes [he made a hundred in the ODIs that followed]. He is only 25 years old. He has somewhere in the region of 65 [131] first-class matches. At 25, in the Caribbean, prior to last year, you would have had played a maximum of 25 first-class games. It is very difficult for anybody to get good playing 25 games by time you are 25.

“My response to Sir Wes, was: ‘We have had strikes or potential strikes for the last 14 years. And we have all gone and met the players and given in. I am not sure going and meeting them would have solved it”

With the PCL you will have the opportunity to play at least 50 first-class matches. Then there are home and away A team matches. So in a year a good second-tier player should play at least 15 first-class, ten List A matches, which helps you identify who are going to be your best players.What has happened to the $360,000 that the CPL said would go to cricket development? Reportedly, it has been diverted to paying the salaries of the domestic cricketers. Is that correct?
That money has gone into the professional set-up. It is not ring-fenced that this money must do that. We give every franchise $45,000 every month; $27,500 of that amount is earmarked for the payment of the players and the balance is for the administration, which includes the coaches, support staff, administrators. That $27,500 is part of the 25% being paid to the players. Have you met the players here in India during the World T20?
I haven’t met all of them. I have seen them.They are staying next door?
They are staying next door [in a hotel in Mumbai]. I haven’t been around them too much. And that is very, very deliberate. I am staying next door and not in the same hotel because sometimes players get a little nervous when the management is around them. They probably feel a little defensive. I don’t want to feel like I am spying on them.No, man, the relationship is good. It is where it needs to be. I’m the president of the organisation. They are the stars and they know that the WICB is supporting them in winning these tournaments. We are happy with that.What if a player thinks, “Oh, he is here. Not even meeting us. We are in the World T20 semi-finals.” Or he might think, “My boss is here. We have come this far in the tournament. Do I get a pat on my back, will he come and talk to me in person?”
I am tweeting and supporting them. They are aware. I have reached out and I have told the manager that I am here if anybody wants to speak to me. A lot of them are very busy – their schedule, practice.”I would love for Chris Gayle to play for as long as possible, but it is based upon his willingness and fitness”•Getty ImagesWhat is your relationship with Phil Simmons, West Indies coach, since his suspension?
We have met. We have spoken. We are professionals. Phil is the coach and I am the president. One other thing I try not to do is get too involved in processes. I have a CEO. I know people think I am the guy directing the ship, but I am really at 100,000 feet [above]. The CEO is running the organisation. There is a director of cricket who Phil directly reports to. My relationship with Phil is on a professional basis.What if the players say: we won despite the WICB. How would you take it?
! Well, I don’t know you get “despite”.Only because they are saying 14 of us 15 are not part of WIPA. We are not talking to WICB.
So who is the team representing here? (Laughs). It can’t be “despite of”. It is really about having those discussions and both parties wanting to sit down. You asked me about going to meet players and trying to talk to them. If they don’t want to speak to me, it is a waste of an attempt. So both parties have to say: this is where we are at, let me hear what you have to say, let me give you my views, and then we can think of going forward. Winning the World T20 or being here in the World T20 is because of what the WICB has done. The players here, where did they come from?This relationship between the two parties, which is very important, is not there.
I don’t necessarily agree with you. When you get a chance, speak to the players of 20 years ago. Most of them did not even know who the president of the WICB was. And we were No. 1 in the world. So I think you are making this relationship more than it needs to be.My role is to run the business and your role is to play cricket to the best of your ability. I am providing you with the best compensation that we can afford, that will allow the product to develop and for us to be able to produce the next [set of] players.What is the question these players are asking you?
That is a good question. When you find out, you let me know. Every match you win, there is a cheque, and the players are getting 100% of that. Some of these players are also on retainers. They keep forgetting. They are playing T20 but they are still on a retainer. The retainer is anywhere between $100,000-150,000 [per year].I don’t want to dwell on money. Money is never enough. West Indies cricket is so critical to us as a nation, as a region that sells tourism, that sells the warmth of our people, the warmth of our islands. That is what we need to be able to communicate to our players.Respect and trust are very important, as you point out. Would you admit that the way Shivnarine Chanderpaul retired and the way it was handled was not appropriate?
It has been called interference by myself because I felt he should not have been dealt with that way. But the selection process is very independent. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and I have a very good relationship.It may be a West Indian thing – that our players seem to not take it upon themselves to communicate to us in a timely manner when they are going to or would like to go.On the other side as well, our selectors, our people who are around the set-up, don’t communicate and don’t give us enough warning about when they believe players are at that point in time.

“We are two years behind where we could have been now had we not had that situation in India”

When I took office in 2013, I asked the selectors to tell us when our senior players are at that point so that we can honour them and treat them with the respect they deserve. Myself and the vice-president were vocal about how Chanderpaul was treated. Chanderpaul has signalled he has retired. We have our awards later on this year [during the tri-series in June] where we will certainly award the Under-19s. Maybe an opportunity to honour Chanderpaul as well.Another example is Chris Gayle. He is the biggest name for West Indies. What is your plan for him?
Chris Gayle and I actually grew up together. We have played together, played against each other. He is at Lucas. My club, Kensington, is literally next door. We have a very cordial relationship. Chris is at a point in time where it is very important how the selectors handle him. I have had those discussions with the selectors. It is not something I want to get involved in. It is important that I stay at a certain level. I would love for Chris to play for as long as possible, but it is based upon his willingness and fitness. I am aware that he is still struggling with some fitness issues. Test cricket is quite rigorous, so I am not sure how long he will play. But it is good to know that he has signalled he would like to play for a few more years. Once he is fit, once the selectors believe he can contribute positively to the team, [then it is up to them].Then there is this hostile relationship you share with the media. You have locked horns with eminent names like Michael Holding. Why is he not commentating in the Caribbean?
I want to leave alone that one.Do you think you are the Sepp Blatter of West Indies cricket?
No, I am the opposite of Sepp, because everybody loved Sepp. When Sepp came to our country, he was worshipped.Our governance systems in the West Indies have been the best they have ever been. We have four independent directors and I have used them to chair some of the important committees. We have an audit, risk and compliance committee, chaired by an independent director. We had a surplus of $3.5 million last year – first time we had such a surplus outside of 2007. All our financial statements are on our website. Two-thousand eighteen is going to be a very difficult year for us because we don’t have inbound tours. We only make [money] when we have inbound tours. The only inbound tours that make money are England and India, and to a lesser extent, Australia.What is your challenge in the remaining time you have as WICB president?
We are at a point now where West Indies cricket has never been in a better place. Financially, we can see our way forward. We have put in a professional structure. We will continue to fiddle with that. Do we increase the matches as our resources get better? Do we pay the players more money, and that kind of stuff? But we are in a place now where we have set the platform and the sky is the limit, and we are on our way up.One of the next steps is, we are creating a commercial entity called Cricket West Indies. Cricket West Indies will be the corporate name for the organisation and the entity in which we will be looking at the performance of our teams will be a separate one. That way we feel we can somehow isolate some of the issues which will always be so, so political [away] from the performance and far from commercialisation of the team. That is happening soon.Read part one of the interview here

His promotion to opener was a gamble but Northamptonshire – and potentially England – are set to reap the rewards of Ben Duckett’s form

Alex Winter14-Apr-2016As the inventors of the microwave oven, penicillin and Velcro will testify, sometimes things just come about by accident. The progress of Ben Duckett can also be traced back to a chance beginning and while it may be difficult to quantify the effect on civilisation of a Duckett innings, he is at least starting to make an impact on the cricket world.Of the five players to have made higher scores for Northamptonshire than the 282 not out Duckett scored against Sussex this week, four played international cricket. Duckett hopes 2016 will help him emulate Mike Hussey, Chris Rogers, Mal Loye and Raman Subba Row.That the England management have renewed their interest in Duckett, a former captain of the Under-19s, has circumstance at its outset. With an opening batsman to find against Kent last season, Northants coach David Ripley promoted Duckett, hitherto a middle-order dasher with a habit for indiscipline – 1000 first-class runs later and he is among the most talked-about young batsmen in the country. The flashing strokeplay now feasts on shiny new balls.”Twelve months ago I wouldn’t have said I could score over 1000 runs as an opener,” Duckett said. “I didn’t think I’d be an opening batter last year but I’m learning the role.”I started my career batting lower down so you can get away with playing a bit looser. But I’ve batted better since opening so I’m going to keep playing this way. I’m still trying to learn to play as straight as I can early on in my innings. If I’m going to go to the next step, I’m going to need to be technically better as an opener and maybe a bit more patient. But I’ve made things work so I’ll try and carry it on.”Duckett rolled his form from 2015 – which included four Championship hundreds in the final eight matches of the season – into the new campaign with a maiden double-hundred in the opening round. Only the weather halted his bid for a triple-ton.”People have said, you’d take 282 wouldn’t you? And I keep saying no. I’m a greedy guy. Now I’ve got this far, I believe I can go on and score big runs. And that’s the main thing for me going forward, when I do get in and through the new ball – cashing in and staying patient. I got to 120-130 a couple of times last year and got myself out. But I suppose that’s the way that I play, I will give chances. I’m not making excuses for myself but I do play freely.”Like his batting, Duckett was living free at the start of last year. Fitness issues that had seen him dropped from the England Under-19s in 2013 returned and, after a winter spent playing in Australia, Northants dropped him from their 2015 pre-season tour to Barbados. He was consigned to the 2nd XI until the end of May. A drink-driving ban followed later in the summer.

“I take it very seriously – people may think I’m this laid back guy but I love the game and I love batting. It is what I want to do and I want to play for England”

Ripley simply puts it down to the bad choices of a young man. “I think his maturing started last year when he came back from Australia. He’s a lovely lad, he has no malice in him at all. He’s very popular in our team and with opposition.”Some of the problems he’s had have just been from making poor decisions, just being a young fella. But he’s growing up. The Barbados thing last year and the winter he had which led to that – he took something from it and bounced back well. There was no axe to grind once we’d dealt with it.”Duckett admits he needed to improve his attitude and approach. “I was in a completely different place this time last year,” he said. “I’ve been a bit lazy in the past and I’ve been honest about that. But I’m still learning, I’m still young. And I definitely need to make sure I get things right off the field to go to the next level.”On the field I’m very switched on. I honestly did not stop thinking about batting for the whole of the Sussex match. I do take it very seriously – people may think I don’t and I’m this laid back guy but I love the game and I love batting. It is what I want to do and I want to play for England when I’m older.”An innings of more than eight-and-a-half hours showcased his increased dedication and it was enough to bring Graham Thorpe, England’s lead batting coach, to Wantage Road. It is unlikely Duckett will be a candidate to partner Alastair Cook this summer but he is focused on keeping the selectors interested.”I had a chat with Graham. I’ve had a session with him before so I know him and it was nice to speak to him,” Duckett said. “My aim is to definitely get involved with the Lions, this summer or next winter. I’ve just got to keep scoring runs. The majority of the Lions stuff is white ball and my big performances have come in the red-ball format, so hopefully I can take this form into the 50-over competition and if I bat exactly like I’ve been doing in the four-day game, I think that’s all I need to do.”Ripley believes he is beginning to make a strong case. “I’ve spoken to Graham about Ben too,” he said. “So they’re on his case. He’s come through all the England programmes and there’s an opportunity there. We think about how the Test team might look like and he’s got a chance to make himself very hard to ignore if he can go on and back up the season he had last year.”

13-Aug-2016Kusal Perera struck three fours en route to a 32-ball 16, before Nathan Lyon found his outside edge with a quicker one that turned sharply•Associated PressDimuth Karunaratne left a big gap between bat and pad on the drive, which allowed a Starc delivery to sneak past the inside edge and shatter his stumps•Associated PressStarc didn’t miss the chance to remind the departing batsman that he had dismissed him five times in the series•Associated PressLyon had his second wicket when Angelo Mathews top-edged a sweep to Starc, who ran in from long leg to complete a fine diving catch•Associated PressSmith had a busy morning in the slip cordon and pouched his third catch of the day when Kusal Mendis edged one to give Starc his third wicket and leave Sri Lanka tottering at 26 for 5•AFPThereafter Dhananjaya de Silva, playing only his third Test, led a brilliant fightback to frustrate Australia•Associated PressWith the experienced Dinesh Chandimal lending a brilliant supporting hand at the other end, the duo combined for an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 188•AFPAustralia failed to capitalise on their chances to break the stand. First, Chandimal was offered a reprieve on 11 when Mitchell Marsh missed a tough chance at gully, before de Silva was put down on 104 by Shaun Marsh at short cover•Associated PressDe Silva raised his maiden Test century and remained unbeaten on 116, while Chandimal was 64 not out as Sri Lanka recovered to 214 for 5 at stumps on the opening day•AFP

A visiting cricket writer makes it to the final cricket stadium on his bucket list – and other points in the Caribbean

Nicholas Sadleir27-Jun-2016An intriguing triangular series in the Caribbean offered me a handsome opportunity to visit the Providence Stadium in Guyana, and in doing so, fulfil a personal mission of watching cricket at every single current Test ground in the world. I will always rue a missed opportunity to go to Pakistan when they did host internationals, but over nine years, having taken enough airplane flights to feel guilty about climate change, I have managed to make it to all the rest of the cricket countries and their Test grounds. A stadium on the border of the Amazon rainforest seemed suitably obscure for the prized final scalp.Guyana is on the mainland of South America and is a Caribbean nation by virtue of its shared history with previous English colonies that are fairly close by in the actual West Indies.Imperialism and slavery were ugly beasts all right but we can be thankful for the resultant pollination of cricket. Guyana is the only English-speaking country on the continent and it feels a little strange that cricket is the main sport in a land whose neighbours are Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname. Incidentally, I learn while writing this that Clive Lloyd, of Guyana, who has done as much for West Indies cricket as anyone else, is not one of the 11 West Indian cricketers to have been knighted.Guyana is a unique melting pot of peoples from the Amazon, Africa, India and Europe, and the population is sometimes regarded as the most physically attractive in the world. A claim that is a little less difficult to substantiate is that the country is widely believed to make the world’s finest rum: the aptly named El Dorado 15-year-old version has been voted the world’s best four years in a row and tastes like liquid gold.I arrived a couple of days early and borrowed a rusty old bicycle from my Airbnb host. As I cycled around I couldn’t help but notice that it felt as if I were in the islands rather than in South America. Jamaican dancehall and soca blared out of old stereos, and jerk chicken was common on menus. Digicel is the main mobile network, and the beer brands are Banks, Carib and Stag. I felt right at home.Georgetown is a charming city at the mouth of the Demerara river. It was evidently laid out by the Dutch – canals bisect streets with names like Vlissengen Rd – and was once described in the as the handsomest city in the West Indies. While there are remnants of more affluent days, like a beautiful cathedral that is one of the world’s largest wooden buildings, the capital screams out for a lick of paint. Still, national pride is everywhere, and although a month or so had passed since the Jubilee celebrations of independence, most houses and shops are still proudly displaying Guyanese flags.The Kaieteur Falls•Nicholas SadleirThe zoo houses jaguars and two-toed sloths and some of the most magnificent animals I’ve ever seen but they are kept in the most appalling conditions. Given entry costs only a dollar, there is understandably no money available for a long-planned and needed makeover.Sugar is not the profitable commodity it once was, and political strife and corruption have made it difficult to make the most of the other natural resources. Crime levels are quite high and tourism quite low. Guyana is not a tropical beach destination, and I was clearly enough of a novel attraction as I cycled bare-chested for people to shout “White boy!” at me several times a day. At first I was a little intimidated but after a while I learned that this was mainly affectionate, so I carried on more bravely down the back streets. One night a drunk man yelled at me indecipherably and it felt like I might be in a spot of hot water, but it turned out that he just wanted to ask where I was from. When I said South Africa, he laughed uncontrollably and said, “The gods must be crazy” – a reference to the ’80s comedy about bushmen.Each of the teams won and lost a match at Providence, where the wicket was so slow that the highest score of the three games was 191. When West Indies were playing and there was no rain about, the crowd was fairly big and the atmosphere fun.I did my first international cricket radio commentary stints and made Guyanese friends I look forward to seeing again. One night I sat between former South Africa spinner Robin Petersen and West Indies legend Jeffrey Dujon, who has more technical insights into spin bowling than anyone I’ve ever met, and we spent 40 minutes talking about how best to bowl to Chris Gayle. Not surprisingly, we didn’t come up with a definitive answer.I took a short flight into the Amazon to see Kaieteur Falls, the world’s highest single-drop waterfall. Fun fact: one doesn’t need bug spray in this part of the Amazon because there are so many insectivorous plants around that they eat the bugs before they can eat us!It was then time to move on to St Kitts. It is never easy (or cheap) to get around the Caribbean, and LIAT, the Caribbean airline, has long been mocked as “Leave Island Any Time”. I learnt a new use for the acronym, however, when I was separated from my suitcase for three days: “Luggage In Another Terminal”.A visit from the local fauna•Nicholas SadleirSt Kitts and Nevis is a lovely little country of only 50,000 or so people in the East Caribbean archipelago, with a tiny little cricket ground to match. But though Warner Park’s straight boundaries are only about 50 metres long, setting the stage for scores around the 300-run mark, you need to get a significant percentage of the population into the ground to fill it up. This dawned on me when I saw a newspaper headline that claimed that 8% of Iceland had been in a football stadium in France during a Euro football game.The “citizenship by investment” programme in St Kitts means that there are plenty more opulent beach houses than there are expats in them. A St Kitts passport apparently gets you into over 100 countries without a visa, perhaps because it is too small for most countries to bother with having a visa office on the island, and that is often how these reciprocal visa situations work. In any event, if you are suddenly worried about the long-term usefulness of your UK passport, you can throw a non-refundable 250,000 East Caribbean dollars into the “sugar diversification fund” or spend $400,000 on a villa, and voila, a St Kitts and Nevis passport is yours.It turns out that local games of cricket are not screened, in an attempt to encourage people to go to the grounds. Not that the broadcasting companies are exactly keen to telecast games. In Guyana I was told no radio station was even prepared to buy the radio commentary rights for the season, the price of which was only $25,000 for ten tri-series games, four India Tests, and all of the Caribbean Premier League.Once again, each team won and lost one of their second round of round-robin games, which meant we were all excited at the prospect of arriving in Barbados with all three teams still able to make the final.Barbados also celebrates 50 years of independence from Britain this year, and is known as the Jewel of the Caribbean for jolly good reason. Turquoise beaches and catamaran cruises abound. It is the most developed tourism destination in the region, and also has a substantial enough population (280,000) that you feel like you are in a real country with a real city and a great vibe, yet is still small enough that you bump into the odd familiar face every day.Warner Park: get the country into it•Getty ImagesEqually importantly, Barbados is the venue of the Kensington Oval or “Lord’s of the Caribbean”, which is not only the best stadium in the West Indies but is also by far the most sporting surface, with its pace and bounce offering something for batsmen and bowlers alike.I led a tour group of 20 friends who flew in from around the world for a week at the “Jiminy Cricket and Rum Diaries Tour of Barbados”. A good time was had by all, and the only disappointing aspect for most was that the WICB was unable or unwilling to organise the famous party stand at the Oval in time for the games, and that South Africa were unable to make the final.The West Indies is most people’s second team however and it was great for the tournament – and indeed cricket in the region – that the stands were nice and full at the final, where all the stands became party stands. The tri-series format is a good one, though a downside is small crowds at the neutral games. It was also a reflection of the times that local fans seemed far more excited about the upcoming CPL than they are about ODIs against Australia and South Africa.West Indies cricket moved into the 90s this year, and making the final of this tri-series ahead of South Africa will go some way in consolidating confidence in a side that has had very little success in recent times in the ODI and Test formats.In a rum shop disguised as a bakery in the lovely village of Conaree in St Kitts, I met a man who was closing in on the nervous nineties himself. I told him that he hardly looked a day over 70, as we bought each other a fourth beer. (I had gone to buy bread but he recognised my voice from the local radio broadcast and we got chatting.) He smiled and said, “Got ta keep going boy, just got ta keep going.” I sure hope to the crazy gods that they do.

Selection hijinks, franchise movies, air travel, and more coffee than you can shake a stick at

Alex Bowden28-Oct-2016Social media’s supposed to be all about cat pictures.

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But that’s pretty much the only one that’s ever qualified for this column, so let’s crack on with the usual business of making fun of Kevin Pietersen.

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Taken in isolation, that’s ambiguous, but we know what he means by now. For some reason Kevin Pietersen is petrified that you won’t comprehend just how much he likes coffee.

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We really feel like we’re missing something with KP’s coffee-related Twitter output. Is it some sort of cry for help?Like KP, Shane Warne is unafraid of repeating himself. He clearly thinks that if something’s worth saying, it’s worth saying three times.This is the kind of lofty message he feels he needs to drive home.

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June 2015, April 2016 and October 2016. The gaps are shortening. The references are coming more frequently. It feels a little like we can chart Warne’s mental well-being by this, but we’re not entirely sure what we should conclude.If KP’s hotel experiences this week have seemingly just revolved around the drinking of coffee, Jimmy Neesham’s have been less straightforward.

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We’re also going to assume that ‘s Charles Dagnall was in a hotel for this exciting moment.

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This development was unexpected too.

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The following is less surprising, except insofar as it’s been a while since this particular restaurant got a mention. New theory: it was only the previous generation of cricketers who were so obsessed with Nando’s.

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We mustn’t judge.

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Trite! That’s our instant, knee-jerk response to that.Wrong form of transport, but you have to forgive him.

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We’ve all had one of those 12-seater bus moments, after all.Somewhere in the world, there is always a cricketer complaining about air travel.

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At least he can pretty much guarantee that he’ll always be able to get a coffee at the airport. Maybe that realisation is what later led him to embrace air travel.

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Join us in a fortnight when we’ll hopefully be able to bring you more of KP’s innovative airline rating criteria.

New Zealand spinners had the conditions to work with. They do not have the experience bowling in them, but they will need to be more consistently accurate to give their batsmen a chance of competing

Sidharth Monga in Kanpur25-Sep-20164:00

Agarkar: New Zealand spinners didn’t create enough pressure

As India struggled in England and Australia in 2011 and 2012 you imagine a scenario how their batsmen would do if they were facing their own bowlers. The Indian batsmen were handcuffed by the accuracy of England and Australia bowlers that year. What if, you wondered, there was a loose delivery every now and then. A gift on the pads. Something short and wide. Something to assure them runs will come if they wait. The England and Australia bowlers for sure did not make them feel that way.When the New Zealand batsmen fought and fought and fought in their first innings in Kanpur, it was tempting to imagine a scenario where these batsmen faced their own bowlers. When after tens of minutes of concentration they could get a loose ball. What they got instead was this. In the second innings, R Ashwin took the new ball, bowled to their right-hand batsmen from round the wicket, had only two men on the off side, and the first time he was hit there was in the sixth over.Since the start of the last home season, India’s captain Virat Kohli has had the luxury of setting fields where even taking a single has been an almighty effort for the batsmen. There’s Ashwin turning the ball sharply in, there are backward and forward short legs, there is another ring of short square leg and short midwicket behind them, and if you manage to beat them there is either a long-on or a deep midwicket or at times, both. A batsman will not take the aerial route with that field because with the turning ball chances are the ball will travel vertically more than horizontally. To add to this, in the second innings, you have a man on the sweep too.So if you are facing Ashwin you have to pierce two gaps for one run. You get that only now and then. The field sounds good, but on the other side Ashwin bowled with only three fielders on the off side in the first innings and two in the second. One of them was a slip. In the first innings he had a man at mid-off and one between point and cover. In the second, there was no mid-off either. On the third morning, by which time he had got his rhythm going, Ashwin bowled the first boundary ball on the off side, in the eighth over of his spell. In the second innings, this happened only in the sixth, by which time he had taken three wickets to become the second-fastest bowler to 200 Test wickets.Ravindra Jadeja often bowled without a point to the left-handed batsmen. Asking them to cut against the turn if they so fancied when he was not going to be that short anyway. In the first innings – let’s take that as a comparison yardstick because in the second innings New Zealand bowlers would have been demoralised and India batsmen under no pressure – India’s two specialist spinners were cut 21 times. Only six of them were boundaries. An attempt at a cut nearly brought them a wicket, and another resulted in the big one of Kane Williamson.Kane Williamson did not have the luxury Virat Kohli had of experienced spinners who could bowl accurately for long periods•BCCIIn fewer overs bowled between them, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig were cut away for 11 boundaries. Not to mention the pulls off Sodhi’s bowling. Williamson did not have the luxury Kohli had. He had to have five-four fields for longer durations because his bowlers – not experienced enough in being the mainstays of their bowling – were not as accurate. The second innings, after New Zealand had fallen behind by 56, was worse, and doesn’t need retelling.Shane Jurgensen, New Zealand’s bowling coach, was later asked what his bowlers could learn from India’s. “They basically create a lot of pressure,” Jurgensen said. “They make you play the ball consistently, they bowl straight and they are very experienced. It’s shown in the little adjustments they make, positions on the crease, angles, field placements, they are obviously very good at that. Like we saw with their batters in their conditions, we saw the way they bowled in their conditions. We have to take the positives out of the way we bowled today and learn from that.”It is no surprise that the Ross Taylor kind of run-out tends to happen with teams under such relentless pressure. When the bowlers are not giving you any opportunities to relax and switch off, you tend to switch off at times you should not. New Zealand spinners had the conditions to work with, they obviously do not have the experience of bowling in them, but they will need to get closer to the relentlessness of India’s spinners to give their batsmen a chance of competing.

Stats highlights from the second round of Ranji Trophy 2016-17 matches

Bharath Seervi16-Oct-20163 Players who scored first-class triple-centuries at an younger age than Rishabh Pant, who got there at age of 19 years and 12 days. He scored 308 for Delhi against Maharashtra at the Wankhede. The youngest player to score a first-class triple-hundred is Javed Miandad at age of 17 years, 311 days, followed by two Indians: Wasim Jaffer at 18 years, 265 days, and Abhinav Mukund at 18 years, 303 days.

1 Number of Delhi batsmen who had scored a triple-century in the Ranji Trophy before Pant’s knock in this round. Raman Lamba had made 312 against Himachal Pradesh in 1994-95. Pant had scored 146 runs in the first match of this season against Assam.7 Wicketkeepers to score a triple-century in first-class cricket. Pant became the seventh wicketkeeper to do so. The only other wicketkeeper to score a triple-century in the Ranji Trophy is Andhra’s Srikar Bharat who made 308 against Goa in 2014-15 season.

2 Instances of two batsmen scoring triple-centuries in a first-class match. The Maharashtra versus Delhi match is only the second such match. The first was also in the Ranji Trophy, between Tamil Nadu and Goa in 1988-89, when WV Raman and A Kripal Singh scored triple-centuries in the same innings. This match is also the first to have three batsmen scoring 250-plus – Swapnil Gugale 351*, Ankit Bawne 258* and Pant 308.594* The partnership between Gugale and Bawne – the second-highest in first-class cricket history. They missed out on surpassing the 624-run stand between Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara in a Test against South Africa in 2006 when Maharashtra declared. More on the records related to the Gugale-Bawne partnership here.2012-13 The last time Tripura won a match in the Ranji Trophy before beating Services by 219 runs in this round. This is their eighth win in 153 Ranji matches since debuting in 1985-86. It is their biggest win in the Ranji Trophy in terms of runs.4 Bengal players to score centuries in both innings of a Ranji match. Abhimanyu Easwaran, who made 142 and 110 not out against Uttar Pradesh, became the fourth Bengal player to achieve this. Pankaj Roy had done it twice (in 1953-54 and 1962-63), Ashok Malhotra did it in 1991-92 and Sourav Ganguly in 1993-94.0 Five-wicket hauls for Kuldeep Yadav in Ranji Trophy matches before this round, where he took 5 for 115 against Bengal. He did not have a fifty either in the Ranji Trophy, till this game where he made 63 batting at No. 8. He had taken a five-for and made a fifty in the recently-concluded Duleep Trophy as well, but in different matches. Yuzvendra Chahal also took the maiden five-wicket haul of his first-class career, against Hyderabad, in this round.239 Runs accumulated by Yuvraj Singh in his previous 13 first-class innings before this round. In this match against Madhya Pradesh he scored 253 runs (177 and 76). He had not scored a single fifty in his 13 innings prior to this; his last fifty-plus score was 187 in the last Ranji season. His last few first-class centuries have all been big ones: 204*, 208, 131, 130, 136, 182, 187, 177. The innings of 177 in this game is his third-highest score in the Ranji Trophy.8/102 Ishwar Pandey’s figures against Punjab – his second-best in first-class cricket. He took 11 for 127 in the match, also his second-best match figures, and his third ten-wicket haul.