Since the Asia Cup, he’s maintained a rare run of red-hot form in a career full of what-ifs. And tonight that meant an utterly breathtaking takedown of Pakistan’s masterful quicks

Shashank Kishore10-Oct-20231:20

Maharoof: Never seen someone from SL striking it like Mendis did

Where do you place Kusal Mendis among modern batters? The holder of Sri Lanka’s fastest World Cup century.Even if you have a wild imagination, it would be hard to tag him as a great. His numbers are middling, way lower than what he ought to have had with that ability and gum-chewing swagger. It just doesn’t feel right. So forget about the Fab Four, or maybe even five or six.He cannot be discussed in the young-batters-to-watch category either, say alongside a Shubman Gill or a Harry Brook, because he’s already eight years old in international cricket.Related

Almost a must win: World Cup hopes already on the line for Australia and Sri Lanka

Pakistan record the highest successful chase at the World Cup

But let’s for a moment forget fancy world titles. By now, shouldn’t he at least be Sri Lanka’s Mr Consistent? He certainly wasn’t for a long time, but it seems the winds of change are here.Mendis had a rip-roaring Asia Cup, finishing as the second-highest run-getter. He carried that form into the World Cup warm-ups, where he bludgeoned Afghanistan for 158 in Guwahati. In Sri Lanka’s tournament opener in Delhi, his six-hitting spree in a 42-ball 76, which included a sensational takedown of Lungi Ndigi, stood out.And tonight in Hyderabad, with the stakes even higher – you don’t want to start a tournament with back-to-back losses – he took down the likes of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf as if he were picking ripe apples at an orchard. So he’s been able to sustain a run of form, perhaps for the first time in what has largely been a frustrating ODI career full of what ifs.Kusal Mendis brought up his century with a six•ICC via Getty ImagesSo where do you bracket him then? Maybe a title for someone who thrills and frustrates in equal measure? Surely Mendis is a frontrunner for that.In ODIs, it’s either all or nothing. The middle ground isn’t his way. Often, there is a propensity to play a release shot to find his rhythm early on. This either helps flick on beast mode or, like in many cases in the past, leaves his fans tearing their hair out. Like Mickey Arthur often did in his stint with Sri Lanka.That hair-tearing moment duly arrived in Hyderabad too. Watching from the Pakistan camp this time, Arthur may have had reasons to celebrate for a change. After a series of full, fast deliveries that swung in late in his previous overs, Shaheen Afridi had dangled the carrot outside off in the seventh over with Mendis barely set. He nearly went “job done, thanks for coming”. Until, of course, Imam-ul-Haq put down a straightforward chance at backward point to turn a moment of absolute joy into another hair-tearing moment for Arthur, and all of Pakistan.What happened next?Mendis had flicked the switch and for the rest of the evening, he would go on to treat Afridi with disdain, repeatedly slashing him over square third, interspersed with elegance in the form of nimble-footed cuts. As for Hasan Ali, Mendis moved between struggling against his late inward moment to lofting him imperiously through the line. It was a high-risk game that bordered on the loose, but he wanted to dominate.

Babar Azam turned his gaze towards his middle-overs enforcer Haris Rauf to try and rough up the batters. It felt like a contest was brewing, but Mendis nearly turned it into a no-contest with just one shot: a silken straight drive that he enjoyed so immensely that he made eye contact with the bowler until Rauf looked away in disbelief.

At one point, Babar Azam turned his gaze towards his middle-overs enforcer Haris Rauf to try and rough up the batters. It felt like a contest was brewing, but Mendis nearly turned it into a no-contest with just one shot: a silken straight drive that he enjoyed so immensely that he made eye contact with the bowler until Rauf looked away in disbelief at having being punched so hard early on in his spell.This wasn’t the Jayasuriya-Kaluwitharana style carnage from 1996. It was somewhere between the mayhem of Jayasuriya and the calm of Sangakkara. The artistry added to the magic. The only missing element was the papare band. No Bollywood chartbuster quite matched Kusal’s beat this evening.The harder Kusal went, the harder Pakistan tried. At one point, Babar had a deep square and deep point for the short ball. Mendis killed it softly by opening the bat face to steer it fine, steal a boundary and quietly chuckle. You saw Rauf seething inside.There are shots certain batters play when they know they’re in the zone. For Gill, it’s the short-arm pull. For Virat Kohli or Babar, it’s the cover drive early on. For Mendis, it’s the sweep, the ability to throw spinners off their lengths by using the arc anywhere between deep square and wide long-on. In picking Nawaz over midwicket with one such shot, he raised the century of his partnership with Pathum Nissanka off 92 balls.Shaheen Shah Afridi reacts after getting hit for a boundary•ICC via Getty ImagesNissanka fell soon after, and Pakistan thought they’d found an opening for Rauf to nip out another. Pace, hostility, bounce – all check. But Mendis wasn’t done yet, willingly taking the open invitation to hook Rauf, striking him for a six in this fashion. It didn’t quite have the aesthetics of that Tendulkar pull off Andy Caddick – remember 2003? – but to hook one of the fastest bowlers going around without looking rushed spoke volumes of his readiness and the zone he was in.What more could Mendis have done? You wondered how he could top all this. And then he toyed with Afridi in his second spell, hitting him for three fours in an over. One of them a rifling cut so late that you could almost imagine Mahela Jayawardene grinning ear to ear in the dressing room. Then a six, off Hasan Ali, to bring up a 65-ball century that shattered Sangakkara’s record from 2015 and what was left of the bowlers’ morale.It’s the kind of shot you dread as a bowler, let alone a fast bowler fighting heat and humidity to spear them in at 145 clicks. And Hasan went for two more in a row next over, before the thrill of going after the cute sequence of 6, 6, 6 cost Mendis. While there was a sense that a double-hundred had gone abegging, an even stronger sense of pride in a special innings was all too palpable as Mendis walked off to a standing ovation.

Last year, Sam Curran became the most expensive player in IPL history. Who will be the most in-demand this time around?

Nagraj Gollapudi and Deivarayan Muthu17-Dec-20237:05

Will we see an INR 20 crore buy at the 2024 IPL auction?

Mitchell Starc

Multiple World Cup-winner. Able to bowl attacking spells in the most challenging phases in an innings – the powerplay and death. Ability to impart conventional swing and reverse swing at high speeds, along with cunning changes of pace. And, finally, a handy batter in the lower order. Starc’s pedigree is well known – that’s why he has previously been a contender for the most expensive buy, especially at mini auctions, even if he has opted out to manage his workload at times. Now, Starc, on the verge of turning 34, is on the final bend in his international career and wants to return to the IPL after an eight-year hiatus. He would like to utilise the tournament as preparation for the T20 World Cup in June. With several teams keen to have a strike bowler in their first XIs, it will be no surprise if a fierce paddle war breaks out to snap up Starc.

Rachin Ravindra

Ravindra might not have even been in New Zealand’s ODI World Cup squad had Michael Bracewell been fit. The 24-year-old batting allrounder wasn’t supposed to start the World Cup for New Zealand, but when Will Young was given a break in the warm-up against Pakistan, he seized his chance as an opener and went on to become the breakout star of the World Cup. He stood up to quicks such as Starc, Haris Rauf and Mark Wood, but it is his game against spin that could pique the interest of the IPL franchises. Since his Under-19 days, Ravindra has been particularly strong off the back foot and has quickly adapted to the Indian conditions by visiting the country every summer with Wellington’s Hutt Hawks club. Ravindra can also bowl quickish left-arm fingerspin and bat down the order, as he showed during his 48-ball 61 from No. 7 against England in the Lord’s ODI in September.Rachin Ravindra was the breakout star of the ODI World Cup•Associated Press

Shardul Thakur

Indian seam-bowling allrounders are limited in supply, which increases their demand at the auction. It’s no different this time, with Thakur being the most high-profile player with such a skillset. Thakur has the tendency to leak runs, but at the same time he brings the wicket-taking ability with his variations, including the slower bouncer and wobble-seam delivery. He can also tonk sixes down the order with his big backlift and power. In IPL 2023, he cracked 68 off 29 balls – the joint second-highest individual score while batting at No. 7 or lower in the league. More recently, he hit 76 off 98 balls for India A from No. 7 in a four-day game in Potchefstroom.

Pat Cummins

Cummins is a contender for the Player of 2023. He led Australia to the World Test Championship title in June, followed it up by retaining the Ashes in England, and then silenced a dominant Indian team, and a full house in Ahmedabad, with a brilliant spell in the World Cup final in November. Cummins is no stranger to the IPL, having earned one of the record bids in the 2020 auction when Kolkata Knight Riders bought him for INR 15.5 crore (USD 2.28 million approx.). He was released and bought back by the franchise two seasons later for nearly a million dollars (INR 7.25 crore). A bowling allrounder, Cummins creates impact in the first two phases with the ball and can play handy cameos with the bat like a record 14-ball 50 against Mumbai Indians. It will stick in their mind, as multi-skilled players are always high on the franchise’s wish-list. Mumbai also look out for leadership skills, both on the field and in the change room, something Cummins has in droves too.Will Royal Challengers Bangalore go for Gerald Coetzee?•AFP/Getty Images

Gerald Coetzee

Tall and well-built, with a Rambo-style black headband and a bounding run-up, Coetzee probably gets into batters’ heads even before delivering a ball. At the ODI World Cup, the 23-year-old finished as the fifth-leading wicket-taker despite playing only eight matches. Out of his 20 wickets, 15 came in the middle overs, the second-most in that phase. Bowling consistently at 140-plus kph, Coetzee showed control and movement to rattle batters. Remember the legcutter to Jos Buttler or the around-the-stumps yorker to Josh Inglis? Coetzee also has a good slower ball, which he delivers with his fast whippy action to catch the batter by surprise. In T20s, Coetzee has been an attacking bowler picking up wickets in all three phases with economy rates hovering between seven and nine. Coetzee’s talent has already been recognised by the Chennai Super Kings coaching staff who recruited him to play for their teams in the SA20 and Major League Cricket. Both those teams are led by former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, who performs the same role at Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. Both Super Kings and Royal Challengers need an overseas fast bowler, so don’t be surprised if either or both bid for the South African.

Harshal Patel

In 2023, there was a predictability to Harshal Patel, the bowler. A death-overs specialist, he leaked runs at an economy of 11.50 with batters easily taking advantage of his slower deliveries. He had been picked by Royal Challengers at the 2022 mega auction for INR 10.75 crore (USD 1.43 million approx.). He commanded that high price having won the Player-of-the-Tournament award in the 2021 season, when he was the highest wicket-taker. Now he’ll be looking for a new home and a return to old form. Bowling successfully under pressure in the second half of the innings remains Harshal’s calling card: since IPL 2020, he has got 37 wickets at death (overs 17-20) – the joint-highest with Mohammed Shami. While his economy in this phase is over ten, Harshal has the experience, a variety of slower balls and knowledge of Indian conditions – all factors that will come into play when he is engaging with an attacking batter in the final stanza of a T20 innings. Death-overs specialists, especially of the Indian fast-bowling variety, are not that common, so Harshal will fancy a good bid once again.Harshal Patel leaked runs last season•BCCI

Wanindu Hasaranga

Released by Royal Challengers, Wanindu Hasaranga is one of the most attractive packages up for grabs at the auction. He has a fizzing wrong ‘un in his repertoire, can launch sixes down the order, and is an excellent fielder. He was hands down the MVP of Lanka Premier League 2023, topping the runs and wickets charts in the tournament. But he hasn’t played any competitive cricket since then and is currently working his way back from a hamstring tear. At the IPL 2022 auction, he had Royal Challengers locked in a fierce bidding war with Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad. This time, he is the only proper spin-bowling allrounder in the first set of allrounders. With no established Indian or foreign wristspinner (besides Tabraiz Shamsi) in the mix, Hasaranga could be a big draw once more.

Shahrukh Khan

Shahrukh had a tepid white-ball domestic season for Tamil Nadu, which is probably why Kings released him to free up INR 9 crore. But Indian domestic finishers are at a premium once again, and specialists like Shahrukh who can go hard from the get-go are rare. Shahrukh is a bit like West Indies’ Rovman Powell: he is particularly strong against pace, but is vulnerable to wristspin. He has been working on his big-hitting against spin, and his own offspin. In the Tamil Nadu Premier League 2023, which he won with Lyca Kovai Kings, Shahrukh was the highest wicket-taker with 17 strikes in nine games at an economy rate of 6.66.

Through his 80 off 42 on captaincy debut against Australia, he showed that few understand the pulse of T20 cricket better than him

Hemant Brar24-Nov-20235:19

Takeaways: Mukesh, SKY headline India’s win

Suryakumar Yadav is at peace when he is surrounded by chaos. How else do you explain what he does in T20 cricket?Imagine a Venn diagram with three sets: Longevity (1000+ T20I runs), Consistency (average above 40) and Explosiveness (strike rate over 150). Virat Kohli has both longevity and consistency but lacks explosiveness. Glenn Maxwell has longevity and explosiveness but falls short on consistency. Rinku Singh has consistency and explosiveness but is yet to achieve longevity.There is only one T20I batter at the intersection of these three: Suryakumar Yadav. He has 1921 runs, an average of 46.85, and a strike rate of 173.37.Suryakumar is yet to crack it in Test cricket and ODIs, but few understand the pulse of T20 cricket better than him. Perhaps the chaos of T20 cricket leaves no room for confusion in his mind, as most of the time the only way out is to attack.ESPNcricinfo LtdThat’s why even in ODIs India try to use him when the situation becomes similar to a T20 game, that is in the last 15 overs of the innings. In the ODI World Cup final on Sunday, when they lost their fourth wicket in the 29th over, Ravindra Jadeja walked in ahead of him.Suryakumar didn’t have a great World Cup. Out of seven innings he played, he couldn’t cross 25 in six. But in the first T20I on Thursday, when he walked in at 22 for 2 with India chasing 209, he seemed to be in his comfort zone.In the first innings, Josh Inglis’ strokeplay during a blazing hundred had left even Suryakumar in awe. So much so that he was seen shadow-practising one of Inglis’ shots.Now it was Suryakumar’s turn. On the fourth ball he faced, he brought out the ‘supla shot’ and lap-pulled Jason Behrendorff over fine leg. In the next over, he hit Sean Abbott for a six and a four.Related

Weather could force changes in XIs as Australia look to level terms with India

India vs Australia T20I series: Suryakumar and Head in the spotlight

Rinku seals thriller after SKY trumps Inglis ton

Josh Inglis hits the ignition as race for T20 World Cup begins

Suryakumar raced to 37 off 19 balls. But at the other end, Ishan Kishan, with whom he has played a lot of cricket for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, was struggling on 19 off 21. Legspinner Tanveer Sangha had bowled his first over for just six runs despite it being a favourable match-up for Kishan.With 130 required from 12 overs, Suryakumar and Kishan had a chat.”I told Surya I was going to take this guy [Sangha] down, irrespective of where he bowled,” Kishan said afterwards. And as decided, Kishan hacked the first three balls of Sangha’s next over through the leg side for 4, 6, 6.Suryakumar, meanwhile, told Kishan just one thing: “Don’t think about what we are chasing, just keep batting, we will analyse at the end of ten overs.”After ten overs, it was a perfect, tailor-made situation – 100 [103] needed off 60 balls,” Suryakumar said. “That happens every second game in the IPL.”

“I left that luggage in the dressing room. Whenever I go in to bat, I just try to enjoy my batting, whether I bat for 10 balls or 40 balls.”Suryakumar Yadav on the baggage of captaincy

Kishan started Sangha’s next over in the same fashion, smashing him through midwicket for a four and a six. But the spinner tossed the next one wide outside off and Kishan holed out to deep extra cover. Later, Kishan revealed that Suryakumar had asked him to take a single on that particular ball. Talk about reading the pulse of the game.Kishan fell for 58 off 39 but Suryakumar was unstoppable. He brought up his half-century off 29 balls, same as Inglis, with a six.In the World Cup final, Australia had restricted Suryakumar by bowling the slower bouncer with deep third and fine leg in place. Abbott used the same ploy in the tenth over. Suryakumar went for the ramp, but got no power behind the shot and the ball fell well short of a charging in deep third.For some reason, the Australia seamers didn’t use that option much after that. Nathan Ellis tried it as a last resource, after Suryakumar had taken him for a four and a six in the 17th over. But the deep-third fielder was inside the 30-yard circle and Suryakumar had no trouble in helping the ball over him.Suryakumar Yadav, back to his favourite format, scored an entertaining 80 off 42•AFP/Getty ImagesBy the time Australia got rid of Suryakumar, he had scored 80 off 42, and India needed just 15 from 14. They wobbled towards the end but eventually reached there with one ball to spare.This was also the first time Suryakumar was leading India. Did he feel that extra responsibility while batting? “I left that luggage in the dressing room,” he said with a smile. “Whenever I go in to bat, I just try to enjoy my batting, whether I bat for 10 balls or 40 balls.”I thought there would be some dew [in the second innings] but there wasn’t. But I knew it’s a small ground and the wicket gets better later on.”During and after the match, there was lots of praise for Suryakumar – both online and on air. The best compliment, though, came from Inglis at the post-match presser: “SKY did what SKY usually does.”

With Trent Boult around, Sandeep has as all-new job description to meet at Rajasthan Royals. He’s worked on doing just that and on Sunday, executed to perfection

Sidharth Monga24-Mar-20241:51

Jaffer: Samson showed great maturity

Close your eyes and tell me what you see when you think about Sandeep Sharma. A swing bowler, probably a little too slow in the air or too early with the movement? A death bowler celebrating with one finger raised to the sky only to find out he has overstepped and then lose the match on the re-bowled last ball?Going against these first impressions, Rajasthan Royals drafted him in after he went unsold at the auction last year. This is a side that has in it perhaps the best new-ball bowler you can think of, Trent Boult, who can’t help taking wickets in the first over, even if with a filthy leg-side wide as he did in Sunday’s match.What room would they have for someone who is the second-most successful IPL bowler in the powerplay and mostly used for only one over outside of it? It turned out they wanted to use him at the death, a phase of play that has the least correlation with the bowler’s skills. He has limited pace, a straightforward action and no fancy slower balls.Related

• Sandeep Sharma, the metamorphosis man

• 'Not going to over-analyse' – Rahul after LSG's opening defeat to Royals

• Report – Samson, Boult star as Royals overpower LSG

It is not an easy job to reinvent yourself at such a late stage in your career but, given this new job description, he started to find ways to be effective at the death. His philosophy has been: if you bowl to your field, thus bowling what the batter is expecting, be good enough to nail that ball. That go-to delivery for him is the yorker. For variation, he has the knuckle ball and the slower bouncer. Again, not too different to the only man more prolific than him in the powerplay: Bhuvneshwar Kumar.It is tempting to wonder if Sandeep would have played more than just the two T20Is he has for India had it not been for the presence of Bhuvneshwar. Now, though, Sandeep probably knows that ship has sailed. There is no place for Bhuvneshwar himself in the India side.At one rung below that, Sandeep continues to do the job required of him even if it means giving up that powerplay role to Boult. Against Lucknow Super Giants, he was introduced as late as the 15th over. That is incredible pressure because you are probably going to bowl three on the trot in the most difficult phase of the game.Somebody who is used to carrying confidence from his line and length bowling with the moving new ball now has to start off with set pieces. LSG needed just 65 off the last six overs with six wickets in hand. They had to their disposal Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis and a set KL Rahul, all three fearsome propositions. With figures of 3-0-22-1 though, Sandeep nailed the game for Rajasthan Royals much like he nailed most of his yorkers on the night.

“Sandy is a character. For me, it is not about how good someone looks on the eye, what skill they have, it’s about the fight they have.”Ashwin heaps praise on Sandeep

“If you see, I have never had to start a spell on that wide line with the new ball,” Sandeep later said, “but today I had to. That said, the management had made it clear to me where I would be bowling majority of my overs so I worked mostly on slower bouncers and yorkers in the nets. I anyway knew I wouldn’t be bowling much with the new ball because Boulty is a world-class bowler, one of the best in the world.”It is this self-awareness and the willingness to still make yourself competitive that has drawn generous praise for Sandeep from his team-mates. “IPL is built on perceptions,” R Ashwin said. “If you look at the numbers and the way he has bowled in the IPL over the years, he is probably going to be one of the top five bowlers when it comes to bowling in the powerplay. And later in the game as well.”He has had a massive shoulder injury, has had to sit out, had indifferent two years, but he has been an unsung hero. Stepped up in the absence of Prasidh Krishna last year, did the dirty job, sometimes doesn’t look attractive on the figures. Sandy is a character. For me, it is not about how good someone looks on the eye, what skill they have, it’s about the fight they have. Largely in this game, especially T20, a bowler up for the fight is way more important than a bowler with the skill.”Sandeep’s captain Sanju Samson won the Player-of-the-Match award for his innings of 82 not out, but he knows he had 52 balls to make an impact on the game, which he successfully did, but Sandeep had just 18 balls to do the same. He had no qualms in admitting who the Player of the Match should have been.”I think this trophy should go to him,” Samson said. “If he hadn’t bowled those three overs, I wouldn’t be standing with this Man-of-the-Match trophy. I thought about getting him here, but [that would have been a little performative].”This was a happy night for Royals but it will be just as important to maintain this perspective when Sandeep gets hit around on another night. And in this game, every death-overs specialist does.

Loss of Leach to knee niggle leaves too much riding on rookie spinners

Vithushan Ehantharajah26-Jan-20242:42

Why were England’s spinners ineffective?

So… good news and bad news.The good news is, for the second time since 1980, four different English spinners took a wicket in a Test innings. The bad news is, well, the score.India already boast a lead of 175 in a first innings that still has three wickets intact. But for the generosity of some of their dismissals, it could have been much greater. The first six batters all met their demise trying to find the fence, while Ravichandran Ashwin fell trying to find the other end. And yet even amid the mistakes, they have stitched together an enviable day two.If the start to their innings was a blitz of haymakers administered by Yashasvi Jaiswal, the 87 overs on Friday comprised a succession of batters taking their turn to administer a series of jabs. England kept coming out from their corner, pressing down their bruises, spitting out blood, re-inserting their gumshield and going again.England’s most damaging bump came last night. Jack Leach’s left knee collided with the turf after chasing down one of the many Thursday-night strikes to the boundary. Further aggravation came this morning.It meant Ben Stokes could not turn to his most trusted spinner for more than two overs in a morning session that began with Joe Root’s dismissal of Jaiswal off the fourth ball of the day. Leach would eventually manage 16 overs split across six different spells, managing four in a row twice. Barring an optimistic caught-behind shout against KS Bharat when India were 45 ahead, there was decidedly less snap in his action.Jack Leach was relatively economical for England but laboured with a knee injury•Getty ImagesRoot, by far the pick of the bowlers, stepped up to shoulder as much of the burden as he could, with Mark Wood limited to short, express bursts. Bharat’s misjudged sweep gave Root a second wicket, long after he had found Rahul’s edge two balls after removing Jaiswal. However, Ben Foakes had not reacted quick enough to take that catch – a tough half-chance that, like Leach’s knee, became more painful with each delivery. Had England not burned all three of their reviews last night, he might have also dismissed Jadeja on 45.But as pugnacious as those 24 overs were from England’s most full-time part-timer, including 16 on the bounce which coincided with the second new ball, managing the other end became an issue. Stokes’ solution was to cycle through his bowlers as often as possible. The shuffling was not without merit or reward. But at times – particularly during Jadeja-led stands of 65, 68 and 63 not out for the fifth, sixth and eighth wicket, respectively – it felt like switching over the batteries in an unresponsive remote control.Related

How disciplined India attacked England's defence

Rahul and Jadeja take the lead to push England against the wall

Live Report – India vs England, 1st Test, Hyderabad

That’s not to say Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed were flat. There is nowhere to hide when an Indian side decides to string you along on days like these, but neither sought sanctuary. Not even Hartley, who arrived overnight with 63 runs already pilfered off him from nine overs, still nursing the ignominy of having his first ball in Test cricket struck over the fence by Jaiswal.Leach had offered Hartley emotional support at the end of day one. “Jack was the one that got round him, and rightly so, he’s his bowling partner,” assistant coach Jeetan Patel revealed at stumps, before adding that the rest of the team had concentrated on Hartley’s six off Ashwin – the first of England’s innings, let alone his career. To Hartley’s credit, he then did his utmost to support Leach in return, with more of a share of the bowling duties than he might have envisaged on debut.That positivity was apparent in Hartley’s maiden Test dismissal, when Shubman Gill swiped across the line to Ben Duckett at midwicket. And again when Rahul tossed a ninth Test hundred straight to Rehan out on the deep midwicket boundary.Rehan was only returning the favour after Hartley had caught Shreyas Iyer even closer to the cow corner sponge for the legspinner’s eighth Test dismissal. The 19-year-old performed admirably enough, particularly in a spirited 10-over spell that housed the dismissal.Ben Stokes stuck with Rehan Ahmed on a tough day•Associated PressBut for all of Hartley’s and Rehan’s pluck, and for all Patel’s insistence “they were really good” and “young and learning how to play Test cricket in India, against India”, they looked every bit like two young cricketers being asked to do too much too soon. The full-tosses and drag-downs that have allowed India a run rate 0.01 ahead of England’s 3.81, while seemingly expending far less energy, speak to that.Hartley’s 25 overs are the sixth-most he has bowled across 33 red-ball innings, and the 131 runs are the most he has conceded. Only three times in his previous 13 first-class matches has Rehan sent down more than 23 overs, and the 105 scored against him has only been “bettered” once. And they both still have bowling to do.For what it is worth, England as a group did not relent. The fields, as ever, were a buzz of encouragement and creativity. At various points, there were three catchers ringed from mid-off to cover point, three on the leg side in a straight line parallel to the pitch, and a simultaneous short leg and silly mid-off. For one ball, Jonny Bairstow dropped to his knees at second slip when Iyer came to the crease. It was a mix of strategy, impulse and hunches, even if at times it seemed like they were trying to concoct good fortune with the human equivalent of Feng Shui.Outwardly, the messaging remains positive. “We have always spoken about how we will take wickets,” Patel said, as he reiterated extracts from the Bazball manifesto: “Runs don’t matter; the score doesn’t matter, and the only thing on the scoreboard that matters is how many wickets we’ve taken and how many we need to get.”Well, even by those rules, England are up against it. And worst of all, two days into this five-match series, this feels like a sign of things to come.The ethos of this team is reflected in their selections for this tour and, indeed, this match. The mistakes of previous England teams in India has been rooted in caution and uncertainty – two things of which you cannot accuse them.But while history does not repeat itself, it does rhyme. And two days in, this has a familiar beat.

All the stats as Akeal Hosein’s record five-for helps West Indies bag a mammoth win

Sampath Bandarupalli09-Jun-202439 Uganda’s total against West Indies is now the joint-lowest at the men’s T20 World Cup. The Netherlands also got bowled out for 39 runs against Sri Lanka in the 2014 edition.1 Uganda’s 39 all-out is also the lowest by any team against West Indies in men’s T20Is. Ireland’s 68 all-out in the 2010 T20 World Cup was the previous lowest against West Indies.It is also Uganda’s lowest total in men’s T20Is, with their previous lowest being 58 all-out against Afghanistan earlier in this tournament.134 West Indies’ win margin against Uganda is their first win by a margin of 100-plus runs in the men’s T20Is. Their previous biggest was by 84 runs against Pakistan in the 2014 T20 World Cup.2 West Indies’ 134-run win is the second-biggest by runs for any team in the men’s T20 World Cup. The biggest win was by 172 runs for Sri Lanka in 2007, when they bundled out Kenya to 88 while defending 260 for 6.1 Akeal Hosein became the first bowler from West Indies to bag a five-wicket haul at the men’s T20 World Cup. The previous best bowling figures for West Indies were 4 for 15 by Samuel Badree against Bangladesh in 2014.1 Number of bowling figures in men’s T20Is for West Indies, better than Hosein’s 5 for 11 against Uganda. Obed McCoy’s six for 17 against India in 2022 are the best figures for West Indies in this format.Hosein is also the first spinner to take a five-wicket haul for West Indies in the men’s T20Is.10 All ten batters dismissed in Uganda’s innings scored less than ten runs, the second instance of all ten batters getting out for a single digit score in an innings at the men’s T20 World Cup.West Indies were the batting side in the first such instance, during the semi-final of the 2009 edition against Sri Lanka.8 Uganda batters were dismissed leg-before-wicket or bowled by the West Indies bowlers. Only once before, there have been eight or more leg-before-wicket or bowled dismissals in an innings at the men’s T20 World Cup – 9 by Scotland against Afghanistan in 2021.

Fifty-one years ago, one of the very greatest set Lord’s alight

Mark Nicholas08-Jul-2024″- “Windy Town”, Chris ReaAnd I do, pretty much, remember it all. It was Sobers really, Sir Garfield Sobers. He was so good, it was ridiculous. Of course, Keith Miller, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Jacques Kallis – of course. But I promise, Sobers had them all covered.Lord’s, the summer of 1973. Just a boy. The Grand Stand, in a box, the guest of a senior figure in the British law and cricket hierarchies, Sir Oliver Popplewell; a lovely man, who after my father died when I was ten, invited me to Lord’s for the Easter coaching nets. The next time he invited me was five years later to see my first Test match. His son was a friend of mine – Nigel Popplewell. We go way back to the scene at the time: flared trousers, long-sleeve flannel shirts, sideburns on every bloke in town, and more than a moustache or two. No helmets, and each bareheaded warrior a hero for being just that. We imitated these cricketers in the back garden and Sobers never failed to do something spectacular. In fact, as I also recall, Sobers was in the score book more than anyone else, ever.Related

• Facing Holding with a little thin towel

• Bomb threat stops play

• A Test hundred with a hangover

I went to the first three days of the Test. A lot happened. Sobers made 150 not out in two parts. Rohan Kanhai, who could play more than just a bit, made 150-odd too. Sobers’ two parts came because he had a monster hangover – or so the story goes – and when he got to 130, his tummy couldn’t take anymore, so he asked the umpires for permission to leave the field. Apparently he said to Messrs Bird and Elliott, you can count me retired hurt or hurt, either is good with me! He felt so damn dreadful, he just didn’t mind. Between 100 and 130, he had become unstable on his legs and somewhat breathless. He team-mates are said to have stood on the dressing-room balcony with howls of laughter as runs were notched with only a care for some sleep. Almost certainly Garry was their hero too.

****

– Adapted from a short poem – very short, because that was it – about Len Hutton by the playwright Harold Pinter.Actually I didn’t see Sobers in his prime, not live. I saw him often on the telly, though, because he played for Nottinghamshire as well as West Indies. On this day at Lord’s in 1973, he blitzed the English attack all around the old ground. He hit one straight boundary off Ray Illingworth that none of us saw until it sped up the little hill in front of the pavilion and into the brick wall. Sobers was breathtaking between backward point and bowler, driving and cutting . When he slogged, or pulled for that matter, to the on side, he almost swung himself off his feet. It was all utterly thrilling.Dickie Bird grimly waits out the bomb scare on the pitch, West Indies fans running rampant around him•PA PhotosKanhai was a strong little fellow with surprisingly big and determined strides. When they met in the middle for a yarn, Sobers – by comparison – almost slid across the turf with his short steps and languid gait. Heaven knows what they said to each other. Maybe “This is easy!” Which was exactly as it looked. Arnold, Willis, Greig, Underwood, Illingworth – easy! The five of them bowled more than 30 overs each; as if the captain, Illingworth, was sharing their pain equally. West Indies made 652 for 8 declared.Kanhai went low in his strokes, sometimes square-driving with his right knee on the ground. Sobers stood regal, tall, as if he were above the humdrum, which he was. They hit 40 boundaries between them, laying the English field to waste. It is before me, set steady in my mind’s eye. No helmets, no worries.Oddly, Sobers had not been picked for the tour. The feeling was that age – it was around the time of his 37th birthday – and niggling injuries had got the better of him. Then the youngsters picked up injuries, and given he was in England for Nottinghamshire anyway, they called him in. Must be the greatest substitute sportsman ever.For a start, none of the contestants for that title would have pushed the witching hours so hard. The hangover thing is worth a moment more. The Notts lads used to shove him out at night and try to keep him out. The worse he felt the next morning, the harder he tried, they said: in order not to let them down. He loved a drink and a party and often said that life was for living and that cricket was just a part of that living.West Indies declared on the Friday afternoon and England were three down by the close. Wickets fell regularly the next day and the follow-on seemed inevitable until around about mid-afternoon, quite unannounced, the umpires suddenly whipped the bails off, pulled the stumps from the ground and sent the players from the field. There was pandemonium as the covers were rushed out, just about beating the spectators, who had invaded the playing area, to the pitch itself. Umpire Charlie Elliott had gone with the players but Dickie Bird stayed to guard the pitch. We were all told to leave the stands because there had been a bomb-scare call to the secretariat of MCC. Yikes! So off we all went, except for those out in the middle, the vast majority of whom were West Indian. It became quite funny: Dickie out there for England, surrounded by these Caribbean cricket lovers, who ribbed him rotten and didn’t give a damn about the bomb. There were right not to. Nothing was found and play continued an hour and a half later.Keith Boyce took 4 for 49 in England’s second innings at Lord’s, among them Geoff Boycott caught on the pull at deep square•PA Photos/Getty ImagesThe fun was by no means over, however. Following on, England lost Dennis Amiss and Alan Knott soon enough and still there were 40 minutes or so to bat. Geoff Boycott and Brian Luckhurst coped well, until calamity struck in the last over. Boycott, miffed that Luckhurst had turned down a single, began hooking wildly at bouncers bowled by Keith Boyce. It was if he had lost his mind. Kanhai took his time to rearrange the field and ensure Boycott noticed the deliberate placement of the man at deep square leg. He had read that confused mind perfectly. Next ball, another bouncer and Boycott hooked up and high and straight into the hands of Alvin Kallicharran, who barely had to move a muscle in completing the catch.There was chaos then. We watched in astonishment as the West Indian supporters stormed the ramparts for the second time in the day. This time they came to celebrate with their compadres dressed all in white, and to taunt the Yorkshireman who had fallen foul of the old three-card trick. Boycott admirably resisted slapping any of them with his Slazenger but the sight of him pushing past these ecstatic fans as he ran towards the pavilion was never to be forgotten. In the Popplewell suite, we wondered about the atmosphere in the dressing room. Oh, such delicious asides.Geoffrey talks well of this now, admitting that, for just about the only time in his career, he “lost it” and paid the price. On occasion in the commentary box, when he criticised a poor shot, we would show him this on YouTube and he would laugh with us at his daftness.Over the years Geoffrey talked a lot about Sobers’ bowling: that he could be quick – like, really quick, and swung the ball a lot and late. In general, Boycott found left-arm swing awkward and for a time was persecuted by Ekki Solkar, the Indian left-armer, who also caught anything and everything near the bat. But there is one ball that Sobers bowled to him that can still be found on YouTube and it’s a crackerjack, Wasim Akram-type missile of a ball that would have done for most of those in Boycott’s shoes on the day.This greatest of all Bajans was a five-in-one cricketer, for he began Test match life as an orthodox left-arm spinner, having impressed for Barbados as a youngster; soon he turned himself into a useful left-arm wristspinner; always he caught brilliantly close to the wicket (and swooped elsewhere) as well as batted big and bowled fast. He was, and remains, a god-like figure wherever he treads those toes that once twinkled. To Sir Garry, we simply say thank you for a generation during which you shone as the brightest star and inspired us all – from Battersea to Bridgetown – to play the greatest game with a smile on our face.Party hearty: a fan does a handstand on the Lord’s outfield on day one of the match•PA Photos/Getty ImagesSince then, well, where does one start? In 1976 Clive Lloyd’s burgeoning team shocked the whole of England with its searing pace attack and dynamic batters. What Michael Holding and Andy Roberts did to men such as Brian Close – bareheaded still and previously battered and bruised by Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith in 1963 – beggars belief.And then there was Viv; like Seve, just Viv will do. Enough said. And Roy Fredericks and Gordon Greenidge, and later Dessie Haynes; and Kalli and Larry and Jeffrey; and Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh and Bish and Brian Lara. These were incredibly good cricketers and forged together for a period of 20 years or so during which West Indies ruled the world. Many of them Clive Lloyd bound as one, much as Sir Frank Worrell had done some years before. After Lloyd, came the Passion of Richards and all that therein lay.It was, looking back, a remarkable time. A film was made of this era, , which was both thrilling and revealing. It centres on pace like fire, which there was, and the way in which the cricketers united the people of the many different Caribbean territories. The film was financed by two young Englishmen – Ben Goldsmith, brother-in-law to Imran Khan, and Ben Elliott, nephew of the Queen. Why? Because they loved what they saw. As did we all. Most of the players in that period played county cricket and it was our privilege to play with and against them.But that time has moved on. The Caribbean is no longer besotted by cricket and the players of today have to live with the legend of yesterday. There are many reasons for this but they are not for now. Instead, we should think back to Brisbane some seven months ago when the West Indians pulled off a heist for the ages at the Gabba. Oh my, what a sight that was at the moment of victory when the quick bowler Shamar Joseph led a merry dance around much of the ground, having taken 7 for 68. As epic a celebration as we have seen and this from a young team with an enterprising style of play. Anyone good enough to beat the Aussies at the Gabba deserves respect.Interviewed after the match, the gifted and exhilarated Joseph said, “I will always be available to play Test cricket, no matter how much money is out there.” Amen to that and wouldn’t Sir Garry have approved!

The hesitant batting of captain Babar Azam was a microcosm of the problems facing the team

Danyal Rasool07-Jun-20241:40

Mumtaz: Babar Azam was troubled by USA bowling

There were nine minutes between the end of USA’s Super Over and the first ball of Pakistan’s, and that phase where no cricket was played painted as eloquent a picture of the story of the game as any passage of actual action.Every single American fielder was in position at Grand Prairie. Saurabh Netravalkar had ball in hand. A full-time employee at a software giant in Silicon Valley, Netravalkar – who once played for India’s Under-19 side – had taken time off from his day job for USA’s T20 World Cup campaign. He glanced over at the opposition’s dugout of full-time cricketers; they couldn’t quite work out who was best equipped to take on Oracle’s software engineer in the pressure moments they were supposed to excel in for a living. You wouldn’t have begrudged Netravalkar’s impatience, paid time off in the US is rare enough not to be spent waiting around on the opposition’s Super Over choices.Related

Imad Wasim passed fit to play India

From computers to cricket: how Saurabh Netravalkar coded USA's greatest script

Monank Patel after Super Over win: We should have finished the game in regular time

Babar Azam admits Pakistan were 'not up to the mark' in bowling

USA's Super Over smash and grab

There was no reason for USA to shirk away. This was, after all, the sort of moment those cricketers will have looked forward to for the best part of their careers. They knew they should have wrapped this game up well within regulation time, and it was an excited rather than nervous buzz that pulsed through the home side. As Pakistan, wracked with self-doubt and uncertainty, went back and forth on how to scrape their way out of the hole they’d dug for themselves, it suddenly became hard to tell who the underdog was.For the past day or so, Pakistan captain Babar Azam had told everyone about all the things that aren’t in Pakistan’s control. The Dallas weather that forced them to train indoors for two days when it rained, though better scheduling would have seen them arrive with time enough to acclimatise. The niggle to Imad Wasim that upset the balance of the side, though a 34-year-old with an extensive injury record was always a risk worth factoring in. The toss when USA inserted Pakistan to bat against their will, though Babar won the toss five times in the build-up fixtures – supposed to be dry runs for this tournament – and never once opted to bat first.Babar the batter, though, is all about control. But under the pressure of a fiery USA start, he shrunk into his most conservative traits. But then again, Pakistan’s middle order has the lowest combined average of any of the top 12 nations. It thrust Babar into the impossible position of sticking around aimlessly and diminishing his side’s chances, or get out taking a risk and watching them go up in smoke anyway.By the end of a powerplay where Pakistan scored 30, he had managed 4 off 14 balls, and after nine overs, 9 off 23. When he flicked the final ball of the 10th over the rope, it was the first four of Pakistan’s innings. They burned through deliveries like an oil nation with a carbon budget, unable to recognise the finite nature of those resources even as they evaporated before their eyes.Fear of failure? Babar Azam never got going and finished with a 43-ball 44•Associated PressBut it was Pakistan’s profligacy with the ball that put all that had gone before to shame. USA had recognised there was little to fear from the target, or indeed a bowling unit that spent at least 14 disinterested overs going through the motions.Shadab Khan has backslid as a bowler far enough to barely be considered an allrounder, and yet Pakistan were forced to get through four overs from him and Iftikhar Ahmed. When Babar needed him to squeeze in a tight one as the quicks built up a modicum of pressure at the death, Shadab would toss in three loose deliveries and was fortunate to concede just the 11 that helped USA break the shackles.That Pakistan could put out such a performance and still somehow find themselves in a situation where defending 12 off three would win them the game was almost a travesty. A half-hour of clutch bowling, culminating in an enthralling penultimate Mohammad Amir over that saw him land four yorkers on a sixpence demonstrated the ceiling of Pakistan’s performance and how far below that they had dipped for about 35 of the game’s 40 overs.

The highlights of USA's incredible victory against Pakistan in Dallas#USAvPAK #T20WorldCup
pic.twitter.com/z5hKxoiWHH

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) June 7, 2024

It was the sort of display that has seen him lauded as the architect of two of Pakistan’s three ICC titles, and the sort of over he has the ego to believe he can bowl more frequently than anyone else in the nation.Pakistan had bowled just two full tosses in the previous six overs despite almost exclusively going for yorkers, but Haris Rauf would miss his mark twice in the final three balls, with Aaron Jones and Nitish Kumar finding the 11 runs they needed to drag their side into the Super Over.But wins against the run of play are rare in cricket, and the debt Pakistan’s wastefulness had racked up would have to be paid. Amir, whose full deliveries on the stumps had proved so reliable, suddenly strayed from the plan, sending the Super Over out of the batter’s hitting zone. The best thing you could say for that approach was it worked, though only because it was too wide for the batter to reach on at least three occasions. Like the child who always falls for the same magic trick, USA opting to steal a run every time the wide was called seemed to surprise the Pakistanis; seven of the 18 they put up came off wides.From getting themselves into a scarcely deserved winning position, Pakistan had leaked 29 off 9 balls. The damage done over three hours of improvidence could not be undone by nine minutes of timorous repentance. Pakistan had invited the wolves to the door, and the debt was about to be settled.

From hooping swing to wobbly wonder balls, a selection of Anderson brilliance

Vithushan Ehantharajah09-Jul-2024

Brendon McCullum b Anderson, Trent Bridge 2008 – The Residual Streaks of a Wild Boy

I know what you’re thinking: “If Aaron Redmond was the Test head coach who had decided to call time on Jimmy’s career, would he be on this list instead of Brendon McCullum?” And you may be right. Redmond’s dismissal might have been better. But this is no “take that, Brendon” selection just to kick off this list. He just happened to sell his like The Rock selling a “Stone Cold Stunner”…Both angled in, moved away late – through the air first, then off the seam, because just doing one of those two things simply won’t do – and sent off stump into a neighbouring postcode. Redmond’s was fuller and straighter, and he was looking to play through mid-on. McCullum, though, was invested in blazing his through midwicket, front foot coming right across to ensure that by the time he is fully squared up, he is pretty much locking eyes with umpire Darrell Hair standing at square leg.Related

• Switch Hit: A conversation with Azeem Rafiq

• Switch Hit: James Anders-done

• Anderson 'gutted' at spilling No. 705 as he leaves 'the best job in the world'

• From haircuts to sledging – Anderson's other 'highlights'

• Switch Hit: Jimmy A's final spell

The best thing, though, is this iteration of Anderson. The action isn’t as smooth, arms and legs flurrying like a kid sprinting in flip flops, to the point he almost throws himself into a different dimension upon delivery. At the same time, his head is not as low as it once was at the point of release, which used to have him sniffing the pitch, momentarily oblivious to what destruction he had caused at the other end.Following Troy Cooley’s well-intentioned remodelling of Anderson’s bowling action which caused exactly the kind of back injury it was hoped to prevent, this was Anderson back to the old him, hooping at pace. He may have been on his way to refinement, but there remained this tearaway visceral urge. Like an animal on the cusp of domestication who could still recall the taste of blood.

VVS Laxman b Anderson, The Oval 2011 – Knuckle Ball Glory

Anderson had been in the lab. Ahead of the 2010-11 Ashes series, he and David Saker sat down to work out a delivery that would keep him in the game in Australian climes when there was no swing to work with. What they happened upon was no discovery, per se. They had merely untangled the strands of magic of a delivery Mohammad Asif had used against England in the summer of 2010.You know it now as “the wobble ball”, with its seam more casual than formal ensuring a Russian Roulette trade-off for the batter. Though Anderson would use it on that successful Ashes trip, it was during the 2011 home season that he truly had it down.This dismissal encapsulated that. VVS Laxman’s legend is adorned with silk of his own making, and yet here he was, stumbling with all the grace of a reveller disembarking a cab at 3am.

“Such is the shock of the ball suddenly taking a different path that Laxman actually turns to see his off stump beginning its descent, before staring back in front of him. The gaze of a man who thought he had the answers, now searching for meaning”

The set-up was predominantly into Laxman, at the stumps, slanting onto the pads, along with a loose delivery out wide, guided beyond gully. The India veteran almost certainly knew Anderson was looking for one to at least hold its line outside off. But as the punchline delivery angles in from the hand, seam shaking, Laxman takes a step towards Anderson to block it back.Such is the shock of the ball suddenly taking a different path that Laxman actually turns to see his off stump beginning its descent, before staring back in front of him. His gaze is not fixed on the pitch, nor Anderson nodding with approval. Merely straight ahead, like a man who thought he had the answers, now searching for meaning in an increasingly meaningless world.

Ricky Ponting c Swann b Anderson, Adelaide 2010 – Smart Punt

“He’s not a bad one to get first ball, is he?” remarked Anderson in an interview back in 2015 when reflecting on this dismissal. It remains one of his favourites for the occasion, the execution but especially for the man, who ended up averaging 60 against him across all their battles.England had saved the first Test of that 2010-11 Ashes tour with a remarkable show of strength in their second innings at Brisbane. A total of 517 for 1 declared did not just cover for the sins of their first effort of 260 – which Australia bettered by 221 – but showed they were no pushovers. They had to build on that a week later in Adelaide.Anderson celebrates his dismissal of Ricky Ponting•Getty ImagesRicky Ponting won the toss and opted to bat first. And though Simon Katich was run out without facing off the fourth ball of the match with the score still on zero, out strode the Australia captain ready to stand on business in his 150th Test.The common wisdom throughout Ponting’s career was susceptibility early in his innings because of a knack for thrusting bat and pad out together in a bid to own the space around him. This was true, but given he was averaging 54.71 with 39 centuries at this juncture, possessing that information was akin to knowing the best way to deter a shark is to punch it in the nose. It still has to be a decent punch.Before the cheers welcoming Ponting to the middle of the Adelaide Oval had died down, Anderson began his approach, armed with nothing but a new Kookaburra under blue skies. Passing close enough to brush umpire Tony Hill’s left shoulder, he finds just enough shape off a full length to drag Ponting outside off, and just the right amount of seam to nab the outside edge.Ponting’s bat emerges late from behind his front pad, resulting in a perilously low deflection towards a wide slip cordon. Thankfully for Anderson – and England – Graeme Swann is staggered enough ahead of first slip to dive across from second to complete a smart catch for a first-ball duck for Australia’s leading man. In turn, the hosts are 0 for 2 (2 for 0 in their money) and the tourists are on their way to a 1-0 lead and a rare away Ashes series win.

Mahela Jayawardene c Strauss b Anderson 4, Cardiff 2011 – Winning the Waiting Game

Perhaps the unsexiest of Anderson’s strengths is patience. Be honest now – what about waiting really does it for you? Even anticipation is rooted in restlessness, staving it off, prolonging the wait for gratification.But Test cricket rewards such traits, and few fashioned it into a shiv to repeatedly jab English sides quite like Mahela Jayawardene. This is a man who once batted over nine and a half hours against them in Colombo and then over 10 hours in Galle in back-to-back innings. The 195 and 213 not out scored broadly academic. The real quiz was frustrating an increasingly exasperated England trying to fight back from their opening defeat at Kandy.

“Anderson serves one up that moves in late, carries on its path off the pitch while bouncing more than the previous deliveries. Jayawardene, initially planning to leave, is forced to play so late and so suddenly that his bottom hand comes off the bat. Even Strauss is taken by surprise at slip”

As such, this probably counts as some form of micro-revenge. Heavy Welsh cloud after some familiar late May rain that brought about a late start to day one of this first Test had skewed the conditions in favour of the English bowlers.But Sri Lanka’s decision to bat first was due to a Sophia Gardens pitch that was not going to offer much bounce. And with Jayawardene at the crease with a sound enough bed of 114 for 2 after 40 overs to settle into, he saw things through to stumps, eventually sleeping on 4 off 24 deliveries.Anderson opened the next day with Jayawardene on strike and, crucially, a plan. There were 10 outswingers in a row, some bigger than others, with a couple dying on the way through to Matt Prior. Then, out of nowhere, from more or less the same position at the crease but with a slightly more upright arm, Anderson serves one up that moves in late, and carries on its path off the pitch while bouncing more than any of the previous deliveries. Sri Lanka’s No. 4, initially planning to leave it well alone, is forced to play so late and so suddenly that his bottom hand comes off the bat. Even Andrew Strauss is taken by surprise at wide first slip, grabbing instinctively to his right and falling away behind second in the process.

Michael Clarke b Anderson, Trent Bridge 2013 – A Tap on the Shoulder of Off Stump

Arguably the most dramatic dismissal on this list, with a backstory to match.In October 2012, , Anderson’s first autobiography, caught the attention of the Australian public with a story from the aftermath of England’s defeat in Adelaide on the 2006-07 tour. Among the post-match fraternising was an aloof Michael Clarke and a bristling Anderson, armed with a pad and fuelled by a couple of cold ones.Our man did not think much of Clarke’s posturing while all other guards were down, and wondered aloud about wrapping said pad “around his head”. Damien Martyn, Clarke’s team-mate at the time, encouraged him – twice – and Anderson duly obliged. “What the f*** ya doing?” came the response from Clarke once the sound from the almighty thud had cleared the air.Anderson to Michael Clarke: you miss, I hit•Getty ImagesClarke would deny the story two years later, but the ill-feeling between the two was now out in the open. And as much as it underpinned the battle these two would embark upon in, starting with this first Test of the 2013 series ahead of the “broken fucken arm” leg later that winter, Clarke’s own stellar form added an extra layer to this feud.The Australia captain was undoubtedly the standout batter in world cricket when he strode to the crease on that day one evening, averaging 85.21 since the start of 2012. England had been dismissed for 215 and the visitors were 19 for 2 in dwindling light. Six balls and no runs later, he was done.Tight to the stumps, Anderson hoops one in, just full of a good length. Clarke, implored to play, offers the straightest of blades, maker’s name on show, fully committed to the defensive shot. So committed, in fact, that the lack of impact has the right-hander falling forward. Upon pitching, the ball jags off the seam, somehow picking up more pace than it had upon arrival to the surface.You’d swear Clarke knows he’s done before he is, bowing his head like a samurai offering courtesy in his final moments. There is no death rattle, more a kiss of death as off stump is pecked with just enough pucker to dislodge the bail.The celebrations are wild. Anderson gallops through looking to meet Clarke’s eye as the batter turns sharply towards the pavilion, but satiates his carnal urge to gloat by pointing furiously at the wrecked stumps as he sprints past his nemesis.

Ajinkya Rahane b Anderson, Chennai 2021 – Reverse Gears

Anderson celebrates after beating Ajinkya Rahane comprehensively•BCCIIf you were waiting for a reverse-swing dismissal, here it is. Sorry, it had to be the last one on the list.Anderson’s relationship with reverse swing has Indian groundings. Zaheer Khan piqued his interest after tying England in knots in 2007. Five years later, having workshopped it successfully on a tour of Sri Lanka, he would finish 2012 out-reversing Zaheer as England secured their first Test series win in India since 1985.The journey in between was full of trial and error. Initially, Anderson could only conjure reverse swing with a different action, which made it difficult to hoodwink batters, which is sort of the point. But after hours of working away with pre-scuffed balls, he was able to achieve that devastating movement with what in real-time looked identical to his usual set-up.Translating that from the nets to the middle took time. But Anderson sussed out quickly that reverse in England was about finding the nicks, whereas on subcontinental pitches, you needed to attack the stumps. All of this brings us neatly to February 9, 2021 – day five of the first Test in Chennai.With the SG ball showing signs it might tail having primarily been in the hands of spinners Jack Leach and Dom Bess, Anderson was reintroduced into the attack in the 27th over of India’s second innings with a nominal target of 420 on the table. Two balls in, he had breached the defence of Shubman Gill, taking out the half-centurion’s off stump.The shocking nature of the dismissal meant Ajinkya Rahane knew what he was up against when he walked out. Forward he went as Anderson bent one into off stump, meeting the ball with his front pad in the “umpire’s call” zone to uphold Nitin Menon’s “not out” call on the field.Unperturbed, Anderson repeats the trick, this time slightly wider and fuller, finding even more movement to bypass the pad and uproot the same stump once more. Turns out he still had that taste for blood all along.

Former Australia allrounder returns to Lord’s, the scene of his playing career’s crowning moment

Matt Roller16-Aug-2024Tom Moody is sprawled across the Nursery Ground at Lord’s recalling the crowning moment of his playing career. Moody was the unsung hero of Australia’s 1999 World Cup win, recast as a bowling allrounder late in his career, and he will always associate the ground with their victory over Pakistan in the final.”We came in as favourites, but we played poorly for the first half of the tournament,” he recalls. “We basically had to win seven in a row to be crowned champions.” Enter Moody, who had been left out of their first three games, which included defeats to New Zealand and Pakistan. “Being part of that journey for those seven games was pretty special.”The final was an utter thrashing: Australia won by eight wickets in a game that lasted 59.1 overs, with Moody dismissing Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood. “We had a long period of time in the dressing room to enjoy the experience of the journey and the occasion. All sorts of people came through, from family to famous cricket fans, but we were in our own bubble.”Several hours after the conclusion, the team gathered on the pitch to sing Beneath the Southern Cross. “Traditionally in the Australian team, we’d always sing that team song after a Test or a one-day series win,” Moody explains. “Ricky Ponting was the songmaster, and he delivered it on my shoulders, right in the middle. My lower back is still recovering.”Moody addresses his squad before the Hundred’s London derby•ECB/Getty ImagesTwenty-five years later, Moody is back at Lord’s with Oval Invincibles ahead of Sunday’s Hundred final, looking to win the title for a second season in a row. He “pulled stumps early” on the celebrations last year, leaving his players to enjoy themselves, but took pride from their recovery from 34 for 5: “In adversity, we had the characters to step up under pressure.”The Invincibles have not quite lived up to their moniker, but have only lost three games across the last two seasons and qualified directly for the final as group winners. “It’s a very calm, relaxed environment,” Moody says. “Everyone’s very clear on their position and their role… a lot of it is to do with personnel, and the leaders within the group.”Foremost among those is Sam Billings, the Invincibles’ captain, exemplified by his decision to retire himself out against London Spirit in order to get Donovan Ferreira in. “That reflects not only him as a leader, but the culture in the team,” Moody says; Billings describes Moody as the squad’s “cultural architect” in his role as head coach.The Invincibles have adapted well to the significant drop-off in scoring rates this year, which have dropped by around 15 runs per 100 balls in the men’s Hundred. Moody believes it has been prompted by the combination of a “narrower seam” on the ball and pitches with “quite a bit of grass on them” but his players have dealt with the challenge.Billings and Moody chat on the outfield•Alex Davidson/Getty ImagesThere have been difficult moments for some batters: Dawid Malan, who has replaced Jason Roy this year, managed 14 off 31 balls during a low-scoring win over Southern Brave. Where some teams would have dropped him, the Invincibles kept faith. “If anyone’s going to be able to navigate challenging conditions early, he’s one bloke that you’d put your marker on,” Moody explains.Moody has retained a core of players for all four seasons in Billings, Will Jacks, Sam and Tom Curran, Saqib Mahmood and Nathan Sowter. This is their first year without Sunil Narine, who had previously been a top-bracket signing; Adam Zampa has thrived in his place, and is the Hundred’s joint-highest wicket-taker with 17.”It was a difficult call,” Moody says. “Sunny’s a sensational player, but we had to juggle the salary cap and make everything work. What really made us think hard about it was that Sunny had committed to MLC, and we’d seen the contribution Zamps made when he played. He’s so underrated in white-ball cricket… he can walk into any team I have a hand in selecting, because he’s world-class.”Related

• Who is the most successful coach in men's T20 today?

• Phoenix secure eliminator spot after wet 30-ball thrash

• Want to win a T20 league? Take wickets

• Tom Curran's reinvention helps repay Invincibles' investment

• Atkinson pulled out of Hundred final by ECB

Curran has been the star: he is level with Zampa as the tournament’s top wicket-taker, and only Nicholas Pooran has hit more sixes. “Sam – like all good players – likes responsibility,” Moody says. “He has welcomed that with the bat in his hand… I think he’s much better suited to that middle-order position in white-ball cricket [than] that No. 6 or 7 role.”It begs the question: has he been batting out of position for England in their T20I set-up? “He’s done the talking for himself through his performances,” Moody says. “I think he’s demonstrated his value in that role – but it’s not up to me to be telling England how to structure their white-ball set-up.”It is not impossible that it could be soon: Moody has not ruled himself out of contention to succeed Matthew Mott as England’s white-ball coach, though is unlikely to apply for the job unless approached. He would be a compelling candidate if he applied – and a second successive Hundred title on Sunday would further his case.