Cheteshwar Pujara’s century was proof that at times in Test match play, survival need not mean mere tentativeness but the ability to wait for simpler things, like the loose ball

Sharda Ugra at SSC29-Aug-20153:02

Plan was to just rotate strike – Pujara

Who knows what Cheteshwar Pujara’s century at the SSC will mean once this game, and with it the series, is done? For his own career, Pujara will know this innings will be a reminder, and a ringing one, that words that his team’s governors use so often – “intent,” “aggression” and “fearlessness” – can in fact take on many different forms. One of them would be like Pujara’s hundred that held up and held together, like an industrial adhesive, India’s wobbly first innings.The day belonged as much to Dhammika Prasad. Every time India appeared settled, Prasad would come in to, at the very least, scatter intentions if not break partnerships. Every time India lost ground with the fall of a wicket, Pujara helped them regain it. His first Test for India in eight months, his first hundred in 22 innings since December 2013, that too as an opener, on a singing surface that had surprise, sting, bounce and turn.If the team’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar had worried about his wards’ ability to deal with unprecedented lateral movement, Pujara’s unbeaten 135 provided a live demonstration of how it could be handled. And gave proof that at times in Test match play, survival need not be mere tentativeness, it could include the endurance to wait for simpler things, like the loose ball.On Friday morning itself, Pujara had been willing to scratch and claw his way out of uncertainty and circumspection with the pitch decking about madly. Saturday morning was met with bright sunshine and Prasad, bowling his best spell in the series so far.Never mind the sunshine, it was the surface and the bowling which made it a Pujara kind of batting day: it demanded patience, concentration and both skill and anticipation to counter movement and to kill the nicks with soft hands. The wicket had reminded him, “of playing in South Africa where I had scored 153 on a tough wicket. I knew that if played with soft hands, the ball would not carry to the slips. Initially it was really important.” Pujara’s play was best described by how he handled the start and end of sessions: no rush, no fuss, with an iron-fisted grip over the situation rather than the temptations offered by the scorecard.Against Prasad, who gave Virat Kohli a thorough working over, Pujara eked out miserable singles when he had to, going five overs without a run and managing 12 off the first 60 balls he faced. Pujara was beaten by a few, but rarely was he rushed, nor did he overly try to dominate; it is not his game. It was against the spinners, he calculated, that the clock could be kept moving. There was use of wrist and control in his shot-making and the willingness to run the hard three when needed.Nearing lunch, Pujara crossed his fifty in a manner so rudimentary, with a single to deep midwicket, and a brief wave of the bat, like a pause to ask for some water. On both sides of the lunch break, Pujara was separated from his partners by Prasad returning to get his rewards of an inspired morning of disciplined seam bowling.First was Rohit Sharma, whom many think of as Pujara’s alter ego and his rival for a single spot in the batting line-up. Rohit looked effortless, fluid almost in turning the strike over, when compared to Pujara’s precise and deliberate movements, and fell just before the break, like it had happened after a hard-earned 79 at the P Sara Oval just before stumps. Then first ball after lunch, Stuart Binny was trapped lbw to leave Prasad on a hat-trick. “I think he [Dhammika] bowled brilliantly today. He kept his line. His plan was simple — to bowl on the fourth stump and let the pitch do the work,” Pujara said.Pujara called the SSC track one of the toughest pitches he had played on, particularly against the new ball. “It felt like you can’t play any shots and you can’t get away. You just have to [keep] surviving and keep defending and when you get a loose ball, you just convert it. But I was patient enough, I kept my calm and kept rotating the strike, which allowed me to settle down and then once I was in, on any wicket I think I can play the way I always do.”His demolition of Tharindu Kaushal was surgical: before he came on, Pujara had scored 32 runs off 116 balls. Three loose balls in that over were dispatched to the boundary; after that, his turnover was 103 runs off the next 161 balls. With the ball getting softer, Pujara pulled out his favourite hook shot, against Nuwan Pradeep, off his face. Herath then got him into a spot of bother just before tea when the century drew close. The ball had turned square on a couple of occasions, beaten Pujara all ends up; in Herath’s next over, with men around the bat and everyone trying to block singles, Pujara resolutely defended four balls in a row, like he had just come in and was trying to get a measure of Herath and the conditions.But he was on 99, and on the fifth ball of that over, he made a hairy run for it. Pujara’s sprint was fuelled by something like the want and hunger for a big Test score again, which had broke through his abstinence and control all day. He completed the single and took off his helmet instantly, to breathe and shake off the weight of the waiting off his shoulders and to grin – in joy and relief.This was a century that came with a number of conditions: that Pujara was in as a stop-gap role because of injuries to the other openers knowing that he did not really fit into a tight batting line-up. After the day’s play, he came in to the media briefing looking like he was someone else, like he always did, like the old Pujara, settled and composed.”When I went in, I just had to go and bat and play my natural game,” he said. “Obviously, had I always been thinking that if I think about all the stuff that had been happening and I am not batting at my regular position and this is the last opportunity that might be there and so on, I don’t think I will be able to go and perform. I had been working hard, the best thing I need to do is focus on what I have to do and the plan was very simple – try and rotate the strike and see through the new ball, and once I am set obviously I can play my shots and build a partnership with other players.”It was Pujara’s century partnership with the ebullient and risk-taking Amit Mishra that gave India heart and legs in this Test. “He [Mishra] batted really well which has allowed us to put on 292 on the board at the moment,” Pujara said. “He faced the second new ball which was really important because had we lost a wicket then things would have been very different.” Like they would have been for him, had he not done the stuff of the best kind of openers – seen two new balls off on a demanding wicket and scored runs that could count.India have been given a chance in this Test because Cheteshwar Pujara made the most of the one he had been given.

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2015Lasith Malinga removed Jermaine Blackwood early, as Sri Lanka’s seamers dominated•AFPDarren Bravo was bowled for 4•AFPSuranga Lakmal was the successful bowler•AFPLakmal also trapped Andre Fletcher lbw•Associated PressMarlon Samuels resisted for a hard-fought half-century•Associated PressJason Holder was given a torrid time by Dushmantha Chameera•AFPHolder had to rearrange his box after one particularly painful blow before heavy rain interrupted play for the second time•AFPChameera eventually got his man, as Holder was caught behind for 19•AFP… but Samuels counter-attacked gamely to bring up an 85-ball hundred•AFPSamuels’ 110* guided West Indies to 206, a total that seemed unlikely at one stage of the innings•Associated PressSri Lanka’s target was revised to 190 and for the second match in a row, Kusal Perera powered their start•Associated PressTillakaratne Dilshan aided Sri Lanka’s start with a brisk 21 at the top of the order•AFPLahiru Thirimanne and Perera then added 55 for the second wicket to ease Sri Lanka’s chase•AFPPerera reached his 50 off 46 deliveries, notching up his second successive fifty-plus score•Associated Press938235Another rain interruption brought an end to the game and Sri Lanka finished a 19-run win (D/L method) to take the series 3-0•Associated Press

Stats highlights from the first ODI between India and South Africa in Kanpur

Shiva Jayaraman11-Oct-20151:25

By The Numbers – De Villiers equals SA’s ODI century record

5 Runs South Africa won this match by – their closest win against India when they have batted first. The last time India lost by an equal or narrower margin was in 2009 against Australia in Hyderabad, when they fell short by three runs chasing a target of 351.21 Centuries by de Villiers in ODIs, the joint most by any South Africa batsman. Hashim Amla and Herschelle Gibbs too have made 21 hundreds in ODIs.10 Centuries de Villiers has now hit in ODIs as captain; only three other captains – Ricky Ponting (22), Sourav Ganguly (11), and Sanath Jayasuriya (10) – have hit 10 or more centuries in ODIs. De Villiers is the quickest ODI captain to 10 hundreds having taken just 68 innings. Ganguly had taken 93 innings, Ponting 94 and Jayasuriya 106.0 Number of batsmen who had made a score of 150 or more against South Africa in an ODI chase before Rohit Sharma. The previous highest was Brendan Taylor’s 145 in Bloemfontein in 2010. Rohit’s knock was also only the fifth score of 150 or more by an India batsman in a chase.3 Number of 150-plus scores in chases that have come in a lost cause, including Rohit’s innings. The last such instance was Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 160 against India in Rajkot, in 2009. The first instance was by Sachin Tendulkar, who made 175 against Australia in Hyderabad in 2009. Overall, there have been 14 such scores in ODI chases. Four of Rohit’s 11 centuries in international cricket have been in a lost cause.40.19 Rohit’s batting average in ODIs, the first time his batting average has touched 40 ODIs. He has made 4462 runs from 133 innings including eight hundreds and 26 fifties. Rohit averages 69.26 in India, having made 1593 runs in 28 innings at a strike rate of 100.50 and has hit four hundreds – scores of 141*, 209, 264, 150 – and seven fifties.72.58 De Villiers’ batting average in ODIs in India . He has hit eight fifty-plus scores in just 16 innings in India, with seven of them coming in the last 10 innings. De Villiers has made 746 runs in his last 10 innings in India at an average of 124.33 and a strike rate of 121.30, with five hundreds and two fifties.19 Balls it took de Villiers to get to his century after making his fifty off 54 deliveries. He had hit only two boundaries -both sixes – till then. The next 19 deliveries, though, produced five fours, four sixes and 53 runs at a strike rate of 278.94.1025 Runs in ODIs against India by de Villiers; he became only the fourth South Africa batsman to score 1000 runs against India. De Villiers averages 51.25 against India and has made four hundreds and five fifties.0 Number of times teams had made 300 in an ODI in Kanpur before this match. The highest total at this venue before this match was 294 for 6 by India against Pakistan in 2007.13.44 Scoring rate of the partnership between de Villiers and Farhaan Behardien, the fourth-best for any fifty-plus stand in ODIs in India. JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis had scored at 15.44 runs an over against Netherlands in Mohali in the 2011 World Cup, which is South Africa’s best strike in a fifty-plus stand in ODIs in India.7 Fifty-plus scores du Plessis had made in the first three years of his ODI career. His next two years in ODIs have produced 14 such scores. Since 2014, du Plessis has made 1413 runs in ODIs at an average of 52.33, with four hundreds and 10 fifties in 30 innings. Before that, he averaged 27.55 from 45 innings in ODIs.21 Runs conceded by Stuart Binny in the 45th over, the most he has conceded in an over in international cricket. Binny’s first seven overs had gone for 42 runs. The 63 runs he conceded in this match are the most he has conceded in an ODI.7 Century stands by India batsmen against South Africa in ODI chases, including the one between Rohit and Ajinkya Rahane in this match. The last one had come in Centurion in 2011, for the ninth wicket between Yusuf Pathan and Zaheer Khan.4 Centuries by India batsmen in chases in ODIs against South Africa before Rohit Sharma’s in this match .The last such ton was by Yusuf Pathan in Centurion in 2011. Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and WV Raman are the other batsmen with hundreds in chases against South Africa.3.63 Scoring rate of the partnership between Rohit and Virat Kohli. India had scored 191 runs in 33.4 overs at a run-rate of 5.67 when Rahane got out. India managed to score only 23 runs from the next 38 deliveries and hit only one four.2 Wickets Imran Tahir took in his last over – India’s 47th – giving away just four runs. He had conceded 53 runs off his first nine overs without taking a wicket.53 Runs scored by South Africa in the final three overs of their innings. India could manage only 25 runs for the loss of two wickets when 31 was required off the last three overs.

A teenage English legspinner? You had me at hello. Alan Gardner considers the exciting emergence at Hampshire of Mason Crane

Alan Gardner24-Sep-2015It is easy to see how people get carried away. Legspin is one of those skills that seems to be bound up with the prodigious, like playing the violin or showing an aptitude for chess. All the more so if the practitioner is young. A teenage English legspinner? You had me at hello.Mason Crane has played just over a dozen senior games for Hampshire, a few on TV, but that first glimpse was enough. Mark Butcher, on ESPNcricinfo’s Switch Hit, tipped him as the third spinner for England’s squad to tour the UAE, as did his former international team-mate Steve Harmison. The selectors, a more swoon-resistant bunch, were not persuaded but Crane will still wear an England tracksuit this winter with the Development Programme and Under-19s.It has been a rapid rise for a bowler who made his debut as an unknown 18-year-old in July and a few weeks later became the youngest Hampshire player to take a five-wicket haul in the Championship, but even he was not expecting a call from James Whitaker at this stage. “It’s really nice that people say those things but I don’t think I was ever really hoping to be included, it’s a few years too soon for me,” he says.Such is his precocity that the football club Crane supports, Arsenal, have only ever had one manager in his lifetime; Arsene Wenger arrived in north London in 1996, the year before Crane was born.His name is well known in one particular corridor of the ECB, however. “He’s been on our radar for a number of years now,” says Peter Such, the former Essex and England spinner who now oversees the ECB’s spin programmes. Such, cautious of the burden of expectation, describes Crane as “a very talented young spin bowler” and his development is in part down to efforts to address an area of the English game that has been increasingly fallow.With fewer seasoned spinners in county cricket – Jeetan Patel and Gareth Batty are notable exceptions – the process of handing down know-how and lore to young practitioners had stalled. This was something the ECB identified for improvement a few years ago, leading to the creation of the Elite Spin Bowling Programme, funded in part by the Brian Johnston Memorial Trust, which assigns specialist spin coaches to counties that might not otherwise be able to afford them.Crane, having been let go by Sussex at 14, was spotted by former Hampshire spinner Raj Maru and has spent much of the past three years there working with Darren Flint. A slow left-armer whose county career was cut short by injury in the 1990s, Flint is now a familiar face at Hampshire’s academy, where he drills the next crop of spinners on how to survive in an unfriendly environment. In an era of hot-housed sporting talent, even slow-burn skills have to be acquired quickly.”My remit is to get them ready to play pro cricket earlier than a spinner ordinarily would,” Flint says. “We don’t mature as spinners until mid- to late-twenties really, and a lot of guys get lost to the game before they get that opportunity. With everything nowadays being a bit like fast food – everyone wants it already made – the idea is to get these guys ready and get some good stuff into them early, because quite often clubs don’t have the resources to develop spin bowling.”Brad Taylor, an offspinner who made his Hampshire debut as a 16-year-old and will captain the Under-19s this winter, is another pupil and Flint believes both are good enough to play at the highest level. With conditions and scheduling in the Championship tending to suit seam bowling and fewer old pros around the dressing room to ask for advice, young spinners have to try and learn resilience and “mental toughness” through countless extra sessions with coaches like Flint.

Should he end up spending two months on the road, he will have one important decision to make. His dad is a hairdresser and no else has ever cut his hair.

As Flint points out, even if you can turn it a long way like Crane, there are other equally important aspects to succeeding as a spinner. “He’s a very attacking bowler and he will always say that the best form of defence is to get people out, but also he needs to learn that sometimes you have to build pressure through bowling dots,” Flint says. “All those little things that you do as a pro but ordinarily you wouldn’t have done when you’re 15 because you’re turning the ball six feet and you’re going to take six for nothing.”This hasn’t been lost on Crane, despite his early success. “Just running and letting it go in first-class cricket doesn’t really cut the mustard, you’ve got to think about what you’re doing more, it’s much more of a mental and tactical game,” he says.Shane Warne, who examined heads as much as techniques, would doubtless agree. Warne transfixed the eight-year-old Crane during the 2005 Ashes – and Hampshire plan to set up a meeting when Warne is next back at his old club – but even the great sorcerer would surely have been impressed by the apprentice’s start. Crane picked up 5 for 35 in his second Championship appearance, an analysis which included removing two of Warwickshire’s best batsmen in the same over: Varun Chopra bowled – “every legspinner’s dream, pitch one on or outside leg, hit the top of off” – and Jonathan Trott, England’s former No. 3, taken at slip.”It was ridiculous, that five-for, it all happened so quick,” Crane says. “The game before I took four against Durham in the second innings, they were having a bit of a dig to try and get as many as they could and I was going round the wicket into the rough. But in the first innings to get a five-for, in ten overs or something, it was amazing really, and a great feeling.”The game won’t always bestow gifts so freely, of course, and earlier this month Crane achieved a less-coveted first when he went 0 for 108 at Taunton. But his emergence, along with Hampshire team-mate Taylor, legspinner Josh Poysden at Warwickshire and even Zafar Ansari, the Surrey left-armer who was also on the Elite Spin Bowling Programme and who was picked for the UAE before dislocating his thumb, is encouraging for Such and his team.Peter Such (right) at Loughborough in 2014 with the then England coach Peter Moores•Getty Images”It excites me to see young English legspinners come through; spinners in general – it’s great to see them in the game because it offers variety and a very interesting blend of cricket to watch,” Such says. “I love it, I think it’s brilliant and the more that we get coming through the better it will be.”The UAE may have come too soon for Crane but the fan boys need not be disappointed. England seem set to cap a Test legspinner for only the second time in 15 years, with Adil Rashid expected to make his debut against Pakistan, and it may not be long – there are trips to India and Bangladesh next year – before they can seriously consider taking two in a touring squad.Crane has been set on a life as a professional cricketer for as long as he cares to remember but, should he end up spending two months on the road for England, he will have one important decision to make. His dad is a hairdresser and no else has ever cut his hair. Given the impression he has made on the field, a first trip to the barber’s might be more daunting than being asked to spin out the opposition in a Test.Either way, the work to replenish England’s spin-bowling stocks will continue. As Flint puts it: “I’m always trying to develop the next Graeme Swann… or Mason Crane.”

Sanjay Manjrekar, Ajit Agarkar and Aakash Chopra assess India’s future, marvel at R Ashwin’s skill and rate South Africa as the only team who can pull off a blockathon

08-Dec-2015Kohli has talked the talk and walked the walkAlthough it was his first series as captain at home, Virat Kohli has been clear with his tactics and has marshalled his team well, never allowing the game to drift.6:32

Kohli has talked the talk and walked the walk

Backing his bowlers is Kohli’s strengthHe wants five bowlers, he wants his fast bowlers fast and he even conceded that he doesn’t mind his batsmen’s averages getting affected while playing on spinning tracks if it helps the team win. Virat Kohli getting behind his bowlers is a big takeaway in his short tenure as captain.6:33

Manjrekar: Backing his bowlers is Kohli’s strength

The emergence of a stronger R AshwinThe offbreak has become the stock ball, and his line has become a lot more attacking – pitching outside off stump and then threatening the stumps. R Ashwin has come a long way from when he was dropped in Johannesburg in 2014 to the bowler who put fear and doubt in South Africa’s mind.5:41

The emergence of a stronger R Ashwin

Core of batsman found, world-class bowlers neededIndia have beaten the best Test team in the world at home, but there remains a question mark over their ability to perform overseas. The foundation is there, in M Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, to establish a formidable batting-line up. But the need for world-class bowlers has to be met.3:48

Chopra: Ingredients there for overseas success

SA the only team who can pull off blockathonSouth Africa had the resources to play for time in Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis. Not too many teams in the current circuit would decide on such an approach, and then have the temperament and skill to pull it off.7:41

‘SA the only team who can pull off a blockathon’

The rapid fireAakash Chopra, Ajit Agarkar and Sanjay Manjrekar answer questions on Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, etc.2:05

Big question marks over Dhawan and Rohit

Australia won the Test in Hobart so comprehensively that the gap in teams’ batting averages was the largest for West Indies in defeats

Shiva Jayaraman12-Dec-20155 Times West Indies have lost a Test by an innings and 200-plus runs. The margin in Hobart – an innings and 212 runs – was their fifth-worst innings defeat in history and their second-worst against Australia. They haven’t been this abject against the hosts since 1930-31 – bundled out for an innings and 217 runs in Brisbane. But including this game, two of West Indies’ most dismal losses have come in the last two years.125.13 The difference in averages (runs scored per wicket lost) between the two teams in this Test: Australia made 583 runs losing only four wickets, West Indies scrounged up only 371 and gave away 18 wickets. This is the biggest such difference for West Indies in a Test defeat, eclipsing the Durban episode of 2007-08, when they made 456 runs losing 19 wickets and South Africa lost just four wickets to score 556 runs.5/27 James Pattinson’s figures in the second innings – equals his best that he took on Test debut against New Zealand in 2011-12. Pattonson has 56 wickets in 14 matches, at an average of 26.35 with four five-fors in 14 matches.33 Times West Indies have been asked to follow-on in Tests now, which is one more than the times they have asked the opposition to follow-on. It is also the first time since 1948 that they have been asked to follow-on more often than they have managed to enforce it.63.51 Percentage of runs scored by Kraigg Brathwaite in West Indies’ total of 148 in their second innings. This is the fourth-highest in a completed innings and the highest for a West Indian. Brathwaite only narrowly beat Gordon Greenidge’s record – 134 out of 211 in the Old Trafford Test in 1976. Overall, Charles Bannerman’s 67.34%, an individual contribution of 165 in a total of 245 in the first-ever Test match, is the best.2008The last time, before Hobart, that a Test which had one team scoring 500 or more runs in an innings ended inside three days. West Indies were on the wrong side of that game too. They were bowled out in just 34.3 overs on the first day in Durban, South Africa replied with 556 and they were then bundled out again on the third day in 86.5 overs. Since 1950, the Hobart Test is only the 14th such instance and the second with West Indies ending up the vanquished.1993 The last time Australia recorded an innings victory with a larger margin at home – they beat against New Zealand by an innings and 222 runs at Hobart again. Overall, this is the fifth-biggest innings-win for Australia at home.1323 Balls this Test lasted – the sixth-least for any Test in Australia that has ended in a decisive result. The last time a Test was wrapped up quicker was in 2012-13 when Australia brushed Sri Lanka aside in 1216 deliveries.6 Hundreds made by Darren Bravo in 20 away Tests, including his 108 in West Indies’ first innings here. He has only one century at home from 20 Tests. Bravo has made 1759 at 51.73 outside West Indies and 1094 at 31.25 at home. The difference of 20.52 between Bravo’s away and home averages is the highest among batsmen who have got at least 500 runs both home and away since 2000.51 Wickets for Josh Hazlewood in Tests in 2015 – joint second-best by any bowler along with Stuart Broad. Only R Ashwin has been more successful this year. Among the 25 fast bowlers who have taken at least 10 wickets, Hazlewood’s average of 21.60 is the best.36.3 Overs West Indies’ lasted in their second innings. It is their fifth-shortest innings, in terms of deliveries, against Australia. Their shortest innings against Australia had come in Port of Spain in 1998-99 when they were bowled out in just 19.1 overs in their second innings.

Stats highlights from second day of the third Test between South Africa and England at Wanderers

Bharath Seervi15-Jan-20160 Instances before this Test when all 11 batsmen made double-digit scores, but none went on to get a fifty in a Test innings: South Africa’s innings is the first of this kind. The highest score was 46 by Dean Elgar, at No. 1, while the lowest was 12 by Morne Morkel, at No. 11. Overall, it was the 13th instance of all 11 batsmen scoring 10 or more in an innings for a team and South Africa’s 313 is the lowest total among all those. The previous lowest was also by South Africa: 358 against Australia at the MCG in 1931-32.1964 The last time an England No. 4 batsman scored a Test century in South Africa before Joe Root in this innings – Ken Barrington made 121, also in Johannesburg, in December 1964. This is Root’s second away hundred; he has made seven in England.3 Number of wicketkeepers to take six or more catches in a Test innings against South Africa. Australia’s Wally Grout, in 1957-58, and England’s Jack Russell, in 1995-96, were the first two to do it – both in Johannesburg. Also, Bairstow equalled the second highest catches in a Test innings overall; only four wicketkeepers have taken seven catches in an innings.16.20 England openers’ average in this series, currently the second lowest in a Test series for them against South Africa. Alastair Cook and Alex Hales have together made only 162 in ten innings with just one fifty-plus score. Their worst came more than 100 years ago in the 1905-06 series when the openers averaged just 14.10.110.17 Stokes’ strike rate in this series – the second highest by a batsman scoring 300 or more runs in any series (wherever balls-faced information is available). Shahid Afridi scored 330 runs at 121.32 against India in 2005-06.1 Totals higher than South Africa’s 313 when there has been no individual fifty-plus score in the innings – 315 by England verses West Indies in Port of Spain in 1985-86; David Gower’ 47 topped the batsmen’s scores but extras contributed 59, outscoring all batsmen. There are only two other 300-plus totals: 304 by England against South Africa in Cape Town in New Year Test of 2005 and 302 by South Africa against New Zealand in Wellington in 1963-64.3 Number of South Africa bowlers to take a wicket off their first ball in Test career, including Hardus Viljoen who dismissed Cook with his first ball. The others are Bert Vogler, who too did it against England in Johannesburg, in 1905-06 and Dane Piedt, who made his debut against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2014. Overall, Viljoen is the 20th bowler to have achieved this feat. Viljoen also hit a four off the first ball of his Test career earlier in the day. Another player in the current South Africa team has hit a four off his first ball in Test career: Temba Bavuma did it against West Indies in Port Elizabeth in December 2014.20 Number of England players to achieve the double of scoring 1000 runs and taking 50 wickets in Tests. Ben Stokes is the latest addition in the list after completing 50 wickets with the dismissal of Morne Morkel. He has achieved it in 22 Tests – the joint second-fastest for England after Ian Botham who got there in 21 Tests; Trevor Bailey and Tony Greig are the others to do it in 21 Tests. However, Stokes is the only player to have made 1000 runs and taken 50 wickets since his debut. The closest anyone else has got to achieving it is Moeen Ali, with 859 runs and 62 wickets in same number of Tests.2 Number of century partnerships for the fifth wicket in away Tests for England in the last 50 innings since December 2010. The only previous instance, before the 111-run stand between Root and Stokes today, was the 130-run stand between Ian Bell and Stokes in North Sound last year.

Plays of the day from the Group B game in the World T20 between Afghanistan and Hong Kong in Nagpur

Shashank Kishore10-Mar-2016A questionable running techniqueIf marks were to be awarded for running technique, Hong Kong wouldn’t have too many. They could have made at least a handful more than the below-par 116 had they run in straight lines instead of criss-crossing diagonally across the surface. Batsmen were completing a semi-circle of sorts while turning for a run, which they didn’t always get. On the night, even 20 more may have proved too little. Not only did they not get extra runs, but had to exert that much more energy in sapping Nagpur heat, where 30 degrees could feel more like 40 because of dry heat.Shahzad’s MS-like reflexes The other day, Mohammad Shahzad showed how quickly he can whip the bails off like his idol MS Dhoni. Today, he showed he can back that up with an inimitable wicketkeeping style. Nizakat Khan, skipped down the track, but was clearly beaten in flight. He was at least three paces down the pitch when Shahzad allowed the ball to lodge in his gloves before he held a pose for the cameras for a couple of seconds before breaking down two stumps with a swagger that has become symbolic of him. Occasionally, Shahzad likes to get under the skin of the batsmen with cheeky sledges. On Thursday, he proved actions speak louder than words.Campbell’s gambleHe couldn’t put bat to ball on his international debut for Hong Kong. But today, there was a clear plan. He was going to take the bowlers on, and play like Adam Gilchrist, a man whose presence denied him opportunities during his hey days in Australia. It worked too as Afghanistan were briefly thrown off gear by the ‘high risk, high return’ approach. But he fell to the very approach that earned him 27, which was the second-highest score in Hong Kong’s innings.The Nabi showMost things Mohammad Nabi touched turned to gold. After pocketing the best bowling figures by an Afghanistan bowler, he was promoted from No. 5 to No. 3, a move that may have not worked had Nabi not been put down at sweeper cover off the fifth ball he faced. Then with the target within touching distance, he played two delightful strokes, before a wild slog across the line to an innocuous delivery left him surprised at his shot selection.

In December, Carlisle CC was left under 16 feet of water, but ECB funding and a lot of hard work is helping get the club ready for the start of a new season

David Hopps05-Apr-2016There are few more charming grounds than Edenside, home of Carlisle CC. The river curls past two sides of the ground, a steep banking on one side gives the ground intimacy and a sense of history is provided by a 19th-century pavilion. This is a satisfying place to play and watch cricket.But Carlisle, like many English grounds, is built on a flood plain and a few weeks before Christmas the peace was shattered. Edenside has been flooded before but never like this. Storm Desmond savaged the north of England with Cumbria and Yorkshire worst affected. Honister, in the Lake District, had 34cm of rain in 24 hours. Carlisle took the brunt with hundreds made homeless.Somewhere at the bottom of the Eden are the remnants of a letter from Mike Gatting, who came up to Edenside with Middlesex to face Cumberland in the first round of the NatWest Trophy 20 years ago. Gatting, who had played his last Test for England the previous year, made 71 to guide Middlesex through a tricky game and then wrote a note to congratulate Carlisle on the finest teas in the country.”We have lost so many old pictures from the past,” Mark McAlindon, chairman of the selection committee, says. “We moved the pictures upstairs into the changing room thinking that would be high enough but it wasn’t. The water came up just below the pavilion clock. It was hip high in dressing room.”They cherished Gatt’s note at Carlisle CC, chuckling over his trencherman’s appetite, but then they also cherished much of the other stuff that has so far been loaded on to five 40-yard skips. On the bar in the pavilion, still bare less than a month before the start of the season as electric drills screech and paint pots are opened, are a collection of old photographs, water damaged but just about salvageable.Carlisle CC was left under water by Storm Desmond in December•Carlisle CCThis scene is being enacted all over the north. The ECB’s response has been swift and admirable: community commitment writ large. An emergency flood relief scheme was initially primed with £500,000, then doubled once the scale of devastation became clear. Dan Musson, the ECB’s facilities and investment manager, put on his wellingtons and witnessed the scale of the damage. After a site inspection, money was in bank accounts within a month. So many cricket grounds are built on flood plains. If the climate is changing, the future is a worrying one.More than 54 clubs registered for help – the majority in Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire but with others affected in Northumberland, Wales, Worcestershire and Devon – as Storm Eva added to the devastation caused by Storm Desmond. Two children’s names unlikely to be shortlisted by many cricket-loving parents in the years ahead.”It’s absolutely fantastic the way that the cricket family has pulled together,” Musson says. “From a club level the number of volunteers who’ve been working incredibly hard to try and save elements of their cricket ground, while their own homes might be significantly affected by flooding, is just remarkable.”At Edenside, the chairman Mike Rayson, a local newsagent who has done much to re-energise the club, was about to throw his water-wrecked bat into the skip, consoling himself that not for the first time it was a confirmation of retirement. Heartened, too, that the club has been galvanised by its predicament.He got the first call about the flood around 6.30pm one evening. “Three months from the day that Cumberland won the Minor Counties Championship final here, I got the phone call to say that Carlisle would be flooded,” he says. “We had about 15 people down at 10.30 on a Friday night and moved all our equipment upstairs. We got as much out of the club as possible.

“Nature has changed. It used to flood but there was only a trickle, it would put little pockets of silt on the field and it would do good”Carlisle CC groundsman, David Reed

“On Saturday morning the river was about two foot away from the top of the riverbank and I got a call at 6pm that evening to say the club was about six feet under. It was about 16 foot deep at its peak. From then it has been a slog – a slog to get rid of all the stuff, to order things, to get workmen in, to get them in at the right time, to get jobs signed off.”The ECB has been very generous. The community has been very good and we had people who came down from Sellafield for a day. The club members have rallied. Every week we have had a dozen and more.”A month before the season there is still a lot of work to do on the square. To be honest, we haven’t really started that. There is still tons of work – there is still plasterboard of the walls, there is still the full club to repaint, the bowels of the club needs a good gutting out. There is still two months’ work to do but we only have a month to do it.”Marc Brown, the 1st XI captain, agreed to rejoin the club just before the flood hit. “I’ve come from Netherfield – the best batting square in the league,” he says. “I’ll have to work hard for my runs this season. Low and slow, because of the river, and I expect it will definitely be low and slow this year.”This was Carlisle’s third flood in ten years. Carlisle stands on the confluence of three rivers: the Eden, Caldew and Petteril. The Caldew joins the Eden at the back of the ground. They were granted £20,000 by the ECB; half of that went on the insurance excess. There followed £5000 from Sport England, another £1400 from Cumbrian Cricket and £9000 from Cumbria Community Association to re-equip a thriving junior section. It is money easily spent, even by the most cash-conscious club.If the flood was bad, the looting was far worse. The first time they smashed up the one-arm bandit. They returned to steal most of the spirits, which had been stored away upstairs. Then they came back to smash up the pool table. There have been a lot of prosecutions in Carlisle. The flood waters had receded to reveal some grungy minds.”We knew the flood was coming,” Rayson reflects. “There was nothing we could do. You have to live with it. The looting was hard to stomach.”Volunteers at Carlisle CC get to grips with the clean-up operation•Carlisle CCStorm Desmond struck as Carlisle CC were drawing up proposals to re-site the pavilion furthest from the river, where the water could be expected only to lap in at ankle height. They are awaiting a decision on funding and aspire to running an indoor centre of excellence as well (the finest in the north), which, if successful, would be a powerful restatement of their determination to prosper. Their successful junior sides are testimony to the club’s vigour. “The old pavilion would make a lovely riverside café,” Rayson muses.Only now are thoughts turning to the season, which begins a little later this far north. The groundsman, David Reed, now well into his 70s, was born in Fletchertown, 12 miles away, and is Cumbrian to the core. He can’t put a date on when he became groundsman. “There wasn’t really a set time. They just sort of threw it at me when I was a player.” But he can remember the dates of the floods: “2005… 2009… 2015″.”It is just repetitive,” he says. “It leaves a big mess and you clean the mess up and that. But I never think I’ve had enough. I’ve never wanted to walk away from Carlisle CC. You just have to get up and get on with it.”Nature has changed. It used to flood but there was only a trickle and there wasn’t even a flood bank then. It would put little pockets of silt on the field and it would do good: we were quite happy with a slight covering.”A lot of clubs would like this setting. I come down here because I want to come down.”He faces a challenging task to get the square ready for the opening league fixture against Millom on April 30. As he contemplated the work ahead, an icy squall battered his face. It was 5C, approaching lunchtime, with snow on the Lake District peaks a few miles to the south.”We’ll be ready for the first game. It only takes a week of good weather to get it ready.”NatWest CricketForce, an initiative for cricket clubs encouraging members of the club and local community to prepare grounds for the new season, was held nationwide on April 1-3

A local IPL team and a local hero are generating much excitement as the IPL makes its way to Rajkot

Arun Venugopal in Rajkot13-Apr-2016The Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium, also known as the Khandheri Cricket Stadium, is approximately 15 kilometres outside Rajkot. Radio cabs don’t ply here, it is a territory marked “out of city limits”. Once you hit the Jamnagar-Rajkot highway to get to the stadium, it feels like a different place. The narrow streets and lazy traffic are replaced by an endless blur of barren land that sprawls out on one side. On the highway, a signpost points to a diversion that can take you to Porbandar, the birthplace of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Further down, to the right, stands a stately yet sober structure with a sign that says: “Saurashtra Cricket Stadium – Eco Friendly Stadium.”There is graffiti of the Gujarat Lions’ ‘roaring lion’ insignia as you enter the stadium premises, and, inside, a razzle-dazzle of colours. The turquoise seats, freshened with a coat of paint, are contrasted by the bright yellow and orange of the Lions signage that runs horizontally, separating one tier from another. Then there is the famous media capsule modelled on the one at Lord’s and the small canopies over the stands which resemble those at the Adelaide Oval. The security personnel, like in many smaller centres, are far less officious; it is easier to take in the contemporary charms of the ground without being shooed away.Niranjan Shah, veteran administrator and SCA president, is a busy man. One moment he is having a word with curator Dhiraj Parsana and the next, he is chatting with Lions captain Suresh Raina. Shah is confident that he and his colleagues have got the arrangements down pat. He says the stadium can hold 28,000-29,000 people, and most tickets have been sold out. “There is a lot of enthusiasm here given that people have never experienced IPL at stadiums before,” Shah tells ESPNcricinfo. “People from in and around Saurashtra – from places like Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Junagadh – are expected to come in large numbers. IPL is a big hype. It has never happened here – such entertainment, cheerleaders, music – so I think people have something new.”Red, gold and green: The bright banners inside the stadium add to its atmosphere.•ESPNcricinfo LtdThe black soil-rich pitch that will be used for the game is bald near the edges but has a thick mat of green running along the centre. It is, however, a given that the grass will be shaved off on the morning of the game. With the open spaces between the stands facilitating abundant breeze, the swing bowlers might be in play, at least for a short period. An SCA administrator jokes that there is no need of a pitch report at this venue. ” [It’s a no brainer that this is a 200-220 surface].”Although the stadium has hosted two ODIs and a T20 international – the most recent was the one-dayer against South Africa in October last year – Shah feels the IPL is a different beast altogether. “This is different because there are five matches. I think after the first match we will settle down,” he says.”And, whatever be our shortcomings, we will rectify. [Our biggest challenge is to] conduct all five matches successfully and come out as the best stadium and get Rs 50 lakh [the prize money awarded for the best venue in the IPL],” he adds with a laugh.While there might not be a conspicuous buzz in the city, there are enough reminders of the tournament having made its way here, with billboards at some of the bigger junctions in the city and, understandably, an attempt to play up the Ravindra Jadeja factor. Jadeja, after all, hails from this part of the state and plays domestic cricket for Saurashtra. Inside the stadium there is a tall cut-out of Jadeja that screams: “Rockstar.”Raina believes the match will be memorable for the entire team, not just Jadeja. “It’s (a special occasion) for everyone. Gujarat never had an IPL team in the first eight years. We are looking forward to play for Gujarat,” he says. “Jadeja must be excited to play in front of a lot of crowd, also, after a few days, he is getting married.”The DJs at the stadium have so far had their dry runs with , by Major Lazer and DJ Snake*, and Dwayne Bravo’s , but Raina and bowling coach Heath Streak gave them a hint about what the team might like listening to. “We listen to a lot of Gujarati songs in the dressing room these days,” Raina says with a smile before Streak joined in: “[we listen to] [the team anthem which means “it’s our game”].*GMT 0900 The article had earlier referred to Taylor Swift as the artiste behind . The error has been corrected.