Relive the all-time classic game with this blow-by-blow account

Sidharth Monga04-Apr-2016It’s 6.15pm. Stafanie Taylor and Hayley Matthews sit in the room just outside the press-conference room, waiting for Australia to finish their press conference. They have won the World T20, they have danced beautifully, they have the trophies next to them, but the overwhelming feeling seems that of exhaustion.There are wet shirts all around. Even on those who are not working. It is extremely humid in Kolkata. The men finalists are going through their final warm-ups. Pretty soon, time will start racing past West Indies and England. West Indies have been extremely confident coming into the final, but they have only chased every time. How will they react if they lose the toss? England have a coach who has coached an IPL team here. They will look to expose every small weakness: the slow legs in the field, the jogging through for singles.West Indies are a shrewd team too: look at how they did damage control against Virat Kohli and India. They know the finiteness of this format gives them an edge. Also, luck will play a much bigger part in this than any other format.At 6.30pm, Darren Sammy walks out with an arm around Eoin Morgan. Sammy is in his usual playful mood. Twice Sammy threatens to move out of the frame as the cameras ask them to pose. Morgan is the home captain here, which is strange because England were originally allotted the away dressing room, which is at wide long-off. Now they have the dressing room right behind the bowler’s arm. At any rate West Indies should have got the home dressing room: they ended top of their group; in the semi-final they beat the home side.Anyway, Morgan tosses the coin three pitches away, into the group of photographers. Sammy wins the toss for a tenth straight time. That is ominous. Morgan could go all George Costanza and claim “interference” because “it affects the coin” but he doesn’t. Sammy could have gone all Seinfeld and said “you didn’t call ‘no interference'” but he doesn’t need to now.

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Jason Roy plays Samuel Badree for the turn. This is really smart bowling, but not smart batting. Twice, Roy plays for the turn. The first one is an unsuccessful lbw shout. The second bowls him. Everybody knows you don’t play Badree for the turn. As they cross, Roy gestures to Joe Root that the ball is skidding. Root’s first two balls are 1 and 4. The second one is a beauty, going back to a skiddy spinner, punching a slow ball that stays low through cover for four. It is a really skilful shot. After this start they might need Root’s skill as against the power of Roy that won them the chase against New Zealand. England 7 for 1 after one over.Alex Hales is a lovely batsman through the covers. He is not given anything to free his arms. He quickly finds short fine leg with a flick. Three balls is not a long enough time, but he has not been given a single favourite ball. There is a bit of bad luck involved here, though: two balls before he got out, he was turning back for a relatively easy second but his bat got stuck, he lost the run, and was caught on strike. England 8 for 2 after 1.5.Enter Morgan. Two golden ducks to his name. England’s worst start in a T20 international since 2013. He has history with Phil Simmons. West Indies will have plans in place. “Be nice to get past the first ball,” Morgan said. He has now gone six balls, but hasn’t scored a run. And has failed to read a Badree googly. It’s 9 for 2 after three overs, but West Indies do what they have been doing. Take Andre Russell off after one over. Sulieman Benn bowls the fourth over.Benn doesn’t stand out too much as a spinner – despite his height – but he has got a beautiful action when seen side-on. The back arches to a ridiculous degree for a man so tall, and he is perfectly side-on at the point of delivery. But is this a good move? Russell can increase the pressure. Benn stands a chance of releasing it. Release it he does with three boundaries to Root. Benn is not a Powerplay bowler. Is this the release England need? They have more than doubled their score, and are now 23 for 2 after four.Eoin Morgan’s last five scores in the World T20 were: 12, 0, 22,0, 5•Getty ImagesMorgan repeats the mistake Roy made. Keeps playing Badree for the turn, and keeps not picking the wrong’un. Finally an edge arrives to end the unconvincing stay. Wicket-maiden. Down to Root and Jos Buttler. Once again. England 23 for 3 after five.Dwayne Bravo now. Outside the game against Afghanistan, only once has he bowled inside the Powerplay so far. That too was against England. He is bowling slower balls almost exclusively. The second ball is short but doesn’t arrive. In any other format Buttler aborts the cut, but this is T20. You have to take the risk. He has to impart power with his hands. That means the ball goes in the air. But luckily just far enough to the left of cover-point, and about chest high. Surely you don’t place these? You hit hard and hope. Buttler is away. England 33 for 3 after six.In the middle of his last over, Badree gets a little too ambitious, and tries to deny England the singles to long-on. Asks his short midwicket to move straight. Straighter. Straighter. And either gets his angle wrong and places him in front of long-on or gets too cute. The next ball is pushed through that vacant midwicket slot for four. Can England get to a score where these little mistakes are made to count? They are 41 for 3 after seven. Badree bowls another big spell on a big day: 4-1-16-2.West Indies have got off to an excellent start. They are now looking for a few quiet overs from Carlos Brathwaite and Benn. England need to deny them that. Gayle picked on Adil Rashid in their league match and didn’t let him bowl his quota, so they need to pick on somebody. They need to make Sammy bowl. He has bowled only two overs in the tournament. Surely he is not looking forward to bowl?England pick on Benn. Buttler is playing a big innings here. He is not letting West Indies have the quiet over. With his height Benn can be difficult to hit if he gets his areas right, but Buttler is not letting him do that. In the 11th over he hits him for back-to-back sixes. One straight down and one over long-off. He has not let Benn get his areas right. He is 3-0-40-0. England still only 83 for 3 after 11 on a pretty good pitch. Even if they get ten an over now, it is not going to be enough on a flat pitch with possible dew later.Samuel Badree injured himself while taking a catch to dismiss Liam Plunkett•IDI/Getty ImagesWest Indies can go into damage control now. England need to keep going big. No room to think: what if we get out? West Indies’ problem is that while they have five overs to come from Bravo and Russell, they have to fit in three from the young Brathwaite – who has done well so far in the tournament – but is still a youngster on a huge stage. Benn has to bowl one. There are one or two really big overs somewhere.West Indies go to Brathwaite. Buttler keeps going, and finds deep midwicket. Bravo goes full “Champion” after taking the catch. It’s one of those things; Buttler played a riskier shot early in the innings but got away. England 89 for 4 after 12. This is the traditional double-the-score point in ODIs. But West Indies should be favourites even if England get 178.A wicket has fallen. Sammy finds the perfect opportunity to sneak in his over. This is damage-control T20 cricket as opposed to get-the-wickets ODIs. Root and Ben Stokes take 14 off this over, though. The fifth bowler has gone for 54. Root has brought up an excellent fifty. England are just about staying in this. They need to take down one more bowler. Otherwise they might end up with just a par score. They are 103 for 4 after 13.Bravo is the man for the big occasion. His unflattering figures of 4-0-44-0 against India in the semi-final do no justice to his clever bowling in the damage-control period. He bowls a superb bouncer to Stokes, in that it is right at his head. Stokes seems to be expecting a slower ball – five of Bravo’s eight previous deliveries have been slower ones. This one is sharp. Stokes is surprised. He is trying to get out of the way, but it hits the bat and lobs up for a catch to point. Big Dawg is making all the difference on the big occasion. He has Moeen Ali caught off a strangle down leg. His celebration ends at deep midwicket where they all go “Champion”. England 110 for 6 after 14.Brathwaite is perhaps playing because of the injury to Kieron Pollard, but it has possibly worked out for the best. Brathwaite has offered more as a bowler in the high-pressure overs than Pollard does. He bowled well against India at the death, and here he has now got the big wicket of Root, who finds short fine leg with his attempted ramp. They all rush towards Benn: he has had a bad day with the ball, he might have been ordinary in the field in the semi-final, but he has now picked out a diving catch. England 115 for 7 after 15.Chris Gayle would have been the main draw for a neutral crowd, but he was dismissed for 4 in the second over by Joe Root•Getty ImagesEngland are in a serious spot here. The bowlers now need to put on the runs, but how do they go about doing it? Do they just go bang bang because just to bat the 20 overs out might not mean much. Turns out they have the skill and composure to mix and match. The partnership between David Willey and Chris Jordan is 6 off 12 when Willey plays the first aggressive shot, and slogs a slower one over cow corner. He then drills a low full toss for a straight six off the last ball. England 131 for 1 after 17.West Indies continue to be good in the field. Johnson Charles times his dive perfectly after misjudging one, and then Badree injures himself but takes another to make sure England don’t get a massive push. In the end, though, the bowlers have done as well as could have been expected of them, adding 44 in 35 balls since Root got out. In a league match 155 is 35 short of a par score, but this is the final. It does weird things.An elderly couple in the crowd has decided it is too late to be staying out already. This is Kolkata we are talking about, where sweets shops close at 9pm. You must not lose sleep. The man tells the woman: let’s just watch Gayle bat and then leave. That is an early night either way. Gayle will get out early or finish this match early.Willey bowls a great first over. Johnson Charles has two shots basically: the shovel over midwicket to a short ball, and the shovel down the ground to half-volleys. India fed him that. Willey doesn’t. He swings it and bowls full but not full enough to be driven. West Indies 1 for 0 after one.Root. He has scored a fifty. And is now asked to open the bowling. It is not a bad move. India missed that trick in the semi-final. The West Indies batsman like pace on the ball. And if there is going to be dew, get a few overs of spin out of the way early. Not even Root would have imagined, though, that Charles and Gayle would go for big shots that would settle with Stokes at long-on (Charles) and long-off (Gayle). This is not the smartest bit of batting, even West Indies’ this-is-how-we-bat batsmen will agree. These are wafts in the general direction of where one of the only two deep fielders is. Perhaps nerves. Where they want to get that one boundary before they can play their game. This is the final. The elderly couple must be leaving, but they might miss a great finish. West Indies 10 for 2.Willey continues swinging the ball. India didn’t swing the ball. He bowls a beauty to the man of the semi-final, Lendl Simmons. West Indies 13 for 3 after three.

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West Indies now can’t keep replying just on the boundaries. They need to stop the fall of wickets, but they need to keep going at at least a run a ball while they are doing so. Until perhaps the tenth over. Or even 12th. England, though, keep going for the wickets. Jordan and Liam Plunkett bounce the batsmen for two overs, but draw no response. There has already been a single that should have been two. West Indies 21 for 3 after five.In the last over of the Powerplay, with the asking rate having reached nine already, Marlon Samuels decides this over has to go. He pulls one, top-edges another, and then plays the trademark cover drive after backing away. After the first shot he pumped himself. After the cover drive he just stands and looks dismissively. West Indies 37 for 3 after six. They are now doing that run-a-ball thing all right.Samuels didn’t look in his element in the nets. He is usually quite inactive, slow of walk, hardly talks, and just quietly does his thing. The day before the final he was even quieter. Even slower. Observers say it is usually a sign something special is in store. He has already played two shots worth the entry fee, but now he edges one and is sent on his way. He trudges off slowly. Denesh Ramdin crosses him on his way in. Any other batsman would have been in the shower by the time the umpires belated checking the legality of the delivery and the catch. Samuels, though, is not yet off the field. He, Ramdin and Stokes are at the 30-yard circle. The replays show the ball seems to have bounced before settling in. Samuels walks back in. There are words exchanged between Stokes and him. There is anger on his face. His demeanour shows determination. Samuels has had some luck with the top edge. There is a second Man-of-the-Match award in a World T20 final for the taking. He is destiny’s child. There seems to be a bit of inevitability to this. West Indies 39 for 3 after seven.Plunkett and Rashid bowl quiet overs. West Indies are 54 for 3 after ten. Will they start going now? It’s ten an over, and they are a great team at chasing ten an over. They can hit a boundary early. They can hit a boundary late. They can hit a boundary in the middle. They can hit a boundary anytime. It will take great bowling from England to keep them down, but there is one key difference here. Against India they were always going, against England they have to switch gears. Samuels does it with a cut that has no hint of violence to it. To the first ball of the 11th over. Rashid doesn’t let that happen to his over, the 12th. He is 3-0-13-0 at the end of it. West Indies 67 for 3 after 12 overs. Asking rate 11.12.Uh oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, David•Getty ImagesAfter the first ball of the 13th over, the rug, the dreaded rug, comes out. This could be a game changer. The first sign of dew, but this looks really bad. Moeen Ali has not even bowled. He might not get to bowl now. Stokes bowls a wide next ball. Throws a rueful look at Morgan at extra cover. This has slipped out of his hand. He now goes short, draws a top edge from Bravo towards deep square. Sam Billings – perhaps the first time he has been on the field in the tournament – runs to his right from deep midwicket, gets under the ball, and slips. Drops of water spray up as he slips. The ball goes through. He is out of position. This is four. West Indies 76 for 3 after 13. Asking rate 11.42.England are handicapped now with the dew. They need to find every skill, every trick. They can play on Samuels’ running. He turns down an easy second run early in the 14th over, but Bravo tonks the next ball for six. What do you do when the hitting is so clean? The hitting is not so clean all the time, though. Later in the over, Bravo is gone. West Indies 86 for 4 after 14, asking rate 11.66.Samuels is hitting them clean now. When he hits them clean he stays inside the ball and hits them straight. Plunkett is 3-0-11-0 as he comes back for the 15th over. Bowling with a wet ball, he misses his yorkers only by a little, but Samuels takes him for 17 runs in the over. West Indies have got this now: 104 for 4 after 15, asking rate back to 10.40.Willey has had a great tournament. It’s all going down now, given Samuels’ hitting form. But Willey takes out two massive hitters in one over. The first one is short, and hit just to the right of deep midwicket. The second one is full and whipped straight to deep cover. Willey mocks the “Champion” dance. Will he live to rue this? West Indies 111 for 6 after 16. Asking rate 11.25.

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Jordan. Bajan by birth. Plays for England. Bowling great yorkers through the tournament. Has two overs left. Jordan has to win this for England. Samuels’ running can help them. Their own fielding can help them. Samuels hits the first ball hard but doesn’t take the single to extra cover. Brathwaite is nearly run out. But Samuels smites the next ball over mid-off for four. This kind of batting is risky, but he seems to have made up his mind to stay till the end. This is not as comfortable as it once looked, but the fact that Brathwaite has hit the first ball he faces out of the screws is a good sign for West Indies. A great save at extra cover from Morgan keeps them down to one. This is now going to be West Indies’ strength against England’s pluck. West Indies 118 for 6 after 17. Asking rate 12.66.When Virat Kohli single-handedly beat Australia, India needed 39 off the last three. West Indies need 38. Kohli, though, batted with an urgency Samuels is not capable of. He is hitting them sweetly but he is not going to manipulate the field. He is not going to turn ones into twos. And every ball off which two are not scored increases the pressure. Now Samuels pushes for a two. Later in the Willey over he dives to make it for the second. This must be a big match, then. Samuels is stretching himself. This must have got out of control. Moeen, who makes the save but allows Samuels to come back for the second, is asked to leave long-off and go to fine leg. A change made a ball too late?Carlos Brathwaite: he’ll do it in sixes•Getty ImagesWest Indies know Jordan is executing his yorkers excellently despite the wet ball. After having missed about ten runs through slow running and the lack of pressure on the fielders, West Indies are now urgent. Are they ruing the lack of urgency earlier? Do they still believe in their big hitting? It is not all just big hitting, though. With 31 required off 13, and Willey looking to finish an excellent over well, Brathwaite goes down on a knee – all 6’7″ of him – and ramps Willey over short fine. This is a shot that keeps them from panicking. They now need 27 off the last two.England are not going to be fancy with their late plans. They do what all teams do: bowl their best bowler in the 19th. Jordan is their best death bowler. He has made great strides in this tournament. Now they are so close. He needs to give Stokes enough to defend. He doesn’t make a great start. The plan is to have mid-off up and give him the freedom to bowl leg-stump yorkers with fine leg back. He misses the yorker, Samuels hits straight, over mid-off. Jordan comes back superbly with four deliveries the batsmen can’t get under. The tension is getting big. Samuels came in during a crisis, has played himself in, has played the big shots, but he is not running great. This is the brutal time in a T20. You cannot judge this innings without the result, which is possible in longer formats of the game. If West Indies win this, he will twice have been Man of the Match in a World T20 final. If West Indies don’t, he will be pilloried for his dot-ball percentage and his running. An over stands between greatness and ridicule. Chances are, he might not even play a part in this over. In the here and now, though, he needs to hit a boundary to ease the pressure on Brathwaite.

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Jordan runs in, Bajan to Jamaican, bowls a wide yorker, Samuels looks to steer it away but misses. This has been a sensational over. It deserves to win the match. It has left Stokes 18 runs to defend. West Indies need 19. Three boundaries, at least one of them a six.What happens between Stokes and Brathwaite is now the stuff of legend: 6, 6, 6, 6 from a rookie off the most promising allrounder in the world. This is smooth hitting without a hint of violence. Yet three of these are massive sixes. It ends with Stokes in tears and Samuels topless in front of the England dressing room, which was originally West Indies’, right behind the bowler’s arm, gesticulating, venting.West Indies are deserved champions, they can now forget the odd unusual field placement, the many runs missed through slow running. Their flirtation with the line between championship and heartbreak, and England’s pluck through the first 19 overs of the defence have given us arguably the greatest World T20 final.

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Mar-2016He and Tillakaratne Dilshan put on 45 for the first wicket•IDI/Getty ImagesAaron Phangiso, however, pulled South Africa back by dismissing Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne off successive balls•Getty ImagesFaf du Plessis had a good day in the field, running out Milinda Siriwardana for 15•IDI/Getty ImagesDilshan made 36 before getting trapped in front by allrounder Farhaan Behardien. By then, Sri Lanka slumped to 85 for 5•Getty ImagesPhangiso finished with figures of 2 for 26•Getty ImagesImran Tahir also pitched in with a wicket as Sri Lanka’s slide turned into a proper collapse. They were bowled out for 120 with three balls to spare•IDI/Getty ImagesQuinton de Kock hit two fours before he was run out for 9•AFPHashim Amla, though, took the lead in South Africa’s chase with an unbeaten 56 off 52 balls•AFPDu Plessis chipped in with 31 as South Africa were never threatened in their small chase•Getty ImagesAfter du Plessis fell, AB de Villiers came in and sealed an eight-wicket victory with a six in the 18th over.•Getty Images

Sanjay Manjrekar on the change in tempo in the St Lucia Test, triggered by Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s top display of swing bowling

13-Aug-2016Sanjay Manjrekar is glad India pushed to bowl out West Indies and force a win in the third Test.1:34

Manjrekar: Nice to see India attacking batsmen

‘Bhuvneshwar wants to do well in all formats’The way Bhuvneshwar Kumar has used the conditions to his advantage in his comeback Test has been impressive.2:05

Manjrekar: Bhuvneshwar wants to do well in all formats

‘Jadeja’s bowling intensity similar to Kumble’s’Ravindra Jadeja bowls accurately and can bowl long spells without breaking a sweat, which raises his worth as a bowler in Tests.1:41

Manjrekar: Jadeja’s bowling intensity similar to Kumble’s

‘Bizarre tactics from West Indies to not try to get wickets’First with the bat and then with the ball, West Indies lacked the fighting spirit they had shown previously in the series.2:44

Manjrekar: Bizarre tactics from West Indies to not try to get wickets

As Tim Southee and Kane Williamson gear up to play their 50th Test, ESPNcricinfo looks at the biggest moments from their careers

Firdose Moonda05-Aug-2016Kane Williamson and Tim Southee will both play their 50th Test for New Zealand, against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. Both men have done their bits, with bat and ball, respectively, to build New Zealand into a competitive Test outfit that has steadily climbed the rankings. Their mini-milestone makes them part of an elite club. Only 18 other New Zealand players have racked up 50 caps, and of those, just three have gone on to double the number. — BJ WatlingESPNcricinfo takes a look at three of the biggest moments in the careers of New Zealand’s Northern Districts team-mates.Dazzling debutsBoth Southee and Williamson made an immediate impact after making their Test debuts.Southee was drafted into the XI for the third Test of the 2008 home series against England on the back of performances at the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia, after Kyle Mills was injured. By that stage, Southee had already made his debut in the shorter formats. Daniel Vettori believed he was ready and Southee showed exactly that.In his second over, he had Michael Vaughan trapped lbw, and went on to remove Andrew Strauss as England’s top order crashed to 4 for 3. Later, Southee claimed Kevin Pietersen, Stuart Broad and Ryan Sidebottom to finish with 5 for 55, but it was not enough to prevent a New Zealand defeat.Two years later, Williamson, who had been on New Zealand’s radar from the age of 14, but whose international career began with a couple of ducks in ODIs, was picked for the first Test of the tour of India, in Ahmedabad. After watching India pile on the runs, he saw his own side slip, before pulling them up to level terms through a 194-run stand with Jesse Ryder – New Zealand’s second-highest fifth-wicket stand in Tests. Both batsmen notched up centuries, with Williamson’s back-foot technique particularly standing out. His efforts helped New Zealand draw the match.Subcontinental success Making an impact on the surfaces in the subcontinent is seen as a defining moment in a cricketer’s career. For Southee, that came in 2012, when Williamson had a second success.Southee’s swing got the better of India in Bangalore where he accounted for all but three of their batsmen on his way to 7 for 64. Southee dismissed Gautam Gambhir and Cheteshwar Pujara in his opening spell, Suresh Raina later on, before engineering a lower-order collapse in which India lost four wickets for 19 runs. Of note was the way he consistently moved the ball away from the right-handers and used the offcutter. New Zealand took a 12-run first-innings lead, but still lost the match. Southee followed up with a five-for against Sri Lanka in Colombo later that year.After a successful debut in 2008, Tim Southee has gone on to establish himself as the spearhead of New Zealand’s attack and forged a successful new-ball partnership with Trent Boult•Getty ImagesIn that same Colombo Test, Williamson scored his third Test century and put on a defiant 262-run third-wicket stand with Ross Taylor. Having already lost the first match, New Zealand had slipped to 14 for 2, when Williamson and Taylor came together and showed fight. In a chanceless five hours at the crease, Williamson’s work off the back foot was particularly impressive, but his ability against spin too made the century special. New Zealand won the match and squared the series. Williamson has since struck centuries in Chittagong and Sharjah.On the Lord’s honours board Being recognised at the Home of Cricket is also an important step in a cricketer’s career. Southee’s moment came in the first Test of their 2013 tour, when he kept New Zealand in the match after England had taken a slender first-innings lead. At 159 for 2 in the second innings, England were 184 ahead when Southee flattened Joe Root’s middle stump and took out Johnny Bairstow’s entire set, before bouncing out Matt Prior to take three wickets in 16 deliveries. He went on to remove Ian Bell and Graeme Swann to finish with 6 for 50. New Zealand had a gettable 239 to chase, but were bowled out for 68.Williamson’s inscription on the board came two years later, in 2015. After England posted 389, New Zealand began a solid reply, but it was Williamson who allowed them to edge ahead with another solid stand with Taylor – of 189 runs – and an assured century, his 10th in Test cricket. Williamson had not batted for more than a month before that innings, but his timing, especially through third man, and his concentration at the crease were the complete opposite of a man who may have been out of touch. He ensured New Zealand took a healthy 134-run lead, although they eventually lost by 124 runs.

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Aug-2016Warner was the first to go when he missed an arm ball from Dilruwan Perera and fell lbw for 41 off 31 balls•AFPSteven Smith then popped a catch to short leg off Perera as Australia slipped to 80 for 5•AFPWhen Adam Voges was bowled after a failed reverse sweep, Perera had a five-wicket haul and Australia were 123 for 7•Associated PressMitchell Starc chipped in with a few meaty blows, before he was bowled by Rangana Herath for 26 off 31 balls•Associated PressPerera then dismissed Josh Hazlewood to claim his sixth scalp of the innings and tenth of the match•Associated PressWhen Kusal Mendis showed sharp reflexes at short leg to run-out Peter Nevill, Australia were bowled out for 183•Associated PressSri Lanka completed a 229-run victory inside three days to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-Test series•AFP

It has been hard enough for spectators to get to Pallekele for the Test match this week. Those who did were further insulted on day four by the home board’s decision to not use floodlights

Daniel Brettig in Pallekele29-Jul-2016During one of many rain delays to afflict this Test match, the martial beat of by the Cranberries was piped through the public address system at the Pallekele International Stadium.Something was unmistakably fitting about this choice of song, for a couple of reasons. First, there is something zombielike about the capacity of Test cricket to keep cheating a death pronounced by many; secondly, the way the game has been treated by its custodians is as mired in the 1990s as the Cranberries themselves.Arriving in Kandy last week, it was patently clear that few if any locals had any idea a Test match was about to be played in their midst. While Sri Lanka’s love for cricket is self-evident – just count the number of formal or impromptu matches you can spot on a walk or drive of any length – the lack of awareness about a looming match between the hosts and Australia was alarming. The Earl’s Regency Hotel, host to both the teams and the match officials, was decked out with a welcome banner and a mocked-up scoreboard in the foyer, but outside this cosseted space nary a sign existed.

No use of lights ‘disappointing but both countries have to agree’

Sri Lanka’s coach Graham Ford and the Australian batting coach Stuart Law appeared at odds when asked why lights had not been used during instances of bad light in Pallekele. Ford said the lights could not be used because other venues for the series do not have lights. “It doesn’t go across my desk,” Ford said. “We’ve got the instruction in the match referee’s meeting. I believe it’s because there aren’t floodlights at all the venues. That’s the reason for the decision.”
However Law said the tourists were happy to use the lights and that it had been up to the home board not to. “That’s always disappointing, both countries have to agree to it,” he said. “We were quite happy to proceed, that’s our policy in Australia, we’re playing day-night Test matches now, so even red-ball cricket if the lights are available we want to use them and play as much as we can. It’s disappointing but just the way it is.”

Little appeared to have been done by way of promotion, whether in terms of physical advertising or television spots. Cricketers are everywhere on billboards in Sri Lanka, but they tend to be for the recently retired duo of Kumar Sangakkara or Mahela Jayawardene. Five years ago on Australia’s previous Test match visit, it was the imposing figure of the late Tony Greig beaming from all directions. Even the broadcasters seemed to have their eyes elsewhere: bizarrely, there have been more advertisements for the Zimbabwe versus New Zealand series being aired on cable TV than this one.So it has been hard enough to know the Test match is actually taking place. That is before anyone considers the issue of how to find the time, money or transport to get there. Pallekele is about half an hour’s drive out of central Kandy, a single arterial road taking would-be attendees past a couple of military bases before arriving at a ground built largely for the 2011 World Cup. While tickets for the match itself are not overpriced, transport costs and time are major obstacles.Speaking of time, the timing of the match had more to do with fitting it into the international schedules of Australia and Sri Lanka than any consideration for spectators. A Tuesday start to a Test match might be acceptable in Australia if that day happens to be Boxing Day or January 3, but it would never occur otherwise. It is a fact of the current international climate that nations like Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh and Pakistan must scrap for tours from more prosperous nations, and squeeze the matches in wherever possible. The Tuesday start here means extra matches elsewhere, and a better television deal. It also means forfeiting the chances of a decent crowd.This is not to say that Sri Lanka Cricket is completely unaware or unwilling to deal with the issue of Test match attendances. Earlier this week a senior SLC figure stated that he did not see Pallekele as a Test ground, and there are plans to try to rejuvenate the old Asgiriya Stadium closer to the centre of town. Asked about what sort of attendance was expected for this match, he replied: “A few thousand.” That included the schoolchildren invited to day one and permitted to play matches on the outfield during lunch, a worthy exercise. But the onus is on SLC to give fans a chance to turn up, and then provide for as much cricket as possible when they do.That brings us to arguably the most maddening element of the past four days: Pallekele’s unused lights. Twice in the game, but most prominently on the fourth afternoon, play was called off for reasons of bad light, the sort of anachronism to cause non-cricket fans to wonder at the point of even playing the game. The circumstances leading to the loss of more than two hours on day four included the delicate position of the game, in which both sides seemed happy enough to retreat and regroup. It was also driven by the stipulation that the umpires must keep a consistent reading as their baseline for adequate light, via their meters. On day three the issue had been the introduction of pace, but on day four there seemed no question of Angelo Mathews using anything other than spin against the muddled feet of Steven Smiths’ side.But the most defining factor by far in the lack of cricket for spectators and television viewers was the inability of the umpires to call for Pallekele’s floodlights to be switched on and so augment the sun shrouded by tropical clouds. The relevant clause of the ICC’s Test match playing conditions allows for the umpires to “authorise the ground authorities to use the available artificial lighting so that the match can continue in acceptable conditions”. Contrary to a popular perception, there is no provision barring the use of lights if not every Test series venue is equipped with them.The more devilish detail arises from a “Note” beneath that clause. It states: “Home Boards may, prior to the commencement of the series, seek the approval of ICC to amend this playing condition to provide that artificial lights will not be used at specific venues.” Therefore, it was SLC who chose not to allow the use of lights at Pallekele, for reasons best known to the board and its president Thilanga Sumathipala. As a Cricket Australia spokesperson put it: “We were happy to use them but both teams have to be in agreement.” As outspoken advocates of day-night Tests, CA could hardly say otherwise.Entering this series, few gave Sri Lanka much of a chance, perhaps explaining the lack of promotion, the Tuesday start, and the scheduling of a match in a venue no-one seems to want to turn up to. How sad then for Sri Lanka’s cricketers, spectators and television viewers, that lights could not be used when a rare victory over Australia had become a real possibility. If this was a disappointment it could not be called a surprise: Test cricket and its supporters have been saddled with these obstacles more times than anyone would care to count. It is, as the Cranberries sang in Zombie, “the same old theme”.

Sami Aslam has been prolific at Under-19 and first-class level, but in his Test career so far has shown a puzzling tendency to make solid starts and fail to convert them to hundreds

Umar Farooq in Sharjah30-Oct-201682, 70, 90, 44, 50, 74 – these are the high points of Sami Aslam’s seven-match Test career so far. He is averaging 43.45, offering Pakistan what seems like a long-term solution to the opening conundrum they have faced over the years. He possesses everything an opener needs: composure, temperament, and the ability to hold one end up, and has got to double-figures nine times in 12 innings.He always seems to bat with a great degree of sense, but his dismissals often don’t make any sense: he was run out in his first innings in England, and in this series he has been bowled playing a premeditated sweep, bowled again trying to drive a legspinner against the turn, and, on Sunday, caught off the glove playing a reverse-sweep in the first over after tea.In Pakistan, it is considered a crime if you don’t convert your fifties into hundreds, and batsmen quickly earn reputations if they keep doing it. Club cricketers grow up with this thought drilled into them, and unconverted starts are often a cause for batsmen to get dropped at grassroots level.Aslam was prolific at the Under-19 level, and is currently the second highest run scorer in U-19 ODI history with 1695 runs at 45.81. He has the most hundreds at that level: six. He is also the third-fastest batsman anywhere to 2000 List A runs. He was captain of the Pakistan U-19 side when they toured England in 2013, and made two centuries in the tri-series then, including 110 in the final against England, before catching the eye with another hundred in a victory over India in the 2013-14 Under-19 Asia Cup.Outside Test cricket, Aslam has seven hundreds and only four fifties, suggesting the issue of not converting starts is a new one.On day one in Sharjah, Aslam showed exactly why the selectors have rated him highly and shown patience with him even while he has struggled to convert his starts. His temperament was key – he wasn’t expansive, but showed plenty of resilience to get through a tough situation, hanging on through a difficult first hour in which Shannon Gabriel removed Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq for ducks. It left Pakistan 2 for 1, and Aslam, only 20, carried on to make 74. It was an innings of many good qualities, but at the end of the day, particularly after a late collapse had Pakistan go from 230 for 4 to 248 for 8, the entire media contingent was talking only about his failed reverse-sweep and raising questions about his conversion rate.Aslam didn’t try to offer any rationale behind the enigma surrounding his unconverted starts. He said it was a combination of bad luck and, on occasion, his own shot selection letting him down.”The way I started as an opener, the kind of start I got, I think I should have converted my good start into a big score,” he said at the end of the first day’s play, with Pakistan 255 for 8. “If you look at my record back home in domestic cricket, I have more hundreds and have a good conversion rate, so I am disappointed that I am not able make it here.”There is no concentration lapse. If you see, I am scoring good runs, but I think bad shots are stopping me from getting a triple-figure score. Also this is my seventh Test, and if you recall, in England once I got run out, once I was unlucky, so I don’t think there is any nervousness surrounding my batting. It’s about me playing an ugly shot. I obviously think about scoring 100 after 50 but there is no pressure as such. I just think about scoring big runs but I think batsmen make mistakes and improve with very passing day, so I am trying to minimise my mistakes.”Since the outfield is heavy, you have to play shots, and in the process batsmen do make mistakes in the rush. But at the same time you have to get runs and you can only do it by taking chances, otherwise it’s difficult to score runs.”During the course of his innings, Aslam had his first major partnership with Younis Khan – 106 for the third wicket in 36.3 overs – and was involved in a mix-up early on while running between the wickets. Younis has the reputation of being a father-figure in the dressing room and a calming influence on youngsters.”It was great batting with him,” Aslam said. “It was my first major partnership with him and during the mix up he didn’t scold me but gave me some advice about running between the wickets.”

Younis Khan’s incredible run with the bat and Yasir Shah’s magical legspin were the key factors in Pakistan’s rise to the top

S Rajesh22-Aug-201613-9 Pakistan’s win-loss ratio, from 26 Tests, since May 2013, the period during which the ICC Test rankings are calculated. The only team with a better win-loss ratio during this period is Australia, who won 19 and lost 12. However, the ICC rankings give more emphasis to recent results: all results before May 2015 get only 50% weightage, while those from May 2015 onwards carry 100% weightage. In the last 16 months, Pakistan have a 7-3 win-loss to Australia’s 10-6. The only team with a better record than Pakistan’s since May 2015 is India (7-1), but India’s overall record since May 2013 is 10-8.4 Series that Pakistan have won, out of 10 since May 2013. All of those wins have come in their last six series, when they beat Australia and England in the UAE, and Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in away series. They had also drawn series against New Zealand (in the UAE) and England (away) during this period, while their only defeat was by a 2-0 margin in Sri Lanka a couple of years ago.62.95 Younis Khan’s Test average since May 2013 – he has scored 2707 runs from 49 innings, with 11 hundreds out of 15 fifty-plus scores. He has scored at least one hundred in all except one of the ten series he played during this period. Among all players who have scored at least 1000 Test runs in the last 40 months, only three – Adam Voges, Kane Williamson, and Steven Smith – have a higher average.32.8 Contribution, in terms of percentage, by Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq to the total runs that Pakistan scored off the bat in the last 40 months. Misbah tallied 2215 runs at an average of 55.37, and together the two scored 4922 runs out of Pakistan’s 15002.6 Pakistan batsmen who have scored 1000-plus Test runs at averages of more than 44 in Tests during this period – Younis, Misbah, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Hafeez and Sarfraz Ahmed. Among them they scored 37 hundreds, and were largely instrumental in ensuring that Pakistan’s batting average was a healthy 38.15, better than all teams except New Zealand (38.38) and Australia (39.33).

9 Number of Pakistan players who have won Man-of-the-Match awards in Tests since May 2013. Younis has won four, Azhar two, and seven others have won one each – Misbah, Khurram Manzoor, Hafeez, Rahat Ali, Sarfraz, Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah. Only four players have won more than four match awards in Tests during this period.95 Wickets for Yasir Shah in 16 Tests at an average of 27.48; he was by far Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker during this period: the next best was 51, by Zulfiqar Babar. In the 10 Test wins that Yasir has been a part of, he has taken 69 wickets at 20.07. In the period since October 2014, when Yasir made his Test debut, no bowler has taken as many wickets in wins.

The Big Bash League is back for its sixth season on Tuesday, and it is bigger business than ever before

Will Macpherson17-Dec-2016Only the most cynical traditionalist – you know, the ones still calling themselves cricket’s fustiest word, purist – could have failed to be impressed with the manner in which the Big Bash League, the bold, brash Big Bash League, strode into 2016.The last night of 2015 saw Travis Head pull off an outrageous heist – compelling cricket, whatever your favoured format – for the Strikers against the Sixers in front of 46,389 adoring Adelaidians, supporting a team (with genuine gusto) that did not exist six years ago. The next night, Hobart Hurricanes hosted their first-ever sell-out at Bellerive Oval (by season’s end, they had had two more).January 2, however, was the whopper, with 80,883 (breaking the competition’s record by more than 30,000) at the MCG and over 20,000 more at the Waca. At the G, vendors were out of food by half-time, conservative estimates suggested 1,500 people gave up when queuing for tickets, and A$80,000 of merchandise was sold. Only three of the 45 games hosted by the MCG in the 2015 AFL season – a veritable Melbourne religion with 150 years of tradition and deep-seated rivalries behind it – drew a larger crowd.When placed alongside a Test summer against weak opposition on dreary pitches (and, in Sydney’s case, under rainy skies) these numbers were arresting evidence that the BBL had changed Australian cricket in ways greater than simply succeeding in encouraging fans – young and old – to don a literal cardboard bucket, meant for housing fried chicken, on their heads.No, the impact of the competition, gearing up for its sixth season for men and into its second for women, has been profound, and the landscape altered for good. It has muscled its way to the very heart of the summer; in every sense of the word, the BBL is primetime. When the holidays start, the BBL starts; when the holidays end, the BBL ends, and for 40 days, there is cricket on almost every evening – it pauses for thought on Christmas Eve (although Sydney Sixers want to play then too), Christmas Day (when Melbourne Renegades fancy a game), and the days that Australia play their January ODIs. The trick has been in its regularity, and sheer simplicity.

There is no doubt the BBL has brought new fans to the sport, particularly kids, women and ethnic minorities

Administrators argue that the BBL’s schedule sits neatly alongside the summer’s international calendar, and that the shortest form is the gateway drug that is conscripting the next generation of Test obsessives. In essence, the BBL extended the cricketing day; Australia play Tests, then their fans switch the channel at the close of play and watch the shorter stuff. Those administrators may be right – and there is no doubt the BBL has brought new fans to the sport, particularly kids, women and ethnic minorities – but whether that translates into sold-out Tests in years to come, it really is far too early to tell.For players, opportunities are greater, and deeper. Six teams became eight, providing more slots, with Channel Ten’s free-to-air broadcast elevating their profiles; non-international players are household names, playing before large crowds and huge TV audiences. A new type of star emerged too, like Craig Simmons, from outside the mainstream – for some, this will lead to highly lucrative careers in leagues around the world, without ever playing an international. Among professionals, Test cricket remains the pinnacle of the game, but do kids now grow up dreaming of playing BBL, not international cricket?This has come at a price, with the less lucrative or marketable – and thus popular – Matador Cup and Sheffield Shield shunted to the summer’s margins. If Australia’s Test fortunes do not pick up, the BBL is likely – rightly or wrongly – to be blamed. As one player says: “they have probably been the victims of the success. They are hotly contested but the wider public aren’t really interested and they are also increasingly treated as sort of talent-development competitions by administrators. This can’t help but flow down to how the players feel about them.”TV has made stars of those players, and the BBL’s newfound power in the broadcast market was indicated by American giants NBC showing 10 games this year. In the UK, BBL was a key plank in BT Sport’s decision to snap up the rights for all Australian cricket, but things will be most interesting at home: later this summer, the next batch of rights (the current lot expire at the end of the 2017-18 season) for Australian cricket will be sold. Network Ten paid $20m a season for the last round of BBL rights, while Channel Nine paid $80m for international cricket; industries experts anticipate that the gap between those figures will narrow significantly, with the BBL’s value at least trebling. Channel Seven may want a slice of the pie, while it is thought Fox Sports may set up a dedicated cricket channel.Perhaps, though, beyond the increased participation, crowds and players’ opportunities, the shuffled shape of summer and economic expansion, the BBL’s greatest impact has on the sport’s image. CA were brazen in their belief that cricket was too male, pale and stale and have targeted non-traditional audiences with abandon.While some of the BBL’s gimmicks pursued to this end have been excruciating, the atmosphere at games is welcoming and seldom boozy (unlike T20 in England or international cricket in either country), the crowds are diverse and, most eye-catchingly, full of families and kids – at whom everything is aimed. It is these values that mean young girls now have cricketing role models through the WBBL and underpinned CA’s absolute conviction that Chris Gayle, the human with more runs in the competition’s format than any other, would not return this year having compromised the BBL’s values last year.Image matters and, as a result of the pursuit of these ideals through the BBL, cricket is a broader, bigger sport. The game has changed for good.BT Sport is your new home for Australia’s home international matches and Big Bash League, including the 2017-18 Ashes series. For more info please visit sport.bt.com/cricket

History nearly repeated itself as Australia looked like they would lose yet another Test from a position of complete control

Brydon Coverdale at the Gabba19-Dec-2016Headingley, 1981: Australia make 401 and bowl England out for 174. Kim Hughes enforces the follow-on. Ian Botham changes the match with the bat, then Bob Willis dominates with the ball. Australia lose the unlosable Test.Kolkata, 2001: Australia make 445 and bowl India out for 171. Steve Waugh enforces the follow-on. VVS Laxman becomes a legend, his 281 a thing of cricket folklore. He and Rahul Dravid set Australia 384 to win. Australia lose the unlosable Test.Brisbane, 2016: Australia make 429 and bowl Pakistan out for 142. Steven Smith enforce the follow-on. He sets Pakistan 490 for victory. To win, they would need not only to break the world record for the highest successful Test chase, but demolish it. For Ian Botham and VVS Laxman, read Asad Shafiq. Could Smith also lose the unlosable Test?For much of the fifth afternoon at the Gabba, the answer seemed to be yes. Pakistan began the day needing 108 more with two wickets in hand, and the runs flowed. They were not struggling. They looked under little pressure. Before Smith knew it they needed 90. Then 80. Then 70. Then 60. Then 50. And all without a single wicket having fallen.The crowd was small. Only 2593 spectators were watching what could have turned into a Test every bit as historic as the tied Test between Australia and West Indies at the same venue 56 years earlier. And a vocal section of that crowd was made up of Pakistan supporters. They were so noisy that Smith might have wondered if he was in Brisbane or Dubai.And then came the moment he had been waiting for. Mitchell Starc, tiring, breathing the big ones at the top of his mark, sent down a fierce and accurate bouncer that Shafiq could not evade. He fended to gully and was out for 137. Four balls later, Yasir Shah absentmindedly wandered out of his crease after squeezing a yorker to second slip, and Smith threw down the stumps.For most of the last two days, Steven Smith was a figure of despair, but Australia broke tradition to win an unlosable Test•AFPRelief ran through the Australians. They had won. By only 39 runs, but they had won. They had not lost the unlosable Test. The legend of the Gabbatoir – where Australia have not lost a Test since 1988 – remains intact.”Probably at about 60-odd to go,” Smith said, when asked at what point he felt Pakistan had a strong chance of winning. “That was where I started getting a little bit nervous, hoping that one of our world-class fast bowlers would be able to step up and get us that breakthrough. Thankfully Mitchell Starc was the one to do it today.”The pink ball was 60 overs old, it wasn’t really doing much. All the air was out of it, it was incredibly soft. To get the ball to rise like that, and get us that key scalp, a lot of credit has got to go to Mitchell.”And the run-out of Yasir?”I’m not sure what he was doing,” Smith said. “But, it was nice that he was out of his ground and I was able to hit the stumps and finish what was a pretty amazing Test match. A lot of credit has to go to Pakistan, the way they played in that last innings. Asad Shafiq was absolutely outstanding and all of the tail played beautifully around him.”Smith’s captaincy was under the spotlight during the day, especially when he began proceedings with only one slip in place to Shafiq, and later he moved the second slip out for the No. 10 Yasir as well, only for an edge to fly through that vacant spot immediately off Jackson Bird. Smith said his plan was a balance between attack and defence.”It was about setting a reasonably defensive field but still bowling attacking lines,” he said. “The guys were slightly off both last night and this morning. I was happy for Shafiq trying to get off strike and having a crack at Yasir Shah. I thought it would be a great opportunity to close it out, the more balls we got at him, but credit to the way Yasir played as well.”Steven Smith atoned for previous Australia captains by grabbing the winning moment himself•Getty ImagesAustralia have retained the same 12-man squad for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, which could mean a reprieve for struggling batsman Nic Maddinson. However, they have also left open the option of adding an allrounder to the group, depending on how the fast men pull up after their heavy workload.Starc and Josh Hazlewood each bowled 56 overs in the Gabba Test, which for both men represented their greatest workload in any Test match. Hazlewood sent down 42 overs in the second innings alone, the highest tally by an Australia fast bowler in a Test innings since Glenn McGrath delivered 42 overs against New Zealand in Christchurch in 2005.”I think the selectors are talking about it at the moment,” Smith said. “It’s obviously been a very tough Test match for our fast bowlers, they’ve bowled a lot of overs and we are going to have to see how they pull up over the next couple of days.”They are going to be put on ice for the next couple of days and try to get back a bit of energy and get rid of whatever soreness they’re carrying. I think an allrounder will be talked about. But we’ll wait and see which way the selectors want to go.”Spinner Nathan Lyon finished with match figures of 2 for 139 after pre-match speculation that he could be left out to make room for a four-man pace attack.”In periods of the game he bowled well,” Smith said. “In others he was a little bit off. Bowling at the Gabba with the pink ball that was pretty soft does make it difficult to bowl spin. He has a great record at the Gabba in red-ball cricket where the ball stays harder for longer and he’s able to generate that bounce out of the wicket, but he couldn’t get that bounce with the way the ball was.”