Vince van der Bijl’s career was stunted by isolation, but he is now working to ensure that South Africa’s less privileged kids have opportunities in the game

Firdose Moonda16-Jul-2017There’s a bit of the BFG in Vince van der Bijl, especially when he talks about the children of the Ukhanyo Primary School in the township of Masiphumelele, 45km from central Cape Town.”They are flawless, they are beautiful, and they come into this school in this desolate township to find a haven of people who can care for them educationally. We want to care for them sports-wise to show what the world can offer and how good they are,” van der Bijl told ESPNcricinfo at Lord’s, where the MCC pledged £50,000 over three years to a project aimed at providing sustainable resources to a community that has long gone without.

To say van der Bijl is pro-transformation would be understating it. He believes neither the government, not Cricket South Africa have done enough for those the system forgot

The school in question was built to accommodate 500 children, but has had to make room for almost four times that number. Between 1900 kids, they have one netball court, one sprint track, and only one physical education teacher. The first bits of the MCC’s investment will go to building three cricket nets, which will be unveiled on August 22; in subsequent years van der Bijl hopes to develop an entire sporting structure.”We’re hoping to raise a million rand (about US$76,000) a year through donations. We want people to put hands in their pockets for 100 rand or 200 rand a month ad infinitum,” he said. “But more importantly, we want them to visit, see the township and integrate the white residents of that area with the township, because I think that’s the way forward for South Africa.””We want to care for them sports-wise to show what the world can offer and how good they are”•MCCConsider where that statement is coming from. Van der Bijl’s entire career took place during South Africa’s sporting isolation and he experienced first-hand what that robbed him of. He was picked for the 1971-72 tour to Australia, which was cancelled, but he holds not an iota of bitterness. In fact, he sees it as his responsibility, as one of the privileged, to make amends for the wrongs of the past. “Every single country has a need to look after its poor and people who have a very poor image of themselves and who have been downtrodden,” he said. “That’s happened in South Africa and we need to rectify that.”To say van der Bijl is pro-transformation would be understating it. He believes neither the government nor Cricket South Africa have done enough for those the system forgot, and he points to the Springbok Sevens rugby team as the only example of an inclusive team in the country. “They are the only sustainable rainbow team we have produced, which produced excellence and includes people from all walks of life – wealthy, poor, black, white. They have one aim – to be the best in the world – and they show us… we see it in cricket from time to time when we play at our best, but not always.”

“We want people to visit, see the township and integrate the white residents of that area with the township, because I think that’s the way forward for South Africa”Vince van der Bijl

Compare that with the statements made by both Barry Richards and Graeme Pollock in the last month against South Africa’s transformation policy – Richards said he thought South Africa was “far enough along the line” to no longer need targets and Pollock asserted the Test side would be “middle of the road” if transformation remained in place – and you have some idea of the polarisation this topic brings about. But van der Bijl is adamant wounds must be tended to in a country where the effects of legalised racial segregation are still being felt. He is convinced sport is one of the vehicles that can be used to heal.”It could be anything – cellos, chess, reading – it doesn’t really matter, but sports is my love,” he said. “It binds people because it gives people joy instantly. If you see kids run, they laugh. If you see kids hit a ball, they laugh, whereas other disciplines are slightly more cerebral and quieter. Sport brings instant joy.”Van der Bijl poses with students of Ukhanyo Primary School•MCCHis ultimate aim is not for the Masiphumelele project to produce an international cricketer, though that would be “a bonus”, but rather to provide a facility that the people of the township can ultimately run themselves. Initially, with the MCC’s help, van der Bijl will supply coaches, but eventually he will train coaches in the area. The facilities they build and the kit they provide will be for keeps, and there will also be peripheral projects that concentrate on things like entrepreneurship.Over three years, not just the schoolchildren but also the 40,000 residents of Masiphumelele will benefit, and van der Bijl hopes others will see the value of what the MCC is doing. “We’re going to start girls’ cricket, and we hope to double the participation and the number of teams in the school. And then we’re reaching out to the community and the MCC has allowed this to happen. They see the need and they have been generous in saying, ‘Here’s some money, give it a start and we will be right behind you.’ What they do in this field, around the world with Chance2Shine, is absolutely fantastic.”

Stats highlights from Moeen Ali’s banner day in the series opener at Lord’s

Bharath Seervi07-Jul-20174 Number of players to have made 2000 runs and taken 100 wickets in fewer Tests than Moeen Ali. Shakib Al Hasan was the quickest to the milestone – achieved in 31 Tests – followed by Trevor Goddard (36), and Keith Miller and Tony Greig who completed the double in 38 Tests each. Moeen’s bowling average is the second worst among the 28 players to have achieved this feat, and in terms of difference between batting and bowling averages, Moeen is placed seventh. However, he reached the landmark in fewer Tests than greats like Ian Botham, Garry Sobers and Imran Khan.7 Number of England offspinners to have taken 100 or more Test wickets, including Moeen. Graeme Swann leads the list with 255 wickets.3 Number of England bowlers to have taken 100-plus Test wickets since Moeen’s debut in June 2014: Stuart Broad (132) and James Anderson (124). Among England’s spinners, Adil Rashid is the second-highest wicket-taker with 38 wickets at 42.78 in 10 Tests.65 Consecutive innings without a fifty for Stuart Broad, before this Test. The last time he scored a fifty was in the 2013 Ashes Test at Trent Bridge. He had averaged `16.53 in those 65 innings with a highest score of 47. In his first 80 Test innings, he had made 11 fifty-plus scores and averaged 25.21.10 Run rate of the partnership between Broad and James Anderson; they smashed 45 runs in 4.3 overs. Their rapid partnership led England past 450 after they had lost 4 for 56 at the start of the second day.5 Fifty-plus scores for Dean Elgar in 10 Test innings this year. In all, he has scored 530 runs at average of 53. No other South African has more than three fifty-plus scores in Tests in 2017.

Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin made their debuts together, and are now set to play their 100th ODIs in the same match as well

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-2017On June 24, 2008, a Jamaican and a Bajan, both 17, made their ODI debuts against Ireland in Dublin. The Taunton weather permitting, Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin are both set to reach the milestone of 100 ODIs when West Indies meet India on Thursday.The offspinner Anisa Mohammed is the only other West Indies women’s cricketer to play 100 ODIs. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Taylor said she was pleased to know she would bring up her landmark during a World Cup.”I didn’t remember until my media manager actually said it to me this morning that tomorrow is your 100th ODI game,” she said. “Yeah, I’m pleased to be here and to know that the 100 is actually in a World Cup. So hopefully, in the end, we come out victorious.”Dottin said she came to know of her impending achievement only two days before the match.”I’m feeling really good about what I’ve achieved and to be playing for the West Indies and playing so many matches,” she said. “It all happened so fast, and it all came so fast, that I didn’t even realise until the last training session we had yesterday.”When asked if she remembered her debut, Taylor spoke of it coming during a tour of Europe – which included matches against Ireland, Netherlands and England – but didn’t recall any of her early triumphs, such as the fifties she made in her second and third ODIs. Instead, the West Indies captain spoke of her first game against England, which West Indies lost by 10 wickets after being bowled out for 41.”Obviously playing against England, being 17, when you are very new to everything – we got beat, but I remember my first time playing for the West Indies and it was a memorable one.”Asked about her most memorable moment, she chose her maiden hundred, in Paarl in 2009, an unbeaten 108 that led West Indies to a five-wicket win.”It would definitely be my first hundred that I made against South Africa,” Taylor said. “I don’t think anything could really beat [the feeling] when you’re young and you’ve made your first hundred and even won the game for your team, so that is special.”Stafanie Taylor chose her maiden hundred, against South Africa in 2009, as the most memorable moment of her ODI career•Getty Images/ICCDottin, for her part, chose the final of the World Cup qualifier in 2011, when she made what remains her best ODI score, against Pakistan in Mirpur. “Well, the most memorable moment for me is scoring a 95 in Bangladesh in the World Cup qualifiers,” she said. “I can’t remember the year, but yeah.”Both said they had come a long way since their debut.”I’ve made a massive improvement from where I was back then,” Dottin said. “I was just a normal, ordinary kid, playing cricket, just doing what I came up doing, as in playing cricket at home with my brothers and stuff, but after all the training and coaching and stuff, I got more educated about it and I’m in a better place at the moment right now. I’ve improved a lot.”Taylor said she had become a lot more mature since her early days, and even brought up her tears after a narrow defeat to England at last year’s World T20 as a step towards her growth. West Indies, under Taylor’s leadership, went on to win the tournament.”I would definitely say I’ve come a long way, where I know I’ve matured, looking back to the days where, you know, [I was] 17, and now to being 26, I would have learnt a lot – even crying last year in the World Cup. I’ve changed over the years, I’ve become the woman that I am today.”

A day before the Chittagong Test – one that they need to win – the visitors remain unsure what their best XI is

Adam Collins in Chittagong03-Sep-2017In behavioural economics it is known as the ’empathy gap’. The theory that decision-makers can misunderstand the full psychological toll of what has just happened when determining what to do next. It’s a risk for the bruised Australian camp at the moment, as they pore over a Rubik’s Cube worth of combinations before team sheets are exchanged in Chittagong.Steven Smith’s charges took a pounding following Australia’s loss in the opening match. The captain says they were embarrassed; both he and coach Darren Lehmann acknowledged the hurt it caused, highlighting the extent to which the leadership’s thinking has changed in the space of a week. Smith was refreshingly forthright about the team that had been assembled and why. Now, there is genuine discussion to be had about sacking the wicketkeeper.The first Test in Mirpur might have been Matthew Wade’s last – part-time wicketkeeper Peter Handscomb could be in line to replace him. Under any circumstance, that’s a big deal. Doubly so in the subcontinent, where the gloveman is paramount. It might be justified on numerical grounds, with Wade’s woes well-documented. But it creates an unavoidable and distinct dislocation and is – by no means – an easy call.It is one thing to go down to a host nation that is on the rise, and strung together more than enough top-shelf cricket to earn the result in Mirpur. It’s another altogether for Australia to become the first nation other than Zimbabwe and West Indies to lose a series to Bangladesh. Especially on the cusp of an Ashes summer.As a result, an empathy gap can readily fuel a “present bias” in these deliberations as well; where the implications can be worried about later, so long as they escape with a drawn series. Where Smith had once pegged Bangladesh as a platform for the future, they now need an immediate solution.Complicating matters is torrential rain nailing the city since their arrival, ruining any chance for the tourists to have an outdoor training session on the eve of the match. The forecast is for heavy rain and thunderstorms throughout the Test.”We’d still like to have another look at the wicket and see what is happening with the weather before we decide on a final XI,” Smith said, declining this time to name a side ahead of the toss. “We might show up to the ground and [see] it is raining and change our decision again.”That leaves Wade on tenterhooks. At the short session they had on Saturday, Handscomb did not put on the keeping gloves, but did engage in two one-on-one conversations with Lehmann. Smith established the framework for the change if it were to happen.”It is obviously an option,” he said. “We have got Petey here who can keep, and that will give us the option to play another spinner or another batter; whatever we want to do.” Despite not practicing with the gloves two days out from the Test, Smith confirmed that Handscomb would train in the final indoor session.”He’s been working on his keeping before we came and I think he’s taking the gloves for Victoria in the one-dayers when he gets home,” Smith said. “So, he certainly has kept and we’ve seen him keep before. He’s done a good job.”Matthew Wade made 5 and 4 in the first Test, taking his single-digit dismissal to seven out of 15 innings•Getty ImagesOn Wade, Smith said it “certainly would be a tough call” to omit the only specialist wicketkeeper on the trip, but it is one he is prepared to defend on batting grounds.”We just need a little bit more from him with the bat,” he said. “He’s nine Tests now and I don’t think he’s got a fifty in those nine Tests. And he knows this.” Wade did raise the bat once in Dharamsala in March, two Tests ago, but the captain’s broader point stands – he has made 255 runs in his last 15 innings.Asked if Handscomb could end up as a regular fixture behind the stumps, Smith said the flexibility of that option was more suited for short-form cricket. “I think it is difficult to do that for a long period of time in Test cricket,” he said.But this isn’t a long period of time. As the return of Steve O’Keefe reinforces, this is a match occurring in an unexpected vacuum. The left-arm spinner has next to no chance to play in their next encounter, an Ashes clash in November. So his one-off mission is clear: join Nathan Lyon and Ashton Agar – to form Australia’s first three-spinner attack since the Chittagong Test in April 2006 – and spin a face-saving win.In the one Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test – in Ranchi – that required hours of graft, O’Keefe was the man Smith called on, to the tune of 77 overs. With a rock-hard track, based in brown clay rather than black, Smith has suggested O’Keefe might play that role again.”[O’Keefe’s] still got a very good set of skills for these conditions, there is no doubt about that,” he said. “If we go in with the three spinning option, they are three different spinners. We saw last week with the three spinners that Bangladesh had, they bowled very different. It is good to just change it up so you don’t give them rhythm against a certain bowler.”Smith noted he is “useless at reading wickets” but even so, it was not ideal that rain prevented a second look at the track the day before the game. The surface’s recent history has shown consistent – as opposed to volatile – turn, which might also count in Handscomb’s favour. Allrounder Hilton Cartwright seems the man most likely to come in if Wade is omitted.”If we go in with one quick we might need Hilton bowl a few overs,” Smith said. “He’s been bowling well in the nets. It feel’s like the ball’s a bit heavier out of his hand, which is nice. I think he’s bowling well and he could do a reasonable job if called upon.”Hilton Cartwright could be brought in as the second seamer•Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesThat calibration would confirm Usman Khawaja’s spot too. Smith last week said Khawaja, alongside Agar, was playing as much for future contests as the present. Despite the scrutiny after the loss in the first Test, Smith remains steadfast about the side’s ability to walk and chew gum.”At times you also have to look a bit to the future and look at guys that you think can play a role,” he said. “I was open about that. I don’t think at any point we really said that we weren’t concentrating on this tour. I don’t think that was ever the case. Peter Siddle’s entitled to his opinion but I never think that we’ve looked too far ahead and not concentrated on this tour.”In 1999, Australia lost their opening Test on a tour of Sri Lanka before the final two games were washed out. Given the grim weather, a lot will need to go right for Smith’s men not to suffer a similar fate.

Australia are not the same team without a 100% fit Mitchell Starc – and that includes when Starc is actually playing

Daniel Brettig at Sydney04-Jan-2018Australia are not the same team without a 100% fit Mitchell Starc – and that includes when Starc is actually playing.Conspicuous by his absence in Melbourne, nursing a bruised heel some way back towards full health as the rest of Steven Smith’s bowling attack was humbugged by a lifeless pitch, Starc returned for a home SCG Test, with all its attendant fanfare.If the start was delayed by wet weather, there was nothing damp about Starc’s expression, grinning broadly in the minutes before he sent down the first over in front of family, friends and teammates happy to see him back. There was promising swing and bounce in that first over, too.But Test cricket is not an affair in which a few swift overs are enough. Sustained speed is the thing, demonstrated so ably by the Australians when the Ashes were up for grabs. As the day wore on, it became increasingly apparent that Starc was not exactly near to his best nor his fastest, giving England’s batsmen the sort of respite they must have pined for during the decisive first three matches.It was in terms of speed that the difference was most apparent: where Starc had been part of a bowling attack that averaged 141kph in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, here he seldom passed 140kph, and slid as low as 127. The second new ball did swing in Starc’s hands, but it was more charity than venom that had Joe Root clipping a half volley to square leg in the day’s penultimate over. A subsequent yorker to Jonny Bairstow ticked over at 142.5kph, and Hazlewood’s follow-up with the new ball meant Australia broke even on the day, but the earlier dip to 127kph will have been noted.That, coincidentally, had been the speed of the first ball Jackson Bird delivered in Melbourne, where Alastair Cook in particular took advantage of Starc’s missing pace, left-arm variation and penchant for reverse swing. This time around, Starc’s presence at considerably less than his best and fastest underlined the difference between “100% fit” as Glenn McGrath had described it pre-Test, and “fit to play” as wounded cricketers over many years have protested to captains, coaches, selectors and medical staff.Years of careful planning had gone into ensuring that Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins would be in the former category for the Ashes. Helped significantly by the pace-friendly environment in which young fast bowlers are raised, Australia’s approach is nonetheless different to many other nations, emphasising strength and conditioning training to enhance speed, maintain it and also ensure a bowler’s upper register can be reached within a few balls of starting a spell.Dips in pace are carefully monitored, and both Doug Bollinger (in 2010-11) and Peter Siddle (in 2014) were dropped for slipping too far below the preferred level. Equally, Chadd Sayers has been left in international selection purgatory for lacking the extra few kilometres so beloved of the selectors, who want impact from their fast bowlers, used adroitly by their captain.Never was this more evident than in Mitchell Johnson’s shattering influence as a short, sharp shock spell bowler in 2013-14, when Michael Clarke harnessed him with rare expertise. That template was more or less followed four years later with Starc and Cummins. Hazlewood, meanwhile, has benefited from targeted training designed to extract greater swiftness from his action, whether through a faster run-up or more efficient direction of bodily force through the crease.At the same time the number of balls bowled by each fast man is carefully monitored – a contentious element of the management of many pacemen around Australia, but based on the principle that a bowler’s highest velocity simply cannot be sustained beyond certain levels of fatigue or repetition.”It’s something we do really well in Australia and I put that down to the coaches and the medical staff,” Cummins said this week. “They realise you can only bowl so many balls a year or in a couple of weeks or whatever the period is, and as fast bowlers they want you bowling as fast as you can for that.Joe Root fell for 83 in the closing moments of the first day•Getty Images”Most of the balls we bowl in the nets are for a purpose, we want to try to get better or get our body moving, we won’t just bowl for the sake of it. Sessions like a couple days out from a game we just want to try to blow the cobwebs out and get our body moving so that once we come on [to bowl] it doesn’t feel like it’s been too long since we’ve bowled and that first spell feels like we’ve found that balance between being fresh but also ready to go flat out straight away.”Balance was a consideration for Australia ahead of Starc’s selection. Pointedly, Smith spoke on the eve of the match about advising Starc to take care of himself in this match if he was passed fit to play, and not risking the potential to cloud his availability at full speed for South Africa. “I think the break he’s had from bowling has helped his heel heal,” Smith had said. “It’s coming along nicely so he’s confident and you’ve also got to take the player’s word sometimes. Hopefully he gets through and he’s fine.”[My advice is] make sure you’re completely fit and don’t be doing further damage. We’ve obviously got some one-dayers after this and Twenty20s and an important series in South Africa as well. So that was the conversation I had after the Perth Test match – we’ve wrapped up the series, which is great and we want to continue winning, that’s important, but you’re a key member of our line-up and don’t do further damage because we need you in South Africa.”At the same time, Starc naturally wanted to play at the SCG, to perform for his home crowd and also to feel he was ending this Ashes series as an active participant rather than a cussed spectator. It was a fair decision to trust Starc, given his 40 Test matches worth of experience and assiduous efforts to get himself fit after the heel problem, including a teetotal night in Perth after the Australians had secured the urn. But his off-peak display on day one provided a reminder that those extra few kilometres really are critical, not only in edging Australia ahead of England, but giving them the best chance of also vanquishing South Africa.

The legspinner doesn’t turn the ball too much, but by bowling full and out of the reach of batsmen looking for quick runs, he has been able to get the better of them

Sidharth Monga27-Oct-2017It is Chennai, a 21-over chase, the Australian top order is gone, and Glenn Maxwell has nothing to lose. India have their two wristspinners on, and Maxwell starts unleashing his sweeps. Like Hardik Pandya did to Adam Zampa earlier in the day, Maxwell hits Kuldeep Yadav for three consecutive sixes. There are long conferences. India should have this game in the bag, but there are squeaky bums around. Three sixes can do that to you. What if he keeps coming off for another three-four overs? It is a short chase after all.On comes the other leggie. Yuzvendra Chahal does less with the ball in the air and off the pitch than Kuldeep. Yet you don’t see him chatting that much with seniors between deliveries, even when Maxwell hits the fifth ball of this over for his fourth six in two overs. Chahal has hardened himself up bowling containing legspin in IPL matches in Bengaluru, where anyway beating batsmen in the air doesn’t amount for much because mis-hits sail for sixes.Now Chahal does what only he has done to Maxwell this innings: bowl full and wide. Maxwell has to drag it for his big hit, and Chahal has him caught at long-on. He holds his arms aloft, and then points one finger to his forehead.”Whenever I bowled to Gayle [in the RCB nets] I would bowl well wide outside off, and work out that if he isn’t able to hit me then I can try this against Warner and the likes,” Chahal told ESPNcricinfo last year.

In an earlier era, you might have dismissed this as Chahal’s luck. It is not. Denying boundaries in shorter formats is a bona fide way of taking wickets

It is Pune, and India have shackled New Zealand this time, but out comes Colin de Grandhomme batting like a dream, chipping straight balls over straight midwicket ala Mark Waugh and Carl Hooper. De Grandhomme hits Chahal for a four and a six before he comes back for another spell in the 44th over. And again, Chahal bowls that wide ball – this time on a length, the widest bowled to de Grandhomme all innings. He tries the big straight hit, and the edge carries to short third man.Chahal has tried the full and wide variety to big hitters in the lower order with success. James Faulkner once offered a return catch that Chahal failed to grab. Matthew Wade was stumped. He nearly had Tom Latham caught behind in Pune when again he tested the batsman’s reach. Against his 26 wide balls pitched on a length or fuller, New Zealand have not been able to hit a single boundary. Faulkner managed a six, but that was the only boundary Australia hit when Chahal practiced this line. On an average he slips in one full and wide ball every over.In an earlier era, you might have dismissed this as Chahal’s luck. It is not. Denying boundaries in shorter formats is a bona fide way of taking wickets. As a skill too, bowling out of the reach of the batsman but within legal limits is not to be scoffed at. For starters it is an extremely difficult delivery to execute, as commentator and former India spinner Murali Kartik remarked when Chahal got de Grandhomme’s wicket. You have to control the turn. Indian pitches are changing – which is not a bad thing in ODIs because they are preventing scores of 350 from becoming routine – so you have to bowl a length that doesn’t give the ball enough time to turn away and go past the wide lines.Then you have to choose wisely when and to whom to bowl this delivery. Chahal has kept the full and wide ones for big hitters who are not in a mood to be watchful: Maxwell, Faulkner, Marcus Stoinis, de Grandhomme in the 44th over. In that whole innings off 39 off 18 in Chennai, Maxwell faced only three wide balls, all from Chahal and none scored off. It also takes shedding of the ego to not mind being a legspinner whose signature delivery is the one bowled full and wide, not turning too much, not necessarily aimed at taking wickets.Defensive bowlers are getting due recognition with the abundance of limited-overs cricket. Analysts are looking at how well a player comes back when under pressure, when the batsmen have little to lose and the freedom to swing for the hills. Of all the spinners who have bowled in this limited-overs season in India, Chahal and Mitchell Santner have shown they find answers the quickest.Perhaps that is why Chahal has been preferred to Kuldeep when there is room for only one wristspinner in the Indian XI. Kuldeep has made all the highlight reels, practicing the rare art of left-arm leg spin well enough to pick up an ODI hat-trick, but Chahal has shown that when the pressure is high, on a flat pitch, a simple wide ball can be more valuable. Not to invoke his well-documented prowess at chess, it’s the hitters’ move now.

Our snippets from the Vitality Blast include England’s record run feast, Rory Burns’ defunct nickname and the state of Lockie Ferguson’s school trainers

Matt Roller and David Hopps21-Jul-2018Records continue to tumble in the T20 Blast. Friday night’s run fest means that this is the highest-scoring Twenty20 tournament ever, ahead of the 2017/18 Super Smash and the 2018 IPL.Surrey and Aaron Finch are leading the way, making their highest-ever T20 total (250 for 6) to follow scores of 192 and 222 last week. Somehow, Kent escaped with a point thanks to rain, and the playing conditions mean that the no-result won’t affect their net run-rate – small mercies, perhaps, for Carlos Brathwaite, who took 0 for 55 in his final appearance for them.And at Edgbaston, Birmingham Bears and Northants were involved in the highest-scoring tied game in T20 history, both sides making 231 for 5. It was the sixth-highest match aggregate of all-time, but only the second-highest scoring game Colin de Grandhomme has been involved in this year: he was part of the New Zealand side that failed to defend 243 against Australia in February, and his figures across the two games read 4.5-0-77-1.Northants, meanwhile, have conceded 1134 runs in 104.5 overs this season, giving their bowlers a combined economy rate of 10.82: the injured Richard Gleeson has been a big miss. That tie is a pick-me-up, but they are still seeking their first win and remain rooted to the bottom of North Group.

****

One of the most startling aspects of Twenty20 is how batsmen presumed to be designed for the four-day game suddenly find unexpected reserves of power.Ian Bell’s 131 not out off 62 balls against Northants was his first T20 hundred and ranked as the second highest T20 innings ever seen at Edgbaston. His golden summer has brought five hundreds across all formats and has even inviting speculation whether, at 36, he could make a shock return against India this summer – this after coming to terms with the fact that his England days were over.Bell’s strike rate of 157.69 for the Bears is outdone only by Ed Pollock and Colin de Grandhomme – and as they both lie in the all-time world top 10 there is no shame in that.Rory Burns is also exploring new horizons at Surrey. He is striking at 167.78 leading Kumar Sankakkara to observe ruefully on : “I can’t call Rory Burns a plodder anymore.”

****

Jerome Taylor is a picture of exertion•Getty ImagesSomerset have got their Blast season back on track with back-to-back wins in the past two days, after losses to Kent and Gloucestershire.It did not go unnoticed among the Taunton faithful that overseas players were key to their opponents’ success in their opening defeats: Kent’s Adam Milne and Carlos Brathwaite restricted Somerset to an under-par total in their win, and Andrew Tye’s three wickets were crucial in the rain-affected game at Bristol.Head coach Jason Kerr remained unconvinced that his side needed an overseas player, telling the Somerset County Gazette: “if we were to bring anyone in they would have to be world class”.Supporters could be forgiven for their bemusement, therefore, when 34-year-old Jamaican seamer Jerome Taylor signed for the rest of the group stage on Friday evening. While Taylor is capable of unplayable spells on his day, his T20 record is unspectacular, and his combined figures in the West Indies’ series in New Zealand this winter were 8-0-94-3.Perhaps Somerset’s memories of Taylor stretch back to 2010 when they played in the West Indies domestic competition. In the group stage, their game against Jamaica was threatened by rain, but the groundstaff cleared the standing water to ensure a six-over slog.Batting first, Jamaica made an imposing 85 for 1, before Somerset imploded: Taylor removed Jos Buttler in the first over, and Somerset limped to a scarcely believable total 24 for 8. Kerr will hope his new recruit can repeat the trick at Taunton.

****

Our observation that home wins are in short supply will certainly strike a chord at Notts. They pulled in more than 13,000 at Trent Bridge for the visit of near-neighbours Leicestershire, only to lose their third home match in a row, failing in a run chase that their former England left-armer Harry Gurney admitted should have been manageable.

****

Derbyshire finally got their Blast campaign up and running on Thursday night with a Calum MacLeod-inspired win at Northampton.Only denied a first-ever Finals Day appearance by Shahid Afridi’s quarter-final blitz last season, Derbyshire missed the injured Luis Reece’s runs and the departed Imran Tahir’s wickets in the first three games, and specialist T20 coach John Wright was under some pressure.Wright’s side finally came good against a struggling Northants, with MacLeod’s 104 providing the backbone of their 211 for 2, before a well-drilled performance in the field led to a 31-run win.But for all their polished plans, Derbyshire won few plaudits for their sartorial qualities. First, Billy Godleman, who had forgotten to bring his kit on the short journey down the M1, came out to bat wearing Lockie Ferguson’s shirt, but with the name and number 69 creatively gaffa-taped up to leave his squad number, 1.Ferguson himself shone with the ball in the Northants reply, taking 2 for 33 and reaching 93.6mph in his opening over. But he too was distinctly lacking in style, sporting some all-black footwear which one critic described on Twitter as “trainers from the school Lost Property box”.

Hardik Pandya, meanwhile, became the first Indian player to score 30 and take four wickets in a T20I match

Bharath Seervi08-Jul-2018India have registered their sixth successive T20I series win with their 2-1 victory over England. The streak began last year with a 2-1 win over New Zealand, since when they have beaten Sri Lanka and South Africa, won the tri-nation Nidahas Trophy, and beaten Ireland and England on this tour. This was also their ninth successive three-match bilateral T20I series without a defeat. Since 2016, they have won eight series and one was drawn.

Opposition Margin Result Home/Away YearAustralia 3-0 Won Away 2016Sri Lanka 2-1 Won Home 2016Zimbabwe 2-1 Won Away 2016England 2-1 Won Home 2017Australia 1-1* Draw Home 2017New Zealand 2-1 Won Home 2017Sri Lanka 3-0 Won Home 2017South Africa 2-1 Won Away 2018England 2-1 Won Away 2018*third game of the series was washed out due to rainRohit Sharma’s third ton
Rohit Sharma became only the second player to score three T20I hundreds. Colin Munro was the first to do so, getting there last year. Rohit scored his maiden T20I century against South Africa at Dharamsala in 2015 and his second against Sri Lanka in Indore last year. Rohit’s 100* off 56 balls was his fifth century in all T20s, which is the most among Indian players and Asian players.Hardik Pandya’s all-round show
Hardik Pandya picked up his maiden four-wicket haul in T20s in the first innings and then scored an unbeaten 33 off 14 balls to finish off India’s chase. He became the first India player and eighth overall to score 30 and take four wickets in a T20I match. The last such all-round performance by any player was in 2015, when Dwayne Bravo scored 31 and picked up 4 for 28 against Sri Lanka.ESPNcricinfo LtdMS Dhoni’s unique record
Dhoni became the first ever player to take five catches in a T20I innings. He was involved in six of the nine dismissals in England’s innings including a run-out. Mohammad Shahzad is the only other player to effect five dismissals in a T20I. He took three catches and effected two stumpings against Oman in 2015.

The team relies on using their batsmen and spinners to win Test matches, and that trend seeps into domestic cricket as well. How can a seamer improve in this scenario?

Mohammad Isam02-Nov-2018Bangladesh have picked four pace bowlers for the first Test against Zimbabwe. Mustafizur Rahman is the leader of the attack while Abu Jayed was their best seamer in their last Test series; Shafiul Islam has been around for eight years. The uncapped Khaled Ahmed is fresh off a first-class ten-wicket haul.But during the pre-match press conference, captain Mahmudullah said he might pick only one pace bowler in the XI. In that case, the three who would sit out will also miss the NCL’s last round, meaning they would out of first-class cricket at least till mid-February.In a culture where winning at home overrules everything, playing on slow and low pitches which rapidly break up as the game progresses suits Bangladesh. They want quick runs from No 1 to 7, and then two or three spinners to dismantle batting line-ups. They have done this to Australia, England and Zimbabwe in the last four years. Offered similar conditions in Colombo last year, Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka too to win their 100th Test.However, this gameplan is having a poor effect on their pace bowlers. They don’t get much of a chase in domestic cricket either, whether it is the four-day or one-day format.On Thursday, head coach Steve Rhodes indicated that Bangladesh should address its lack of Test success away from home, pointing out how the batsmen struggle against fast bowling, and their own seamers have difficulty maintaining long spells even in helpful conditions.Bowling coach Courtney Walsh believes that to help the pace bowlers do better overseas, they must first be given a fair go.”It is an area of concern but if you look at it, we haven’t played a lot of Tests this year,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I doubt if any bowler has played all those Test matches, maybe with the exception of Fizz. So there’s no continuity. There are different conditions and you need couple of Tests to get yourself to season in. As I keep saying, they need to play more.Courtney Walsh chats with Bangladesh seamers Kamrul Islam, Subashis Roy and Taskin Ahmed•AFP”What is happening in the NCL will definitely help their growth in Test cricket. They get a chance to bowl in the NCL. Some of the guys are not accustomed to bowling long spells. It is obviously an area of concern because I would like to have Test match bowlers that we can work with.”Robiul Islam was Bangladesh’s last pace bowler to deliver a match-winning performance. He was Player of the Series against Zimbabwe in 2013 but faded away quickly due to lack of fitness. Some say that the success got to his head while others point towards the team management’s lack of patience with a precocious talent. Not many in Bangladesh can move the ball like Robiul.Since 2015, considered a good period in Bangladesh cricket, they have had the worst pace attack in the world: a combined average of 53.8 and strike-rate of 90.71. During the same period, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan average in the mid-30s while South Africa, India, Australia and England are in the top four.Bangladesh have played two out of their four Tests in 2018 at home, so the quicks haven’t had that much of a workout. They average 33.7 while the other teams (barring Zimbabwe and Afghanistan) altogether average of 24.84. Of course, it is the strike-rate that hurts them the most, and at 69.21, having played one Test in Antigua where the West Indies fast bowlers ran riot, it has been another disappointing year.It is a different story in ODIs. Mashrafe Mortaza, Mustafizur and Rubel Hossain have helped win many 50-over games since 2015, and they have continued that trend this year too. Among teams that have played at least 10 ODIs in 2018, Bangladesh have the fourth-best strike-rate and average. Their good work has lifted morale in the dressing room giving Mashrafe the confidence that they can do well in the World Cup next May.Mashrafe Mortaza finds something interesting to look at•AFPWalsh says this has a lot to do with the consistency with which they bowl, and the consistency with which they have been picked. In 2014, Mashrafe made it a mandate to use three pacers even in home ODIs, and that has helped develop a strong attack.”I think they are bowling more consistently,” Walsh said. “They have been working very, very hard. They are also consistently playing together. They have developed that understanding which you can only get by playing in the middle. I give credit to the bowlers for the work they have put in but they have to go to the middle and perform.”I am happy and satisfied but there are still areas to improve in, especially with the World Cup in mind. We are doing okay but I still think we can do a lot better. For Bangladesh to have the lowest strike-rate and average, it speaks volumes of the guys.”But there is one problem. Bangladesh haven’t really looked beyond Mashrafe, Mustafizur and Rubel.Jayed and Abu Hider are seen as the next best options currently, but neither has enough international games. Mohammad Saifuddin offered a bit of variety against Zimbabwe last month but his control is still not considered up to the mark. Taskin Ahmed has been in poor form and has injury concerns. Al-Amin Hossain hasn’t really been pulled into representative sides recently. Robiul has been out of the scene for four years.There have been murmurs among Bangladesh’s team management that their pace bowlers are more interested in short-form success and less interested about what happens in Test cricket.After losing 2-0 in South Africa in 2017, Mushfiqur Rahim blasted his seamers for their lack of consistency, which made sure they couldn’t exploit helpful pitches. Singling them out like that probably wouldn’t make them change, but it is learnt that Walsh has been very hands-on in their development and Mashrafe has repeatedly said how big a help the legendary West Indies quick has been.Bangladesh know that fast bowling is important. Placing emphasis on it is how they’ve become a force in one-day cricket. So can they not do the same in Tests? Can they not break away from the spin-it-to-win-it plan and give their up-and-coming seamers some care and attention?One day, perhaps.

Joe Root has called for his players to “show courage” and “take risks” but they must also do the basics well if they are to win away for the first time since 2016

George Dobell in Galle04-Nov-2018You know what Joe Root means when he says England have to “show courage” if they are to prevail in Sri Lanka. You know what he means when he says they have to “take the odd risk” and find a “different formula”, too.He means they have to consider altering the balance of their side. He means they might have to ditch their long-held reliance on seam – and their record-breaking pair of opening bowlers – to find room for three spinners and, perhaps, a wicketkeeper who might not demand a place in the side as a batsman.And those are no trivial considerations. The last time England dropped Stuart Broad was – depending on your definition – either in 2012 (he would claim in was injured during that India tour, but the team management at the time were not so charitable) or 2008 (also in India), while the last time they played anything approaching a specialist keeper was in 2009 when Tim Ambrose, who was a good enough batsman to score a Test century, played the last of his 11 Tests. James Foster played his last Test in 2002; Chris Read in 2007.So talk of England handing a debut to Ben Foakes is significant. As is talk of Broad making way for a spinner, or to ensure England’s batting can be bolstered. And while England have played three spinners a few times in recent years (it was relatively common in Bangladesh and India on the 2016-17 tours), there has often been an insistence that all three of them be something approaching allrounders. Jack Leach has earned his selection purely through his skill as a bowler.And Root is right, too. For if England keep to the same formula they have tried in recent years, they will no doubt suffer the same results. They have lost 10 of their last 13 away Tests (and won four of the last 30), after all, and not won an away series since defeating South Africa at the start of 2016.