All posts by h716a5.icu

Stats highlight from the third day’s play of the first Test between Bangladesh and Pakistan in Khulna

Shiva Jayaraman30-Apr-20157 Scores of 200 or more made by Pakistan’s openers before Hafeez in this match. The last Pakistan opener to hit a double-hundred in Tests was Taufeeq Umar, who hit 236 against Sri Lanka in 2011. This was Hafeez’s first double-hundred in Tests.204* Pakistan’s previous highest individual score against Bangladesh in Tests, which was made by Mohammad Yousuf in Chittangong in 2002. Hafeez’s 224 is now the highest, and also only the third double-hundred by a Pakistan batsman against Bangladesh.642 Runs made by Hafeez in his last three Tests, which account for 22.42% of his total career runs. He has scores of 96, 101*, 197, 24 and 224 since the start of the series against New Zealand in November last year. In 38 Tests before that he had scored 2222 runs, including five hundreds and nine fifties. Hafeez’s batting average in Tests has made a steep climb to 40.33 from 33.16 in just his last three matches. This is the first time since 2007 that Hafeez’s Test batting average has reached 40.227 Partnership between Hafeez and Azhar Ali – Pakistan’s second highest for any wicket against Bangladesh in Tests, and the second double-hundred stand between the two batsmen. They had put on a 287-run stand against Sri Lanka in 2012.5 Fifty-plus scores by Pakistan’s top order (No. 1 to No. 7) in their innings – the third instance of them making five or more fifty-plus scores in six Tests since the start of the series against Australia last year. Before that, there were only 11 such instances in 382 Tests for Pakistan.1960 The last and the only time a team had a fifty-plus stand from each of it’s first-six wickets before Pakistan in this innings. Australia had one century and five fifty stands from their first six wickets against West Indies at the Gabba.2011 The last time before this Test that Pakistan made a total of 500-plus in the first innings of a Test after fielding first. This was also against Bangladesh in Chittagong, when they declared on a score of 594 for 5.4 Number of times Pakistan have taken a first-innings lead of 200 or more runs with five or more wickets to spare including this match. The first time Pakistan achieved this was against New Zealand in 1994 in Wellington. The other three instances have all come against Bangladesh.57 Runs scored off Shakib Al Hassan by Hafeez – the second-highest he has hit off a bowler in a Test innings. Hafeez had scored 65 runs off 106 deliveries off Rangana Herath in the first innings of a Test in Colombo in 2012, which are his highest off any bowler in an innings. Hafeez had a strike rate of 85.07 against Shakib in this innings.

Was the England captain’s slump in form brought on by issues of technique or by a cluttered mind?

Aakash Chopra28-Jul-20153:14

A matter of the mind for Cook

It was a typically flat Adelaide pitch on which Australia batted first and posted a resounding 570 for 9. It was the second Test of the 2013-14 Ashes, and England’s captain, Alastair Cook, was expected to provide his team with a solid foundation when it was their turn to bat. After the meek surrender in the first Test, at the Gabba, it was imperative that England bounced back quickly.Besides, the 65 that Cook had scored in the second innings of the first Test was the highest individual score for an England batsman in the match, so effectively he was the only England batsman with some sort of form going into the second Test. He walked in with loads of expectations on his shoulders but had to walk back with only 3 on the board, after facing 11 balls. ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary says this about his dismissal:

2.4 Johnson to Cook, OUT, cleaned him up! Johnson on the charge again, beaten Cook for pace past the outside edge and Cook was nowhere near it. It might have straightened a fraction from an off stump line but Cook has simply been done for sheer pace at over 90mph, didn’t get forward enough, tried in vain to get the bat down on it but seem to be aiming at mid-on and missed it completely.

That delivery began a downward spiral in Cook’s batting form. Innings after innings he was found out with both feet inside the crease to full-pitched deliveries. He also went chasing after balls that he would otherwise have left alone.It was thought that Cook’s trigger movement was a major part of the problem, for he was moving into his crease before the ball was bowled, and that supposedly led to him being late on balls that were meant to be played off the front foot. Some experts thought the depth of the stride backwards was not the only problem: there was also the fact that he was on the move while the bowler was releasing the ball. It did make sense, for staying still in the stance at the time of release is essential to picking up the line and length correctly. All preparatory movements must start and finish before the bowler releases the ball; if that does not happen, you’re doomed.

Cook’s strength isn’t a watertight technique but his ability to concentrate for long periods, and that is all to do with the mind. When he is able to control his mind, he plays well

A lot has changed since then. After a reasonably long dry spell, Cook is back among the runs. So has he revisited his technique and changed something?Surprisingly, he hasn’t. During his trigger movement he is still going back and across, and he is still a little bit on the move when the bowler is releasing the ball. What has changed then? How is it that he can score runs against top-quality bowlers despite shortcomings that his downfall before? Are the bowlers not smart enough to bowl full or in the areas where he was found wanting 12 months ago? To understand Cook’s predicament, you must move beyond the obvious and take a closer look at the intangibles.Cook’s biggest strength isn’t a watertight technique but the ability to concentrate for long periods, and that is all to do with the mind. When he is playing well, he is able to control his mind – he doesn’t allow it to wander or get lured into false strokes. In other words, when he is able to control his mind, he plays well.Like all good, orthodox Test openers, he is a sceptic by nature. He views the red ball headed in his direction with a certain amount of suspicion. It might look like an innocuous straight ball but he sees it as a potential threat, for it might tail back in or go away before or after landing. He will not commit himself to a shot unless he is 100% certain that he knows everything about that particular ball that there is to know.Through the 2013-14 Ashes and the months that followed, the KP saga undeniably occupied prime space in Alastair Cook’s head•Anthony Devlin/PA PhotosGood batsmen make bowlers bowl in areas where they want them to. Players like David Warner who want bowlers to bowl short achieve that goal by going after everything that pitches fuller. So the bowlers are forced to play to the batsman’s strength.Cook, on the other hand, wants bowlers to bowl straight to him so that he can play his most productive shots – off his legs through the on side. To achieve that, he has to leave everything that is outside off and tire the bowler. If the batsman knows where his off stump is and has the patience to leave everything that does not require playing at, sooner or later the bowler errs in line and bowls straighter. This is something Cook was able to do against New Zealand and at Lord’s this Ashes. He has made quality bowlers like Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult and Mitchell Johnson bowl to his strengths.No doubt there was a lot on Cook’s mind during the 2013-14 Ashes and through the year that followed. Perhaps his slump had something to do with his technique, but my guess is it had more to do with the mind. Cook is not the kind of player to hit his way back into form. For him to score runs, he has to work hard, and for that to happen his mind needs to be emptied of unwanted thoughts.Now he is back in what we refer to as his “comfort zone”. He is comfortable with his trigger movement, he is picking the lines really well, and the mind is seemingly at peace again, isolated from his surroundings. The same 90mph bolt from Johnson that looked too fast in the Australian summer of 2013-14 is manageable in the English summer of 2015. While some may argue that Cook is getting more time to deal with these deliveries on slower English pitches, I say it wasn’t the quick Australian pitches that left him without enough time – it was his own cluttered mind.

Inspired by the film, the book of the same name looks at the rise of a West Indies team alongside the life of its immigrant people in Britain

Nicholas Hogg03-Oct-2015A gust of fine rain swept across The Oval, forcing the Northants batters and Surrey fielders to make a dash for the pavilion. It was the penultimate day of the English domestic season, the fag end of summer, when the cricket lover is already slipping hopelessly into nostalgia. Even the muted TV screen hanging from the roof was lamenting for seasons past, running one of those “Heroes of Yesteryear” type documentaries on Richard Hadlee. A few us watched, the sunny shots of his cantering approach to the crease, shirt sleeves rolled up, and the smooth action delivering the inevitable off-stump line and perfect length delivery.And when that highlights reel came to an end, I looked back across the damp outfield to the patch of sunlight beyond the rooftops of South London, and thought about the foreword to Simon Lister’s superb new book, . On the very first page Clive Lloyd recalls leaning on his bat at the non-striker’s end at The Oval “and inhaling the exuberant buzz that only a West Indian cricket crowd far from home can create”.Inspired by the film of the same title, Lister has expanded the narrative of West Indies cricket by using the footage not broadcast by director Stevan Riley and interviewing the fans, players and their families, to document a history that lays claim to be the “definitive story of the greatest team sport has ever known”.Spectators swarm Clive Lloyd after his century at The Oval, 1973•PA PhotosI might have been too young to appreciate the rambunctious West Indies supporters of the 1970s and ’80s, but through Lister’s interviews with those fans who turned the prosaic seats of The Oval into a Caribbean carnival, and his portraits of the early pioneers of West Indies cricket – Charles Ollivierre, George Headley, Learie Constantine, Frank Worrell and Garfield Sobers – readers can understand what Lloyd meant when he looked to the packed stands and questioned: “How could we not try and do our best?”Lister follows the West Indian exodus to Britain in the 1950s, highlighting the lack of a warm welcome for most of the new arrivals from the Caribbean. Many landed on damp shores to find their dreams of a better life living in cramped and cold rooms. A nonplussed public generally treated them with a contempt ranging from bemusement to verbal and physical abuse. Writing in his 1954 book , Constantine lamented that it was “hard to make it understood by white people how much we resent – and fear – this perpetual undercurrent of jeering, this ingrained belief in the white mind that the coloured man, woman or child is a matter for mirth”.From the 1950s onwards the number of Caribbean fans at West Indies games increased. Matches became a focal point for a community to identify with its roots. In the crowd, amid the music, food and language of a colony long abused by the Empire, was solidarity. On the first day of the Trent Bridge Test in 1976, Lister notes that the had the power.

Fire in Babylon: How the West Indies cricket team brought a people to its feet
by Simon Lister
Yellow Jersey
352 pages (hardback)

Stats highlights from a day completely dominated by Australia’s batsmen

S Rajesh26-Dec-2015258 The second-wicket partnership between Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja, which is the third-highest for the second wicket at the MCG. The highest is 298, between Ian Chappell and Bill Lawry, also against West Indies, in 1968. The top five second-wicket stands here are all by Australia.14 Test hundreds for Australia’s top three batsmen (Nos. 1 to 3) in 2015, which equals their highest in any calendar year; they also got 14 centuries in 2003. Their aggregate of 4020 runs is the highest for Australia’s top three in any calendar year.5 Double-century partnerships against West Indies in the last two years, the most against any team during this period. The next-highest is four each against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.448 Runs scored by Usman Khawaja in four Test innings in 2015, at an average of 149.33. In 17 previous innings in Tests, he had only managed 377 runs at an average of 25.13.132.57 The average runs per wicket for Australia in this series so far, the highest for any team in any series with a minimum of 200 overs faced. In their last three home series against West Indies, Australia have averaged 54.71 runs per wicket, which is their second-highest against any opposition.25.12 David Warner’s Test average in eight innings at the MCG, with only one half-century – 62 against Sri Lanka in 2012. It’s his poorest average among all home venues. He averages more than 60 in Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Hobart, while his average is 32.85 in Sydney. Melbourne is the only home venue where he hasn’t scored a Test hundred.1000 International centuries for Australia, making them the first team to reach the landmark. England are next with 964 hundreds, followed by India with 688.73.11 Kemar Roach’s bowling average in Tests in 2015: in seven matches (including this one) he has taken nine wickets. In the three years before 2015 (from January 2012 to December 2014), he had taken 70 wickets in 15 Tests at 21.90.1.94 The economy rate for Jason Holder: in 17 overs he conceded only 33; on the other hand, Jerome Taylor and Roach conceded 136 runs in 28 overs, an economy rate of 4.86.

Amid growing concerns about the depth and quality of South Africa’s batting reserves, the time may be nigh for one of the country’s most consistent performers to earn a call-up

Firdose Moonda21-Dec-2015So sings Amos Hart, the good-hearted husband of Chicago’s Roxie, when he laments his own invisibility. Stephen Cook would relate. He is South African cricket’s own Mr Cellophane, who has been looked right through despite being among the top 10 run-scorers in the first-class competition for the last seven seasons including the last one, when he finally topped the charts only to find himself still on the outside.Now, with a four-Test series against England looming, and on a weekend in which most of South Africa’s national batsman failed to find form, the 33-year-old Cook carried his bat for an unbeaten 53 against the touring opposition. There is a growing sense that his time may finally have come.Cook’s Seven-Year Itch

Stephen Cook has been among the top ten run-scorers South Africa’s first-class competition for the last seven seasons. Here’s how he has done:

2008-09 behind Imraan Khan, Ashwell Prince, Alviro Petersen, Davy Jacobs, Rilee Rossouw, Andrew Puttick and Boeta Dippenaar.
2009-10 behind Rilee Rossouw and Dean Elgar.
2010-11 8behind Jacques Rudolph, Neil McKenzie, Farhaan Behardien, Zander de Bruyn, Andrew Puttick, Justin Ontong and Vaughn van Jaarsveld.
2011-12behind Alviro Petersen, Neil McKenzie, Morne van Wyk, Reeza Hendricks and JJ Smuts.
2012-13 behind Neil McKenzie, Stiaan van Zyl, Davy Jacobs, Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Alistair Gray.
2013-14 behind Stiaan van Zyl, Justin Ontong, David White, Morne van Wyk, Andrew Puttick and Temba Bavuma.
2014-15

“Stephen is a good player and of late, he has been scoring heavily and doing very well in the domestic set-up,” Andrew Hudson, the former convener of selectors, told ESPNcricinfo. “I don’t think he is too old and I think he has got a lot to offer but it’s up to the selectors to see whether they want to continue with a makeshift opener or whether they feel they need a specialist.”Hudson led the selection panel for five years from 2010 to 2015, a period which coincided with Cook’s performances, but, he added, picked Cook was always difficult because of personnel and circumstance. Cook’s playing days have coincided with those of Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie, then with Jacques Rudolph and Alviro Petersen and more recently, with Dean Elgar, Stiaan van Zyl and Temba Bavuma.”When Alviro retired, we already had Dean Elgar and he had done pretty well so that continued and then we made the decision to push Stiaan, who had also done reasonably well on different wickets, up,” Hudson said. “It’s quite a subjective thing. Sometimes the selectors feel someone can make the step up.”Van Zyl, a regular No.3, was the leading run-scorer in the first-class game the season before Cook topped the charts but, because there was no space in South Africa’s middle-order, the only spot the selectors could find was at the top. So far, van Zyl has only opened in the subcontinent and, even though he appeared the most awkward on South Africa’s tour of India, he will be given another opportunity to show what he can do in home conditions against England.But Hudson has warned that they may be taking a risk given the quality of the bowlers they will be up against. “England have got a nice new-ball attack so it’s about whether you expose someone like Stiaan or Temba Bavuma to the new ball or whether you feel you need someone who has done the job for a long time,” Hudson said.A chorus of former players are opting for the latter. Adam Bacher, a former team-mate of Cook’s, told he sees Cook as a “the team’s response to Australia’s Chris Rogers,” and said he had never encountered a player with stronger mental strength than Cook. Meanwhile Boeta Dippenaar, a former Test player, impressed the need for “specialists” at the top. Barry Richards and Paul Harris have also been among those calling for Cook’s inclusion.The swathe of support for Cook became stronger during the tour match against the England XI, when his half-century also brought up his 11,000th first-class run. In the same match, Rilee Rossouw, the current reserve batsmen in the Test squad, scored just 6 and Dane Vilas and Quinton de Kock, who are on the fringes, each scored 4. Given the shakiness of South Africa’s current middle-order and the seeming uncertainty about the depth of quality in the reserves, Cook could offer the steadiness South Africa currently lack.Hudson admitted the scarcity of strong performances in the last two months is a concern ahead of a series in which South Africa could be toppled from their No.1 Test spot.”I am not worried about individuals but I am worried about the batting unit,” he said. “With the middle-order not being as settled as South Africa might like, the opening partnership becomes even more important. I think we will really have to pay attention to our batting if we are do well in this series.”And that may mean finally paying attention to Cook before it’s too late and he ends up fading away to these words:

James Anderson’s status as a great fast bowler may be a matter for endless debate, but there’s no question of the beauty of his very best performances

Jarrod Kimber at Headingley21-May-2016Bowlers fight for everything they get. At first they have to fight the odds that they will make it to the top level. Then they have to fight to get a professional game at all. Then a game for their country. Then they fight the batsmen that is trying to end their spell, their day, their Test, their career. But you get that first wicket if you are lucky, or that 50th. A few even get 100, or 300, or, even for those at the top of the game, their 400th. It doesn’t stop there.It isn’t just the batsmen – it’s the media, injuries, bad coaches, terrible administration, silly selections, unhelpful groundsmen, your team-mates, that next bright young thing. That is all in your way, in your head, trying to stop you from becoming the best you can be. To be what you have always wanted to be.Great.But the best just keep going. They bowl until their body, or minds, can’t bowl anymore. They bowl with injury, with pain, through break-ups, through tragedies, through poor form, through personal issues, on roads and highways, against ever-increasing bats and batsmen, in a sport that seems to have been invented just to remind them they are second-class citizens.After all that, the ones who make it, who survive, who thrive, then have to beat the villainy that is our group-fan subjective mind. We can’t just enjoy them, we have to work out how good they are, where they fit. Sure, he is good, and he’s done this for ten years, and bowled more balls and taken more wickets than anyone in his country before him. But is he a great? An all-time great? One of the best of all time?While we do this, he creates something special.Jimmy Anderson has bowled cricket balls that tattoo themselves on your memory. That Anderson curve is something you will always know. It is part of your experience as a cricket fan. You may not like him, you may think he isn’t as good as others, is an over-rated presence in cricket because of his Big Three pedigree, or that his average (currently 28.62, his lowest mark since 2003) just isn’t good enough for you to consider him to be a great. But that curve, you like that. Everyone likes it, unless they are playing against it, or hoping their team can survive it.Can he do it all the time, on all surfaces, against all batsmen, in all countries? No, but when he does it, that doesn’t make it any less amazing. Swing bowling is art, and Jimmy paints.James Anderson was too much for Dasun Shanaka to handle in both innings•Getty ImagesForget the grumpiness, forget the English media pushing him, forget the fact he can never be Dale Steyn (and nor can most other players), and just watch that swing. That ball is making shapes that HR Giger or Zaha Hadid would kill for. His bowling trajectories should be hanging in some modern art museum or spray-painted on walls. At his most dramatic, the ball has a mind, and mood, of its own. At his most skilful he has it on a string and points it in one direction before telling it to go another.It is beautiful.At Headingley, you would expect even more than that. But it’s not how it has gone for him before.Headingley swings. It swings more than a hot brass band playing at a swingers’ party. If you are a swing bowler, it is the place you dream of taking the new ball, the place you get the new ball, and usually the place to destroy with the new ball. Over the last few years, the great, good and ordinary of world cricket have all done well here. People who ended up in jail, people who had lost their nip and people who were practically unknown, have all done well, and far better than Anderson.Worse than that, two years ago it was the pitch that made him cry, when he failed to last the distance with the bat.He hated Headingley. “Hated it”. Not the words of a tabloid hack slamming his keyboard in ambitious glee but the words of the greatest wicket-taker England have ever had, about the swing-bowling paradise that was all but designed in wait for his presence.Finally, after nine years of his hate, it happened. That curve, and the wickets that followed. That ball to Dasun Shanaka, that seemed to follow an exponential swing graph. Others were so hypnotising that the bats seemed naturally drawn to them, despite the fact it would surely end in death. Batsmen missed straight ones while still worrying about the squiggly line ones they had missed moments earlier.The Sri Lankan batsmen became so faceless during this onslaught that the scoreboard started putting up pictures of the wrong players. Their role, which they played to perfection, was to edge the ball, miss the ball, and participate in the Jimmy Anderson hat-trick of wicket maidens.At the end of this game there were no tears, just a small smile.You can, and will, argue about whether he is great or not. You can say he was in his home conditions, against (as Colin Graves might accidentally call them) a “mediocre” batting line-up, but when the ball came out of his hand in this match, it was a tremendous thing to watch.This Test won’t change anyone’s mind as to whether he is an all-time great or not. This Test was just Anderson bowling at somewhere near his best – and whatever your opinion of his status – it was pretty damn good. Not for the first time in his career, and hopefully not for the last.Greatness is subjective. Art is subjective. Ten for 45 is objective, and in this match, it produced great art.

Plays of the day from the tri-series match between West Indies and South Africa in St Kitts

Firdose Moonda15-Jun-2016Hashim de VilliersHashim Amla enjoyed his most fluent innings of the tour so far, decorated with powerful pulls and silken drives. After he reached his hundred, Amla brought out a shot that did not seem to be part of his repertoire before this innings. With his confidence soaring, Amla walked across his stumps to a full delivery from Jerome Taylor, bent down on one knee, and scooped it to fine leg for four. AB de Villiers has been known to pull off moves like that, not Amla. Perhaps, the opener has been taking lessons from his captain.Can the real No.3 please stand up? South Africa’s openers could not have laid a more perfect platform for the world’s top-ranked ODI batsman – a stand of 182 in 33 overs. But after Amla’s lofted drive found long-off instead of clearing the boundary, it was not de Villiers or regular No.3 Faf du Plessis or even either of the other two recognised batsmen JP Duminy or Farhaan Behardien who walked out. Instead, South Africa sent in allrounder Chris Morris, who was returning from a hamstring niggle, to contribute quick runs. Morris repaid their faith with 40 off 26 balls.Umpire in danger Non-strikers have to be careful of being on the receiving end of an aggressive throw and now it seems even umpires are at risk. Nigel Llong was almost taken out by Carlos Brathwaite, whose frustration boiled over as South Africa built their total. Brathwaite returned for a second spell in the 39th over and put the brakes on the South African charge, hoping to make a breakthrough. When Morris thought of stealing a run after playing the ball straight back to him, Brathwaite reacted quickly to try and run out du Plessis at the non-striker’s end. Du Plessis was wary of the danger but Llong was not and Brathwaite’s hurl almost hurt him. Luckily, he skipped out of the way and Morris got his run.Umpire in greater danger Llong escaped easily when considering what happened to his counterpart, Gregory Brathwaite, in the second innings. Johnson Charles was leading West Indies’ chase and drilled a Morris delivery down the ground, so hard that it broke a stump a non-striker’s end. The rogue piece cartwheeled away and almost hit Brathwaite, who eventually did well to get out of the way. Charles did not get his run, and nobody was injured.Fastest slow bowler Imran Tahir’s trademark running-for-joy celebration has been the subject of numerous plays of the day over the 58 ODIs he has appeared in but none of them mattered more than this one. When Marlon Samuels tried to cut a regulation legbreak and got a thick outside edge to Quinton de Kock instead, Tahir had a real reason to take off around the ground. That wicket was his 100th in the format, which made him the fastest South African to the milestone and fourth fastest overall. It was also the scalp that ended any realistic chance of West Indies successfully chasing the target of 344.

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2016Carl Mumba picked up two wickets before lunch, and another soon after, to reduce Sri Lanka from 72 for 1 to 117 for 4; He finished the day with 4 for 50•Associated PressDhananjaya de Silva helped steady things with his second fifty-plus score in his second Test series. He made 64 off 82•AFPCaptain Graeme Cremer, who took four wickets and contributed a century to Zimbabwe’s score, could do little against the Sri Lankan fightback…•AFP… which was led by Kunaratne’s 110•AFPBy the end of the day – a premature one, with rain wiping out nearly all of the third session – Zimbabwe were staring at a deficit of 411 runs•AFP

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-2016They chose to bat on a slow pitch that didn’t lend itself to strokeplay, and were propped up by Rohit Sharma’s power-packed 70 off 65 balls•Associated PressVirat Kohli’s half-century had a bit more finesse. Though he struck only three boundaries, his 65 took only 76 balls•Associated PressWith India 190 for 2, New Zealand were looking at a daunting total to chase•AFPBut MS Dhoni fell to Mitchell Santner in the 38th over, which gave the visitors an opening to try and limit India’s inexperienced middle order•Associated PressGaining plenty of turn, Ish Sodhi dismissed Kohli in the 44th over, which tempted New Zealand’s quicks to use a lot of offcutters. India combated that well to put 269 on the board•Associated PressUmesh Yadav struck in the first over, bowling Martin Guptill•Associated PressAnd Jasprit Bumrah got rid of the in-form Tom Latham for 19•Associated PressNew Zealand were 63 for 2, hopeful of a revival, when they ran into Amit Mishra•Associated PressMishra brought all of his toys to the party – flight, dip, drift, and lots of turn•Associated PressHe finished with figures of 6-2-18-5 as New Zealand were bowled out for 79 in 23.1 overs – their shortest completed innings in ODI history. There were five ducks•Associated PressIndia took the series 3-2•Associated Press

They may have fallen just short of victory, but England can leave Rajkot hugely encouraged by their performance

George Dobell in Rajkot13-Nov-20163:17

Ganguly: England been best tourists in Indian conditions over two visits

It wasn’t just that England gave India a scare on the final day. It was that, after the wretched final session in Dhaka, their batsmen proved to themselves they could succeed in these conditions and their spinners lost nothing in comparison to their Indian counterparts. Even their seamers, on a surface offering them little, could take pride in the manner they hurried and harried the Indian batsmen.They proved to India and, perhaps more importantly, to themselves, that they could challenge in this series.”No-one was talking of us having a chance in this series,” Alastair Cook said afterwards. “But the way we played showed we’re in there. It’s been a good five days and we’ve proved to everyone else that we can play.”Cook on …

Haseeb Hameed: “He’s a find, isn’t he? An unbelievable player. He was pushing me close to retirement – a 19-year-old who not only out-batted me but scored quicker than me and made it look easier than me. He’s certainly a player.”
Ben Stokes: “He’s our golden player. He balances the side and allows us to play three seamers and three spinners. Turning wickets were probably his last challenge, but he’s worked incredibly hard and he’s getting reward for it. A year ago he wouldn’t have been able to play that innings.”
Passing Bradman’s century tally:”Let’s not talk about Bradman who probably did it in a third of the knocks. I’ve sacrificed a bit to come out here. I’ve seen my daughter for 18 hours. It’s never easy and you want to try to make it worthwhile by scoring a few runs.”

Perhaps we should have known that already. After all, England had won nine (and lost only two) of the last 13 Tests between these sides.But the defeat in Dhaka – and the manner of that defeat – evoked memories of England’s long-term struggles against spin. And, given India’s daunting home record of late, the makeshift appearance of England’s top-order and the relative lack of experience of their spinners, there were few people predicting success for them.They probably exceeded expectations on the final day. Having taken 160 overs to bowl India out in the first innings, it seemed attempting to do so in 50 overs in the second was a gesture more than a serious proposition.But when the sixth wicket fell with 10 overs left, it seemed real enough. And it won’t have gone unnoticed by England that, under pressure, a couple of India batsmen made some odd choices. Ravi Ashwin drive to cover, W Saha seemed determined to hit his way out of trouble and Gautam Gambhir looked intimidated by the pace of Chris Woakes (who hardly bowled a poor ball in the match) on a slow wicket. Virat Kohli looked wonderfully solid, but elsewhere several chinks in the armour became apparent. And, as Arnold Schwarzenegger almost put it: if it bleeds, England can kill it.Criticism of Cook’s declaration seems harsh. While it is true we may look back on the final afternoon in Rajkot as England’s best chance of winning a Test on this tour, it was never realistic to expect Cook to risk wasting four-and-a-half days of hard work by giving India an opportunity in the opening match of a series. Especially as this India side contains, in Kohli, one of the great chasers in the history of limited-overs cricket. The eventual ‘target’ was 310 in a minimum of 49 overs but, with England scoring 34 in the final five completed overs of their innings, even a slightly earlier declaration might have given India a chance. Cook says he never considered keeping India in the field all day.”We just didn’t want to give India a sniff,” he said. “Maybe a braver person would have set them 240 but I thought it was a fair declaration, especially in the first game of the series. We had just been 180 without loss on that wicket. It wasn’t a minefield.”There was that outside chance, that 20-to-1 chance that we could win and you’ve got to take that opportunity to do that.”Any analysis of the England performance has to acknowledge the substantial advantage they had in this match. Winning the toss was crucial and, had India’s fielders held on to their first-innings chances, the match might have taken a different direction.Chris Woakes hardly bowled a bad ball in the course of the first Test•AFPBut it also has to acknowledge history. Before this game, no visiting batsmen had made a century in India since 2013. For four to now have done so reflects well on an England batting line-up that, at last, might be coming together. The continued development of Ben Stokes, who has gone from looking hapless against spin to looking one of England’s best players of it, is particularly obvious but we may well look back on the Rajkot Test of 2016 as the debut of a special talent in Haseeb Hameed.Hameed missed out on a debut century – selflessly trying to up the pace in an attempt to set-up the declaration – but he still registered the highest score by a teenager in England’s Test history. It would be a major surprise if he was not one of England’s openers in the Ashes in 12 months’ time. It has been a long, long time since they have been able to look that far ahead.The performance of England’s spinners was almost as encouraging. After struggling in Bangladesh, they responded with a much-improved display that included the best performance of Adil Rashid’s Test career to date. Moeen Ali, who was named man of the match, conceded fewer runs per over than Ashwin and also took as many wickets in fewer overs, while Zafar Ansari had a better strike-rate than his left-arm counterpart Ravi Jadeja. The influence of Saqlain Mushtaq, who seems to have inspired more confidence in all of them, has been telling.”Our three spinners came in for a lot of criticism after Bangladesh,” Cook said. “But they bowled a lot better. It has been great to have Saqlain Mushtaq here and he has made a massive difference for those guys. They bowled really well.”Cook looked exhausted at the end. Despite admitting he had been struggling for form, he still managed to compile his 30th Test century – only 10 men have more now – but he accepted that his side had put a lot in for little tangible reward. For both sides, managing tired players is going to be an issue as the series progresses.”It’s been a hard five days,” Cook said. “A tough Test. We’ve put everything on the line and played some really good cricket. It’s disappointing not to get over the line, but it was a great Test and everyone can be proud of the way they played. If we hit the same standards as we’ve done there, we’ll be okay. It’s just about repeating it.”I’m feeling fairly jaded now and I think the lads. It’s been bloody hard work, I can tell you that.”With that in mind, England may refresh the side with the addition of James Anderson for the second Test starting on Thursday. While it remains more likely he will return for the third Test, it could be that he replaces a spinner – probably Ansari – if England decide the pitch will offer him anything. It seems more probable that the Visakhapatnam surface will encourage spinners.England know that tougher challenges lie ahead. They know the pitches will turn more and they know that they won’t always win the toss. But this performance means they will face those challenges with confidence in their own games high and the knowledge that they are up against an opponent that can be beaten.There is still a bit of room for improvement. Had Cook held on to a relatively simple chance offered by Mohammed Shami in the first innings, England would have taken a first-innings lead of 77 and, had their over-rate been better on Friday, they would have had another four overs at the India batsmen in the second innings.But these are minor quibbles. This was an encouraging start.