In the wake of a sports betting scandal currently impacting MLB, the league has announced that some of the most prominent sportsbooks in the United States are implementing changes to their baseball markets.

MLB announced Monday that some of the prominent U.S. sportsbooks will be introducing a maximum wager of $200 on bets focused on individual pitch outcomes. Those bets will also be prohibited from being included in parlay wagers.

This comes on the heels of the federal indictment which charged Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase for their involvement in a sports betting scheme. The two pitchers are alleged to have accepted payment related to individual pitch markets, specifically whether individual pitches would result in strikes or balls, as well as the velocity of those pitches.

According to the indictment, bettors won as much as $450,000 by wagering on the outcome of individual pitches in the scheme. But MLB is hoping to curb such manipulation by limiting the amount that can be wagered on those types of markets.

Clase and Ortiz are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery, and money laundering conspiracy in connection to the scheme to rig individual pitches. Both could face north of 60 years in prison.

Per ESPN, DraftKings and FanDuel, the two largest sportsbooks in the United States, have agreed to abide by MLB’s request in order to ensure fairness.

Since sports betting was legalized in the United States, there have been multiple instances of corruption involving athletes across various leagues, including the NBA, college sports, and MLB, among others.

Tall fast bowlers tend to struggle with pitching the ball up, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem for NZ’s debutant

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Wellington21-Feb-20202:17

Last couple of weeks have been surreal – Jamieson 

It helps to be six feet and eight inches tall. It can be the first step to a promising basketball career, and Kyle Jamieson could have gotten pretty far playing that sport – though he says his “jump height is not the greatest”. Having to choose between two sports in high school, when juggling them “just became quite full-on”, he chose cricket.Jamieson was more of a batsman growing up – his father Michael says batting outweighed bowling 60-40 in those days – and he’s already shown glimpses of his potential as a lower-order contributor, clattering 101 against an English attack that included James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Mark Wood in a tour game, and putting on an unbroken 76 with Ross Taylor for the ninth wicket, on his ODI debut.But he’s now a bowler first, a six-feet-eight-inches fast bowler. There are things a six-eight fast bowler can do that others cannot, and on Friday at the Basin Reserve, he did those things often. There were two balls, for instance, that climbed almost vertically at Ajinkya Rahane, lifting him off his feet. Rahane was batting on 10 when he got the first of them, and he rode the bounce as best as he could, played the ball as close to his body as he could, with the softest hands he could summon up, and kept the ball down despite only managing to meet it with his handle.The second came when Rahane was on 24. He’d already faced 71 balls by then, and had negotiated difficult conditions – it was green underfoot, grey overhead, and the wind blowing across the ground was frequently causing the trees lining the grass banks to judder violently – with utmost serenity. But this ball from Jamieson, springing up towards his neck, shook him out of his sure-footed ways, causing him to twist awkwardly in midair, with eyes off the ball and hands rising instinctively to protect his face.

“I think as a tall guy, naturally your length is further back, but over time you get used to trying to bring it a little bit fuller.”Kyle Jamieson

The ball hit his glove, or arm guard, or both, and ballooned over a desperately backtracking wicketkeeper and ran away for four.There was plenty of bounce to be extracted from this surface, and Jamieson was extracting every little drop. It was effortless bounce, reminiscent of Morne Morkel at his scariest, even if Jamieson isn’t nearly as quick.”I guess it just comes from a steeper angle,” Jamieson said at the end of the day’s play. “I guess not as quick as what some of the other guys are around the world, but I think still my short ball is a weapon, from the height that I can bowl it.”The ability to extract this sort of bounce had been Jamieson’s ticket to play this game. Neil Wagner, New Zealand’s one-of-a-kind short-ball specialist, was unavailable, and the team management could have picked either Jamieson or the more experienced Matt Henry in his stead. Henry, though, is a swing bowler much like Tim Southee and Trent Boult, and New Zealand wanted a third seamer with a point of difference.So here Jamieson was, providing that point of difference. Except that wasn’t all he did.Kyle Jamieson is pumped up after getting rid of Virat Kohli•Getty ImagesAt Test level, tall quicks who turn the pitch into a trampoline can often struggle for wickets despite routinely making batsmen look uncomfortable. They’re often told to try and pitch the ball fuller, so that they can threaten the stumps, or kiss the edges that they so often zip past, but to go away from your natural length, and to do it without losing your pace and venom, is difficult. Just ask Ishant Sharma. Or the aforementioned Morkel.On Test debut, Jamieson shifted his length forward and back effortlessly, without floating the ball up or losing his line, and he made it sound just as simple as he made it look.”Yeah, look, I guess with my height, I can afford to go a fraction fuller, especially out here as well, with the extra bounce,” he said. “I was trying to, I guess, make guys commit to play off the front foot. I think in my second spell, the first half of it, there was a lot of balls left on length, so it was just how do you commit them on the front foot, especially if it does swing or seam, then you’re a chance of bringing the edge in.”I think as a tall guy, naturally your length is further back, but over time you get used to trying to bring it a little bit fuller.”It was just one day’s work, of course, in near-perfect fast-bowling conditions, and that day was curtailed by rain. We can only really judge Jamieson the Test bowler when he’s built up a proper body of work, but as far as first impressions go, this was most encouraging.The best length a fast bowler – any bowler, really – can bowl is the shortest one that still draws the batsman forward. Jamieson hit that length time and again at the Basin, bowling from fairly wide on the crease, angling the ball into the right-hander, and every now and then getting it to straighten off the pitch.One such delivery in his first over beat both Cheteshwar Pujara’s outside edge and the top of off stump by what seemed like millimeters. Pujara did everything right while defending it, playing the angle, protecting his stumps, playing close to his body and not letting his hands get drawn towards the movement. He had to do everything right to survive it.Kyle Jamieson bowls on Test debut•AFPIn his third over, he bowled a similar delivery, only slightly fuller, and Pujara nicked it despite once again doing most things right.Not a bad first Test wicket, and the second was of a reasonably good player too. It was one of those Virat Kohli dismissals that leave you scratching your head, the thick edge while driving away from his body at a ball that’s nowhere near full enough, but it’s also the kind of dismissal that makes you wonder about all the times he middles drives just as far from his body and off just those lengths.It wasn’t the shot for the circumstances – 40 for 2, first day of a Test series in difficult conditions – but the ball also straightened off the seam, and had Jamieson’s extra bounce. Also consider what happened off the previous ball, a short one that made Kohli spring onto his toes to defend it.Push him back, then bring him forward, knowing there’s a chance he may not come as far forward as he should.There was a similar sequence of deliveries later on to Hanuma Vihari, and an edged drive fell just short of gully. Then, in his next over, Jamieson bowled one a fraction too full, and Vihari drove it back past him, holding his pose. Jamieson corrected his length beautifully next ball, pitching it on a fullish but not easily driveable length, and shifting his line outside off stump.Vihari’s set-up at the crease is built for driving down the ground and through midwicket, but not so much for the front-foot cover drive, because his head doesn’t really get over the ball when he plays the shot. He went for it anyway, perhaps still feeling the rush of the shot he’d played off the previous ball, and missed.Vihari survived through to drinks, but not the first ball after the mini-break. It was much like the ball that had dismissed Pujara, angling into the batsman, drawing him forward, straightening just enough. If Jamieson keeps bowling that length and that line, over after over and match after match, and gets a little bit of help every now and then from the conditions, he could have quite a career.

The five names who could hit higher notes in the fifth season of the tournament

Deivarayan Muthu19-Feb-2020Fabian Allen (Multan Sultans)On his day, Allen can clear the boundaries from the get-go lower down the order. He is an electric fielder. He can also chip in with quick-ish left-arm fingerspin. Allen is the kind of T20 package that every franchise desperately wants and he is already a superstar in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). He had cracked 177 off 79 balls between overs 16 and 20 in CPL 2019 at a strike rate of nearly 225. His big-hitting didn’t miss the eyes of Sunrisers Hyderabad, who snapped him up for INR 50 lakh as they look to fill the Shakib Al Hasan-sized hole in IPL 2020. Allen is currently in action for West Indies in Sri Lanka and is set to join the Multan Sultans roster after that tour ends on March 6.Ali Khan (Karachi Kings)A fast bowler who can hit speeds north of 140kph, Khan was among the breakout stars in CPL 2018. Incidentally, PSL 2020 will be a homecoming of sorts for Khan: he was born in Pakistan before he migrated to the USA and forged a career there.Khan had claimed 16 wickets in CPL 2018 at an average of 20.81 and economy rate of 7.80 in Trinbago Knight Riders’ run to an unprecedented third title. Khan’s form somewhat tailed off in CPL 2019, but his raw pace and ability to bowl yorkers have paved the way for stints in the Bangladesh Premier League, Global T20 Canada and T10 League.ALSO READ: Top-order batting key for Gladiators; Islamabad’s strength is in their solid coreSeekkuge Prasanna (Lahore Qalandars)Khan’s Knight Riders team-mate Prasanna could be the middle-overs enforcer for Lahore in an attack that is packed with quicks like Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Shinwari, Dilbar Hussain and David Wiese. Prasanna doesn’t have a big-turning legbreak, but he often gets his wrong’un to skid into the batsman. He has also evolved into a power-hitter, something that was on bright display during the second CPL qualifier last year. Prasanna smote a 27-ball 51 during which he launched slower-ball specialist Harry Gurney out of the Brian Lara Stadium. The Sri Lankan allrounder has been a regular in the BPL and T20 Blast over the years, but this will be his maiden PSL stint.Phil Salt gave the Strikers an excellent start•Getty ImagesPhil Salt (Islamabad United)A bruising batsman at the top, Salt has had an eventful few months. The day before the CPL 2019 final, the Sussex batsman was holidaying in Miami, and he received a call-up from the Barbados Tridents as a replacement for the injured JP Duminy. Just about 24 hours later, Salt was a CPL champion with the Tridents although he had bagged a duck. He then went to the Big Bash League, where he led the way for the Adelaide Strikers at the top.Salt can be brutal against pace when the bounce is true but hasn’t been as effective against top-quality spin. Tackling the slower bowlers is among the challenges Salt is likely to face in his second stint with Islamabad. In 2019, he had made only 94 runs in six innings at an average of 15.66 and strike rate of 128.76.Lewis Gregory (Peshwar Zalmi)Peshawar have a surfeit of allrounders in their squad, but with Kieron Pollard on international duty for the early half of the season, they might look to trial England seam-bowling allrounder Gregory instead. The 27-year old had struggled as England’s finisher in New Zealand last year, but in a new role at No. 4 in the BPL, he scored 262 runs in 11 matches at a strike rate of 140.10 for the Rangpur Riders. He also contributed with the ball, picking up 15 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 7.64. If he follows it up with a productive PSL, he can be in with a chance to return to England’s T20 World Cup mix.

Acknowledgement without revelry seems to have been what Tom Dollery’s class of ’51 preferred

Paul Edwards18-Jun-2020July 24, 1951
Scorecard
July 31, 1951
Scorecard
Should you be walking along the wide concrete concourse which runs around and beneath the stands at Edgbaston, you will see many reminders of Warwickshire’s recent triumphs. Pictures of Brian Lara, Dermot Reeve, Allan Donald and Ian Bell enliven the dull walls and recall the county’s four championships and other trophies in the past quarter-century.But images revisiting the team’s more distant glories are harder to find. There is, for example, no comparable photograph of Fred Gardner, although maybe that is to be expected. “He is better known on the cricket fields of England as a plodding, conscientious and even tedious opening bat with an attenuated back-lift and a monumental patience,” wrote JM Solan of his hero in 1959. “His almost ascetic abstention from scoring has occasionally roused affectionate irritability in those under whom he has served.”Yet Solan, the cricket correspondent of the also knew that Gardner had played a host of valuable innings for Warwickshire and that his three centuries in 1951 had helped his side to one of the most significant title wins in the post-war era.But acknowledgement without revelry seems to have been what Warwickshire’s class of ’51 preferred. Their skipper, HE “Tom” Dollery, had been the first professional to be appointed to that post by a county club and two years later he had overseen the assembly of a squad, all of whom were paid to play cricket.The only amateur to represent Warwickshire in 1951 was the wicketkeeper, Esmond Lewis, and his one match took place nearly a fortnight after the title had been decided. And when appeared under Dollery’s name the following year, its author quickly scotched any idea that his book would be a vanity project: “It is not, in any sense, a ‘how we did it’, an account of special stratagems which enabled Warwickshire to win the County Championship in 1951. Modesty, if nothing else, would forbid the writing of such a book – modesty and the fact that Warwickshire look forward to 1952 in the knowledge that honours are hard to win and even harder to retain.” There was shrewd prescience in those final words. Dollery’s county did not finish higher than sixth in any of the next seven seasons.ALSO READ: Gillette Cup took Sussex captain’s fancyOthers were more effusive. Warwickshire’s 1952 annual report called the title win “a success in the best traditions of the game for a team playing perfectly together as a co-ordinated entity under the man who proved himself the greatest professional captain the game has known and one of the greatest natural cricket leaders of all time.”Norman Preston, the editor of Wisden, made Warwickshire’s skipper one of his cricketers of the year and considered his achievement again in his Notes: “Dollery showed that a paid player can become a captain in the real sense of the word. By his astute work, Dollery has raised the status of the professional just as Hobbs did in the days when every county had one dressing room for the paid and another for the unpaid.”Warwickshire’s captain probably appreciated Preston’s compliments, not least because they slightly shifted the attention away from him and towards the tightly-knit group of blokes who had played by far the best cricket in the country. But he also knew he had been a trifle fortunate. Six of his team had remained fit for all 28 championship matches and two others, the wicketkeeper, Dick Spooner, and the middle-order batsman, Bert Wolton, had missed only one game. Spooner and Wolton were two of five Warwickshire batsmen who scored over a thousand runs in a wet summer but none were invited to play for England against South Africa in a series the home side won 3-1. Wisden also noted that no Warwickshire cricketers were asked to play in July’s Gentleman v Players game, although that rather overlooked the obvious point that Dollery’s gentlemen were only eligible to represent the Players in any case.Perhaps even more usefully, Roy Tattersall’s form helped ensure that the selectors would not call on the leg-spinner, Eric Hollies, who was thus free to take 149 championship wickets that summer and to bowl an average of almost 50 overs in each match, even when hampered by an ankle injury later in the season. The balding medium-pacer, Charlie Grove, was the only other bowler to take 100 wickets and he formed a potent new-ball combination with the New Zealander, Tom Pritchard, who bowled perhaps 15mph quicker. Pritchard managed only 38 wickets in the first 13 games but took 36 in the next four and finished with 93 in a season curtailed by a shoulder injury.So instead of representing their country or appearing in an increasingly anachronistic contest, Warwickshire’s cricketers stayed fit and pledged themselves to the bear and ragged staff. Even their first names suggested a lack of pretension. There was Bert, Fred and Eric and there was Tom, Dick and Charlie. Gardner’s ponderous batting may have irritated the captain on occasions: “Get out or I’ll send someone in to run you out,” read one memorable message; but the captain knew the value of a man described by Donald Trelford as “the apotheosis of works league cricket, the most stolid and slowest of openers, his face like an unsmiling Bob Hope”. Perhaps so, but only Spooner and Dollery himself contributed more runs to the cause in 1951. It was “an extraordinary team of ordinary cricketers playing purposeful cricket,” said Dollery.”They didn’t seem ordinary to me,” responded Trelford in his wonderful essay, written over 30 years later and shining with childlike love. “Not Pritchard. Not Spooner, the left-handed opener who was also a in the old sense… He had a brisk walk between overs, hurrying with his body bent forward, his peaked cap and his big nose to the fore, gloved hands behind his back.”Warwickshire keeper Dick Spooner•The Sphere/Wisden Cricket Monthly/Getty ImagesAnd Warwickshire’s title-win was notable in other respects. Other counties, notably Yorkshire, who finished distant runners-up in 1951, pointed out that only Gardner and Grove out of Dollery’s regular squad had been born within the county boundaries. (Hollies came from Old Hill but that was in Staffordshire until 1966.) There were three New Zealanders and three others from the north-east. That latter trio included Alan Townsend, who made just 789 runs but pocketed 39 slip catches, some of them absurdly fine.In any case, Warwickshire felt their recruitment strategy was not something for which they needed to apologise. They were not poaching players from other first-class counties – Ray Weeks, the slow-left armer, came from Camborne – and at the previous year’s AGM the President, Dr Harold Thwaite, had said the policy was “breeding a spirit of emulation in Warwickshire youth in town and village”. It was a typically confident claim from an official at the club which was to launch its own football pool in 1953. That project, modelled in part on Northamptonshire’s scheme, was criticised by the moral establishment but by 1972 it had raised £2m, half of which had been spent on Edgbaston.Such enterprises were invaluable to the counties in the 1950s, a decade in which attendances at championship matches declined and the pressure for a briefer format of the game grew, even in the committee-rooms at Lord’s. But in Warwickshire’s great summer neither popular entertainments nor the weather could deter supporters who saw their team go to the top of the table on June 1st and stay there. The county also visited Stratford and Coventry but the crucial matches against Lancashire and Yorkshire which finally confirmed the dominance of Dollery’s team were both played at Edgbaston in late July. And ironically, perhaps, for a team without stars, Dollery scored a century in both contests.Over 25,000 spectators crowded into the ground on the Saturday of the Lancashire game but saw the home side put out for 184, Tattersall taking six wickets. Cyril Washbrook’s seven-hour 209 not out gave his team a lead of 149 and left Warwickshire with a draw as their only objective. They were 113 for 5 on the last day when Wolton joined Dollery in a stand of 68. Two other time-consuming stands with Pritchard and Grove followed and when the draw was agreed Dollery had completed his first hundred of the season.A quick trip to Taunton gave Warwickshire one of their six two-day wins in 1951 and the team returned to the Midlands to meet Yorkshire, four of whose players, Len Hutton, Frank Lowson, Willie Watson and Don Brennan were at the Headingley Test.For nearly two days it was a respectable contest. Yorkshire grafted their way to 249 in 126.4 overs on Saturday but Dollery’s second century in a week and fifties by Spooner and Jimmy Ord established a 113-run advantage. Two down with only ten runs to show for their efforts on Monday evening, Yorkshire collapsed to 97 all out the following morning, Hollies taking 5 for 47 and Weeks 3 for 3 on a wearing pitch. Leslie Duckworth’s superb history of Warwickshire cricket puts the attendance at 8000 on Tuesday and the total for the three days, including members, at 55,000. Certainly the number of paying spectators, 43,000, beat the record that had been set against Lancashire a week earlier. It was the home side’s fifteenth championship victory of the season and their first double over Yorkshire since 1890. Just over a fortnight later the title was sealed when Worcestershire won at Scarborough.The Birmingham Post produced a supplement to mark the local victory and asserted that the title “had been coming these last few seasons”. But the Manchester Evening News could have said much the same during most of the 1950s and on many occasions in the 80s and 90s. Theproblem was that the pennant never arrived at Old Trafford in those decades. Dollery, however, having complained at the AGM that his team were being labelled champions even before the clocks had gone forward, went about the business of proving the predictions absolutely correct. “The skipper”, wrote Trelford, “had the air of a man wholly at ease with himself, a true yeoman, a natural leader.” Match from the Day

The WBBL begins this weekend in Sydney. Here’s how the eight teams shape up after a hectic lead in

Andrew McGlashan and Dan Brettig22-Oct-2020Adelaide StrikersCaptain: Suzie BatesCoach: Luke WilliamsWBBL history: 2015-16: 7th, 2016-17: 8th, 2017-18: Semi-final, 2018-19, 6th and 2019-20: Runners-upSquad: Darcie Brown, Suzie Bates (NZ), Sarah Coyte, Ellie Falconer, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Katie Mack, Tegan McPharlin, Tahlia McGrath, Annie O’Neil, Bridget Patterson, Madeline Penna, Alex Price, Megan Schutt, Stafanie Taylor (WI), Laura Wolvaardt (SA)In Madeline Penna (Stars), Laura Wolvaardt
Out Sophie Devine (Scorchers), Tabatha SavillePre-seasonHow will last season’s runners-up cope with losing the talismanic Sophie Devine? They have brought in Laura Wolvaardt, the South Africa batter who is one of the most exciting young players in the game, but Devine’s 2019-20 haul of 769 runs and 19 wickets will require the squad to dig deep. They will hope to see far more of West Indian Stafanie Taylor than last season.Player to watchBridget Patterson had a very solid tournament last season with 319 runs – putting her fourth behind the Strikers’ big three of Devine, Suzie Bates and Tahlia McGrath – and that form was enough to earn her an Australia A call-up to face India. She is the type of player – now secured on a three-year deal – that will need to kick her game on again to help fill the void left by Devine’s exit.Brisbane HeatCaptain: Jess JonassenCoach: Ashley NoffkeWBBL history: 2015-16: 6th, 2016-17: 3rd, 2017-18: 5th, 2018-19: Champions and 2019-20: ChampionsSquad: Maddy Green (NZ), Nicola Hancock, Grace Harris, Laura Harris, Mikayla Hinkley, Jess Jonassen, Amelia Kerr (NZ), Delissa Kimmince, Nadine de Klerk (SA), Charli Knott, Lilly Mills, Georgia Prestwidge, Georgia Redmayne, Courtney Sippel, Georgia VollIn Nichola Hancock (Stars), Nadine de Klerk, Georgia Redmayne, Georgia Voll
Out Haidee Birkett, Sammy-Jo Johnson (Thunder), Beth Mooney (Scorchers), Kirby Short (retired)Pre-seasonThere has been significant change for the defending champions as they prepare to attempt the hat-trick. Captain Kirby Short has retired with Jonassen promoted to lead the side, while Beth Mooney made one of the high-profile switches by moving to the Perth Scorchers and Sammy-Jo Johnson has gone to the Sydney Thunder. Whether the Heat can replace Mooney’s runs will be key – a task that will fall in part to Georgia Redmayne who has joined from the Scorchers.Player to watchGrace Harris is entertaining in whatever she does, whether it’s with bat, ball or with microphone. However, last season’s return of 212 runs at 17.66 and six wickets at 49.66 was perhaps a little below expectation. With the loss of such a key figure in Mooney, Harris will be one of the senior players who will need to take up the slack with the bat. With two ferocious WBBL hundreds to her name – her second coming off just 42 balls – and an overall strike-rate of 137.40, it will be interesting to see where she is used in the batting order.Nicola Carey hits powerfully through the off side•Getty ImagesHobart HurricanesCaptain: Corinne HallCoach: Salliann BriggsWBBL history: 2015-16: 2nd, 2016-17: 4th, 2017-18: 8th, 2018-19: 8th and 2019-20: 7thSquad: Nicola Carey, Maisy Gibson (injured), Corinne Hall, Brooke Hepburn, Erica Kershaw, Hayley Matthews (WI), Sasha Moloney, Rachel Priest (NZ), Chloe Rafferty, Amy Smith, Naomi Stalenberg, Emma Thompson, Chloe Tryon (SA), Tayla Vlaeminck (injured), Belinda Vakarewa; Replacements Hayley Jensen (NZ), Chloe Abel, Nell Bryson Smith, Emily SmithIn Erica Kershaw (Renegades), Rachel Priest (Thunder), Chloe Rafferty, Amy Smith, Naomi Stalenberg (Thunder), Emma Thompson
Out Stephanie Daffara, Erin Fazackerly (Renegades), Katelyn Fryett, Heather Knight, Meg Phillips, Emily SmithPre-seasonThe Hurricanes’ story has been one of steadily diminishing returns after starting out as competition finalists and then returning to the semi-finals the following year. Last season saw more inconsistency, with the distraction provided by the wicketkeeper Emily Smith’s minor integrity infraction and the extremely harsh ban that Cricket Australia chose to hand down in response. Smith is only on the fringes of the squad this time around as a replacement player, with the gloves taken by New Zealand’s combative Rachel Priest. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to the Hurricanes this time around will be the fact that Tayla Vlaeminck has already been ruled out of the entire tournament. That came due to her long and challenging recovery path from a foot fracture which had ended her T20 World Cup campaign before it began. Australia had to change their tournament plans considerably without Vlaeminck – and the Hurricanes need to do likewise.Player to watchNicola Carey is one of the national team’s more underrated contributors, offering parsimony with the ball and intelligent middle-order batting when required. She is not competing with anywhere near as many box office names at the Hurricanes and showed last season that the responsibility suited her, offering up numerous performances with both bat and ball that suggested she could step up similarly for Australia if ever required to offer something more than cameos.Melbourne Renegades Captain: Amy SatterthwaiteCoach: Lachlan StevensWBBL history: 2015-16: 8th, 2016-17: 7th, 2017-18: 6th, 2018-19: 4th and 2019-20: 4thSquad: Makinley Blows, Maitlan Brown, Josie Dooley, Jess Duffin (unavailable), Erin Fazackerley, Ella Hayward, Lizelle Lee (SA), Carly Leeson, Sophie Molineux, Courtney Neale, Amy Satterthwaite (NZ), Molly Strano, Lea Tahuhu (NZ), Georgia Wareham, Courtney WebbIn Erin Fazackerly (Hobart Hurricanes), Ella Hayward, Lizelle Lee
Out Tammy Beaumont, Erica Kershaw, Claire Koski, Danni WyattPre-seasonThe return of Amy Satterthwaite as captain looms as a major source of encouragement for the club as they seek to graduate from a pair of semi-final appearances to become the first Melbourne team to take out the title. Lizelle Lee’s arrival from South Africa will provide plenty of big hitting and still greater experience to the batting line-up – which will be missing Jess Duffin following her pregnancy – while in Molly Strano, Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham, the Renegades boast all but one member of the Australian team’s enviable spin bowling quartet. There remain doubts over Lea Tahuhu’s fitness though.Player to watchSatterthwaite’s quality was on display as she acquitted herself best of all New Zealand’s players in their recent drubbing by Australia over twin T20 and ODI series in Brisbane. Her resumption as the leader of a Renegades combination that was able to maintain their league position without her in the 2019 tournament makes the club undoubtedly one of the chief obstacles for any WBBL trophy aspirants this time around.Meg Lanning will resume the captaincy of the Melbourne Stars•Getty ImagesMelbourne StarsCaptain: Meg LanningCoach: Trent WoodhillWBBL history: 2015-16: 5th, 2016-17: 5th, 2017-18: 7th, 2018-19: 7th and 2019-20: 8thSquad: Katherine Brunt (Eng), Lucy Cripps, Sophie Day, Bhavi Devchand, Nicole Faltum, Holly Ferling, Tess Flintoff, Georgia Gall, Alana King, Meg Lanning, Erin Osborne, Mignon du Preez, Nat Sciver (Eng), Annabel Sutherland, Elyse VillaniIn Katherine Brunt, Sophie Day, Bhavi Devchand (Scorchers), Georgia Gall, Meg Lanning (Scorchers), Nat Sciver
Out Kristen Beams (retired), Nicola Hancock (Heat), Emma Inglis, Lizelle Lee (Renegades), Madeline Penna (Strikers), Angela Reakes (Sixers)Pre-seasonWere the Melbourne Stars’ men’s team to have maintained the sort of wretched record their women’s equivalent have managed over the WBBL’s first five seasons, little short of a Royal Commission would have been called. It remains a source of enormous frustration though that the Stars have not been able to prosper, and the return of Meg Lanning from a stint with the Perth Scorchers will undoubtedly help. Lanning performed well as the Stars began their existence as a mid-table team finishing just out of the semi-finals, and it will now be a question of whether the Stars and their new coach Trent Woodhill have been able to assemble an effective group to operate around her. The arrival of two seasoned England internationals in Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver bode well for these plans, offering Lanning a pair of highly dependable operators with the ball and the bat, respectively. More will be expected of Annabel Sutherland, with Elyse Villani given the chance to score a little more freely without the responsibilities of captaincy.Player to watchIt’s hard to look past Lanning as key to the Stars improving their fortunes, after two impressive seasons with the Scorchers saw a strong combination with Villani in particular before she moved to the Stars the season before Lanning chose to follow. There is a sense at the Stars that the club is finally committing the kinds of resources and attention to the WBBL that it should have done long ago, and Lanning’s return is a measure of that resolve.Perth ScorchersCaptain Sophie DevineCoach Shelley NitschkeWBBL history 2015-16: 4th, 2016-17: Runners-up, 2017-18: Runners-up, 2018-19: 5th and 2019-20: Semi-finalSquad Megan Banting, Jemma Barsby, Samantha Betts, Nicole Bolton, Mathilda Carmichael, Piepa Cleary, Sophie Devine (NZ), Sarah Glenn (Eng), Heather Graham, Amy Jones (Eng) Emma King, Beth Mooney, Taneale Peschel, Chloe Piparo, Georgia WyllieIn Megan Banting, Sophie Devine (Strikers), Sarah Glenn, Beth Mooney (Brisbane Heat), Georgia Wyllie
Out Kim Garth, Kath Hempenstall, Meg Lanning (Stars), Georgia Redmayne (Heat), Nat Sciver (Stars)Pre-seasonIt would be hard to argue that anyone did better business than the Perth Scorchers as they brought in both Devine and Beth Mooney, while also signing England legspinner Sarah Glenn who has impressed this year. They have lost Meg Lanning but with Amy Jones and Nicole Bolton also in the batting line-up, they will be confident of getting runs on the board.Player to watchYou would think the batting would look after itself, but what about the Scorchers bowling? Heather Graham was their leading wicket-taker last season with 15 and shapes as being a key component of the attack again if they want to go deep into the tournament. She had a brief taste with Australia last season but was not part of the expanded squad recently against New Zealand. She scored an unbeaten half-century against India A in the series before Christmas and took 3 for 40 to help Western Australia win the WNCL.Sammy-Jo Johnson, Sarah Aley and Hannah Darlington at Sydney Olympic Park•Cricket AustraliaSydney SixersCaptain Ellyse PerryCoach Ben SawyerWBBL history 2015-16: Runners up, 2016-17: Champions, 2017-18: Champions, 2018-19: Runners up and 2019-20: 5thSquad Sarah Aley, Erin Burns, Stella Campbell, Lauren Cheatle, Maddy Darke, Ashleigh Gardner, Lisa Griffith, Alyssa Healy, Jodie Hicks, Emma Hughes, Marizanne Kapp (SA), Ellyse Perry, Angela Reakes, Hayley Silver-Holmes, Dane van Niekerk (SA)In> Angela Reakes (Stars), Lisa Griffith (Thunder)
Out Alisha Bates, Lauren Smith (Thunder)Pre-seasonThe Sixers were one of the quieter teams during a hectic contracting period as they look to respond the surprising fifth-place finish last season, the first time they ended outside of the top two. Pace-bowling allrounder Lisa Griffith has jumped across down from the Thunder with Lauren Smith heading the other way, while Angela Reakes returns to her original club after a spell with the Stars which included missing the whole of last season due to an Achilles injury. There will be plenty of attention on the recovery of Ellyse Perry from the hamstring injury which has sidelined her since the T20 World Cup after she suffered a setback while training with the Australia squad in Brisbane.Player to watchIf Perry is available she will form an enviable opening pairing with Alyssa Healy, but it feels as though Ash Gardner is taking her game to a new level and could be set for a big tournament. She struck the ball very cleanly against New Zealand, especially in the well-constructed 61 in the opening T20I when Australia were in trouble, as she allies her strength and timing with the nous of building an innings – even in the short format. Coupled with her more-than-handy offspin and dynamic fielding, she is the ideal T20 all-round package.Sydney ThunderCaptain Rachael HaynesCoach Trevor GriffinWBBL history 2015-16: Champions, 2016-17: 6th, 2017-18: Semi-final, 2018-19: Semi-final and 2019-20: 6thSquad Sam Bates, Tammy Beaumont (Eng), Hannah Darlington, Rachael Haynes, Saskia Horley, Shabnim Ismail (SA) Sammy-Jo Johnson, Anika Learoyd, Phoebe Litchfield, Heather Knight (Eng), Kate Peterson, Olivia Porter (injured), Lauren Smith, Rachel Trenaman, Tahlia WilsonIn Tammy Beaumont, Sammy-Jo Johnson (Heat), Heather Knight, Anika Learoyd, Olivia Porter, Lauren Smith (Sixers)
Out Alex Blackwell (retired), Nida Dar, Rene Farrell (retired), Lisa Griffith (Sixers), Rachel Priest (Hurricanes), Naomi Stalenberg (Hurricanes)Pre-seasonAfter a disappointing sixth place last season, allrounder Sammy-Jo Johnson was a significant signing as she moved from the defending champions Brisbane Heat. England pair Heather Knight and Tammy Beaumont should provide a strong top order – which will have a new look this year after the retirement of Alex Blackwell and loss of Rachel Priest – alongside captain Rachael Haynes and the hugely talented Phoebe Litchfield.Player to watchNineteen-year-old Hannah Darlington was the Thunder’s leading wicket-taker last year with 16 at 21.31, which earned her the young player of the tournament title. She then headed across the Tasman and was the leading wicket-taker for Otago in their Super Smash campaign with 13 wickets in 11 matches. She will form a potentially potent seam attack alongside Shabnim Ismail and Johnson.

What Mumbai and Capitals need to do to secure a spot in the IPL 2020 final: for starters, win the toss and bowl

Sidharth Monga04-Nov-20207:28

Will chasing be Capitals’ best bet against Mumbai? 

It’s time for the first Qualifier in IPL 2020. The top two teams face off, and one will go directly into the final. Here are some strategies the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Capitals could use to make the game theirs.Win the toss
It is in no one’s hands, but the toss has assumed extra importance not just towards the end of the tournament but also in the matches between these two sides. The Capitals batsmen will face a few crucial match-up challenges against the Mumbai Indians, which will be discussed later, but they are best handled with a target in mind and not when batting first, which is what they have done in both their matches against Mumbai. Remarkably, of their own volition in the first instance.ESPNcricinfo LtdOverall, only 23 of the 56 games have been won by sides winning the toss but, since October 22, the number has gone up to 11 out of 17. And 13 out of those 17 matches – never mind the toss – have been won by sides chasing. The dew has been getting heavier, and the pendulum has swung towards chasing. The best a batting-first side can hope for is for the dew to set in early so as to disadvantage both sides, the way it did in the match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals, incidentally at the same venue as the Qualifier.Mumbai are a daunting proposition anyway. They have lost only three matches in regulation time, and it has taken three Super Overs to beat them in extra time. In four of the five matches that Mumbai have failed to win, they were defending totals. You need all the help you can get in a big match against Mumbai: so win the toss, and ask them to bat first.ESPNcricinfo LtdDon’t let Boult strike
In both the matches between these two sides, Trent Boult – a bowler released by the Capitals after the last IPL – has taken a wicket in the first over. The match-up between the Capitals top order and Boult is one-sided. Only Shikhar Dhawan enjoys an upper hand, but he is a left-hand batsman: if the ball swings, it could spell trouble. There might be a temptation to leave out Shaw, or even open with Marcus Stoinis – 16 off eight Boult balls overall – but equally it might be too early to try something that dramatic.The best way, perhaps, is for the openers – onus on Dhawan – to make sure Boult doesn’t strike early even if it means playing him out for three overs in the Powerplay.Attack the other Mumbai bowlers
If the Capitals do decide to be watchful against both Boult and Jasprit Bumrah, it is imperative they go after the two spinners and James Pattinson (or Nathan Coulter-Nile if selected). It is not going to be easy – Krunal and Rahul Chahar have bowled 15 overs for 90 runs in Capitals vs Mumbai matches this IPL – but if it comes off, it will force Mumbai to either exhaust Bumrah’s overs early or to go Pollard. Both are a win. This is where playing Shimron Hetmyer – a left-hand middle-overs hitter – becomes important. Both of Mumbai’s spinners turn the ball back in, and the Capitals need to utilise Hetmyer and Rishabh Pant to unsettle them. In their tied match against Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai didn’t even bowl out Krunal Pandya despite figures of 2-0-12-0 because their middle-overs left-hand spin hitters were too hot to touch with left-arm spin.ESPNcricinfo LtdHit the three Ps with pace
The biggest reason for Mumbai’s invincible look is the lower middle order of Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya. Their one common weakness: hard lengths at a high pace. In Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, the Capitals have two bowlers who can exploit it. They must keep at least four overs for these batsmen. Again, easier to do when Mumbai are batting first.Attack Axar
The Capitals are only too aware of this. In the two matches between these two teams this season, the Capitals didn’t bowl out Axar Patel in the first and didn’t even play him in the second. Axar’s economic bowling has been a big part of the Capitals’ success, but he will be tested against Mumbai, who have Quinton de Kock and Ishan Kishan for sure and Saurabh Tiwary if Rohit Sharma doesn’t make it. They could even promote Krunal Pandya if Ashwin has been seen through without damage.ESPNcricinfo LtdAshwin against left-hand batsmen
In the first match between these sides, the Capitals didn’t use Ashwin as an attacking option. In the second, the target was so low that Mumbai could afford to play him out. None of their left-hand batsmen nor Rohit Sharma or Suryakumar Yadav enjoys a good match-up against Ashwin. This is a big opportunity for Ashwin – perhaps not 100% with his physical fitness but still seemingly fit enough to play – to strike decisive blows for his team.Mumbai can afford to be watchful against Ashwin because the Capitals will be mindful of preserving the pace of Rabada and Nortje for the lower middle order. Kieron Pollard is the only one who has dominated Ashwin in terms of strike rate in the past but he also got out to him four times. So don’t really expect Mumbai to promote either Pollard or Hardik to unsettle Ashwin, but expect Suryakumar to take charge and others to go watchfully.ESPNcricinfo LtdBowl Krunal Pandya early
In both the matches between these two teams, Krunal the bowler has played an important role with combined figures of 7-0-39-2. Shreyas Iyer, the Capitals’ big hope should a wicket fall early, has 27 off 29 deliveries from left-arm spin this year. He has got out to them twice, including once to Krunal. Mumbai just need to see the back of Dhawan early, after which they can control their match-ups.ESPNcricinfo LtdBumrah to Pant
Barring one assault at the Wankhede last year, Rishabh Pant has had a torrid time against Bumrah. Mumbai will be waiting, with Bumrah, to try to make sure Pant doesn’t choose this match to turn an ordinary season around.

His 10th Test ton took him past Tamim Iqbal for most centuries by a Bangladesh batsman

Mohammad Isam06-Feb-2021By reaching his 10th Test century, Mominul Haque now holds a significant record in Bangladesh cricket.Related

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Haque will be tussling with Tamim Iqbal for the top position for most Test tons for a few more years, just like Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim are neck-and-neck for Bangladesh’s most Test runs. Bangladesh’s highest individual Test score has also exchanged hands quite a few times between Rahim, Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan.Iqbal is currently in top position among Bangladesh’s ODI run-makers and centurions, with Shakib and Rahim not too far behind. These three names feature in nearly every Bangladeshi batting chart, but Haque is closing in. He has valuable milestones to his name, and two in particular that were unheard of before Haque got them.With his ton at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Haque is now tied with Michael Clarke (Adelaide Oval), Mahela Jayawardene (Galle) and Kumar Sangakkara (Galle) for scoring seven centuries a single ground. Among current players, he is best placed to challenge the world record. Haque also got near the top of another record with his eleven fifties in consecutive Tests from 2013 to 2015. In addition, he is Bangladesh’s highest scorer in Tests since his debut, and holds the Bangladesh record for most runs in a two-match Test series. He is Bangladesh’s highest run-getter at No. 4 and second highest at No. 3, also having the most hundreds in both positions.No Bangladesh player has scored more Test runs than Mominul Haque since his debut•BCBFor most Test teams, these are highly valued records. But most teams play far more Tests than Bangladesh where one-day cricket is favoured. Still, Haque’s contribution in red-ball cricket cannot be overstated enough; all of his previous Test hundreds have come in Bangladesh wins or draws .On the third afternoon in Chattogram, Haque walked in with his team having lost two wickets for just one run. They had a handsome first-innings lead but another batting collapse would have handed West Indies the advantage. Going by how both batting line-ups looked to be heading towards a freefall, Haque’s innings was priceless.He saw off the two major threats to his batting: fast short-pitched deliveries and orthodox offspin. He tackled both Shannon Gabriel and Rakheem Cornwall in tandem. Notwithstanding the Shadman Islam dismissal to a peach of a bouncer, Haque’s own survival till stumps on the third evening itself was a huge boost to the team.Bangladesh were actually thinking of a 250-plus lead as West Indies’ fourth-innings target, but by the time Haque added 133 for the fifth wicket with Liton Das, the lead had swelled to more than 375.Mominul Haque acknowledges the applause on getting to a landmark•AFP via Getty ImagesCornwall, who couldn’t dislodge Haque having bowled 90 deliveries to him in a long tussle, said that the left-hander forced him to bowl to his strengths.”I think he played spin well. I think he hangs back a lot, forcing me to bowl a bit fuller and bowl to his strength. We just have to keep working. There’s another Test coming up so we know how to bowl to him,” Cornwall said.Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo said that Haque gave them the sound platform needed to win a Test match.”He has been fantastic. He has back-to-back hundreds. In the last Test in February last year, he got a hundred against Zimbabwe in Dhaka,” he said. “He has backed it up with another good hundred today. He has set the game really well for us, so we are very pleased with the way he is playing at the moment.”Haque’s pragmatic approach, in which he often sacrifices style over substance, is one of the major ways he has distinguished himself from other flashier Bangladesh batsmen of his generation. He has worked out ways to tackle the short ball, as well as a perceived weakness against offspin, and yet has kept his shape as a largely positive batsman. His average strike-rate in Test hundreds is 65.By moving into the higher stratums of Bangladesh’s batting, he has also left daylight between himself and those who, like him, made their Test debuts since 2011. Forget about 10 hundreds, only Shamsur Rahman and Soumya Sarkar have made a Test century each batting in the top six from that list.Among the batsmen other than Iqbal, Rahim and Shakib in the current Bangladesh line-up, Das, who made his debut in 2015 with a huge billing as the next big thing in Bangladesh cricket, has so far made six fifties in his 21 Tests. Najmul Hossain Shanto, who now has supplanted Haque as the Test No. 3 just because he showed promise in domestic cricket, has hit a single half-century in five Tests over four years. Shadman Islam is in the revolving door of Iqbal’s opening partner, having returned to the team in this game with a second half-century.Haque has showed that through sheer will and mindfulness that a young Bangladeshi player can rise through the ranks to not just to be an international cricketer, but to give the seniors in the side a run for their money. This, despite being tagged as a Test-only cricketer who is yet to make a real mark away from home. When he had scored his sixth hundred at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, the running joke was that a stadium should be named after him. Maybe now a serious thought that can be given to the matter.

Under the gaze of St Peter’s, India’s batsmen were felled with frightening swiftness

Daniel Brettig19-Dec-2020 was a 1935 drama penned by TS Eliot about the assassination of the medieval Archbishop Thomas Becket. should be the title forever applied to the brutally decisive seventh session of the Adelaide Test.Under the gaze of St Peter’s, India’s batsmen were felled with frightening swiftness by an Australian pace attack that found, much to their delight, the pink ball was swinging for more or less the first time in what had already been a quite challenging match for batsmen.Adding to the serendipitous meeting of conditions in the air – markedly less windy than previously – with those under foot on a pitch that had perceptibly quickened from its more sluggish beginnings, was the fact that the Australians had learned from the first day to pitch the ball a little fuller in search of movement and forward strokes from the batsmen.Josh Hazlewood leads Australia off after registering figures of 5-3-8-5•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesIn doing so, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood found the sort of “zone” they had enjoyed on the second day of the Leeds Ashes Test in 2019, South Africa’s seamers had experienced against the Australians when bowling them out for 47 at Cape Town in 2011, and Curtly Ambrose entered during his mesmerising spell of 7 for 1 in the decisive Perth Test of the 1992-93 bout for the Frank Worrell Trophy.On each occasion, there was just enough bounce and lateral movement, by no means an extravagant amount, meaning that edges were consistently found rather than thin air. And on each occasion, whether pushed to be more aggressive by the match situation or simply through building up to the ideal rhythm over the course of a series, the bowlers ventured fuller than their usual lengths when usually they hesitated out of dislike for being driven too often.If there was an added contemporary factor making things still more difficult for the Indians, it arrived in the form of the contrasting approaches taken by Cummins and Hazlewood. As Australia’s most accomplished seam bowler, Cummins has now utterly mastered the art of wobbling the seam, something he began doing more consistently in the 2019 Ashes, culminating in his memorable delivery to bowl Joe Root at Old Trafford. This method is impossible for a batsman to pick up before the ball has pitched, leaving them little or no time to adjust when it moves.At the other end, after an exploratory couple of overs from Mitchell Starc, Hazlewood provided the perfect contrast by sending down a beautifully balanced, upright seam in the more traditional manner once favoured by Ryan Harris and Damien Fleming before him. With the fuller length and just enough lateral movement through the air, the Cummins and Hazlewood tandem was at a level very few batting line-ups through Test match history would have been able to cope with.Pat Cummins is pumped after ripping through India’s top order•Getty Images”He sort of gets a natural wobble on it all the time,” Hazlewood said of Cummins, “so it’s something that’s a bit different and it really worked for him in England with the big seam on the Duke. And even when there’s grass on this wicket it works really well. I think he can do both. He’s not a big swinger of the ball but he can do it from time to time. It’s a nice little change that all three of us are a lot different I guess.”An advantage of the Australian bowlers now having spent the better part of four years operating together in Tests is that they are now well versed at switching between wobble seam and swing methods depending on how the conditions favour them. It’s something Tim Paine spoke candidly about on the second evening, when the Test remained finely balanced after the captain had salvaged something from his side’s halting first innings with a knock of 73 that will look better with each passing day.”It’s a bit of everything actually. Some of the times they’ll talk about it and we’ll say ‘no we think you can do this or do that’, but they’re experienced bowlers,” Paine said. “Most of the time it comes after they’ve done one of the things and it’s not working as well as they would like, so they try something else.”I think Patty’s more like that most of the time, regardless of the conditions. Josh is someone that can do a bit of both and Starcy’s more swing than seam. So we’ve got a nice mix. [Cameron] Greeny is someone who can do both, he’s got really good skills from what we’ve seen with seam up and swing he can do everything. So we’re lucky to have such a good attack. But most of the time they see what’s happening at the time and they’re experienced bowlers, they can make that decision and we back them to do it.”The initial decision to start with Cummins and Starc, seam and swing, was adjusted to Hazlewood, and the contrasting challenges posed by the NSW pair, city and country, were far too much for the Indians. After Jasprit Bumrah’s initial return catch to Cummins, Cheteshwar Pujara could do nothing about a delivery that seamed and bounced away, Mayank Agarwal snicked a perfectly pitched first ball from Hazlewood, Ajinkya Rahane followed in near enough to an action replay, and Virat Kohli did what he had successfully avoided on day one – pushing hard at a full ball.All up, this spellbinding sequence saw India lose 5 for 4 in 5.5 overs, and meant there was very little the rest could do. Hazlewood went on finish with 5 for 8, having had 5 for 3 at one stage, while Cummins recorded the mundane analysis of 4 for 21. It all added up to 36 all out, the lowest Test score in India’s history. Looking on from on high, no less a top order authority than Sunil Gavaskar was at pains to emphasise the quality of the bowling rather than any intrinsic weakness in the way India had batted.”There’s very little that the Indians have done wrong,” Gavaskar said admiringly on Seven’s coverage. “It’s been splendid bowling by the Australians – much fuller length, mixed up with the odd short delivery, around the off stump. The Indian batsmen have been just that little bit tentative, but the bowling has been tremendous.”Tremendously effective, and tremendously violent for the outcome of the match and the series. India’s best chance had been to win in Adelaide while they still had Kohli in the team. Now the Australians are well and truly in the ascendant, and will leave South Australia with far happier memories of St Peter’s spire than anyone in the touring party.

He is the first born-and-bred cricketer from his city to appear in an internationally televised game

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-Dec-2020Legspinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth played for Jaffna Stallions on Friday, and in an unbroken spell of four overs, returned creditable figures of 1 for 29. These are the cricketing facts of Viyaskanth’s Lanka Premier League debut. But they are not the most important ones.Viyaskanth is the first born-and-bred cricketer from his city to appear in an internationally televised game from Sri Lanka. Jaffna – which Stallions ostensibly represent – is the intellectual and commercial hub of the Tamil north, and has through the course of its history been home to some of the island’s most erudite figures. More recently, the north and the east of the island have also produced a separatist ethnic struggle. From the 80s until 2009, Tamil separatists were locked in a brutal war against the mostly-Sinhalese Sri Lankan state. That the state did not adequately represent them was among the north’s many grievances. As there has never been a born-and-bred northern national cricketer (at least since Sri Lanka achieved Test status), the cricket team has been seen by many as merely a microcosm of a deeply flawed nation.Viyaskanth is likely aware of this fraught history. Almost certainly he knows how Jaffna was strung up in the Civil War for much of his childhood and the decades that preceded his birth. Without a doubt, he knows that despite the multitude of violence and indignity the war wrought, Jaffna’s love for cricket remained undimmed through the conflict.Teenaged cricketers of the 90s such as M Kandeepan of Jaffna’s St. John’s college turned the city’s air electric with his savage hitting and his swinging left-arm seam, drawing thousands to major schoolboy games. There are incredible anecdotes from this period – of Kandeepan hooking a six that landed so far out of the ground, the ball was found in a roundabout. Of school cricketers having hundreds of rupees pressed into their palms whenever they played a good innings or delivered an outstanding spell. Perhaps some of this is embellishment. But does that matter? These stories exist. Kandeepan wanted to play for Sri Lanka, but because he was a northern Tamil in wartime, he never had the chance to try. Many in Jaffna still think he would have been one of the island’s greatest.Vijayakanth Viyaskanth receives his maiden T20 cap from Thisara Perera•LPLTwo decades after Kandeepan, Viyaskanth debuted for Sri Lanka’s Under-19 team, in July 2018, at the Sooriyawewa ground in which the LPL is being played. On Friday, he became the first Jaffna cricketer to play in the LPL side bearing his city’s name. Through the course of his spell, he conceded only three boundaries, and delivered eight dot balls. He bowled four deliveries to Andre Russell and gave away only a single.That he is also the youngest cricketer to play in this tournament – one day shy of his 19th birthday – is almost incidental. But he received his cap from Thisara Perera, the player of the tournament so far. Right through his spell, he was constantly encouraged by Wanindu Hasaranga, the senior legspinner in the team, and a player who hails from Galle, the southernmost major city on the island. Hasaranga had unusually fielded at short cover for Viyaskanth’s overs, specifically for the purpose of supporting the team’s junior bowler. Later, after the match ended, Angelo Mathews would congratulate Viyaskanth on his debut on Twitter. Mathews was Viyaskanth’s first wicket in senior cricket.Such things speak to the profound power of sport, if not to unite, then at least to produce some of the emotional conditions for unity. Viyaskanth bowled a tight spell and muted one of the most devastating hitters on the planet, but there are limits to what he could achieve – he could not heal deep ethnic wounds, right decades of structural injustice, or even bring victory to his team. And yet in the fact of his playing, and perhaps in the manner of it, there was so much more meaning than in a win.

Win-loss ratios as captains to dot-ball percentages as batsmen, here’s how their IPL records stack up

Sampath Bandarupalli08-Apr-2021Two of the biggest names in Indian cricket, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, are set to face off in opening match of IPL 2021. How do they stack up against each other in terms of IPL batting and captaincy? Here’s the lowdown.ESPNcricinfo LtdCaptain’s log
Sharma has been part of a record six victorious campaigns (with Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians), including five as Mumbai Indians captain. Under Sharma, Mumbai Indians have been the league’s most successful franchise, winning 68 out of 116 matches. However, Sharma’s performance with the bat as captain is not exceptional. He averages 30.25 as captain, against 32.91 without the captaincy tag. Kohli is one of four IPL captains with 100-plus caps – he is the only one on this list to not win the title.ESPNcricinfo LtdKohli’s overall win-loss record as IPL captain isn’t great either. The Royal Challengers have won only 55 out of 125 matches under him. However, as a batsman, there are not many who can match Kohli’s consistency and impact. He is the leading run-getter in the competition and also holds the record for most runs as captain. Kohli’s average as captain of 43.88 is second only to David Warner’s (49.01) among those with 1000-plus runs as captain, and well ahead of his IPL average before he started leading the Royal Challengers (26.96).ESPNcricinfo LtdImpact on the team with the bat

Mumbai Indians are far less dependent on Sharma the batsman than the Royal Challengers on Kohli. While Sharma has moved himself around the batting order, Kohli is a top-order specialist. Only four times has he batted outside the top three for the Royal Challengers, contributing 22.93% of the team’s runs overall.On the other hand, more than 40% of Sharma’s captaincy career has been spent batting outside the top three. He stuck to the opening spot in the last two seasons, but has not achieved high levels of consistency or volume of runs. However, when he makes significant scores, the chances of Mumbai Indians winning are higher: only seven of his 22 fifties as captain have resulted in defeats, and he was Player of the Match on 12 out of the 15 occasions when he scored fifties in wins.Kohli, too, has been a key contributor in the Royal Challengers’ wins, scoring one-fourth of the team’s tally in those matches. Kohli’s batting average as captain in wins shoots up to 64.02, with four centuries and 15 fifties in 55 victories.ESPNcricinfo LtdHow they build their innings
The playing styles of Sharma and Kohli are quite similar, if you look at their scoring rates in various phases of an IPL innings. Both score at a strike rate of a little over 110 in the powerplays and at 120-plus during the middle overs. In the last four overs, their strike rates go up to two runs a ball: Sharma scores at 198.26, Kohli at 205.52.Both players are relatively slow off the blocks, and like to settle in before shifting into higher gears. While there is a risk factor to this approach – the team suffers if the batsman gets out well into this period but before teeing off – the upside is very high if they convert those starts: among Indian players, the strike rates of Kohli and Sharma in the death overs occupy the top two places (with a minimum cut-off of 500 runs). Overall, only AB de Villiers (233.08) and Andre Russell (218.03) strike at a quicker rate than them in this period.Much like the strike rates, their balls-per-boundary and dot-ball percentage are also similar. While Kohli plays fewer dots across the three phases of an innings (46%, 29% and 21% from start to finish respectively, to Sharma’s 52%, 32% and 25%), Sharma edges the boundary count in the powerplays (one boundary every 5.6 balls, to Kohli’s 6). Overall in their IPL careers, Sharma’s dot-ball percentage is 36.16 to Kohli’s 33.62, but he hits a boundary once every 5.96 balls to Kohli’s 6.38.ESPNcricinfo LtdHow to – possibly – keep them quiet
Legspinners have been the go-to bowlers for IPL teams when they are up against Sharma and Kohli. Sharma, in general, has struggled against legspin – his struggles on this front particularly stuck out in the 2017 edition, when he was dismissed six times by legspinners after returning from a six-month injury break. In his IPL career, Sharma has an average of 27.13 against legspinners and a strike rate of 113.24.While there is a perception that Kohli is weak against legspin, the numbers tell a different story. He averages 53.56 and strikes at 142.35 against this type of bowling. However, Kohli’s tendency to fall to legspin has increased recently. During the recent T20I series against England, he got out only twice in five matches, both times to the legspin of Adil Rashid. In the last three IPL seasons, Kohli been dismissed six times by legspinners, but still averages 48.83 against them. However, his strike rate against this type of bowling in this period is 124.68 – it was 153.67 in the first ten seasons. In the last two IPL seasons, Kohli faced 58 googlies and was dismissed twice.Rather than legspin, the numbers suggest left-arm pace has been Kohli’s weak spot in the IPL: he averages just 23.45 and strikes at 132.66 against these bowlers, and is dismissed once every 17 balls against them.