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During a rare batting practice session on Thursday night, Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium, bouncing it off the roof of the pavilion in right field and out of the park. On Friday night, Ohtani one-upped himself during Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the Brewers.

After impressively striking out the side, then hitting a leadoff homer in the bottom half of the first inning, Ohtani electrified the ballpark and left his teammates jaws on the floor when he turned on a 3-1 cutter from Milwaukee righthander Chad Patrick, sending the ball a whopping 469 feet up and out of Dodger Stadium.

It's hard to say which was better, Ohtani's mammoth blast or his teammates' reactions. All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman looked like he had seen a ghost.

Over in the Dodgers' bullpen, the reactions were priceless.

Ohtani simply defies words. In addition to his two home runs, he's pitched six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts.

Next week, the Cubs will play their first postseason series since 2020—and for that series, they will utilize the services of one of their best players.

Chicago is activating right fielder and designated hitter Kyle Tucker from the injured list and he is in the lineup Friday against the Cardinals, Tucker told Jesse Rogers of ESPN Friday morning. The 28-year-old has not played since Sept. 2 with a calf injury.

When healthy, Tucker has been a force for the Cubs this season. He's slashed .270/.381/.472 with 22 home runs and 73 RBIs during his first year on the North Side.

That's despite a slump believed to have been caused by a lingering finger injury; he hit .218 and slugged .295 in a July to forget before rebounding modestly in August.

Chicago is scheduled to play the Padres next week, though the venue is still to be determined. It will be the two teams' first playoff meeting since 1984.

Shohei Ohtani this, Shohei Ohtani that. The Dodgers’ two-way superstar is rightfully getting all the praise for the myriad ways Los Angeles can use him in Saturday’s winner-take-all Game 7 for the World Series title. But, with the season on the line for both sides, the Blue Jays can break out all the stops, too.

Toronto’s rookie righthander Trey Yesavage has been one of baseball’s best stories this year. He started Games 1 and 5 of the World Series, highlighted by his 12-strikeout performance in the latter where he threw seven innings of one-run ball to help the Jays to a win, taking a 3-2 lead in the series.

It all comes down to Saturday, though. Max Scherzer will toe the rubber for Toronto against Ohtani for L.A. in a matchup every baseball fan is eager to see. If Toronto wants to go to their rookie star on short rest, he’d certainly be open to it.

“I’m not sure, I haven’t heard anything from the people that make that decision,” Yesavage said Friday night when asked about his availability for Game 7 via CityNews’ Lindsay Dunn. “But I’ll be ready if my name’s called.”

If called upon, he’d be pitching on three days rest after throwing 104 pitches Wednesday. But, this is Game 7 of the World Series, and Yesavage wants to do what it takes to help his team earn the franchise’s first title since 1993.

The next big thing in Pakistan cricket is an amazing place to be in. And also the loneliest.

Osman Samiuddin11-Feb-2020Dear Naseem,I’ll start with an apology. This is a letter. Nobody does those anymore. It’s not even a real letter with a postage stamp that you could start a collection with (it used to be a thing).Second, my condolences on your recent loss. No advice fits these matters. We make our own advice, applicable only for ourselves. Grief happens to you and, to compound matters in your case, it’s been a public affair. But then one quiet day, if you’re lucky, it doesn’t happen and you realise that it hasn’t happened for a few days. For others it never goes but becomes a less significant part of the day.Third, congratulations on the fine start to your career. The drama of that debut no-ball, the five-fer in Karachi and now this, a hat-trick in front of a packed home crowd – there are players who have seen less action in entire careers than you have in four Tests and barely three months.And finally, well, this isn’t advice. Gleanings, that’s better; gleanings from years of watching Pakistan cricket and how corrosive it can be for Pakistan’s cricketers. Take it whichever way you see fit, but it’s not advice.To be the next big thing in Pakistan cricket, as you’re probably beginning to realise, is an amazing place to be in. To be the next big thing in Pakistan cricket, as you will come to understand, is also the loneliest place to be in.Be under no illusions about this. You’ll never be physically alone. People will permanently hover in your space, some bearing promises and gifts, some wanting a piece of you, some wanting to just be with you, some wanting to be you. Little economies will blossom around you, not operating on conventional economic wisdoms but operating with you as the currency, and there’ll come a day where you won’t even know who certain people around you are and why you are, essentially, paying for their life.You’ll never be as popular as you’re going to be for a while now but remember this if you want a long career – you’re on your own now. You will have to do it by yourself. You will have to do it by basing yourself in permanent opposition to the environment you’re in, like you’re carving your face into a mountain. If all goes well, 20 years from now you’ll feel like you’ve come home from war.See, on the tin it says that everything is geared towards making you better, to making sure you’re the best you that you can be. But this is the PCB and, last I checked, no matter how fancy the people they hire or high-tech the academies they make, they are still the PCB. They waste players like we’re wasting the environment.Instead, people will point you towards “role models”, maybe a once-great pacer.One, there’s not as many of those as you think. And two, following from that, it will help if you see them for what they really are: cautionary tales of what happens to most next big things when they get older. Most of them you don’t want to emulate.

Remind yourself that though fast bowlers put their bodies on the line like nobody else in cricket, it doesn’t mean they should be as expendable as Pakistan takes them to be

Ex-players, some even with decent intentions, will come at you with all kinds of advice. Be really careful how you negotiate this. Spurned ex-players are incredibly dark, malevolent forces who, in Pakistan particularly, weigh down heavier on your soul than they should. There’s one, who, if he spends any time with you, will definitely tell you your action needs working on. No names but he also debuted as a 16-year-old, has an international hat-trick and is a World Cup winner. Once when they came across him, he suggested some tweaks to the actions of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. Imagine. The kind of guy who’ll argue that water might be better if it tasted a little more like .Trust yourself here, trust yourself hard.As an aside, that action is something. Fast bowling actions are more derivative than we sometimes realise and I swear – as Rashid Latif also saw – I see both Richard Hadlee and Shane Bond in yours. I’m no biomechanist (if you come across a good one, it’s a wise move to pay attention) but what struck me most about the action is how ready it is. The careful measure of that run-up, the tight coil and narrowed alignment – of shoulder, hip, knee and ankle – at the crease, and then the follow-through, like you really mean it. That follow-through might get you in a batsman’s private space and so into the ICC’s bad behaviour books. Don’t worry. Bureaucracy is one opponent you can’t ever beat.Everything about the action looks as if it has been honed over years, irregularities chipped out in academies, wrinkles ironed out on tour and under the eyes of a thousand coaches and cameras. But that’s not possible because you’re too young and raw. This must just be how your action has always been, as ready and beautiful as a butterfly at birth.Seeing as how you went off right after the hat-trick, a word about injuries too. You’ve already had a back injury. There was a knee niggle in Australia. And now this in Pindi. Injuries aren’t the issue as such. Bound to happen.But – and this will be difficult – don’t trust the PCB’s medical department. I’m not sure how you’re going to get around this, but that department is a black hole. You go in and either you don’t come out, or you do come out but are old and washed up. If you don’t believe me, look at the number of players who have picked up injuries that would be considered fairly run of the mill around the world but in Pakistan end up derailing – or nearly derailing – careers. Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Haris Sohail, Azhar Ali, Umar Amin, Mohammad Hafeez; what has happened to Rumman Raees and what might happen to Hasan Ali?If you don’t believe me, ask your team-mates, those who seek out a sports doctor in the UK, one who works with elite Premier League football clubs. It’s a little awkward all round. Ask them, they’ll tell you. Try not to get injured, I guess. Or hope the PCB finds better doctors.Remind yourself that though fast bowlers put their bodies on the line like nobody else in cricket, it doesn’t mean they should be as expendable as Pakistan takes them to be. Look at Pat Cummins. Jimmy Anderson now has 150 Tests. Ishant Sharma has nearly a hundred. It is possible, no matter what they tell you (one of them told Amir his career was over, in 2007, after his back stress fractures).That’s pretty much it. It’s a lonely place, but don’t be a recluse. There are good people. Your coach is one, even if he’s wearing too many hats. Mohammad Abbas looks like a decent sort. Smart too, plus he has recent experience of being burnt by the employer. I’m not sure about Azhar Ali as captain but he is a decent man and you’ll need one or two of those.All best,PS: Sorry for the downer so soon after the hat-trick that you – we all – are still buzzing off.PPS: Avoid dodgy agents. And drugs. Obviously.PPPS: Remember whenever you can why you started playing this game in the first place.

The face of J&K cricket opens up on administrative issues, young talent, cricket through strife and a standout Ranji season

Interview by Shashank Kishore20-Feb-2020Tell us about the system you came through?
For fifty years, J&K cricket stalled. Our facilities remained the same. There were just two big venues, two turf wickets. Even today, one venue, Srinagar, remains out of bound for three months during the monsoons and three months during the winter because of snow. So half the year, it’s inaccessible. How can you produce players when you aren’t able to provide wickets, basic infrastructure? There is no indoor facility yet. This has been the story for the last many years. The selection system was dysfunctional. Ahead of the season, the players used to only get 10 days to prepare. Camps used to be called hastily, players would be informed through newspaper ads. Now, who reads newspapers, English ones, in interior Kashmir? There was no concept of district trials or tournaments. So essentially, whoever turned up formed part of the probables and they used to pick teams from that. How could expect results in a system like this?How has the court-appointed committee helped grow the game in Jammu & Kashmir?
Since 2018, we’ve had professionals run the show. Irfan Pathan came in as player-mentor. Someone with international experience like him went door to door, district to district, remote ones even, where there was only violence. He conducted trials, open nets, spent days looking for players. He, along with coach Milap Mewada, conducted pre-season camps, trained and lived with the team for two months. It was through one such camp that we we found Rasikh Salam in Kulgam district in 2019. He had been coming to trials for three years, but kept getting rejected.Irfan saw him bowl and immediately asked the JKCA to bring him into the system. Imagine, Mumbai Indians, a championship winning team, noticed something and picked him and let him train at world-class facilities, while our own administrators turned a blind eye because he wasn’t “talented”. Rasikh is now in Mumbai, I think the franchise is taking care of him while he serves out the two-year ban. Here, there was no concept of “looking after” players until two years ago, but that has changed. Take the example of Abdul Samad. He is from Kalakote. Imagine, he’s being picked in the IPL from a place where there’s no cricket ground, forget a turf wicket. Two years ago, there was Manzoor Dar, who was with Kings XI Punjab. So there is talent. And administrators have to change their process of finding it if they have to grow the game. That is slowly starting to happen now with professionals coming in. The message is clear: ‘If you perform, where you come from doesn’t matter.’ You will be backed, you will get opportunities. The administrators aren’t cricketers, but they’ve got a vision, and have let people who know the game run the show. That is the biggest difference.

“We didn’t even know if we will play the season. Phones were blocked, I couldn’t even contact my neighbour. Some boys were stuck without electricity, some were stuck in interior areas. All along, even though there was so much political turmoil, you could still see kids playing cricket in the gullies and open grounds. That passion can’t be taken away. That passion we’ve shown as a team as well.”PARVEZ RASOOL

Do you see players from small centres now having more confidence now?
This year, for the first time, we had a player from Kishtwar district, It’s a hilly area. Henan Nazir got picked for our Under-23 team from here. He scored back-to-back hundreds there and then we got him to the Ranji squad. He was nerveless, and scored 66 on debut against Assam, Abid Mushtaq comes from Doda district. Earlier, people used to come from just two centres, whether they performed or not. Aquib Nabi is from Baramulla, Umar Nazir is from Pulwana, I am from Anantnag. Now, the environment is such they know where they come from doesn’t matter. That is a great sign. And all these guys are game-ready, because they’re now playing a lot more. I haven’t had a bigger selection headache than I’ve had this year, because these boys are all match-tuned. It’s been hard to leave out people. That is the kind of transformation we’re talking about. I’m not by any means saying things are back to being at their best or that things are wonderful and everything’s rosy, but yes, there has been a massive change in confidence and attitude of players and administrators.What has pleased you the most this season?
The boys have reached the knockouts despite the challenges which everyone’s well aware of. We didn’t even know if we will play the season. The political climate was such that there was uncertainty. Their mental resilience is unbelievable. Phones were blocked, I couldn’t even contact my neighbour. Some boys were stuck without electricity, some were stuck in interior areas. Our CEO contacted news channels, local TV, newspapers. He sent police vehicles to bring us to Jammu. All along, even though there was so much political turmoil and a tense atmosphere, you could still see kids playing cricket in the gullies and open grounds. That passion can’t be taken away. That passion we’ve shown as a team as well. To get here is a message in how to make the most of what you have. Credit to our CEO Bukhari saab, and of course our coaching staff. They’ve instilled incredible amount of confidence and self-belief.Has the team ever been intimidated this season?
Irfan’s played a big role in taking the fear out over the last couple of years. He says ‘Why look at other teams? You’ve won six games to get here, others should be looking at you.’ That is the line of thinking now. We have a combination of some wonderful young players and a few seniors. The average age is 23-24, the youngsters are hungry, they have that spark.How have you carried the pressure of being the face of J&K cricket for the last decade or so?
I don’t look at it as pressure. It’s a proud moment for me that as a senior, who has played at a higher level, I’m in a position to give back to the state. I want to bring that experience and share it with the youngsters. It’s not like I had something more than what these youngsters have in terms of ability. It’s just that my father was a district cricketer, who played local tournaments. So I had that backing from my family, which some of these guys don’t have. That is the difference. You have to give them that belief, back them and show some patience. They will make mistakes, but as a senior, I try to tell them that is how you learn. I tell the boys, if nobody notices you, make them chase you. Win games single-handedly. This group has a chance to make history in the years to come.Parvez Rasool in India colours•Getty ImagesHow have you channeled the disappointment of not playing for India a lot more?
I was hurt. In my debut tour to Zimbabwe in 2015, 14 of the 15 players in the squad got a game. I didn’t. It was tough, but it wasn’t like I was meant to be a passenger. I got there because I took wickets and runs prior to that in the Ranji Trophy. I didn’t lose my confidence, but it made me more determined to contribute. Again, I had a good follow-up season, got a game on the tour of Bangladesh on a flat wicket, where I dismissed Mushfiqur Rahim and Animal Haque. In 2016-17, I scored 629 runs and 38 wickets, and then got one game against England, where I dismissed Eoin Morgan. So yes, there’s a sense I didn’t get the chances I would’ve liked, but if I get bogged down, I can’t set an example for the players here. I can’t tell them to forget about selection and play freely if I personally feel low or disappointed. How I look at it is, it’s nice to be the first player from Jammu & Kashmir to represent India. If I can use that tag to make a difference, that will make me happier. Bishan Bedi often said ‘control the controllables’. It’s really as simple as that.What is the best compliment someone gave you?
What I am today is because of Bishan Bedi. If I am an off-spinner today with 250-plus wickets, it’s because of him. I remember, when he first became coach and walked in to our Ranji nets and watched me bowl, he casually remarked to one of our selectors about how clean my action was and how I was getting the ball to turn and dip on the batsmen. Our selector laughed it off saying ‘Sir, he is a batsmen, he can’t bowl.’ Bishan sir told him, ‘How is this possible? Just watch, if there’s anyone from here who can play for India in a few years, it’s him. This boy is the best off-spinner in your state’. That much confidence he had in me, I didn’t have so much confidence in myself at the time. I hadn’t played Ranji Trophy, others felt he was mad. But a season later, the same guys told him, how right he was. That backing helped me a lot.Despite the challenges, was cricket a natural transition for you?
I was lucky because my father was a district-level cricket. I come from Bajwara, the nearest turf wicket was in Srinagar, 50 kilometres away. I used to take two buses to get there to train. We used to stand in the sun all day. Sometimes at trials, you had just six balls to bowl or bat. You had to show your spark there. No one gave you refreshments or water. No one recognised people from smaller districts. But if you said you were from Srinagar or Jammu, you were looked at differently. So I grew up thinking I’m competing with 1000s of others with my same skillsets, even if I may be better than them. My father’s backing was key to pursuing the game. My elder brother has also played domestic cricket, so that influence rubbed off on me.

“There’s a sense I didn’t get the chances I would’ve liked [with India], but if I get bogged down, I can’t set an example for the players here. I can’t tell them to forget about selection and play freely if I personally feel low or disappointed.”PARVEZ RASOOL

What is the legacy you want to leave when you finish?
Personally, I want to give back to the area I come from. It’s easy saying I want to make a difference to J&K cricket, but I want to start from where I come from. Two years back, from my own pocket and with some contributions from my close friends, we built two turf wickets, purchased rollers and other ground equipment by investing 8-10 lakhs, only because I had to develop the same ground where I grew up. We pooled in money and have started conducting tournaments. We formed a small association – Bijbehara Cricket Association in the area, which I head. I talk and train with the kids when I am around at home. This is the first turf wicket there. I want to give them a facility to train. Last year, 12-13 year-olds played a tournament for the first time. We conduct senior and junior matches regularly. At the nets, the kids don’t often get the concept of running between the wickets. They all hit the ball hard. How do you channelise that? By conducting matches. T20 matches are an overkill, they don’t have temperament to play 40-50 overs, so we conducted matches with two new balls and proper one-day rules so that they learn and develop game sense. These are small steps, which I hope will make a big difference some time in the future.

For a variety of reasons – not least that West Indies played very well – his debut as skipper ended in defeat

George Dobell12-Jul-2020It will surprise nobody that Ben Stokes was bowling at the end. With a miracle required and his bowling colleagues spent, Stokes was the man who took the responsibility. It was a similar story in Leeds and Colombo and Cape Town.This time it didn’t work out. For a variety of reasons – not least that West Indies played very well – his captaincy debut ended in defeat.Because of that it’s likely that Stokes’ brief reign as England’s Test captain may not be remembered favourably. People will look at the major decisions he made before the start of the game – notably the omission of Stuart Broad and resolving to bat first – and conclude he was simply incorrect.But the truth isn’t that simple. There was actually much to admire in Stokes’ captaincy. It wasn’t just that he top-scored for England in the first innings and the match or that he took most wickets for them in the first innings. It was that he was prepared to take brave decisions, he was prepared to lead from the front and he clearly had the unstinting support of his team. Judging purely by results is simplistic; Stokes looked a very good captain.ALSO READ: Blackwood, Gabriel heroes as Windies seal famous victoryFirstly that decision at the toss. It is true the pitch – which was effectively only used for four days – probably didn’t deteriorate as much as England hoped it would. And it is true England ended up bowling in the nicest weather of the game.But it is also true the bounce became more variable. And it is true there was ever more assistance for the spin of Dom Bess. Perhaps, had England managed another 50 or so runs across their two innings – and they really should have done – it is a decision that would have been fully vindicated. It certainly wasn’t an unreasonable decision.Stokes insisted he had “no regrets” about leaving out Broad, too. And that’s fair. For while Broad may well have been a useful addition to the attack in West Indies’ first innings, there is every chance he would have looked pretty impotent in their second. He has, remember, claimed only one five-wicket haul in his last 28 home Tests; it would be a mistake to believe he has suddenly become a destroyer again. Besides, the bowling really wasn’t England’s issue in this game.But there was an interesting caveat attached to Stokes’ ‘no regrets’ phrase that hinted at impressive depths of empathy with his teammates.”I stand by my decision because if I didn’t, what message would that send to the guys I did pick?” Stokes said. And he’s right: if he were to talk about how much his team missed Broad, it would only lead to Mark Wood and Jofra Archer feeling they were being blamed for the defeat. Archer, in particular, bowled very well in the second innings. Wood bowled better than his figures suggest. Their selections weren’t necessarily wrong; they just didn’t fully work out.The episode revealed aspects of Stokes’ character we don’t always get to see, too. So impressive were his communication skills, he even won praise from Broad for the manner in which his omission was handled.”He has been exceptional,” Broad wrote in his Mail on Sunday column. “He knocked on my hotel room door at 9pm on Thursday and asked for a chat. He said: ‘This is nothing about cricket. I just wanted to know how you’re feeling.’ That was a classy touch and the sort of thing that leads teams forward. If there were any doubts from the outside on how he would deal with being a captain, how he has conducted himself with me should dispel them.”

“I’ve got a good relationship with Jofra. He trusts me a lot and that goes beyond the field. I just asked him to leave nothing out there for me and run through a brick wall. And he did it.”Ben Stokes

It’s instructive to look at the way Stokes handled Archer, too. There have been times in Archer’s brief international career when he has both been over bowled – the Mount Maunganui Test being the nadir of that – and looked a bit unsure what his role was at specific times. Here, after bowling an excellent opening spell which featured a full, probing length and enough lateral movement to trouble all the batsmen, he returned with an older ball to deliver a wonderfully hostile spell.Again, it didn’t work out. But it was a riveting passage of cricket and a reminder that, while he might not be the finished article yet, Archer really could develop into a complete fast bowler.Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes celebrate the dismissal of Roston Chase•AFP via Getty ImagesBut the more pertinent point is, Archer knew exactly what was expected of him at all times and, with the clarity in mind, gave his captain everything he had.”I’ve got a good relationship with Jofra,” Stokes said afterwards. “I think he trusts me a lot and that goes beyond the field. I just asked him to leave nothing out there for me and run through a brick wall. And he did it.”To have someone like that who can go in and out of different scenarios of how you want him to bowl is great. He’s skilful with the new ball and we’ve seen what he can do with the old one: crank it up.”The point is, these decisions about selection and what to do at the toss aren’t necessarily right or wrong. They can be made to look that way by subsequent events but they are generally based on sound logic. It wasn’t the decision to bat first or the decision to leave out Broad that cost England.In the end, it was the smaller details that made the difference. Twice England saw wickets overruled after it transpired their bowlers (Archer and Stokes respectively) had over-stepped. Within a few minutes on the final afternoon, several opportunities to dismiss Blackwood were squandered, notably when Jos Buttler dropped him down the leg side off Stokes on 20. He might also have been caught on 8 and both run-out and caught on 29. Had any of those chances been taken, Stokes’ decision at the toss might have been seen to be inspired.Ben Stokes is left to rue some missed chances by his fielders•AFP via Getty ImagesCrucially, Stokes was also was let down by his team’s batting. In both innings, England batsmen were guilty of soft dismissals that precipitated collapses (4-39 in the first innings; 5-30 in the second). Very few Tests are won by teams which elect to bat first and post only 204 in their first innings. The decision to persist with Joe Denly (who is averaging 24.14 this year) and Buttler (who is averaging 21.38 in 11 Tests in the last year) is hurting England.”We’ll look back, particularly as a batting unit, and understand that when we get into positions, like we did in the first and second innings, we need to be really ruthless,” Stokes said. “We have to understand that when we are on top, we cannot give it back to the opposition. If we had another 60 or 80 runs to play with on the final day, it would have been a different game. We had opportunities to do that in both innings.”Most of all, though, England came up against a side who played very well. At different times in the match, Jason Holder, Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph bowled beautiful spells. And, at various times, Kraigg Brathwaite, Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich put a price on their wicket that England’s batsmen would do well to emulate. In Holder they have an impressive leader of their own. His side have won four of the last six Tests between the sides. This isn’t an aberration.In the grand scheme of things, the bigger issue is that this Test took place. And, with the eyes of the cricket-loving world upon it, we were treated to a slow-burning classic that provided a reminder of the sport’s enduring charms. Whether you were supporting England, West Indies or just pleased to see cricket back on your TV, that is something to celebrate. We could have an enthralling series on our hands.

Highlights of India’s pace spearhead from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, in which he has taken 11 wickets in three Tests

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jan-2021Joe Burns, lbw, Adelaide, 1st innings
Bumrah started the Test series bowling a little too short but made an immediate adjustment and went fuller and straight in his second spell. He got one right up, almost yorker length, to Joe Burns and trapped him in front of middle. The ball tailed in a little and was bowled at 141.3kph, enough to beat Burns’ attempted leg-side flick and leave Australia in trouble at 29 for 2.Joe Burns, c Rishabh Pant, MCG, 1st innings
After Australia won the toss and chose to bat in the second Test, it was important for India to get early wickets. Bumrah provided one with a delivery that was angled in at Burns and then held its line to take the edge. Bumrah chose to go with a line just outside off to Burns early, but the angle, delivered from wide and coming back into the right-hander, forced the batsman to play at most balls.Travis Head, c Ajinkya Rahane, MCG, 1st innings
Head had got himself in and helped take Australia past 100 with just three wickets down. His partnership with Marnus Labuschagne was looking ominous for India when Rahane brought Bumrah back for a third spell. What made this dismissal impressive was the set up. Bumrah bowled three sharp short balls to Head from around the wicket, pushing him onto the back foot. Then came one slightly fuller and outside off. Head was stuck on the back foot and pushed at it tentatively, getting a thick edge that carried to gully.Steven Smith, bowled, MCG, 2nd innings
Bumrah had attacked Smith’s stumps often through the series and at a crucial juncture at Melbourbe went back to the tactic. Smith exposes his leg stump when he walks across but is rarely actually bowled around the legs. This delivery from Bumrah, though, was quick, at 140.2kph, and on the perfect length. It beat Smith’s attempted leg glance and just clipped the bail. Australia were already under pressure after conceding a big first-innings lead and losing their best batsman just when he was looking good put them in a difficult spot.Pat Cummins, c Mayank Agarwal, MCG, 2nd innings
India had reached a dominant position in the Boxing Day Test after reducing Australia to 99 for 6 in the second innings, but Cameron Green and Pat Cummins put up some resistance with a 57-run partnership. Bumrah ended it on the fourth morning with a brute of a bouncer that hit Cummins on the glove as he looked to fend, went on to hit the helmet and looped up to second slip.Cameron Green, lbw, SCG, 1st innings
Australia were in a dominant position on the second day at the SCG before Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets to leave them 232 for 4. Then, Bumrah got his hands on the new ball and pursued the line that had been so productive for him, attacking the stumps. He got India right back into the game with two quick strikes. One seamed back off a length at Cameron Green and hit him in front of off to send him back for a duck.Tim Paine, bowled, SCG, 1st innings
Four overs later, Bumrah clean bowled Tim Paine through the gate. This one swung back a bit in the air and was pitched full. It seemed to beat Paine for pace too and went between bat and pad to hit off stump.

England should let Moeen know they value him after flashes of his best in Chennai

George Dobell15-Feb-2021Like a band reforming for a comeback tour, Moeen Ali has reminded us of most of his greatest hits during this game.There’s been the dip and drift of his bowling at its best. There’s been the wicket of one of the best batsmen in the world. There’s even been a brief reprise of that timing with the bat which lit up this ground so often the last time England were here, when he scored 190 runs in the match.But there were also the full tosses. And the long-hops. And the cheap dismissal that had you shaking your head and wondering about the gap between his potential and performance with the bat at this level.To some extent, this is Moeen. He’s going to delight, infuriate, surprise and confound you almost every time you watch him. He’s probably never going to be the most consistent cricketer. On the good days that feels like part of his charm. On the not so good, it is maddening.But he’s 33 now and there’s not much evidence he’s going to reinvent himself. Maybe, just as we seem happy to accept that the aggression of Rishabh Pant and Ben Stokes will sometimes lead to their downfall, we have to accept that Moeen’s apparent insouciance – the quality that enables him to look, at his best, wonderfully relaxed in the fury of the moment – is part of the package? As Frank Sinatra put it: Why try to change me now?Moeen has taken eight wickets in this Test. But for a couple of missed chances, he would have had a five-for in both innings. He has now taken 189 Test wickets. While his average (36.10) is high – the highest among England bowlers with a minimum of 150 Test wickets, in fact – his strike rate (59.80) is better than any of the spinners above him in his country’s all-time wicket-taking list. That list consists of Derek Underwood, Graeme Swann and Jim Laker, all generally accepted as greats of the English game.Moeen Ali will delight, infuriate, surprise and confound you almost every time you watch him•BCCIYes, the game has changed, and comparisons with strike rates – or indeed, averages – across eras can be misleading. But Moeen’s record as a bowler does deserve a bit more respect than he is sometimes given. While he would love to have the consistency and control of that trio, each one of them would be proud of his drift and dip. His best deliveries really are very good. The problem is the bad ones occur a bit too often.”They’re amazing deliveries,” Jeetan Patel, England’s spin-bowling consultant, said of Moeen’s classical offbreaks. “They shape away from the right-hander’s bat, they dip, they hit the wicket hard and spin big. He’s taken eight wickets and he should probably have had nine or 10. I don’t know what more people would want.”It’s his first game back. He missed two weeks of intense training. Does that prepare you to play Test cricket in India? Maybe yes, maybe no. His rewards show that he’s close enough, that he’s good enough and he will certainly be better for this hit out.”And the full tosses? “When you’re striving to hit the footmarks with lots of spin on the ball, there’s going to be variation of length,” Patel said. “It’s understandable. They [England’s spinners] have bowled a lot of overs, too. It takes its toll.”The encouraging thing about this display from Moeen is that he looked better the longer it went on. And that’s hardly surprising as he came into the game without a first-class game since September 2019 and without any warm-up cricket on the tour. He’s recently suffered a bout of Covid-19, too, and ripped a finger which had become soft from its lack of bowling on the seam of the SG ball when he returned to training. Expecting him to hit a perfect line and length was simply unreasonable. In normal circumstances, you might expect him to go from strength to strength in the rest of the series. Really, it’s every bit of two years since he gained this level of drift and dip.The less encouraging thing about this display is that it might represent an ending rather than a beginning. As things stand – and there is a possibility of a change of plan – Moeen is still expected to return to England in the next few days. While he is expected to return to India for the limited-overs section of the tour, this period could be his only chance to spend some time at home in several months.Related

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If Moeen does go home, it will leave England’s rotation plans looking a little clumsy. They will, you would think, be obliged to recall Dom Bess for the third Test having just knocked his confidence by dropping him for this game. And for all Bess’ qualities – really, it’s not unreasonable to expect him to score more runs than Moeen these days – he is liable to offer several of Moeen’s less welcome characteristics without the accompanying brilliance.Might there be a middle path? Part of Moeen’s understandable desire for a break is the possibility of going to the IPL (which follows fast on the heels of this tour and prohibits time at home) once the limited-overs section of the England tour is concluded. But, having been released by RCB, there is no guarantee he will be picked up in Thursday’s auction. Notwithstanding the difficulties in gaining flights and serving quarantine periods, it might make sense to wait until his fate in that auction is known to decide when he requires a break.Moeen can’t be blamed for preferring to take his break during the Test section of the tour. There is a T20 World Cup to be played in India later this year, after all, and he wants to be part of it. And, much as it may grate with some, it’s also probably fair to conclude that the majority of Moeen’s future career may be spent in the T20 game. If England wanted him to prioritise differently, they should probably have given him a full central contract.Indeed, it is entirely possible this will be Moeen’s final Test. You would think England would play just one spinner throughout the rest of 2021 – they will play seven home Tests and an Ashes series in Australia – and there is every indication the selectors see Moeen as their third-choice option.You can understand why England dropped Moeen after the first Test of the 2019 Ashes. He looked a chastened, disappointed figure at the time. A man who had lost his confidence and fallen out of love with the game a bit. He looked as if he needed a break.England celebrate after Moeen Ali bowls Virat Kohli on the first day•BCCIWhat is harder to understand is England’s subsequent treatment of him. For at the time that decision was made, Moeen was the top Test wicket-taker in the world in the previous 12 months. As such, you would think he would be nurtured and encouraged and made to feel valued. Instead, he lost the red-ball element of his central contract around two months after he was dropped and, with a touch of disillusionment settling in, started to grow away from the longest format and one or two of those involved in selection. Like nearly every cricketer – every person, probably – he will perform better when he feels valued.”I suppose the one thing that Mo wanted – well, needed – out of red-ball cricket was a bit of love from the game,” Patel said. “I think he’s got that [now]. Hopefully he will score some runs and really fall in love with red-ball cricket again.”There will be those who dismiss this performance as it came on a track offering assistance to spinners. And it’s true, there has been an unusual amount of turn available. But it was also a surface on which India’s No. 8 has scored almost as many runs as England managed in the first innings and a surface upon which the hosts are much more accustomed. While it’s absolutely fair to acknowledge England’s spinners bowled too many release deliveries, it must also be acknowledged that England’s batsmen were bowled out for 134 in their first innings. It would be perverse to pin this result on the performance of two spinners who have claimed 14 wickets between them.Besides, when Moeen is at his best, many of his best attributes are shown before the ball hits the pitch. His drift can lure batsmen out of his position; his dip can result in misjudgements of length. If 10 wicket-taking chances – and the fact that he has bowled 61 overs in the match, having not played a game for months – is not deemed good enough, don’t we have to reflect on our expectations?So, yes, a greatest hits comeback tour. But if it’s not to be a farewell tour, too, England’s management probably need to let him know how much they value him. Moeen is not perfect, of course, but at his best, he’s the best England have.

Devon Conway’s seamless elevation brought the first half-century of the final

Andrew Miller20-Jun-20213:04

Manjrekar: Conway tailor-made for Test cricket

It took until 6pm on the third day at Southampton for the first fifty of the World Test Championship final to be posted, and not entirely surprisingly – even in a contest featuring a handful of the most iconic batters of the decade – it came from a player whose first appearance at this level came less than three weeks ago.Some people spend most of their lives searching for their one true purpose. It speaks volumes for Devon Conway’s character and self-belief, not to mention his intense skill as a batter, that he can come through a decade of itinerance in lower-league cricket – both in his native South Africa and, since, 2017 in Wellington – and discover that the one place where he truly feels at home is in a New Zealand Test team that has never been bettered in the country’s history.His dismissal in the day’s final moments took the shine off New Zealand’s quietly dominant display, but in no way did it diminish the magnificence that had preceded it. Conway’s 54 was his third fifty-plus score in as many Test first innings, following his 200 on debut against England at Lord’s and a series-settling 80 in the second Test at Edgbaston, and though time is ticking by in a match that cannot quite catch a break, it guided his side through a fiendishly tough examination to maintain their ascendancy in a fascinatingly smouldering contest.Conway’s 70-run stand with Tom Latham was New Zealand’s second fifty-run opening stand in three first innings on this Test tour – which, as an indication both of their levels of application but also of the innate trickery of English conditions, is already one more than England themselves have managed at home in the past three seasons. The pair had to ride their luck, not least against Mohammed Shami, whose current Test average in England is a travesty at 47.95, but they made it too with their diligent defence and a refusal to be hustled.

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The current run-rate for this Test match, 2.25 an over, is the lowest in England since the turn of the Millennium, but such has been the challenge from two outstanding attacks, at no stage has that felt like anything other than a defiantly smart approach. Latham and Conway ground along at an even more sedate pace, barely a click above two by the time they were parted, and a long way removed from that now-anomalous opening gambit from India.”They were superb,” Kyle Jamieson, New Zealand’s star with the ball, said. “From my short time in this team, it was some of the best batting that I’d seen. The ball was going to move around, we knew that, and the conditions were probably going to be in the bowlers’ favour. They’re two pretty world-class openers in my opinion, and the way they built a partnership, and got us to where we are, was pretty special.”Devon Conway has barely put a foot wrong at the start of his Test career•Getty ImagesBatter error got the better of both men in the end – with Conway again falling to that flamboyant leg-side flick that had proven so productive on debut – but these have been conditions in which mistakes are inevitable, as India’s top-scorer, Ajinkya Rahane, proved in the tipping point of their innings, as he took on Neil Wagner’s short ball, and joined the cast of hundreds who’ve previously succumbed to his Route One methods.The main man in New Zealand’s attack, however, was another over-achieving rookie – of a few more months’ standing than Conway, maybe, but every bit as much of a ready-made competitor. Jamieson’s outstanding figures of 5 for 31 in 22 overs included the day’s most unplayable moment, as he found his fullest length yet to India’s captain, Virat Kohli, and jagged a perfect nipbacker into his front pad to dispatch him without addition to his overnight 44.Jamieson has now claimed a remarkable 44 wickets in eight Tests since February 2020, including five five-wicket hauls – and on this evidence, he could yet have a shot at pushing for 50 before this game is done – a mark that only Vernon Philander, in seven Tests, has reached more quickly in the modern era.Jamieson’s extraordinary physical attributes, allied to a metronomically precise action that ensures each and every delivery is unleashed from a cloud-snagging 2m 30cm altitude, are the most fundamental reason for his success, of course. And yet, for both him and Conway to arrive so fully formed on the international stage – and with such vital points of difference too, even for a side rammed with all-time New Zealand greats – is a tribute too to an extraordinary and ego-less dressing-room, one that has been living its best life for the best part of a decade already.Related

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“The team culture and the environment that has been created over a long period of time certainly is one of the strengths of this team,” Jamieson said. “You’ve got some world-class guys around, which allows you to settle into your role, and it’s been an absolute pleasure coming into this group and just being able learn off these guys, and ride the coat-tails of them a little bit, in terms of the pressure they build and the runs they score.”Such have been the standards on display in the ICC’s optimistically (but not inaccurately) billed “Ultimate Test”, that the players on both teams have even set about demystifying two of the more entangled arts of the game. If ever you’ve wondered whether there was a significant difference between swing through the air and seam movement off the pitch, then the impact of the latter in this contest leaves little room for doubt.Coming in from the clouds: Kyle Jamieson is pumped after picking up a wicket•ICC via Getty”The ball certainly swung a fair amount, and probably at times almost too much,” Jamieson said “So for me personally today, and a little bit yesterday, I tried to more wobble the ball than swing it, and just engage guys for longer periods. Instead of guys playing and missing, they tend to grab the edge a little bit more.”In terms of the match situation, another grim forecast for Monday – day four of a possible six – leaves little margin if New Zealand are to drive home their advantage. But Jamieson isn’t feeling rushed by circumstance just yet.”Where we’re sitting now would be pretty comfortable,” he said. “If you said to us at the start of the game, we can get them for low 200s and then to be 100 for 2, we’d be pretty happy.”

Their attack, promising on paper, proved to have neither much bark nor bite against the Indian top five

Firdose Moonda26-Dec-20211:21

What went wrong for South Africa’s bowlers?

It’s flat. The pitch and the bowling.South Africa’s Test summer began lethargically as their attack, promising on paper, proved to have neither much bark nor bite against the Indian top five.Maybe it’s not entirely unexpected.This is South Africa’s least experienced pace pack in terms of Test wickets in a home Test against India since 1997. Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Wiaan Mulder and debutant Marco Jansen had 259 Test wickets between them before this Test started, and 213 of them belonged to Rabada. Compare that to the 976 Test wickets South Africa’s quicks had under their belts in the first Test of the last series they played against India at home, in 2018, and it’s not difficult to see why there was a vast difference in performance.There was also, of course, a vast difference in personnel and conditions. Three years ago, South Africa fielded an XI that included Rabada, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and it was the first and only time they played together. More’s the pity it wasn’t at the Wanderers although that Newlands surface had a decent amount of grass on it, and with rain in the air, the ball moved around. This pitch is not as sporting.”The wicket did less than we thought it was going to do,” Lungi Ngidi said. “I expected a bit more swing.”Instead, it was slow upfront and South Africa were unable to find the right lengths for most of the first session. They sent down a combination of too wide, too straight and too full and did not make the Indian openers play enough. Collectively, they produced only 22 false strokes in 28 overs in the morning session, and 60 in the entire day, which is not even one an over.Which brings us to the first question we need to ask about their approach on the first day:Why didn’t South Africa pick Duanne Olivier?Not only is Olivier the leading wicket-taker in the domestic first-class competition this season but he has bowled more overs in red-ball cricket in the last six months than anyone else in the squad, and a heck of a lot more than Rabada or Ngidi, who had delivered none before today. Although Olivier left South Africa on a Kolpak deal with a reputation for being able to bowl short but not offer too much else, he has returned with a different skill set and has proved his ability to pitch it up on Highveld surfaces. Olivier now plays his cricket at the Wanderers, where he has taken 24 of the 28 wickets he has in the four-day competition, and where he has shown himself to be a match-winner for the table-topping Lions.South Africa know he possesses all these qualities. Dean Elgar said as much earlier in the week and so did bowling coach Charl Langeveldt. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo ahead of this series, Langeveldt said, “He has changed. He used to be an enforcer, now he has more controlled aggression so he can do both roles: where he can hold the run rate, keep it down, and take wickets. With the new ball, he gives us the option where he can take it away from the right-hand batter and then he has got the change-up, the wobbler.”2:31

Did South Africa make the right choice in Marco Jansen over Duanne Olivier?

Sounds good but not good enough for the series opener. Instead, South Africa opted to give 2.06 metre-tall left-arm quick Jansen a debut, banking on his variation to give them an advantage. It was a gamble, considering Jansen’s lack of experience (19 first-class caps), India’s recent history which shows a distinct lack of struggle against left-arm fast bowlers, and the sense of occasion, especially as it was just four years ago that a teenage Jansen was starstruck and taking selfies with the Indian players in the nets. Then, Jansen beat Kohi three times in a row; today, he managed it twice in between some shorter deliveries and several aimed at the pads. While there is no doubting that Jansen is talented and could go on to play many matches for South Africa, he was too inconsistent to properly threaten the batters, and so, the reason for his selection, especially against the backdrop of Olivier’s availability, must be looked at.Cricket South Africa confirmed that Olivier is fully fit and there are no niggles that kept him sidelined. Ngidi didn’t know why Olivier was overlooked. “It was probably a senior call,” Ngidi said. “Even myself, having not played cricket in a while, I didn’t know if I could get the nod but we pick the team that we think is best going to give us the result.”Selection convener Victor Mpitsang was asked for the reason Olivier was not included but responded only to extend festive greetings and did not offer any further explanation. That can only leave us to wonder if Olivier had to be benched because he was not able to source a Test cap after framing his when he took a Kolpak deal in 2018. (Disclaimer: that’s not really what we think).Jansen’s inability to create sustained periods of pressure left it up to the rest of the attack to attempt to both control and attack and in trying to do both, they succeeded in neither. Though South Africa were much improved after lunch, and bowled more on a good length or just short of it and made India’s batters play more, it took a moment of sheer luck to drag them back into the game. How HawkEye saw that the Ngidi delivery that slid in from middle stump and beat Mayank Agarwal’s inside edge was clipping leg stump is anyone’s guess but it gave South Africa a breakthrough.They had clearly planned for what came next. Elgar placed Keegan Petersen at backward short leg, further back than usual, for Cheteshwar Pujara, who lunged forward to defend and inside-edged onto his pad to give Petersen the catch. And that’s where our next question must be asked: Why couldn’t South Africa capitalise on that passage of play? The answer may lie in how they chose to (not) use their spearhead, Rabada.Did Dean Elgar get his bowling changes right on the first day?•AFP/Getty ImagesAfter Ngidi’s double-strike, Jansen was brought on at the other end to bowl to Kohli and was then replaced by Keshav Maharaj, while Mulder took over from Ngidi. At a time when South Africa should have been searching for wickets, they did not call on Rabada. At that stage, he had delivered 13 overs, six in his opening spell and seven in a later spell, broken into five and two by the lunch interval. Although his post-lunch work finished four overs before Ngidi’s wickets, it may have been prudent to bring him back for a quick burst.Rabada only returned after tea, where he found some late swing and peppered KL Rahul with short balls in his most impressive but also most expensive spell. He overstepped four times in those four overs, which cost 20 runs and was not used again until the second new ball when he changed ends and delivered a further three overs. In total, Rabada delivered 20 overs, more than any of the other seamers but South Africa may want to consider if they used him in the most effective way.They can ask the same questions about almost every aspect of their performance on the opening day of their international season, from selections to strategy, and will realise if they don’t come up with some answers soon, it could be a very long, tough summer.Already, this match could get long. Ngidi remains hopeful South Africa can dismiss India for “anything under 350,” but acknowledged they all need to bowl a bit more like Rabada to tie India up.”It is a good deck if you bat properly. The fuller balls don’t do as much. You’ve really got to be accurate with your lengths. KG showed us that with good discipline, the game goes nowhere,” Ngidi said. And with where South Africa are now, nowhere could be good enough.