Batter was handed over gloves midway into the T20 World Cup, and credits Luke Ronchi for his progress

Deivarayan Muthu08-Nov-2021Before the T20 World Cup in the UAE, Devon Conway’s only experience of visiting the subcontinent was way back in 2005, when he was on a school tour to Sri Lanka. He came into his first World Cup without much game-time, having suffered a finger fracture in the inaugural Hundred.Conway expected to slot into the XI as a specialist batter; he did feature in New Zealand’s opener against Pakistan as a pure batter in the middle order. In that fixture in Dubai, Conway leapt to his left from wide long-off and plucked a catch out of thin air to get rid of Mohammad Hafeez. It was Tim Seifert who had instead kept wicket in that match.Seifert was New Zealand’s first-choice T20I wicketkeeper during their 2020-21 home summer, but in order to bring fast bowler Adam Milne into the XI, the team management benched Seifert and handed over the keeping duties to Conway. After pulling off an absolute stunner in the outfield, Conway showed off his reflexes behind the stumps as well. Standing up to legspinner Ish Sodhi in Sharjah, he snagged a smart catch to dismiss Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus. Then, standing behind to Milne in Abu Dhabi in a must-win for New Zealand, he leapt to his right, stuck out his right glove and snaffled a nick from Afghanistan’s Mohammad Shahzad on the rebound.Related

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One of New Zealand’s biggest strengths this tournament has been their players adapting to new roles on the fly. Cases in point: first Daryl Mitchell and now Conway.”So far, touchwood! It has been really good. I really enjoyed it. I do enjoy keeping – it keeps me engaged in the game and you’re always in the game,” Conway said. “So it’s exciting behind the stumps and then sort of today [Sunday, against Afghanistan], it’s a bonus standing behind the stumps for 20 overs and getting the opportunity to bat. We really do get a good feel for how the wicket is playing and come up with a plan before you go into bat, which is quite nice.”But I didn’t think I was going to get as much opportunity with the gloves, but the opportunity presented itself and I’m really enjoying it.”So, has Milne’s extra pace or the spinners’ variety challenged his keeping more?”Normally, it’s quite harder keeping to the spinners,” Conway said. “We’ve got Ish Sodhi who turns it both ways and bowls sliders, we’ve got Mitch Santner who has got really good control and can turn and slide it on as well. But, I think, I found it quite tricky keeping back to the seamers and felt like the ball was wobbling a fair bit behind the stumps, and yeah, it was a bit of a challenge keeping to the seamers today [Sunday].”

“It was pretty cool to see them and hopefully I can catch up with them at some point in the future.”Conway on seeing his parents in the stands during the match against Afghanistan

Former wicketkeeper and New Zealand’s current batting coach Luke Ronchi has had a hand in Conway’s progress. Conway had also worked with Ronchi at the Wellington Firebirds nets when he was on the road to recovery from the injury.”Working with Ronchs has been awesome,” Conway said. “He’s got a lot of experience on these surfaces and knows these wickets better than anyone here. So, good to get some of that knowledge from him and talk different game-plans. I’ve worked quite a lot with Ronchs over the last couple of years.”So, he knows my batting and what needs for me to get to my best as a player. I just continue to have those conversations with Ronchs and we just try to work out a plan, and hopefully that pays off at the end of the day.”After making 27 off 24 balls against Pakistan, Conway didn’t contribute much with the bat in the next three games. However, on Sunday, his smarts on a fairly true pitch were central to New Zealand acing a chase of 125 against Afghanistan at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. He threw both Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, in particular, off their lines and lengths with a variety of sweeps, including the reverse-hit. All told, he took 31 off 19 balls from the spinners.”The key to facing those sorts of bowlers is they are going to turn it both ways, so to combat that I just sort of thought we’d play with horizontal bats, using the sweep and reverse-sweep was my go-to [shot],” Conway said of his game plan against spin. “They were bowling quite quick into the wicket, so I thought I could sort of use that pace to my advantage. But that’s the things we talk about as a bowling collective – how we are going to attack certain bowlers and formulate a game-plan for that and try and execute it as we as we can in the game.”His captain, Kane Williamson, backed him up with an unbeaten 40. Conway has also had regular support from the stands, with Denton and Sandy, his South Africa-based parents, taking a month off to watch their son in action across the three venues in the UAE.New Zealand’s support crew is set to double up for the semi-finals as Mitchell’s father John, the former All Black player and coach, is preparing to fly in from the UK.”It’s been special to see my family – my parents – over the last few games coming to watch, and I haven’t seen them in a long time,” Conway said. “So just to sort of see them from a distance has been pretty cool, and yeah it was just nice to contribute to the team’s success today and have them there in the stands watching and supporting us all the way. So, it was pretty cool to see them and hopefully I can catch up with them at some point in the future.”If Conway can pull off the dual role once again against England on Wednesday in a rematch of the 2019 ODI World Cup final, then he will be a step closer to creating his legacy.

Our team features four world champions, four South Africans, and one player from Bangladesh – find out who they are

Vishal Dikshit06-Apr-20221 Alyssa Healy (wk),
Most runs in a Women’s World Cup ever, best score in a World Cup final (men’s or women’s), back-to-back-centuries in the semi-final and final… records, and more records. Healy, one of the most devastating batters in the game, had crossed 50 earlier in the tournament too, against India and Pakistan, but she took her game to the next level in the knockouts to stamp Australia’s authority in a World Cup yet again, to make her an automatic choice in this XI.2 Laura Wolvaardt,
South Africa’s most consistent batter in this World Cup, Wolvaardt also carried their top order on her shoulders in the absence of runs from her opening partner Lizelle Lee. Wolvaardt kicked off the tournament with five 40-plus scores in a row, including four half-centuries, that helped South Africa chase 225-plus totals against England and New Zealand to qualify for the semi-finals, although her 90 wasn’t enough against the Australians. Her trademark cover drives were in full display all along, and she ended up being South Africa’s leading scorer for two ODI World Cups in a row.3 Rachael Haynes,
If Healy was Australia’s aggressor, Haynes was the consistent anchor who played her role to such perfection that she was dismissed before Healy just once in the league games, and then once more in the final. She started the tournament with a 130, where she accelerated after negotiating a stifling bowling effort from England, and she laid the platform with Healy for Australia’s middle order in nearly every match.ESPNcricinfo Ltd4 Meg Lanning (capt),
The obvious choice for captain and middle-order mainstay. It’s almost as if Lanning’s arrival at the crease is a signal for an Australian win, and her dominance was on display against some of the best teams in the World Cup: an unbeaten 135 to chase down 272 against South Africa, 97 to slice through India in another stiff chase, and an 86 against England early on.5 Beth Mooney,
An average of over 100, a strike rate of almost 101, flexible up and down the order, and also a gun fielder, which make Mooney a must-have in the XI. She opened for Australia when she was the Player of the Tournament in the 2020 T20 World Cup but moved down to the finisher’s role and did the job with aplomb in the 50-over format to add another dimension to their already explosive line-up. She took some of the best catches in the tournament, and also made sure she was there to seal the chases after the top order had done the hard work.6 Sune Luus,
A legspinning-allrounder, Luus shone mainly with the bat with her three half-centuries, giving South Africa the much-needed solidity at No. 4 given the lack of runs from Lee, some instability at No. 3, and the absence of Dane van Niekerk. Luus’ calming presence also meant her best knocks came against some of the top sides – England, New Zealand and Australia – in the tournament, which included two close chases.Marizanne Kapp picked up her first five-for in ODIs during the World Cup•Getty Images7 Marizanne Kapp,
Need early wickets? Throw the ball to Kapp. Want a partnership broken? Just look at her and she’ll come running and do the job. Death overs? She’s at her mark already. Tight chases? She’ll smash those runs. One of the sharpest bowlers around, Kapp’s consistent contributions with the bat down the order helped South Africa win five matches in a row. Her best performances, too, came against the top sides: a five-for and 32 against England followed by two wickets and an unbeaten 34 versus New Zealand, and 30 not out off 21 balls against Australia.8Pooja Vastrakar,
One of the brightest young stars for India this tournament, along with Yastika Bhatia, Vastrakar was in the thick of things straightaway in India’s opening game when they slumped to 114 for 6 against Pakistan. A career-best 67 off 59 in a formidable stand with Sneh Rana meant India got a deep batting line-up, which she proved again with quick cameos down the order opposite Australia and Bangladesh. She was India’s second-highest wicket-taker, too – bowling is her primary skill – coming on mostly as second change to successfully break partnerships. Her back-to-back yorkers against Lea Tahuhu and Jess Kerr count as among the highlights of the tournament.9 Shabnim Ismail,
The best and one of the fastest bowlers in this World Cup, Ismail, fearsome and experienced, was consistent with her wicket-taking skills right from the first game, going wicketless in just one game out of the seven she bowled in. Ismail showed her knack of removing the big batters up front with her pace, short deliveries, movement off the pitch, and then with her slower variations in the death overs.Salma Khatun’s bowling was a big reason for Bangladesh’s impressive show in their maiden World Cup appearance•Getty Images10 Salma Khatun,
The ball she bowled to dismiss Lanning alone would have helped Khatun make this list. Her three-for had Australia in trouble, before they escaped, thanks to Mooney. Against West Indies earlier, she scored 23 to keep Bangladesh in the hunt in a 141 chase, and that was after she had picked up a couple of wickets. The 31-year-old offspinner’s ten wickets, the most for Bangladesh, in the tournament played a major part in the team’s good showing in their maiden appearance.11 Sophie Ecclestone,
Ecclestone was the best bowler of the tournament with a tally one-and-a-half times that of the next best, Ismail’s 14. Only 22, Ecclestone has already played over 100 games for England and her artistry in flight, drift and turn are testament to her ability and numbers. The left-arm spinner was England’s main weapon in the middle overs, and sometimes in the death too. Barring her inability to pick more than one wicket in 20 overs against Australia, over two games, she had an unforgettable World Cup, highlighted by her six-for against South Africa in the semi-final.

His bowling is impeccable but his batting doesn’t really seem to have a place in the XI

Alex Malcolm19-Feb-2022Ashton Agar is a good problem for Australia to have. Most sides would love an experienced left-arm spinner, who in his last 10 T20Is, has maintained an economy rate of 5.60.In his last two matches against Sri Lanka, he has staggering figures of 2 for 28 from eight overs. He has bowled 21 dot balls and conceded 27 singles and one wide only. Team-mate Glenn Maxwell believes Agar, right now, is better than ever.”The way he’s bowled in this series is no shock to anyone,” Maxwell said following Australia’s six-wicket win at the MCG. “His control is brilliant. He’s working on different deliveries all the time, always looking for a way to get better and it’s just a sign of a really good maturing player who’s got full hold of his skill at the moment.”The problem is not his bowling. It’s that Australia’s hierarchy don’t know how to fit the Agar puzzle piece into their best line-up. As well as he’s bowled in his last 10 T20Is since July 2021, Australia have lost seven of them, including the only game he played in the World Cup. In the 10 games he hasn’t played in that same period Australia have won eight, including six in the World Cup to lift the trophy for the very first time.As good as Agar is with the ball and in the field, his batting doesn’t quite fit in Australia’s overall T20 jigsaw. It is alluring though. The raw skills are incredibly appealing. His long, languid arms produce an eye-catching bat swing, and his best strikes are glorious. But those strikes are few and far between. In nearly 10 years of professional T20 cricket, across 92 innings, Agar averages 16.89, strikes at 116.63, and scores a boundary once every 7.97 deliveries. That he consistently bats in front of Pat Cummins who averages 17.11, strikes at 133.79 and scores a boundary once every 6.59 deliveries is mystifying. Even Daniel Sams, Australia’s No. 8 in the last two T20Is, averages 14.82, strikes 151.21 and scores a boundary once every 5.37 deliveries.Agar’s batting in T20I cricket is more closely aligned with Mitchell Starc, who has faced 82 balls in 17 innings, only batted higher than No. 9 six times and never higher than No. 8. Agar averages 11.76, strikes at just 103.34 and scores a boundary once every 9.96 balls. Starc averages 9.33 and strikes at 102.43 and scores a boundary once every 13.67 balls.Australia’s hierarchy knows that Agar can’t bat at No. 7 anymore. Their success in the World Cup showed the need to have a specialist batter there after Matthew Wade produced two cameos against South Africa and Pakistan that were pivotal in their triumph.It means that if Agar plays, he will have to be part of a four-man attack, either in place of Adam Zampa or alongside him, which squeezes out one of their big three quicks and leaves them short on powerplay and death overs.So, with David Warner and Mitchell Marsh rested for the series against Sri Lanka and Steven Smith ruled out of the last three games due to concussion, Australia have taken the opportunity to try something completely different and open with Agar.Australia have lost seven of the last 10 T20Is that Ashton Agar has played•Cricket Australia via Getty ImagesThe theory is similar to how Sunil Narine has become a T20 opener. It’s no surprise that Australia’s interim coach Andrew McDonald and captain Aaron Finch were willing to try it, given they were the first to try Narine at the top of the order for Melbourne Renegades in the BBL in 2017, before Kolkata Knight Riders used him there with great success in the IPL. The idea is that if a bowler can open, in arguably the easiest spot to bat, then it stretches Australia’s line-up and holds Wade at No. 7 to give them depth. But it does push Finch out of position and creates a squeeze on middle-order places, which puts pressure on Smith.Narine’s T20 batting numbers, like Agar’s, were far from spectacular ahead of his first stint opening. He averaged 11.16, was striking 124.02, and scored a boundary once every 6.79 deliveries. But in 104 innings as an opener, Narine averages 18.17, strikes at 155.81, scores a boundary once every 3.76 deliveries, and has made 10 half-centuries.The key though is that only three of those innings have been played outside the slow wickets of Asia and the Americas. They were on bouncy Australian tracks, where he made diminishing returns of 21 off 13, 12 off 10 and 4 off 4. Narine has also only opened twice in international cricket, scoring 4 off 12 and 2 off 6 against India in 2019.While opening is in some respects the easiest spot to bat in T20 cricket, due to a hard new ball and just two fielders out for six overs, it takes a little getting used to when you’re a bowling allrounder, as Agar discovered against Sri Lanka last night, facing 140kph plus deliveries from Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara.”They came at him hard with some really good hard fast bowling tonight and that’s probably something they hadn’t done too much of so far this series,” Maxwell said.Agar made 26 off 31 and faced 14 dots after scoring 13 off 13 in Canberra. But Stoinis said there was no expectation of Agar.”[We said] just go out there and experience the game out there, understand how it feels to be out in the middle at the start of the innings. You don’t need to do anything spectacular. Obviously, he’ll want to perform as well as he can but no judgment from the team because this is a time when we’ve got to try things and change things up to a certain extent and look to improve on last year’s World Cup and create some options in our squad. And we also understand for him although he’s been one of the best bowlers in T20 cricket for such a long time, he might, with the balance of the side that we’ve had, find himself out of the team for a while. So I think it’s definitely important for him to have time in the middle when he’s playing.”While it is admirable for Australia to trial the concept, something they have rarely done before, and it is fair to suggest Agar needs more time and development in the opening role in both training and possibly at the lower level, the reality is hard to escape. Australia’s opening World Cup match on October 22 is against New Zealand, with a fast-bowling brigade likely to feature three of Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Adam Milne and Lockie Ferguson. Six days later, Australia face England at the MCG, who could well have Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, and/or Tymal Mills among a host of other options.Australia will need their best two openers and their best top seven for those assignments, as they did to win the World Cup last year.Where that will leave Agar in the starting XI, is once again a mystery.

India have looked far better balanced since she took over the gloves, and her keeping is now matching up to her hitting

Annesha Ghosh09-Mar-2022India teen Richa Ghosh is no stranger to firsts. Especially at World Cups.On March 8, 2020, she became the first-ever concussion substitute in a T20 World Cup final. Two years later, during India’s 2022 ODI World Cup opener against Pakistan, she became the first wicketkeeper to effect five dismissals on debut at a women’s 50-over global event.The feat is commendable for any 18-year-old, let alone one making just her eighth ODI appearance. Ghosh the keeper had till then been known more for her batting pyrotechnics. Her first impact with the gloves has left many impressed. One of them is her India and Bengal team-mate Jhulan Goswami.”Richa has taken responsibility as a wicketkeeper,” says Goswami. “She’s improving day by day, and her batting ability – you know she is even able to hit big sixes, she can score fast… So I think in our team – she will give us a lot of volume [value] because you are getting one more allrounder, a batting allrounder.”That Ghosh, who counts MS Dhoni among her idols, is keeping wicket at this World Cup is itself extraordinary. To understand why, we must go back in time.Playing as a specialist batter in March 2021, Ghosh had a horrid time in the field in the second T20I against South Africa in Lucknow. By the end of the match, she was tongue-tied and in tears, fielding at short fine leg, when the last of her many fielding errors on the night handed South Africa a series-sealing last-ball win. And this wasn’t a one-off. She had let a ball slip through for four, at point, at a critical juncture of South Africa’s chase in the previous match.

In domestic cricket, Ghosh had dabbled in keeping and bowled medium-pace for her state side, Bengal. But, with more established keepers around, Bengal mostly played her as a batting allrounder.

Ghosh had only played four international matches – all T20Is – before that nightmarish evening in Lucknow. But she had done enough already to show why India needed her hitting skills in an otherwise relatively sedate line-up. What to do about her heavy legs in the field, though?That’s where Ghosh’s multi-faceted talents came into play. Smriti Mandhana, the stand-in T20I captain in the series, retained Ghosh for the third T20I, but handed her the gloves.The incumbent in that series, Nuzhat Parween, and longtime first-choice limited-overs keeper Taniya Bhatia, one of the best with the gloves in the women’s game, had both struggled to make a mark with the bat. India’s balance, as a result, had been shaky. Entrusting Ghosh with keeping duties, despite her having no prior experience of it in international cricket, was a risk the team was willing to take to address this.In domestic cricket, Ghosh had dabbled in keeping and also bowled medium-pace for her state side, Bengal. But with more established keepers around, Bengal mostly played her as a batting allrounder.”In the absence of wicketkeeping opportunities, she would do well as a bowler because she is tall and one of the rare hit-the-deck kind of bowlers in women’s cricket in our country,” Bengal head coach Rituparna Roy says. “She has a fairly strong grounding in all three skills, so Bengal’s teams has used her wicketkeeping and bowling based on match-by-match requirements.”In that final T20I against South Africa, Ghosh claimed a straightforward caught-behind of Sinalo Jafta for her first keeping dismissal in India colours.”Once she got that clarity from the Indian team management that she is being looked at as a wicketkeeping choice, Richa started working harder on her keeping in the Bengal set-up, too, and kept wicket more regularly for the Bengal senior team,” Roy says. She adds that Ghosh took up fitness routines to improve her agility and offset some of the disadvantages her height poses.During the bilateral series against New Zealand, right before the World Cup, Ghosh struck the fastest ODI fifty by an India Women – off just 26 balls•Getty ImagesOn the tour of England that followed the South Africa series, Bhatia kept wicket during the one-off Test and the three ODIs. But her lean run with the bat in white-ball cricket opened the door for Ghosh to take over the gloves in the T20Is. Ghosh made an impact almost instantly. In the eighth over of the first T20I, she took the lead in convincing captain Harmanpreet Kaur to use the DRS when an appeal for caught-behind against Danni Wyatt was turned down. The result: a big spike on UltraEdge, and off went Wyatt.Across the three T20Is, Ghosh was involved in seven dismissals and made 28 lower-middle-order runs off 21 balls. A big affirmation of her rapid evolution as keeper came less than two months later, in the 50-over warm-up game on the tour of Australia, when she effected four dismissals, including the wily stumping of Ellyse Perry off pacer Pooja Vastrakar. Bhatia was no longer a sure-shot inclusion in ODIs.India had every reason to try Ghosh out in the 50-over format. If successful, her T20I batting credentials could offer India respite from the dearth of runs down the order, that too with the ODI World Cup just around the corner. And Ghosh wasted no time in taking her chance. An unbeaten 29-ball 32 at No. 7 on ODI debut, followed by a 50-ball 44 at No. 5 that anchored a 76-run stand with Mandhana, effectively shut the door out on Bhatia. By the end of the Australia tour, her selection as first-choice keeper for the tour of New Zealand – where she would go on to hit the fastest ODI fifty by an India Women player – and the ODI World Cup had become a foregone conclusion.According to ODI captain Mithali Raj, Ghosh’s “good game sense” – much like Dhoni’s – is a standout feature of her glovework. “There are many times I’ve seen her involvement on the field. That is also a great quality at such a young age,” Raj told during the New Zealand series. Asked about Ghosh’s future, Goswami puts it simply: “We all are looking forward [to it].”That future, if her start to the World Cup is anything to go by, could be very bright.

The 23-year-old batter and 33-year-old allrounder on how the Bangladesh T20 tournament has helped them grow their game

Mohammad Isam13-Feb-2022Stay still, watch the ball and play your shots fearlessly. This has been the simple mantra followed by Will Jacks and Benny Howell, the English duo which has played a significant role in taking Chattogram Challengers to the BPL playoffs.Jacks’ unbeaten 92 in their last league game against Sylhet Sunsrisers was a single-handed effort that got them up to ten points. Chattogram, who started off very well in the competition before losing their way in the middle, face Khulna Tigers in the eliminator match on Monday evening.Those following the BPL this season believe that Jacks holds the key to Chattogram’s progress in the knockout stage. The 23-year-old is currently the second-highest scorer in the competition with 398 runs at 44.22. That includes four fifties. He is only 10 shy of Tamim Iqbal at the top but more significantly, he is leading the pack in powerplays performance, having scored 249 runs at 171.52 with 15 sixes.Jacks said that he has had fun scoring these runs but admitted that he needed time to figure out Bangladeshi conditions. In particular, he spoke about resisting the temptation to play a lot of shots.”The key is to play without fear,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “It is tough sometimes to be really aggressive, to score fast, without getting out. It is something that has taken me quite a while to figure out, what my good options are to get me to the boundary with the least amount of risk. Obviously watching the ball and staying still, taking as less risk as possible with the maximum reward.”The ball doesn’t quite bounce as much [in Bangladesh] as it does back in England. You have to limit the areas of the ground you’re usually scoring. I found out that it can be quite hard to play cross-batted shots off seamers. It often takes people a couple of games to get used to it. You just have to almost fight with yourself to do the right things for this wicket compared to stuff that you do back home.”Benny Howell prides himself on doing his opposition research•Alex Davidson/Getty ImagesJacks’ team-mate Howell is ten years older, but the veteran allrounder has proven just as effective for Chattogram, particularly in the latter part of most of their innings during this campaign. He has been the leading scorer in the other end of a T20 innings, the last five overs.”If you come in a little bit earlier and you have some high-quality spinners in, it is not always easy,” Howell said. “I think facing the seam bowlers is a little easier on these wickets. I am lucky enough to come in towards the middle or end of the innings where I get to face majority of seam bowlers.”I do a lot of my research and study on what they plan to do, what their different change-ups are, so I know what to expect when I get in the game. It gives me a little bit of a head start, I think.”Howell is having a second wind as a batter, which he believes had a lot to do with his work with Julian Wood, the power-hitting coach who coincidentally has worked with the Sylhet franchise too. Howell said that they tried a lot of different things to improve his stance.”I actually focused a lot on my batting in the last two months leading into the BPL,” he said. “I worked a lot in the indoor school back in England. I always knew myself as a batter originally but my bowling took over as my main strength. I want to get back to my batting, so that I can add a lot more value to teams with my all-round game. It is probably why it has come off well in this tournament.”He [Wood] has worked out the best possible positions to be able to hit a lot of balls for fours and sixes, that normally with the traditional batting stance might not be able to have the power to do that. I have worked with him with all the heavy bats and light bats, heavy balls and light balls, to improve my bat swing and bat power.”Chattogram Challengers face Khulna Tigers in the BPL Eliminator on February 14•Chattogram ChallengersJacks also believes the BPL has helped him become a better player of spin.”I think there are two different ways of playing spin. I think when I play spin in England, there’s less spin and more bounce. You can play it in a completely different way, and still score quickly. To score quickly here, I have been sweeping a lot. I have also probably used my feet more than I have done in England. I feel my game against spin has grown considerably,” he said.As good as he is, Jacks remains on the fringes of the England T20 side and missed out on the tour of the West Indies earlier this year. But he’s learning to take all that in his stride.”There’s a little bit of disappointment there but it is not something that I will be held up on,” he said. “I know that if I score runs, hopefully my opportunities will come around soon. The England squad is ridiculously talented and one of the best in the world in white-ball cricket. It is incredibly hard to break into that team.”Howell too harbours dreams of playing for England. He has done well for Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred, and believes that when the call comes, it will be due to his growing catalogue of skills that now includes bowling legitimate offspin and legspin. He has switched to being a spinner during certain overs in the BPL.”I think you have to keep it simple with your own game,” Howell said. “You roughly know your role by your batting position, and you have to adapt to situations wherever you bowl. I have been quite relaxed. Luckily it has come off well with the bat.”My bowling hasn’t been as good as it has been in the last few years. But I am happy with I have also managed to get my legspin and offspin out in the game. It adds values to the team, and especially pushing to play for England. That ambition will never stop.”

Known for her change-ups with the old ball, she has shown a previously hidden facet of her skillset at the Commonwealth Games

S Sudarshanan03-Aug-2022Hayley Jensen has played 42 T20Is. Only four members of New Zealand’s squad at the Commonwealth Games have played more matches than her. But what exactly is her role in New Zealand’s T20I set-up?She’s handy with the bat, but she’s hardly the first name you’d think of when you think of New Zealand’s best batters. She’s a wily medium-pacer who often gets the better of batters on sluggish surfaces with her change-ups, but her name is probably not the first that pops into your head if you close your eyes and think of New Zealand’s seamers.Over the last couple of years, Jensen has been a plug-the-hole kind of player. Suzie Bates is unavailable, who do New Zealand open the batting with? Jensen. A couple of quick wickets have fallen; who could they possibly send in to lengthen their batting? Jensen, of course. Quick lower-order runs needed? Call Jensen, maybe?During the Commonwealth Games, she’s begun fulfilling another new role, of opening the bowling. Against South Africa, she was New Zealand’s most economical bowler, her four overs costing just 22 runs and bringing the wicket of Anneke Bosch. In the 45-run win over Sri Lanka, Jensen did even better, returning figures of 3 for 5 – her best in T20Is.If Sri Lanka were to make a match of their 148-run chase, Chamari Athapaththu had to be the protagonist. In her opening exchanges with Jensen, though, Athapaththu – to quote Jos Buttler – “came third in a two-horse race”. It could have been curtains for her off the very first ball when she failed to pick an inswinger and was rapped on the pads. New Zealand didn’t review the lbw call. After flicking the next inswinger to midwicket, she had a wild dash at a full and wide ball.Off the fourth ball she faced, Athapaththu walked at Jensen, only for the inswinger to dip under her bat and clatter into leg stump. The stuff of dreams for a swing bowler. Hasini Perera was next in line to succumb to her inswing, failing to put bat to five of the first six balls she faced from Jensen, flicking and missing repeatedly.Jensen was Player of the Match when New Zealand fought back from 91 all out to beat Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup in 2020•ICCJensen had never opened the bowling for New Zealand before the Commonwealth Games, and head coach Ben Sawyer was behind the move to give her this opportunity.”Ben’s come in and just wanted me to swing the ball up top,” Jensen said. “That’s what I have tried to work on. Usually I probably bowl variations and things like that. He’s just tried to keep it simple for me to swing the ball up top and then yorkers at the back end.”I do it for Otago back in domestic [cricket]. I haven’t done it for White Ferns as much but tried to get it back in my game. Ben’s really helped me with that. He was the bowling coach of Australia and so he’s really been helping me with my bowling.”Jensen returned for her second spell after the powerplay to end Perera’s misery before having Anushka Sanjeewani playing on with a full one in the 15th over.”We saw in the warmups that she was moving it a bit and, in training also, she’s been really swinging the ball a lot here in English conditions, and you want to make the most of it,” Sophie Devine, the New Zealand captain, said. “Today she was outstanding again. She’s probably a bit underrated and I think the teams are certainly going to start watching what she can do with the ball.”In the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2020, when New Zealand were dismissed for 91 by Bangladesh, Jensen led the way with the ball with 3 for 11 to eke out a 17-run win. A week before that, she had dragged Sri Lanka back after a strong start and helped keep them to a gettable total.From being the saviour with the older ball to setting the tone with the new, swinging ball, Jensen has shown she can do it all. And now that she’s gained success in this new, high-profile gig, her name might be the first one that comes to your mind if you were to close your eyes and think of a New Zealand player.

The allrounder has had immense success in the last month, and Zimbabwe are winning because of it

Mohammad Isam08-Aug-2022Sikandar Raza’s shriek from the middle as soon as Tony Munyonga struck the winning runs in the second ODI on Sunday pierced through the din at the Harare Sports Club. His excitement was understandable. Raza had just led Zimbabwe to their first ODI series win against Bangladesh in nine years, nailing two tough chases in the space of three days. It was Raza’s weekend and his month, as he enjoyed the sort of batting form rarely seen in Zimbabwe.In just four weeks, Raza has scored 607 runs across formats at an average of 101.16, with two centuries and four fifties, coupled with 11 wickets at 22.18 apiece. Along the way, he was part of two record partnerships, bagged figures of 4 for 8 in the final of the T20 World Cup qualifiers, and took some key catches.Simply put, Raza has been the main reason for Zimbabwe’s transformation from a side that suffered shattering defeats against Afghanistan and Namibia earlier this year to one that has beaten Bangladesh in both T20Is and ODIs. He was the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup qualifiers, the Player of the Series for the T20Is against Bangladesh, and must be the frontrunner for the award in the ODIs too.When Raza was playing a T20 tournament in Rajshahi, in Bangladesh, this June, little did he know how much his life would change in the coming months. At the time, qualifying for the T20 World Cup was his only concern. He fretted thinking about the heartbreak of 2019. At the age of 36, this was his make-or-break moment. And how he has pulled it off will likely become part of Zimbabwe cricket folklore.After his unbeaten 135 ensured Zimbabwe chased down 304 in the opening ODI against Bangladesh, Raza raised his game in the second match. Along with the new captain Regis Chakabva, he took Zimbabwe from 49 for 4 in the 15th over to a win with 15 balls to spare on Sunday. Raza had earlier taken 3 for 56 to restrict Bangladesh in the death overs.The big crowds in Harare and Bulawayo were witness to Raza’s heroics in the last four weeks. He started with a 40-ball 87 against Singapore in a T20I and his last knock was 117 not out on Sunday. A bowling attack strengthened by left-arm spin couldn’t stop him. He methodically took apart the Bangladesh attack – going after the best bowler of the day Hasan Mahmud – and rotated the strike consistently to ensure his partners never got stuck at one end.Sikandar Raza did another repair job on Sunday, for the second ODI in a row•Associated PressIn all these recent matches, Raza helped Zimbabwe stay ahead in the game, giving the impression that a big over was just around the corner. That threat made opposition captains and bowlers think, rethink, and overthink their plans against him. Luck, too, played its part. Raza survived chances in the 40s in both ODIs against Bangladesh but as the saying goes, fortune favours the brave. And Raza has been brave.What has made this success sweeter for Raza is how it has helped his team, and how he has overcome personal difficulty. Last year, Raza had a bone marrow infection in his right shoulder that was suspected to be cancerous. His return three months later was fraught with doubt because he wasn’t sure whether he could bowl or even throw properly. Raza changed his bowling action to accommodate the problem, and he has recovered to a great degree.Now, he is in line to win his third successive Player-of-the-Series/Tournament award. If he does, he will become only the third Zimbabwean to win four series awards, after Heath Streak and Andy Flower. In a recent interview, Raza said he never compares himself to those legends, including Brendan Taylor, but his performances do warrant some comparison.Flower’s 540 runs against India in the 2000-01 Test series certainly comes to mind. He rose to No. 1 in the ICC Test rankings later that year, and is considered Zimbabwe’s greatest batter of all time. Taylor’s two centuries in the 2015 ODI World Cup, averaging over 72 in the tournament, were celebrated, while Neil Johnson had a dreamy 1999 World Cup campaign. Current coach Dave Houghton played historic knocks, so did Duncan Fletcher way back in 1983.Zimbabwe’s struggles in the last 15 years adds more sheen to Raza’s runs and wickets. They don’t play a lot of high-profile cricket: they haven’t toured England since 2003, and Australia are hosting them for the first time this year since 2004. The ICC had even suspended Zimbabwe briefly. They failed to qualify for the 2019 World Cup and the 2021 T20 World Cup.Raza is now giving Zimbabwe cricket fans something to cheer about, and his form bodes well ahead of tougher assignments against India and Australia later this month, but breaking Bangladesh’s run of five straight ODI series wins is an achievement too. Raza did it without most of Zimbabwe’s senior players around him but his form helped the other batters: Innocent Kaia and Chakabva both scored their maiden ODI tons in this series.Raza’s personal success is a fine example of perseverance and self-belief shining through. But his success has led to success for Zimbabwe. And that’s perhaps the biggest deal.

His numbers aren’t great but they are on the rise, and the transition to the higher levels could well happen soon for the allrounder

Himanshu Agrawal11-Oct-20222:57

Abhishek Sharma: “Captaincy has helped me mature”

Abhishek Sharma appears fidgety at first glance. As we speak, he constantly tosses a bottle from one hand to the other. His eyes wander, too. And he gestures with his hands a lot.But as we talk, it’s clear that there is great clarity of thought in the young man. He talks about his goals. One of them is to win titles for Punjab; Abhishek is one of the key players of the Punjab team, and was their captain in the last Ranji Trophy.Related

Abhishek Sharma shows his all-round prowess to prove that he belongs

Talking Points – Abhishek Sharma's backspinning legcutter

“Obviously, the ultimate goal is to play for India,” Abhishek says. “But I am also setting short, small goals for myself – like winning the [T20 Syed] Mushtaq Ali Trophy.”Abhishek started out as a left-arm spinner, like his father Rajkumar Sharma, a former cricketer. But his son’s multi-dimensional skills made Rajkumar work on Abhishek’s batting too.”Slowly, when he realised that I can bat as well – I must have been eight or nine – I started with batting,” Abhishek says. “My dad was the one who recognised my talent.” So we got Abhishek Sharma, the allrounder – a big-hitting lower-order batter who bowls accurate left-arm spin.But being a lower-middle-order batter in domestic cricket can be thankless. You are not always on the selectors’ radar, you rarely get enough balls to score big, and your failures tend to be amplified. But all those are things of the past now. Abhishek is now an opener for Punjab.Abhishek on Yuvraj – “When I look at the way I have been developing myself, I realise that his tips have been really helping me”•Abhishek SharmaIn his second first-class match for Punjab, he was batting alongside his idol, Yuvraj Singh. Before that, Abhishek had scored 94 on debut against Himachal Pradesh to earn plaudits from Yuvraj. Too tongue-tied then, Abhishek has struck an excellent rapport with Yuvraj since. These days, Yuvraj plays mentor to Abhishek and several Punjab players, even conducting camps and batting sessions in an unofficial capacity for them.”Yuvi knows me in and out,” Abhishek says. “When I look at the way I have been developing myself, I realise that his tips have been really helping me. Everything he tells me – starting from my stance, about [playing] short balls, my intensity throughout, and my strength – have helped me a lot.”And, like Yuvraj, Abhishek is clear that he wants to have an impact with the ball too.He has a good backspinning legcutter that leaves the left-hand batter, and he has been trying to expand his repertoire.”I have been working on variations because I think if I want to play all three formats, I need to work really hard on my bowling,” Abhishek says. “It was only last year that I started bowling with the new ball, and I felt really good. These were the factors I wanted to develop.”During this off-season – he was not a part of the India A side that faced New Zealand A and was also not selected for the Duleep Trophy or the Irani Cup – Abhishek experimented with a variation he learnt from a very successful offspinner.At Sunrisers Hyderabad, Abhishek had the chance to pick Brian Lara’s brains: “When someone like him has faith in you, you get that confidence”•BCCI”Two years back, Mohammad Nabi taught me a particular ball, which is almost like a swinging ball. I understood it, but wasn’t able to bowl it as well as he does,” Abhishek says. “So I have tried that, and I think I have been doing well. With the new ball, I am currently working on three or four variations, which I think will be very useful.”Batting and bowling aside, there’s also the captaincy factor – not to forget, he is just 22.Abhishek has led Punjab at age-group levels and also captained India Under-19 in the run-up to the 2018 World Cup. How different is it to lead the senior Punjab side?”It isn’t, because I had been playing with some players in the Punjab team right from our Under-16 days,” he says. “But you also have seniors in a top-level side. That’s where your challenge is: how do you handle them, and create that atmosphere? Captaincy made me a more mature batsman and leader.”And, like with so many youngsters these days, there are icons of the game all around, ready to help if asked. When he was part of the 2018 Under-19 World Cup-winning side, Rahul Dravid was the coach of the team. Last December, he had an opportunity to pick Brian Lara’s brains after he was brought on as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s strategic advisor and batting coach.

“Lara sir and I had a very good tuning too. We always talk about cricket, and when there is a match going on, we text each other to discuss how someone is batting”Abhishek Sharma

“Rahul sir always told me to trust myself,” Abhishek says. “He never asked me to change anything about my batting; he always wanted me to bat till the end. He is one of the most positive persons I have ever met.”What about Lara, who has now been appointed Sunrisers’ head coach?”He was calling every batsman for a one-on-one meet,” Abhishek says. “He asked me, ‘What was common between openers who have done well over the past two years?’ I said, ‘They are all good players who play good shots’.”But he actually wanted me to play 30-35 balls every innings. Whenever I went out to bat, he told me, ‘I’ll see you in the [Strategic] Time Out’. So that stuck in my mind. When someone like Lara sir has faith in you, you get that confidence.”Abhishek had a good IPL 2022 with the bat. His 426 runs from 14 innings – at a strike rate of 133.12 – were the most for Sunrisers.Abhishek says Rahul Dravid “never asked me to change anything about my batting”•BCCIOn a day-to-day basis, though, Abhishek doesn’t get to speak to Yuvraj or Dravid or Lara, but a close circle of friends and seniors he trusts for inputs.”One is Shubman [Gill, an Under-19 World Cup team-mate], another is our ex-player Sharad Lumba, and also Gurkeerat Mann,” he says. “Lara sir and I had a very good tuning too. We always talk about cricket, and when there is a match going on, we text each other to discuss how someone is batting.”Abhishek is now into his fifth season as a domestic cricketer, having started out as a 16-year-old. He is at a stage where he is ready to make the big leap. His close mates from those Under-19 days – Prithvi Shaw, Gill and Arshdeep Singh – have all gone on to represent the senior team. Abhishek, however, has found the transition tougher.After 13 first-class matches, Abhishek averages only 29, with a highest of 98. His List A numbers are slowly on the rise, even if not up there: an average of almost 31 after 30 innings. And while he looks forward to pushing them up this season, there is a much bigger goal on his mind already.”Holding the World Cup for my country – for sure!”There is some way to go for that, but holding aloft a major domestic trophy isn’t impossible. And it could be the start of many good things.

In memory of Cricinfo pioneer Travis Basevi, who died last week, and made many invaluable contributions to this column

Steven Lynch25-Oct-2022Travis Basevi 1975-2022

Like everyone else connected with ESPNcricinfo, I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Travis Basevi last week, at the young age of 47. His lasting memorial will be the superb StatsGuru, but he was also responsible for creating much of the site’s database in the first place, and much more besides. He was a great help during my time as Cricinfo’s editor, and afterwards, when he continued to help out with arcane queries for this column. When he finally left, I wished him well and said I hoped he hadn’t been diverted too much from real work by Ask Steven. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Your requests were far from irritating, they were the stuff I’d thrive on.”And so, as a tribute this week, I’ve collected together some of his invaluable contributions to this column over the years.I was impressed with the way that every New Zealander made a tangible contribution to their Test victory at Leeds [in 2015]: the least significant performers were Kane Williamson (six runs, three wickets) and Matt Henry (39 runs, two wickets). Has there ever been a Test where the minimum performance in runs and wickets was so considerable? asked Stephen Taberner from Australia

It’s obviously difficult to quantify this sort of thing exactly, but I asked ESPNcricinfo’s ace number-cruncher Travis Basevi whether he could come up with a formula. He told me that, excluding extras and run-outs, the overall bowling average in all Tests is 31.43. That means that the smallest contribution to New Zealand’s fine win at Headingley was by Ross Taylor (68 runs, no wickets), as Kane Williamson’s contribution was 100.29 (six runs plus three wickets at 31.43) and Matt Henry’s 101.86.That is indeed the highest minimum contribution in Tests, beating Mushfiqur Rahim’s 61 in Bangladesh’s victory over Zimbabwe in Chittagong in 2014-15, and three instances of 59 – Mohammad Kaif for India vs West Indies in St John’s in 2006, Nayan Mongia for India vs South Africa in Kanpur in 1996-97, and Michael Hussey for Australia vs South Africa in Johannesburg in 2011-12. It’s not a perfect formula – the presence of two wicketkeepers in the names mentioned reminds us there’s no provision for catches – but, as Travis points out, “even if you change the value of a wicket to 20, or 40, New Zealand at Headingley are still significantly in front – so a most excellent spot.”
– June 9, 2015Travis Basevi was the creator of StatsGuru, an invaluable data tool for cricket journalists and stats fans all over the world•Will LukeHas anyone else scored their first and second Test hundreds in the same game, as Peter Fulton did at Auckland [2012-13]? asked Tim Pate from New Zealand

Two men have scored twin centuries in their very first Test: Lawrence Rowe made 214 and 100 not out for West Indies against New Zealand in Kingston in 1971-72, and Yasir Hameed echoed his feat with 170 and 105 for Pakistan vs Bangladesh in Karachi in 2003-04. Seven others before Fulton had followed their maiden Test century with another one in the same match – but where Fulton does lead the way is that it took him till his 13th Test to achieve the feat: another New Zealander, Geoff Howarth, is next with 11 (vs England in Auckland in 1977-78).The others to score their first two centuries in the same Test are Warren Bardsley (Australia vs England at The Oval in 1909 – his fifth Test), Vijay Hazare (India vs Australia in Adelaide in 1947-48 – seventh), Jack Moroney (Australia vs South Africa in Johannesburg in 1949-50 – fourth), Duleep Mendis (105 and 105, a unique double, for Sri Lanka vs India in Madras in 1982-83 – his fifth Test), Wajahatullah Wasti (Pakistan vs Sri Lanka in Lahore in 1998-99 – second), and Phillip Hughes (Australia vs South Africa in Durban in 2008-09 – second). Moroney and Wajahatullah never scored another Test century. For a full list of those scoring two hundreds in the same Test, click here.
– April 9, 2013. “Nice one,” said Travis. “Fulton’s effort totally escaped me the other week.”I noticed that Brendon McCullum’s two highest Test scores have come in the second innings of the match. What’s the record in this regard? asked Murtaza from Canada

It’s true that Brendon McCullum’s two highest Test scores – 302 against India in Wellington in 2013-14, and 225 against India in Hyderabad in 2010-11 – both came in New Zealand’s second innings. His next-highest of 224 – also against India – was in the first innings in Auckland in 2013-14, a week before that triple-century. The batter who enjoyed the second innings the most turns out to be Bangladesh’s Al Sahariar, whose seven highest scores – ranging from 71 down to 34 – all came at the second attempt. Six batters – Ali Bacher (South Africa), Hanson Carter (Australia), Harry Cave (New Zealand), Junaid Siddique (Bangladesh), Pommie Mbangwa (Zimbabwe) and Shane Shillingford (West Indies) – all recorded their five highest scores in the second innings. Of that group, Junaid was the only one to make a century (106 against England in Chittagong in 2009-10), while Mbangwa’s scores ranged from 8 to 3. His highest first-innings score was 2 not out. In all Mbangwa collected nine ducks (and eight not-outs) in 25 Test innings.Moving to the reverse stat – highest scores in the first innings of a match – the leader is something of a surprise. For much of his career, Tom Graveney seemed to be labelled as having a suspect temperament… but his 23 highest Test scores all came in the first innings. Joel Garner comes next with 20, ahead of his fellow West Indian Brian Lara – whose epic 153 not out to seal a one-wicket victory over Australia in Bridgetown in 1998-99 was his highest second-innings score in Tests, but his 16th-highest overall. The other first-up specialists, with their 15 highest scores all coming in their teams’ first innings, are Marvan Atapattu, Michael Clarke (to date) and Steve Waugh.
– June 30, 2015. Luckily, Travis was “intrigued by the first part”.Kumar Sangakkara (left) and Mahela Jayawardene added 624 together – still the highest partnership in Tests – in Colombo in 2006 against South Africa, but only one of them received the match award•AFPIn the recent Perth Test [2015-16] David Warner scored 253, but didn’t receive the Man-of-the-Match award. Was this a record? asked Steve Austin from Australia

There have actually been two higher individual scores than David Warner’s 253 in Perth that didn’t lead to the player concerned winning the Player-of-the-Match award. Highest of all was Kumar Sangakkara’s 287, for Sri Lanka against South Africa in Colombo in 2006, when the award went to Mahela Jayawardene for his 374 (it might have been fairer to make a joint award, which happens sometimes). In Wellington in 1990-91, Aravinda de Silva’s 267 for Sri Lanka was trumped by Martin Crowe’s 299 for New Zealand. When Sachin Tendulkar made his highest Test score – 248 not out against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2004-05 – the award went to Irfan Pathan, who took 11 wickets for 96 in the match. I should point out here that such awards only became commonplace in Test matches in the 1980s.
– December 1, 2015. Travis: “It’s Sangakkara getting dudded when Jayawardene made 374 – I guess the adjudicator never realised you could give it to both of them.”In the Sharjah Test [2015-16], England fielded five bowlers who bowl with the hand opposite the one they bat with. Is this unique for a Test? asked Gerry Cotter from England

The England side for the third Test against Pakistan in Sharjah did include four men – James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali – who bat left-handed but bowl with their right, plus Samit Patel, a right-hand batter but a slow left-arm bowler. I couldn’t think of any bigger numbers – but Travis Basevi, Cricinfo’s database ace, unearthed a couple. As England’s first Test against India at Trent Bridge in 2014 meandered to a draw, Alastair Cook and Gary Ballance both had a trundle – and they each bowl right-handed but bat left. They joined Moeen, Anderson, Broad and Stokes to make up the half dozen.There was an earlier instance too. In the first Test against New Zealand in Moratuwa in 1992-93, Sri Lanka had six players who bowled with one hand but batted with the other: Don Anurasiri, Asanka Gurusinha Dulip Liyanage, Arjuna Ranatunga, Hashan Tillakaratne and Jayananda Warnaweera. There are ten further cases of five (the first two by England in Pakistan in 1961-62), including two other recent instances by England: in Sydney in 2014-15 (Anderson, Broad, Stokes, Steve Borthwick and Boyd Rankin) and the Lord’s Ashes Test of 2015 (Moeen, Anderson, Broad, Stokes and a solitary over from Adam Lyth). The figures only take into account matches in which the players concerned actually bowled.
– November 10, 2015And a final thought…
If you’ve never tried Travis’ brainchild StatsGuru, why not give it a try? It may look complicated at first, but it’s really not that difficult (I can manage it, after all!) What you’ll then have at your fingertips is what Wisden 2003 enthused about: “An arcane world – a world of averages, aggregates and algorithms – suddenly became accessible.”

Our first batch of team report cards for 2022 also includes Ireland, Afghanistan, West Indies and Zimbabwe

31-Dec-2022

England

by Andrew Miller
I’ll try to keep it brief… but good grief.This was a year like no other for the England men’s Test team, one where winning a World Cup to become the first team to hold both white-ball world titles at the same time was arguably not the greatest of their successes. It began amid existential despair at the Ashes, and ended with a triumph in Pakistan as absolute as it was unprecedented. It began with an abject record of one Test win in 17, and ended with nine incredible wins in ten. It began with Joe Root clinging on as Test captain because there were no realistic alternatives, and ended with Ben Stokes being hailed as England’s best since Brearley.And by the end of the year, England had desecrated Test cricket in the best and most literal sense – “Bazball”, as everyone bar the team themselves were describing Stokes and Brendon McCullum’s new liberated approach to the ancient format, had stripped back the pomp and unleashed that inner white-ball beast.Suddenly England were playing a version of the game in which nothing mattered bar the endgame – “Strip it back, it’s only you and the bowler there,” as Jonny Bairstow put it after his sensational century in the second Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, the moment at which it was clear that this England team had entered a collective zone quite unlike anything the game has ever before witnessed.For the women, it wasn’t quite such a cathartic year, for all that it began with a similarly shattering trouncing in the antipodes. Nat Sciver’s heroic century against Australia in the World Cup final ensured a dignified end to a gruelling winter, but it couldn’t disguise the sense that a champion team had reached the end of its road.At least in the likes of Issy Wong, Alice Capsey and Freya Kemp, the team had a knot of oven-ready starlets, honed in the Hundred and ready to step. But the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham came too soon for an exciting but raw side, and India proved too strong. With Heather Knight and Sciver missing key portions of the summer, it wasn’t until December’s tour of the Caribbean (under new head coach Jon Lewis) that they returned to regular winning ways. Unlike the men in Pakistan, however, their clean sweep raised barely a mutter of recognition.High point
Nine Test wins in ten, and every one of them a stunning display in its own right. But the Rawalpindi victory was in a different league entirely. That first-day total of 506 for 4, that last-day surge after Stokes’ impeccably judged declaration. And all achieved in spite of a debilitating sickness bug on the eve of the Test. All the recipes for instant greatness.Low point
Did the Ashes even happen this year? The midwinter misery of 2021-22 could not seem a more distant memory. But if we have to dredge into long-forgotten horrors, then the loss of ten wickets for 56 runs in 22.5 overs on the final day of the series in Hobart seems a suitably bum note to hit.ResultsMen
Tests: P15 W9 L3 D3
ODIs: P12 W5 L6 NR1
T20Is: P27 W15 L11 NR 1Women
Tests: P2 D2
ODIs: P21 W11 L10
T20Is: P18 W13 L4 NR1
India had some high-profile losses to contend with in 2022, including in the deciding Test of the England series, in Edgbaston•Associated Press

India

by Sidharth Monga
Losing a Test series in South Africa, losing the decider of the Test series, brought forward from last year, in England, an early exit in the Asia Cup, losing in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup in Australia, losing an ODI series to Bangladesh in Bangladesh – this is hardly the honeymoon period either Rohit Sharma, the new captain of the men’s side, or Rahul Dravid, the new coach, would have hoped for. Especially after the heady highs of last year’s Test series win in Australia.The disappointment from both the fans and the board despite the best win-loss ratio among ICC Full Members in all international cricket should tell this team in transition that they aren’t expected to just get by but to win big Test series away and win ICC tournaments.The women finished fifth in a field of eight in the ODI World Cup. They played no Test matches. They lost a home T20I series to Australia. Musical chairs involving the coaching staff remained the stuff of intrigue. Two of their greatest players, Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj, retired during the year.Yet there were some silver linings: they made the final of the Commonwealth Games, beat England 3-0 in ODIs in England, and finally got a WIPL.High point
India Women went to the home of the ODI World Cup runners-up, England, as absolute no-hopers. However, after finishing the Commonwealth Games two shots from the title, they continued their good form in the bilateral ODIs against the hosts, providing Goswami with a perfect farewell . Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain, scored 221 runs while getting out only once, Renuka Singh emerged as a new fast-bowling hope, and they rattled a few cages by running out a batter who was backing up too far before the ball left the bowler’s hand.Low point

The men could smell a series win in South Africa. In fact, after the first Test, which they won comprehensively, and after three innings of the second, it looked like it was theirs. This team was known for winning if it won the toss, especially when it had well above 200 to defend in the last innings. However, they failed to defend 239 and 211 in that second Test and the one that followed, on spicy tracks. It was not just that they lost; they lost by seven wickets each time and conceded the runs in a hurry. India had a good attack but the pitches suited the taller South African bowlers more, costing the visitors their best chance at a series win in South Africa to date.ResultsMen
Tests: P7 W4 L3
ODIs: P24 W14 L8
T20Is: P40 W28 L10 T1 NR1Women
ODIs: P18 W10 L8
T20Is: P25 W14 L11West Indies’ first-round exit in the T20 World Cup was perhaps the nadir of an already dismal year in the format for the two-time tournament champions•David Gray/AFP/Getty Images

West Indies

by Shashank Kishore
Three wins and two draws in seven Tests, including a series victory over England at home, should count as a good year, but by the end of 2022, West Indies’ tendency to fail in Australia, where they haven’t won a series since 1992, once again elicited the age-old debates about their Test future.If the debacle in Australia to wind down the year was utterly predictable, their T20 fortunes – which plummeted to an all-time low with their failure to qualify for the Super 12s of the World Cup – is something many didn’t see coming.It all started with Kieron Pollard’s retirement in April following a testy relationship with the cricket board. No inkling of his stepping away was on the horizon even two months prior, when he led the team on their white-ball tour of India, but rumblings began after they were blanked 6-0.In ODIs as well, West Indies endured a horror home run, losing 2-1 to Ireland and New Zealand and 3-0 apiece to India and Bangladesh. They were equally poor away, losing to Pakistan, and being swept aside in India.West Indies only success this year overseas was in the Netherlands, where they won 3-0 with a young team under new captain Nicholas Pooran – though he eventually stepped down from the post after their ignominious World Cup exit. Their qualification for next year’s 50-overs World Cup a year out isn’t a done deal yet; they are tussling with three teams for one remaining spot.The women’s team perhaps exceeded expectations by reaching the semi-finals of the 50-over World Cup, but off-field issues were ever present. If Covid proved challenging, their immediate future without talismanic allrounder Deandra Dottin could be tougher yet.Dottin retired in the middle of Barbados’ Commonwealth Games campaign citing a less-than-ideal “current climate and team environment” and taking potshots at the administration.Like at the start of the year, West Indies cricket at large is once again at the crossroads and in need of a thorough rejuvenation.High point
Beating hosts New Zealand and England back to back to begin the Women’s World Cup with two massive wins many didn’t anticipate.Low point
The men’s home ODI series loss to Ireland, who would also knock them out in the first round of the T20 World Cup with a nine-wicket pounding.ResultsMen
Tests: P7 W3 L2 D2
ODIs: P21 W5 L16
T20Is: P24 W8 L15 NR1
Women
ODIs: P18 W5 L11 NR2
T20Is: P10 W1 L9Bangladesh pulled off an unprecedented eight-wicket Test win against New Zealand in New Zealand for the first time in their history•Getty Images

Bangladesh

by Mohammad Isam
The numbers don’t suggest it but 2022 was one of Bangladesh’s most productive years in international cricket – they won more matches in 2021, but 2022 is comparable to 2015 in terms of the quality of the opposition they defeated.They beat New Zealand for the first time in a Test match, and in New Zealand at that. They also beat South Africa in the ODI series in March, in that team’s backyard. Bangladesh were previously winless in both countries, so these were two special performances. They rounded off the year with a second successive ODI series win at home against India, and nearly toppled them in their last Test this year, in Dhaka.Litton Das had a stellar year in all formats, while Mehidy Hasan Miraz established himself as a reliable allrounder for the team. The rise of Bangladesh’s fast bowling across formats has been noteworthy too.The sole highlight for the women’s team was the win over Pakistan in the World Cup. They struggled in the T20 Asia Cup later in the year, where, despite being defending champions, they couldn’t reach the semi-finals. Captain Nigar Sultana had a good year with the bat, topping the batting charts in ODIs and T20Is, while Salma Khatun and Nahida Akter were among the main wicket-takers.High point
The miracle at Mount Maunganui and the 2-1 wins over South Africa and India in ODIs were high-water marks in Bangladesh’s cricket history.Low point
Bangladesh lost to Zimbabwe in ODI and T20I series for the first time in nine years.ResultsMen
Tests: P10 W1 L8 D1
ODIs: P15 W10 L5
T20Is: P21 W6 L14 NR1Women
ODIs: P10 W1 L7 NR2
T20Is: P17 W10 L7Fazalhaq Farooqi took 3 for 11 in Afghanistan’s opening win over Sri Lanka in the T20 Asia Cup in August•AFP via Getty Images

Afghanistan

by Peter Della Penna
Afghanistan may not have the seismic upset results over the years that other teams have had on the pathway from Associate to Full Member status, but 2022 showed that they continue to make steady progress in gaining respect with a steady march up the global rankings.In the ODI World Cup Super League, they beat the teams they were supposed to (sweeping a pair of three-match series against Netherlands and Zimbabwe) as well as winning a few games that were not nailed-on results (winning one match each against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). Their consistency in ODIs has helped secure an automatic berth into the 2023 World Cup with a guaranteed top-eight finish in the 13-team tournament, which is all the more remarkable considering they still have nine matches left to play.As for T20Is, they once again showed flashes of immense promise thanks to their factory line of T20 franchise stars. Afghanistan advanced to the Super Four of the Asia Cup, but stumbled once there. Their T20 World Cup experience was severely rain-affected, with two matches washed out, though they gave defending champions Australia a scare in what amounted to a consolation match to end the group stage. It showed that a victory over the Aussies, which may have seemed far-fetched a decade ago, is not so hard to envision anymore.High point
Beating eventual champions Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to top Group B in the first round of the Asia Cup.Low point
Continued inactivity for women’s cricket initiatives at domestic and national team level, which is part of the criteria to be a Full Member of the ICC.Results
Men
ODIs: P12 W8 L3 NR1
T20Is: P18 W8 L10Sikandar Raza’s three wickets in five balls helped Zimbabwe clinch a famous win over Pakistan at the T20 World Cup•Getty Images

Zimbabwe

by Firdose Moonda
A year of two halves started with Zimbabwe’s men’s team losing 11 of their first 14 international fixtures – including series defeats to Afghanistan and Namibia – before winning 13 of their next 25 matches. The difference? A change in coach.Dave Houghton, the country’s first Test captain, had an immediate impact after he replaced Lalchand Rajput – who moved sideways into the position of technical director – in June. Zimbabwe won the T20 World Cup Qualifier, held at home, a month later and earned a spot at an ICC event for the first time since 2016. They also had an impressive run through the T20 World Cup, where they got into the Super 12. They also beat Bangladesh in an ODI series for the first time since 2013 and won an ODI in Australia for the first time ever, but remain out of automatic contention for the 2023 World Cup.Zimbabwe did not play a single Test in 2022 and only have five scheduled in 2023 (two against West Indies and one against Ireland at home, and two against Afghanistan away). Their focus seems to be shifting to the shorter formats, and they will even host a T10 tournament in January 2023. They do, however, remain committed to long-format players. Gary Ballance, who was schooled in Harare and has played 23 Tests for England, opted out of his Yorkshire contract early and has signed a two-year deal with Zimbabwe Cricket.The women’s team did not play any ODIs in 2022, but came agonisingly close to qualifying for the 2023 T20 World Cup, their hopes being ended by a four-run loss to Ireland.High point
Zimbabwe stunned eventual finalists Pakistan in the T20 World Cup by defending an under-par 130 in Perth. Pakistan were on track on 88 for 3 before Zimbabwe’s man of the year, Sikandar Raza, took three wickets in five balls. Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani squeezed the Pakistan batting and Brad Evans defended ten runs off the last over to secure a massive upset.Low point
It’s tough being always eclipsed by South Africa, but imagine when even Namibia overshadow you? In May, Zimbabwe lost a T20I series to their lower-profile neighbours, but they did make up for it by qualifying for the Super 12 at the T20 World Cup when Namibia didn’t.ResultsMen
ODIs: P15 W4 L11
T20Is: P24 W12 L11 NR1
Women
T20Is: P15 W12 L3UAE qualified for the men’s T20 World Cup and prevented Namibia from making it to the Super 12s by beating them in Geelong•AFP/Getty Images

UAE

by Peter Della Penna
Having not played in a World Cup of any kind since 2015, UAE made a spectacular splash in 2022. Not only did they qualify for the men’s T20 World Cup by winning the qualifying event in Oman in February – a performance that included a pair of victories over Ireland in both the group stage and the final – they also managed to spring a surprise upset of Namibia to end the group stage of the T20 World Cup itself, a result that denied Namibia what would have been their second straight trip to the Super 12s.In ODIs, the year started off in positive fashion for UAE before tailing off significantly. The loss of form was not without consequences. After the team went winless on their ODI tour of Scotland, Ahmed Raza was sacked as captain and replaced with CP Rizwan. Initially the move was announced as a change for T20Is only, but Rizwan continued to lead UAE in ODIs in their next series, against Nepal, as well. That apart, long-time allrounder Rohan Mustafa was shockingly left out of the T20 World Cup squad despite having been one of UAE’s better-performing players in the Qualifier.The men were not the only team to make waves in the year. The Under-19 Women beat Thailand to clinch the Asia Regional Qualifying spot in the inaugural Women’s U-19 World Cup in South Africa. The senior women continued a streak that began in 2021, to ultimately win 18 T20Is in a row before the run was snapped by a loss to Thailand. Though they could not secure a spot at the T20 World Cup, the women scored a famous win over Zimbabwe at the qualifier in Abu Dhabi, winning off the last ball by four wickets.High point
Fighting off the cold in Hobart, and a talented opponent in Namibia, to win a match at the men’s T20 World Cup.Low point
Very nearly blowing a chance to reach the T20 World Cup in the first place with a two-run loss to Bahrain to end the group stage of the men’s qualifier in Oman.ResultsMen
ODIs: P21 W10 L10 T1
T20Is: P16 W8 L8Women
T20Is: P28 W16 L10 NR2Bilal Khan’s 76 wickets in the CWC League 2 were among the few highlights for Oman in an otherwise underwhelming year•Getty Images

Oman

by Peter Della Penna
After a spate of successes under the leadership of head coach Duleep Mendis, Omanwere underwhelming in 2022. Less than four months after being co-hosts of the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup with the UAE, they could not secure a berth for the next edition of the tournament, despite hosting the qualifier. A loss to Nepal in round-robin play meant they finished as runners-up in Group B, pitting them against Group A leader Ireland in a crossover semi-final that wound up being fairly one-sided.In ODIs, they became the first team to wrap up the full slate of 36 matches in Cricket World Cup League Two, ending with two wins out of four against USA and Nepal in Texas to take 44 points from 36 matches. Though they will not finish as winners of the seven-team competition, their spot in the top three is nearly assured, which will put them into the ten-team ICC World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe in 2023. It will be their first appearance in the 50-over World Cup Qualifier since 2009, bringing them full circle from the depths of World Cricket League Division Five in 2016.On the women’s side, Oman won four of five T20Is on home soil to finish runners-up to the UAE in the six-team Gulf Cooperation Council Women’s T20 Championship. However, they were less successful away from home, losing all three completed matches at the Asian Cricket Council Women’s T20 Championship in Malaysia.High point
Bilal Khan finishing as the leading wicket-taker in CWC League 2 with 76 wickets.Low point
A clumsy chase against Ireland that saw Oman go from 68 for 2 at the halfway points chasing a target of 166 to 109 all out in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup Qualifier.ResultsMen
ODIs: P16 W7 L8 T1
T20Is: P15 W6 L9Women
T20Is: P9 W4 L4 NR1Scotland’s win over West Indies in the T20 World Cup was an epic moment for them, but that was their only victory in five T20Is in 2022•ICC via Getty Images

Scotland

by Peter Della Penna
Change would a recurring theme for Scotland in 2022, both on and off the field. Allegations by former spinner Majid Haq, among others, sparked an independent review that concluded that Cricket Scotland’s governance and leadership practices were “institutionally racist”. In anticipation of the report findings being made public in July, the entire Cricket Scotland board resigned en masse.Earlier in the summer, long-time men’s captain Kyle Coetzer stepped down from the national team captaincy and retired from T20Is. New captain Richie Berrington led his charges to a famous win over West Indies to start their T20 World Cup campaign in Hobart, but they were unable to sustain that momentum and were beaten by Ireland and Zimbabwe in successive matches to fall short of the Super 12s. Scotland’s ODI form, however, was mighty impressive and they ended the year in first place in the seven-team CWC ODI League Two competition.As for the women, they could not maintain the progress made in 2021, when they defeated Ireland to be champions of the Europe Regional T20 World Cup Qualifier. Two losses in Edinburgh in early September to Ireland were followed by another in a must-win match at the T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE, ending Scotland’s dreams of advancing to the Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa. However, the junior women were able to defeat Netherlands to secure a berth in the inaugural Women’s U-19 World Cup.High point
Not just beating West Indies, but the manner in which they did it. A thumping 42-run win highlighted by Mark Watt’s trio of wickets off deliveries bowled from 25 yards away.Low point
Calum MacLeod abruptly announcing his retirement at age 32, following the end of the T20 World Cup after a summer in which he was in blistering form with the bat.ResultsMen
ODIs: P21 W15 L6
T20Is: P5 W1 L4Women
T20Is: P11 W4 L7More in our look back at 2022