Baz’s boys and Stokes’ folks are going to nice-guy the hell out of Test cricket or kill the format trying

Alan Gardner18-May-2022Who amongst us – with the possible exception of Brad Haddin – doesn’t have a soft spot for New Zealand? The designated Nice Guys of world cricket, they have inspired a legion of dedicated kiwi fanciers with their wholesome brand of understated effectiveness, winning hearts and minds (and even the occasional trophy) along the way.Currently there is no one looking more longingly in the Black Caps’ direction, silently mouthing “I wanna be you”, than England. Not content with basing the overhaul of their one-day teams a few years ago on New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum-led band of derring-doers, they have now opted to bring in the twinkly T20 sage himself as their new Test coach. Truly, has there ever been a more overwhelming case of Stockholm syndrome than that inspired by England’s 2015 World Cup battering at the Cake Tin?With McCullum and (Christchurch-born) allrounder Ben Stokes forming a totemic tattooed twosome in charge of the Test side, England seemingly intend to go down swinging, at the very least. Which most fans would probably agree is better than going down in a crying heap, as has been increasingly the case. But what will life be like under the “Thriller Bees”? Let’s sift for clues.Positive cricket
One of the most-memorable McCullum gambits was charging down to Mitchell Starc in the opening over of the World Cup final. Sure, he had his stumps splatted and New Zealand ended up being thrashed, but it’s the principle that matters. Stokes has a similar mindset. Be it balls, bodies or dressing-room lockers, both love to smash it.Spirit of the game
In his 2016 MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture, McCullum regretfully recounted running out Muthiah Muralidaran after he had left his crease to celebrate a team-mate’s hundred. Don’t be surprised if Stokes decides at some point down the line that the whole runs-off-the-back-of-the-bat thing in the 2019 final was a grave injustice and offers to repatriate the stolen World Cup to New Zealand.Team culture
McCullum took over as New Zealand captain in the wake of the bungled removal of Ross Taylor, helping to heal a split dressing room and rebuild the team from one of its lowest points in recent times. Stokes takes charge of England following one of the longest and most successful (technically speaking) captaincies in their history, and with the team still completely behind his predecessor, Joe Root. He’s got a hell of a job on his hands.Playing with a smile
A central McCullum philosophy. Might be tricky for James Anderson to get his head around.Tattoos
If in doubt, spell it out. McCullum has his international cap numbers on his shoulder; Stokes has them on his arm. McCullum has a silver fern on his chest; Stokes has one on his shoulder, plus a pride of lions on his back. Both have tributes to their wives and kids among their body art. Stand by for Mark Wood having his imaginary horse tattooed on a buttock, Jack Leach getting 1* etched into his neck, and Zak Crawley discovering some Maori heritage.So there you go. England’s Test decline has been slow and painful, but now they’re going to live fast (or kill the format trying). Time for members of the Barmy Army to all go out to get “Baz Boys 4 Life” inked on a bicep.

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Chennai Super Kings may not stand a chance of winning this year’s IPL, but their fans have something even better to celebrate: MS Dhoni is back at the wheel. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ravindra Jadeja’s brief captaincy stint was an unhappy affair – made all the more difficult, the Light Roller suspects, by having the “Dad’s Army” alpha lurking in the background. “For the first two games, I simply oversaw his work and let him be later,” Dhoni said after being reappointed for the rest of the season. “After that, I insisted that he take his own decisions and bear responsibility for them.” Strong overbearing paterfamilias vibes from Mahi there, like the dad who grudgingly allows his son to have a go at being the map-reader on a family walk. Now everyone’s lost and, adds Dhoni regretfully, if we all die out here, then we know whose fault it is. Still, character-building stuff for young Jaddu.

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More transformation lolz coming out of South Africa, where attempts by CSA to remove Mark Boucher as men’s team head coach over allegations about past racist behaviour backfired. Never mind that the board was shocked – shocked! – to discover that hiring a group of white former players to management positions en masse might provoke a response from those who believe South African cricket is long overdue a reckoning on equality. CSA’s efforts to address examples of discrimination raised during last year’s Social Justice and Nation-Building hearings then fell flat due to the unavailability of witness testimony. The intentions are good, clearly. But it seems before CSA can make a significant dent on historic racial injustice, it will have to transform a reputation for historic administrative incompetence.

Our South Africa correspondent welcomes English cricket’s attempts to diversify its fanbase

Firdose Moonda01-Sep-2022″Do you remember we went to the first ever one?” A cricket fan asked his friend on the walk down Wellington Road, which leads to Lord’s, on Tuesday afternoon. “We had just been released from our f****** Covid.”We all remember what we first did when we were released from our f****** lockdowns. How fortuitous for the ECB that some people will remember attending the Hundred. How fantastic that some of those people have decided to go back, a year later, when the world has changed again; when they could be in the West End or at the football, at a music festival or a pub – 13,152 turned up on a Tuesday evening laced with a chilly breeze to attend the women’s match and 24,116 the men’s. If anyone wants to know if this ‘thing’ works, tens of thousands of people think it does.And they’re not your regular cricket people. They’re what we’d call the minority in a stadium in England – not pale, stale and male – and they’re not having your regular cricket conversations.”How do you know if it’s going to be a fast bowler or a spin bowler?,” a boy asked his father, in the last quarter of the women’s match between London Spirit and Birmingham Phoenix, who were attempting to defend 82, and had just brought on offspinner Ria Fackrell.”The fast bowlers come in quickly and from a long way away,” the dad answered.On cue, Georgie Elwiss got the ball next. “Like this, see?”There was a pause as the child considered the mechanics of speed, distance and time, before moving on to specifics. “How fast do they bowl?”Pace is pace, yaar, and everyone wants to know about it, no matter how old they are. “Do you remember in the England-South Africa Tests, the South African bowlers were all really quick?” the father asked.I was quietly chuffed with the way the conversation was going. “The South Africans bowl about 90mph,” the father said. “And England’s best bowler Jimmy Anderson is about 83mph.”Another pause, and I wondered if this young fan was going to be swayed by speed alone. “Jimmy Anderson is the best,” he concluded. Can’t argue with that.Male cricketers were the examples the father used but it was a women’s match which enthralled his son, as Naomi Dattani and Grace Scrivens chipped away. They needed 35 from the last 35 balls, and more than a run-a-ball after that. Cries of “two, two,” from both father and son came every time the ball was hit into some space. At one stage, London Spirit’s ask had grown to 16 runs off 11 balls and they were preparing for defeat but Dattani hit a glorious straight drive to bring the equation down and a song every 12-year old knows the words to was blasted around the ground.Ravi Bopara smoked five sixes in 45 off 20 balls for London Spirit•ECB via Getty ImagesIt’s cricket but “not only about the cricket,” the DJ reminded us. Maybe that jars with you (after all, you’re reading a cricket specialist website and are probably a pretty serious cricket fan) but in a world with entertainment options everywhere, cricket has to keep up. So the Hundred has partnered with BBC Music Introducing to showcase a selection of artists in the intervals. Tuesday night’s was SOFY, a self-titled indie-pop artist from Leicester. She described Lord’s as “much more civilised” than the King Power Stadium.While SOFY brought the moody chilled vibes, the two on-field presenters regularly reminded the crowd that they need to “give this place some energy” and adopted the IPL-style puppet-master approach to audience participation.”Make some noise,” they command and noise is made. “We say London, you say Spirit,” and chants of “London Spirit” began. “We say Lord’s, you say cricket,” and cue the “Lord’s Cricket” chorus. Their crowning moment was getting the Mexican wave to go around the ground, including the Pavilion (yes, MCC Members stood up and raised their arms) at the first time of calling. Later, they asked everyone to turn their smartphone spotlights on to create a band of light (lighters are so 1990, aren’t they?). The mood dimmed a touch when the big screen then displayed a message asking for lights to be turned off so play could resume.By then, the men’s match was well underway and the atmosphere had changed a bit. Some of the parents with younger kids had left – and remember that those are kids who will grow up around a regular diet of women’s cricket – and the 20 and 30-year-olds were in. Many of them had not taken an interest in cricket before the Hundred (one prominent cricket photographer’s 23-year-old daughter and her partner were among them) and were treated to all the thrills and spills of a nail-biter.Related

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Ravi Bopara’s 20-ball 45 ensured London Spirit set Birmingham Phoenix a competitive target of 140. Liam Dawson’s two wickets in five balls threatened to put Spirit straight into Saturday’s final but Matthew Wade’s 81 ensured Phoenix were in it all the way.The scores were tied when the ball that should have been the final delivery was called wide, and my thoughts immediately turned to whether the playing conditions make provision for a Super Over, or even if they would call it that, given that the o-word is not the said thing in this format. “Set of five,” is the preferred terminology. So how about a Super Set? Too complicated, maybe?In the end, Phoenix won, but not well enough to qualify for Friday’s eliminator. Whether those in attendance knew that is hard to say. And that wasn’t the only thing that could have been better explained. The team score is not prominently displayed, for example, with the big screens preferring to show runs scored or needed and balls faced or remaining. It’s not always obvious how many wickets have fallen or which set is being bowled, and the timer between the change of ends can be distracting. But at its core, the Hundred is still cricket. One team bats until either they are dismissed or out of overs, then the other team does. The team that has the most runs wins.The women’s match proved to be a low-scoring thriller•Getty ImagesIt’s been deliberately marketed to attract a non-traditional cricket audience and cricket being the game it is, the traditional audience don’t always like that. And the new audience will face a challenge when they move on to other formats and discover overs are made up of six balls, and you don’t get two bowled from the same side.Think of the re-explaining the father will have to do when his son wants to know why Anderson or Kagiso Rabada are not strategically used to deliver sets in succession. But it’s an interesting tactical innovation and will likely deliver some intriguing strategies as the Hundred continues to be played. For those of us who have watched cricket all our lives, it’s not that difficult a concept to adjust to, even if we want to dismiss it as unnecessary.It’s the opposite argument we should be making. It’s necessary that cricket evolves. In South Africa, we have dispensed with three-Test series to accommodate for a T20 league because that’s the only way the game will be financially viable. It’s up for debate why the ECB chose to create a whole new format, not to mention its impact on other formats, but at least it’s an attempt to get cricket to keep up.It’s also necessary that cricket becomes more welcoming to more people. We’ve just been through a Social Justice and Nation-Building process which has exposed exclusion in South Africa and the ECB’s own review is about to get underway. We know the game has a history of racism, misogyny and intolerance that should be driven out. If an environment can be created where groups of friends, families and people from a variety of backgrounds can get together, that should be encouraged, especially as we collectively recover from the f****** pandemic, and all its after-effects.

Long earmarked as an England player, Brook’s future starts to unfold under Karachi’s Friday-night lights

Matt Roller23-Sep-2022It was immediately obvious to the 30,000 fans at a sold-out National Stadium who witnessed Harry Brook’s first half-century in international cricket that there will be many, many more to come.Brook’s unbeaten 81 came off 35 balls and highlighted his power against spin and his precision against pace in an innings that even the partisan Karachi crowd stood to appreciate. His unbroken 139-run partnership with the inventive Ben Duckett took only 69 balls, enough to take the game beyond Pakistan’s reach and to reassert his status as the most promising young England batter of a generation.Brook walked out for his eighth innings as an England player at 82 for 3 in the ninth over, a situation in which many young batters making their way in international cricket would choose to consolidate. Not Brook. He launched his fifth ball straight back over Usman Qadir’s head for the first six of the night, then charged down and lofted his seventh over extra cover for six more.He had reached 23 off 12 balls by the time the spinners had bowled out at the end of the 13th, then found an extra gear against the quicks. He added 58 off 23 across the final seven overs, balancing crisp timing with superb game awareness and leaving Babar Azam walking off at the interval needing a double dose of aspirin.When analysts send scouting reports to captains after studying opposition line-ups, they invariably include two columns next to each batter with a tick or a cross under ‘Scoop?’ and ‘Reverse?’ It is Brook’s scoop that enables him to be such an effective T20 batter, not so much for the shot itself but the way in which it opens up the rest of the pitch for him.”You have to have fine leg back,” Luke Wood said this week, explaining why he rated Brook as his hardest opponent, “so you’re effectively playing with four fielders because then he won’t play it. He hits wide well, and you can’t follow him because if you get that side of him, he picks you up. You’ve got a very small margin for error to him.”Brook only played one scoop in his innings, when Babar had dared to bring fine leg up inside the ring in the final over of the innings, but the fact the ‘Scoop?’ box next to his name was ticked meant there were constantly gaps for him to exploit on both sides of the wicket.He was particularly punishing through extra cover, shimmying outside his leg stump to create room to hit the gap between cover and mid-off who were invariably up inside the ring, but also used deft touches to deflect boundaries past short third and took on the short ball against Pakistan’s three 90mph/145kph quicks.”I’m just trying to play on instinct as much as possible,” Brook said. “If they go wide, I try and hit it over point; if they go straight, I’ll try and hit it over midwicket. I just play the ball on its merit.”You get a gist of what they’re trying to bowl by looking at the field. If they’ve got four men out on the leg side, you kind of know they’ve got to bowl straight because if they go wide, it’s almost a free hit. I’m just trying to watch the field, but then play on instinct at the same time.”Brook comes across as a happy-go-lucky character, epitomised by his initial confusion and then cheeky grin when Haris Rauf’s bouncer lodged in the grille of his helmet. But underneath his straightforward veneer, there is a calculated batter with a high cricketing IQ, constantly manipulating the field to his advantage. As Moeen Ali put it: “Brooky is showing how special a player he really can be.”Harry Brook caught the ball in his grille during his unbeaten 81•Getty ImagesBrook has made it clear that he wants to play all formats for England – his red-ball pedigree is obvious from his strength playing orthodox shots – and he is the only player on this tour who was part of the Oval Test against South Africa. He spent the brief window between those commitments playing golf with his ex-Yorkshire team-mate Josh Poysden, who then drove him straight to Heathrow in time for the overnight flight to Karachi.After a couple of training days, he started the series with 42 not out off 25 balls and 31 off 19, auditioning for a middle-order berth in next month’s T20 World Cup which seems nailed on after this masterclass. He has shown his ability against both spin and pace, and will be carded at No. 5 or 6, either side of Liam Livingstone. Brook is also an exceptional fielder, both in the ring and in the deep.It was no surprise that his success earned him a warm reception, even as Pakistan’s seamers wilted. Cricket fans in Pakistan often claim ownership over players who have thrived in the PSL and Brook’s maiden T20 hundred – 102 not out for Lahore Qalandars in February – came immediately after an underwhelming Big Bash season.Of course, he has made most of his progress wearing a Yorkshire shirt, even if they are unlikely to see much of him after this winter. With Jonny Bairstow likely to miss the Test tour to Pakistan in December through injury and Ben Stokes’ ODI retirement opening up a middle-order spot in the 50-over side, Brook could start the 2023 English season as a first-choice pick across formats.As a former Under-19 captain and a consistent run-scorer in domestic cricket, Brook has long been earmarked as an England player for the future. Under Karachi’s Friday-night lights, the future started to unfold.

The South African allrounder, who impressed with the bat in the CPL last year, is looking to unleash his inner Avenger for the Paarl Royals franchise

Deivarayan Muthu09-Jan-2023South African allrounder Corbin Bosch is such a big fan of Thor from the Marvel Universe that he often celebrates with an imaginary hammer. He has added more power to his batting in the past year and smacks bowlers away like the Marvel superhero does villains with Mjolnir. So it’s only inevitable that Bosch has earned the nickname Thor.”I love all their [Marvel] movies and I’m a big fan of their Avengers series,” Bosch said during the CPL, “and growing up, Thor has been my favourite character. So when I came to the CPL, my initial plan was to try and do a celebration [with] every single Marvel character. I started with Thor and it kind of just stuck. It’s a celebration I enjoy, and I play to enjoy my cricket and this is one of those that stuck with me.”Related

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Bosch was the Player of the Match in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup final in the UAE, when South Africa clinched the title. His senior career didn’t quite take off like it was expected to after the U-19 success, but he is finally in the spotlight now after having broken into the big leagues in 2022.Bosch was a replacement player for Rajasthan Royals last year in the IPL and he was signed up by the Barbados side in the CPL. His flexibility with the bat was among the highlights of Royals’ run to the CPL final, though they eventually lost to Jamaica Tallawahs. Bosch is now ready to do it all over again for Royals, this time at home in the SA20.”This SA20 is going to be huge,” he said. “I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for guys to put their names on the map and say: ‘Hey, maybe South Africa has a lot more talented cricketers than those that might just be seen in the IPL and [playing] for South Africa.’ It’s a recognised platform for guys, including myself, to just display their skills and show what they’re about and how they can dominate – whether with bat or ball. Players a lot of guys haven’t heard about are all of a sudden front and centre of one of the biggest stages in the world. Who knows who is going to be the next big thing from South Africa?”Bosch could potentially be that very thing. He has bulked up to improve his six-hitting and to pound the pitch with the ball – traits that are in demand in T20 cricket. He usually bats lower down the order for Titans in domestic cricket, but Royals’ management saw some spark in his batting and used him as a pinch-hitting No. 3 in the CPL.Bosch made 191 runs in the 2022 CPL, including back-to-back fifties against St Lucia Kings and Jamaica Tallawahs•CPL T20 via Getty Images”For me, my batting is a work in progress,” Bosch said. “Me batting at No. 3 in the CPL was a new role that a couple of coaches mentioned to me even before I came here [to the Caribbean]. So, I wrapped my head around it while I was training back home with the Titans to hone my skills. I still feel I’m only in the infancy of my batting and I’ve got so much to learn – trying to take in as much information as I can and learning what works for me and what doesn’t.”I’ve done a lot of range-hitting and just trying to figure out the areas where I can be dominating – if the ball is in my area, I know I can take any bowler on in any situation – and at the same time, working on the areas I’m weaker at. My goal is to become one of the best allrounders in the world, if not the best – that is how I mentally train every single day.”With the ball, Bosch can now crank it up around the 135kph range, and step in as a change bowler, thanks largely to his club cricket stint in Australia with Northern Districts Suburbs in 2016. Andy Bichel, who worked with Bosch back then, was particularly impressed with Bosch’s progress when the pair caught up during last year’s IPL; Bosch was with Rajasthan Royals and Bichel with Lucknow Super Giants as their bowling coach.”After high school, I only bowled around 130kph. I left for Australia for a year to play a season there and made a mental switch there that I really want to bowl fast. It wasn’t easy getting my body stronger. I put in a lot of hours in the gym, and still do, to keep my body fit and healthy.”Bowling fast is no joke – you need to be physically prepared for what you will put your body through. I’m still looking to bowl even faster in the next couple of years. I feel I’m only starting to touch the untapped potential of the pace I can generate.”Bosch comes from a cricketing family. His father Tertius Bosch, who played three international matches for South Africa, was ranked alongside Allan Donald as one of the fastest bowlers of his era. His younger brother Eathan is currently contracted to Dolphins and Pretoria Capitals. Corbin is looking forward to the prospect of playing against his brother in the SA20.”Growing up, I was lucky to be part of such a fantastic household,” Bosch said. “My mother has been an inspiration – she allowed me and my brother to really express ourselves and do what we always dreamt of doing. I don’t think I can tell you the amount of hours and days we spent in our backyard playing garden cricket with one another, ruining my mum’s grass. I’ll be the first one to say that we destroyed the garden, but it was us enjoying each other’s company. Throughout our childhood we just played a lot of garden cricket and we’ve always pushed one another.”Bosch is hoping to get one over his brother Eathan (in picture) who will play for Pretoria Capitals in the SA20•Cricket South AfricaEathan often cops a fair bit about not being the best cricketer in his family because Corbin has won an Under-19 World Cup, but he claimed bragging rights ahead of the SA20, having dismissed his older brother before.”I think I’ve played against Eathan twice before [in competitive cricket]. I played for Pretoria and he played for Durban and he managed to get me out in the last over [of one of those games]. He definitely is one up on me (). For the MSL, I was with Tshwane Spartans and he was with Paarl Rocks in 2019, and all of a sudden we’ve done a switch. Hopefully, that switch means I get the trophy with Paarl and he becomes a sore loser in the [SA20] final.””Our competitiveness started in our garden-cricket days,” Eathan said in a CSA release. “I’m a bit taller [at 1.90m] but he’s a little bigger. “We haven’t played against each other too much, I just know that I’ve got him out once and he hasn’t. It can be tough playing against your brother, wanting him to do well but also wanting your team to win.”Bosch is particularly enthused about teaming up once again with Tabraiz Shamsi – they have played together at Titans – and hopes to trump the left-arm wristspinner’s snazzy celebrations with his own ones.”I love playing with Shamsi and I’m fortunate enough to get to play with him at the Titans,” Bosch said. “He’s so bubbly and gives the team so much energy, which I love, and his celebrations are going to be tough to beat. But I have a few exciting things at the back of my mind that I’m going to try to make sure that his wicket celebrations aren’t going to be able to outdo mine.”Like I said, I play cricket because I enjoy it and this is just one aspect of cricket that adds fun to some stressful situations and pressure situations. The celebrations are [about] just letting go and showing the world who I actually am. The Thor is definitely coming out in Paarl.”Bosch found no takers at the recent IPL 2023 auction, but the SA20 offers him another chance to remind franchise owners – and South Africa’s selectors – of his worth.

The best stats from India’s 385 for 9 against New Zealand in Indore on Tuesday

Sampath Bandarupalli24-Jan-202330 Hundreds for Rohit Sharma in ODIs. That puts him at No. 3 on the list, alongside Ricky Ponting. Only Sachin Tendulkar (49) and Virat Kohli (46) have more ODI hundreds.360 Runs for Shubman Gill, the joint-most for a batter in a three-match ODI series. He equalled Babar Azam’s 360 runs, which he scored with three straight tons against West Indies in 2016.385 for 9 India’s total in the third ODI in Indore, their second-highest against New Zealand. India’s highest total against New Zealand came in their 2009 tour when they posted 392 for 4 in Christchurch. This 385 is also the third-highest total by any team against New Zealand in ODI cricket.

Replay of the third India vs New Zealand ODI is available on ESPN Player in the UK, and on ESPN+ in the USA in both English and Hindi.

212-run partnership between Rohit and Gill, the highest by an opening pair against New Zealand in ODIs. The previous highest was an unbeaten 201 between Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag in 2009 in Hamilton.19 Sixes hit by the Indian batters in Indore, equalling their best in a men’s ODI. India hit 19 sixes against Australia in 2013 in Bangalore; 16 of them came off Rohit’s bat.28 Out of Rohit’s 30 ODI centuries have come while opening the batting. Only Tendulkar – 45 centuries – has more. Sanath Jayasuriya also has 28 tons.Related

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8.10 The run rate during Rohit and Gill’s partnership. It is the fourth-highest for a 200-plus opening stand in men’s ODIs and the highest when batting first.24.1 Overs that India took to bring up their 200, making it their second-quickest in ODIs. India got to 200 in only 23.3 overs during the Hamilton ODI against New Zealand in 2009.55 Runs scored by India between the 31st and 40th over, their fewest in a ten-over phase during this ODI. They scored more than 75 runs in the remaining four 10-over phases. India hit only five boundaries between the 31st and 40th overs for the loss of three wickets.