Openers shed their conservative approach by going hell for leather in the powerplay

Deivarayan Muthu05-Oct-2020The Chennai Super Kings kept piling up pressure on their rusty middle order through dozy starts in the powerplay. Another start of this kind on Sunday may have pushed them closer to panic stations. However, finally, their openers shed their conservative approach that helped the Super Kings mow down 179 with plenty to spare, allowing them to break a three-match losing streak.Shane Watson had managed only 52 off 48 balls across his first four innings in IPL 2020. The chorus for Imran Tahir’s inclusion kept getting louder. After all, he was the highest wicket-taker last season. The Super Kings wanted to accommodate both Sam Curran and a fit-again Dwayne Bravo in their XI along with Faf du Plessis. All along, however, they backed Watson. Stephen Fleming, their head coach, kept saying Watson was hitting the ball well in the nets, even though he couldn’t quite replicate the same in a game scenario.Consistency in selection has been their hallmark. Bloodied knee and all, Watson had nearly carried them to back-to-back IPL titles. The Super Kings had backed him in 2019, and they continue to do so. And Watson just showed why in Dubai.After defending a brace of inswingers from Sheldon Cottrell, he planted his front leg and went downtown for boundaries. This was, as per him, a result of a technical adjustment, of getting his head over his front leg for better transfer of weight into his shots. The tweak was on bright display as he resolutely defended those inswingers and then punished those full deliveries from Cottrell.At the other end, Du Plessis’ aggressive intent was on bright display too. He shuffled around the crease and threw Chris Jordan off his lines and lengths. While he didn’t quite middle the balls, the reward for his intent was four fours in five balls.The first four was a funky scoop off a slower delivery over the keeper’s head. The next ball was slower and wider, but du Plessis reached out, had a crack at it, and carved it over the covers for a double. Jordan then hit a heavy length, but Du Plessis swiped this between midwicket and mid-on for another four. He threw his bat outside off next ball and sliced it off the outside half between backward point and short third man. Jordan turned to the slower ball once again, but Du Plessis unleashed a devil-may-care swat that even put Watson in the firing line.After their safety-first template had failed them, the Super Kings’ openers traded it for an attack-first one and rushed to 60 for 0 in the powerplay. Earlier in the evening, when some of Super Kings’ fielders were lax on the field, the usually unflappable Fleming was visibly upset. When du Plessis – arguably Super Kings’ best fielder alongside Ravindra Jadeja – couldn’t get to skied hit sprinting in from long-off in the eighth over, Fleming was very animated. But the refreshing approach of Du Plessis and Watson in the powerplay, however, put a smile on Fleming’s face.”We don’t want to shrink back in T20 or search too much,” Fleming told host broadcaster Star Sports during the Super Kings innings. “You actually want to get even more confident and positive. And I think you can create luck by doing that and a few things went our way today – balls were flying over the top of fielders whereas [the] last couple of games it may have gone off to hand. “Sometimes, a positive attitude can be the key to that. All we are trying to do is to give a little more surety around their positions and then ask them to be confident and play naturally.”Even after the field restrictions were relaxed, Watson and Du Plessis kept going after the Kings XI attack and kept pinging the fences. In all, there were only three boundary-less overs in the chase before the Super Kings openers sealed it in the 18th over. It made sense, given the Super Kings bat so deep that they have Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur at Nos. 9, 10, and 11. All three players had made match-winning contributions with the bat in the IPL in the past. The return of Bravo from a knee injury has also spruced up their batting.Fleming hailed the Super Kings’ furious pursuit of what initially looked like a challenging target. He also conceded that the Super Kings are “nowhere near where they want to be” in IPL 2020, but said the return of Watson to form and Shardul Thakur’s variations at the death buoyed the side.”Again, that’s where confidence comes up,” he said. “If you can get a win, you’re going to have players who have performed and done personally well. And we’d just lacked that. As a team we’ve been toiling away, but we haven’t had any individual star power do anything of note apart from Faf. So, [it] would be nice to get a bit of individual success and team success for that.”Having cracked a winning formula, can the Super Kings now get on a roll like they’ve done several times in the past?

Powerful batsman has crucial second string to aid club in Finals Day challenge

Alan Gardner02-Oct-2020Anyone who caught the headlines when Will Jacks blitzed a 25-ball hundred in a pre-season T10 game against Lancashire in March 2019 – an innings which included hitting Stephen Parry for six sixes in an over – would perhaps be unsurprised to learn that 18 months later he would be playing a key role in Surrey’s progression to Blast Finals Day. But to discover he has fulfilled just as important a role with the ball as with the bat might raise an eyebrow.Jacks of all trades sounds like a back-handed compliment, but there is no doubting the value of such allrounders in T20 cricket – even if he still refers to himself as a purveyor of “part-time spin”. A career-best four-wicket haul in Surrey’s quarter-final stroll against Kent suggested his innocuous-looking offies are perfectly serviceable, as do 10 wickets and an economy of 6.29 in the competition, despite bowling almost half of his overs in the Powerplay.Giving the new ball to a spinner might be nothing new in limited-overs cricket but for Jacks, who had played full Blast campaigns in 2018 and 2019 but only delivered three overs previously, it has been an opportunity to relish.ALSO READ: Parkinson aiming to help Lancashire finish on a roll”I’ve absolutely loved it,” he said after helping Surrey to seal victory on Thursday. “It’s something completely different, I don’t feel like there’s too much pressure on me – to be chucked the ball in the second over, you’re almost expecting to get hit, bowling part-time spin in the Powerplay.”Jacks’ ability to contribute four overs while also batting in the top order adds to a versatile-looking Surrey side, who can also call on Dan Moriarty – third on the Blast’s wicket-taking list – and the experienced Gareth Batty in the spin department, backed up by a variety of seam options: left-armer Reece Topley, former England siege engine Liam Plunkett, and the express pace of Jamie Overton.”I was lucky things went my way today,” Jacks said. “Moz [Moriarty] has taken a lot of the wickets in the group stages but, as a unit, all of us spinners went really well. It was a professional performance all round, we had our plans and we executed them well.”My role, home and away this season, has been to bowl the second over and see how it goes from there so obviously I would expect to keep on doing that now. The last few years, the pitches at Edgbaston have spun as the day’s gone on, so hopefully we can go there and continue to play as we have done in the past few weeks.”With the bat, Jacks has been Surrey’s second-leading run-scorer, with 290 at a strike rate of 151.04, although he admitted to feeling “underused” after shifting down to No. 4 against Kent. He could not argue with the opening partnership Surrey were able to deploy, however. “When you have Jason Roy and Hashim Amla [available], you can’t really complain about the top two,” he said.Jacks and Hashim Amla had formed a productive opening partnership earlier in the competition•Getty ImagesIt was Jacks who helped provide the spark for Surrey back at the start of September, when his 31-ball 45 secured a nine-wicket DLS win over Hampshire – their first of this hemmed-in summer of county cricket, ending a run of four Bob Willis Trophy losses, followed by a defeat, a no-result and a tie in the Blast.That kick-started Surrey’s run of eight T20 wins in a row (as well a consolation victory in the BWT), and enabled them to head to their first Finals Day appearance in six years in buoyant mood. While Saturday’s spectacle at Edgbaston will be some way removed from the traditional longest-day-in-cricket beano – with no crowds allowed in and a bleak weather forecast – Jacks and his team-mates will be throwing themselves into the task of trying to bring the trophy back south, with Surrey having not won the title since the inaugural Twenty20 Cup back in 2003.”I’m really excited for it,” he said. “Everyone knows it’s a day to look forward to in the English calendar, the best day of the season if you get there. Unfortunately there’ll be no [fans] there, it’s kind of weird no one being there to watch. But we’ve done that all here so we’re used to it, and if we could go and win that would be amazing. After the start of the season we had, we’re really pleased how we’ve bounced back in the last month. To win the tournament would top it off.”It’s weird for a club of our calibre [not having lifted the trophy since 2003]. It’s like, before we won the Championship two years ago, I think it was 16 years since that era of Adam Hollioake being captain. The club’s probably underperformed in that period, since T20 began and we won that first season. So to be back at Finals Day is brilliant for the club and where we need to be, as a big club, and really exciting. To get to the final would be unbelievable.”

As the top four teams start to pull away in the IPL here’s a look back at how the Australian contingent fared over the last week

Andrew McGlashan19-Oct-20202:10

Steven Smith on why he didn’t give Jofra Archer the 19th over

Smith’s shuffleFive single-figure scores for Steven Smith had brought the spotlight on him, to the extent that there were a few questions being asked about his place in the Rajasthan Royals side. It would have been a huge call to leave out the captain – and one of the world’s best batsmen – and it was little surprise when Smith came good after moving to No. 4 as part of a batting shake up. He reached his half-century from 30 balls and two deliveries later produced the most astonishing shot of his innings when he played a reverse whip through point from a standing position. However, in the end his runs weren’t enough for the struggling Royals who fell victim to an AB de Villiers epic. Smith’s captaincy came under the microscope when he opted not to give Jofra Archer the 19th over with 35 needed, instead opting for Jaydev Unadkat who got taken for 25 to change the course of the match.

Simon Katich: "That's why de Villiers is the greatest of all time"

Do you agree with @RCBtweets' head coach? #IPL2020 https://t.co/9J84Wu4n9e pic.twitter.com/c5bMNZNuGF

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) October 18, 2020

Warner left speechlessDavid Warner had to take a new role for Sunrisers Hyderabad in their match against Kolkata Knight Riders after Kane Williamson picked up an injury which led to him opening the batting so he could focus more on boundary-hitting than running between the wickets. It has been rare to see Warner not opening in T20 over recent years. Since an experiment with the tactic for Australia at the 2016 T20 World Cup he had done it six times across the CPL and BPL; the last time in the IPL was back in 2014. He almost got the Sunrisers across the line with his unbeaten 47 off 33 balls, but having taken three consecutive fours off Andre Russell he could only scamper a leg bye off the last delivery to tie the scores and get a Super Over. Then, walking out to face the over, he was castled first ball by Lockie Ferguson as the Sunrisers were ‘bowled out’ for 2. “I don’t know what to say, I’ll probably have to bite my tongue a little bit,” Warner said.

David Warner gets honest about where he thinks his team is lackinghttps://t.co/CGoETAaZWa#SRHvKKR | #IPL2020 pic.twitter.com/bWmUw2hWN4

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) October 18, 2020

Cummins in the runs…and a wicketPat Cummins was at the forefront for KKR against the Mumbai Indians…with the bat. Coming in at 61 for 5 he struck 53 off 36 balls, his maiden T20 fifty, in an unbroken stand of 87 with Eoin Morgan to at least give KKR something to bowl at, although it proved far too few in the end. It comfortably out shone his previous best of 39 for the Sydney Thunder in the 2017-18 BBL. Since making consistent lower-order Test runs in the 2018-19 Australian season, when it was pondered if he could bat higher than No. 8, Cummins’ batting hasn’t quite been as useful as his talent suggests it should be but he has produced some handy knocks in this IPL. Meanwhile, with the ball his wicket of Vijay Shankar in the game against the Sunrisers was his first after a run of five wicketless outings.Pat Cummins brought up his fifty•BCCIHow much more for Carey?Australia’s limited-overs wicketkeeper, Alex Carey, has been filling the shoes of injured Rishabh Pant over the last week for Delhi Capitals. After a gap of nearly month since his brilliant ODI century against England he has found it tough going in the middle order with 32 runs from 29 deliveries. His dismissal against Chennai Super Kings may have come in the nick of time for the Capitals as the next man, Axar Patel, smashed 21 off five balls to help secure a thrilling chase. The Capitals were hopeful Pant would only be sidelined for a week, so Carey may soon find himself sidelined.Off the benchA couple more of the Australians finally got their chance for an outing over the last week. Nathan Coulter-Nile, who had been carrying a niggle earlier in the competition, replaced the rested James Pattinson for Mumbai Indians as one of the tournament pace-setters manages their quicks with an eye on the latter stages of the competition. It wasn’t the best of starts for him as he felt the force of Cummins and Morgan with his second two overs costing 37. In the same match, Chris Green came into the KKR side and performed his usual role of opening the bowling but could do little to defend a mediocre target. With Sunil Narine now taken off the bowling-action warning list it remains to be seen how much more Green plays. It leaves Billy Stanlake, Chris Lynn and Daniel Sams as the Australians yet to feature in a match.

The gulf between Root and his team-mates highlights his brilliance

George Dobell24-Jan-2021You could have been forgiven for thinking batting was easy.As Joe Root, for the second Test in succession, passed 150, you might have thought that he was batting without pressure, in conditions where bowlers were unable to gain any movement or purchase. So comfortable did he seem, so serene was his progress, that it would have been easy to underestimate the size of his achievements.It’s only in contrast with his team-mates that it becomes apparent how good a batsman Root is. Having scored 54 percent of England’s first-innings runs in the first Test, he has so far scored 55 percent of them in the second. He has scored 305 – yes, 305 – more runs than any other England player in the series.England have had other batsmen of recent vintage who have scored heavily in Asia, of course. With Alastair Cook, you could feel the struggle: the dogged determination to survive and limited number of scoring shots made every innings something of a battle. With Kevin Pietersen, the talent was so extravagantly obvious – remember those slog-sweeps in Mumbai and Colombo? – that you knew you were in the presence of genius.It’s not like that with Root. For much of the time, his batting is so unobtrusive it can lure you into thinking what he is doing is straightforward.Think of the way he plays back to the spinners, for example. You won’t see many of those singles or dot balls on highlights packages. But they allow him to rotate the strike, release pressure and mess with the bowlers’ lengths.More eye-catching are his sweeps. So broad is Root’s repertoire of sweep that he can hit the ball in front or behind square on both sides of the wicket. As a result, he is desperately tough to contain. Even on the second evening of this game, coming to the crease with England 5 for 2, he scored so freely that he reached stumps unbeaten on 67 off 77 balls. Individually those strokes may look routine; collectively, they amount to a masterclass.But maybe it was fitting, during the innings in which he passed Pietersen’s Test run tally, that he also produced several switch-hits to remind us that, underneath the determination to play the percentages, there lurks an extravagantly talented player. To pick the length, to switch his hands, to time the ball to perfection: Root effectively hit more boundaries left-handed than Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley and Dan Lawrence managed between them.ESPNcricinfo LtdRoot also went past the run tallies of David Gower and Sir Geoffrey Boycott – both greats of English cricket – in this innings. There is every chance that, by the end of the year, only Cook will remain ahead of him in terms of England players. For a 30-year-old, these are extraordinary heights to have scaled.Pietersen once said that of the trio of incredible Test centuries he hit in 2012 (Colombo, Mumbai and Leeds), he rated the one in Sri Lanka the best because the heat and humidity was so demanding. It’s not just hard to concentrate in such heat, it can be hard to see with sweat in your eyes, and to grip the bat with damp gloves.As Root’s innings progressed into its ninth hour, the physical demands started to show. He was past 170 before, with body starting to creak where it had earlier eased into position, he gave a chance. And perhaps, a less stiff body might have regained its ground when he hit the ball at short leg only to see the fielder, Oshada Fernando, pull off an almost miraculous stop and throw down the stumps. Root, who had been given a banana and a sugary drink every 45 minutes since lunch – that’s seven of each – was just 14 runs short of becoming the first England player to register double-centuries in consecutive Tests since Wally Hammond in 1933. Hammond did it in 1928, too.Such weariness was understandable, though. Root has, to this point, spent all but 39.1 overs of this series on the pitch. In this heat and humidity, that is a remarkable reflection of his determination as much as it is his dominance. It’s telling, too, that of his three dismissals in this series, two have come from run-outs and one came when he was left with the last man in the first innings of the first Test and perished to a boundary catch as he tried to thrash a few quick runs. A lesser player might have had an eye on the not out.Joe Root gets low to reverse-sweep•SLCSo, what is Root doing differently? Well, from a technical point of view, the obvious change is that he is currently going back and across as part of his trigger movement. In recent months, he had slipped into the habit of merely going back and, as a result, his balance wasn’t as good. He also opened his stance, extravagantly at times, to allow him to manoeuvre the turning ball square of the wicket.But how much of this splurge of runs is down to technique and how much is temperament is hard to say. He went through 2020 without a Test century – the first time in his career he has been through a full calendar year without scoring one – and dropped out of the top 10 in the rankings as a result. That will have hurt.He admitted, after the first Test, that he spent the weeks from the end of the English season until this tour, thinking about his batting as much as working on his technique. Not just which shots to play, but on the importance of being ruthless and turning more of those fifties into hundreds. At present, he seems able to compartmentalise his batting from the captaincy. This version of Root appears to have the hunger to complement his talent and to understand his side’s need for him to contribute far more heavily.Related

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There are, no doubt, tougher challenges to come in the next few weeks. It’s not that India necessarily have a better left-arm spinner than Lasith Embuldeniya, or that their pitches will necessarily turn as much. But India do have better seamers and a better offspinner. And they do have much better batsmen. There will, as a result, be fewer release deliveries, and Root and co. will find themselves in the field a good deal longer than they have here. Indeed, the last time they visited Chennai, they were in the field for 190 overs. Even then, India had to declare to end the torture. The burden on Root – with the bat and in the field – will be immense.You just had to witness the struggle at the other end from Root in this series to know that. England’s openers, for example, have now contributed 28 runs between them in six innings. While Root has gone back on his stumps, they have groped forward as if searching for their way in the fog. In this innings, only one other man in the top seven reached 30. There have been times on this tour when it seems some of his team-mates have never seen bowling like this.Of course, they haven’t, really. Crawley has never faced a spinner with the new ball in the county game; Sibley has done so just three times. It will never have been on a surface like Galle, where some balls turn and bounce and others skid on. Ultimately, until the ECB put in place a domestic structure that encourages the development of spin bowling as part of the County Championship programme, it will remain desperately tough for England to challenge in Asia. And yes, that includes not penalising counties who produce turning wickets. If you dedicate the prime weeks of summer to a white-ball competition, you are compromising your red-ball development.Root, at least, provided an example of how such conditions can be overcome. He is carrying this team, making light of the conditions, the absences and the match situation. It’s nowhere near as easy as he has made it look.

Australia will spend Christmas without their families, all to make sure the fans have something to celebrate

Daniel Brettig24-Dec-2020Australia’s XI will be unchanged for the Boxing Day Test, and the mere fact it will be played at an unchanged venue, the MCG in Melbourne, after a year of so much uncertainty will be in itself a major triumph of tradition and continuity over the many vagaries of a Covid-19 world.However no-one will need to look far beyond that happy fact to the many ways things have changed nevertheless. For one thing, the MCG’s usually mighty Boxing Day gathering of more than 70,000 spectators has been cleaved back to the region of 30,000 for social distancing reasons. For another, those present will be subject to a wide range of restrictions and limitations never before imposed on an MCG crowd, whether they be MCC members, corporate guests or the paying public.”Be a pretty courageous man to change the XI after the last one so at this stage unless something happens over the next few days, but we’ll go in with the same XI,” Australia’s coach Justin Langer said. “And yeah 30,000 is better than none, and it wasn’t that long ago, probably a month or a few weeks ago that we wondered whether we’d have a Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne.”Being at the MCG, I come here a lot, but it’s just an amazing stadium, Boxing Day, there’s so much hype about it. The boys love playing here. The Indians, a lot of them have probably dreamed of playing a Boxing Day Test match, and 30,000 is better than none. It’s not the same as 90,000, but I’m sure the 30,000 who come in will certainly provide the atmosphere we love about the Boxing Day Test match.”A third reason that will stick in the memory of the Australian players is perhaps the most salient departure from decades of tradition. For years, without fail, December 25 has afforded the hosts a brief Christmas morning training session before a more relaxed photo opportunity and lunch where players, staff and their families mingle happily on Boxing Day Eve.This time, though the team lunch will be largely one of players and staff only: the sacrifice they have made to see the MCG Test played is to experience Christmas without their loved ones, so as not to break the bio-secure bubble so critical to the series happening at all.”It’s the first time in 50 years I’ve been without my family,” Langer said. “And I’m not great with presents, I’m not buying myself any presents. I think it’s going to be nice having all the guys together. There’s a number of players and the staff who are without families this year. It’s one of the sacrifices we have to make in 2020. It’s not ideal but it is what it is. There’s such an amazing feeling within this team.Australia players gather for training ahead of the Boxing Day Test against India•Getty Images”It’s a real family feel, the guys look after each other. It’s one of our values about looking after each other through mateship. One of our other values is humility, and we know it’s not perfect this year but we’ll get on with the job, for the bigger picture of cricket. What I wish for is that the lessons we’ve taken from this year, and the positive lessons, continue through, especially in the Australian cricket team, because it’s a dream to be a part of at the moment, it’s a great bunch of people.”The very fact that we played the Adelaide Test last week was brilliant – we love playing in Adelaide. Boxing Day Test Matches are probably the favourite of guys who have known me, I’ve said it is my favourite day on the calendar for as long as I can remember – Boxing Day as an Australian cricketer. It is a bit different this year, the first time in 50 years without my family, but all that aside. It’s because the sacrifices made we are playing a Boxing Day Test with 30,000 people, that’s a great thrill for anyone who loves cricket like we do.”As much as Langer was able to enjoy the stunning conclusion to the Adelaide Test, he had been under no illusions about how India had shaded the Australians over days one and two, particularly in terms of first-innings batting. While Tim Paine’s rearguard was pivotal in getting his side close enough to push the Indian top order to implode on that dramatic third afternoon, Langer acknowledged there would need to be a big score pulled together in Melbourne, on a surface highly unlikely to be as helpful for bowlers.”I actually said on the morning of day three before that extraordinary hour or so that we were in for, I said to the guys let’s make no mistake this is proper Test match cricket. India had the better of us really for the first two days of the game,” Langer said. “We were in for a real arm wrestle of a Test match. So it was amazing how things turned around. We know how good a team India is, we know we’ve got to keep improving.The old manual scoreboard at Adelaide Oval records India’s 36 all out•Getty Images”If we’re going to become a great team we have to get better at winning after we win and people didn’t quite understand that, but really good teams keep winning and winning, particularly when they’re playing good cricket. So it’s an area we’ve addressed, we’ll have to start well Boxing Day morning and then be consistent, because we know India will fight back as we saw in the first two days of the Test match in Adelaide.”He has not forgotten how, on the flattest of surfaces, Cheteshwar Pujara set India on the path to a series victory in 2018-19 by successfully absorbing the best Australia could deliver on Boxing Day and going on to ensure the hosts’ first innings began under enormous pressure.”We’re a very different team. We have come a long way in two years. We are now playing very good cricket; we’ve got confidence,” Langer said. “I also remember losing the toss at the MCG on a very, very, very, very flat wicket and that certainly took some of the wind out of our sails, that’s for sure.”So, we’re a different team and we know that in first innings in Australia we are looking to score 400 in the first innings – there is no surprise there, that’s what we’ve based our best Test cricket on for years. So, when I said we have got areas where we can improve, that’s one I am talking about. We play our best cricket, as we saw all last summer, when we are scoring big first-innings totals, that’s what we aspire to and what we will be aspiring too in this game as well.”As for the pitch, Langer was hopeful that the MCG groundstaff would be able to produce something more akin to last summer’s strip for the New Zealand Test, not only for the entertainment of the 30,000 spectators permitted entry to the ground, but for the betterment of Test cricket across the globe. There has perhaps never been a Boxing Day Test so likely to attract a huge global audience, simply because most parts of the world are nowhere near as fortunate in coronavirus terms as Australia has been.”Last year I know the MCG was under huge pressure to produce a good wicket,” he said. “Matty Page and the grounds guys here did a great job last year, and it’s really important for Test cricket. I thought the wicket in Adelaide was brilliant, because there’s a contest between bat and ball and all we ever ask is that. So it’s the same at the MCG, we’re really hopeful that’s the case and not just for this Test match or this series but for the health of Test cricket.”All the players love the Boxing Day Test, Australians love the Boxing Day Test, people around the world love it, so we’re all looking and hoping for a good wicket that will provide some assistance for the bat and the ball because that’s exactly what Test cricket needs.”

Stats highlights from India’s comprehensive win in the second Test in Chennai

S Rajesh16-Feb-2021317 – The margin of victory, India’s largest, in terms of runs, in a Test against England. The previous highest was 279 runs, at Headingley in 1986. India have also beaten England six times by an innings.2 – Instances of R Ashwin scoring a century and taking eight wickets in a Test; he had earlier achieved the feat against West Indies in Mumbai in 2011, when he scored 103 and took 9 for 117 in a memorable drawn Test which ended with scores level: India finished on 242 for 9 chasing 243 for victory. No other India allrounder has managed this in a Test.9 – India bowlers who have taken a five-for on debut; Axar Patel became the latest to join this group with his 5 for 60 in England’s second innings. The only other left-arm spinner in this group is Dilip Doshi, who took 6 for 103 against Australia in Chennai in 1979.ESPNcricinfo Ltd21 – Test wins in India for Virat Kohli the captain. He equals MS Dhoni’s record for most wins by an Indian captain at home. Overall, India have won 34 Tests under Kohli, which is seven clear of the next-best, 27 under Dhoni.10 – Instances of Ashwin dismissing Ben Stokes in Tests. Stokes averages 17.8 against him. Stokes and David Warner are the two batsmen who have been dismissed most often by Ashwin in Tests. Both average less than 20 against him.ESPNcricinfo Ltd298 – England’s match aggregate, their third-lowest in a Test against India in which they lost 20 wickets. Their lowest is 230 (102 and 128) in that Headingley Test in 1986. It is their second-lowest in any Test in Asia.4 – Instances of a team winning the second Test of a series by 200-plus runs after losing the first by a similar margin. The three previous instances were by South Africa in England in 2017, by South Africa at home against Australia in 2014, and by West Indies in England in 1950. On both occasions when South Africa fought back to win the second Test, they ended up losing the series, 3-1 to England and 2-1 to Australia.ESPNcricinfo Ltd0 – Half-centuries for Joe Root in the match; it is the first time Root hasn’t passed 50 in a Test, in the eight matches he has played against India.8.16 – England batsmen’s average when playing the sweep shot in this Test – they scored only 49 runs off the shot and were dismissed six times. In the first Test, they averaged 38.75 when playing the shot, scoring 155 runs for four dismissals.15 – Test wins for India at Chepauk, which is their highest at any venue. They have 13 wins in Delhi and Kolkata each.238.9 – Moeen Ali’s strike rate in the second innings: he scored 43 off 18. It is the highest by an England batsman for any innings of 15 or more balls (in matches where balls-faced data is available). For all teams, this is the second-best, next to Abdur Razzak’s 17-ball 43 against Zimbabwe in 2011.

The struggle with the body will be an ongoing one, but there remains no doubt about his ability

Sidharth Monga29-Mar-2021When India began this international season on the back of a gruelling IPL, nobody knew what to expect. It’s fair to say the actual cricket was not topmost on most minds: they were in Australia, we didn’t know how they were coping with quarantines and bubbles, we didn’t know to what standard they would be able to play. Naïve as it might be to overstate what they have gone through – their compatriots outside the bubbles have been through much worse – but in playing the cricket they have, winning five out of six series when they were outright favourites for only one of them, has kept a country entertained and engrossed in bleak times.Along the way, India have discovered the amazing depth in their cricket, forced as they were to cast the net wide because of Covid-19 complications. Rishabh Pant has shown the conservatives that his shot selection was not the problem, as he turned India’s fortunes around from the moment he played that cameo in Melbourne. Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill and Axar Patel demonstrated the riches in Test cricket. A whole host of other debutants – Shardul Thakur (not a debutant but his first Test was only about an over long), T Natarajan, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya – have made immediate impact.Related

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India – powerless in the powerplay

Bhuvneshwar the banker comes to India's rescue

Amid all these discoveries, though, just as sweet was the return of a grizzled veteran. When India were struggling in the ODIs in Australia, the only series they have lost this season, India’s problems looked massive. The world had caught up with their wristspinners, and their new-ball bowlers were not taking wickets. From the start of the year 2019 to the loss of the series in Australia, only Scotland and Bangladesh had a worse bowling average than India’s 51.52 inside the first ten overs. India had played more ODI cricket over this period than any other side.However, when Bhuvneshwar Kumar played, that average came down to 33.73. The problem was, Kumar played only 19 of the 36 matches because of injuries. And in the 17 matches that he didn’t play, India picked up just eight powerplay wickets.Kumar was not getting any younger. When a fast bowler gets into the fourth decade of his life, recurring and multiple injuries can be severely debilitating. Right from early 2018, he has been struggling with one injury after another. His workload was supposed to have been monitored during IPL 2018, but the Sunrisers Hyderabad say they didn’t receive any such instructions. Pushed back too soon in the ODI series decider, he injured his lower back – not for the first time – and lost out on the Test series in England. In the World Cup next year, he did his left hamstring, followed by sports hernia, and then the thigh injury during last year’s IPL.There was trepidation around how good and how fit the returning Kumar would be. Even he was cautious in his expectations, just wanting some reassurance from his body that could only come from eight intense international matches without any serious discomfort or injury.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe struggle with the body will be an ongoing one for the rest of his career, but there remains no doubt about the bowler. In his absence, Deepak Chahar has done a stupendous job in T20Is, but in these eight matches, Kumar has shown the No. 1 slot for the swing bowler who also bowls at the death belongs to him.In an ODI series in which 350 didn’t seem enough a lot of the time, Kumar went at just 4.65 an over. By the third match, he was back to picking new-ball wickets too. In the T20Is, too, he went at just 6.38 an over. In what might be reminiscent of his 4-0-23-0 during Chris Gayle’s 175 in the IPL, he was 2-0-6-1 amid the carnage of 127 for 1 in 12 overs in the final T20I and 4-0-13-0 in 131 for 0 in 14 overs in the first ODI. In the five T20Is, there was a boundary hit every 5.7 deliveries. Kumar conceded one every 8.3 balls. When a boundary was being hit every 7.5 balls in the ODIs, he went for one every 10.2 balls.These are superlative numbers, worthy of a Player of the Series in both the competitions, as Virat Kohli rightly pointed out after the ODI series. He scored truckloads in one of the series and looked good to do so in the other. He knows how difficult it is to bowl in these limited-overs matches. He knows where the difference was made.According to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats, Kumar was the most impactful bowler in the T20I series, pipping Jofra Archer. In overall impact per match, he was behind only Archer, Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav.In an era that you need extreme pace or a different angle or hyperextension of the arm to be successful for more than one season in limited-overs cricket, Kumar’s success has endured without any of these attributes. What he has is the ability to extract every ounce of movement available, the accuracy and the absolute control over what he wants to bowl. He keeps upgrading his slower-balls repertoire to make sure he doesn’t become predictable at the death. He managed to get Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow only in the final ODI, but you could see he bowled for that dismissal in the first two matches too. His awareness of what plan is needed and its execution is spot on most of the time.India will welcome the reunion of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in their limited-overs international sides. In a season of debutants, when it might have been easy to forget Kumar, he has told the sunset and the horse to wait for another time.

What is it about India that always gets James Anderson on edge?

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Aug-2021James Anderson has more Test wickets against India than any other team. He has won two Man-of-the-Series awards against India at home and even has a Player-of-the-Match award in India, for the Nagpur Test in 2012. In fact, during that tour, MS Dhoni said Anderson was the difference between the two sides after England won the series 2-1. But behind all the wickets, Anderson also has a history of getting into verbal duels with India’s players, and the tension resurfaced at Lord’s in 2021.James Anderson was accused of shoving Ravindra Jadeja during India’s 2014 tour of England•Getty ImagesThe Jadeja tunnel incident, Trent Bridge, 2014
On the second day of the Trent Bridge Test in 2014, Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja had an altercation in the corridor on the way to the dressing rooms as they left the field for lunch. The Indian team management alleged Anderson had verbally abused and then pushed Jadeja. They made a complaint to the ICC, and Anderson was charged under Level 3 of the Code of Conduct, which meant that had he been found guilty, he would have been suspended for at least two Tests. England made a counter claim that it was Jadeja who had turned aggressively towards Anderson in the corridor and Anderson had only pushed him in self-defence.The incident caused a rift between the two teams, with India insisting Anderson needed to be punished for the offence while Alastair Cook, then England captain, said it was nothing more than a tactic from the visitors to unsettle his best bowler and try to get him suspended.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn the absence of video evidence of the incident, it was one team’s word against the other’s, and the ICC found Jadeja guilty of a Level 1 offence and fined him 50% of his match fees, something Dhoni was not at all pleased with.There was further shock and dismay for India after Anderson was found not guilty, with Dhoni maintaining that he had witnessed Anderson abusing and pushing Jadeja and had no regrets about reporting it to the ICC. Eventually, Jadeja’s guilty verdict was repealed after India appealed it, but the incident was being talked about as late as September, when Anderson told Sky Sports that it was one of the most stressful periods of his career.ESPNcricinfo LtdDon’t talk about our captain, Mumbai, 2016
Anderson had dismissed Virat Kohli four times in eight innings when India toured England in 2014. By 2016, when England toured India, Kohli was captain. He had a mammoth series, scoring a century and a fifty in Visakhapatnam and another fifty in Mohali before a double-ton in Mumbai. With England on the brink of going 0-3 down, Anderson, who had not been able to dismiss Kohli in the series, was asked whether he thought Kohli had improved since 2014. He was reserved in his praise, saying that while Kohli was a good player, home pitches hid his flaws.ESPNcricinfo LtdR Ashwin thought Anderson was not being a gracious loser and decided to tell him so on the fifth day of the Mumbai Test, walking right up to Anderson when he came to the crease. Kohli had to step in to hold his offspinner back and while he found the exchange amusing, his opposite number, Cook, said it was a bit of a “sour end” to the match.1:28

Cook and Kohli on the Ashwin-Anderson chatter

Did you just bounce me? Lord’s, 2021
On the third evening of the 2021 Lord’s Test, with England nine down after having snatched a small lead, Jasprit Bumrah attacked Anderson’s body with the short ball, pinging him on the helmet once and on the gloves and arms a couple more times. Anderson seemed to take exception to the tactic and had words with Bumrah at the close of play. The tense atmosphere continued into the next day, when Anderson had words with Kohli while bowling to him, and on the last day, when England returned the favour, bowling short balls to Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. Bumrah was antagonised by something in the morning session, and it led to a lot of verbals during England’s innings, with Kohli the main protagonist.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhile the details of what was said to Bumrah and Shami are unknown, the stump microphone did pick up some unpleasant language from Kohli towards England’s batters on the fifth evening. After the game, Kohli made a point of mentioning that the verbals directed at Bumrah and Shami in the morning session gave his side extra motivation when they came out to bowl.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The Southern Brave coach talks about working out the new format, dealing with injuries, and taking a punt on Jake Lintott

Interview by Matt Roller10-Aug-2021Your side lost their first two games in the Hundred, but have won three and had a no-result since and are well-placed to qualify for the knockout stages. How do you assess your season to date?
I think in the first few games we weren’t good enough. We were behind the pace of the game and made quite a few mistakes. In terms of getting the group together and trying to get role clarity and execution, I think we were slightly behind everyone else, but we managed to get into a good groove after a slow start. The rained-off game [against Manchester Originals] was frustrating. We had good momentum in that game, but most teams have been affected by rain. Overall, I can’t complain. The guys have been working really hard and it’s been good fun so far.This sort of season has become your trademark. Mumbai Indians’ first-game curse is well documented and you seem to have a habit of starting slowly and then clicking a few games into a tournament. Why is that?
I actually told the guys that they’ve kept my thing going about not winning the first game of a tournament – I don’t think I’ve done that ever. I congratulated this group on it (laughs).No, it’s not ideal. You don’t want to start the tournament by losing matches, but if it does happen, you need to find out why. Especially in a new tournament like this, everyone took time to get used to the pace of the game and how to do things tactically.In the first game we didn’t bat well, so we were always behind, but in the Welsh Fire game, we were in it until we made a few mistakes and they got away from us. We realised that the margin for error is minimal and that we needed to tighten things up.We’ve had a few injuries and needed to cover for that, and the guys have responded well. The important thing is that you play your best cricket at the back end, getting into the playoffs and finishing off properly.Related

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You were the bookies’ favourites. You’re used to scrutiny at the IPL, but did you feel some pressure after losing the first two games?
It’s easy to put teams down as favourites, but if you look at all of them on paper, they have certain strengths and weaknesses. I think with injuries and replacements, every team has had to change tactically. From the time we did the draft up until now, we’ve probably had eight or nine changes. That’s something we all had to get used to. It’s one thing to be strong on paper, but going out to execute is another and I’ve explained that to the boys as well. I don’t think we felt much pressure. We just wanted to go out and play some good cricket.You’ve been successful with Mumbai thanks to a core of strong Indian players, supplemented by overseas players filling certain specific roles. Are you looking to do the same with Brave, having signed a strong group of English players here – James Vince, Chris Jordan, Liam Dawson and Tymal Mills – in the initial draft?
That’s absolutely right. That is our main group which we will evolve around. That group has been structured in two different ways. Firstly, they are quality players who have either represented England or are on the doorstep of getting a call. Once we’d recruited that group, we could build around that. It’s not just a one-year tournament, so building that core unit is important for us and those local players are the most valuable. Then our overseas players have to add value to that. The second thing is that we’ve recruited quite a bit from our two main counties, Hampshire and Sussex, to give that element of a local feel and to build that connection with our fan base and create an identity.You’ve lost a number of overseas players at various stages – David Warner, Marcus Stoinis, Andre Russell, Devon Conway and Shadab Khan – but still have one of the best in the competition in Quinton de Kock. Did your relationship with him through Mumbai help get that deal over the line?
Definitely. Initially Quinny wasn’t available due to international commitments, but when he got freed up and Warner was withdrawing, I had a chat with him and said if he was available, he should join us. Everything fell into place. He’s a through-and-through allrounder at the moment because it’s difficult to find a keeper-batsman who bats in the top three. That gives teams much more flexibility with their combinations. He’s been a great asset and has been great around the group.Left-arm wristspinner Jake Lintott has taken five wickets and conceded 1.22 runs per ball in five Hundred games this season•Getty ImagesTymal Mills has been a key performer in your recent wins. What are his strengths?
I think Millsy has been brilliant. I’ve known him since I was playing for Sussex and he had a stint in the IPL. He’s had a few setbacks with injuries but he looks healthy and has been bowling really well. He’s got a lot of experience now, playing the shorter formats. He’s got good focus, good clarity in execution, and he’s one of the leaders in our set-up, giving that experience to the rest of the group. He’s not one-dimensional. He brings that element of being an attacking bowler in the powerplay. He can come back in the middle and pick up wickets, and obviously the back-end execution – so that gives a lot of options with his pace and his variations.With Jofra Archer injured, Mills looks like he’s in contention for England’s T20 World Cup squad. Do you think the pitches in the UAE will suit him?
I think on any surface, Millsy will give you that variation, whether it’s a slow wicket or a good, hard surface. In Dubai, the surfaces are usually quite true, and in Abu Dhabi as well. I think you will get good surfaces there, maybe slightly on the slower side with the weather conditions, but he is able to adapt.You signed 28-year-old Jake Lintott, the left-arm wristspinner who only became a professional player this year, as your wild-card pick after this year’s re-draft. Did you know much about him?
When we lost our overseas wristspinner in Shadab, who was unavailable this year, we were looking around to replace him, but most of the international players were not around. We then looked at local wristspinners and went through the domestic season to look at guys who had come through in the last couple of years. Most of the options had been picked already. Jake’s name came up and we had footage of him. Graeme [Welch, one of Brave’s assistant coaches], who works with him at Edgbaston, knew him pretty well, so we had a good chat about him. We wanted to know about his character as well. Obviously it’s a big stepping stone for him, handling the pressure of playing in front of big crowds. In the first few sessions he bowled really well and looked confident, so we gave him some simple plans. We didn’t pick him for the first game but realised with our bowling unit that we needed the wristspin option. From the second game onwards, he’s been brilliant. There’s still a lot to improve but he’s bowled well and he’s going to get better and better in this environment.”Initially Quinny [de Kock] wasn’t available due to international commitments, but when he got freed up, I had a chat with him and said if he was available, he should join us”•Arjun Singh/BCCIWhat have you made of George Garton? He had only played 12 T20s when you took a punt on him in the initial draft in 2019.
With franchise cricket, that is the key. We did a lot of scouting before the initial draft and identified guys we wanted. We wanted to invest in young talent as well and develop them – that’s part of our role, and that’s the balance we tried to create. George was in the seconds coming through when I was at Sussex, so I knew the skills he had, and he’s had a couple of good seasons in T10 as well. Sometimes you need to invest in talents at that time and see how they progress, and George has come a long way since we picked him in the draft. It’s brilliant that we’ve been able to give him the new ball and make him a key part of our set-up. He’s a good package: brilliant in the field, and bats in that middle lower order, with him and CJ [Jordan] giving us a bit of batting depth.Liam Dawson broke his finger against Manchester Originals. Is he out for the rest of the season?
We’re getting some experts to look at it, but most likely he won’t be available. Danny [Briggs] in our squad is an ideal replacement. We’ve had a few injury issues. It was unfortunate that we didn’t have Jof, and Craig [Overton] was picked for the Test squad. Our bowling department was really hit, but we’ve been managing so far. Hopefully the guys will be healthy for the rest of the competition. We haven’t decided about signing a replacement, but we do have that option.Have you used the Hundred to look at possible Mumbai Indians recruits for future seasons?
Definitely. It’s good to see the talent in person and in games. And it works with getting overseas players for the Hundred, or getting English players for franchises in the IPL. When I picked Jofra in Bangladesh [for Khulna Titans in the BPL], it was purely because I’d played against him in county cricket here. It’s about seeing and understanding that natural talent and giving them an opportunity. It’s similar to how football works, or maybe how it worked ten to 15 years ago, with the scouting system and getting talent into your academies. I think franchise cricket is pretty much heading towards that direction.”Tymal Mills [left] brings that element of being an attacking bowler in the powerplay. He can come back in the middle and pick up wickets, and obviously the back-end execution”•Steven Paston/PA Photos/Getty ImagesWhat have you made of the Hundred’s format? Do you see it as just a slightly shorter version of T20?
It is quite similar, but with the option of two overs in a row for a bowler, it’s tactically quite different. It’s quite interesting with the new batsman always coming in to strike, which allows you to look at things differently, especially at the back end. Bowling from certain ends has been important, because at some venues you have a smaller boundary, so you need to look at things differently as well. Otherwise, it’s pretty much a T20 – but the tempo is different, and batting in different slabs of the game has been slightly different.We’ve seen a few batters get stuck at the non-striker’s end during a block of ten balls. Does strike rotation become more important with these rules?
Yeah, if you have a guy who is off strike for even eight to nine balls – that’s something we’ve managed to avoid pretty well, but in certain situations, you don’t have control of that. I think in the last game Quinny went without strike for seven or eight balls because we lost a couple of wickets and he was stuck at the wrong end. It’s something to manage and guys have to be aware of those situations.Are there any regulations in the Hundred that you’d like to see carried over into all T20 cricket?
I definitely like the fact that the new batter has to come in to strike at the fall of a wicket, even if it’s a catch and the guys have crossed. That’s a very interesting rule. In some situations in T20 cricket, in a two-over slab at the back end, it becomes almost a free hit for a tailender off the last ball of the first over. But in this scenario – and it happened in our last game – you don’t have that free hit for a tailender. He still has to rotate the strike or not get out.Even the two overs in a row for a bowler makes it tactically quite fascinating. You have to plan a lot with your strike bowlers and where you can use them.On the Southern Brave women’s side: “They’ve been playing some brilliant cricket too. That top order is very powerful and their bowling unit has quite a bit of young talent coming through as well”•Getty ImagesThere is a strict cut-off time in the Hundred, and fielding teams have to bring an extra man into the 30-yard circle if they miss it. Would you like to see that in the IPL, where some games now extend into the middle of the night?
The IPL is a domestic tournament too, so if they are happy to have that extra airtime, that’s their decision. What might happen if you shorten it too much is that the quality of the game might reduce because the bowlers don’t have time to think through certain things. It’s a fine line. I like the fact we’re being pushed here and that you get penalised during the game rather than a fine or a warning afterwards. It’s good for this competition as a domestic tournament, but it’s tough to compare it with the IPL – the viewership and the content and requirements are quite different. If a product requires that quality and needs bowlers to take their time, then tactically that might be better for the viewers rather than rushing through. I see the two quite differently.Southern Brave are top of the table in the women’s competition, and the platform the Hundred has given to the women’s game has been one of its major positives. Has there been much interaction between the two squads?
Definitely. We’ve made sure we’ve spent time with the girls. We’ve had a couple of get-togethers and had good cricket conversations with them. We made a point of being one unit, because we play on the same days and support each other, and have conversations on tactics and various other things. We use the same facilities, the hotel is the same, so we spend a lot of time around each other. It’s been brilliant to have them with us. They’ve been playing some brilliant cricket too. That top order is very powerful. I don’t know how Lottie [Charlotte Edwards, the women’s coach] managed to get that together, but tactically it looks perfect, and their bowling unit has quite a bit of young talent coming through as well.Have you been talking tactics and swapping notes with Edwards?
Initially we had a couple of chats when we came over about how to use the new tactics. The way the two teams play is obviously a bit different, but the more games we’ve played, we’ve realised how to use certain things. When the girls are playing before us, we get a bit of an idea about how the surface plays, and some information off them, which is quite valuable. Both teams are enjoying each other’s success.You have two group games left, starting on Wednesday against Welsh Fire. What will your message to the group be before then?
We just need to concentrate on our strengths and keep doing what we’re doing. We can’t control what’s going to happen in other matches. The message is to control what’s in our hands. The message has been to treat every game like a qualifier or a playoff and go with that attitude and to enjoy that challenge. That’s the most important thing.

Ashley Mallett was among Australia’s finest spinners – and a source of comedy on the field

Ian Chappell30-Oct-2021After a long battle with cancer, Ashley “Rowdy” Mallett has died aged 76, bringing to an end the successful cricket and writing career of a beloved team-mate of mine.It wouldn’t have surprised me if I’d received this horrible news following Rowdy suffering a bad fall. He might just have been the clumsiest man ever to take a hundred Test wickets and a slew of blinding catches in the gully. Then again, we were never quite sure about the extent of Rowdy’s clumsiness, as many of his stumbles seemed designed to provide a laugh in the dressing room.His clumsiness knew no bounds but probably reached its zenith at Lord’s in the second of three ODIs in 1972. Mallett had bowled brilliantly in the first session as he completed the last over before lunch. In addition to taking the wickets of Dennis Amiss and John Hampshire, he’d been especially miserly.Related

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Ashley Mallett, one of Australia's great spinners, dies aged 76

The final delivery was played sedately into the covers and knowing it was lunch – along with everyone else bar Mallett – the English batters began to walk towards the pavilion. Sensing a run-out opportunity, Rowdy moved quickly to retrieve the ball but instead trod on it and twisted his ankle. Then, having been convinced by his team-mates that it was the lunch break, he picked up the ball and obligingly returned it to the umpire.There was only one problem: the stumps were between Rowdy and the umpire and he flattened all three – leg, middle and off. This episode brought the house down, as did his performance in that match, 2 for 24 off 11 overs and a blinding catch at mid-on to get rid of the always dangerous Alan Knott.How good was Mallett as an offspinner?He got to 100 wickets in exactly the same number of Tests, 23, as Shane Warne. I regard Erapalli Prasanna as the best offspinner I played against, and in India in 1969, Rowdy matched him wicket for wicket – he ended up taking 28, two more than Prasanna.In 1977, when World Series Cricket was being planned, Kerry Packer told me: “I’m not giving that [insert adjective] straight-breaker a contract” when I asked for Mallett to be included in the playing list. A few weeks later we were having dinner in Leeds with a few of the English players who had signed for WSC. Packer had reluctantly signed Mallett and wanted an assurance his investment was viable. He asked Knott his opinion of Mallett’s bowling and when the keeper gave a glowing report, Packer accused me of prompting the Englishman.Mallett was the best Australian offspinner I’ve seen, in addition to being a brilliant gully fielder. He could also be a useful lower-order batsman and once smote Jeff Thomson for four with a perfectly executed cover-drive. He didn’t move as he admired the shot and when I asked him afterwards why he hadn’t run, he replied; “I’ve always wanted to just stand at the crease after hitting a boundary.”Mallett was a brilliant offspinner, extraordinary gully fielder, and a consummate comedian on the field•Alan Gilbert Purcell/Fairfax Media/Getty ImagesHe was also a courageous cricketer. As an offspinner he was often on the receiving end of a bouncer barrage, and one such delivery from Dennis Lillee broke his hand during a Sheffield Shield encounter at the WACA ground once.As we chased a target of 291 in the second innings, I told Mallett he would bat at 11 and then only if we needed just a handful of runs. When the eighth wicket fell with 17 still needed, he raced out the door ahead of confirmed No. 11 Wayne Prior to face the bowling of Lillee.Along with keeper Mike Hendricks, Mallett completed the victory but not before he’d toe-ended a cut shot from Lillee, which must have jarred his injured hand terribly. By the time he reached the dressing room his hand was shaking uncontrollably. I thanked Rowdy for what he’d done for the team and added, “But you’re a bloody idiot going in to bat like that.”He simply replied, “I couldn’t let Wayne go in to face Lillee.”Mallett got his best Test figures of 8 for 59 in bowling Australia to victory over Pakistan at Adelaide Oval in 1972. His last Test wicket was David Gower in the 1980 Centenary Test at Lord’s.After retirement his journalistic career flourished and he published numerous books and articles with a preference for writing on spin bowling. His book on the legendary legspinner Clarrie Grimmett, who gave Ashley some worthwhile advice when he was a budding offspinner, was a labour of love.He had recently just completed a well-written and researched book on Australian champion batsman Neil Harvey, the last of the 1948 Invincibles.In addition to his writing, Mallett regularly conducted sessions on spin bowling, many of them with his mate and fellow tweaker Terry Jenner. In recent years he remarried and was as happy as I’d seen him in a long time with his soul-mate, Patsy. Sadly this loving relationship was cut short but Rowdy will be remembered as a fine bowler, a valued team-mate and a soft-spoken but witty human being.