Stats analysis from the sixth ODI between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Dunedin

Bishen Jeswant25-Jan-20153 Number of times Tillakaratne Dilshan has scored 300-plus runs in a bilateral ODI series. He has scored 316 runs in this series so far. The only other batsmen to score 300-plus run in three or more separate bilateral series are Rahul Dravid (4) and Desmond Haynes (3).280 Number of ODIs that Daniel Vettori has played in, more than any other New Zealand player. Vettori went past Stephen Fleming, who has played 279 ODIs. Chris Harris (250) is the only other New Zealand player to have played 250 or more ODIs.1 Number of ODIs in which two batsmen from the same team scored 95 runs or more but were dimissed before scoring a hundred. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor scored 97 and 96 runs respectively. There have been eight instances of two batsmen from the same team being dismissed in the 90s in ODIs.3 Number of instances when a New Zealand player has scored 40-plus runs and taken four or more wickets in the same ODI. Corey Anderson – with 40 runs and 4 for 52 in this game – is the third player to complete this all-round double after Scott Styris and Nathan Astle.3 Number of times that Sri Lanka have lost four or more ODIs in a bilateral ODI series outside Asia. Sri Lanka lost 5-1 in South Africa in 2000-01 and 4-1 in 2002-03, in the same country. Sri Lanka are currently 4-1 down in this series. They have played 14 series of four or more ODIs outside Asia.16 Number of times Sri Lanka have been bowled out for less than 200 against New Zealand. The teams against whom Sri Lanka have suffered this fate more often are Pakistan (26), Australia (20) and India (18).27 Number of times that Kumar Sangakkara has been dismissed between the scores of 75 and 99 in ODIs, the second-most after Sachin Tendulkar (33). Sangakkara went past Ganguly (26), with his knock of 81 in this ODI.113 Number of 50-plus scores for Sangakkara, the second-most after Tendulkar (145). Sangakkara went past Ricky Ponting (112)in this game. The Sri Lanka batsman has 93 fifties, which is also second only to Tendulkar (96).

The South Africa team left for the 2015 World Cup amid a merry celebration and words exhorting them to win the title

Firdose Moonda04-Feb-2015Thousands of people gathered at the piazza of a popular shopping complex in Johannesburg for South Africa’s World Cup send-off. In addition to a moving rendition of the national anthem sung by Grammy Award winners, the Soweto Gospel Choir, this is some of what they heard:”Greatness. We’re all capable of it.This is the moment where you find out who you really are.Beyond the ball lies your destiny.It’s time for you to look within yourselves and what you will realise is that you are more powerful than you can ever begin to imagine.You have to hate losing more than you love winning.You have to control the situation, don’t let the situation control you.Be true to the game and the game will be true to you.Success is often the result of not being afraid of accomplishing anything you want to because anything is possible.”
“I am very scared because I get the feeling the Proteas are going to win the World Cup.”
“The closest we came was 1999 and I think after that is now. We’ve got the make-up, the ingredients of a team that is totally all-round. If they all perform to their true potential and skill, they will win.”
“Forget about the final but win each and every game until the end of the tournament. You represent more than 50 million hearts. These hearts deserve to be given hope.”
“Every World Cup has expectation. It’s nice to know we’ve got a quality side going there. We are confident. We understand the expectation. We want to go there and do well.”
“I am part of history. It’s just about going down and giving it horns.”
“We have always had a lot of support but in the last two months we can feel a support we’ve never experienced before. I cannot guarantee to you the cup but we can guarantee you we will fight for every single inch. We will fight for every run, for every wicket. We owe a fight out there. To my boys: it’s not going to be easy. We are going to have to overcome a few obstacles. Forever we will keep the fire burning.”
“I couldn’t fall asleep last night. I was so excited. I’m ready to knock these guys out. I’m extremely nervous, extremely excited. We are going to do everything we can. We will fight ’til the very end.”
“We’ve got a reputation as one of the best bowling attacks in the world. It’s important for us to put that aside and really focus on doing well.”
“This is the best send-off ever. The guys can feel the fire, the enthusiasm, the energy.”
“This team is primed to do something special. I think they are ready to do it. It’s going to be a collective effort.”
“We got it right. We will only be judged after the World Cup but we think we’ve got it right.”
“We’re excited to get on that plane now. It’s a long tournament. A lot has to happen before we get to the knockout stages. All our focus is on the first game. We’re looking for some big fish while we’re over there.”
“You represent the soul of this nation. Sport is not a useless business. We call it the RDP of the soul – reconstruction and development program of the soul. Please win it for us. South Africans are accustomed to winning because we are the children of warriors. Nelson Mandela. Kepler Wessels.We don’t want you in the World Cup to add numbers and just become a bunch of losers. You are not going to be playing with robots, you are playing with people. You are the special ones. You are the chosen ones. It does not mean you are irreplaceable but all of you are capable of doing the duty for us.Forget about 1992. Forget about what happened in Bangladesh. When Allan Donald and Lance Klusener could not get us over the line [sic]. To AB and your bunch of winners: you are not playing against cows. You are not playing against donkeys. Don’t undermine any of them. Go and win it for us. Winning is a statement of courage. We are releasing you to go and win it for South Africa. (Beat them/Smash them up).”
No Pressure.

Cricket does not seem ready to give up Mahela Jayawardene – but the game rarely does perfect endings

Sambit Bal in Sydney18-Mar-20154:55

Holding: SL will struggle in the immediate future without Sanga-Mahela

Yesterday afternoon I watched Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara at the nets. I have seen them bat together on a cricket field a million times, but watching two batsmen in the nets is different. They are next to each other, facing the ball at the same time, one right-handed, one left-handed, their bats facing one another, Sangakkara’s lifted higher, Jayawardene’s coming down straighter, but each making sweet music as it meets the ball.I waited for the moment, and it came, two cover drives, played almost simultaneously, Jayawardene’s a caress, Sangakkara’s a thrust, and I imagined the balls meeting each other to exchange notes. They wouldn’t have, because Sangakkara’s went squarer and Jayawardene’s straighter, but for a brief moment their eyes met, or so I imagined, almost appreciative of each other, and then they resumed the business of focusing on the task at hand as the next bowler ran in.And then the horrible thought struck me: Mahela and Sanga, friends and comrades, the nicest men you would ever know, among the most prolific run-getters of our times, leaders of men and torchbearers of a wounded nation, and this is the last time they might be batting together in the nets, preparing for what could be their final battle together. Were they as aware of it as we were? Was it going to weigh them down or stir them to something magical? Surely, we were not about to see the last of Mahela. We are not ready. Not just yet.Net loss: Mahela Jayawardene won’t be at Sri Lanka practice any more•AFPBut cricket writes its own script. It denied Don Bradman the perfect finish, and the perfect average, but in doing so it created the most poignant ending in the game. Sri Lanka, the finalists of the last two World Cups entered this quarter-final not as favourites, but they were against a team up against the scars of their own history. The toss was won, and it was down to the batsmen, Sanga and Mahela, the most prolific and the most dependable in their history, to deliver a score that would melt the most nervous of chasers at World Cups.Sangakkara came to this match having made four silky hundreds, a World Cup record. Mahela had the pedigree of big-match temperament, if not the greatest form. His only hundred in the tournament had been against Afghanistan but it came when his team had been four down for 51 chasing 232. Two of his other World Cup hundreds had been the semi-final-winning effort in 2007 and a poetic and elegiac one in the 2011 final, both at more than run-a-ball and both when the start had been less than ideal. Apart from South Africa’s battle against their own demons, that was the advantage Sri Lanka carried in to this match: experience of men who knew how to own the big stage. At three wickets down, Sri Lanka waited for deliverance.Jayawardene’s walk to the middle was brisk. A couple of springy hops outside the ropes and he was on his way, head down, past the departing batsman, to be met by his trusted accomplice, who had walked past the 30-yard circle to escort him to the battlefield. Jayawardene and Sangakkarra bumped fists but not a word was spoken. They had spent the previous evening together, dining with their wives, as they had done on many occasions before, not talking cricket but perhaps drawing comfort and security from the familiarity. It was down to them now to make sure this wasn’t their last time together in Sri Lankan colours.But something wasn’t right. Sangakkara’s majesty had deserted him. The South African new-ball bowling was sharp and aggressive and the fielding predatory, but Sangakkara’s strokes were finding the fielders with worrying precision. It was down to Lahiru Thirimanne to get the Sri Lanka innings going but it was his dismissal to a miscued drive that brought together the familiar partners. By now, 300 was perhaps out of reach but, with the ball stopping and a hint of turn, perhaps even 250 would keep Sri Lanka’s nose ahead.The first runs with Jayawardene at the crease come via leg byes, an attempted tickle failing to find the bat, and 11 balls later he survives a leg-before appeal which, upon review is found to be marginal. But the worry is that Jayawardene has failed to pick Imran Tahir’s googly. It is not the script written by Sri Lanka. Not a trial by spin for sure?But there is spin from two ends already. There is nearly a run-out in the next over, from JP Duminy, as Sangakkara charges down the wicket while Jayawardene is ball watching. Four balls later, Jayawardene shapes to pull Tahir but ends up giving a limp catch to midwicket.Batting can feel cruel. In no other sport can a single mistake be so utterly devastating. On another day, Jayawardene would have put that ball away for four. But today, it brought a magnificent career to an end. Who would have thought Sri Lanka would lose seven wickets to spin against South Africa? Who would have foreseen a hat-trick for Duminy?There was sadness too in that Jayawardene was denied a shot at opening in this World Cup, a position he thought — as did many others — would have suited him, and the team, more in the final phase of his career. The selectors were convinced that they needed him to marshall the backend of the innings. But when Sri Lanka, as they had done in their final match in the 2011 World Cup, made a couple of surprising changes, they opened with Kushal Perera, who had played only one match in this World Cup, and handed an ODI debut to a rookie spinner. Jayawerdene was left to bat at the No.5.A few minutes after his innings ended, I met Rahul Dravid in one of the commentary boxes. The game owes a fairytale ending to no one, he said, and no one should expect one. But no one, he added, would judge or remember Mahela Jayawardene by his final innings. There were tears in the Sri Lanka dressing room after the match ended. Not all the moist eyes around the cricket world would have been Sri Lankan. No one is bigger than the game, but cricket might miss him more than he misses cricket.

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Apr-2015Suresh Raina was next to follow as he was undone by a Nathan Coulter-Nile delivery, leaving Chennai Super Kings 38 for 2 after four overs•BCCIDwayne Smith and Faf du Plessis steadied things as they put on 33 for the third wicket•BCCIImran Tahir and Coulter-Nile put the brakes on Super Kings’ scoring rate•BCCIDu Plessis looked good for his 32 and it took a sharp outfield catch by Shreyas Iyer to get rid of the South African•BCCIRavindra Jadeja struck one four and a six for his 18-ball 17 only to be stumped off an Amit Mishra delivery leaving Chennai at 119 for 5 after 16•BCCISuper Kings added a further 31 runs, thanks mainly to MS Dhoni’s 27-ball 30, to finish on 150 for 7•BCCIAshish Nehra started off strongly and picked up three wickets inside five overs to unsettle Daredevils’ chase•PTI The third wicket was that of Shreyas Iyer, who went to a spectacular catch from Faf du Plessis•BCCIDaredevils found it difficult to get runs in the middle overs as R Ashwin tied them down•BCCIYuvraj Singh found it difficult to face short-pitched deliveries and handed an easy catch to Ishwar Pandey, leaving Daredevils at 99 for 5•BCCIAlbie Morkel carried on strong at one end despite losing partners and brought up his fifty off 43 balls•BCCICoulter-Nile was undone by a straight delivery from Ashwin, leaving Daredevils at 124 for 7 after 18 overs•BCCIRaina pulled off a brilliant save at deep point to prevent a boundary, which eventually turned out to be the difference between the two teams•BCCIMorkel took it down to the last ball but could manage only a four when six were needed•BCCI

We asked readers what their favourite catch in the IPL was

20-May-2015Sanjay N M
Matthew Hayden’s catch in the 2010 final was a game-changer, not only because it was the crucial wicket of Kieron Pollard, but also due to the odd fielding position that MS Dhoni had set. Chennai Super Kings went on to claim their first title, and followed it up with another in the 2011 edition. The catch that established CSK as the best IPL team ever.Bidwan Baruah
I believe Kieron Pollard’s stunning catch against Rajasthan Royals to dismiss Kevon Cooper in IPL 2014 was the best of all. It had agility, flexibility,presence of mind and above all a touch of magic!David Hussey’s catch to dismiss Paul Collingwood in 2010 comes very close, but I rank this higher because Pollard took two unbelievable catches within this single catch; each of them was very, very tough, while Hussey’s was a combination of juggling and presence of mind.Rijul Shah
The best catch to me is of David Hussey’s to dismiss Paul Collingwood in Delhi Daredevils’ match against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2010. To pull off a blinder at the boundary ropes, at the third attempt. Special Effort. Special.Koushik Ganapathi
There are many. But to point out one, it has to be the combined effort from Ajinkya Rahane and Johan Botha in the fifth edition of the IPL. Chasing 171, Pune Warriors were reeling at 112 for 8 with three overs to go. The ball goes in the air. Johan Botha at long-off takes the catch and loses his balance and is about to go over the boundary rope. But what makes it spectacular is that he relays the ball to Ajinkya Rahane, who is running in from long-on.A similar effort was pulled off in the 2015 edition by another Royals duo, Tim Southee and Karun Nair. The Botha-Rahane stunner has to be rated better, since Botha had to throw the ball quite a distance with minimum time to react.It also implies the essence of the game is teamwork in every aspect and it’s not just the skill that is needed at the highest level.Swapnil
No doubt the best catch was from Chris Lynn to dismiss AB de Villiers in the 2014 IPL edition, with RCB needing six from three balls. AB hits the ball and it seemed like it would go all the way but Lynn pulled off a stunner at deep midwicket as if defying the laws of physics and this ultimately helped Knight Riders win the match by two runs.

The legspinner knew he would not get the South Africa call-up easily given the quality of his competition, but he kept working hard and has got to where he wants to be

Firdose Moonda04-Jun-2015The modern cricketer has the technological benefits of being broadcast in High Definition, being officiated by the DRS system, and in legspinner Eddie Leie’s case, being coached on YouTube.”I’m serious. I learnt my googly through watching clips of Danish Kaneria bowling and my flipper from a combination of Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Kaneria,” Leie, the new face in South Africa’s T20 squad for the upcoming tour to Bangladesh, says. “I would watch the videos a few times to see how they did it and go to the nets and try to do the same thing. That was how I learnt.”It’s not that Leie didn’t have coaches, it’s that he had the time.He made his first-class debut in 2005, played his second game two years later and his third three years after that in 2010. Before that, he had been part of age-group provincial sides in Potchefstroom in the North West Province, where he schooled. In between, he completed his degree at the University of the Witwatersrand, played for their cricket club, trained in their nets, and only after that did he properly break into the Gauteng provincial side.”The Gauteng side always had good spinners. When I first started they had Ahmed Nawab and then Dale Deeb. I always knew that as a spinner, I would have to wait,” Leie said. “It’s like in soccer when you have a goalkeeper and he does well, you don’t just change him.”Incidentally, Leie was also a goalkeeper so he understood the queuing system well and he needed to. Even after a breakthrough 2012-13 season for Gauteng, in which he took 56 first-class wickets at 22.85, he could not crack the franchise team, Lions. Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso were ahead of him and Leie’s only chances came when both were on international duty.

“Sometimes, after nets, I go to do some work in the middle and then Geoff comes with me. I am a hard worker, I want to give 120%, so it’s nice to have a coach who does the same”Eddie Leie on Lions’ coach Geoffrey Toyana

Instead of wishing them away, Leie chose to learn from them – so much so that former convener of selectors Andrew Hudson, whose panel picked him for the T20 squad, said Leie was “a lot like Imran”. Both are legspinners which makes both naturally attacking, and Hudson is hopeful Leie will continue to model his game on Tahir, who has also become a successful in holding up an end – Tahir’s ODI economy rate is 4.35, even lower than Phangiso’s 4.55.Leie has learnt from both, particularly Phangiso, about not leaking runs. “Phangi played a big role in the evolution of my one-day career. He helped me with which lines and lengths to bowl,” he says. “South African pitches are not that conducive to spin bowling, so you have to innovate. At the Wanderers you get some bounce and if there is grass the ball will turn a bit, but a lot of the time it’s about being crafty.”Mastering that craftiness takes more than mimicking a YouTube video; it also needs nurturing from an expert, and Leie got that from Lions’ coach. Geoffrey Toyana has overseen the rise of Quinton de Kock, Chris Morris, Temba Bavuma and Phangiso, and his success rate as a coach comes down to his people skills.”Geoff has made a big difference to all of us because of the way he backs us and lets us be ourselves,” Leie explains. “And he is selfless – if we want to stay after training to do more, he stays with us. Sometimes, after nets, I go to do some work in the middle and then Geoff comes with me. I am a hard worker, I want to give 120%, so it’s nice to have a coach who does the same.”All that effort has finally resulted in the recognition every player dreams of: an international call-up. With the World T20 just nine months away, it would seem Leie is being lined up for bigger things even though he does not want to think that far ahead, or even as far as whether he will get a game in Bangladesh.”Whether I play or don’t play, the call-up is enough. This will do my confidence a world of good,” Leie says. “Imran must be the guy who goes to the World T20. There is a queue and I am willing to wait.””[Aaron Phangiso] played a big role in the evolution of my one-day career. He helped me with which lines and lengths to bowl”•AFPIn the meanwhile, Leie has a few other things going on. Even before going to Bangladesh, he has an overseas assignment. He will play for the St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League after being handpicked by Darren Sammy, who got Leie to put his name in the player draft after playing against him in South Africa’s T20 competition earlier this year. Even though Leie was on the losing side, Sammy was impressed with his returns of 2 for 17.”I bumped into him at Nandos after the game and he came to me and said that I had bowled well and I should consider playing in the CPL,” Leie says. “So I did.” Leie did not play for Lions in the Champions League T20, neither has he played in the IPL, so the CPL will be his first experience of the glitzy, glamorous side of cricket.He expects the Bangladesh tour, which will be sandwiched between his two stints in St Lucia, to be demanding work. “Playing Bangladesh in Bangladesh is not going to be easy. They are going to give it everything and we’ve seen how well they’ve been doing recently – at the World Cup and against Pakistan.”Leie has already started strategising about how he will approach the opposition if given the chance. “Cricket is my life so you have to think about these things, and I can tell you Shakib Al Hasan is the man I would target,” he says.So has he watched any YouTube clips of Shakib batting to try and spot a weakness? You can probably guess the answer to that.

Also: bowling and batting before lunch, four lefty openers, and Pakistan-born Ashes players

Steven Lynch11-Aug-2015Has anyone other than Jim Laker bettered Stuart Broad’s bowling figures in the Ashes? asked Melanie Hodgson from England

The England offspinner Jim Laker famously took 19 for 90 in the match – 9 for 37 and 10 for 53 – for England against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956. But the only other figures statistically better than Stuart Broad’s 8 for 15 in Nottingham the other day were even longer ago: in Melbourne in 1920-21, the Australian legspinner Arthur Mailey took 9 for 121 in England’s second innings. Broad’s remarkable performance was the 20th eight-for in Ashes cricket – England’s first since Bob Willis’ 8 for 43 in that famous match at Headingley in 1981 – but the other 19 all cost more. For the full list of the best Ashes bowling figures, click here.How often has the team that bowled first batted before lunch on the first day of a Test? asked David Charlton from England

England’s achievement in bowling Australia out before lunch on the first day in Nottingham, and having a bat themselves, has happened only three times previously in Test matches. At Lord’s in 1896, England bowled Australia out for 53, and started their own first innings before lunch. Wisden reported that “the Australians failed in a fashion that has seldom been seen on a dry, true pitch, being all got rid of in an hour and a quarter. The bowlers did wonders, but lack of nerve on the part of the Australians must have been largely answerable for such an astounding collapse”. The two more recent instances were both inflicted by South Africa. In Ahmedabad in 2007-08 they shot India out for 76 in 20 overs, Dale Steyn taking 5 for 23; then in Cape Town in 2012-13 South Africa mowed New Zealand down in 19.2 overs for 45, Vernon Philander grabbing 5 for 7 (and Steyn 2 for 18).Ian Bell was out for 1 at Nottingham, for the sixth time this year. Has anyone been out more often for 1? asked Paul Carlton from Australia

No one has been out more often this year for 1 in Tests, if that’s what you mean: after Bell’s six, next in 2015 is actually his team-mate Joe Root, with three dismissals for a single. Overall, Bell has now been out for 1 on 12 occasions in his Test career. Another current England player, James Anderson, leads the way here with 14, ahead of Harbhajan Singh on 13. Both Glenn McGrath and Javagal Srinath were also out a dozen times for 1. Bell is now the leading specialist batsman on this list, having eclipsed Sachin Tendulkar, one of four men with 11 (the others are Curtly Ambrose, Rod Marsh and Courtney Walsh).Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer made up one pair of left-handed openers in the Ashes in 2005 and 2006-07•Getty ImagesFawad Ahmed is in the Australian squad for this Ashes series, but hasn’t played a match yet. Is Usman Khawaja the only Pakistani-born cricketer to play in the Ashes? asked Danish Syed from Pakistan

Usman Khawaja, who was born in Islamabad, has played four Tests against England so far: he made his debut in Sydney in 2010-11, and also appeared in three matches in the 2013 series in England. The only other Pakistan-born player to feature in the Ashes is another Usman – the Rawalpindi-born Usman Afzaal, who made his debut for England at Edgbaston in 2001, and played in two further matches in that series, which constituted his entire Test career. Owais Shah was also born in Pakistan (in Karachi): he appeared in six Tests for England, but none of them were against Australia.The four openers in the current Ashes series are all left-handers. When was the last time that this happened in the Ashes, or all Test cricket? asked Savo Ceprnich from South Africa

All four openers being left-handers had never happened in any Ashes series until 2005 – but it’s happened quite a bit since then. Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer opened in all five Tests in 2005, and Hayden, Langer, Strauss and Alastair Cook throughout the 2006-07 series. Cook, Strauss, Phillip Hughes and Simon Katich opened in the first two Tests of the 2009 Ashes (whereupon Hughes was dropped), while Cook, Michael Carberry, Chris Rogers and David Warner opened in all five Tests of 2013-14. So the 2015 series (Rogers, Warner, Cook and Adam Lyth) has really only continued that left-handed trend. It also happened in the Bangladesh-South Africa Tests that took place during this Ashes series. In all there have been 79 Tests now that featured four left-handed openers (some of them thanks to changes of batting order in the second innings), all but one of them since 1996. The only one before that was in Mumbai in 1961-62, when Peter Richardson opened with Geoff Pullar in England’s first innings, and Bob Barber in the second; Nari Contractor opened (with the right-handed ML Jaisimha) for India. The first one to feature just four left-handed openers was the third Test between Australia (Hayden and Langer) and Pakistan (Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar) in Sharjah in 2002-03.There were three centuries in the second ODI between Zimbabwe and New Zealand, but only 471 runs overall. Was this a record? asked Saurav Jain from India

That’s a good spot: there were three centuries – by Sikandar Raza, Martin Guptill and Tom Latham – but only 471 runs in that match in Harare on August 4. And no other one-day international containing three hundreds has had so few runs: the previous mark was 501 by Australia (250 for 3) and India (251 for 3) in Jaipur in 1986-87. Geoff Marsh (104) and David Boon (111) put on 212 for Australia’s first wicket in that game – an ODI record at the time – but they were trumped by Kris Srikkanth’s 102.

I always imagined Clarke would score over 10,000 Test runs. Over 30 Test centuries. Alas, it is not to be

Brad Hinds09-Aug-2015Michael Clarke has retired.This is a difficult thing for me to process. I knew it was coming, one way or the other. Years ago, I guessed he would play until he was 34. His chronic back condition made it clear he was never going to be another Ponting, Hussey, or Haddin. Playing until the age of 37 was always out of the question. But I suppose it’s the circumstances of his retirement – the disappointing fall from grace as a batsman – that has crushed me the most. Clarke deserves a better exit than this.At the same time, I feel a sense of relief. He was once indomitable but his decline as a batsman has been marked and swift. I no longer have to feel the intense anxiety when he takes guard, the intense anticipation when he nears a century or the intense disappointment when he is dismissed cheaply.I’m extremely passionate about cricket. I’ve been particularly passionate about individual cricketers. I realise cricket is a team sport, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s in our nature to highlight and glorify individual performances and achievements. I remember the first innings I watched. watched. It was the third Test of the 2006-07 Ashes in Perth. Adam Gilchrist walked out to bat on a pair. He went on to score the second-fastest hundred in Tests – a moment of individual greatness. The man at the other end, who got 135, was Clarke.Ever since, I’ve found myself gravitating toward individual players. Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Clarke. I have perhaps fallen into the trap of building them up as something more than human. The end result is almost always disappointment. Only Hussey ended his career on a high.Clarke has never been the most popular cricket personality in Australia. I haven’t always been his biggest fan. I had little faith in Clarke’s ability to lead Australia, let alone pick up the pieces of a battered and broken team following a shambolic series defeat against England at the end of 2010 – a defeat more devastating and humiliating than even this current series. Clarke had always shown exceptional ability in isolated circumstances – his magnificent 151 against India on debut, his 166 against Pakistan in 2010, and his 168 against New Zealand immediately following his public break-up with Lara Bingle.Yet, anomalously, he consistently failed to score runs when they were needed the most. In the first four matches of the 2009 Ashes, Clarke was Australia’s best batsman, scoring 445 runs at an average of 89 including two centuries. With the series level heading into the fifth and final match, Clarke was dismissed for 3 in the first innings and for a duck in the second, after Ricky Ponting was run out on 66. Australia went on to lose the match and, consequently, the urn.The trend continued in the 2010-11 Ashes where he managed a score just one fifty. Clarke had always been touted as being Ponting’s successor but his match-saving performances seemed far and few between. He walked out to bat on his home ground in Sydney substituting as captain for an injured Ponting and was booed by both England and Australian supporters. By then, Australia had well and truly lost the Ashes. They had been humiliated by England at home. It was an occasion which marked the passing of an Australia which could otherwise dominate every stage and every opposition.His potential for leadership was never in doubt. He had always demonstrated an aggressive, proactive, and lateral brand of cricket, but these qualities rarely came through when matches were on the precipice. He took over the Test captaincy full-time in 2011 against a sizeable amount of negative press and national vitriol. It spoke volumes of the state of Australian cricket at the time that Clarke, despite his bad form, was the only viable long-term candidate against a backdrop of youthful and inexperienced players.Then something changed.He led Australia to a series victory against Sri Lanka in September 2011, scoring 112 in Australia’s second innings of the final match. He followed this up with an astonishing performance against South Africa in Cape Town. While all but three players failed to make scores of ten or more, and Australia were all out for 284, Clarke raced to 151 on as difficult a pitch to bat on as there is. He scored another century – 139 – later that year against New Zealand. It was clear that Clarke’s temperament had shifted and that his talent had evolved. He was, like many great Australians before him, making substantial scores consistently and aggressively regardless of opposition or location.With his 329 not out, Clarke entered a higher realm altogether•Getty ImagesThis was, however, simply a sign of something much greater.Clarke transformed in his first innings of 2012 by scoring 329 not out against India and joining an elite pantheon of batting giants. It was a paradigm shift on a previously unthinkable scale which changed his stature both as a cricketer and as a character. It was a serene and flawless innings – one of, if not the, finest batting performance I have watched to date. Cricket commentator Mark Nicholas described the SCG as being Clarke’s “kingdom for the day”. The boos from just a year earlier had been erased from memory.I remember talking about how this was merely the beginning for Clarke. He had well and truly eclipsed himself in every conceivable way. That kind of triumph over mind and body marks you in profoundly significant ways. He nearly doubled his previous highest score – a comparably mortal 168. Before this, he had made four scores of 150 or more without ever passing 170. With that triple-century, Clarke entered a higher realm altogether. It couldn’t be overstated how important it was for him to break through and completely shatter the various constraints he had perhaps unconsciously imposed on himself.I knew that score would change him and it did. Over the course of 2012, Clarke scored a further four centuries. Three of them were doubles: 210, 259 not out and 230. He became the highest run-scorer for an Australian in a calendar year and he became the first man ever to score four scores of 200 or more in Tests in a calendar year, eclipsing the great Sir Donald Bradman. For almost 11 months, he boasted a 100% conversion rate from centuries to double-centuries. He twice out-scored Ponting’s highest score. I’ve not yet seen anyone in greater touch with the bat.Sadly, he was never able to even remotely replicate those heights again. In hindsight, it was like he knew the end of his career would come sooner than he would like and responded by scoring several years’ worth of runs in just one.Since early 2014, Clarke’s prowess has diminished considerably. His last truly great moment as a batsman came in March last year. Against the might of South Africa’s Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, he sustained a fractured shoulder in pursuit of a remarkable 161 not out, leading Australia to a series win over the world’s No. 1 team. It is rightly considered one of the greatest innings by a captain in recent times.Since then, he has never been able to truly regain his touch.It’s not difficult to identify why. The hostile barrage of bowling he faced against South Africa, a series of hamstring injuries in a short space of time, and the tragic death of Phillip Hughes late last year rocked Clarke as an individual. His precision, his keen eye, his dancing footwork, and even his conviction disappeared.His last innings of note was against India last summer. He battled through another bout of debilitating back pain, scoring an emotional 128 against the dying of the light in tribute of his “little brother”. It must have taken an incredible amount of sheer willpower to do what Clarke did that day. The courage and leadership he demonstrated throughout that period was commendable and deeply moving.Despite his abysmal form, he cannot be singularly blamed for Australia’s failings in England these past few weeks. He cannot be blamed for the team’s collective failure to deal with the moving ball and the deficient batting techniques of individual players.Perhaps Clarke’s defining characteristic is that he is a fighter. Things have rarely come easy for him. He has always had to fight for them; he has endured a degenerative back issue, been dropped from the side, criticised by analysts, ridiculed by the media, and shunned by the public. This is part of what I find so endearing about him.I always imagined Clarke would score over 10,000 Test runs. Over 30 Test centuries. Alas, it is not to be. Yet another cruel reminder that the careers of great sportsman rarely end as romantically as we would like them to.Clarke is the last vestige of Ponting’s once-in-a-lifetime squad and with his retirement my enthusiasm for the game has diminished sharply.So long, Pup. Enjoy your retirement.If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line.

In May, James Anderson became the first England bowler to take 400 Test wickets but a side injury which forced him to miss the final two Ashes Tests raised questions as to how much longer he would play. At 33, he still feels he has plenty left in the tank

Andrew McGlashan in Dubai29-Oct-2015James Anderson has a lower Test bowling average in the UAE than any other country he has played in. For a fast bowler, that is quite some badge of honour.It is not a skewed sample size either. He has now played five Tests in the region, the same number he has clocked up in South Africa and New Zealand and only two fewer than India and West Indies.In those five outings, Anderson has collected 16 wickets at 23.93, his seven wickets at 19.14 so far in the two matches of this tour nudging his average below his figure playing in West Indies where his returns come at 24.92.In terms of visiting pacemen in the UAE he has the fourth lowest average after Glenn McGrath (7.40), Andy Bichel (13.25) and Vernon Philander (23.00). The figures of McGrath and Bichel are helped by having been involved in the 2002 Test in Sharjah when Pakistan were bowled out for 59 and 53 in Sharjah.Spoils have not come that easily for Anderson on this tour – and he can only dream of a scenario where Pakistan are skittled in such fashion in the final Test – but he takes extra satisfaction from earning success on pitches which test a fast bowler’s skill and endurance to the limit.”It is a real test of your skills and it is quite good fun,” he said. “If you have a good day out here you feel you get more out of it personally. There is more reward.”Anderson, with 67 overs, has also bowled more in this series than any other England quick (Wahab Riaz is top overall with 83 overs) but the workload has been very evenly shared between him, Stuart Broad (56), Mark Wood (62.5) and Ben Stokes (58.1). After some initial worries when they first arrived and the temperature was in the mid-40s, Anderson said that conditions have not proved too demanding.”The first couple of days we were worried about how we were going to get through because the heat was quite severe but as the series has gone on the temperature has dropped and we have got used to it as well. We have been bowling three, four, five over spells which doesn’t actually take too much out of you.”Anderson has operated in a variety of guises through the two matches – both of which have seen England bowl first after Alastair Cook lost the toss – from a traditional new-ball bowler for the few overs where the ball might swing, to searching for reverse later on and also bringing out a repertoire of slower balls.”In these conditions you’ve got to try and get something out of it as a seamer, you try all sorts of things,” he said. “We’ve had the keeper up at different stages, you bowl offcutters and things like that. The ball that got Misbah the other day was a genuine offspinner, you just try it.Anderson’s economy for the series is a parsimonious 2.00 while Stokes at 3.00 is England’s most expensive seamer as Pakistan have sought to play out the pacemen and target the spinners – Moeen Ali has conceded 4.34 an over and Adil Rashid 4.27 – which has left Anderson wishing the batsmen would play more shots against him.”It has been frustrating as well because you need people to go after you on these wickets to get the chances, so that is why we’ve set certain fields and tried to be aggressive with our plans,” he said.The four-man pace attack is likely to be retained for Sharjah, where England need to win to level the series, which would be a move away from the pre-series thoughts they had on playing three spinners. It would also be significant because Mark Wood will have played three consecutive Tests where the initial suggestion was his body may only allow him two.England may have to consider relieving him of ODI or T20 duty later in the tour – with an eye on the South Africa Test series which starts on Boxing Day – but he produced his most impressive Test performance in Dubai where he collected five wickets in the match and, especially in the first innings, troubled Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq with short deliveries.”He has done brilliantly. Him and Ben Stokes, their bowling has improved out of sight on this trip,” Anderson said. “The first week we were here, the first warm-up game I remember both of them saying it was pretty boring. They both want to take wickets, they want to steam in and rough people up but you can’t just do that out here.”The way Mark bowled in that first innings [in Dubai] going away from his natural game… I thought he was outstanding and he’s getting to grips with bowling different balls, cutters and little subtle variations which again will improve his game no end.”Not that Anderson has any plans on permanently passing England’s fast-bowling baton onto the younger models anytime soon. In May, Anderson became the first England bowler to take 400 Test wickets but a side injury which forced him to miss the final two Ashes Tests raised a question as to how much longer he would play. At 33, he still feels he has plenty left in the tank.”You’re making me feel really old … as if I’m coming to the end! But why can’t I play for another five years? I’m loving it at the minute, loving bowling, loving playing, enjoying taking wickets and the challenges we’ve got ahead. I’m going to keep going till my body can’t take any more.”James Anderson is speaking on behalf of Waitrose, Official Sponsor of the England Cricket Team. For exclusive player content visit waitrose.com/cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2015They got an early breakthrough, getting Shikhar Dhawan run-out in the fourth over with the score on 22•Associated PressBut could not stop Rohit Sharma at the other end. He farmed the strike in the Powerplay to take India towards 50•AFPVirat Kohli also joined in with a consecutive six and four off Chris Morris in the eighth over to take the run rate over eight•AFPRohit and Kohli were particularly harsh on Imran Tahir. They hammered three sixes together off him in the 12th over, taking India past 100•AFPAnd Rohit continued to hog the limelight. After cruising to his fifty, he took only 23 balls to race from 50 to 100•AFPBut South Africa fought back briefly after the opener’s century. Kyle Abbott dismissed Kohli and Rohit in the same over as India were held to 199 for 5•AFPAB de Villiers got South Africa off to a flying start, racing to 51 off just 32 deliveries•AFPHe and Hashim Amla added 77 for the opening wicket inside eight overs•AFPIt took an accurate throw from Mohit Sharma to provide the breakthrough, as Amla was run out for 36•AFPR Ashwin spun the advantage India’s way when he foxed de Villiers out of his crease and had him bowled•AFPS Aravind, on his international debut, soon secured the crucial wicket of Faf du Plessis, leaving South Africa needing 105 from 57 balls•AFPJP Duminy, though, counterattacked with a wave of sixes, making his way to 68 off 34 balls, including 18 off an over from Axar Patel•AFPHe found an able ally in Farhaan Behardien, as the pair’s 105-run stand stunned India to defeat•AFPDuminy also became South Africa’s leading run-scorer in T20 cricket, and ensured that his team chased down a total of 200 or more for only the second time in this format•AFP