The Namibia opener is hoping the team’s success will inspire people to pick up the game outside the capital city

Firdose Moonda28-May-2024In the 35km stretch between Namibia’s coastal cities of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, there are endless sand dunes (including the world’s seventh largest, creatively named Dune 7) and about 100,000 people. Only one of them, Michael van Lingen, is an international cricketer, and these days he is instantly recognisable in the area.”I stay at Long Beach and I see a lot of youngsters that have never played cricket and never even heard of cricket – and they’re now interested in the game. When I’m there, I train in my Namibian kit and that’s how I try and inspire the guys,” says van Lingen, a top-order batter.”Cricket Namibia have got guys going into rural areas. They get the children involved and they get the parents involved. Because cricket is not an older sport like rugby in Namibia, people don’t know cricket. Lots of the parents are a bit sceptical and ask: ‘What is this sport? What’s this bat and ball?’ And then they realise it’s a great sport. It’s grown so much in the last two or three years.”Where the 26-year-old van Lingen lives is important because although Namibia itself is huge – at more than 800,000 square kilometres – its population of just over 2.5 million people is tiny. Almost anything of significance that happens in the country takes place in the capital, Windhoek (400km east of Walvis Bay), including most elite sport, and it’s rare to find someone who still lives in what could be called the wilderness involved in something as high-profile as cricket has become.Just his presence could help grow the game that he had to learn through television, and later in South Africa.Related

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“The skill and everything I’ve learned was through TV because the facilities [in Namibia] weren’t great. We had only one field and a cement pitch and the coaches were minimal.”I would look at guys like Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting and all the top players,” he says. “I used to like Michael Bevan even though he was a bit before my time. He was one of my favourite cricketers because he’s left-handed and was a finisher and I also used to be a finisher when I was young, so I would try to replicate what I saw him do.”When he was in his second year of high school, van Lingen and his family moved to South Africa’s Western Cape, where he attended one of the country’s best-known sporting schools: Paarl Boys, whose alumni include England international Dawid Malan.”I went to the school for squash, actually,” van Lingen says. “But then cricket started to take over.”At the outset van Lingen was a middle-order batter who only bowled in the nets. “I actually started off bowling left-arm wristspin and it came out well, but obviously that’s quite a hard skill if you haven’t been doing it for years. I sort of put that in my back pocket and I guess I could bring it out again, but I can’t promise it will be any good.”Instead, he made his name as a seamer and was picked in Namibia’s squad for the 2016 Under-19 World Cup. “We lacked bowlers at that time, so I thought I would make sure it was something I did.”A view of the Atlantic Ocean from Long Beach•Michael van LingenAt the tournament, van Lingen took 4 for 24 against South Africa, dismissing future internationals Kyle Verreynne and Tony de Zorzi, and finished as Namibia’s second-highest wicket-taker. Less than two months later he made his first-class debut, but went wicketless. After that, he did not play any cricket for the next five years.”My studies took over and then it was Covid, but I also had injuries,” he says. “The reason I stopped bowling in the first place was because I had a stress fracture in my lower back. I was out for a year, and then when I started playing again, two weeks in, I tore my hamstring. I just decided to step away from cricket.”He finished his studies at the University of Pretoria and moved back to Namibia to help with the family business. “I just started playing for fun and before I could wipe my eyes out, I made my [international] debut.”In that first T20I, against PNG in Dubai in October 2021 , he didn’t bat and bowled only one over – of orthodox left-arm spin.”My mechanics were awful and I was very injury-prone, so I sort of stepped away from bowling because there would always be some niggle that held me back. I decided to start focusing on my batting instead.”Van Lingen on Namibia’s chances in the 2024 T20 World Cup: “We think that if we play good cricket on the day, we can take any of the four teams [in Namibia’s group] out”•Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty ImagesIn his fourth match, against Scotland at the 2021 T20 World Cup, van Lingen opened the batting and scored 18 off 24 balls.”We only had one or two guys that wanted to open the batting, and because I played squash, I’ve got a good eye and good reflexes, so I said, I’ll give it a go, I don’t think I’ll be too bad at it.”He wasn’t. In his first ODI, a month after his T20I debut, van Lingen scored 51 off 48 balls from No. 3 as Namibia beat Oman by 40 runs in Windhoek.Since then, he has scored four ODI hundreds and two T20I half-centuries, but he hasn’t quite nailed the kind of power game the 20-over format demands. Van Lingen thinks he knows why. “I’m a bit more technical, I focus on timing the ball and I wouldn’t say I’m a big six-hitter, especially in the beginning.”I don’t really like to compare myself to guys like Travis Head and all those players. I just try to focus on my own game and make sure that I nail my skill as a solid opening batter. One of my goals for this World Cup is to lay a strong foundation in the powerplay for the team.”In the Namibian set-up, van Lingen feels that a slightly more circumspect approach works. “We’ve got a very strong finishing team. JJ [Smit], David Wiese and Gerhard [Erasmus, the captain] can come in later if we’ve set that strong foundation in the powerplay and just finish it. They can take games away from teams.”Namibia beat Sri Lanka by 55 runs in the 2022 T20 World Cup•Daniel Pockett/ICC/Getty ImagesIn the 2024 T20 World Cup, Namibia are slotted in Group B, along with Oman – whom they beat 3-2 in a T20I series in April – Scotland, England and Australia, and it’s the big guys that they are gunning for.”We want to be playing against England and Australia and the likes of South Africa and New Zealand. We’re very excited and very, very positive,” van Lingen says. “We think that if we play good cricket on the day, we can take any of the four teams out. We’re very optimistic in making it through the group.”That’s fighting talk from a side who have never played England or Australia in T20Is, and have only ever beaten three Full Members in the format – Zimbabwe, Ireland and Sri Lanka. No member of the current side has played in the Caribbean before either, save for Wiese, who has featured in the CPL.Their win over Ireland came during a dream run at the 2021 T20 World Cup, where they progressed from the first round to the Super 12s. Van Lingen was part of that squad and remembers it as life-changing.”There’s not much of a better feeling. I I never thought I would be able to feel so much joy and see so much passion and love for the sport and for the country.”For me, the biggest thing about qualifying for the Super 12s was the inspiration that the youngsters had. That was huge. After that World Cup, I think cricket increased tenfold in Namibia. People suddenly started asking questions and wanted to get involved. Before that, people didn’t even know Namibia played cricket, especially people at the coast.”Now they do and it’s a big deal because Cricket Namibia is trying to grow the game outside of the capital ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup, which the country will co-host with South Africa and Zimbabwe.Namibia still have to qualify for that tournament, but van Lingen is confident they have the inspiration and plan to get there. “There’s still a lot of time, so there’s still a lot of upskilling that we can do. And we want to get there. We’ve seen the stadium [in Windhoek] getting built and the other preparations and it’s such an exciting time for the whole country to be hosting the event.”By then, if all goes well, there may also be more national cricketers living at Long Beach.

No one has hit more sixes in T20s in a calendar year than Pooran – here’s a closer look at his numbers

ESPNcricinfo stats team02-Sep-2024139 – Sixes for Nicholas Pooran in T20s in 2024, the most by any batter in the format in a calendar year. He went past Chris Gayle’s 2015 record of 135, when he struck the sixth of his nine sixes on the way to a 43-ball 97 against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in CPL 2024.8.23 – Balls per six for Pooran in 2024 – he has hit 139 sixes off 1145 balls. Gayle had a rate of 7.50 balls per six, facing 1012 deliveries for his 135 sixes, in 2015. Pooran’s sixes came from 57 innings in 2024, compared to Gayle’s 36 innings in 2015.Related

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92 – Sixes against pace out of the 139 sixes in 2024 for Pooran. He averaged 8.65 balls per six against the seamers, while the spinners disappeared for a six every 7.43 deliveries (47 off 349 balls). Gayle’s sixes count in 2015 was more evenly spread: he hit 68 off pacers (9.5 balls per six) and 66 off spinners (5.42 balls per six). Ninety-two sixes is also easily the most by any batter against pace in a calendar year (in matches where ball-by-ball data is available) – the second-highest is only 73, by Gayle in 2011.79 – Sixes for Pooran in the middle overs (seventh to 16th overs) in 2024, at a rate of 9.09 balls per six. He struck 32 sixes at the death (6.22 balls per six) and 28 in the powerplays (8.14). Pooran now also holds the record for the most sixes in the middle overs in a calendar year (in matches where ball-by-ball data is available) – the next-best is 71 by Gayle in 2012.ESPNcricinfo Ltd36 – Sixes for Pooran in IPL 2024, the most for him in a single tournament in the year. He struck 31 sixes in ILT20 and 19 in The Hundred, while 34 came in T20Is, including 17 at the T20 World Cup.4 – Most sixes for Pooran off a bowler in 2024. Four bowlers suffered that fate: Dominic Drakes (off 16 balls), Nandre Burger (18), Rashid Khan (23) and Sikandar Raza (25).551 – The total number of sixes for Pooran in T20s, the fourth-highest in the format. The top three positions also belong to West Indies batters – Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell.

The fast bowler finds a way to thrive in all conditions but in Kanpur his magic balls just kept beating the bat

Alagappan Muthu27-Sep-2024It started from the very first delivery of the day. Jasprit Bumrah saw it skitter through at shin height and bounce before it reached the wicketkeeper.In a way, that helped India. Their pre-match suspicions about Kanpur having low bounce were confirmed and their slip cordon was a lot more confident with the positions they’d chosen, really close in to the bat. Bangladesh’s first wicket fell because Yashasvi Jaiswal was only 14 metres away at gully.Bumrah puts a lot of effort behind the ball. His action is only one small part of why he is so hard to face. The rest of it comes from the snap of his wrist, which helps him dig the seam into the pitch and extract every bit of help that’s there, whether it’s movement or bounce. The fact that he did all that and the ball still barely rose up off the surface set the tone for the rest of his day.Usually, it’s great being Jasprit Bumrah. Just this once, it wasn’t.He bowled three straight maidens to start his spell, with Zakir Hasan hopping about, unsure of which of his edges were in danger. He also allowed 17 leaves in his nine overs. He was a little up and down. And yet, the genius that he is, he still produced 22 false shots (that’s a ratio of one every three balls) and beat the bat thrice (6) as often as any other bowler.Eventually, even the good work that he was doing brought Bumrah a little bit of frustration – because this time unlike many others – he was really trying to get wickets instead of what he usually does which is settle on a length and slowly prey on the batter’s technique. He kept shifting from over the wicket to around and back again, like a go-between trying to patch up a lover’s quarrel. He had to experiment like this because the softness of the pitch had given Bangladesh a margin of error. On a harder surface, the ball might have gone through quicker and carried through higher and made him more of a threat. On this one, the batters seemed to have an extra second to adjust to all the sideways movement he were getting.India, though, had a deep enough bowling attack and together they kept Bangladesh under enough pressure that at the end of a truncated day’s play, they were still in control of the game. Their decision at the toss to bowl first – a first such instance in a home Test since 2015 – was built on the basis that the three-man pace attack would be able to exploit the overcast conditions. And it can be no bad thing that their fast bowlers are getting as much of a workout as they are in a home season that is leading into a huge away tour of Australia.1:14

Manjrekar: If India’s batting comes good, could be a third series win in Australia

Akash Deep’s performances, not just his wickets, but the way he seems to be getting them in his first spell, are a good sign. If he keeps this up, one of the problems that affect India when they travel – the support bowlers following the lead bowlers and releasing the pressure – may not have too much of a say on the final scorecard.For now, the attention remains on Kanpur. Its weather will keep India’s fast bowlers front and centre and Bumrah will be back on day two – so long as the rain stays away – producing more magic balls. Everybody walked off to the dressing room on the back of one, actually, and as he saw it nip past, instead of taking the outside edge, Bumrah threw his head back and half smiled. Usually, it’s great being him. Just this once, it wasn’t.

Two epic finishes in Chennai, one against Australia and one against England. Which one do you remember more fondly?

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2025Update: This poll has ended. The IND-AUS 2001 Chennai Test moves into the quarter-finals.

Harbhajan too good for Australia – Chennai, 2001

It was fitting that a series that had kept everyone on the edge of their seats ended in a thrilling last-day finish.After Matthew Hayden’s 203 had taken Australia to 391, India responded by racking up 501. Like he had in the first innings, Harbhajan Singh ripped through the Australia middle order in the second innings, as they ended the fourth day on 241 for 7, a lead of 131.On the fifth morning, Harbhajan wasted little time in picking up the last three Australia wickets, bundling them for 264. He returned second-innings figures of 8 for 84 and match figures of 15 for 127, finishing with 32 wickets for the series.But he wasn’t done.Chasing 155, India lost Shiv Sunder Das early, but Sadagoppan Ramesh and VVS Laxman added 58 to give India the advantage. But a middle-order collapse followed, and it was game on. But keeper Sameer Dighe, on Test debut, held his cool as he took India closer. India lost Zaheer Khan just four runs shy of a win, but Harbhajan sliced a Glenn McGrath delivery past point to give India a famous Test and series win.India’s chase to remember vs England – Chennai, 2008It was not a match India were supposed to win. For three days and two sessions at Chepauk, England were on top. India were staring at a target close to 400, when nothing above 300 had ever been chased before in the country (and the highest target chased at the venue was 155).But then the England bowlers came across a belligerent Virender Sehwag, who laid the platform for India to push for the win on the fifth day. Gautam Gambhir put in the grind at the top. And then Yuvraj Singh, with his Test credentials under the scanner, joined Sachin Tendulkar at the crease to take India over the line on a pitch with awkward bounce.Tendulkar applied the icing on the cake, hitting the winning runs while also bringing up a fine fourth-innings century. Only six higher totals have been chased in Test history than the 387 by India in Chennai, only two of which have come in Asia, and none in India. It was a win, as ESPNcricinfo’s Editor-in-Chief Sambit Bal noted at the time, forged by unwavering belief to go for the jugular and not just settle for a draw.

From messy breakups to simmering feuds to returning prodigals, this season has it all

Alagappan Muthu18-Mar-2025When something unbelievable happens on TV, it becomes a part of our real life. We talk about it the next day, long after the reveal, still basking in it. It’s the standard soap-opera high, and the IPL has been tapping into it for 18 years. Its even had an evil twin.By actively shuffling its talent through that chaos engine called an auction, this tournament replenishes itself, creating potential for the most unpredictable outcomes, not to mention immediately recognisable storylines born out of putting the same old players in fun new roles. This season we’ll see the return of a prodigal son, the start of a new feud, a lot of heartbreak and much more.Related

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“It feels odd actually,” R Ashwin said in a video posted by Chennai Super Kings, where for the first time since 2015 he was wearing yellow again. In that time, he’s captained a different franchise, he’s been to two finals, he’s experienced Chepauk from the visitors’ dugout and seemed to make it a point to do really well against his old employers – eight wins in 12 games along with 15 wickets and two Player-of-the-Match performances. That’s twice as much as he won at CSK. Dude was winning the breakup.In November, CSK brought Ashwin back for INR 9.75 crore. They’ve only ever spent more on five players in auctions, and he’s got right down to business, which, according to some shaky cam footage of training sessions, includes downloading the secrets of playing the helicopter shot from MS Dhoni. Or was it actually an upload?Last year, Shreyas Iyer received the IPL trophy from the heads of the organisation that culled him from its central contracts list•AFP/Getty Images”I invited him for my 100th Test to hand over the memento,” Ashwin, who is looking at a major personal landmark, said at a book launch on Sunday. “It was in Dharamsala and I wanted to make that my last Test. He couldn’t make it. But I didn’t think he’d hand over the gift of getting me back to CSK. It’s a much better one.”Coincidence is Shreyas Iyer becoming Ranji Trophy champion a few days after he was cut from the BCCI’s central contracts list. Then he became IPL champion, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy winner, and Champions Trophy winner, and it was clear he was the jilted ex showing off his revenge bod. Fate even conspired to have Roger Binny, the head of the organisation that tore up his contract, hand out the silverware – and white jackets – in all but one of those tournaments. Kolkata Knight Riders, what have you done?!Punjab Kings are ready for a new beginning, and they didn’t waste any time putting their very expensive good-luck charm front and centre.All was not well at Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants. The face of one of those franchises leapt up on the shop window when he casually wondered, in front of the entire world, “if I go to the auction, will I be sold or not and for how much?” We’re not saying that put the competition on notice that a high-performing, easily marketable asset was up for grabs and that they’d do well to carve out a significant portion of their budget for him. But we’re also not not saying it. Rishabh Pant landed himself an INR 27 crore payday and will be playing for a team whose owner berated their previous captain on live TV.”Disrespect,” KL Rahul said, when ESPNcricinfo asked him about the one thing that made him really angry, and it was hard not to think of that night when he stood in stunned silence, unable to reconcile that 167 runs could be scored in 9.4 overs while his boss demanded answers for all of it happening on his watch. Accountability is important, and being mauled like that does warrant a debrief if only so it doesn’t happen again. IPL captains are prone to being summoned out of bed in the dead of night to explain the decisions they make – even the really minute ones like why they poked their nose at a 42-degree angle instead of 45. It’s part of the job. It’s just that all this usually takes place behind closed doors.Glenn Maxwell has a long and complicated history with Punjab Kings, his not-quite-new team•BCCIRahul has now moved to DC. Isn’t that nice? Now there are neatly-drawn enemy lines. Look for them this Monday because those two teams kick off their IPL campaigns against each other.In a case of actual love lost, Glenn Maxwell and Royal Challengers Bengaluru are no longer together. But there’s still something there. When they had the exit meeting, they “ended up talking about the game for half an hour”. Does that sound like two parties who are ready to move on? All we can do is hope that his new franchise treats him right and helps mend his broken heart. Where is he off to again? *checks notes* Oh damn.Jos Buttler is in need of mending as well. He looked like a ghost in the Champions Trophy and though most people put that down to his own personal performance as batter and leader of England, the real reason was obviously that he was distraught he won’t get to go play with Yuzvendra Chahal anymore. Feelings that probably surfaced when another Rajasthan Royal, Sanju Samson, with whom he’s shared a dressing room for seven years, found his way to Buttler’s table at dinner, a blubbering mess himself. Good luck following that, Gujarat Titans.There is a Steve Smith on X, a normal guy with a regular job, who gets spammed every time his rather more famous namesake does things in cricket. Potentially, there is also a Mitchell Starc somewhere out there who must have received a message meant for someone else, because his rather more famous namesake had no idea KKR were going to drop him. The retention deadline had long passed and Starc – the white-ball GOAT not the made-up rando – had to learn that the team he helped win the IPL had moved on in the media. It’s going to be fun when they come up against each other this year (April 29 in Delhi). Based on words caught on a stump mic, this guy with a WMD for a left arm also has a long memory.

Delhi and North Zone batter shows his range during his century against East Zone in the Duleep Trophy

Ashish Pant31-Aug-2025 [I am from Delhi and there, we play aggressive cricket.]This one line pretty much sums up Yash Dhull, the cricketer. The 22-year-old is continuously on the move when batting. He walks down to the fast bowlers, gives the spinners the charge and is always on the lookout for the quick singles when not hitting boundaries.It was the theme of Dhull’s innings both times during North Zone’s Duleep Trophy match against East Zone at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence Ground in Bengaluru. The aggression cost him his wicket relatively early in the first innings on 39, but against a weary East Zone attack, he ensured he didn’t miss out once again.Dhull stroked his way to 133 off just 157 balls on the third day of the Duleep Trophy opener, adding a 240-run stand with captain Ankit Kumar as North Zone sealed their semi-final spot. He not only tackled the spinners with a mix of caution and controlled aggression, but he was equally adept against pace.Related

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He scored 86 off 104 against spinners and 47 off 53 against the fast bowlers, with shots all around the field. Apart from defending solidly and using his feet to throw the bowlers off their lengths, he was innovative too: two upper-cuts against fast bowler Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, two paddle sweeps against left-arm spinner Manishi and a thrash through the covers off pacer Mukhtar Hussain.”My simple plan was that I would play my game. The wicket was seaming a little but I had planned that I will play attacking cricket,” Dhull said after his innings. “My first intent is to always score runs and score them quickly. I was also carrying plenty of confidence behind me. And I came here and played accordingly.”Dhull reached his fifty off 49 balls and his century off 112. There were a few nervous moments when he was stuck in the 90s for a while, and he played and missed several times, particularly against Mohammed Shami. But Dhull ensured that he didn’t lose focus.”Sometimes you collect runs quickly and then there are times when you can’t score and you have to bide your time”, he said. “That’s what happened. But I was calm, staying in the present and not taking any pressure. I was waiting for that right ball to score.”Yash Dhull plays the ball away on the off side•PTI Dhull is coming into the Duleep Trophy in top form. He was Delhi’s second-highest run-scorer in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy with 444 runs in ten innings at 49.33 and then had a stellar Delhi Premier League where he recorded 435 runs in nine innings at an average of 87 and strike rate of 167.31.Things are on the up now, but the circumstances were quite different just a year and a bit back in June, when Dhull had to undergo surgery to repair a 17mm hole in his heart. A cricketer is always on the move, jumping from one tournament to another, from one city to another, training, following a strict routine. For close to two months, though, Dhull’s life came to a standstill.”That time taught me a lot about myself, about my game, about my lifestyle, how to grow, how to improve,” Dhull said. “At the same time, I have to handle such things. There will be ups and downs. I have to go through them and move on. Right now, I just want to stay in the present. I don’t want to think about the past or future.”So much has happened. Now, I just enjoy my game. I spend time on it and that gives me all the happiness.”Dhull says he “didn’t have any option” but to get the surgery done. What he ensured during that time was not to think too much about the future. During the downtime, he also picked up a hobby. “I used to play snooker a lot and spent a lot of time there,” Dhull said. “That game also taught me a lot. My mind often used to wander around, I wasn’t concentrating much. That game taught me to stay more focused.”With a life-altering experience behind him, Dhull is now trying to take it one day at a time. He next has his sights set on South Zone, and having started on a positive note, he will hope his stocks continue to rise through the season.

The Australia allrounder talks about her fitness and diet regimes, gearing up for the ODI World Cup and her captaincy stint in the ongoing Hundred

Valkerie Baynes20-Aug-20251:24

Gardner on using the Hundred to gauge the opposition

Every franchise tournament has its own unique flavour and quirks, none more so than the Hundred. But for all its overs turned “sets” and scoring graphics which confuse rusted-on cricket fans and newcomers alike, this year’s women’s competition offers a more conventional platform as an information-gathering exercise ahead of the 50-over World Cup.Ashleigh Gardner, the Australia allrounder and Trent Rockets captain, says it’s inevitable that players will be sizing each other up ahead of the global tournament in India and Sri Lanka in six weeks’ time.”From an opposition point of view, it’s probably trying to pick up things off your team-mates or people that you’re playing against, little cues that you can take back to your homeland and plan accordingly,” Gardner told ESPNcricinfo’s Powerplay podcast.Related

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“There’s no denying that and there’s probably other countries around the world, if you’re playing with another international, try and get some things from them or talk to them about, not necessarily their game plan, but just having those off-the-cuff conversations and trying to wrap your head around that because that’s so important.”We play a lot of cricket with these people and against them, so it’s, how can I try and get the upper hand where I can? Sometimes that’s going to be harder to do, but just looking at the game holistically.”While the formats differ and there are no India players involved in the Hundred this year, removing the chance to go up against players from a side Gardner believes will be a “huge threat” at the World Cup, there are several Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England stars in action.Australia will play an ODI series in India immediately before the World Cup and Pakistan will host South Africa from mid-September but for other sides, warm-up games will be the only other chance to gauge the opposition ahead of the tournament.”I’ve got potentially a longer time to bat and more overs to bowl, but I don’t think it really changes for me, I’ve always got the same mindset,” Gardner said. “I want to take the game on and I want to expose the areas of the game that I can, so for me, it’s trying to do that for longer periods of time.”India looked a class above their hosts in a recent 2-1 ODI series win in England, only losing the rain-affected second match at Lord’s, and Australia smashed England across formats during the Women’s Ashes in January, where the Australians’ superior fitness and athleticism was at the fore once again.1:32

Gardner: ‘Body image is a big one around female athletes’

The fallout from that series for England, who had already had their fitness questioned after their early exit from the T20 World Cup last October, was significant with a change of captaincy and new head coach Charlotte Edwards revealing that players would be held to minimum fitness standards from next year.Gardner gave some insight into how the Australians prepared for the “rude shock” of 50-over matches after playing in the shortened format of the Hundred.”We’re going to be spending double the time on our feet, so I know for us Aussie players, we play a game of cricket, but then the next day or that day we need to then run again, we need to gym,” she said.”It might be mentally taxing at the time, knowing that you have to play a game of cricket, which you’re obviously trying to win and be successful in, but also having one eye on the World Cup and making sure that our bodies are getting in the right spot.

“Body image is a really big one around female athletes and making sure that we’re fuelling and we’re not under-eating and things like that because of what someone else perceives your body to be”

“It’s making sure that training days are really big and you’re getting a lot out of that and then you’re doing your cricket skills, of course. Then game days, you’re trying to tick those off as well, so they do become quite big days.”I love playing franchise cricket, but playing for Australia is always going to be that No. 1 option for me, so making sure that I’ve got my focus on that as well.”Gardner also acknowledged the sensitivities around talking about fitness in women’s sport because the discussion becomes inextricably linked to body image.”Speaking from a personal perspective, I view myself as an athlete, so it’s how do I best get my body into shape and to be the fittest that I can be,” she said. “Body image is a really big one around female athletes and making sure that we’re fuelling and we’re not under-eating and things like that because of what someone else perceives your body to be. It’s making sure that you’re fit enough and you’re strong enough to complete those activities and making sure that you’re in the right head space while doing that.”People naturally get caught up with eating and things like that, which is obviously the real negative side to it because people naturally are worried about what other people perceive them as. I’ve certainly gone through things where you count calories and you do all this stuff and it clouds your mind. It actually doesn’t make you any clearer.Ash Gardner is leading Trent Rockets this year in the Hundred•Warren Little/Getty Images”For me, it’s, what does my body need from me right now? And making sure that I’m fuelling properly, because that’s what’s not going to get me injured. It’s making sure that I push my body to the limits in terms of I want to get really fit and strong, but how do I do that in the most manageable way possible to then be a good cricketer as well.”Meg Lanning, the former Australia captain, revealed last year that she had retired from international cricket in 2023 amid a battle with over-exercising and under-eating. Now in the next phase of her cricket career, she is leading the Hundred run-scoring charts.The Hundred has also given Gardner the chance to develop her captaincy skills. Having led Gujarat Giants during this year’s WPL, she took over at Trent Rockets when Nat Sciver-Brunt, the new England captain, opted for a player-only role with the franchise as a way of managing her workload.Trent Rockets sit sixth on the eight-team table with just one win from five games. Gardner has scored 130 runs at 26 and a strike rate of 144.44 with a highest score of 61 and taken three wickets at an economy rate of 7.76 including 2 for 14 against London Spirit in her side’s only victory this year so far.And while her ambition to leave the competition with the trophy has taken a hit, Gardner can still take plenty away from her experience.”Being able to lead, working through how I react in different situations and figuring myself out a little bit, I feel like once I do that, it gives me a really good opportunity to keep improving in that space,” she said. “Hopefully bringing success individually on the field and then being able to have the biggest impact for my team.”

The New Zealand legspinner talks about working his way back from a career-threatening back injury, training at the CSK academy, and his hopes for the coming year

Deivarayan Muthu05-Jul-2025″.” [My way is a unique way].New Zealand legspinner Adithya Ashok has Rajinikanth’s famous punchline from inked on his bowling arm. It’s a tribute to the actor, and to Adithya’s late grandfather, with whom he watched the movie.Last month, Adithya, now 22, reconnected with his friends and family in Vellore in north-east Tamil Nadu, where he was born and raised before his family moved to New Zealand when he was around four. He was in India to hone his skills at a two-week spin camp at the CSK academy in Chennai.”Last time I was here in India, my grandfather was a bit ill, and I was fortunate to spend the last while with him and we were having a meaningful conversation and the Rajini film was on at the time,” Adithya says. “Days after he passed away, I got this tattoo because it reminded me of a special moment we shared. It’s also a connection to my Tamil roots, to Vellore, and a popular Tamil icon and a global icon as well.”The phrase also fits as a description of Adithya’s unique path to winning a New Zealand central contract. He moved to Auckland as a child when his parents got the opportunity to emigrate to New Zealand. His mother worked as a nurse at the city hospital and his father, a cricketer-turned-radiographer, worked at the Starship Children’s Hospital.After rising through the ranks in school cricket, Adithya represented New Zealand in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup in South Africa, where he impressed with his ability to give the ball a rip.Related

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He was earmarked as a future Black Cap from then, but major back surgery forced him out of action for almost a year starting December 2023. During this period, something as simple as getting out of a car was difficult for him.”Honestly, it was a pretty scary time for me,” he recalls. “I’ve reflected on it over the last while and I think it has changed my attitude towards understanding myself as a person, and I’m grateful to be doing something like everyday chores. I feel blessed to have the support of New Zealand Cricket through all of it. They put me in touch with one of the best surgeons in the world. He was the surgeon who operated on [Jasprit] Bumrah, but I don’t think any other spinner has had this back surgery.”I also had the support of my team in Auckland, the physio, the S&C [strength and conditioning] coach, and my family and girlfriend during one of my hardest phases of life. It was a big 12-15 months, but it’s definitely something I wouldn’t trade for anything else because it gave me so much perspective on life.”After rehab and navigating through his loads on a “trial-and-error basis”, Adithya returned to action in late 2024 and played his part in Auckland’s run to the 50-overs Ford Trophy final, which they lost to Canterbury. After handsome contributions in the 20-overs Super Smash and the four-day Plunket Shield, he has worked his way back into the New Zealand A and New Zealand set-ups. In May this year, he claimed a fourth-innings five-for to spin New Zealand A to victory against Bangladesh A in the first Test in Sylhet.Adithya’s tattoo in Tamil reads “My way is a unique way”•Deivarayan Muthu/ESPNcricinfo”I think the Bangladesh tour was amazing,” he says. “Any chance you get to contribute towards a red-ball win is something that’s very close to my heart. I really enjoy playing red-ball cricket and I think just getting the opportunity to go and play somewhere foreign, have a few weeks trying to understand the conditions and then coming up with a plan to try and be effective and then for it to work, that’s the model.”I think that’s the part that I’m most happy with – having the opportunity to do that. And coming here to India is just another opportunity to do the same. In terms of trying to hit a new level, you’re always trying to push yourself to a higher standard, but I think I’ve just enjoyed the opportunity for the first time to go somewhere different, try and implement a plan, and for that plan to come away and have some success, I think it was cool.”In Chennai, Adithya tested his variations, which include the wrong’un and the square-seam slider, on various types of surfaces against local batters and New Zealand’s Rhys Mariu and Dale Phillips (brother of international Glenn), who were also part of the camp.”We don’t get the black soil, we don’t get the [same] red soil, we don’t get the clay [in New Zealand],” Adithya says. “Understanding that on red soil you don’t have to potentially bowl as much overspin as we do back home in New Zealand. Red soil is a bit more conducive, so you can afford to bowl a little bit faster, you can afford to use a little bit more of the sidespin, square-seam deliveries that you see all the Indian bowlers bowl so well with.Adithya took ten wickets at an economy of 4.9 from seven matches in the 2024-25 Ford Trophy•Joe Allison/Getty Images”Just getting accustomed to what that feels like in hand, even something as small as using the SG ball, something that I’ve never done before, so understanding what that feels like in my hands… Do I have to grip it a certain way to get the same result? We are kind of on a fact-finding mission.”Adithya credits former New Zealand spinners Tarun Nethula, his long-time mentor, and Paul Wiseman, the current New Zealand talent identification manager, for his progress.”Tarun and Paul have been massive for me in terms of my spin bowling, and [are] two people that I’ve admired and really gone to for advice or technical help or anything,” he says. “I needed to be stronger [after the back injury], so that was a big part of it.”But from a technical aspect, we were just trying to make sure that I was a little bit more aligned at the crease, trying to make sure that my approach to the crease is a little bit more direct, keeping my front arm in play for longer and trying to make sure I put as much as I can on the ball, keep imparting a lot of overspin, especially in white-ball cricket.”Any changes I need to make in order to put more sidespin on the ball or bowl a little bit faster – I think I’m very lucky to have those two in my corner to be able to be able to WhatsApp them at any point in the day. I know that when I wake up the next morning or come back from lunch, there will definitely be a message with a lot of knowledge and wisdom, which I’m very excited to read always.”During his “fact-finding mission” at the CSK academy, Adithya got to understand different soil types and how to bat and bowl on them•Super Kings AcademyAdithya is not part of New Zealand’s T20I squad for the upcoming tri-nation series against hosts Zimbabwe and South Africa but he is set for more opportunities during the upcoming season. There’s also a T20 World Cup in the horizon, but he isn’t looking too far ahead.”My priority now is to learn from Sri [Sriram Krishnamurthy, current head coach of the Super Kings academy and a former Wellington coach], stay where my feet are at the moment and experience this phase of the calendar in Chennai and Vellore,” he says. “Then there’s an A tour to South Africa and the domestic season with Auckland.”For now, I’m looking to soak up these experiences and invest into what I’m learning here, find new things, try to take some learnings away to South Africa with the A tour, learn more things there, enjoy the culture, and from there we’ll have a look at what the next little phase looks like.”Adithya’s top priority is to add to his three internationals for New Zealand and win games for them, but he also has ambitions of playing for CSK in the IPL in the future.”Ever since I moved to New Zealand, Auckland and New Zealand has been my home and I’d love to play for New Zealand as much as I can and win trophies for them. But I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of me that wants to connect with my heritage and local side that aligns with Chennai. That’s something that excites me, but the foremost thing is to represent New Zealand.”Adithya has travelled a long and winding road from Vellore to New Zealand and continues to tread his own path to becoming a Black Caps regular.

All the stats from the Australian quick’s phenomenal career

Shubh Agarwal11-Jul-2025A monumental landmark awaits Mitchell Starc in Jamaica. Taking the field in the third Test against West Indies at Sabina Park, Starc will complete 100 matches in the format, becoming only the second Australian quick after Glenn McGrath to amass a century of Test caps. Only 15 other Australian players have earned 100 Test caps.Starc will be the 15th pacer overall, including Jacques Kallis and Ben Stokes, among players who have notched up a minimum of 100 Test wickets as a fast bowler and played 100 Tests or more.Starc gets to the 100-Test mark in the 14th year of his career, having made his debut in the first Test against New Zealand in December 2011. Since then, he has featured in 99 of the 141 Tests that Australia have played, picking 395 wickets at an average of 27.39 while having a strike rate of 48 balls per wicket.Related

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Five more wickets will take Starc to 400 scalps in 100 Tests, making him the eighth pacer to achieve the double. Whether he manages those remaining wickets in Jamaica or not, Starc is almost certain to become the second-quickest bowler overall to 400 Test wickets in terms of balls bowled. Only Dale Steyn is ahead of him, getting there in 16,334 balls. Starc, having bowled 18,971 deliveries, is likely to reach the mark at least 1000 balls ahead of the next best – Richard Hadlee (20322-20436 deliveries). He will also be ahead of McGrath, making him the quickest Australian to 400 Test wickets when balls bowled are considered.In fact, Starc has the best bowling strike rate for a pacer heading into his 100th Test. While McGrath and Wasim Akram had more wickets at this point in their career, Starc is the only with a bowling strike rate under 50 after the first 99 Tests.ESPNcricinfo LtdEver since ball-by-ball stats are available (since 2002), Starc has taken the second most number of wickets in the first over of the innings (20), the most famous being Rory Burns’ dismissal on the first ball of the 2021-22 Ashes. Only James Anderson (29) has more.Starc’s habit of striking early has fetched him 107 wickets of openers. He is among the only six fast bowlers to dismiss more than 100 openers.Starc has been a big contributor in wins, picking 246 of his 395 scalps in victories, the second highest by a pacer for Australia. Including spinners, Shane Warne (510) and Nathan Lyon pip Starc.Starc’s 246 wickets are also the most for a pacer in Test wins since his debut in December 2011, followed by two other quicks known for their longevity, Stuart Broad (242) and Anderson (233).ESPNcricinfo LtdThe Adelaide Oval has been Starc’s favorite venue where he also picked his career best of 6 for 48 against India in 2024. He has snaffled 55 wickets in only ten Tests there, averaging 17.14. He is the only Australian bowler to take over 50 wickets at a venue at an average less than 20.Overall, with his 235 wickets at home, Starc is also only behind McGrath (289) in terms of most wickets for a fast bowler in Australia. Only three fast bowlers have taken over 200 Test wickets in Australia, with Dennis Lillee being the third (231). Warne (319) and Lyon (268) are again ahead of Starc if spinners are included.ESPNcricinfo LtdStarc has also been the highest wicket-taker in the brief history of day-night Tests. He has 74 wickets in the 13 Tests he has played, which is 31 more than the next best, Nathan Lyon. Among the six bowlers with more than 20 wickets in day-night Tests, Starc’s strike rate of 34.8 is the best.Starc is also the only bowler with four five-wicket hauls in day-night Test matches, giving him a good opportunity of picking the remaining five wickets to complete the double of 400 wickets in his 100th Test.

With Duckett and Smith rested, Buttler and Salt’s dominant stand revived a proven pairing heading into the World Cup

Vithushan Ehantharajah13-Sep-2025The initial shock of England’s score in the second T20I against South Africa is tempered by the numbers at the very top of the order. Phil Salt’s unbeaten 141 from 60 balls and Jos Buttler’s 83 from 30 went some way to explaining how one Test nation put up 304 for 2 on another.This was a batter’s dream of a fresh Emirates Old Trafford pitch, against a Proteas attack missing the vaunted pair of Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj. And while head coach Shukri Conrad was less than impressed, the protagonists of the “onslaught” that left his side “bereft of ideas” do at least have previous.Salt and Buttler’s 126 was the 12th century stand by England openers, and they are now responsible for a third of them. They also bagged England their highest powerplay score of a crisp 100 for 0.Related

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And yet, neither were certain to be opening at all in this series having been absent from the top two at the start of the season, for differing reasons.Salt’s were personal: he was granted time off for the West Indies series after the birth of his first child. Buttler’s, meanwhile, was business, continuing to operate at No.3, a role he had taken on since the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final defeat to India.During the 3-0 sweep of West Indies, Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith made compelling cases for their own partnership. Signing off with 120 in Southampton felt like the start of a new direction.For Salt, that could have been terminal, not that he wanted to check, believing seeking a guarantee to be “arrogant”, and a misunderstanding of the cut-throat nature of top-level, international sport.Buttler, meanwhile, probably assumed he’d continue out of necessity. He had instigated the move to first drop when captain, to remedy a problem position. Between England’s 2022 World Cup success and 2024 exit, five different batters (Dawid Malan, Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and, on a single occasion, Buttler) had produced just a single fifty in 20 innings between them.Having batted at three for 40 matches leading into this series, across international and domestic codes, Buttler was clearly knuckling down for the full-time gig. An average of 55.00 for Harry Brook in the role suggested welcome stability. But with Smith and Duckett rested at the end of a long summer, he and Salt found themselves back up top. And how.

“We’ve got pretty set roles. It’s my job to get us off to as good a start as soon as possible and give Jos the opportunity to take a couple of balls, because when he does, he goes on and gets a match-winning score, a lot of the time, a lot more than anyone else.”Phil Salt

This was a blitz of boundaries and records, both individual and collective. And this was no anomaly. Of the 17 times they have opened, this was the ninth fifty of more.Behind the consistency is clearly a synergy between the two. An understanding honed for England, Lancashire and Manchester Originals. Mutual benefits and admiration.”It’s the way we bounce off each other well,” Salt explained. “We’ve got pretty set roles. It’s my job to get us off to as good a start as soon as possible and give Jos the opportunity to take a couple of balls, because when he does, he goes on and gets a match-winning score, a lot of the time, a lot more than anyone else.”When one of us needs to get the other back on strike, we don’t often need to communicate out there. There’s no ego or anything like that, we just do it and I think that’s a massive part of a good opening partnership.”Buttler was similarly effusive at the innings break, lauding his partner’s sprint out of the blocks to the tune of three successive fours and a final ball six to take 18 off Marco Jansen’s opening over: “I think Salty’s one of the best players of the first ball and first over.”Buttler’s right, he is. No international batter scores faster in the first over of games; Salt’s strike rate of 144.80 almost 20 points ahead of the next contender, Malaysia’s Syed Aziz (126.53). Salt knows it, too.Phil Salt strikes at 144.80 in the first over of games•Stu Forster/Getty ImagesHe makes sure to keep across his “balls per boundary” in the first over and powerplay. Last week, former England white ball analyst Freddie Wilde sent him a “batting MOT” document after Salt requested a breakdown of his current strengths and weaknesses. Even the golden duck at the beginning of the five-over chase in Wednesday’s first T20I – caught at deep backward square – kept Salt on track for a high attacking shot percentage.”It’s something I worked [on] when I wasn’t in the England team, when Eoin Morgan was the captain,” said Salt of his immediate antics when in the middle. “I remember having a conversation with CJ (Chris Jordan) about how you need to play, and how if I did this (attacked from ball one), I could be the first person to put that stamp on it.”In order to knock a man out of possession, you need to do something they can’t do. From quite early in my career, I looked at that and thought if I can be the most dangerous in the first six, 10, 15 balls of the game, that’s quite a unique tool. It’s something I’ve always worked on from that point.”Even with Salt’s rapid start, he and Buttler were broadly level after four overs – the former 31 off ten to the latter’s 35 off 14. Buttler subsequently faced nine of the next 11 deliveries and added 30 more. Buttler looked set for century No.2. A top-edged sweep brought about Buttler’s end.

“From quite early in my career, I thought if I can be the most dangerous in the first six, 10, 15 balls of the game. That’s quite a unique tool.”Phil Salt

In swooped Salt to farm the accolades Buttler had left behind; the fastest T20I century now his, off 39 deliveries, along with England’s highest score, and extra distance in the hundred column. For all Buttler’s achievements, and the universal truth that he is the greatest limited overs batter England have produced, Salt has the titles usually reserved for GOATS.When that was put to Salt after the match, the 29-year-old humbly nodded to the inspiration for his white ball prowess: “I can’t turn into Jos Buttler overnight, but I certainly try and take the best bits.”It is easy to get giddy after nights like this, but it should be easier to see the light. England’s management may crave continuity across all three formats, but persisting with Duckett and Smith would be a failure to acknowledge something more tested and far superior.Duckett could bat three, giving England extra weapons against the ample spin they are likely to face in next year’s T20 World Cup on the subcontinent. Smith, meanwhile, can either slot further down or wait his turn. He remains green at this level, and it is worth noting his career runs are 11 shy of what Salt managed in an evening.As it happens, the only opening pair to average more than Salt and Buttler’s 60.43 is Buttler and Alex Hales, who combined for 66.00 across nine innings. That union was contained within England’s successful 2022 World Cup campaign. The product of reconciliation with Hales following Jonny Bairstow’s freak leg break.Three years on, the chain of events presenting England with a world-class opening combination ahead of another global tournament are less serendipitous. Now they just need to see sense, which has been in front of them the whole time.