Also: what’s the quickest an ODI target has been chased down in terms of scoring rate?

Steven Lynch21-Mar-2023Australia knocked off their target in the second ODI at 11 an over – was this the fastest such rate in a win? asked Murray Greenfield from Australia
Australia passed their target of 118 in Visakhapatnam at the weekend in just 11 overs, at a scoring rate of exactly 11.Only three targets have been overhauled at a faster rate in all ODIs. Top of the list is New Zealand’s demolition of Bangladesh in Queenstown on New Year’s Eve in 2007: a modest target 93 of was knocked off in just six overs – that’s a rate of 15.83 an over – with Brendon McCullum hitting 80 not out while Jamie How contributed seven.New Zealand lie second on the list as well, scoring 118 for 0 at 14.16 an over to beat Sri Lanka in Christchurch in 2015-16. And six days before Australia’s recent onslaught, Nepal went at 13.04 an over in defeating Papua New Guinea in Kirtipur. The World Cup record was set in Wellington in February 2015, when New Zealand hurtled to their target against England at 10.13 an over.India lost in Visakhapatnam with 234 balls to spare, their heaviest defeat by that yardstick, beating a defeat with 212 balls to spare by New Zealand in Hamilton in 2018-19. For that list, click here.Temba Bavuma recently made his second Test century, in his 97th innings, 88 innings after his first. Has any other player had a bigger gap between Test centuries? asked Jeremy Bourke from Australia
You’re right that Temba Bavuma’s second Test century for South Africa – his 172 against West Indies in Johannesburg earlier this month – came 88 innings after his first, an unbeaten 102 against England in Cape Town in January 2016.Only one man has had a longer gap between Test hundreds: there were 92 innings between the New Zealand wicketkeeper Adam Parore’s first ton (100 not out against West Indies in Christchurch in 1994-95) and his second (110 vs Australia in Perth in 2001-02).Another South African, Mark Boucher, had 73 innings between Test centuries; Pakistan’s Moin Khan had a gap of 69 innings, and Mahmudullah of Bangladesh 68.The longest time gap between Test centuries is almost 14 years by Australia’s Warren Bardsley, between 1912 (164 against South Africa at Lord’s) and 1926 (when he carried his bat for 193 against England, also at Lord’s, when he was 43).India’s first six partnerships on the fourth Test were all of 50 or more – has this ever happened in a Test before? asked Jeevan Malhotra from India
India’s innings in Ahmedabad earlier this month was actually the third time a Test innings had started with six successive partnerships of 50 or more. The first occasion was in Australia’s first innings in the famous tied Test in Brisbane in 1960-61, and it happened again in Pakistan’s first innings against Bangladesh in Khulna in 2015.There are 17 instances of the first five wickets all producing partnership of 50 or more.Polly Umrigar is the only other allrounder apart from Vinoo Mankad to complete the set of a fifty, 150 and a five-wicket haul in the same match•William Vanderson/Getty ImagesHas any allrounder scored a fifty, a 150 and taken a five-wicket haul in the same Test, apart from Vinoo Mankad at Lord’s in 1952? asked Raghav Manickam from India
That remarkable performance by India’s Vinoo Mankad – 72 and 184, either side of taking 5 for 196 in 73 overs at Lord’s in 1952 – has been matched only once – by another Indian, Polly Umrigar, who scored 56 and 172 not out after taking 5 for 107 against West Indies in Port-of-Spain in 1961-62. Ian Botham just missed out, with 50, 149 not out and 6 for 95 for England against Australia at Headingley in 1981. There have been five other instances of a player scoring a hundred, a half-century and taking a five-for in the same Test. And there are two cases of this in women’s Tests, both by England’s Enid Bakewell – 114, 5 for 56 and 66 not out ­against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1968-69, and 68, 112 not out and 7 for 61 against West Indies at Edgbaston in 1979.Regarding last week’s question about people who made their first-class debuts in a Test, I thought Parthiv Patel did this? Should he be on that list? asked Mahendra Bhasin from India, among others
The Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel played the first of his eventual 25 Tests at Trent Bridge in 2002, when he was only 17. That was actually his tenth first-class match – but what was unusual was that none of the previous nine had come in India, which makes him unique among Indian Test players.Parthiv made his first-class debut for India A in South Africa in 2001-02, and had also played in Sri Lanka and England before his Test debut. On returning home he had one first-class match before playing his first Test in India, against West Indies in Mumbai: at that point he had still not appeared in the Ranji Trophy (he did not play in it until 2004-05, his 45th match).The Indian statistician Pushkar Pushp tells me that Parthiv is one of only four men to make their Test debut for India before appearing in the Ranji Trophy, since the tournament started in 1934-35, following Ramesh “Buck” Divecha (1951-52), Budhi Kunderan (1959-60) and Vivek Razdan, who made his first-class debut for the Rest of India in the Irani Cup match against Ranji champions Delhi in Bombay (now Mumbai) in November 1989, and was selected for the upcoming tour of Pakistan, and had one further match there before playing in the second Test in Faisalabad, just 20 days after his first-class debut.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

A lack of batting options on tour has cost England – but they will hope for a World Cup dividend later this year

Matt Roller12-Mar-2023Too many cooks spoil the broth – but too few batters leave a T20 team exposed. England only picked five for their three-match series in Bangladesh, and find themselves 2-0 down after posting totals of 156 and 117, both of which have been chased down with relative ease.England’s initial 15-man squad for this series featured seven batters. Then, Tom Abell strained his side while playing for England Lions in Sri Lanka, and Will Jacks hurt his thigh in the second ODI. No replacements were called up, and so England’s Nos. 8-10 from the side that won the T20 World Cup in Australia have batted at Nos. 6-8 in Bangladesh.Those three – Sam Curran, Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan – are all competent players, but have hardly contributed in this series. England’s imbalance lurked uneasily throughout their defeat in Chattogram; as they slid from 91 for 4 to 117 all out in Mirpur, then didn’t use Jordan with the ball until the 19th over, it became impossible to ignore.”If we can’t put an extra batter or two on the ground in Bangladesh as an England cricket team… I don’t think it’s good enough just to say ‘we’re one batter short’,” said Nasser Hussain, visibly disgruntled on Sky Sports’ coverage. “You saw what it meant to them [Bangladesh] winning today. We have to treat that game with the same respect.”Related

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But selection for this tour has been a delicate juggling act, with the vast majority of the squad that travelled to New Zealand for the Test series given time off ahead of either the IPL or the English summer, and a number of white-ball specialists without central contracts opting to play in the Pakistan Super League instead.Take Jason Roy, for example. England could have asked Roy to stay put for another week when Jacks flew home, but doing so would have meant sacrificing a proportion of his PSL earnings in exchange for three England match fees. Any financial loss would have been relatively small, but the ECB ceded control of Roy’s schedule when they opted not to award him a central contract for 2022-23.In practice, the decision not to hold Roy back in Bangladesh paid off. He could have spent this week opening the batting against a strong Bangladesh attack in challenging conditions; instead, he flew back to Pakistan and thrashed 145 not out off 63 balls for Quetta Gladiators, an innings he described as his “favourite-ever” of a T20 career spanning over 300 games.Naturally, a handful of fringe players may feel hard done by: Sam Hain, who captained England Lions in Abell’s absence at the end of the Sri Lanka tour, is a much-improved T20 player and would have brought some solidity to this batting line-up; Jordan Cox, who has been running the drinks for Lahore Qalandars, was an unused squad member on England’s seven-match tour to Pakistan in September and might wonder how he has not been given a chance all winter.But England’s apparent rationale was that those players are low enough down their pecking order in white-ball cricket that the prospects of them being involved in the 50-over World Cup later this year – or the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the US, which is only 14 months away – were minimal. As such, they took the chance to promote their allrounders and give them experience on spinning subcontinent pitches.”It’s a different balance and it’s a different feel to the team, wanting to give exposure to guys – especially in these conditions – who will also probably play a part in the 50-over World Cup,” Jos Buttler said. “It felt like it was a great chance to expose the allrounders, batting maybe one spot higher than they maybe would in our normal team.”And, look: the way cricket is at the moment, there’s a few players who have opted not to be here anyway for various reasons. It felt like instead of calling someone else up, [we would be better served] trying to use the guys who will be exposed to these conditions in the 50-over World Cup as well.”Rehan Ahmed made his debut in Dhaka, where England were short of batting options•AFP/Getty ImagesIn other words, the short-term pain of jeopardising their chances of winning a rearranged bilateral series that will soon be forgotten would be worth the long-term gain of giving Curran, for example, the chance to bat at No. 6 and face more balls than he usually does in T20 internationals.It is the same logic that has informed England’s white-ball strategy since Rob Key and Matthew Mott took over as managing director and white-ball coach last year, working back from major targets. England’s chance of winning this series would have been higher with an extra batter in their squad – but they believed their World Cup hopes would be enhanced without one.Why didn’t Buttler open?Speaking after the game, Buttler was pressed on his decision to demote himself to No. 4. He has a stellar record as an opener for England – averaging 49.20 with a strike rate of 152.22 – but opted to shuffle down into the middle order for the first time in five years on Sunday. Dawid Malan moved up to open from No. 3, with Moeen Ali replacing Malan in that role.”We’ve obviously got a bank of left-handers in our middle order,” Buttler said. “[It was] just an opportunity to change that up a little bit. Dawid Malan is very comfortable opening or batting at No. 3 and I just felt like it would be a good change to pose some different questions to the opposition, and try and break up our left and right-handers.”Malan and Moeen’s promotions also meant Bangladesh did not target Phil Salt’s weakness against left-arm spin until the sixth over – though he was eventually dismissed by a left-arm spinner regardless, for the fourth time in five innings on this tour.”I’m very comfortable batting anywhere in the order,” Buttler added. “I’ve spent a hell of a lot of my career as a middle-order player. I felt like we’ve got some good options and it felt like it would be an opportunity to try something different. I don’t really read too much into it either way.” As the 2024 T20 World Cup comes into view, he will undoubtedly return to the top.

Allrounder completes set of international caps with first List A appearance in four years

Matt Roller02-Mar-2023Twenty-six hours and fifty-two minutes. That is the length of time between Jimmy Anderson strangling Neil Wagner down the leg side to give New Zealand a one-run win in the second Test at the Basin Reserve, and Chris Woakes beating Tamim Iqbal on the outside edge some 7000 miles away in the first ODI at the Shere Bangla Stadium in Dhaka.International teams playing on consecutive days has become all too common in the post-Covid era: last year, I was among the handful of people present as England won their third ODI against the Netherlands in Amstelveen on the evening of June 22, and then again for the first day of their Headingley Test against New Zealand on the morning of June 23. This time, it was physically impossible to be at both the denouement of the Wellington Test and the start of the Mirpur ODI – at least, while using commercial airlines.History will show that one player managed the improbable feat of being in England’s squads for both games. Will Jacks made the journey to Bangladesh on Saturday after he was left out of England’s team for the second Test; he was officially added as cover for the injured Tom Abell, but the ECB had discussed the possibility of him joining the ODI squad even before Abell strained his side in Sri Lanka.Related

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On Wednesday, Jacks was presented with his ODI cap by his Surrey team-mate Jason Roy, completing his full set five-and-a-half months – but only four games – after making his England debut in a T20I in Karachi. In that time, Jacks has started to resemble the personification of English cricket’s scheduling crisis.In September, he played two T20Is in Pakistan while Liam Livingstone was injured and Ben Stokes was being rested, on a tour which represented preparation for a T20 World Cup he would play no part in. In December, he played two Tests in Pakistan, in part because Moeen Ali had retired from the format due to England’s schedule.A month later, he thrived at the SA20 – then missed the final stages in order to travel to New Zealand with England’s Test squad. Now, he is in Bangladesh, again in part due to Livingstone’s injury-enforced absence – and pulled out of a planned three-match stint in the PSL to make himself available. “I’ve had six days at home since the start of November,” he told reporters in Bangladesh, also revealing that his luggage had arrived 48 hours after him.It is a bizarre itinerary, but hardly an unusual one among England’s players. More than 60 have been involved in overseas short-form leagues over the winter, and keeping track of England’s squads now requires close attention: they have played six matches across formats in 2023, and used 26 different players.Jacks made a solid impression on ODI debut. He bowled some hard-spun offbreaks in his role as England’s third spinner, conceding a solitary boundary and picking up a fortuitous wicket: Afif Hossain miscued him to mid-on while hacking across the line. Figures of 1 for 18 in five overs made him England’s most economical bowler.Jacks received his England ODI cap before play in Mirpur•Getty ImagesBatting at No. 6 in the chase, he was frenetic early in his innings: he managed 10 off his first 23 balls, including an edged four, a caught-and-bowled chance off Mustafizur Rahman, and a couple of ugly swipes as he struggled to find his rhythm. He picked up three boundaries in his next five balls, including a lofted six over cover, then picked out deep midwicket off Mehidy Hasan to fall for 26 off 31.The tempo of 50-over batting did not come naturally for him – and why should it have? This was Jacks’ first List A game in four years, a scenario that would have seemed unthinkable for an England ODI debutant in any previous era yet has now become a fact of life, such are the idiosyncrasies of the schedule.Ever since England’s World Cup win in 2019, their domestic 50-over competition has clashed with the Hundred. As a result, a generation of talented young white-ball players have had almost no exposure to one-day cricket since Under-19 level: in Sri Lanka last month, Tom Hartley (10 first-class appearances, 59 T20s) and Tom Lammonby (33 first-class appearances, 62 T20s) both made their List A debuts while playing for England Lions.Players like Jacks have been caught in the crosshairs: after this tour to Bangladesh, he will try to push his case for World Cup selection during two months with Royal Challengers Bangalore at the IPL, then with Surrey and Oval Invincibles during the English summer. Like most of his team-mates, he will not play a 50-over game between the third ODI and England’s selection meeting for the main event.Clearly, the situation is far from ideal. England would not, ideally, be giving Jacks his debut seven months out from their title defence, even if his most likely role in their squad would be as a multi-talented back-up player who could be used as an opener or in the middle order.Ideally, he would be playing more 50-over cricket, too. Andrew Strauss’ high-performance review last year proposed moving the One-Day Cup from August to April. “For England to be winning 50-over World Cups, it needs to provide its highest-potential players opportunities to play the format. This is not possible in today’s schedule,” the review said. But the proposals were rejected by the counties, and the status quo will prevail.And yet, Jacks’ cameo represented a valuable contribution to a scrappy England win, giving them two opportunities to inflict Bangladesh’s first home ODI series defeat since England’s most recent tour in 2016. England’s ODI results have been poor in the last 12 months, but as Moeen Ali said before this series: “We have lost 8 in the last 10 – but we are also the champions of the world.”Even while fielding a half-strength team for most of this cycle, England are second in the ICC’s Super League and are second-favourites for the World Cup behind the hosts, India. It would be a major surprise if they failed to reach the semi-finals.Jacks’ ODI debut is emblematic of the format’s diminished status within English cricket since that day at Lord’s four years ago. Yet he possesses the qualities – adaptability, versatility and, above all talent – which underpin England’s confidence that, come October, everything will fall into place once again.

Aka things we’re anticipating from this edition of the tournament

Alan Gardner and Andrew Fidel Fernando22-Sep-2023Rejoice, the ODI World Cup – the proper one – is almost here! Sure, give it a week and we’ll have remembered that it’s too long, too bloated and way too predictable. But for now, we’re excited enough to have compiled a non-exhaustive list of things we’re looking forward to about the tournament (whether they’re actually going to happen or not…)England getting the band back together
The UK obviously adores its national treasures, such as the Koh-i-Noor, the Benin bronzes, and Kevin Pietersen. Which is why England have stuck with the gang of legends who lifted the trophy in 2019 after their famous victory* at Lord’s, to the extent that pretty much everyone from the squad four years ago who’s still fit and able – sorry, Jason Roy – has been awoken from their cryo chamber and bundled onto the plane for one last tour. Will they smash it in India as well as they smashed it in England? Because so many of them have played in the IPL over the years, they might arguably smash it better. God, how they love smashing.*TieAssociates
Don’t laugh. There an Associate team at the World Cup, despite the best efforts of the ICC to weed out such plucky upstarts. Now all Netherlands must do for the next six weeks is run through fire, dodge swinging boulders and avoid being hit by a volley of poison darts in order not to be cast as a laughing stock whose very presence degrades the tournament itself (not to mention threatens those sweet, sweet broadcasting revenues).West Indies
Seriously, don’t go there. It’s still too soon. Light a candle, put David Rudder on the stereo, spray yourself with a little Daren Sammy 88. We’ll get through this.Related

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India fans rage-quitting the tournament
Never mind that it’s been almost impossible to buy a ticket, with the BCCI employing the methodology of social-media hucksters trying to flog their new energy drink (“Doesn’t matter how we distribute it, or at what price, we know you idiots will keep coming back”) – you can be sure the stands will be emptier than ICC gestures about growing the game just as soon as there’s any prospect of India’s World Cup being over. Sure, the format pretty much guarantees against total disaster – thanks for that, 2007 edition – but India had better make the final or else the swathes of empty stands in the Narendra Modi Stadium () will be visible from space.Stokes’ latest Laws loophole
Like the old secret agent who is asked to come out of retirement to complete one final mission, Ben Stokes is back in one-day pyjamas. His return was described as “a bit me, me, me” by Tim Paine – you remember, the sexting guy – and, to be fair, Stokes did look a bit of a show-off after smacking 182 from 124 balls against those poor schmucks New Zealand the other day. Big-game player, Bazball pioneer, purveyor of outrageous feats, you can see why England wanted him back. But can he still absolutely middle the living daylights out of throws from the outfield through an unprotected fine leg the way he did in the last final? Or was that merely a fluke?Boring middle overs
Do sports really need to be always interesting? Yes? Ugh. We thought you’d say that, you attention-span-of-a-goldfish 21st-century stimulant-chaser. You’re probably reading this on a phone, aren’t you? Of course your kind wouldn’t understand the profound pleasures of watching batters nurdle singles and twos endlessly through the middle overs while the spinners are in operation. Disgusting. You don’t deserve this tedium.How loudly will the echoes ring around the Narendra Modi Stadium if India don’t make it to the World Cup final?•Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesBoundary countback
Just kidding, New Zealand fans. Sorry, this one should have come with a trigger warning. The ICC, in all its wisdom, has of course done away with using boundary countback as the tie-breaker in knockout games. But just as with the rain rules used in 1992 or the farcical end to the 2007 final, cricket’s pinnacle event (outside of every IPL season ever played) is bound to come up with some dumb new way of looking stupid, and we can’t wait to find out what it is.The Modium
The 2015 World Cup memorably gave us the #MCGsobig hashtag on Twitter, amid suggestions New Zealand might be overawed by the size of the venue for the final (and boy, did they put paid to that idea). But anyway, stick this in your pipe and smoke it, MCG – because the Narendra Modi Stadium is just about the biggest thing cricket has ever seen. And like a divorced uncle with a brand-new Ferrari that definitely isn’t compensating for something, the BCCI is very keen for you to see the Modium. They’ve made it the venue for the opening game and the final, as well as the in-no-way-small group fixture between India and Pakistan. The “New Home of Cricket”, you might say. Or you will if you know what’s good for you.Sri Lanka being the new Pakistan
This trend was apparent four years ago, but Sri Lanka have really been nailing the geniuses-one-day-doofuses-the-next routine. From a record-breaking run of 13 consecutive ODI victories – behind only the great Australian meat-grinder of 2003 – to facepalming their way to 50 all out in the Asia Cup final, they have displayed a range that even the most mercurial mavericks would struggle to match. Expect them to lose their opening four games before unleashing a Mary run to the final that would make Pakistan proud.RONSBU
This has to happen. India is the spiritual home of running-out the non-striker backing up. There have been high-profile recent examples at the IPL and the Asia Cup, and there are a number of candidates to be the first to do it in a World Cup – R Ashwin (if he squeezes into India’s squad), Fazalhaq Farooqi, even Mitchell Starc, despite confusion in Australian circles about which side of the Line RONSBU falls. Ideally, it will happen against one of those countries who moralise and wring their hands about not doing it. Maybe at a crucial moment in the final, say, causing the defending champions to unravel… Sorry, England, it’s only fair after last time.

Polarising opener might not have converted the doubters but he could yet help win the Ashes

Vithushan Ehantharajah17-Jul-2023He is playing Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc better than anyone this Ashes series. His strike rate of 79.67 is the highest among those on either side to have played more than one of the three Tests. All while nestling in the run-scorers’ charts ahead of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.He is Zak Crawley. No, really. Don’t refresh just yet. He is him. The most-polarising cricketer over the last 15 months is thriving as the one Bazballer truly nailing his brief.Taking the attack to the opposition, quite literally from ball one when his crunched cover drive off Cummins on that first morning of the first Test in Birmingham set this madcap show on the road. Indulging the licence to be streaky handed down by head coach Brendon McCullum with scores of 61, 7, 48, 3, 33 and 44 – the last of which got England to 93 in the 20th over of the fourth innings as they hunted a target of 251 that was eventually reached after 50, with three wickets to spare.Related

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Cummins, boogieman to Joe Root and a few other diners at Test cricket’s top table, has failed to dismiss Crawley in 96 deliveries so far, with 69 runs taken off him in languid fashion. Starc’s devastating left-arm whip has accounted for Crawley once, and even that was a tame flick down the leg side at Lord’s. The other 48 deliveries have been taken for 42.An opening partnership with Ben Duckett that began last winter in Pakistan has now produced 814 runs across 18 first-wicket stands, averaging 47.88. The pair are ideally suited, left-right, short-tall and both with an insatiable appetite to feel bat on ball and get the scoreboard moving. Their relationship has blossomed and as individuals, they are comfortable with where they are and what they are doing.There’s a lot to be said for that, particularly Crawley’s side of it. A dispiriting 2022 summer averaging 23 led into disappointing winter of 29.30 on flatter decks. And when he started this season stating he did not need to work on his defensive technique and dismissing public comments on his form as ill-judged, ill-informed and unwarranted, you wondered if he was leaning too heavily into a villain arc he could not pull off.Thankfully, he hasn’t. He has retained his sense of self, particularly in a dressing room where he remains a vocal member of an upbeat group thriving in each other’s company.The investment made by McCullum and Ben Stokes at the start of all this is beginning to show returns. At stages last summer, coach and captain took it upon themselves to get around Crawley. More often than not a beer, cigar and a willing ear. On one occasion, they manufactured a three-ball group on a golf day to ensure they had 18 holes with their opener to ease his worries, either through airing or forgetting them.

“If you were unconvinced Crawley was the right man to open the batting, this series is unlikely to have changed your view. Since McCullum and Stokes took over to ‘liberate’ Crawley, his career average has increased by 0.05”

Crawley does seem surer of himself this summer. Perhaps less in need of reassurance because, well, he is doing his job. He is certainly more inclined to let his personality out. It’s worth noting his comment ahead of the Lord’s Test that England would win by “I don’t know, 150” – instead they lost by 43 – was one given in jest, while twirling back-and-forth on an office chair in the Times Radio studio. The video shows the jovial nature of the prediction which got lost in print.Perhaps the most visible representation of his comfort has come in the field. Not only has he taken the third-most catches by an outfielder this series (five, with no drops) he regularly chimes from second slip or in the deep with tactical suggestions for Stokes.The journey to this point has been long, at times arduous. But here he is: able to judge himself on how he has executed the role has without worrying about how things used to be done. Basically, that means not measuring his performance by traditional batting metrics.At this point, we should introduce those “traditional metrics” to this conversation. Because for all of the above, they’re still pretty relevant. Crawley is averaging 32.66 from 196 runs this series. To cynical eyes – the majority on this topic – they tell a familiar story of spurned-starts and non-starts.If you arrived into this series unconvinced Crawley was the right man to open the batting, the last six innings are unlikely to have changed your view. Since McCullum and Stokes took over to “liberate” Crawley, his career average has increased by 0.05 to 28.65. Pretty much everyone else, working within the same parameters, has enjoyed a more significant bump.Peer across the divide and you will see Australia’s selectors mulling over David Warner’s position. Though Warner is having a poor series – 141 at 23.50 – his substantial body of work suggests dropping him is riskier than keeping him. Crawley on the other hand, has nothing like the same credit. Indeed, the idea of him is built upon future earnings. Were they in each other’s shoes, Warner would coast through this tour, and the latter probably wouldn’t be on it.Zak Crawley drives through cover•Getty ImagesIn a way, Warner’s predicament highlights the difficulties of opening the batting in England. And Crawley’s management acknowledges the toughness of the role, maybe even the need to be insulated from the discourse and your own numbers.Those two aspects go hand-in-hand when it comes to Crawley. But we are now at the stage where the extremes are so set in stone that even the mother of all purple-patches won’t tailor the conversation.On one side, an England team and management who laud world-class abilities, extrapolating these smaller contributions in the process. On Monday, Moeen Ali became the latest to step up on that front.”I think when you’re on his side, you think he’s an absolutely gun player,” Moeen said. “It’s almost like the faster and the better the bowler, he plays better. In my opinion, he’s one of the best players around. I know his average probably doesn’t say that, but the way he bats, he’s proper. Hopefully, when it clicks for him, he’ll score a lot of runs.”Then there’s the other end of the spectrum, those who see Crawley as the perfect embodiment of elitism and favouritism. A fee-paying school attendee, from a wealthy family – his father, Terry, was at one point the fifth-richest Briton on the Sunday Times rich list – whose mentor, Rob Key, is now ECB managing director of men’s cricket. The picture painted with broad strokes are of a nepo-baby of Brooklyn Beckham proportions, with an inexplicable Greg from permanence as one of three players, along with Stokes and Root, to have played all 16 Tests of the new era.Many within that second camp are not for turning, and you can understand why. Some of the factors at play are beyond Crawley’s control. It has been two weeks since the ICEC published their report which skewered the ring-fencing of the game, particularly how beholden it is to the private school system. Crawley, a product of that system, is no more the cause than he can be the antidote.As always with matters of privilege and fortune, wasting both would be far worse than having them in the first place. Having made it this far and looked at his most comfortable against the best bowlers in the world, Crawley must continue this rise in form. It may not convert the doubters, but it could yet win England the Ashes.

Return to the Wankhede brings memories of record World T20 chase against South Africa in 2016

Andrew Miller20-Oct-2023There’s been a strange and unfamiliar intruder in England’s dressing-room over the past few weeks. A haggard old demon of doubt, sitting on the shoulders of some of the most unfettered cricketers of their generation, and cramping their style with whispers of impending doom.Perhaps it’s not a fear of failure per se that’s been holding England back in their anodyne displays against New Zealand and Afghanistan, but a recognition of finality – an unconscious acceptance among this remarkable group of players that the end is nigh, no matter how well or badly they play.After November 19, come what may, many of these players will never play another ODI, let alone feature in another 50-over World Cup. Some, like Liam Plunkett after the 2019 triumph, may never play for England in any format again.Related

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As such, it would be understandable if a few real-world concerns have overwritten the team’s keenest exhortations to “play our way” and “attack” the World Cup, as per Jos Buttler’s oddly manic pre-tournament pronouncement.And as the squad gathers in Mumbai ahead of Saturday’s immense clash with those inveterate World Cup worriers South Africa, the shrinks have been out in force, seeking to defankle the knots in England’s psyche.There’s Ben Stokes, the team’s “spiritual leader” in the words of head coach Matthew Mott, calling for England to “go down doing what we’re known for”. And then there’s Brendon McCullum, whose role as an ambassador of the New Zealand meat-exporting industry just happens to have given him an excuse to stay in the team hotel in Mumbai this week.England “need to stay true to their method which has brought them so much success,” McCullum told the Times this week, and seeing as it was his influence, way back at the start of their journey in 2015, that instilled the method in the first place (long before he transferred it onto the Test team), no one’s better placed to preach that particular message.Without wishing to get reductive about the mindset that has given England their superpowers across formats in recent years, the broad thrust of “Bazball” (as no one in McCullum’s presence will dare to call it) has been about embracing the joys of playing sport for a living – of casting aside the doubts and cynicism that come with age and wisdom, and just remembering how much fun it used to be to play the game as carefree kids, without a jot of expectation about the endgame.

For it was at this venue seven-and-a-half years ago, and against the same opponents too, that England’s white-ball thrusters took their first steps towards immortality

How much fun it was, to use a random example, when Joe Root sidled up to Buttler in the middle of the Wankhede on March 18, 2016 and – with 82 runs still needed from 48 balls – declared to his team-mate: “We’re cruising this – we’re absolutely cruising this.”For it was at this venue seven-and-a-half years ago, at a similarly make-or-break juncture of their first major tournament of the post-2015 era, and against the same opponents too, that England’s white-ball thrusters took their first steps towards immortality.”Embrace the naivety” was Eoin Morgan’s rallying cry in his team’s unlikely run to the final of the 2016 World T20, a seemingly throwaway slogan at the team’s arrival press conference in Mumbai, but one that took on a life of its own as his greenhorn charges defied expectations time and again (at least until their fateful ending in Kolkata, when the limits of winging it finally caught up with them).Going into that tournament, Morgan had been the only member of England’s squad with prior IPL experience. Under the directorship of Andrew Strauss, the ECB were on the brink of a new, more laissez-faire attitude to overseas franchise leagues, and in February that year, Buttler had become a notable signee for Mumbai Indians.But until that moment that Carlos Brathwaite launched Stokes’ final over of the tournament into the history books, England had cast aside any doubts about their readiness for the challenge, and simply set about enjoying the ride of their young lives. And never more so than in their group-stage clash with South Africa, where they hunted down a massive target of 230 – still to this day the highest chase in T20 World Cup history.Then as now, England’s backs had been against the wall after a shellacking in their previous group game – albeit there is a world of difference between being bested by arguably the greatest exponent of T20 batting, Chris Gayle, in an 11-sixes onslaught, and being hounded out of Delhi by Afghanistan.England must lift themselves for South Africa after a shock defeat to Afghanistan•Associated PressNevertheless, as many as ten survivors from the South Africa contest might find themselves locking horns once again this weekend – a remarkable seven from England’s ranks alone, with Root, Buttler and Stokes returning alongside Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, David Willey and even a young Reece Topley, whose second and final appearance of that campaign comprised two overs for 33 runs, and would be his last in England colours for four injury-plagued years.For Root, however, the South Africa match was his single finest hour as a T20 batter. He would play six matches in that campaign, and had the final gone England’s way, he would have been a shoo-in for Player of the Match and Tournament. And yet, for reasons of raw power on the one hand, but moreover the time constraints of his Test captaincy and ODI pre-eminence on the other, he’s only ever featured in 12 subsequent T20Is, and none since 2019.But on that night of nights, Root’s 83 from 44 balls was a declaration of his genius – a performance of incredible stillness, not unlike Aiden Markram’s recent 49-ball century against Sri Lanka in fact, in which the virtues of placement and poise transcended the blood and fury of headlong attack. In fact, until the moment of his dismissal, with 11 runs still needed from 10 balls, Root faced a mere two dot-balls out of 43 – and the first of those he would swear blind was a wide.In the course of his innings, Root even unfurled a prototype Root-scoop – a startlingly effective inverted ramp over third man for six, to bring up a 29-ball fifty. “How do players think of shots like those? Let alone execute them. What a world…” wrote Will Luke on ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary. Root for his part later admitted in White Hot, the recent book about the team’s rise and rise, “my heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest … thankfully it was exactly where I wanted it”.The first sighting of Joe Root’s reverse-ramp came at the Wankhede in 2016•AFP/Getty ImagesThis contest was not the first stirring of England’s bold new approach – that had come the previous summer against New Zealand and Australia, a thrilling pair of seat-of-the-pants rides that would finish 5-5 across the ten ODIs but later be recalled by Morgan as his favourite games in their run to the 2019 title. And to all intents and purposes, the World T20 had arrived too soon to draw any long-term conclusions about England’s new-found aptitude. Even so, an early elimination from yet another global tournament would have done the rebooted project no favours whatsoever. Whether they embraced the implications or not, the Wankhede chase was a de facto stress test of their no-consequences attitude.In the final analysis, they passed it with flying colours, with Jason Roy’s thrilling powerplay onslaught providing the bugle blast. He cracked 43 from 16 balls, including five fours, three sixes and – in league with Alex Hales – 44 runs from the first two overs of the chase.Kagiso Rabada bore the brunt of the first of those – he disappeared for 21 runs, including one of the most rifled straight drives that has ever been executed on the world stage – and he’ll be one of three South Africans back for the rematch on Saturday. Neither Quinton de Kock (52 from 24 balls) nor David Miller (28 not out from 12) has any personal reason to regret their efforts on the night, and the presence of each of them will be a reminder of quite how much situational knowhow will be distilled into the coming contest.”It was a fantastic game, one of my favourite games,” Buttler said in Mumbai on the eve of the rematch. “It had a lot of value in terms of where we were going as a team. It’s a long time ago, and that style is a different format, but we want to find different ways to put the opposition under pressure. It doesn’t always mean fours and sixes, it means can we push back when the opposition is on top, or take the initiative in different ways? That’s what we want to live by as a team, and when we commit to that, that gives us the best chance of positive results.”The challenge for both teams, therefore, will be to play without fear – like the kids that they used to be – yet manage the clutch moments with the wisdom that comes from such vast tournament experience. In terms of accessing such an elusive mindset, therefore, “embracing the naivety” is clearly no longer an option for England’s weary worldbeaters, although the manner of their eventual defeat in that year’s final might yet offer them some solace in their current plight.With two global titles in 2012 and 2016, and a further run to the final in between whiles, West Indies’ T20 team of the mid-2010s is perhaps the only recent international dynasty to rival the side that England have compiled over the past eight years. And the cool-headed mugging that they instigated in the heat of the moment in Kolkata serves as timeless evidence that – contrary to the impression that England’s frazzled veterans are currently giving off – experience when the going gets tough actually counts for everything.

India’s captain and think tank made a strategic decision to go harder earlier and it has been paying off for them

Sidharth Monga17-Oct-2023Nobody mourns the reduction in the amount of ODI cricket between the last World Cup and this one. You can’t blame them. Still, it is a shame that because so little 50-over cricket is played, and even less by the best players, we might sometimes fail to notice transformative pieces of work. Rohit Sharma’s transformation since he became the full-time India ODI captain might just be one of those.In a World Cup, though, everyone notices. After the duck in the first match in difficult conditions against Australia, Rohit has practically ended two matches inside the first powerplay. He scored 76 off 43 in the first ten overs against Afghanistan, and 45 off 30 against Pakistan. As with everything he does, this was not random. Not a case of feeling good about it on the day and swinging for the hills.He has been batting with elevated intent in ODIs for a while now. Since the start of 2022, which is when he assumed the captaincy, 35 batters have scored 300 or more runs within the first powerplay in ODIs. Only two have gone quicker than Rohit’s strike rate of 111. Neither of these two – Travis Head and Phil Salt – has scored nearly as many runs as Rohit, nor is either of them in a leadership role.Related

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Revolutions in cricket are generally planned by captains but enacted by youngsters. The captain – usually a batter – rarely takes on a risky job. In the history of the sport, only two captains have gone delightfully bonkers for a considerable period of time: Brendon McCullum in 2015 and Chris Gayle in 2009.McCullum scored at 163 in the first ten overs through 2015, and Gayle at 117 in 2009. That, though, is their nature. Rohit’s method has been different. The turnaround in his career centred on his becoming obsessed with not getting out in the first 20 balls, and then gradually accelerating before exploding towards the end. He has changed the whole philosophy of his batting. Not only has he changed it, more incredibly, he encountered failure when he started making the change but still kept at it.It all began with T20Is, where India’s approach with the bat was not quite contemporary when he took over. Possibly the new management impressed upon him the need to change. Possibly he wanted the change himself. But he had to earn the right to be able to tell others to put a lower price on their wicket. He couldn’t have done so without lowering the price of his own wicket.!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();

Ranchi result elicits rare display of defeatism after Bazball fails its India acid test

Vithushan Ehantharajah26-Feb-20241:00

Manjrekar: India won the little battles inside the big battle

In the end, it was a bit of an anti-climax.Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel, 24 and 23, respectively, knocked about the remaining 72 runs with ease, giving us a preview of what Indian cricket might look like for the next decade. Teams come here, graft, sweat and, sometimes, get ahead. Then at the end of it all, India win.Much like the last decade, to be honest. Which is why, on the face of it, a first defeat in eight series for England under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum is not all that bad.Ahead of the tour, Stokes regarded victory in a single Test as success. England achieved that at the first attempt in Hyderabad. What followed, as India roused themselves to take the next three, vindicates the point he was making. Nevertheless, at the end of an undulating fourth Test in Ranchi, he cut a forlorn figure.Related

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“3-1 doesn’t look great,” conceded the England captain, still wearing the toil of the day’s 53 overs on his whites and face. For a good chunk of the middle of that, his side felt on the cusp of something extraordinary.”We didn’t have a chance in hell of even competing with India,” Stokes said on the overall match-up. “But even today, that wasn’t an easy win for India, and I think they would admit that.”The assessment of his team’s chances was at odds with some of the key tenets for England under Stokes. Ironclad belief, competing no matter what, focus on bringing out the best of yourselves, and not thinking about the opposition.Perhaps he was just being realistic, considering a “young, inexperienced team” was up against one unbeaten at home for the last 11 years. He spoke of the pride he had for the way the players “reacted to everything, even being on the wrong end of three results”. But it was certainly his most negative, even defeatist, soundbite since taking on the role full-time at the start of the 2022 summer.Maybe that’s because this is the first time he has had to swallow defeat of this kind. Stokes, for all his altruistic qualities as a leader, has long been the worst loser in the England dressing room. That won’t have changed as a skipper, and it probably makes the losses sting a little bit more. There had only been four in 18 matches leading into this trip. Having remained upbeat for every day of his 21 months in charge, here was an understandable first slip.Ben Stokes leads his team off after India secured victory•Getty ImagesFaith in the principles remained, and certainly, as the fourth day in Ranchi progressed, Stokes had full faith a result would come with it. He was constantly tweaking fields, managing his bowlers and applauding between deliveries, bellowing instructions and encouragement throughout. When England took 5 for 36 to leave India shaken in their pursuit of 192, he was in his element.That collapse, triggered by Joe Root, facilitated by Tom Hartley and then intensified by three wickets from Shoaib Bashir, was exactly what Stokes had promised them the night before. The players returned to the dressing room late on Sunday afternoon, gutted by how a day that began with them 134 ahead ended with India needing what can now be described as a modest 152 more for victory.But Stokes, with support from McCullum, lifted their spirits and dared them to dream. As Bashir proclaimed on Sunday evening, having just pocketed his first five-wicket haul in professional cricket, “We’ve got a chance to be heroes.”2:05

Harmison: India won it more than England lost it

Bashir’s display put him front of the queue for that mantle, now with more than half his first-class wickets coming in two tastes of Test cricket. Together with fellow rookie Hartley, India were tied down, especially when 31 overs went by without a boundary coming off the bat. The spell was broken when Jurel laced Bashir through cover, which felt like a counterpunch to the gut given how few runs there were left to play with.”They’ll be able to leave at the end of this tour with their heads held very high,” Stokes said of his two spinners.As for the rest, Dharamsala offers some scope for solace. But as they split for the upcoming break ahead of that fifth Test – a handful, including Stokes, heading to Chandigarh, while the majority of the squad and the coaching staff travel to Bengaluru for a few rounds of golf – the opportunities spurned for what would have been a spectacular decider in the foothills of the Himalayas should rankle.

“This is by no means a weak India side, but it was a newer one getting to grips with itself. England preyed on those uncertainties at various points, but only made it count once”

A result such as this, with the odds against England from the start, is no time to reassess ideologies, and they certainly won’t. But the question to be asked is if they were the best versions of themselves, for long enough. The answer is probably not. Eventually, they will have to wrestle with “why?”England did not lose this series on Monday, just as India did not make it 17 home series victories in a row simply because of the class and poise of Gill and Jurel. But like the Ashes last summer, key moments have not been seized.They had India 177 for 7 on day two here, after fighting tooth and nail for an excellent first innings of 353. They allowed India back in with a passive opening session on Sunday. Stokes opted to start with Ollie Robinson, who bowled as incisively as you would expect a man who had not played a competitive match since July, despite looking sharp in the nets.It compounded matters when Robinson dropped a catch at midwicket that allowed Jurel to turn 59 into 90. And then during England’s second innings, even in conditions Stokes said made it “nigh on impossible” for the batters to impose themselves in their usual manner, they were 110 for 3 before losing 7 for 35.Rajkot, though, was the real killer. India were 33 for 3 on the first morning of the third Test after winning the toss, but were able to emerge with 445. England, in reply, were 224 for 2 before Joe Root played shot to set off a collapse of 8 for 95, giving up a 126-run deficit. All while the hosts were a bowler down after R Ashwin was ruled out of the match with an urgent family matter. He returned on the final day to pick at the carcass of the fourth innings as England crumbled.Consider India’s absentees, too. The world-class duo of Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami have played no part, while KL Rahul has been missing from the first Test onwards. Ravindra Jadeja missed the second Test, and Jasprit Bumrah was rested for this one. This is by no means a weak India side, but it was a newer one getting to grips with itself. England preyed on those uncertainties at various points, but only made it count once.A project that has largely been successful will now faces its own mortality for the first time. And it does so as gleeful critics who predicted previous missteps that did not quite eventuate, now have a humbling defeat in India to feast on.Shoaib Bashir’s eight-wicket haul was a bright spot for England•BCCI”That is something that will be said [now] that we have lost our first series,” Stokes said of negative reactions to come.”A lot of talking points are after the fact of them happening. That is something I have come to terms with, something the team has come to terms with. But the way we play is pretty simple.”You can have it all taken away from you at the click of a finger, so why not enjoy every opportunity you have to play, and make sure you are doing it with a smile on your face regardless of what is happening? It is a very short career, so why not make it as enjoyable as you can?”Outwardly, there are no regrets, and they do have positives to nourish them. But winning, as they well know, would have made this more fun. And the common denominator between this right here and against Australia last year is a sense England simply were not ruthless enough to seize the initiative – something they talk about often – when games were in the balance. Not that Stokes agrees.”Ruthlessness? What is it? How does it show itself? Everyone goes into the game with their best intentions, when it doesn’t pay off people say we’re not ruthless but when they do, they say we are.”I don’t really understand the saying. That’s from my point of view; we try to do what we think is the best way to win the game. It can be a throwaway comment when people say we’re not ruthless enough. What does it mean?”It was a defensive answer from a leader who always covers for his players. A character trait that, all told, is why England were able to have regrets against such dominant opponents.At the same time, they now possess a glum-looking form sheet. Barring a victory over Ireland in a one-off Test at the start of last summer, England have not won their last three multi-match series, having drawn with New Zealand and Australia in 2023. They have lost five and won just four of their last 10 matches.Context is important. Australia are the reigning World Test Champions, and India, the beaten finalists, have been the standard-bearer for the format across both cycles of the competition. The two-match series with New Zealand – outside the WTC schedule – was not shown the same level of vigour.So, here we are. All done and dusted with a Test still to go. For the first time under Stokes and McCullum, the team must rouse themselves for one final push with little on it but pride in the shirt and pride in the process. The last match of the series must be the start of a new iteration of an approach that has breathed life into English Test cricket and jolted the format but needs refinement. For the time being, a group of talented cricketers will rue what might have been for the second time in nine months.The haters said Bazball could not work in India. And the haters were correct. Honestly, great call from the haters.

The Pakistan top-order batter talks about his Test debut, the BPL, and what he needs to become an established international player

Mohammad Isam09-Feb-2024On a crisp Monday morning, Saim Ayub spoke of what he has to do to be a successful international cricketer. A soft-spoken 21-year-old, who seems to be in a bit of a pickle with his batting form, Ayub talked of the importance of the mental aspect of the game.We sat in the reception of the academy building at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. Ayub is playing for Durdanto Dhaka, and when we met, he had only scored 65 runs over three BPL knocks. He added 12 runs in his two remaining innings, finishing on a batting average of 15.40 for the tournament.He didn’t bring great form into the BPL. Ayub had scores of 0 and 33 in his only Test appearance, against Australia, followed by 39 runs in four T20Is against New Zealand.That didn’t stop Mohammad Rizwan, the far more established Pakistan cricketer, who plays for Comilla Victorians in the BPL, from lavishing praise on Ayub, predicting that he would be the next big thing in Pakistan cricket.”These leagues always help young players,” Rizwan said in a press briefing before a Comilla match the day I met Ayub. “We believe that Saim Ayub is the next superstar from Pakistan. If he goes to CPL or plays the BPL, he will be used to those conditions [and] get confidence from here, [read situations] well. If he learns from here, it is fantastic. He can apply it in the Pakistan team as well.”Related

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Ayub himself would demur. He certainly doesn’t think he is the next big thing in Pakistan right now – or anywhere close to being it. He just wants to get it right, and soon, for Pakistan.”All I know is that I have a lot left to do at the international level,” Ayub says. “I have a lot to learn. I need to improve my game a lot, which will help me dominate. I am working on those things.”I learned a lot from failures. Top cricketers told me that you learn more from failures than you learn from success. I am happy that I got failures in my early stage. Now I know what standards I have to reach. If I had early success, I wouldn’t improve in those important areas.”For the Test debut in Sydney, Ayub says he didn’t quite expect to play after missing the first two matches of the series. Now that the debut is out of the way, he has much to ponder.”One and a half years ago, I was watching [the Pakistan team] on TV. I never thought I would play with them so soon. Especially in Tests – I didn’t think it would happen. I had only played 14 first-class matches up till then. I thought I might need a few years to get into the Test team. I thought I’d be working on my technique and mentality.”By Allah’s grace, I got into the team. The Test cap is the most valuable thing to me. I was very excited about it. They suddenly told me. I was surprised. I was ready mentally. I was really happy.”The debut doesn’t happen again, so you have to now look past it. You have to dominate international cricket. There are no more excuses. You have to do it,” he says.”One and a half years ago, I was watching [the Pakistan team] on TV. I never thought I would play with them so soon. I thought I might need a few years to get into the Test team”•Getty ImagesTo that end, he has been widening his range of shots. There was a pick-up off the hips against Matt Henry that went for six – a no-look pull shot over fine leg in the Eden Park T20I.”[A range of shots] is needed in modern cricket. If there are eight zones in the field, I want to be able to hit the ball in all of them. There’s so much analysis in the game these days that you have to stay ahead of it. I want to prepare myself that way.Ayub says that playing Test cricket is his main goal, which he believes will help him as a limited-overs cricketer.”I have the same level of interest in all three formats. I love Tests as much as I love playing T20Is and ODIs. I want to play all three formats. Legends play all three formats. Your white-ball game becomes slightly easier when you play red-ball cricket.At the start of his career too, he was slightly rushed into action. After his time in the Under-19s, the PSL came calling in 2021. It wasn’t quite an auspicious start: he got 114 runs in seven innings.”When I first played PSL, I hadn’t played any domestic T20s. I didn’t play the U-19 World Cup due to injury, so I went directly from U-19 cricket to PSL. It is a big jump. PSL level is almost like international cricket. I would have got some idea about T20s if I had played some domestic [T20] matches. It was three-day and one-day cricket in our U-19 level,” he said.Ayub was starstruck by the big-name players in the PSL. He realised quickly that he needed to change his mindset to do well at that level. “I couldn’t believe I was playing in the PSL, especially when someone like Chris Gayle batted at the other end. I didn’t know what to do. It took me a bit of time to adapt.Ayub is lifted up by his Guyana Amazon Warriors team-mates after he hit the winning six in the 2023 CPL final•Getty Images”At 18 or 19, you can change and adapt quite easily. When you turn 25 or 28, changing something in your skill set becomes difficult. You have to make that change early. It is the mentality that needs enhancement.”It wasn’t that I totally changed my batting. I enhanced some of my skills. I had a bit of skills to work with. I did strike a few fours and sixes in that PSL. I could play a bit. But I didn’t have the mindset about how to think, how to play. My coaches helped me get that focus. Basically I enhanced my mentality about 90%. The other 10%, I worked on my skills,” he says.Ayub says playing the first two seasons of the PSL gave him a better understanding of what playing at the highest level of cricket involves.”You can say that PSL lets you play with similar level of cricketers. You have overseas players as well. You get to practise how to handle pressure. When you get used to it in the PSL, you know what you may be facing at the international level.”Otherwise, cricket-wise it is similar [to the lower levels]. Bowlers and conditions are almost similar. If a bowler is bowling at 150-plus kph [in domestic cricket], he won’t bowl at 160kph at the highest level. It is almost the same, except for handling the pressure,” he says.Although under pressure for his lean batting patch, Ayub has come across as a well-rounded individual. This is his second season in the BPL. He also played in the CPL last year – hitting the winning runs in the final – and is looking to learn from these experiences: not just how to be a better cricketer but to understand and communicate with all kinds of cricketers.On the field with Mosaddek Hossain (left) in the BPL: Ayub managed only 77 runs from five matches for Durdanto Dhaka•Durdanto Dhaka”For me, going around the world to play cricket, I want to experience different conditions, people, situations, grounds. To play in new places, [under] new coaches and meeting new people. It gives new challenges to win matches in different scenarios. It also develops my personality to know how to communicate with people from England, Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and West Indies. I am very interested in all this, which will allow me to grow.”I like it when people give me love. I was like them, so I shouldn’t forget where I have come from. I never will.”I don’t use my social media. Someone else manages my account. I don’t have social media on my phone. I don’t use it. I am done with it. I don’t like it,” he says.Ayub will find as he goes along that social media is unavoidable. He will find out that on-field pressure sometimes gets mixed up with off-field drama. And that that is not confined to Pakistan cricket alone.Rizwan may have billed him as the next superstar, but it’s not an assessment Ayub shares. Still, he is at a point where he is assured about his talent. Now it is up to him to convert it to big runs.It all starts from zero, even for the biggest cricketers. Saim Ayub can give it a try too.