Plays of the day from the match between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings in Mohali

Andrew Fidel Fernando16-May-2015The catch
Ravindra Jadeja made the latest addition to the Chennai Super Kings fielding highlight reel, when he claimed an outstanding diving catch to send David Miller packing, in the 14th over. Spotting a short delivery from Pawan Negi, Miller whacked the ball off the back foot, sending it flat and hard towards the deep-square-leg boundary. Jadeja had only a few metres to cover on the fence, but he had to do them quickly. He took two steps and flung himself low to his left completing the catch with both arms outstretched, six inches above the turf.The drop
Glenn Maxwell’s poor season with the bat had earlier continued when he hit just 6, but his match was about to get worse in his first over, when he let a simple chance slip. Suresh Raina slid back in his crease to gently push a short-delivery back at Maxwell. But though the bowler got both hands to ball easily enough, the ball dribbled out of his grasp and onto the pitch.The leaning flamingo

Kevin Pietersen may not have featured in this IPL, but a variant of the flamingo shot has been seen in India, thanks to Brendon McCullum. In his last game before leaving to England for Test duty, McCullum advanced to Beuran Hendricks in the second over, kicked up his back heel, and threw his bat at a back-of-a-length wide delivery. He didn’t middle his attempted slap over cover, but picked up a top-edged boundary to third man nonetheless.The scoop-pull
MS Dhoni’s finishing superpowers had been somewhat diminished in this tournament, but in the final over of the match, he hit a shot that suggested he may be peaking for the playoffs. Spotting a short ball outside off stump, Dhoni moved quickly towards the off side, then with a whirr of the blade and a small leap, shoveled the delivery high over fine leg for six.

Stats highlights from an action-packed opening day at Headingley

S Rajesh29-May-2015401 Test wickets for James Anderson, which makes him the 12th bowler, and the eighth fast bowler, to make the club. He is already England’s leading wicket-taker, 18 ahead of Ian Botham’s 383.84 Tom Latham’s score, which is his seventh 50-plus score in 20 innings in Test cricket, and his fourth between 73 and 84.125.7 Luke Ronchi’s strike rate on his debut innings of 88, which came off 70 balls. It’s the second-highest for a 50-plus score by a debutant in Test cricket (among games where balls-faced data is available). The only quicker debut score of 50 or more was by the player who replaced him at the crease today: Tim Southee made an unbeaten 77 off 40 against England at Napier in 2008, at a strike rate of 192.50. Had he scored 12 more runs, the 34-year-old Ronchi would have become the second-oldest centurion on Test debut.4.96 The run rate during the 120-run stand between Latham and Ronchi, which is the third-best for New Zealand in any century partnership against England. Ronchi made 88 of those runs, while Latham contributed 26.0 The partnership runs for New Zealand’s second wicket in the series so far. In three innings, the first and second wickets have fallen at the same scores – 148 and 0 at Lord’s, and 2 in the first innings at Headingley.43 Number of Test innings Kane Williamson had gone without scoring a duck, before today. In his first 30 innings in Tests, he had five ducks.25 The number of times Ross Taylor has been dismissed lbw in his Test career. Among New Zealand batsmen, only Brendon McCullum (30) and Stephen Fleming (28) have been out in that manner more often.82.20 New Zealand’s average sixth-wicket partnership in Tests since the beginning of 2014, easily the best among all teams during this period. In 21 partnerships, they have five century, and five half-century stands.

Zimbabwe coach Dav Whatmore on the surreal and moving experience of being the first Full Member team to tour Pakistan in six years

Liam Brickhill01-Aug-2015Thousands of security personnel from multiple agencies, armoured vehicles, road closures, helicopters, snipers, a CCTV panopticon, and no less than three rings of security around the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore ensured Zimbabwe’s safety on their trip to Pakistan in May. It was a jaw-dropping operation, but it’s in the minutiae of personal experience that the surreality of the tour made itself felt.Dav Whatmore, Zimbabwe’s coach, spent two years in Lahore during his tenure with Pakistan. He thought he had got to know the city fairly well, but his return visit, almost exactly a year after he had left, provided a whole different experience.He decided to meet a friend for dinner during Zimbabwe’s visit, which turned into an operation that involved four vehicles, a gaggle of security personnel and the clearing of the restaurant’s car park.”I thought, ‘I’ll leave myself half an hour to travel,'” Whatmore recalls. “I didn’t realise [what it would be like]. They had two cars in front of me, and then a bike. A high-ranking uniformed police officer in the front seat of the Kombi, then two plainclothes with me in the cabin, and then two behind.”It only took us ten minutes to go to this restaurant, and then they cleared the car park there. I felt so humbled – all this for me. I was there 20 minutes early and had to sit by myself. And then of course the trip home was also only five or six minutes. So I didn’t have too much socialising.”A Pakistani ranger outside the Gaddafi Stadium during the tour•AFPInternational sportspersons these days often live in a bubble, cushioned by wealth, feted by fans, surveilled by the press, and out of touch with the reality of the day-to-day life of the general population. The life of a Zimbabwe cricketer is rather different, though, and the massive security apparatus unveiled for the team’s landmark tour of Pakistan is something that none of them had ever experienced before.”In the hotel, we had the whole fourth floor,” Whatmore says. “Pakistan was on the third floor. Nice hotel. But you would sometimes have to excuse yourself in the corridor to get past security. And there were, I think, four different agencies. You had to walk around people to get to another room or go down to breakfast.”[We] probably got to experience what Barack Obama might go through, or any visiting head of state. I counted at least 24 vehicles in front of the bus. We always travelled in a convoy, and there were three buses – one like a decoy bus. Similar [number of vehicles] at the back. And then two on either side of us. And all the streets were just shut. And we had two helicopters as well. You’d be looking around during training and you could see them flying over.”Coordinating that is not an easy thing. You can’t make a late decision to go somewhere. Training was always set in stone. Cancelling something was not a problem, but to add anything was almost impossible.”The only time we saw people out in the streets was when you went to the ground for games, and it was packed – 25,000 or whatever. But everything else was deserted. It was incredible. It was extremes.”A surveillance helicopter hovers over the Gaddafi Stadium during a Zimbabwe training session•Associated PressBack home, a training session might be overseen by one or two sleepy security guards, but the players can be freely approached and mingle with friends in the Centurion pub at Harare Sports Club after practices and matches, stopping to play a game of pool or strolling slowly to their vehicles. The atmosphere is laidback, and the biggest organisational question faced during the day is often what to order off the restaurant’s menu.So it is unsurprising that the Zimbabweans were a little overawed in Pakistan. But, as Whatmore says, “There was a deep appreciation of what it meant to every person in that country. Six years they’ve been denied access to visiting teams, not to mention the negative financial knock-on effect. I think the players were sensitive to all that.”I have to say, it was really wonderful to see that very first T20 match, when the anthems were playing, everyone in that packed stadium was singing that Pakistan anthem. Really moving stuff. And everyone was making the same comment to us: “Thank you very much, this is fantastic.” Even the Pakistan players, when they were interviewed, always would make it a point to thank Zimbabwe for coming along. During the games the ground announcer would also start a chant of ‘Zimbabwe’ and then the whole crowd would get involved. Amazing.”Security personnel monitor the area around the stadium•AFPWhatmore also experienced a swirl of emotions, given his own recent – and still strong – connections to Pakistan. “A little bit of that, but to be honest with you when you’re working for a particular team or a country, I’m just absorbed in that. You’d be inhuman if you didn’t feel a bit for the opposition where you worked for two years, but I wasn’t too worried about that. I still wanted Zimbabwe to crush them.”It was Whatmore’s connection with the Pakistan team management, in fact, that had helped set in motion plans for the series, during Zimbabwe’s World Cup match against Pakistan in Brisbane. “Knowing the manager, Naveed Cheema, I called him to my room in Brisbane and said: ‘Look, you know the Zimbabwe team is very serious about playing more and we’d like to put together some fixtures. I know Pakistan is really keen to revive cricket in the country, and we need to play, so what do you think, shall we get together and have a chat?'”We got together on the morning of our World Cup match. We got Alistair [Campbell] in the room with the two managers and myself, and we had a decent chat. That was basically the seed sown, and we took it from there.The Lahore crowd shows the visiting Zimbabweans some love•Associated Press”My part was also to talk about day-to-day living [in Pakistan] and what to expect with our support staff and players. I didn’t go out of my way, but I said, ‘Look, we’ll respect your decisions whether you want to go or not, but this is what you should expect.'”When over 40 people were killed in an attack on a bus in Karachi in May, Zimbabwe almost called the tour off. An announcement to that effect was made through a Zimbabwe Cricket release, in fact, before the statement was bizarrely retracted 16 minutes later.The players were clearly freaked out – who wouldn’t be? They did go in the end, but, again, the tour might have been derailed when a suicide attack occurred during the second ODI, just 800 metres from the Lahore stadium, killing two. Again, Zimbabwe decided to play on after a team meeting and a briefing from the security team.Zimbabwe may well be going back to Pakistan in April next year. “Because Pakistani players don’t participate in the IPL, and Zimbabwe players, unfortunately not many are invited, so there was a natural window there just after the World T20,” Whatmore says. “That could change, but that is what the projection is.”

Northamptonshire’s combative allrounder may have to move clubs to achieve his ambition of Test cricket but is targeting success in the format where he made his breakthrough

Jon Culley11-Aug-2015If there had been a prototype for the perfect Twenty20 cricketer, it probably would have looked something like David Willey. Naturally competitive, willing to innovate, capable of changing a game with bat or ball, stunning run-out or implausible catch. Tall and broad shouldered, he scrubs up pretty well for promotional work too; and he has personality.Fittingly enough, it was T20 that put his name in lights, two years ago, when he took the final of what was then the Friends Life T20 by storm, smashing a 19-ball half-century, the fastest of the season, and following up by taking 4 for 9 with the ball, finishing the match with a hat-trick as Northamptonshire won their first major silverware for 21 years.There was a bit of spice for good measure in the shape of a skirmish with Jade Dernbach, whose goading prompted him to hit 20 in one over off the Surrey fast bowler and offer some forthright opinions in the press conference later.”I love the competitiveness, I thrive on that,” he said. “But at the same time I still want to have fun when I play. I took to T20 for that reason. It is the party game, with the big crowds and the music and it is fast paced, high intensity and I enjoy that. My game is suited to that.”Willey’s career has advanced to another level since 2013. He is now an England T20 and one-day international player with a bright future after some strong performances against New Zealand in England’s renaissance summer. More than ever, he wants to emulate his redoubtable father, Peter, and play Test cricket. Yet he has every reason, as Northamptonshire attempt to book a place at the NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day against Sussex at Hove on Wednesday, to wish for 2013 to happen all over again.His county, in financial straits after losing £300,000 last year and with similarly grim figures likely in their next published accounts, have perhaps never had a more pressing need to be seen as winners. With his own career approaching a crossroads, moreover, another repayment on his own figurative debt to Northamptonshire would be timely.”As a kid, all I ever wanted to do was play for Northants, like my dad did,” said Willey, who had called into Oundle School for the final of the NatWest U15 Club Championship finals. “I’m Northampton born and bred, we lived just round the corner from the ground and I was up there all the time, not always watching but playing with my mates round the back, or on the field during the intervals.

“I have ambitions to play for England in Test cricket and that is going to start with consistent performances in four-day cricket”

“I was never the best player as I grew up but I think some of my dad’s character came through and made me work hard to be as good as I could and so to play a big role in that final, the first competition Northants had won in 21 years, meant a lot to me.”Playing for England was a dream, and so playing for my country for the first time is something I’ll never forget. But winning a trophy with Northants was brilliant and I wouldn’t say that one was more special than the other.”To win it again would be fantastic for the county and we are capable. There have been a few changes to the team and we miss the expertise and experience of Cameron White in the short format but there is a core of players left from the 2013 team and with the quality that has been added we are a team full of match-winners.”Willey’s future has been the subject of much discussion since that 2013 final, as is always the case when any player with his qualities emerges at one of the smaller counties. As a left-arm swing bowler, he is a sought-after commodity and Northamptonshire’s relegation last season after a single season in Division One has seen speculation intensify. Only last week, champions Yorkshire made no effort to deny stories that they would be interested in offering him the chance to follow former team-mate Jack Brooks from Wantage Road to Headingley.Understandably, with his focus on the NatWest Blast quarter-final and the county’s chance to qualify for the last eight of the Royal London Cup, he is reluctant to be distracted by discussing a move.Yet he was candid enough to admit that the realities of the modern game meant it was more likely than not that he would have to move, not only to allow the England selectors to evaluate his ability more accurately but, crucially, to allow himself to break the shackles of repeated injury. A stress fracture in the lower back restricted his appearances last season, leading in turn to a shoulder problem that ultimately required surgery.”If I have to leave Northants to further my career I would be bitterly disappointed,” he said. “It is an honour to play professional cricket and Northants gave me that opportunity.”But I have to be honest: Northants is a small county with a small squad and with the financial situation they are in, ultimately that means you have got the same guys playing in every fixture of the season and you cannot compete in all three formats and keep yourself fit for the duration.”That has been a problem for me over the last two years. To play my best cricket I need to stay fit, I need to be on the field, and to be looked after injury-wise it may be in my interests to move on.”I have ambitions to play for England in Test cricket and that is going to start with consistent performances in four-day cricket. I’ve scored a couple of hundreds this year but I’m not the finished article.”To win the County Championship one day would be a dream as well. I want to win across all three formats and play for England in all three formats. If that means that I have to move to play with better cricketers, day-in, day-out with a bigger club in Division One, it is something I will have to consider.”If you don’t give yourself the opportunity you are not going to achieve your ambitions.”It is the kind of advice you could imagine his father passing on, straightforward words without unnecessary embellishment. Theirs is an interesting relationship. They seem very different characters. Peter as hard as nails, craggy, taciturn, yet capable of crushing a would-be adversary with little more than a curl of his upper lip; David easy-mannered, loquacious by comparison, up for a laugh, although not without a snarl of his own in the heat of battle.David Willey’s stellar performance in the 2013 FLt20 final brought him to wider attention•Getty Images”He never wanted to push me to play cricket,” he said. “There was never pressure, just encouragement. I never saw him play but I would go with him sometimes when he umpired, helping with the scoreboard at Fenner’s and stuff and I just loved the game anyway.”I didn’t always listen to him, which is one regret I have. If I had listened I might be a better player and further on with my career now but I was stubborn, I thought I knew better than him when he was just trying to help me. As I’ve matured as a cricketer and a bloke I’ve started to listen to him a bit more. He had 40-odd years’ experience of first-class cricket and that’s something I should tap into as much as I can.”He was a tough man as a player and as a dad he is tough when he needs to be tough. I’ve got a bit of my mother in me. I like to have fun and like to have a bit of a joke, which isn’t really in my dad’s character. He struggles to get his head round that sometimes.”He puts me in line when I need to be, which I’m thankful for. I haven’t liked it at the time but over the years he has had to give me a clip round the ear at times, which has probably helped along the way.”David wishes his father would share a few more tales from his England career – “it’s like getting blood out of a stone sometimes, he doesn’t give much away” – and laughs at his reluctance to submit to the emotional experience of watching his son play, when by his own admission he struggles to keep a grip on his nerves.Asked about role models, he mentions Ryan Sidebottom as a left-arm swing bowler he particularly admires, but if he has an idol it is probably his dad.”As a kid, I never really watched a lot of cricket. The biggest spur was the father-son rivalry, I always wanted to be better than him. He played 26 Tests, 26 one-dayers, and if I can achieve anywhere near what he did I would go to my grave happy.”

Plays of the day from the fifth ODI between India and South Africa in Mumbai

Firdose Moonda25-Oct-2015The air punch When Quinton de Kock reached his century in Rajkot, he was too tired for a big celebration. Even though heat and humidity were comparable in Mumbai, he managed to save some energy to enjoy himself when he reached three figures this time. He got there with a single to midwicket, not a big shot like the ones he had been playing throughout his innings, and was already punching the air when he was only halfway through the run. De Kock was whooping and leaping mid-pitch and jumped up high and right-hooked the heavy air once he reached the other end. Faf du Plessis made his way over a hug and de Kock celebrated as he should have in Rajkot.The helping hand Several South African players have suffered cramp in this series and du Plessis went through the same as he approached his hundred. He hobbled through to bring up the milestone, but had to restrain himself in celebration as he then tried to play some big shots with the pressure off. But the pain did not disappear. As du Plessis attempted a slog, he fell over on his backside and clutched his hamstring. MS Dhoni, du Plessis’ captain at the Chennai Super Kings, could see he needed help stretching and was the first on the scene to volunteer. He held du Plessis legs in the air and flexed his feet to stretch the muscle while the South African medical staff arrived in the middle. It’s a gentleman’s game after all.The songs The Wankhede is where the chant “Sachiiiiin, Sachiiiiiiiiiiiiin” was probably invented. Even though Tendulkar is no longer playing, his name still rings out loud at the venue, although less frequently than the mantra which motivates the home side. “Indiaaaaaaa, Indiaaaaaaaaaaaa” is repeated no matter the game situation except for a few moments when the opposition captain stole hearts. With AB de Villiers in full flow, the Mumbai crowd composed a new tune. “A-B-D, A-B-D” was the chant. Graeme Smith said it gave him goosebumps.Action all around If the runs were not providing enough entertainment, there was also some athleticism to admire. It came from none other than de Villiers. India responded with the urgency a team needed to chase close to nine runs an over, and Ajinkya Rahane knew he needed to keep the energy levels up. When he tapped Farhaan Behardien to short cover, Rahane set off for a sneaky single even though he was taking on de Villiers. In one movement, de Villiers slid to the right, swooped on the ball, picked up and threw to the non-striker’s end, hitting the stumps, of course. Rahane was mid-dive when the wicket was broken but had managed to reach out and ground his bat in time.Hurts so goodHashim Amla is the one South African not known for putting his body on the line. But with India making good progress, something special was needed to stop them. De Villiers brought Kagiso Rabada back on to produce a breakthrough and he bowled Shikhar Dhawan a full ball which Dhawan tried to flick away. He managed only a leading edge towards mid-off, where Amla had to make some ground to judge the catch. He got to it, grabbed the ball and then fell face down onto the Wankhede turf. Amla stayed down and indicated there was something in his eye but it was evident the problem was above it, where he had cut himself.

Sri Lanka used to show tourists the delights of the Galle Coast and then impose big, bruising wins upon them. They have lost that knack, although a hundred from Dimuth Karunaratne was a reminder of old times

Andrew Fidel Fernando14-Oct-2015In the decade gone by, Sri Lanka had set down a foolproof method of operation in Galle. They would bring the visiting teams south at the start of the tour, show them the ocean, feed them some seafood, lead them to the top of the fort, then hurl them brutally off it. It was the done thing in the Murali-Sanga-Mahela days. Sri Lanka had big, bruising wins at the venue, and the touring side spent the rest of the series trying to erase the deficit and the memory of a traumatic loss.And for a long time, the toss also seemed hexed. The coin often fell for Sri Lanka at the venue. The captain never hesitated to put his side in. At the end of day one, their victims walked off the field two shades darker, doubled over in exhaustion, and at least one Sri Lanka batsmen positively strutted off it, a triple-figure score to his name. In the dressing room, Murali had been placed in a straightjacket. The pitch had begun to show slight signs of turn, and he had failed to contain his excitement.It has been a little different in the past two years. South Africa and Pakistan have won matches in Galle. In the last game at the ground, India carved out a gigantic first innings lead, and that game was only won by Sri Lanka thanks to some inspiration from the left-arm spinner, Rangana Herath, and a healthy helping of luck.

Bowlers were ‘brilliant’ – Baptiste

West Indies’ interim coach Eldine Baptiste said the two catches his team dropped could have substantially altered the scoreline, had they been taken. The costlier of the two mistakes was Dinesh Chandimal’s reprieve. He was dropped at mid on by Jerome Taylor on 11, and went on to hit 72 not out, and was part of a 149-run stand with Dimuth Karunaratne.
“The bowlers put their hard work in and bowled brilliantly in the circumstances,” Baptiste said. “It’s just that they dropped a few catches we would have liked to have caught. That would have made a big difference. They could have been 220 for 5, instead of 250 for 2.”
Darren Bravo had dropped the earlier catch, reprieving Lahiru Thirimanne at slip. The batsmen went on to add only 10 more runs, but Baptiste still believed the error was costly. “When you’re fielding in the slips, as soon as you lack concentration, a nick normally comes. If there are 600 balls bowled in a day, you’ve got to be on the ball 600 rimes. The fielder at slip and the one at mid-on could have done a lot better.”

On Wednesday, against West Indies, Sri Lanka’s top order reclaimed a little of what had been lost from the golden Galle years. They rolled out the old welcome, replete with an unbeaten centurion, and a large top-order stand. It was an imperfect imitation, but this is a young team. They have not won a trophy in any format for more than a year. Imperfect, for now, is more than good enough.Dimuth Karunaratne didn’t quite capture the manic energy of Tillakaratne Dilshan’s old Galle charges, but the legside flicks and checked drives were pleasant enough. He squirted Jerome Taylor through the slips for his first boundary, then creamed Shannon Gabriel down the ground for his next.Karunaratne has had an odd home season. He knocked the Pakistan attack around, then was bloodied himself by India, who kept him to 67 runs from six innings. But by being unfathomably inconsistent, he is following in the steps of some of the greatest Sri Lanka batsmen. He has a very long way to go before he matches Aravinda de Silva or Sanath Jayasuriya, but feast or famine had been their chosen approach as well.He said a few technical errors pointed out to him by new interim coach Jerome Jayaratne had lit his path back to form. “The new coach showed me few things to change and I made those changes. Not only me, most of the batsmen made a few changes. We did some very hard work during the last three weeks, simply because the next few series that are lined up are not easy at all. Most of those series are to be played overseas. So this is a series to make amendments.”His opening partner Kaushal Silva clung on dourly for 48 deliveries before edging one to slip. Even in their greatest years, one Sri Lanka opener would routinely soak up balls, as if preparing of a long, fruitful innings, then lamely get out for a low score. Silva carried this out almost too well.Dinesh Chandimal was the man who made the innings spark at No. 4 – a position once held by de Silva before Mahela Jayawardene claimed that mantle. Chandimal has a more homespun style than either of those men, but possesses the same fearless outlook. He cracked Devendra Bishoo’s legspin through the covers fourth ball, and spent much of his innings trying to force good balls into space using his bottom hand.When Chandimal arrives at the crease, it feels like something interesting could happen, which was not the feeling Lahiru Thirimanne inspired today. It sometimes feels like the sedative qualities of Thirimanne’s and Silva’s cricket are being misused by humanity. Could their batting be used to pacify stampeding buffalo for example, or quell tropical cyclones?In the evening, having sapped the West Indies’ bowling of its venom and energy, Chandimal and Karunaratne played out a wicketless final session, in which Sri Lanka claimed the advantage. In yesteryear, the score might have crossed 320 by stumps, but this is the cheap imitation for now, remember? That they saw out the first ten overs of the second new ball is sufficient for the time beingThe time may come when this team becomes a force of its own; independent of great teams and players from the past. Maybe in future decades we will be measuring new batsmen on the Karunaratne or Chandimal scale.But for now, while Sri Lanka fans are still pining for the glories of years gone by, Sri Lanka’s top order gave them a whiff of the past. On day one they reminded spectators what it would be like for Sri Lanka to be good at Test cricket again.

Stats highlights from the second day’s play in the Delhi Test between India and South Africa

Shiva Jayaraman04-Dec-20151913-14 The last and only other instance of South Africa being dismissed for sub-200 totals five times in a series. Back then England had been their tormentors. This time it is India. South Africa’s 121 in Delhi marks the fifth time in six innings that they have been bowled out for under 200.8.33 Faf du Plessis’s average in this series and his duck today was his third in four Tests. Du Plessis has made just 50 runs in six innings, and 39 of them had come in one innings. He recorded the third-worst average for a South African top-order batsman in a series having played six or more innings. It is also the third-worst average for an overseas top-order batsman in a series in India having played six or more innings.8 Five-wicket hauls by Ravindra Jadeja in first-class cricket in 2015-16. His 5 for 30 today took his tally to 60 wickets this season at an average of 11.43, which is the third-best for any bowler with at least 50 wickets in a season since 2005-06. Jadeja has taken 21 wickets in this four-Test series against South Africa at an average of 10.61.0 Individual hundreds in this series before Ajinkya Rahane’s 127. AB de Villiers’ 85, from the first innings in Bangalore, had been the previous highest score till now.47 Runs Rahane had made in six Test innings at home, before his hundred in this one. This was his second Test at Feroz Shah Kotla, where he had also made his Test debut in 2012-13. Back then, he had managed just eight from two innings. Rahane also passed his previous best in Tests against South Africa – 96 in Durban in 2013-14. Overall, Rahane has made 1519 runs in Tests at 42.19, with five hundreds and seven fifties.86 The previous best partnership of this series, put on by Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay in Mohali. Rahane and R Ashwin eclipsed that with the 98 runs they added for the eighth wicket. That means this series is still without a hundred partnership. This was also the third-highest stand for India’s eighth or lower wickets in Tests against South Africa.1996 The last time, before R Ashwin’s 56 in this game, that an India batsman coming out at No. 9 or lower made a fifty in Tests against South Africa. It had been one of India’s lead spinners back then too: Anil Kumble had struck 88 in Kolkata. Kiran More’s 55 in Durban Test in 1992-93 is the only other such fifty.1987 Prior to Kyle Abbot’s 5 for 30, the last time an overseas fast bowler took a five-wicket haul in Delhi was 28 years ago. West Indies’ Courtney Walsh had taken 5 for 54 in the second innings, Patrick Patterson had taken 5 for 24 in the first innings of that Test. Overall, Abbott’s effort was only the sixth instance of a visiting seamer taking a five-for at Feroz Shah Kotla. This was also the first five-wicket haul by any fast bowler in Delhi since Javagal Srinath took 5 for 60 against Zimbabwe in 2000-01.1.61 Abbott’s economy rate. He bowled 24.5 overs and conceded only 40 runs. The last time a fast bowler took a Test five-wicket haul in India at better economy was in 1997-98 – Michael Kasprowicz claimed 5 for 28, conceding only 1.55 runs per over. Overall, Abbott was sixth on the stingy fast bowlers to take five wickets in an innings in India. Abbott’s economy rate is also the fourth-best by any pacer under condition of bowling at least 20 overs in Feroz Shah Kotla.1 Five-for by Abbott in Tests before this one. He had taken 7 for 29 in Centurion – the second-best bowing figures by a South African on debut – against Pakistan in 2012-13. Abbott has taken 18 wickets at an average of 17.55 in five Tests. This was also the best returns by a fast bowler in this series, surpassing Morne Morkel’s 3 for 19 in Nagpur.195 Runs added by India after the fall of their sixth wicket – the fifth-best aggregate after losing their first six for fewer than 150 runs. The last time they put on more runs for their final four wickets was against New Zealand in Ahmedabad – 201 after being six down for 65 runs.50 Wickets for Umesh Yadav at an average of 38.04 in 17 Tests. He reached the mark by bowling JP Duminy with a peach of an outswinger. Umesh is the 14th India fast bowler to take at least 50 Test wickets.

A look back at some of Mitchell Johnson’s best and fiercest Test spells

Brydon Coverdale17-Nov-20158 for 61, 3 for 98 v South Africa, Perth, 2008
This match will go down in history for South Africa’s incredible chase, their 414 the second-highest successful run chase in Test cricket. But it will also be remembered for one of the first truly great spells of Johnson’s Test career. On the second evening, Johnson destroyed South Africa with 5 for 2 in 21 deliveries. He swung the ball, then angled it across. He used the bouncer to devastating effect, a weapon that he had at times been too nice to use earlier in his career. Particularly notable was the welcome to Test cricket that debutant JP Duminy will not forget, fending a catch awkwardly towards leg gully, where Brad Haddin ran around to make the take. Johnson finished with 8 for 61 and claimed 11 for the match, and while he was unable to bowl Australia to victory, this match provided one of the first signs of what would come later in Johnson’s career.4 for 25, 4 for 112, 96* v South Africa, Johannesburg, 2009
The back-to-back series against South Africa in 2008-09 showed Johnson’s danger, wicket-taking ability, and all-round talent. He broke Graeme Smith’s left hand in Sydney and his right hand in Durban, and in the Test in between he was Man of the Match for an outstanding effort with bat and ball. He began with an unbeaten 96 – a century would follow in the third Test of the series – and then was almost unplayable in collecting 4 for 25 from 18.1 overs in the first innings. Notably, he swung the ball consistently, a feature of his game that had been lacking previously. Another four in the second innings and he had given Australia a 1-0 lead in the series.6 for 38, 3 for 44 v England, Perth, 2010
The 2010-11 Ashes was Australia’s nadir in recent years but, in cricket as in life, Perth has always been… different. It was the one Test that Australia won in that campaign and again Johnson was the man who made the WACA pitch talk. Notably, Johnson had only just returned to the side having been dropped at Adelaide Oval, and he responded with a nine-wicket match. The umpire Marais Erasmus was kept busy on the second day as Johnson repeatedly rapped England’s right-handers on the pads with his fast inswingers and he finished with 6 for 38, which captain Ricky Ponting described as “one of the all-time great Ashes spells”. Alas, it was the sole highlight in an otherwise disappointing series for Johnson.37 for 517 v England, 2013-14
How can you single out one performance in Johnson’s greatest series, really? It would be like a parent having to choose their favourite child. Nine wickets in Brisbane, eight in Adelaide, six in Perth, eight in Melbourne, six in Sydney – Johnson’s bowling defined this series. Quite simply, England’s batsmen didn’t want to face him. They knew the fast bouncers would come, that their bodies would be targeted as well as their stumps. Every time Johnson came on for a new spell, the intensity ramped up, the crowd bayed. If one performance be chosen ahead of the others, his 7 for 40 in the Adelaide Test gets the nod, given the lack of any sort of assistance in the pitch. It was, after all, ESPNcricinfo’s winner of the Test bowling award that year. It was a 10/10 display. But then, so was his whole series.7 for 68, 5 for 59 v South Africa, Centurion, 2014
As if to prove the Ashes wasn’t a one-off, Johnson headed to South Africa shortly afterwards and destroyed one of world cricket’s finest batting line-ups. His 12 for 127 in Centurion will go down as his best match bowling, and again won ESPNcricinfo’s award for Test bowling. His first dismissal of the match set the tone: Graeme Smith fended a brutal short ball that told the rest of the batting order what was to come. Faf du Plessis had no idea how to handle a 151kph short ball, and the lower-order batsmen, well, they had no hope. South Africa’s best batsman, AB de Villiers, made 91 but ironically fell to Johnson’s slower ball. Another series was about to belong to Johnson.

West Indies’ Test players are paid much less than their Australian – and even New Zealand – counterparts, and the repercussions of this are showing on the field

Daniel Brettig01-Jan-2016To misquote Bill Woodfull: there are two teams out there, one is playing cricket for good money and the other is not. ESPNcricinfo can reveal the vast pay imbalance between the Australian and West Indies teams taking part in the New Year’s Test at the SCG, a divide emblematic of the way the Caribbean side has been emasculated by reduced ICC funding, competing regional demands, poor incentives for players and the lure of Twenty20.In a comparison between this summer’s three Test-match combatants, the West Indies players come out a long way behind their Australian counterparts. They are even comfortably shaded by those of New Zealand, a cricket economy of comparable size, with similar issues about how T20 tournaments have afforded opportunities for far greater earnings away from international competition.Australia’s cricketers speak often of their love for the baggy green, and how Test cricket is always their No. 1 priority. However this idealism is backed up by the hard truth that it is still more lucrative to be a top-tier Australian Test cricketer than anything else. As the former captain Michael Clarke once said: “Governing bodies must prioritise player performance and payment in Test cricket.”But as the likes of Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo and Lendl Simmons earn anywhere between Aus $65,000 (US $47,300 approx) and $120,000 (US $87,300 approx) for six weeks’ work in the Big Bash League, the West Indies Test players are paid relatively meagre sums. Match fees were slashed from US $17,500 to $5,000 in 2014 as a result of an agreement between WIPA and the WICB that led to a mass walkout from that year’s tour of India. By comparison, Australian cricketers are awarded Aus $15,450 (US $11,200 approx) per home Test, or $21,631 (US $15,700 approx) for overseas matches.Contract retainers, meanwhile, provide an even wider discrepancy. The 12 WICB-contracted players are split into three categories earning between US $100,000 and $140,000. By contrast, the lowest ranked Australian contracted player, or the earner of an incremental contract like Peter Siddle or Usman Khawaja, will be the recipient of a deal worth Aus $250,000 (US $182,500 approx) in addition to their match payments. The top-contracted players, meanwhile, earn around Aus $1.5 million (US $1.1 approx).

Test match fees and retainers this summer

Australia
Match fee – Aus $15,450 (overseas Tests Aus $21,631)
Contract retainer – 18 contracted players plus incremental earners
Top contract approx Aus $1.5 million, bottom approx Aus $250,000
New Zealand
Match fee – NZ $8,500
Contract retainer – 20 contracted players
Top contract NZ $200,000, going down by NZ $7,000 increments to bottom contract NZ $82,000
West Indies
Match fee – US $5,000
Contract retainer – 12 contracted players
Three contract tiers with category A US $140,000, category B US $120,000, category C US $100,000

Discontent over West Indian player payments has simmered ever since the catastrophic events of the India tour abandonment, which effectively ended the international careers of numerous players including Bravo. The deal struck between the WICB and WIPA had been intended to share the Caribbean game’s revenue more evenly, factoring in the introduction of a fully professional regional first-class competition that is now in operation.However the players, having agreed to a cut in their match payments without settling on the precise figure, argued that the reduction of their Test match fees by 65% had eventuated without their approval. Since that time Wavell Hinds, the head of WIPA, has had a strained relationship with international players, many of whom prefer their agents to negotiate contracts.Clive Lloyd, the West Indies chairman of selectors, admitted that the WICB was simply unable to compete with the sort of money available to T20 freelancers. “I think that if you’re a young person, that’s your dream to play Test cricket for your country – money is a subsidiary of success,” he said. “The point is if you do well you’re going to be offered certain things and we have to have contracts so we can keep our players.”Other countries’ players are still playing for their country, they still want to play for their country. That is the problem that we have. Our guys are moving away from playing for their country, so we’ve got to fill that gap. I think this T20 competition has probably decimated our cricket as such.”Complicating all of this were the “Big Three” changes to the governance and financial structure of the ICC, leaving all nations other than India, England and Australia with a significantly smaller cut of the revenue pie from global tournaments. The subsequent reduction in funds – offset only slightly by a Test match fund made available for the staging of five-day matches in the “small seven” nations – has intensified pressure on the WICB’s finances.Lloyd described a few of the problems experienced in the Caribbean region. “Well they can give us some more money for starters,” Lloyd said when asked about how the ICC could help. “To run cricket you have to have quite a lot of money. People must realise where West Indies is concerned, we have a plethora of islands… We can’t drive anywhere, we have to fly everywhere. To fly from Guyana to Jamaica takes four to five hours. And each island has different cultures.”So we need to have more money to help us because, don’t forget, when we play our cricket it is high season and hotel rates are very exorbitant. We’re not as wealthy as the other countries. We did well in the ’70s and ’80s because we were coming as champions and if you’re coming as champions you can demand something. So now if you’re not champions you don’t get things thrown at you, and unfortunately we need things thrown our way so we’re able to compete with the bigger countries.

“To run cricket you have to have quite a lot of money. People must realise where West Indies is concerned, we have a plethora of islands… We can’t drive anywhere, we have to fly everywhere”Clive Lloyd

“The money should be equally distributed because we’re all playing Test cricket… The money you will get will see you through really, so I feel that is the way we should go. You can’t have three countries doing extremely well and then the rest not getting a fair whack.”Another problem Lloyd highlighted was that of preparation time for tours. West Indies played their first Test in Hobart off the back of only one fixture in Brisbane, which a jetlagged XI lost conclusively to a team of developmental Australian players – many of whom making their first-class debuts. The expense of accommodating players for longer tours is a problem for West Indies, as is a poor bargaining position when scheduling tours with stronger nations.”If a team comes to any country they should be able to play enough warm-up games to get accustomed to the conditions,” he said. “We’ve travelled 12,000 miles and it’s different here. We have jetlag, there’s the heat, the hardness of the grounds, it’s just getting accustomed to a lot of things and two four-day games would probably have put us in good stead.”I’ve said that when I was chairman of ICC [cricket committee], that if we have young players – you can’t blood a player on tour any more. We had a four-day game and two-day game, we had to play the guys we think will be good enough in the Test matches. Gone are the days when we came here in September or October and left in February. After the first month, we’d eaten everything on the menu.”The point is we played a lot of games, we got accustomed to the conditions and you give a good account of yourself. It showed in the last game [at the MCG], we batted fairly well on a pretty good Test pitch, so I’m sure the guys will give a good account of themselves in the long run. It will take some time to build a Test team because we’ve lost – what, 10 of our players are playing the one-day format of the game. We have to try and look to build a team that’s going to stand us in good stead for the future.”How much of a future West Indies can have remains to be seen. But as the figures show, they are presently playing – and losing – an unfair game.

We asked fans on social media to complete the sentence, “Ben Stokes hits the ball so hard…”. Here are some of the best responses

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jan-2016Ben Stokes hits the ball so hard that it broke my TV screen and came out.
– Sachin MenonBen Stokes hits the ball so hard, its breaks into two and he gets 12 runs.
– Umair AmanBen Stokes hits the ball so hard that his bat demands ice-cubes afterwards for the bruises.
– Qazi SaadBen Stokes hits the ball so hard even Usain Bolt can’t chase it.
– Sarcastic HumorBen Stokes hits the ball so hard that even Barry Allen wasn’t able to see it.
– Abhinav Tiwari

@ESPNcricinfo …It goes further than I do on holiday #Stokeslore

— James Hubbard (@JamesHubbard113) January 3, 2016

@ESPNcricinfo #stokeslore i've seen people lining up in durham to catch it

— Syed awais haider (@Sydneyhaider) January 3, 2016

Ben Stokes hits the ball so hard it crosses boundary before Ravi Shastri can say tracer bullet #stokeslore

— Pranay Sawant (@mi_Pranay) January 3, 2016

@ESPNcricinfo Ben Stokes hits the ball so hard that Elon Musk places SpaceX on standby to retrieve the ball. #Stokeslore

— thakur_colin (@thakur_colin) January 3, 2016

@ESPNcricinfo @Acharyian: "Ben Stokes hits the ball so hard that he should change his name to Ben Strokes." #Stokeslore

— Rohan (@Acharyian) January 3, 2016

@MarkCowley: Ben Stokes hits the ball so hard, that British astronaut Tim Peake on the ISS had to duck to avoid it #Stokeslore

— Mark Cowley (@MarkCowley) January 3, 2016

@ESPNcricinfo Stokes hits the ball so hard @astro_timpeake has caught it! #stokeslore

— Sarah Gosling (@SarahK8Gosling) January 3, 2016

P.S. We had to put a blanket ban on all entries featuring Chuck Norris. If you want to get featured, tweet or post on Facebook using #Stokeslore.