The kryptonite is still there, but the Australia opener’s contribution in this Test match cannot be ignored

Alex Malcolm27-Dec-2021When Marcus Harris reached his half-century on day two there was a unique roar from the MCG.It wasn’t the familiar parochial chorus for a Victorian on home soil, nor was it the trusting cheer for an Australian on the march to an inevitable century.It was empathy for a man who has done it tough in Test cricket so far.Related

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It was a day of firsts for Harris. It was his first Test half-century in 17 innings across nearly three years. It was the most number of balls he had faced in Test cricket, and the first time he had batted with either Steven Smith or Travis Head, despite appearing in multiple series with the pair of them.His 76 was invaluable in the context of the match. The highest score by any batter on either side so far on a sporting pitch where only four players have reached 30 and the seamers have dominated. The combined first-innings total of 452 was the lowest at the MCG since 1990.Yet it will not appease his critics, of which there are many. As one of the innumerable ex-Australia Test batters wandering the halls of the MCG media centre said yesterday, “I wish I’d been given this many chances.”The selectors have shown an incredible amount of faith in Harris given he averages just 24.63 from 24 Test innings, and while his 76 wasn’t quite the statement repayment that might be expected, it was a clear sign of why they had given him an extended run.

No other player in the game has come close to his performance with the bat after one innings each. As fluent as Root’s 50 was on day one, it came in less than half the time and deliveries Harris survived on a tricky track

Harris has proven himself, unequivocally by data at least, to be Australia’s best opener in first-class cricket not named David Warner. He has made more runs and more centuries at a better average than any of his contemporaries in the last five years. The selectors have told him privately, and have uttered publicly, that his wider body of work in first-class cricket is what they mark him on, after shunting him out of the side twice since his debut in 2018. Since his initial run of six straight Tests from debut, this current run of four is his longest stretch, but even then, there was 11 months between his return Test against India and the first Test of this Ashes series.In a comfortable setting, his home ground, he showed what the selectors have seen in him and what has made him so prolific at domestic level.His intent was a feature on the first night. He started brightly with a classy clip off his toes in the first over, and there was a trademark cut shot backward of point later in the evening. He showed toughness in the shadows, pinned on the hand by Ben Stokes that split his finger open, but he calmly got through to stumps unperturbed.On the second morning, when Marnus Labuschagne and Smith were turned inside out by the class of James Anderson and the velocity of Mark Wood, Harris applied himself better than he has at any stage of his Test career. He defended well, playing inside and under his eye-line far better than he has done previously. He picked off the limited scoring balls that came patiently. There were three driven threes to show off his control and prove he could rein in his penchant for trying to over-hit the ball.Marcus Harris rode his luck but was eventually done in by James Anderson•Cricket Australia via Getty ImagesHe did have some luck. He survived two stupendous overs from Anderson amid a vintage six-over spell prior to lunch that yielded figures of 1 for 1. He was given out lbw to Stokes only to overturn it on review thanks to an inside edge, and even took the opportunity to sledge Hot Spot in the process on the stump mic. Harris jumped down the track wildly and needlessly to a ball from Jack Leach that spun down the leg side but Jos Buttler missed the difficult chance. It was the luck he needed having fallen to two spectacular catches from Buttler in Adelaide while the gloveman gave Labuschagne two lives and Smith one in the same game.He was also beaten countless times and played 20 shots that were not in control. But, eventually, his luck ran out as Anderson returned to deliver another world-class spell. Harris was forced to play at a ball angled into off stump from around the wicket only for it to nip away late, catch the edge and find the safe hands of Joe Root at first slip.For all the selectors’ faith, all the promise he showed, and all the belief he may glean from this innings, the kryptonite is still there and readily accessible for any good bowling attack to expose. He’s been out 11 times in Test cricket to right-arm seamers coming around the wicket, averaging 20.81, while he averages 38.40 to right-arm seamers from over the wicket.But his contribution in this Test match cannot be overstated. No other player in the game has come close to his performance with the bat after one innings each. As fluent as Root’s 50 was on day one, it came in less than half the time and deliveries Harris survived on a tricky track.Australia needed it badly. They still haven’t made a total of 300 or more without a 50-plus contribution from one of Warner, Smith or Labuschagne since February 2019, 18 Tests ago. Head, Cameron Green and Alex Carey all failed when they were needed most in the absence of significant scores from the senior trio. Harris’ half-century won’t buy him another 17 Test innings from the selectors on its own. But it is something to build on.

In this excerpt from Alex Blackwell’s new book, she looks to the future with optimism

Alex Blackwell19-Feb-2022Fair GameIt’s been a hard road for women’s cricket to get where it is today and there is still a long journey ahead. But if we continue the trajectory from that incredible moment at the MCG, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Although I’m stepping back from the game, I will always remain connected to it. Cricket has shaped so many aspects of my life and has been hugely positive. I want more people to have the opportunity to experience the joy that playing this wonderful sport brought to my life. From the moment I received my first proper cricket bat with the intense smell of linseed oil on English willow, to the sensation of hitting my first six right out of the sweet spot of that bat, to learning the difficult art of bowling a wrong’un or learning how to take a two-handed diving catch and finish the move with the tumbling roll, these physical sensations kept me wanting more. But it is the amazing friendships I have formed with women and men from all over the world, through this special game called cricket, which I will treasure the most.Related

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So I want to finish by imagining an ideal future for cricket. If I was suddenly transported 20 years into the future and was checking in on the state of the game, what would I hope to see? What does a cricket utopia look like?It looks like a completely level playing field between men and women. There’s no longer any sense that the men’s game is of any higher priority or importance than the women’s game. Men’s cricket is no longer the default. The media coverage and public interest is split equally – and sometimes the women are ahead in this regard. Thanks to incredible marketing efforts and increased media coverage, sponsors have flocked to women’s cricket, realising what a hot commodity it is and wanting their businesses to be associated with something so special.Blackwell gets a guard of honour in her last WBBL game, in 2019•Getty ImagesAll players in the Australian women’s team are household names. The team is made up of women from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds and they are equally adored and celebrated. The players feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to cricket – their differences and quirks are embraced and incorporated into the team culture. The Australian public loves them, not just for their amazing feats on the field but because they are interesting people with lives and passions away from sport who set a great example in so many different ways. Past women’s players are held in equally high regard as their male counterparts and the history of the team is regularly celebrated by administrators and current players. Past female legends of our game are lead commentators in men’s and women’s cricket, not just for radio but also front and centre on our screens, with their naturally grey hair and sun-aged skin.In boardrooms across the country I see equal numbers of men and women discussing the game and working to keep making improvements. Women can afford to commit to these roles because their time is valued as much as men’s and they have been paid equally for many years now. I can see many past players among these board members, leading discussions through their knowledge, experience and passion. When they speak, everyone stops to listen and their opinions are respected and acted upon.I can see women in leadership positions in the Cricket Australia headquarters too. Past players haven’t been lost to the sport due to burnout, domestic players have degrees in a whole range of specialties after being supported to study during their careers. They’re energised and excited to bring their unique skill sets to the organisation that supported them and continue to drive things forward for the next generation. The halls of our great stadiums are adorned with portraits of past players – male and female legends of the game appear side by side. Those past female players, the invisible giants of our game, are now recognised and celebrated regularly for the contributions they made to our sport against the tide. The rich history of gay women in cricket and their positive impact in the evolution of the women’s game is spoken about openly and celebrated.As I walk past the nets at the SCG prior to the New Year’s Test I can see the Australian men’s Test team being put through their paces by head coach Ellyse Perry. This group of young men are awed to be in her presence and have so much respect for this incredible cricketer they grew up watching dominate the domestic and international arenas. No one asks the players any questions about what it’s like to have a female coach; it’s no longer an anomaly or a novelty.Looking around at the elite men’s and women’s teams across the country, I can see a diversity that truly reflects the Australian population. Players whose heritage lies in the cricket-loving South Asian nations are flourishing and the sport has also attracted many people with backgrounds that haven’t been traditionally associated with cricket, such as Thailand and Sudan. In the media I see beautiful photos of the most recent Allan Border Medal winner celebrating with his husband and their daughter. They walked into the event with pride and were captioned correctly as husbands in every photo.What if the likes of Ellyse Perry went on to coach top men’s teams and having female coaches in men’s cricket was normalised?•Matt King/Getty ImagesAll over the world I can see our players proudly representing themselves and their country. Global tournaments for women have exploded and alongside the WBBL and the Hundred, the women’s Indian Premier League has expanded rapidly and attracts talent from all over the world. The Caribbean Premier League also has a thriving women’s competition, and the FairBreak Global tournament has become the key event in the calendar – this two-week invitational tournament has become the highest-paying T20 tournament for women in the world, and women from Associate cricket nations such as Botswana, Oman and China are stars of the show.Recently retired women’s international cricketers continue to make a great living from playing in short T20 tournaments all over the world. The television and live-stream coverage is excellent – of better standard than the men’s because the women have been quicker to embrace the use of cutting-edge technology which has enhanced the viewer experience. This was a big step to achieving equality with the men’s game, because more and more viewers tuned into women’s cricket to witness the interaction with artificial intelligence and virtual reality technologies. The success in the women’s game convinced the men to be open to the opportunities as well and interest has risen across the board. There is all kinds of data available that helps fans understand the sport better – from the heart rate of a bowler in the death overs in a tight T20 match to the fatigue levels of a player batting out two full days of a Test. All games are accessible on demand for viewers everywhere.Stepping back to the grassroots level, I can see that cricket has embraced all different forms of the game. Modified formats like indoor cricket and Last Man Stands (which was renamed to Last Player Stands, and not one single person kicked up a fuss, because gender-neutral language is just expected now) all fall under the Cricket Australia banner and it has helped the sport to thrive. Cricket is no longer just for those who have an entire weekend day available to play each week. Instead there are people taking part on weeknights, parents playing alongside their kids in social competitions, and competitive grassroots leagues that can be played with rubber cricket balls, encouraging more people to play, with fewer concerns about concussion and injuries.I see mums coaching their sons’ teams, boys and girls sharing training facilities equally and cheering each other on during matches. The diversity that is now present at the top levels of the game is visible here too. Cricket teams are made up of people from all different cultures and all walks of life, brought together by a love for the game.The final of a Sydney women’s social competition is held during a lunch break at the New Year’s Test match at the SCG. The leaders of our game recognise that it’s not just kids who will relish that opportunity and understand the importance of engaging adult women and the benefits that will come from these opportunities. Most importantly, community cricket is a space where people of all genders feel safe and welcome and everyone is able to play in a team that matches their gender identity without fear or anxiety.Blackwell with her partner, the former England medium-pacer Lynsey Askew, at the 2016 Allan Border Medal ceremony•Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesThere is a strong link between elite and grassroots cricket. Reduced training loads for professional players to foster better work-life balance have not only allowed players to gain qualifications and experience that prepare them for life after cricket, they have also given them more time to reconnect with their clubs. Community cricketers know the players who have come through the pathways they are a part of now and regularly go to games to support them. When professional players are introduced to the field – at the ground and on TV – they are identified by their club as a way to acknowledge that lifelong connection. Elite players take the time to attend club training sessions, where they can enjoy quality facilities and coaching in addition to giving back to the community that set them on the path to where they are today.Premier cricket competitions across Australia are stronger than ever before. The number of teams in each grade has been reduced and club cricketers are playing alongside elite players during the regular mid-week matches held under lights. These matches are the highlight of training each week for elite players who are spending less time in the nets and more time playing matches. The club players are genuine team-mates with some of the best elite players in the country and they see a definite pathway to the next level.Access to the best grounds is shared equally between the men’s and women’s teams and fixturing takes into consideration the opportunity for players to support other teams from their club and the WBBL and MBBL teams from their state. There are strong and definite pathways from junior cricket through to premier cricket for women and men, with shared high-performance hubs and facilities to build the connection. The ease of live streaming and the plethora of streaming services available means that grade competitions are now broadcast and the increased visibility leads to better sponsorship deals at this level. This allows for better facilities and more ability for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds to participate without having to navigate a large financial barrier. The aspiration to reach the premier level has increased – particularly for women – and these reinvigorated competitions keep people engaged in the sport longer and make the elite levels stronger.Hachette AustraliaEven though things have changed significantly for the better, no one is letting their guard down. They recognise how easily things can slip back into the status quo and they keep on working to make sure the doors open even wider and let more people in.This all feels like a distant dream, but 20 years is a long time. Who would have imagined 20 years ago, when my elite cricket career was just getting started, that we would have reached the great heights we have now? I experienced so much positive change throughout my two decades in the sport and I know what is possible.In the future, I hope I’m sitting down to read a book by my former Sydney Thunder teammate Phoebe Litchfield – who was 20 years my junior when we first formed a match-winning partnership together – charting the amazing changes she has experienced since her debut. I hope her story describes something like I have imagined in this chapter, but who knows? It could be even better.

England opener focussed on fightback after grim campaign in Australia

Matt Roller31-Mar-2022It was hard not to be drawn into the romance of Haseeb Hameed’s England recall last year. His rise as a teenager – a thousand-run season, a fifty on Test debut, praise from Virat Kohli – preceded a dramatic fall, which saw him released by his home county, Lancashire, at 22 after his form had vanished.Reinvigorated by a move to Nottinghamshire, he started the 2021 season with twin hundreds against Worcestershire before making 112 for a County Select XI against an India attack led by Jasprit Bumrah. That was enough for him to win back his Test spot and after a false start via a first-baller on his return at Lord’s, he made half-centuries at Leeds and The Oval to earn his place on the winter’s Ashes tour.But the shine soon wore off. Before he had even arrived in Australia there were doubts as to whether Hameed’s game – in particular, his strength against spin, rather than high pace – would be suited to the conditions. He batted for nearly four hours across the first Test in making 25 and 27 but as England’s tour began to disintegrate, so did he: scores of 6, 0, 0, 7, 6 and 9 saw him dropped for the final Test, and then again for the “red-ball reset” trip to the Caribbean.Now, Hameed is back on the outside, looking out on a snowy Trent Bridge from the pavilion long room and reflecting on a tough winter. He only turned 25 in January, but his career has already had more ups and downs than the price of bitcoin.Broad to miss Notts’ Championship opener

Stuart Broad will not play in Nottinghamshire’s opening game of the County Championship season away at Sussex next week as the club look to manage his return to cricket after a break from the game.
“He certainly won’t start, then we’ll see where we go after that,” Peter Moores, Notts’ head coach, told ESPNcricinfo. “We’re always careful with bowlers, especially after breaks. He was a real influence for us last year and having Stuart around is always positive for us.”
“I’m very hopeful that we’ll see him for the second or third game and hopefully we’ll have a full squad to pick from,” Steven Mullaney, the club captain, added. “If it was my decision, he’d have been on that tour, but it’s not. It would not surprise me one bit if he’s England’s leading wicket-taker by the end of the summer.”

“I’ve had a lot of setbacks in my short career – and even growing up as a junior I had setbacks – but one thing I’ve always been able to count on, thankfully, is finding a way to get back up from rock bottom,” Hameed says. “I guess this is another opportunity to do that.”Of course, getting dropped out of the team, and not getting selected for this most recent tour is difficult but hopefully I can count on those experiences to come back again. In my head, there is no doubt that, being 25 years old, I have got so much more to give and I’m looking forward to the future.”Hameed’s technique – and specifically his low hands, which appear better suited to low, slow pitches than those found in Australia – came under the scanner as the series wore on. He retreated further and further into his shell, repeatedly edging through to Alex Carey behind the stumps.Mark Ramprakash, who was England’s batting coach when Hameed first broke into the side, hinted in a newspaper column this week that they had picked the wrong horse for the wrong course, saying he was “absolutely convinced he would have been successful in the West Indies – certainly in Antigua and Barbados”. Hameed’s own appraisal is that the pitches in Australia were “extremely challenging”, and that his lean returns should be viewed within that context.”A lot of people speak about games being suited to certain conditions and we saw there were a couple of pretty good wickets – in the first Test matches in particular – in the West Indies,” he says. “Do I feel like I could’ve done well there? I do. As a player, of course you do. But they made that decision and it was not in my control.”I ended up speaking to Mike Hussey [who was working on the series as a broadcaster] when I didn’t play in the last Test match and he was saying he’d never seen conditions like it. I think that’s been neglected a little bit, actually – how challenging the conditions were. It was like being in England, but with an extra 10kph in the wickets… because it was nipping and seaming off the deck quite considerably.Hameed scored 80 runs in eight innings in the Ashes•Getty Images”You’ve got to add a bit of realism to it. That’s not excuses, that’s just pure facts. At the same time, do I feel like I could have done better? Of course. There were a few mistakes made, individually and as a group. We went into our shells a little bit after the first two Test matches and focused a little bit more on surviving or batting time as opposed to looking to score runs. Looking back now, I don’t think that was the right mindset, either for me or for the team.”Peter Moores, head coach at Notts, agrees with Hameed’s assessment. “It was about as tough as it gets. [He was playing on] pitches that had a bit in them for the bowlers, against one of the best attacks that’s been around for a long time, so it was tough to go in first. He learned a huge amount. I’ve said to him that it won’t get much tougher than that.”A lot of the England players, they got exposed in certain ways. No-one will ever question Has’ commitment to want to do well. Often it’s more of a technical thing that they’re getting exposed at that level, and they’ve got to come away and adjust but I’ve been really pleased with his approach. He’s a student of a game and a craftsman. He wants to master the craft of batting and he’s thrown himself right back into it and taken those lessons from that tour.”Related

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England are in transition, looking for a new managing director, head coach (or two) and potentially a captain, too, ahead of their next Test against New Zealand in June. Hameed knows that a strong start to this Championship season is the only way he can present a case for selection, and insists his focus is on the here and now.”The way I see it is that I’ve now had the opportunity to play against India and Australia in their home countries and most people would say it doesn’t get much tougher than that,” he says. “That’s a great experience for me to have in my first ten games. To have seven of those away from home, in the opposition’s backyard, will mean that I can count on those experiences to propel me forward.”There’s a series against New Zealand in June and then India are coming for that one Test they missed last year, and the likelihood is with the new people coming in, there might be a few changes again. But I’m focused now on doing as well as I can for Notts. Keeping things simple is important; you can’t aim to get into teams or put timelines on things.”It’s been good just being back. Of course it was difficult straight after [Australia] with everything that happened but I’m lucky that I’ve got good people around me and I’ve got to a place now where I’m just looking to the immediate future. I can’t think about June right now, even though I’ve obviously got that ambition to be there. I’m just trying to keep everything as simple as I can.”

No fancy tactics, big runs are what’s needed as England face hefty first-innings pursuit

Alan Gardner11-Jun-2022First, the good news. England hustled out the last five New Zealand wickets for 57 runs, conjuring the sort of fightback that their bowling coach, Jon Lewis, had hinted was possible after a footslogging (and self-inflicted) first day in the field at Trent Bridge. James Anderson and Stuart Broad were to the fore, as the Trent Bridge crowd engaged in a few lusty choruses of support.The bad news was that this belated display of incision came more than halfway through day two, as Daryl Mitchell’s teak-tough 190 set the tourists up for their highest-ever Test total in England.”They say Rome wasn’t built in a day, but I wasn’t on that particular job.” Brian Clough, the former Nottingham Forest manager whose statue can be found off the old market square in the city centre, was a man who knew plenty about winning – as well as providing memorable lines. He also had a soft spot for cricket, occasionally making the short trip across from Forest’s City Ground to watch a game at Trent Bridge.Brendon McCullum, at least these days, cuts a humbler figure with his public pronouncements, but he will be starting to get a clearer picture of the “particular job” in front of him. McCullum will have known that England’s Test fortunes would not be completely rebuilt over the course of their three-and-a-bit day win at Lord’s. But to put it in football parlance, the new-manager bounce has already worn off.Lewis had referenced McCullum’s “positive, upbeat” approach when asked how he would try to rally his troops. Doubtless the mood in the dressing room will have remained calm and relaxed, even as New Zealand cruised towards 500 still only five down – far removed from the more colourful approach to man-management preferred by Clough, who used everything from alcohol to physical confrontation to motivate his players.The fiery stuff may well come from Ben Stokes, who continued to charge up his learning curve as England Test captain. If he could console himself on the first day that his decision to insert New Zealand might not have backfired had his players held on to the chances that came their way, the problem on a blustery Saturday was where the opportunities were going to come from. When Mitchell did make a misjudgement during the morning session, lofting a straightforward catch to long-on, Matthew Potts produced the worst drop of England’s lengthy effort in the field.After the chaos of Lord’s, where Stokes was largely able to react to events unfolding at pace – other than during the partnership between Mitchell and Tom Blundell – here the onus was on his ability to pull the strings. “This is when he’ll start to find out about captaincy,” observed Graeme Swann on Sky’s commentary. And it was also where we started to find out how Stokes will tackle the challenge.Certainly, it was no surprise to see him launch into a lengthy spell with the ball – as he has done before in Colombo, Cape Town and Headingley – in an effort to turn things around single-handedly. That, too, despite concerns about his fitness in the build-up. Stokes was fifth into the attack, with England beginning to get desperate in their attempts to break another hefty Mitchell-Blundell stand, but again demonstrated his skill as a swing bowler, rather than battering ram, as well as that famed physical stamina.When the wicket did fall, it was Stokes with the catch at mid-off. The next man in, Michael Bracewell, then survived several close calls as Stokes settled into his work during an 11-over stint either side of lunch. Pragmatism had by now resulted in a cover sweeper being deployed for Mitchell, but when he nevertheless stepped out to crunch Stokes for four, there was a kick at the turf from the frustrated bowler.Another substantial partnership ensued, but England regrouped following a delay for rain. Following initial four-over bursts, Anderson and Broad had been left to their devices in the outfield – their energies largely devoted to England’s many unsuccessful attempts to get the ball changed. Maybe they could have been turned to sooner. But having switched back to the Pavilion End, Anderson successfully preyed on Bracewell’s nerves as he approached fifty, ten dots balls to the debutant followed by an anguished prod to slip.Stokes had begun the day in the cordon, while Joe Root was off the field. But with Potts now deployed on the bumper duty – a role Stokes himself had performed at Lord’s – the captain took up station at deep midwicket. During the right-hand, left-hand partnership between Mitchell and Bracewell, Stokes’ commitment to the role extended to jogging all the way from one side of the ground across to the other.As Broad returned with a two-wicket burst and England began to sense that an end to their toil was near, Stokes could be seen leaning over the boundary to sign autographs between deliveries, content that his players knew what was required. Clearly being all things to English cricket isn’t too weighty a burden yet.For a man as competitive as Stokes, there doubtless will be plenty to pick apart in the debrief. Only twice has a team inserted by England made a higher first-innings total; even Nasser Hussain’s infamous Brisbane call resulted in Australia being dismissed for fewer than 500. But an encouraging start with the bat – aided by New Zealand dropping a couple of chances in return – will aid his sleep tonight. No fancy tactics, big runs are what’s needed. Even Old Big ‘Ead could tell you that.

A big blip in the wristspin magician’s career was corrected on Sunday night, and the world seems a fairer place for it

Sidharth Monga30-May-20224:14

Rashid Khan: ‘My objective is to build pressure’

It is one of the anomalies of T20 cricket that until Sunday, Rashid Khan, one of the handful of all-time greats of the format, had not been part of a winning XI in a big T20 tournament final.He had won the Desert Challenge in the UAE and the Shpageeza Cricket League at home in 2017, but these are not tournaments where you encounter the best players of the world.There is no obvious correlation: it is not like teams exhaust their purse on him [although they should] and end up with lesser teams, nor does he suffer from stage fright on the big night. For some reason, it hadn’t happened.Related

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It’s one of those things, which he corrected with the IPL 2022 final.Rashid was glad he finally ticked it off. “It’s the biggest achievement of your career as a player to be part of a winning IPL team,” Rashid told Star Sports after the match. “For this competition, you have to be well prepared and be prepared for all areas. Then only you will be able to win a big competition like this.”A win here needs a lot of hard work, a lot of practice, a lot of good energy, and I think we as a team did really well. It is one of the biggest achievements in my cricket career.”Now to an anomaly that can be explained unlike this one. Rashid has been playing all around the world in all T20 tournaments but has never ended as the clear highest wicket-taker. Twice he has been the joint-highest wicket-taker, but usually you don’t see him among the top wicket-takers.It was the reason one of the Sunrisers Hyderabad coaches, Brian Lara, gave for not retaining him prior to the latest season. “I have a great respect for Rashid Khan but I believe we have the right combination,” Lara told Star Sports. “Rashid Khan was someone who opposition teams decided to defend against, he was not much of a wicket-taker.”

In eight overs in the two playoff matches [against Royals], Rashid conceded only one boundary, that too thanks to a misfield. More incredibly, there were zero boundary attempts against him. Twenty per cent of an innings is too long a cease fire, but Rashid left Royals no choice.

That’s because teams prefer to sit in when Rashid bowls. And Rashid, like someone who truly gets T20, doesn’t go chasing individual glory. He keeps creating wickets for his team-mates.Traditional stats will put Rashid at No. 8 this year, a good eight wickets behind the leader, but his economy rate of 6.6 gets even better on ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats. Only two bowlers – Sunil Narine and Mohsin Khan – have a better Smart Economy than Rashid this IPL. Narine, like Rashid, is another true T20 great who doesn’t go chasing wickets because he knows his bowling creates wickets for others. On total bowling impact in our Smart Stats, Rashid sits at No. 5.There is no bigger example of his impact than the two playoffs Gujarat Titans played against Rajasthan Royals where the opposition basically wrote off his four overs. In Qualifier 1, it was quite a sight to see the best batter of the tournament, with only three wickets down and time running out, choosing to just play out the 16th over, bowled by Rashid. Jos Buttler knew he just could not take any risks.In eight overs in the two playoff matches, Rashid conceded only one boundary, that too thanks to a misfield. More incredibly, there were zero boundary attempts against him. Twenty per cent of an innings is too long a cease fire, but Rashid left Royals no choice.ESPNcricinfo LtdFor, like Narine, Rashid has all the ingredients. There is hardly a batter who can claim to pick Rashid because he can bowl legbreaks with the wrong’un release. And if you are not picking a bowler out of the hand, you need one of the two: either a half-volley or the ability to step out. Just like Narine, Rashid’s mastery of length is immaculate, and his pace makes sure you can’t step out to him. You can still guess and try to go after him, but that will give him wickets. And Royals – with R Ashwin batting at No. 7 and at times higher – were in no position to give him wickets. It was in his four overs that Royals lost both the matches.Rashid did have to make a mid-season adjustment, though, after the left-handed opener from Sunrisers, Abhishek Sharma, got stuck into him. On that day, Rashid made up for it with a match-winning 31 of 11 with the bat, but for the rest of the season, he made sure nobody got the better of his bowling.”That was something I had in mind that I should bring my length back a little bit,” Rashid told Star Sports during the final. “That is because of the wickets in Mumbai and here as well. Because of the red soil, I had to adjust myself because the length I bowl elsewhere was not helping because the ball was coming on nicely and there wasn’t enough turn for me in the wickets. So, I pulled it back a little bit, and that’s why I got better economy, and that helped the team in the middle.”It’s not like that adjustment would have impressed Sunrisers much because he didn’t suddenly become a “wicket-taker”. But Sunrisers’ loss was always going to be another team’s gain. There was a big tussle for Rashid at the 2022 auction, to the extent that Titans’ coach Ashish Nehra arrived at a unique arrangement to pay both his first draft picks, Hardik Pandya and Rashid, equally. Now Rashid has an IPL title, and the world seems a fairer place.

After a tepid home summer, the New Zealand seamer is focusing on growing his game further. He talks about being the fourth prong of a highly skilled attack

Alan Gardner30-May-2022Kyle Jamieson is a man of impressive numbers. His 6ft 8in frame, for a start, puts him among the tallest sportsmen who aren’t involved in the NBA. Then there is his Test bowling record. Since making his debut just over two years ago, Jamieson has taken 66 wickets at 18.72 in 14 Tests, striking once every 43.5 balls. Few among those who have taken a minimum of 50 wickets have combined such a low average with such a lethal strike rate in Test cricket since Sydney Barnes more than 100 years ago.You might also throw in the Rs 15 crore – that is 150,000,000 rupees, just over US$2 million – paid by Royal Challengers Bangalore to acquire Jamieson’s services in the 2021 IPL auction. Although nine wickets and an economy of 9.60 for that price tag were eye-catching for the wrong reasons. For now, the IPL remains unfinished business.None of these markers mean too much to Jamieson. “No, I’m not really a stats guy,” he says, long limbs squeezed into one of the white plastic seats in front of the pavilion in Hove. The ICC’s No. 5-ranked bowler, and self-described “fourth prong” of New Zealand’s Test attack, is staring out into the gloom that has descended on Sussex’s tight little ground, rain drumming intermittently on the roof, as he considers a series of questions about just how good he is, and just how good he be.Related

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“For me, that stuff sort of just happens, it comes and goes, and it’ll go up and go down over the course of my career,” he says. “If I’m trying to get better and learn and grow, those things are going to take care of themselves. I think sometimes that [your average] does measure where you are at but sometimes it doesn’t necessarily reflect that. You can be getting better and grow as a person, as a player, but it’s not necessarily reflected in the numbers.”It’s easy to see why people get excited by Jamieson, numbers aside. Despite being more of a batter while growing up, he has taken giant strides – quite literally – since he moved his focus to bowling in his late teens. Able to deliver the ball from a height of 2.3m, and to generate the sort of awkward bounce that makes playing forward an act of folly, Jamieson can also swing it both ways from a fuller length than most, all while generating speeds up to 140kph/87mph. Such a formidable array of attributes has seen him described as pretty much the perfect fast bowler.He chuckles wryly at that. While his height is simply a blessing of the genes – “I can certainly thank my parents for that” – there has been plenty of hard work put in since Dayle Hadlee, older brother of Richard, spotted Jamieson’s potential as a bowler ahead of the 2014 Under-19 World Cup.”I’m just trying to grow my game and I don’t think there’s any sort of perfect fast bowler,” Jamieson says. “There’s a lot of different guys that have done it a lot of different ways and been very successful for a long period of time. I’m just trying to grab little bits from those guys and add to my game, where it’s applicable, and try and get to my definition of perfect.”What would that definition be? “There’s a few little things that I’ll probably keep to myself,” he says with a smile. “But yeah, I have a pretty clear vision in my head around the cricketer I want to be. I’m just trying to chase that as much as I can. That’s what I’ll hang my hat on in the time to come.”