A fan pays tribute to the New Zealand legend, waxing lyrical about Crowe’s place in the pantheon of cricketing greats

G.G. Sivaraman07-Mar-2016Once-in-a-generation cricketers come by, well, once in a generation. Martin Crowe was one of them – a prince among batsmen.With all due respect to Sutcliffe and Turner – and Hadlee and Chatfield too – New Zealand cricket may well be conceived of in terms of pre- and post-Martin Crowe eras. Such was the incandescence of his batting, such was the luminosity of his presence.In decorum and demeanour, as well as in mastery of batting diction, Crowe stood tall as quite the consummate professional. His command of batting grammar and finesse with bat in hand was the stuff of cricketing poetry. If near-contemporaries Wright, Greatbatch and brother Jeff were workmanlike in their approach to eking out runs, Martin did it like a millionaire. He had cricket shots aplenty to spend and his ability to spot the ball early and contemplate the geometry of a cricket field gave him a regal flair.Here was a player who knew the game like the back of his hand. Destiny waited to be scripted even as brain and brawn combined to dish out severe treatment to many an earnest delivery. The sports field was but a theatre and the King had to take centre stage. There were shades of his celebrated cousin Russell Crowe, except that Martin wrote his own scripts.As captain, his imaginative approach to the 1992 World Cup ignited new possibilities in a satiated game. Indeed the unorthodox gambit of Dipak Patel opening the bowling rekindles many a memory. The slings of misfortune perhaps ambushed the ambition of holding the Cup. That said, Crowe’s captaincy and cricketing skills embellished the cricket world down under.Crowe, the elder statesman of the game, is credited with creating the forerunner to the nascent T20 form of the game. His articulate writings fondly recall his exploits at the batting crease and showcase his shrewd cricket brain and all-round personality.Sadly, his life at the world’s crease has been all too short, a magnificent Test innings abruptly abbreviated to a truncated T20 knock, as it were. Even as fans egged him on to stay, destiny willed otherwise. Brave in batting, his determination to stay the course shone as bright as many of his splendid battles at the crease, before the flame flickered one last time.RIP Martin Crowe. The world of gentleman cricketers is poorer with your departure, but the cricketing heavens are now lit up with the radiance of your presence and craft.

Plays of the day from the IPL match between Rising Pune Supergiants and Delhi Daredevils in Vishakapatnam

Deivarayan Muthu17-May-2016Who let the dog out?
Five balls into the first over of Rising Pune Supergiants’ innings, a dog ran onto the field and seated itself in front of Rishabh Pant. As the fielder tried to shoo it away only to have it roll around on the grass in a playful manner, Deepak Chahar, who was making his IPL debut, broke into laughter in the dugout. More entertainment was in store: Chris Morris got into the act, luring the friendly intruder towards the boundary before the goundstaff interrupted his trick. A chase around the 30-yard circle ensued before Nathan Coulter-Nile attempted to redirect the dog with a towel. Eventually the dog exited, and decided to seat itself in the Daredevils dugout instead.The helmet-crusher
In a less friendly encounter, Coulter-Nile unleashed a short ball that shot up off the slow surface and beat George Bailey for pace. Bailey got into an awkward position while aiming to pull and top-edged the ball flush onto his helmet grille. The impact was such that the safety strap was detached and the helmet flew behind the stumps, with bits coming off and flying towards square leg. Bailey was shaken up and Coulter-Nile instantly went to check on his countryman. In the end, thankfully, Bailey and Coulter-Nile could laugh it off.Dravid almost gets a football injury
Delhi Daredevils mentor Rahul Dravid was busy talking up his side’s playoff chances in a television interview ahead of the toss. Some of Supergiants’ players were warming up with the customary football game nearby. MS Dhoni, who had shown off his football skills behind the stumps by intercepting late cuts from Manan Vohra and Virat Kohli with his right leg last month, was part of the game. He misfired here, though, accidentally kicking the ball towards Dravid, who had to hurriedly half-duck and half-sway out of the way. Of course, Dhoni was quick to apologise.Irfan’s redemption
Irfan Pathan found some swing with the ball but was less effective in the field when he was slow to react at short fine leg, letting one slip through his legs for four when JP Duminy went down low and swept offspinner R Ashwin. Roughly five overs later, Duminy shuffled across the off stump for a scoop against a low full toss from Ashok Dinda, hoping he could beat Irfan again. Instead, Irfan dived forward to pluck a low catch.The questionable lbw
Legspinner Adam Zampa stumped Sanju Samson with a ripping legbreak in his first over. He proceeded to undo Pant with a googly in his second over. He was third time lucky in his third over, rather literally: Karun Nair was given lbw, a questionable decision from umpire C Shamshuddin. Zampa had pitched a legbreak on off and hit Nair on the back thigh. The ball looked to be missing the off stump but Shamshuddin’s finger went up instantly.Rahane on the prowl
Supergiants’ bowlers used the slow Visakhapatnam pitch as an ally to shackle Daredevils. The fielders shackled them further. Rahane set the tone when he threw himself to his left from backward point and stopped Shreyas Iyer’s cut with one hand. Bailey patted Rahane on the back while Dhoni applauded warmly. Five overs later, Rahane ran in from the same position and intercepted a bunt from Karun Nair. Having seen the fielder swoop in, Nair retreated. By the time Rahane lobbed the ball onto the stumps with his left hand, Nair was home. The batsman, ultimately, pinched a single off the ricochet. All is not fair in life and cricket.

David Warner’s brazenness upfront has allowed Shikhar Dhawan opportunities to discreetly put together pieces of his batting, and the results are starting to show

Arun Venugopal in Visakhapatnam08-May-2016Shikhar Dhawan’s last five innings prior to Sunday – 53*, 45, 56*, 11, 47 – lend themselves to more than one narrative. While the bleeding obvious would be consistency and the weight of his contributions – three of those came in winning causes – the more compelling story is how he has played the role of a marathoner for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Of the five innings listed above, he has been dismissed before the 14th over just once. All this after he managed only 16 runs in his first three innings.Dhawan admits he has been empowered to play the way he has because of David Warner’s presence. Warner’s brazenness in the Powerplay has allowed Dhawan to discreetly put together pieces of his batting. The fire and ice routine has been particularly effective in chasing down totals – Warner would go for broke and swiftly prune the target, while Dhawan’s holding act helped close out games.Dhawan’s knock against Mumbai Indians was in the same mould, but the difference lay in how he had to set the game up rather than having a target to chase down. Warner bossed the bowling as usual in an 85-run opening stand in 9.5 overs. Dhawan, then on 34 off 26 balls, was steady without being imposing, with most of his runs coming via dabs and steers to third man. In between, there were a few ill-timed pull shots too.Sunrisers managed only eight runs off 13 balls following Warner’s dismissal. They also lost Kane Williamson cheaply. The pressure was on Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh to ensure Sunrisers didn’t waste a strong start. Dhawan endured another two-over lull which yielded just nine runs. But he looked confident of making up for the slowdown.The take-off point, according to him, was after the second strategic time-out when Sunrisers were 102 for 2 in 14 overs. Yuvraj was the first to switch to attack with a brace of boundaries off Kieron Pollard, who conceded 14 runs in the over. Dhawan continued to feed Yuvraj the strike, and he played a big hand in another 14-run over, off Mitchell McClenaghan.”It was crucial for us to build a partnership. That’s why we took a bit of time and made the game a bit slow for a few overs,” Dhawan said after Sunrisers’ 85-run win. “After the second break [timeout] we started targeting all the bowlers because only five-six overs were left and we wanted to achieve a good target. Once Yuvi [Yuvraj] paaji was also set we knew we had to change the gears. Yuvi played amazingly well, especially the way he was striking the ball after coming back from an injury.”Dhawan took off in the 17th over with a stunning combination of the cunning and power to rattle Jasprit Bumrah. He backed away and then extended his arms to carve the first ball over third man for four. The second ball, a yorker, didn’t fetch him runs, but Dhawan sold Bumrah the dummy the next delivery. Seeing Dhawan had given himself room, Bumrah bowled the off-cutter around off stump, but Dhawan tweaked his plan at the last moment to shuffle across and scoop the ball over fine leg. A demoralised Bumrah then sent down a leg-stump full toss which was flicked for four behind square.A broader range of leg-side strokes has been a refreshing aspect of Dhawan’s batting over the last year, and 47 off his 82 runs – a majority of those behind square – against Mumbai came on the on side. He said strokes like the shuffle-and-scoop helped him throw bowlers off gear. “[I] know I am good at playing those shots, and when a bowler has a good slower one or when he is bowling two-three kind of deliveries I try to disturb bowler’s line by doing that stuff.”Dhawan’s dot-ball percentage stood at 29, but the rapid burst at the end helped him achieve his fastest knock yet in IPL 2016. “When we decided to change our gears I had spent enough time so I was comfortable and knew what the ball was going to do,” Dhawan said. “Before that because we were losing wickets we couldn’t take big chances. I was playing according to the situation [but staying] patient for those particular moments came handy, and once when we attacked the opposition it went our way.”

Stats highlights from a rain-interrupted third day at Old Trafford

S Rajesh24-Jul-20162 Instances of England not enforcing the follow-on after a first-innings lead of more than 391, which is their lead in this Test. Against West Indies in Kingston in 1930, they batted again in a Timeless Test despite a lead of 563 – George Headley scored a double-hundred in the second innings to save that game for West Indies – while in 1928, in Don Bradman’s debut Test, England batted again after taking a lead of 399 in Brisbane, and won by a record margin of 675 runs. There are only two other instances of any team not enforcing a follow-on after a lead of more than 391, both by Australia against England: in 2006 in Brisbane (lead 445), and in 2013 in Adelaide (lead 398).1 Instance of England taking a bigger first-innings lead in Tests against Pakistan: at Trent Bridge in 1954, they took a lead of 401 and went on to win by an innings and 129 runs. Only five times have Pakistan conceded a lead bigger than 391 in Tests, twice when batting second, and three times when batting first.7 Fifty-plus scores for Misbah-ul-Haq in his last ten Test innings. In these ten innings, which started in July last year, Misbah has scored 577 runs at an average of 64.11, with two hundreds and five fifties.60 The partnership between Misbah and Wahab Riaz, Pakistan’s third best for the ninth wicket in Tests in England.16 Instances when Pakistan have been eight down for less than 120 in Tests in England, out of the 77 occasions when they have batted long enough for No. 10 to have a bat. There were five such instances in the 2010 series alone.39 Wahab Riaz’s score, the fourth best by a Pakistan No. 10 batsman in Tests against England. The three higher scores were all made before 1985, with the highest being 90, by Sarfraz Nawaz in Lahore in 1984.92.45 Alastair Cook’s strike rate so far in the second innings (49 not out off 53), his best in a Test innings in which he has faced at least 25 deliveries. His previous best was 92.30 (36 off 39) against India at Lord’s in 2007.402 The highest fourth-innings total at Old Trafford, by Australia in 1981. The next best is 394, by West Indies in 2007. In terms of overs batted, the highest in the fourth innings here is 145.1, by India in 1959.

Trigger movement, stance, backlift and technique outside off in focus as India opener goes through an extended workout on the third day of India’s training camp

Akshay Gopalakrishnan in Bangalore01-Jul-2016The third day of India’s training camp in Bangalore ahead of their West Indies sojourn was another intense affair, with an emphasis firmly on skill-sets. Offspinner R Ashwin, returning from personal leave, and opener Shikhar Dhawan were primarily in focus, even as the rest of the squad along with a few members of the India A and Karnataka team were also in attendance at the National Cricket Academy.Ashwin, among the first few to come out for training, had a brief conversation with Anil Kumble, his role model, before rolling his arm over to a catching man to loosen his stiff shoulders. He then sent down a string of deliveries at an empty net. Once all systems were go, he began bowling at the batsmen. His variations particularly stoked the interest of everyone present early on, before the attention shifted to Dhawan.The opening batsman started off with a solid session against Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur, the Mumbai pacer, on the centre pitch. Once he was satisfied with his brief stint in the middle, Dhawan came over for throwdowns from batting coach Sanjay Bangar and Raghavendra, the team’s throwdown specialist.Shortly into the session, Bangar placed a fourth stump, a few feet outside off, next to where Dhawan was standing. The positioning was such that the stump was within Dhawan’s eyeline. It seemed as if there was a conscious plan to work on his feet movement and judgement outside off stump to away-going deliveries hurled at a fair clip.The video analyst set up a camera around where Dhawan was batting to record his trigger movements and his stance. After a few deliveries, Dhawan approached Bangar for an opinion on his wrist position while pressing forward. While returning to his mark, he looked at a group of journalists trying to decipher what he was trying to do. “Learning the basics,” he laughed.It seemed as though the plan was to eliminate his off-side weakness against the away-going delivery. “As a batsman, sometimes, your head position generally gives you a clear indication of where your off stump is,” Amol Muzumdar, the former Mumbai batsman and highest-capped Ranji Trophy cricketer, explained to ESPNcricinfo. “Generally, with a good stance, me being a right-hander, your right eye generally serves as an indication that that’s your off stump.”The method could act as two things. One is to know where your off stump is, and two, probably the bat, in your backlift, is going a little bit away. Then you get an immediate feedback that your bat is going away, or know where your off stump is.”Dhawan’s method was particularly intriguing, given his travails outside the off stump in Test matches. His general tendency to attack the ball has caused problems, which were exacerbated when India toured England in 2014. Dhawan was either caught behind or in the slips in three out of six innings, before being dropped for the final two Tests. The problem resurfaced in Australia later that year, where Dhawan also struggled against the white ball, which he generally is more comfortable facing.Dhawan’s technique outside the off stump has been in focus since his travails in England in 2014•AFPAakash Chopra, Dhawan’s former Delhi team-mate, felt it was a case of a lack of footwork creating doubts in his mind. “It’s a combination of, I think, two-three things,” he explained. “Obviously, his feet don’t move, and if your feet don’t move, you end up playing away from the body anyway. It gets rewarded in the shorter formats, so you don’t even think there is any need to change. And even though he likes to drive, when the ball is really full, he is on to his front foot and drives it well. But he gets stuck on the crease to anything that is in the in-between length. And even while his intention is to play from the crease, he doesn’t really go onto the back foot, and instead just stays there and flashes outside off.”Could it be an issue with his stance, perhaps? Chopra didn’t think so. “It’s not that it’s crouched or it’s too wide. It’s not too wide, neither too narrow in terms of his feet positioning, so it’s not that he’s falling over,” he observed. “But he definitely has to get into the habit of leaving balls outside off. T20 cricket and limited-overs cricket tell you to play away from the body; playing away from the body rewards you because if you get too close, you get cramped (for room).”Questions of whether Dhawan is temperamentally suited for Test cricket have been asked frequently, given the left-hander’s innate desire to attack. Muzumdar, however, felt that such batsmen were needed in a Test team. “Not everyone is cut out like M Vijay, who takes his time and leaves the ball outside off stump very well, which in the last 24 months he has been doing superbly for India,” he said. “KL Rahul, again, is solid in defence, so is someone like Pujara. So there is place for an attacking player who would take on the opposition. I think he is cut out for international cricket. We’ve seen his success and I think he is temperamentally built for international cricket.”Dhawan’s supreme confidence in his ability has been known right from his domestic days and is one of the distinct aspects of his game. Has that confidence, perhaps, translated to excessive flamboyance in Test cricket?”It could happen, there is no denying that,” Muzumdar said. “Again, it’s upto the high-performance athlete who would use that confidence to his own benefit. I think it depends, sometimes you may feel it’s overconfidence, but that’s the way he has played cricket ever since he announced himself against Australia at Mohali with that swashbuckling hundred in his debut match. Confidence is a double-edged sword.”But when that confidence works in his favour and he is at ease with himself and his surroundings, Dhawan’s batting makes for one of the most visceral joys in cricket. At the nets, he nailed a lovely straight drive that elicited a hurried leap from Bangar. Dhawan walked over to the coach and the two shared a laugh and patted each other on the back. Pleased with himself, a sprightly Dhawan strutted back to his crease humming a tune or two before gearing up to face the next ball. All seemed well with his world.

Partying lifestyle or a healthy one? Cricketers struggle with this dilemma in our Twitter round-up

Alex Bowden03-Sep-2016Mercifully this kind of thing…

—

Appears to have finally come to an end.No longer do we have to endure Kevin Pietersen’s “party” lifestyle. Hurray!Now we have to endure his wholesome lifestyle.

—

—

—

—

Whatever he’s doing, he’s doing it to a greater extent than you are. That’s probably what we’re meant to conclude from all of this.Just wait until he discovers lounging around watching TV. The sofa will cave under his relentless presence. The empty pizza boxes will tower above him…He hasn’t even been banging on about coffee. We’ve had to head to the Test Match Special commentary box for our obligatory coffee tweet.

—

When not working on TMS, James Taylor has been having an even more productive time than KP.

—

He has been providing valuable information too actually. A lesson for all wannabe birds/aeroplanes: lemons make a perfectly serviceable alternative to wings… apparently.

—

We may have misunderstood that.Taylor’s former team-mate Graeme Swann has been putting his time to good use too. And he’s got even greater ambitions for the future.

—

If he was eating one meal a day, drinking juice and training like a mofo, he wouldn’t even need to grow that much.Hashim Amla has been asking the difficult questions.

—

Some questions are best left unasked. “They” don’t want you to know the answer to that, Hashim. They don’t want anyone to know the truth about wet outfield roping…Umar Akmal’s Twitter feed remains pretty much as you’d expect. Coming soon to a town near you: one man and his ever-present photographer.

—

There’s an outside chance he took this one himself.

—

Don’t give us the #brightsunnyday excuse, Umar. We know you wear sunglasses every day of your life, indoors and outdoors, rain or shine. We know this because we’ve seen the photographic evidence.When it comes to selfies, everyone else at least limits themselves to transport. What is it with cricketers? As soon as they’re in motion, they have this irresistible urge to photograph themselves.

—

Bangladesh kept their commitment to deliver high-level security for England’s tour and the outcome has enhanced the prospect that other nations will follow

Mohammad Isam and George Dobell02-Nov-2016A patient crowd in Mirpur waits for “VIP movement” to pass through, beyond the barricade. This is the Dhaka term for a motorcade that is given high priority in traffic and the one that is about to pass through, the England cricket team convoy, is of the highest importance.It starts with an advanced team of police packed in pick-up trucks, followed by similar vehicles containing a Rapid Action Battalion and then the convoy starts with a long line with two buses in the middle. It is followed by more armed security men and women, a couple of minibuses, and then a fire brigade truck to round off.The convoy of about 10 to 12 different type of vehicles speeds through the emptied 8 km path from the Radisson hotel to the Shere Bangla National Stadium. The scene was similar in Chittagong where the roads at times were narrower than Dhaka’s.The most convenient location, of course, was the 20 yards the players walked to cross the road from the Chittagong hotel to the MA Aziz Stadium for England’s practice matches. But the longest the convoy had to travel was from their Dhaka hotel to the Fatullah Cricket Stadium which was 25km cutting right through Dhaka’s main artery from north to south.This was the scene for more than four weeks. Crowds waited patiently in front of every alleyway and street leading to the main road that connects the team hotel and stadium. It was inconvenient for hundreds of thousands of people, who were backlogged in various traffic jams linked to the convoy’s movement.Security was the most critical end of the bargain for England touring Bangladesh, and it was settled in mid-August when the ECB gave the go-ahead for the tour after a comprehensive security inspection

****

If the adjudicators of the man-of-the-series award took a wider view of events leading up to England’s tour of Bangladesh, Mehedi Hasan and Ben Stokes would have found competition coming from Reg Dickason, the ECB’s director of security management. Although he says that it wasn’t his job to convince the England players to tour Bangladesh, it was Dickason’s iron-clad assurance that encouraged the ECB to give the green signal “I didn’t have to convince them, it wasn’t my job” Dickason told ESPNcricinfo. “The awareness was heightened by the terrible attack on July 1. Where we travel throughout the world there’s potential for such an attack as is shown in Germany, Belgium and France. Bangladesh was no different. From our point of view, it didn’t really materially change the programme that we were going to put around the team.”Reg Dickason was part of a security delegation•AFPHe said that Bangladesh’s track record of delivering security as promised helped in building trust for England’s tour.”History of previous performance definitely comes into play. Everyone is always well intentioned. I think what we have to establish is the ability of the organisers to do what they have said. A lot of trust came from the U-19 World Cup.”The main purpose of the risk assessment for the Under-19 World Cup was to see if the event was safe to go ahead, and we deemed that it was. We came out here to see what the BCB and the government was actually going to provide. It went very well. They did everything they said they were going to do,” said Dickason.Like most places in Dhaka after the July 1 terrorist attack in Gulshan, the BCB headquarters in Mirpur came under heightened security. The following month, Dickason, ECB’s director of cricket operations John Carr and PCA chief executive David Leatherdale travelled to Bangladesh for the inspection.”We met with the BCB and the local police, intelligence agencies, three overseas diplomatic missions and finally the Prime Minister. So based on what we were told and what we had witnessed in the U-19 World Cup, we had some degree of confidence we decided that this tour should go ahead and that was the recommendation,” said Dickason.So on September 30, was Dickason nervous when the plane carrying the England players landed in Dhaka? “I wasn’t nervous but I am always concerned. I am conservative by nature. It is a fairly heavy responsibility with people’s safety.”We got out just before the team. With the help of the BCB, we made sure things would be done exactly the way they said it would. It was done that way. In all of our tours we plan for worst, hope for the best – that’s the underlying methodology,” he said.

****

You can understand why a player might think the security issues would disrupt their focus. It’s not that there is any apparent hole in the cordon; it’s more that you can never escape a reminder of the need for it. When they open their curtains in the morning, they see armed police preventing cars from approaching the hotel. When they open their hotel door, they have armed police patrolling the landing. If they look up at training, they see a marksman on the roof of every adjacent building. The hotels are very good, but some of the players have been here a month and they aren’t allowed out. At every moment you are reminded: there have been threats; there is an issue. Focusing all your concentration on the ball at such moments might well be difficult.The most remarkable aspect of this is the convoy. Every time the team (and accompanying media) need to go anywhere, the roads are cleared and closed, a cordon of several hundred police line the route to ensure pedestrians cannot approach and a convoy of buses, people carriers, fire trucks and heavily-armed swat teams drive as quickly as possible past bewildered – and presumably frustrated – onlookers.The England convoy snakes through Dhaka•Getty ImagesThat’s not as easy as it sounds: some of the roads are poor and the speed bumps in these parts are viciously effective. So, in both Chittagong and Dhaka, there are moments when the convoy slows to a crawl. Those points on the journey are especially well patrolled by army and police personnel, with the swat team vehicles driving alongside the team bus to ensure that anyone trying to reach the players will have to go through them first.The most dangerous it ever felt was when an over-zealous driver has struggled to stop. With no seat belts in the van, it is fair to say he gave the Test Match Special team – and your ESPNcricinfo correspondent – a bit of a wake-up.Generally, though, it felt well organised and safe. And, once you try and venture out on your own (a 5kms journey took two hours in a taxi one night), you realise the benefits of the escort. England have been looked after exceptionally well.

****

Dickason observed that despite the heightened security provided in Bangladesh which he called “gold standard”, it would probably not be similar in other cricketing destinations.”I don’t think it is a one-size fits all. Risk tolerance in different countries varies. I have been in international sport for 20 years and the road closures in Dhaka and Chittagong and the government input is as good as I have ever seen.”I don’t know if this will be standard but it is certainly the gold standard at the moment. I don’t know if it will be rolled out in tours in places where the perception of risk and the actual risk is a little bit lower,” he said.England staying in Bangladesh for the full tour has been a major boost for the BCB. A visit from Sean Carroll, Cricket Australia’s head of security, last week was the first sign that Australia are actively thinking of visiting Bangladesh next August.”We have been very happy with the level of security. Each country will have their list of criteria. Sean Carroll is a very competent chap in his field. He is having a close look at things and will make a recommendation to his board,” said Dickason.What has also been encouraging is the sensitivity shown by the touring side to the sacrifices made by the people who get caught up the convoy’s movement. “I think it is a sacrifice. We have probably inconvenienced them.”Our players were very conscious of that, and we were always on time. If we were a minute late, it would inconvenience another hundred thousand people. The Bangladeshi people have been absolutely sensational,” he said.There is little doubt that the tour basically saved Bangladesh from a long isolation of hosting international cricket. It would have deflated the general mood of the country further but now there is a bit more to look forward to. After all, they have just defeated England in a Test match. Even the unseasonal heat of November doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

Why KP is petrified, what Umar Akmal is sporting, and how to help your daughter with maths homework

Alex Bowden23-Dec-2016

—

This column chooses to take these words as a tribute to its bravery.For example, sad to say, but our time on the frontline of social media means that we were able to spot that Umar Akmal has a new pair of sunglasses.

—

These are his normal ones.

—

Never let it be said that we don’t keep you abreast of important developments.May as well include our mandatory in-flight selfie at this point too, as we seem to be on that sort of subject. The backdrop doesn’t give too many clues, but we’re pretty sure this is one.

—

Kevin Pietersen has learned sarcasm.

—

There are, however, no signs that he has yet discovered subtlety.Maybe he could take tips off Michael Vaughan.

—

—

Oh wait. Is that use of punctuation meant to imply something, Michael?As they play a team sport, cricketers are very good at finding a way to work alongside colleagues no matter what their apparent differences.

—

This kind of common goal is what allows them to work together, becoming more than the sum of their parts.

—

Oh well, as long as you don’t turn on each other.

—

As well as being great team players, cricketers are also unafraid of hard work.

—

They are, however, less enamoured with homework.

—

Perhaps Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja should have asked for help from their parents back in 2013.Somewhere in the world, there is always a cricketer complaining about taxi travel.

—

And air travel.

—

—

Not since 2013 had a visiting batsman scored a century in a Test in India

Bharath Seervi09-Nov-201682.75 Joe Root’s average in the first Tests of a series since 2014 – the best among all batsmen with 15 or more innings. He has made four centuries and seven fifties in 19 innings. Furthermore, his average in the first innings of the first Tests of series since 2014 is 110.2013 The last time a visiting batsman scored a century in Tests in India – Michael Clarke in Chennai. Since then, there had been no century by an overseas player in 12 consecutive Tests before Root’s 124 in this match.0 Number of higher and bigger partnerships by visiting pairs in India since the start of the South Africa series last season: Root and Moeen Ali added 179 runs in 48.2 overs. The biggest in terms of runs in the last two series was 124 between Tom Latham and Kane Williamson in Kanpur and the longest was Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis’ 46.2 overs in Nagpur.20 Consecutive innings without a 300-plus total by visiting teams in India. England ended the day with 311 for 4. The last such total of over 300 was Australia’s 408 in Mohali in 2012-13.13 Number of batsmen to remain not out on 99 overnight – Moeen became the 13th such player. Two batsmen have faced this twice in their career: Glenn Turner and Mudassar Nazar. Moeen is the fifth England player to have this distinction after Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond, Allan Lamb and Graeme Hick. All the previous players got to their century on the next day of the Test.68 Previous highest score for Moeen in Tests outside England, which came in Chittagong last month. His unbeaten 99 is the highest in an away Test and his fourth fifty-plus score outside England.88 Root’s previous best score in Tests in Asia, that came in Dubai last year. He had five fifties in Asia before this. He averages 67.14 in first innings in Asia with four fifties and a hundred in seven innings, against 33.00 in second innings with a solitary fifty.0 Number of younger England debutants to open the innings than Haseeb Hameed, who was 19 years, 297 days. The previous youngest was Len Hutton, who opened on his debut aged 21 and three days, against New Zealand at Lord’s in 1937. Hameed is overall the fifth-youngest debutant for England in Tests.

Plays of the day from the tri-series match between Zimbabwe and West Indies in Bulawayo

Deivarayan Muthu19-Nov-2016The chaotic mix-upBrian Chari and Chamu Chibhabha showed caution and judgement in the early exchanges under cloudy skies on a damp surface. Little did they know their solid opening stand would be halted by a chaotic run-out. At the start of the 11th over, Chari opened the face of his bat and eyed the third-man region. He, however, did not get enough bat on it, and the ball rolled a few feet to the right of the wicketkeeper Shai Hope. Pinching a single there was like barging into a house on fire. Ultimately, it was Chibhabha who came out burnt.He set off immediately after Chari had met the ball. The batsman, instead of watching his partner, kept watching the ball. By the time Chari turned to face him, Chibhabha was almost next to him at the striker’s end. Hope threw the ball to Carlos Brathwaite, who simply swiped the bails off at the non-striker’s end.Holder’s Crowe impressionMartin Crowe produced one of the greatest World Cup catches when he ran back and to his right from mid-on, and hung onto the ball, to dismiss Dave Houghton, looking over his shoulder, before tumbling onto the ground, in 1987. To do all this without being distracted by the fielder sprinting to his left from deep midwicket was special.On Saturday in Bulawayo, Jason Holder did a Crowe. Two overs after the fall of Chibhabha, Chari advanced down the track and attempted a low-percentage cross-bat swipe. The ball soared into the cloudy skies over short midwicket. Holder tore back and across to his right with his eyes locked on the ball, even as Rovman Powell ran in to his left from deep square leg. Holder ultimately tumbled and came away with the ball in his hands, with Powell a few feet next to him. The celebrations were largely subdued: Holder just thew the ball in the air.How not to use DRSIndia have had their fair share of troubles with DRS in their home series against England. It seemed like West Indies had some troubles of their own in Bulawayo. Sikandar Raza shuffled a long way across and failed to connect with a paddle-sweep in the 22nd over. The ball brushed his pad and snuck away fine on the leg side. With the impact being wide outside off, umpire Russell Tiffin shot down the appeal from offspinner Ashley Nurse. Surprisingly, Holder challenged the on-field not-out decision. Projections showed the ball would carry on to hit off stump, but only one red flashed. The only change brought about by West Indies’ review: replays suggested Raza had gloved the ball, and two leg-byes became two runs.The airborne look-away pullDuring the 2015 World Cup, Glenn Maxwell pulled off an outrageous shot, which he described as “the back away, look away, deliberate cut through point”.On Saturday, Raza unfurled the airborne, look-away pull. In the 31st over Holder tested the batsman with a throat-high short ball on off stump. Raza took his eyes off the ball as he took flight, but managed to place it to the right of square leg for four. It might have looked ungainly, but proved effective.Tiripano’s Achilles heelLike Achilles, it was the heel that tripped up Donald Tiripano. Shai Hope ran at a tossed-up offbreak from Sikanda Raza in the 32nd over of the chase and lofted the ball down the ground. Tiripano leapt at the edge of the long-on boundary and cupped his hands around the ball, but the momentum caused his back heel to touch the rope when he landed. Hope was awarded a six, but Tiripano more than made up for the miss by earning Zimbabwe a tie with a three-run last over.