Andy Flower believes that the success of England Lions in white-ball cricket this summer is the best evidence yet that the ECB’s development system is doing its job

Rob Johnston19-Sep-2016To have one individual score over 150 in a one-day series sticks in the memory, but to have five, as the England Lions did against the A sides of Pakistan and Sri Lanka in July, is unprecedented. During their four games, the Lions displayed skill, invention and brutality in abundance, qualities that so often have been missing from England’s one-day batsmanship. Rarely, if ever, can any England side have so consistently dominated opposition bowling attacks.Ben Duckett’s 220 not out was the best of the five and was the second-highest List A score ever made by an Englishman and the eighth-highest overall. Daniel Bell-Drummond, Sam Billings, Dawid Malan and Duckett again completed the quintet of brilliant innings. They were performances that perfectly showcased the recent development of England’s one-day cricket at all levels and proved the value of some extensive one-day skill work by the England Performance Programme (EPP) last winter.Criticisms of England after the 2015 World Cup were wide-ranging and varied but the lack of imaginative and explosive batsman was perhaps the most valid. Some blamed the development system, coordinated from the National Performance Centre in Loughborough, for not developing enough unique and expressive players in step with the modern one-day game. Instead, so the argument went, it churns out players who have had their individuality knocked out of them. After Duckett and co’s inventive and powerful displays this summer, few could now claim that to be the case.”There was some absolutely outstanding one-day batting in that series,” says Andy Flower, head coach of the Lions. “If we had put some of our better national cricketers in there, they couldn’t have done much better than the young Lions guys. The one-day focus over the winter was valuable in giving these guys the opportunity to really focus on their white-ball skills.”From the moment England’s director of cricket Andrew Strauss took the role in May last year, his determination to drag England’s one-day cricket in to the 21st century was clear. He decided in conjunction with Dave Parsons, the ECB’s performance director, and Flower that the EPP would focus solely on white-ball cricket last winter. They held a training camp focusing on one-day skill work in the UAE before the Lions played a series of five 50-over and five T20 games against Pakistan A. It paid dividends during the English summer.”We are really lucky through the ECB to have the resources to go and do these things,” Flower says. “To go away post-season to have the opportunity to work on developing really specific skills but also having the time and the energy to work on when to use those skills, understand how to use them and then to be able to test them out in practice conditions, in middle scenarios and in practice matches, those are great opportunities.”From this winter onwards, the EPP has been rebranded as the International Pathway, with 50 players chosen for four squads, all with a view to increasing the exposure of England’s best players to the standards expected at international level”The purpose of it is bridging the gap between the county game and the international game,” Flower says. “The county game is an excellent breeding ground for our international cricketers but we believe there is a gap that exists in a number of areas and our purpose is to bridge that.”James Vince impressed during the Lions tour of UAE, but fell short in the step-up to Test level•Chris WhiteoakWhile England’s one-day stocks look healthy, those of the Test side look rather different. England’s struggles at Test level to find permanent candidates for their top order as well as a top-class spinner are two areas which the EPP has recently failed to help address. Several graduates of the programme such as James Vince, who captained the Lions last winter, and Adam Lyth have failed to do their talent justice at Test level, while the recall of Surrey’s Gareth Batty to the Test squad at the age of 38 underlines the concern that not enough young spinners are developing quickly enough for the highest level.Have one-day priorities impacted the recent development of Test class players? “It did mean that we haven’t given them any red-ball exposure,” Flower admits. “In the Test side we know there are a couple of positions up for serious debate in the selections for the winter and in a way, we don’t have the in-depth knowledge that we want because we haven’t exposed these young guys to any red-ball cricket over the last year to 18 months at Lions level. That severely affects our understanding and knowledge of our young red-ball cricketers.”For that reason, a training camp will again be held in the Emirates this winter, with three one-day games against the UAE and a three-day game against Afghanistan thrown in, followed by a red-ball tour to Sri Lanka early next year. Where the focus was one-day cricket last winter, there will be a mix of red- and white-ball cricket this time around.”We do take in to account England’s needs so, for instance, on the opening batting front, I would imagine this winter – and the selections haven’t been made yet – there would be a focus on taking at least three openers with us for the red-ball tour to Sri Lanka. [Alastair] Cook’s opening partner hasn’t been nailed down for quite some time so we want to provide the opportunity for some opening batsmen to develop but also demonstrate to the selectors that they can hack it at a higher level.”There are long-term issues with England’s Test team, so the failure to produce productive players to address them is not simply a matter of recent one-day priorities. England have not produced a Test-class opening batsman since Cook, although Lancashire’s Haseeb Hameed may soon fill that gap, nor a high-quality spinner since Graeme Swann’s retirement. The EPP should take its share of the blame for that, as should county cricket and the players given opportunities.It is right to criticise the failure to produce players to fill these gaps but conversely, in recent times, English cricket has also produced some of the finest cricketers to have ever played for the national side. It is hard to say to what extent the EPP, the counties or natural talent made Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler the players they are, but each played a role somewhere along the line. It’s unreasonable to expect superstars to fall off the conveyor belt each year but the structure, prior to this year’s rebranding, has not produced enough decent Test players who do a consistently solid job. It’s either boom or bust.Flower understands the criticism but says nobody should be written off yet: “Andrew Strauss is very keen to emphasise that we are here to develop great players for England, not just a great number. We are keen to aim quite high with our development but, unless they are outstanding cricketers like a Root or a Ricky Ponting, a natural cycle seems to be that these young guys – a bit like what happened to [Australia’s] Damien Martyn – go in to the side, find out what the challenges of international cricket are and sometimes have to step out again to then grow and develop to become a stronger, more mature package that can then handle the rigour of international sport.”That is what happened to Jonny Bairstow, a graduate of the EPP who played on the Lions tour to South Africa in 2015, and the same may happen in time to Vince or Lyth. Did the programme fail because Bairstow didn’t excel at the first time of asking at Test level or did it do its job because it played a role in helping him find his way back? Player development is rarely linear or standardised so the answers will vary from player to player. That is why Flower is keen that the quality of the programme should be independently assessed.”How to measure [success] is a challenge. We’ve talked about measuring it against how successful they are initially when they move in, or how successful they are over a long period of time. To be quite frank with you, we haven’t found the answer yet. What we do want to do is to make sure that we are challenging ourselves to be as good as we can be, just like we ask the players to be. Part of that will be getting independent views of our system. Dave Parsons and I have discussed our plan to bring in a critical friend, someone with experience in these areas to assess what we do and to make observations and be really honest about what they see.”Those observations will be important, as will the success of the tweaks made to this winter’s programme, but runs and wickets at international level are the only currencies that prove the success or otherwise of England’s development system. It has proved capable of developing young, highly skilled one-day players but can the International Pathway, as it will henceforth be known, consistently produce players who succeed at Test level too? It is a question which remains as yet unanswered and which makes this winter’s work as important as ever.

Bangladesh’s bowling discipline has been impressive but after a lengthy absence from Test cricket their batting has lacked the same reliability

Mohammad Isam22-Oct-2016With two days left in the first Test, England can claim to be ahead of Bangladesh on a pitch deemed difficult for the batsmen. But the ebb and flow of the contest guarantees that there is still a lot of life left in this game. Bangladesh cannot yet be counted out, though they have never defeated England in eight previous attempts and aren’t generally a side that wins Tests.But given their upturn in the last 18 months, going down meekly will go against their newly-developed character. This is where their lack of participation in Tests becomes a hindrance in their progress as an international team. They would love to play their second innings with the confidence that flows naturally in ODIs but the rhythm is quite different when there is unlimited time to reach a target.Bangladesh had a rough initiation as a Test playing nation, and never really developed into a respectable force over the last 15 years. So when they endure a long break like this latest one, which spanned more than 14 months, it isn’t unusual that they feel like an outsider.The third day’s play was Bangladesh’s welcome back to the grind of Test cricket. They collapsed with the bat but stood back up by triggering a collapse themselves before a partnership all but took the game away from them. But still, late wickets kept them in the game.Their bowling discipline throughout the game has been impressive but the same cannot be said about their batting, going by how they were bowled out for 248 in the first innings. They will have to find an approach that is suited to their skills and conditions to overcome England’s target, which is likely to be around 300 runs.As a window into what should and shouldn’t be expected from their fourth innings chase, it is worth looking at how they fared in the first innings, from which two things stood out.They took painstaking effort to curb their natural instinct, and invited their own peril. Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim were not just trying to bat out the last over before lunch, tea or stumps, they were building up to it with a lot of dot balls. Changing gears in a longer-version match is tricky, and it becomes more confusing for a team that doesn’t play Test cricket for long periods, and individually hardly plays in the domestic first-class tournaments.Shakib Al Hasan ripped through England’s top order•Getty ImagesA smoother change in pace is what could work for them. They already know that going into a shell will never get them forward on this pitch and within their skill-set, so it would be better to front up to match scenarios that might require them to chase the target slowly, where they don’t take the foot off the pedal but at the same time press gently. There will also be periods when they have to play out a testing spell or the last few overs of a session, so that the dressing room remains calmer in an already dramatic game.Secondly, they are vulnerable to a batting collapse. It is a habit that they have picked up in ODIs since 2014, and when they lost six wickets for 27 runs at the start of the third day, it was just the continuation of a panic mode that sets in as soon as a big partnership breaks.Technically the collapse began on the second evening after Mushfiqur fell with 2.3 overs remaining in the day. But Shakib Al Hasan’s mindless punt in an attempt to rattle England’s best bowler fell well short and Bangladesh, rather than taking a lead, were behind the eight-ball.Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh’s successful ODI and T20 captain, said at the end of the first ODI (when Bangladesh collapsed from 4 for 271 to 288 all out) that these collapses are product of a panicked dressing room. So with a win on the line against one of the best Test teams in the world, Bangladesh remain vulnerable to such a slide again.But it is also hard to imagine that there aren’t people in that dressing room who will try to stop outside influences bothering the waiting batsmen, and generally encourage a calmer atmosphere when the chase gets stiff.Bangladesh have conceded a number of chases in the past, mainly because of their lack of belief in winning Tests back then. But in an extraordinary Test in Dhaka two years ago, Bangladesh overcame Zimbabwe in a botched up 101-run chase. It required Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur to remain calm and the tail to show determination to ultimately win by two wickets.Winning a Test match doesn’t come naturally to a Bangladesh side, especially one that has returned to the format after a long gap. But this time they have eight batsmen to complete a tough but possible job.

The home-ground advantage seems only to be increasing in most parts of the Test world. For a variety of reasons – from drop-in pitches to the desire for five-day Tests – Australia is becoming the exception.

Daniel Brettig in Perth31-Oct-20162:51

A few pitches in Australia have lost their characteristics – Starc

Australia’s players haven’t the foggiest idea what sort of pitch they will be getting for the first Test of the summer. In some ways, that is how they like things to be. In others, it sums up a creep away from the sorts of conditions Australian cricketers have grown up to expect.Through tours of England in 2015 and Sri Lanka earlier this year, the men in Steven Smith’s side have felt a certain sense of irritation at the pitches served up. Not so much because they have been difficult; more so because they have been prepared very much with the home side in mind. From the coach Darren Lehmann down to the possible debutant Joe Mennie, every member of this team knows that to make such requests in Australia is to expect a gob-full in response from the curator.In England there was actually a change in the sorts of pitches Alastair Cook’s side wanted from match to match within the series itself. Initially the coach Trevor Bayliss and the head of cricket Andrew Strauss desired slow, dry pitches to reduce the influence of Mitchell Johnson. But when Australia dominated on a flat surface at Lord’s, the diktat moved to green seamers, resulting in tracks at Birmingham and Nottingham the visitors were utterly unable to cope with.Sri Lanka’s surfaces were a little more consistent: slow and spinning. They were of the kind made to order for the hosts, and exploited brilliantly once so prepared. In this context, Australia’s players yearned to get back to home, not for pitches weighted to favour them, but merely to play on surfaces not prepared with any one or two bowlers in mind.”I think we prepare really good Test match pitches, there’s something in there for everyone,” said the spin bowler and sometime curator Nathan Lyon. “We go and travel overseas and it does tend to favour one team more than the other. Our curators do a fantastic job and I’m always going to stick up for them.”Oddly for a team most recently defined by pace, Lyon’s offbreaks are actually the best measure of how much Australia’s players prefer playing at home. Down under, Lyon has 101 Test wickets in 26 matches at 31.97, a record superior to any spinner to visit from overseas this side of Mushtaq Ahmed. But away, in conditions ostensibly better suited to his art, Lyon’s 110 wickets in 31 Tests have cost 33.56 apiece.”I’m going back to the way I’ve been bowling best in Australia for the last 18 to 24 months now, so I’ll keep going down that game plan and my little blueprint I work off bowling here in Australia,” Lyon said of this summer. “But when we come to subcontinent conditions again I’m going to have to re-evaluate and prepare for that. I’m not going in the nets this afternoon and bowling in subcontinent conditions, that’s for sure.”Australian comfort at home does, in many ways, transcend the individual pitches themselves. As Usman Khawaja put it, the subtleties of each venue, the heat, the size of the outfields and their best scoring zones, are augmented by loud, supportive and at times merciless crowds. Australia’s healthy culture of Test match attendances helps too.”I think it’s just experience,” Khawaja said. “We’ve played at these grounds so often, that’s what we lack when we go overseas a little bit, we don’t have experience on these grounds while playing in the match scenario. But we play on these grounds so often, we know pretty much everything about the grounds there is to know and we can draw on those things. We know how the pitch is going to react and what’s going to happen.”The crowd makes a big difference too when you have the crowd behind you. When things are going well the crowd just comes over you. I’m sure when we’re taking wickets and on a roll and the opposition batsmen are rolling in, the crowd is all over them, I think it makes a difference. They play a fair part in it too.”However a world in which guaranteed days of play in Test matches are beloved of administrators and broadcasters has gradually eaten away at the fundamental advantage available to Australia: extra pace and bounce. Early finishes, however dominant by the home side, have long been deemed troubling for state associations in particular. Similarly, the introduction of drop-in pitches in Melbourne, Adelaide and soon at Perth’s new stadium mean further homogenisation.The new Perth stadium, due to open in 2018, will be yet another Australian Test venue with drop-in pitches•Getty ImagesWhen the WACA Test against New Zealand last summer creaked towards the bore draw that hastened Mitchell Johnson’s retirement, the ABC’s doyen commentator Jim Maxwell dubbed it a “CEO’s pitch” designed to keep the game going five days. It was on a similarly long-lasting surface that South Africa chased their epochal 414 to win in Perth in 2008 and set Ricky Ponting’s team on the path to their first home series defeat in more than 15 years.Likewise the pitches in 2010-11 were flat enough to allow Cook, Strauss, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell to dominate increasingly dispirited Australian bowlers. There is still a small advantage to be gained by Australia at home, but they must be at their very best to extract it.”I think other countries around the world do that home advantage a lot better,” Mitchell Starc said of the contrast he sees between home and away. “The wickets in Australia have got a lot flatter in Shield cricket and Test cricket over the years. You just want to see that even contest. If you go back to the Adelaide [day/night] Test match, regardless of how many days it lasted, the whole Test was just an even contest between bat and ball for two and a half days, and it turned out to be the best Test match of the summer.”I think that’s what teams want to see and fans want to see, you don’t want to see blokes just scoring runs for fun and nothing in it for the bowlers. At the same time I don’t think people want to see teams bowled out for 100 in all four innings. We just want to see that even contest. And you still want to keep some characteristics of wickets around Australia.”You want to see the fast, bouncy wickets of the WACA. You might want to see a turning wicket at the SCG. It’s obviously not going to happen in Adelaide with the pink ball stuff – but you generally see a hard wicket at the start and it breaks up towards the end and you get a bit of reverse swing. The Gabba is obviously a fantastic wicket, where there is enough in it for both teams for five days. You don’t want to lose those characteristics, but I guess the wickets have definitely got flatter over the years.”If Australia’s home advantage is thinner than for other nations, against South Africa it narrows to the width of a sheet of paper. Australians love touring South Africa – having never lost there since reunification – and the reverse is also true.Not a single member of the South African side has experienced a Test series loss in Australia, and not a single Australian has won over the Proteas here. “South Africa and Australian conditions are fairly related,” Hashim Amla said, “and I think that’s why we have over the last two series we’ve had here, had some success.”At Australia’s training session on Monday afternoon, Lehmann set the wicketkeeper and slips back to near enough a pitch-length away from the bat for a catching session. This is the traditional WACA distance, but bore no relation to what was served up last year. That rather summed up Australia at home – the national team are hopeful of conditions to suit them, but have no way of knowing for sure.”We always talk about adapting to conditions,” Starc said. “I think [home] can help, but the way we approach our cricket is you have to change the way you play depending on what is in front of you. Regardless of what we get at the WACA, we’re going to be ready to go and hopefully there’s enough in it for the bowlers. That would be lovely to see.”

Maybe it should be, maybe it is time, maybe he should walk away now and enjoy everything he has achieved, has won, has fought for. Maybe he should. But I don’t want it to be over

Jarrod Kimber30-Dec-2016Misbah-ul-Haq’s hands are on his knees. I don’t remember why, it was obviously a Pakistani mistake, or Pakistan having bad luck or probably Pakistan being Pakistan. But while the simple mechanisms of what happens between a delivery played out, Misbah just stayed with his head down, staring at the MCG turf. No one went up to him; he just took his hands off his knees as the next ball was about to be bowled. Maybe I am wrong, but to me, it looks like Misbah’s career might be over.The question in the press conference is pretty simple, “Are you planning on playing on, or are you starting to think the end is coming for you?”Misbah at first raises his eyebrows as if he has not heard the question, and then tilts his head like he’s trying to hear it clearer. Then he sighs before answering, “Yah. I always believe that if, if, I could not contribute anything for the team, then it’s no point staying there.”One of the many, many, many easy boundaries that David Warner scored through the near empty offside field, had Misbah confused. He was looking at deep cover, then at his leg slip, then at Yasir Shah. It was as if he was trying to work out if there was any equation that would stop what was happening. Pakistan had made over 400 runs, and were now allowing Australia to score so easily that their total felt like 200 runs. Misbah didn’t believe in any of his bowlers. He didn’t believe in Amir’s luck, Yasir’s belief, Sohail’s fitness or Wahab’s foot. Leg slip could go into covers, but that wouldn’t change anything. There was no field he could set to make him believe in his attack.”There is a point where I need to think about that.”The ‘that’ is retiring even before the next Test.”There is no point hanging around doing nothing.” Misbah starts playing with his beard. The genius of Misbah is the ability to do nothing. At times he barely moves, even when a tidal wave of ill-informed patriotic opinions floods down on him. In the field, on those panicky Pakistani days, when every single thing seems to worry them, Misbah just rubs his beard. Misbah is cricket’s Zen master warrior, his doing nothing does more than the actions of most.The PCB was so worried about travelling back to England for the 2016 series that they sent almost every single media person they had and hired a local PR consultant. A cricket board that thinks the word professionalism is ensuring that the team turn up to the game on time was now trying to get out ahead of bad press in a professional way. The media people and the PR consultant was a good idea in theory, but in practice, the minute Misbah sat down with his recently-dyed jet black beard, the entire English press corp were won over. By the time he stood in the middle of Lord’s, saluting the men who helped prepare him physically for the series, the rest of the country had as well.That England series was one he was not planning on playing. The same as the series against West Indies, and New Zealand, and now this one as well.”I was thinking about my retirement long ago. Even when I was playing against England in UAE.”There is a reason he didn’t retire. Duty.”Then we had difficult tours like England, New Zealand and Australia, so I thought that was not the right time.” That means that, so far, he has played in an extra ten Tests, not because he wanted too, but because he thought he needed too. “I have to face these difficult series,” was his phrase.Have to.’If I cannot contribute anything for the team, then there’s no point staying there’ – Misbah•Getty ImagesAzhar Ali finished the Test at The Oval by very nearly putting Moeen Ali into the top deck. He then took his helmet off, gave a scream and punched the air. On the balcony were a few players almost as excited. Misbah wasn’t to be seen. When the team did their victory lap, it was Younis Khan out the front, clapping excitedly, other players blew on horns, or held the Pakistan flag up high. Misbah is out the back, on the inside, just occasionally lifting his hand to wave. This was the team he had dragged from nowhere to having the number one spot in the rankings, even for a heartbeat, and he showed the least emotion. If anything, he looked proud of his men, more than what he had achieved.”It might be over.” We have all been thinking it, we all know it can’t last forever, and we know that even Misbah’s science-defying antics must eventually stop. But do any of us want it over? Over. No more Misbah. It took us forever even to know he existed; it took us even longer to love that existence; he spent most of his career winning us over, not by sucking up to the crowd, or through antics, but through resolve, intelligence, will and being himself. And now, it might be over.Misbah was settled into short cover and Yasir floated up a full one that was slapped to Misbah’s left. He dived, which was more of a semi-organised fall, and the ball trickled out behind him. Australia took another easy run. Misbah doesn’t react much to Pakistani misfields, perhaps because if he responded to each one he’d be out of energy an hour into play each day. But he reacts to this one; he hits the ground, he clenches his fist and looks over at Yasir apologetically. As he gets up, you see that despite the fitness and the professionalism, this is a 42-year-old man. There will be a time, soon, when he just doesn’t want to dive, or can’t keep getting up.As the live feed of Misbah’s press conference is shared on Pakistan’s Facebook page, the live comments flow, “Misbah you are a legend” and “Misbah love you”. But Misbah doesn’t look like a legend – he doesn’t look loved. He looks tired, beaten, finished.”It hurts you as a senior player whenever you don’t perform, when you don’t come up to your own expectations, or of all the fans, and the team. That’s disappointing. You don’t play the game for these sorts of failures; you want to stand up.”Misbah wants to stand up, but he might not be able to.Pakistan do not beat India in big tournaments, rain is wet, and Adam West is the best Batman. Some things don’t change.But here is Misbah, smacking sixes, running amok like he doesn’t know it is his team’s destiny to lose against India. The rest do, nine of them have come and gone, at the other end is Mohammad Asif, and if Pakistan are going to win, it will need to be Misbah pretty much on his own. He flays at two wide ones, missing both, and one is called a wide. Then a full toss, and Misbah smashes it back over the head of long off. Now they just need six off four.Then Misbah plays a shot that it took a generation of cricket to erase, a loose awkward on-the-move-scoop that instead of ramping he hit straight up and was caught. It’s a good 15 seconds before the camera finds Misbah again, and he’s on his knees, bat between his legs and looking at the turf. Ravi Shastri on commentary says, “Misbah-ul-Haq doesn’t want to leave the field.” Adam West is Batman, rain is wet, India beat Pakistan. Not even Misbah can change that.Misbah’s sweep shot today wasn’t a one-off.”Quite a few innings now in which the shot that isn’t on, or the wrong shot for the wrong time [has been played]…as a batsman it is hard. When you are not scoring regularly, when you go inside, making the right decisions becomes a bit more difficult. Maybe that is happening now. What I feel I should be playing like, I am unable to play that way.”Misbah wants to be better; he wants to serve his nation, but he’s not sure he is, or if he ever can again.You could make the argument that captaining India at cricket is the toughest on-field job in sport. But in the time of Misbah, captaining Pakistan might have beaten that. Misbah stopped Pakistan’s cricket from disappearing into an abyss. He made a country that believes their success at cricket is from divine god-given talent hit the training track and work as a team. He overcame being a homeless side, a former captain and two star bowlers in jail, senators suggesting his team was dirty, his stars being randomly suspended, a fickle media, a troubled nation, an exclusionary cricket world. And if that wasn’t enough, he did most of it at an age when most players have been dropped forever, or have retired. Then he played on, not for himself, but for the team he created. The chaos of Pakistan cricket is never ending, as is the calmness of Misbah.”It might be over.”Maybe it should be, maybe it is time, maybe he should walk away now and enjoy everything he has achieved, has won, has fought for. Maybe he should. But I don’t want it to be over. Misbah has done something special for cricket, for Pakistan, and while those things should never be forgotten, I want him to keep having the chance to do them. To fight cricket, to fight politics, to fight corruption, to fight nature. But I look into his eyes; Misbah has always had this stare into the middle distance at press conferences, but now, it has never been more distant. It has never looked more defeated. It has never looked more over.Misbah created a team when one didn’t exist; Misbah believed in a team when no one did. For a short time, they held the Mace, Misbah held it, and Misbah gave it to them. It might be over. Hell, whatever it was, it was wonderful. If it is over, Misbah, .

Virat Kohli turns stalker in our Twitter round-up

Alex Bowden11-Nov-2016Wonder what Jimmy Neesham’s on about here?

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Could it have been a foolish review in the India v England Test?

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No, it was, of course, the US election.But he did have one positive thing to say about the winner.

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And now another horror story. Skip past this tweet if you’re the sensitive sort.

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Harrowing.We use quite a lot of KP’s tweets in this column. As of now, we consider this a personal service for Ed Cowan.

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So here you go, Ed. Aside from the coffee catastrophe (Cofftastrophee? Catastrocoffee?) KP’s been training – although he didn’t seem to be fully into it.

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Chris Gayle’s mind didn’t seem fully on the job either.

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Perhaps, as Tim Bresnan says…

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Perhaps Gayle was just weary from all the self-promotion.When you’re sitting around in your own bar and feel the need to tweet about it, there’s only one thing to brandish…

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… a copy of your autobiography.You don’t need to do the hard yards in the gym to justify a selfie anyway. If you’re a cricketer, all you need to do is board a flight.

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Or if you’re Umar Akmal, you’ve long since transcended the need for selfie excuses. These days they just pour out in a veritable torrent with no justification for any of them.This week his default standing-in-the-garden-wearing-sunglasses pic has been given an innovative twist. He’s experimenting with standing slightly at an angle.

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Innovative.Meanwhile, old lags Younis and Misbah are still labouring under the misapprehension that they need to have been engaged in some kind of activity to warrant a photo.

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You don’t need props, lads – although if they make Younis look like the happiest man on earth, then maybe it’s worth it after all.Providing people with a window into their personal lives is one reason why it’s not uncommon for celebrities to attract stalkers. However, it’s less common for a celebrity to begin stalking a member of the public.

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Have a productive day! That’s a demand. He’s watching you. He’s watching you and the other 12.5 million people who follow him on Twitter.He’ll even watch you in the dark.

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Somewhere in the world there is always a cricketer complaining about air travel.

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Stuart Broad had a request before James Anderson boarded.

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And don’t forget to take a selfie.

Jon Culley at Chester-le-Street27-Feb-2017If one thing seemed safe to predict during the days when Ian Botham was thrilling the crowds on the field and revelling in his status as cricket’s first superstar off it, it was that he would never become part of the cricket establishment.This was the man capable of producing one of the greatest allround performances in the history of Test cricket – a century and 13 wickets against India in Mumbai in 1980 – on the back of a 48-hour bender, and who once fell under the spell of a publicist who promised to make him a Hollywood legend.He relished fame and adulation and spent large parts of his career pushing the limits of what he could get away with, with no regard for the blood pressure of those who paid his salary. The suits, the blazers, the committee men – they were there to be tested and taunted, so far as Botham saw things.Yet there it was on the card in front of him, in black and white, as he sat alongside David Harker, the Durham chief executive, and Simon Henig, the leader of Durham County Council, for his first press conference in his new role: ‘Sir Ian T Botham OBE, Durham CCC, Chairman.’First a knight of the realm, now the chairman of a county cricket club. Whoever would have thought he would one day become one of them?”No, never,” he said, when it was put to him that ‘Ian Botham, committee man’ might not have been a description he foresaw for himself. “I was fighting with them for most of my life.”As it happens, he didn’t wear a blazer – preferring a relaxed, informal look, teaming a pinstriped jacket with casual trousers and a pale blue shirt that was open at the neck. No tie. He had been picked up on that already, he said, although not by a fellow committee member but by Ben Stokes, Durham’s England allrounder, who was merely poking fun.This would be the natural dynamic of Botham’s relationship with the Durham team, one imagines. All jokes and banter. Which is why his new identity still feels a little unreal.”It is a totally new world for me,” Botham said. “I’ve always been on the other side and now I’m in the engine room.”There’s a lot of people who know me, who are surprised that I am sat here. But the ones that really know me knew I’d have a go.

Anyone who knows me knows I don’t go into anything half-cock. We still have a first-class club here and one that will prosper. And I’m in it for the long term

“Why not? I’ve been in the game all my life. I’ve seen it from a player’s point of view. I think I can give a fair bit back, maybe open some doors.”The motivation, he says, is the challenge. And it is some challenge. Durham, who finished fourth in Division One of the County Championship last season, begin this season at the bottom of Division Two, having been relegated and docked 48 points in return for a financial bail-out from the England and Wales Cricket Board that pulled them back from the brink of bankruptcy.The ECB’s £3.8 million rescue deal, combined with the conversion into shares in the club of the £3.7 million they owed Durham County Council, has cleared a £7.5 million debt and allowed Durham to begin the 2017 at least still in business, even if their competitiveness is somewhat stilted. They will start with a points deficit in the other competitions too.Botham will not be railing against any injustice, however. “The points deduction was unnecessary, I felt, but there is no point in fighting it.”At the end of the day we are still a first-class county and we have got light at the end of our tunnel, which not all clubs can say. We’ll be fine. The way I look at it is ‘two wins and we’re back in the black.'”The idea that Botham might become involved was first discussed last summer, after it was announced that his predecessor as chairman, Clive Leach, would be stepping down. Botham lives a half-hour drive away, near Scotch Corner on the A1, and retains an affection for the club, for whom he played in 1992 – their debut season as a first-class county and the last of his career. The ECB themselves encouraged the idea, aware of the impact their sanctions would make, feeling that someone of Botham’s standing and connection with the county would help them regenerate.Ironically, it was a meeting with Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman who is said to have lobbied for Durham to go down, that convinced Botham to commit to the challenge.They met, Botham said, in the Mayfair club, Alfred’s in Davies Street, of which he is a member, sharing a bottle of red wine while they discussed property investments.”I often have a drink with Rod, who is one of my closest friends and someone I’ve always been able to confide in,” he said. “I said ‘look, don’t fall off your chair, but I’m thinking about [being Durham chairman]. What do you reckon?”He was magnificent. He’s been through a similar situation [with a debt-ridden county] at the Ageas Bowl and come through it. He took me through the pros and cons and the ups and downs and at the end he said ‘you can do it.'”I said ‘right, I’ll give it a go’ and I’m glad I did. It is a challenge but I’m going to rise to it.”There will be some logistical problems. Botham’s television commitments are in place for the next 18 months and more, which will limit the number of committee meetings he can attend at the Riverside.Yet he denies he will be merely a figurehead. “It will be hard at first and I don’t know how many meetings I will be able to attend but, with technology as it is now, I can take part in a conference call from anywhere in the world.”My job is to bring in new faces in sponsorship, open doors that perhaps couldn’t have been opened.”Financially, we can’t bury the bones and hope they’ll go away, which is perhaps what has happened in the past. What we will do is be completely realistic.”Without the help of the council and the ECB we wouldn’t be here today. We’re not burying our heads. We will get ourselves back into the black sooner rather than later. We are in a position to do that. If you look at the bigger picture, we’re in the same boat – probably a better boat – than most of the other counties.”Anyone who knows me knows I don’t go into anything half-cock. We still have a first-class club here and one that will prosper. And I’m in it for the long term.”

A daily report on the three biggest talking points of the series: the pitches, the on-field aggression and the reviews

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-2017

Pitch watch

Expectations: The first two pitches of the series were heavily criticised for being difficult to bat on, and after viewing photos of it, many expected the pitch in Ranchi to be even worse. One Australian newspaper even called the dark, cracked surface a “conspiracy” against Australia.How it actually played: The pitch belied all reports and was by far the best for batting of the series. A quick outfield also aided the batsmen. At the end of the day, Steven Smith said, “It is a good pitch so we will need all the runs we can get. The bounce was consistent, and it hasn’t really spun.”Our ball-by-ball commentary described six balls as coming slowly off the pitch, eight deliveries as keeping low and just four balls as bouncing more than expected. The description “no turn” was used almost as often as “turn”.

Aggression watch

After Virat Kohli had accused Australia of repeatedly breaking the rules for reviewing decisions in the second Test, a fiery atmosphere was expected in the third match. However, there were no flare-ups through the day. Smith was even seen acknowledging a good delivery from Umesh Yadav, and at the end of the day, several Indian players went up to Smith to congratulate him on his century. Kohli was off the field for a significant amount of time, and without him, there did not seem to be too much chat from the Indian fielders.There was even a bit of comedy as Wriddhiman Saha tried to prise the ball from Smith’s pads after it had lodged behind the knee roll. Saha seemed to think he could claim a catch, but the ball was dead and it had not hit the bat anyway. Smith fell backwards and Saha landed up on top of him, drawing laughter from most of the players.

DRS watch

India had not had a single successful review while bowling in the series but got their first when Shaun Marsh was given out caught at short leg after an edge was detected via technology. India were far more reserved in taking reviews. At least three big lbw appeals, from Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin and Umesh were wisely not followed by reviews.However, India missed an opportunity to review when Glen Maxwell gloved a ball onto his pads and was caught. The appeal was not big, and no one seemed to think it had kissed the glove till the television replays later showed it had. There was also a review taken when Ishant struck Maxwell on the pad, but Ishant had overstepped, so the review was not taken away from India – it would have stayed with the umpire’s not-out decision had it been a legal delivery. The result was that India did not lose a single review in the day.

Yuvraj Singh has thrilled fans over the years. Which of his ODI performances is your favourite?

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2017

Marks out of ten for Australia’s players at the end of their 1-2 series loss to India

Brydon Coverdale29-Mar-20174:30

Chappell: Australia can hold their heads high

9

Steven Smith (four matches, 499 runs at 71.28)If there was one key difference between Australia’s tours of India in 2013 and 2017, it was Smith. In 2013, Smith came in only for the final two Tests and showed with 92 in Mohali that he had the ability to thrive in spinning conditions. Four years later, he is the best batsman in the world, and was the key to Australia’s chances of an upset series win. His remarkable second-innings hundred in the first Test in Pune – among Australians, only Mark Taylor and Damien Martyn had previously made second-innings centuries in India – set up Australia’s big win. Hundreds in Ranchi and Dharamsala gave Australia hope in both Tests, and he joined Everton Weekes, Ken Barrington, Alastair Cook, Gary Sobers and Hashim Amla as the only visiting players to score three Test tons in a series in India. Smith finished the series as the leading run scorer from either side, with 499 at 71.28. At the end of the 2013 tour, he was yet to score his maiden Test hundred. Four years later, he has made 20. What a difference four years makes – to Smith, and to Australia.

8

Steve O’Keefe (four matches, 19 wickets at 23.26)Whatever else O’Keefe’s career holds for him, he will always be the man who bowled Australia to their first Test win in India for 13 years. In each innings of the Pune Test, O’Keefe picked up 6 for 35, which left him with match figures of 12 for 70 – only Ian Botham among visiting bowlers had ever achieved better match figures in India. O’Keefe turned the match with a stunning first-innings spell in which he took all six of his wickets in 24 balls – including three in an over. He found the right length and used his natural variation to flummox some of the world’s finest players of spin. Only seven further wickets came in the series, but his tally of 19 at 23.26 still ensured he sat equal top of Australia’s wicket list alongside Nathan Lyon.Nathan Lyon (four matches, 19 wickets at 25.26)Like O’Keefe, Lyon finished the series with 19 wickets, in his case at 25.26. He bowled well in Pune, though O’Keefe gained the greater rewards. But in the first innings of the second Test in Bengaluru, it was Lyon who sliced through India. He finished the innings with 8 for 50 – the best figures by any visiting bowler in a Test in India. Like most of the Australians, he had a tough time of it in Ranchi, but another five-wicket haul came in Dharamsala. Both Lyon and O’Keefe can be proud of their efforts against high quality players of spin.Steve O’Keefe won Australia the first Test and Steven Smith brought them close in all others•Associated Press

7

Matt Renshaw (four matches, 232 runs at 29.00)His raw figures – 232 runs at 29.00 – may not look like much, but Renshaw was one of the shining lights in Australia’s batting order in this series. Although he had finished the home summer with a hundred against Pakistan at the SCG, his lack of experience overseas and against quality spin left him uncertain of his place for the first Test. In the end, he was picked and immediately showed why. In the first innings of the series, Renshaw top scored with a patient 68 that helped set up Australia’s win, and he followed it with a 60 in the first innings in Bengaluru. For a 20-year-old, these were impressively unflustered performances, and Smith said Australia’s senior batsmen had learnt a thing or two from the younger man. Renshaw finished the series behind only Cheteshwar Pujara, Smith and KL Rahul for balls faced – a fine outcome that augurs well for his future.Glenn Maxwell (two matches, 159 runs at 39.75)In his three previous Tests, Maxwell had been used in all sorts of strange ways by Australia, from batting at No.8 as a specialist spinner, to opening the batting and bowling, to coming in at first drop. Here, he finally got the chance to fill the role to which he is most suited: batting at No.6 and bowling the occasional over. And when he got his chance in the third Test in Ranchi, he responded brilliantly, with a mature 104 as part of a hefty partnership with Smith. A counter-attacking effort in the second innings in Dharamsala threatened to set India a competitive target, until he was lbw for 45. His fielding was also outstanding, and the question now is whether he will finally end Australia’s trend of churning through men at No.6 and make the position his own.

6

Pat Cummins (two matches, eight wickets at 30.25)Three weeks ago, Cummins was just trying to get through a Sheffield Shield game – his first for nearly six years due to his ongoing injury struggles. He did so brilliantly, and Australia’s selectors took the gamble to rush him to India mid-series to replace the injured Mitchell Starc. Cummins immediately made an impact, with four wickets in trying conditions in Ranchi, and he backed it up with four more in Dharamsala. He bowled with impressive speed and always looked dangerous. Most pleasingly for Australian cricket, he came through the two Tests apparently unscathed. The prospect of Cummins, Starc, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson all being fit and available for next summer’s home Ashes series is an exciting one.Josh Hazlewood (four matches, nine wickets at 32.77)Hazlewood toiled hard throughout the series and was generally economical, but in only one innings was he truly rewarded for his work. His 6 for 67 in the second innings in Bengaluru kept Australia in the game and allowed them to chase a sub-200 total – that the batsmen were unable to get close on a deteriorating surface was no fault of Hazlewood. He finished the series with nine wickets at 32.77, and was the only Australian fast bowler to play the entire series.Glenn Maxwell might have finally ensured a long run in the Test team with his performances on the tour•Associated PressMitchell Starc (two matches, five wickets at 30.20, 118 runs at 29.50)Although Starc had to fly home at the halfway point of the series due to a stress fracture in the foot, his contribution to the win in Pune should not be forgotten. In India’s first innings, Starc claimed the key wickets of Pujara and Virat Kohli, both cheaply and within the space of one over, to set up India’s collapse. His batting in that Test, particularly his 61 in the first innings, was also significant. Again in Bengaluru, Starc showed how he can change the course of an innings – his wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and Karun Nair off consecutive balls sparked India’s lower-order collapse in the second innings.Matthew Wade (four matches, 196 runs at 32.66, nine catches, four stumpings)There was some consternation when Wade replaced Peter Nevill in Australia’s Test team during the home summer, particularly with an Indian tour on the horizon. But Australia’s selectors were adamant that Wade’s glovework had improved. Indeed, throughout this series he missed few opportunities, although his drop of Wriddhiman Saha off O’Keefe in Ranchi was costly – Saha was on 51 at the time and went on to make 117. With the bat, Wade made useful contributions and finished with 196 runs at 32.66. His only fifty came in the first innings in Dharamsala and he remained not-out in the second when he was disciplined but perhaps could have gone a touch harder to set India a tougher target. Still, Wade was far from a passenger on this tour.

5

Peter Handscomb (four matches, 198 runs at 28.28)In many ways this was a frustrating series for Handscomb. He made a start in almost every innings – 22, 19, 16, 24, 19, 72*, 8 and 18 – but as those scores show, he was unable to turn any of them into a hundred. The stand-out score in that list, the unbeaten 72, was significant, for it came in the second innings in Ranchi and was key to Australia batting out a draw and keeping their hopes of a series win alive. So impressed was Smith with Handscomb’s innings that he said it was “worth 150 in my eyes”.Shaun Marsh (four matches, 151 runs at 18.87)The inclusion of Shaun Marsh for this series was not without controversy, and his final tally of 151 runs at 18.87 can hardly be viewed as a success. And yet to really assess Marsh’s value in this series, it is necessary to dig a little deeper. Like Handscomb, Marsh made a patient, fighting half-century in the second innings in Ranchi to allow Australia to escape with a draw from a match that seemed lost. That innings of 53 from 197 balls should not be forgotten. Nor, for that matter, should Marsh’s 66 in the first innings in Bengaluru – Australia’s top score in that match. The rest of his innings were undeniably failures, but two contributions of note in a four-Test series is better than nothing.Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb saved a match for Australia, but had average tours overall•Associated Press

4

David Warner (four matches, 193 runs at 24.12)If Smith’s batting was the defining feature of Australia’s tour, they were somewhat balanced by Warner’s struggles. A series tally of 193 at 24.12 was far from what Australia needed from their senior opener and vice-captain. It was particularly frustrating for Australia that he reached double figures in every innings of the series but the last, yet only once reached fifty. Notably, his younger opening partner, Renshaw, faced nearly twice as many balls as Warner in this series.

2

Mitchell Marsh (two matches, 48 runs at 12.00, no wickets)The younger Marsh had little impact in this series with the bat and bowled only five overs across the first two Tests. This was particularly notable because his recall to the No.6 position was specifically because he was viewed as a better fifth bowler than other all-round options. As it happened, Marsh was sent home after the second Test due to a shoulder injury he had carried during the home summer, which meant he could not bowl at the level required. With that in mind, it was hard not to wonder why he was there in the first place.

Shahid Afridi was the perfect T20 cricketer even before people began to realise what that looked like, but time is finally catching up with him

Jarrod Kimber05-Aug-2017On his face is the same smile you’ve seen a million times over the last 21 years, the one that shows just how happy he is just to be alive, happy to be out on the field playing cricket. He’s about to play a T20 for Hampshire, but smile apart, Shahid Afridi doesn’t look the same as he used to.In English cricket, it’s often hard to tell if a player has put on some weight, or just has too many sweaters on. But, either way, Afridi doesn’t look his old self. At his best he was lithe, almost catlike. Now he looks every day of his 37, or 42 years. He doesn’t move like the super freak of years earlier; he moves like a man just getting out of bed.But today’s smile isn’t that much different to the one when Afridi won Pakistan the 2009 WT20 semi-final, with bat and ball, and then won the final, with bat and ball. The image of Afridi standing mid-pitch at Lord’s, arms raised, moving his head around like an excited puppy, is the image of T20’s first king.****If you are looking for a bowler for T20 cricket right now, you’re probably looking for a fast bowler or a spinner who turns the ball both ways. If you are looking for a batsman, you are probably looking at someone who can strike at over nine runs an over no matter what time they come into the innings. Afridi was this player before we knew what T20 was.Afridi’s critics have always said he’s a decent bowler who slogs. Dude, that’s like totally what teams want right now.To many analytics cricket people, Andre Russell is the perfect T20 cricketer. But Afridi was the perfect T20 player before anyone knew what they were looking for. He’s a rock as a bowler, completely dominates the middle overs, and if needed can bowl at the top or at the death. And he can bat in any of the 20 overs: Russell hasn’t shown as much flexibility batting in the Powerplay.

The biggest problem was that he was ahead of his time. Analytics were barely involved, so no one knew that Afridi was the template of what T20 players should be.

If you look at it on a micro level, Afridi is even better. He was hitting boundaries, especially sixes, when the world was trying to run singles. Well before Chris Gayle cottoned on to the fact that risky singles aren’t as high-yield as risky boundaries.Afridi also batted like all parts of the game were the death, which is where the next big move in T20 will probably come, and in Russell’s case, already has. As a spinner, he was incredibly hard to get away, was useful on wickets that assisted him, and is still handy on the ones that didn’t due to his constant changes of pace and sudden bounce.This is just who Afridi is. It isn’t something he created, like Sunil Narine or Pat Cummins with their batting; he didn’t formulate a T20 bowling career like Michael Yardy. He was just born a T20 natural.The biggest problem was that he was ahead of his time. Even at that World T20 of 2009, no one was talking about legspin dominating T20, or contesting that a high strike rate early in the innings is worth more than one later on. Analytics were barely involved, so no one knew that Afridi was the template of what T20 players should be.Those were the T20 dark ages; it was just a bit of fun, the ICC seemed to have a tournament every few months, the IPL was about cheerleaders, the Big Bash was not yet a league. No one understood his real worth because we hadn’t even started looking at players’ value. We were still talking about averages; the analytics companies hadn’t started researching the effects of the ball spinning in or away yet.Shahid Afridi was just that guy who was either a clown or the greatest hero you’d ever seen. Often in the space of two balls.****In 2003, Afridi played three ODI matches, his economy rate in those games was over five runs an over. In his 19-year career, that was the only year Afridi went at more than five an over. He has never gone for runs.He is playing at the Ageas Bowl, home of Hampshire, an English county with an excellent T20 record over many years. But in his previous match for Hampshire, against Somerset, he went for over ten runs an over, and despite a handy 18 off 11, he was, depending on who you speak to, dropped, rotated or rested for Hampshire’s following game.Afridi celebrates with Peshawar in the PSL•PCB/PSLThis one against Kent, he’s back, being hidden at short fine leg as Kent got off to a quick start. Afridi doesn’t bowl until the ninth over, after up-and-coming legspinner Mason Crane has had an over. There is a small titter from the few Hampshire fans who have braved the cold as he comes on to bowl.Afridi’s first ball is a knee-high full toss; it’s only taken for a single. He spends 15 seconds stretching himself, and then he stands at the top of his mark, looks at his field and decides it’s all wrong. He changes the shape of it, and straight away the batsmen keep hitting the ball right to the fielders he’s moved. His over, which will have two full tosses, goes for only five runs. Afridi limps out to short third man and continues to stretch.Afridi drops a caught-and-bowled to start his second over. It was completely pulverised by Sam Northeast and it goes to the boundary and very nearly takes a part of his hand with it. Two balls later, Afridi slides one through Northeast and hits his stumps.It’s clear the ball is stopping on the surface a bit, but even with that allowance, the Afridi zip, the magic where his balls seemed to get quicker after they landed, has long gone. Pace-wise, he looks only marginally quicker than Crane.James Vince, Hampshire’s captain, changes the field, and Afridi changes it back; Afridi is right again. His third over has another wicket, a ball that was dragged from outside off to mid-on, and he could have had another if not for a dropped catch. Every time Afridi does anything, the Hampshire Twitter account gets boom boomed by the lovers and haters. This over has brought them all out.Afridi is taken out of the attack so he can change ends. Jimmy Neesham, Kent’s Kiwi allrounder, tries to smack one that doesn’t spin and loops to short third man for Afridi’s third wicket. And then Afridi tosses one up to Daniel Bell-Drummond, a batsman with England pretensions, and he gets a thick edge out to deep cover, Afridi has four. The Hampshire Twitter manager is under as much pressure as the Kent lower order.When Afridi started his spell, Kent were 65 for 1 from their eight overs, eight overs later they have added 58, 26 of them off Afridi, and he has taken four wickets.****

James Vince, Hampshire’s captain, changes the field, and Afridi changes it back; Afridi is right again

There is no player in the history of the game who has ODI numbers that look more like T20 stats than Afridi. In ODIs in 2007, he averaged 29 with the bat while striking at 161 (and went at 4.6 an over with the ball). Virat Kohli has never struck at more than 157 in an IPL season, AB de Villiers’ career IPL strike rate is 148 and even Yusuf Pathan, an Afridi-like player, only has a career IPL strike rate of 142.Afridi has played in both parts of T20 cricket, the pre-enlightenment entertainment phase, and the early cricmetrics era. The pre-enlightenment time pretty much stopped around 2013, so we can look at Afridi from August 2009 to July 2013. Then the Cricmetrics era starts August 2013 until now.In domestic T20 of the pre-enlightenment, his strike rate was 164. In the leagues he played in the most, England, Australia and Pakistan, he was miles under the average economy rate when bowling; in England, he was almost two runs less an over. In over 50% of his games he went for less than seven an over. In the 45 innings he bowled out, 43 of them he was under the match economy rate. In that same period he batted 39 times and in 41% of them he scored more than 20 runs at better than the match economy rate.In the era when we were trying to work out T20 cricket, Afridi had already nailed it. He smacked the ball at a strike rate that was in an ivory tower that was built on a mountain, and no one could hit him off the square.In the pre-enlightenment, when he was on the field for one of those teams he played for, their win-loss record was 1.44; when he wasn’t, it was 1.09.Afridi is not that player anymore. Whatever his real age, that age has caught up with him. He’s a role player now. The teams he plays for now only win .095 times; when he doesn’t play, they win 1.37. He is no longer the weapon. As a bowler, he’s still more than decent: 87% of the time (down 8%) his economy is better than the match average. He only scores over 20 at better than the match rate 27% of the time now.But the real truth isn’t that he’s way worse than he used to be, it’s that the game has caught up. His strike rate pre-enlightenment was 164; in the last four years it’s slowed to 152 now. Which isn’t terrible, except that in that same time the game has sped up. Overall, batsmen have struck more quickly roughly as much as Afridi has slowed.The shadows are lengthening on a memorable career•Getty ImagesYet even as the Wall Street GMs and analytics factories change T20, up until a year or two ago, Afridi was still an incredible performer. He hasn’t evolved much (he hits a few more sixes now), it’s just that the game has just slowly started catching up to where he has always been.****Hampshire seem to be in control of the chase. George Bailey finds some form, and Tom Alsop is intent on batting through the innings. When Bailey is out, they need 38 off 28, and out strides Liam Dawson.There is no doubt that in a previous era this would have been Afridi walking out. Even in the 2009-13 period, 38 from 28 would have been seen as the kind of chase where you send out a big hitter to try and destroy. Plus, the younger Afridi would have only needed six balls to get a couple of boundaries and ice the game. But T20 has changed, and any batsman is now good enough to get away boundaries. Even without Afridi at the crease, 38 off 28 is no longer seen as hard. Hampshire were still well in charge.Dawson isn’t a dud. He has now represented England in all three formats and despite getting picked as a bowler for England, is actually a batsman. But Dawson isn’t a quick scorer, his career strike rate in T20 is 109. He scores a boundary every 11 balls. Afridi hits one every five balls for his entire career (we need a word beyond “elite” for that). Dawson is a 40-off-30 man, and Hampshire need a few quick boundaries as Alsop is 24 off 27 at the other end. Dawson doesn’t hit a boundary; he makes four off nine. Hampshire now need 22 from 13 balls.And out strides… Lewis McManus.Unlike Dawson, McManus can hit boundaries and hits one every 7.8 balls; he’s even hit as many sixes as fours in T20, a sure sign that he gets the way the game is going. And last game he made 34 from 18.This time it doesn’t quite come off for him, though. McManus makes eight from his five balls, with one boundary. Alsop faces the other eight balls and makes seven from them and Hampshire come up short.Shahid Afridi never leaves the dugout.

Whatever his real age, that age has caught up with him. He’s a role player now

Twitter is restless.”If @SAfridiOfficial came to bat in place of dawson then surely you would win”.”Could I say that was a fixing match?? I just can’t believe the result… I will not support hampshire anymore. Afridi plz leave hampshire””F***ing batting selections I think u forget that u have shahid afridi.”This season for Hampshire he has made 44 from five innings. He’s averaging eight, but worst of all, his strike rate is 104. But being that he is Afridi, earlier this year in the PSL he averaged 25 at a strike rate of 173. With his skills, even in decline, he might go on to have a few more years in franchise cricket if his body can hold together. You wouldn’t dare to not bat the old Afridi in a chase like this, but Hampshire dared to not bat him twice.Afridi has always been a freak, an outlier, something not of this world, but as T20 matures, he’s the template. Northants signed Seekkuge Prasanna for the NatWest Blast last year; he’s a legspinner who hits the ball very hard. Almost no one outside Sri Lanka knows of him; he hasn’t done much in international cricket so far. Northants found him mainly using their Moneyball-based approach, looking for a cheap ideal T20 import. Prasanna hits at a strike rate of 163; his bowling economy is 7.17, both marginally higher than Afridi’s. But he is, on paper, the new Afridi. He won’t be the last.All of this happens while Afridi still plays. He has retired almost as many times as he has won Man-of-the-Match awards, and he either loves playing the game or he loves what playing the game brings him. But he is out there, plugging away. Right now Afridi is two things, the ghost of T20’s past, and the foretaste of its future.