Whether they’ve chosen to bowl or bat, this has been the worst IPL season for teams winning the toss

Bharath Seervi23-Oct-2020Winning the toss has not brought good fortune to the teams in IPL 2020. After 40 matches, toss-winning teams have won just 13 games and lost 27. The toss-winning team has also lost each of the four tied matches that went into the Super Over.Is it an advantage to lose the toss?•ESPNcricinfo LtdOf the ten most recent matches this season (Matches 31-40), the toss-winning team lost nine in a row before the streak came to an end with Sunrisers Hyderabad winning both the toss and their match against the Rajasthan Royals on Thursday. At the start of the season, teams winning the toss lost 12 of the first 15 matches. However, in the middle-phase, teams won nine out of 15 games after calling correctly.The team winning the toss has lost nine of the ten most recent IPL games•ESPNcricinfo LtdIn the first 20 matches of the season, teams chose to field first 14 times, and won only twice while doing so. In the second half of the tournament, teams began to bat first more often, but kept losing more often than they won. Teams winning the toss in the 20 most recent games of the tournament chose to bat first 17 times, and went on to win only seven times when they did so.From all this, it appears as if captains would be happier losing the toss.ESPNcricinfo LtdCompared to previous IPL seasons, the win-loss ratio of teams winning the toss this year is easily the lowest. The previous lowest win-loss ratio was in 2012, when teams won 33 and lost 41 matches after winning the toss – a ratio of 0.804. In the four most recent IPL seasons before this one (2016 to 2019), teams winning the toss won more often than lost. In fact, in the 2019 season, the win-loss ratio of teams winning the toss was 1.565, the highest of all seasons.ESPNcricinfo LtdThis year, all eight teams have been unlucky after winning the toss. Seven of the eight teams have lost more matches than won after winning the toss. Mumbai Indians have won two and lost two while winning the toss. Kings XI Punjab have lost all their three matches after winning the toss.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Remembering the Indian-origin batsman who played a star turn in a rare, forgotten friendly across colour lines in apartheid South Africa in 1961

Luke Alfred04-Nov-2020On the night of March 31, 1961, Amien Variawa took to his bed early. He’d been feeling poorly for days – a touch of the flu – and although there was an important game of cricket to play on the weekend, he doubted he would be fit enough to appear in it.Just as he was nodding off, a knock at the door. A delegation of team-mates and well-wishers had come round to his home in Vrededorp, Johannesburg to cheer him up. He simply must play, they pleaded, even if he was only half-fit.This was an important game, a rare friendly across the colour line against an invitation side organised by the Springbok wicketkeeper John Waite. Against them were pitted a team of Indians and black Africans, assembled by the benefactor and businessman Abdul Haque, with Variawa as their star turn. It was now or never, they said. Waite had been quoted in the local papers saying that the “non-whites” needed to show what they were made of. Haque’s men, who had been angling for the game for months, needed to step up or shut up.Variawa was quietly thrilled by the delegation’s attention. He made no promises but told them he would do his best. The following morning, at the Natalspruit Grounds, on the edge of Johannesburg’s central business district, “Doolie” Rubidge, the Haque’s XI skipper, won the toss. Variawa opened the innings with Abdul Bhamjee, who was later to become a charismatic football administrator with a love of satin shirts in infinite shades of purple.As he walked to the crease Variawa looked around him and saw that Waite hadn’t patronised his opposition by picking an under-strength side. Russell Endean, a feature of the Springbok middle order through the 1950s, was part of Waite’s team, as was the curmudgeon Sid O’Linn, who had blocked and fretted against England in 1960.There also were up-and-coming youngsters – one of them, Ali Bacher, was to make a lasting impression as the decade continued – and what looked to be a sharp opening attack made up of Jackie Botten and Ken Walter, both of whom played for South Africa in seasons to come. Haque’s men were going to be tested.

Variawa’s century in a match in which no one else scored 50 might have signalled a late flowering, but apartheid restricted opportunity and upward mobility, in cricket as in life.

The Haque XI openers managed to see off the Botten and Walter threat, but with Waite’s first change came a setback: Mike Macaulay, bowling left-arm over, snuffled Bhamjee (4) and Sayed Kimmie (3) in quick succession. Suddenly it was 26 for 2 and the gainsayers were beginning to mutter “I told you so.””I was a swing bowler,” recalls Macaulay. “Bowling on a hessian mat and a sand outfield didn’t keep the shine for very long, but while it was swinging I managed those two early wickets.”Kimmie’s dismissal to a Macaulay caught-and-bowled (there were 18 caught-and-bowleds in the match) brought young Ossie Latha, Variawa’s brother-in-law, to the wicket. He and Variawa settled in. The scoring rate accelerated when Bacher, fresh out of school, trundled through a spell of innocuous legspin at more than a run a ball.Slowly the score mounted. The healthy crowd, mainly young Indian men in suits with thin ties and a few autograph hunters in shorts, clutching their books, began to relax. Dared they hope for a big score against the whites?The match shouldn’t have been played, for it was in contravention of apartheid’s petty laws, but Waite’s influence and a sort of willed ignorance from officialdom kept the security police away. “I remember curry for lunch and a big spread,” says Macaulay. “The problem was that I’m allergic to chilli, so I couldn’t eat.”Variawa and Latha batted through the afternoon. The hundred was brought up, then the 150. Waite permed his bowlers, giving them second and third spells. Variawa, normally a punishing driver of the ball, had to be careful of the excessive bounce on the hessian mat. He reeled in his shot-making. The total rose.Latha, who made 45, went with the total on 162 after a 136-run third wicket partnership. Shortly after, Variawa brought up his century, scored in 187 minutes and containing 11 boundaries. He hardly had time to soak up the congratulations before Haque’s XI tumbled from 177 for 4 to 207 all out, Botten and Macaulay contributing to five ducks at the bottom of the card. The chilli-averse left-armer finished with figures of 5 for 38 in 16 overs.

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Born in District Six, Cape Town, in 1928, three years before Basil D’Oliveira, Variawa was one of three brothers, all of them cricketers.The match scorecard. Variawa was the only player to cross 50•Getty ImagesDistrict Six was a lively melting pot of races, a casbah-like area of close-knit dwellings on cobbled streets, full of banana and peanut sellers trundling their wares in handheld carts. Variawa’s father was a cotton merchant in a district of merchants and small shopkeepers, his business eventually taking him upcountry to what is called the , or countryside, in Afrikaans. It was here that a young Variawa learned his cricket in the country district leagues.The family spent time in the rural towns of Lichtenburg and Piet Retief, according to Variawa’s son, Nazeem “Jimmy” Variawa, now a school and wedding photographer in his 60s.As a young man, Variawa found himself in Johannesburg, golden city of opportunity. Here his cricket prospered. The Indian leagues were well-run, with indefatigable characters like Haque organising tours, friendlies and coaching clinics. While facilities were never luxurious – unlike, say, at the famous Wanderers club, where, fresh out of school, Macaulay started out in the tenth team and worked his way up – they were decent. For Indian players and fans alike, the game was an obsession. Such devotion inspired self-reliance. The players knew their cricket history and were nimble of mind.

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In reply to the Haque XI’s 207, Waite’s men could only muster 154 (Bacher 37; Rubidge 4 for 41) to which Haque’s team responded with a paltry 75. This left Waite’s side (effectively the Transvaal provincial side) 129 to win. They scrambled 108 and Haque’s team won by 20 runs. They were still basking in glory a couple of days later when the return fixture at the Wanderers was mysteriously cancelled.

Waite had been quoted in the local papers saying that the “non-whites” needed to show what they were made of. Haque’s men needed to step up or shut up

The ‘s Dick Whitington detected “shades of Ranjitsinhji” in Variawa. His century in a match in which no one else scored 50 might have signalled a late flowering, but apartheid restricted opportunity and upward mobility, in cricket as in life. By the time of the century against Waite’s XI, Variawa had already played for the SA Indians against the Africans in 1955, before being picked as vice-captain for the South African Indians on their tour of Rhodesia and East Africa in 1958. There he joined D’Oliveira in the SA Indian side, captaining the team in D’Oliveira’s absence during the third three-day “Test”.D’Oliveira headed off to Middleton in the Central Lancashire League in 1960, qualifying for Worcestershire in 1964, a process smoothed by him telling the county he was three years younger than he was. Latha, now 80, remembers that D’Oliveira and Tom Graveney mooted a possible trial at Worcester for Variawa in the mid-1960s but, for reasons he can’t remember, nothing came to pass. He was keen that Latha prosper, though. “Amien did try and help me get across to a club in Sussex – he was willing to put up the money, but my parents weren’t keen,” Latha says. “By that stage he must have been 35, so his time had passed, but he wanted to see me do well.”Variawa had to be content with inter-provincial tournaments and the Christmas tours Haque organised to the Cape. “[When we toured there at the end of ’62] it was the first time I saw the sea,” says Hoosain Ayob, a fast bowler and team-mate of Variawa’s. “We went to the docks. Up Table Mountain. We went to the ‘Coon Carnival’ [since renamed the Cape Minstrel Carnival] on New Year’s Eve.Ayob remembers Variawa as a man who liked the horses and a joke, and as a fine driver, offspinner and safe slip fielder in his cricket-playing avatar. “He was a good-looking man, always in a suit and tie. A bit of a charmer, although you would never find him in fights or arguments. His trademark was a white hankie, which he always wore around his neck.””Would he have played for South Africa under different circumstances?””Easy.”An article in a magazine details the rout of John Waite’s team at Natalspruit•Getty ImagesAfter his playing days were over, Variawa became a travelling salesman. During the summer, he coached cricket on weekends, driving his son Jimmy’s teams all over the Transvaal.The 1960s were the age of swanky dancehall show bands: El Rica’s Dance Band, the Five Pennies, the Santiagos, the Lyceum Combo and the Rhythm Bluebirds among them. According to Ayob, Variawa loved to dance almost as much as he loved to thunder off-drives past extra cover’s left hand. In their satin bow ties and pressed suits, the bands played standards across a wide range, including rhumbas, cha-chas and sambas. They also played , the indigenous penny whistle- and saxophone-driven music of the black South African working class.These nights were looked forward to for weeks. “Fund-raising dances and dinner dances and sporting activities were pretty much what we all did for recreation in places like Vrededorp and Pageview [Johannesburg’s equivalent of District Six] in those days,” Ayob says. “We’d all take our girlfriends or dates to the Springbok Hall or the Ritz for Friday or Saturday nights.”Dancing out to take on the best bowlers from other lands was an opportunity seldom afforded Variawa, although he continued to move smoothly across the dancehall of life as a salesman. El Rica’s rendition of “The Girl from Ipanema” remained one of his favourites. “He was some dancer,” says Ayob with a smile.Variawa’s life came to an abrupt and tragic end end on New Year’s Eve 1985, when he was involved in a head-on collision while driving with a Turkish friend on a poorly lit road outside of Azaadville, west of Johannesburg. He was 57. His story is cherished by a few but he is largely forgotten, another in the endless legion of South African cricket’s unknown soldiers.

Sanju Samson, Navdeep Saini, Ishan Kishan, Kuldeep Yadav, R Ashwin and others must impress the selectors ahead of the big event in October-November

Shashank Kishore07-Apr-2021The impressive debuts of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav in T20Is and Krunal Pandya and Prasidh Krishna in ODIs against England have proved the match-readiness of India’s young talent in international cricket. Thanks to the IPL and the BCCI’s robust India A programme, the national side has an embarrassment of riches and multiple options for every position – all healthy signs for the selectors in a T20 World Cup year.As such, the IPL could have a massive influence on the make-up of India’s final squad for the tournament at home in October-November. But for several players, it will be particularly important, either because they have been left out of the India squad recently or haven’t been able to consistently make the playing XI.

Shikhar Dhawan

What the selectors might look for: powerplay game
Dhawan’s conservative approach early in the innings has been an issue in the past, but at the 2020 IPL, he struck at 139.13 in the first six overs – the fifth best among batsmen who played a minimum of 50 balls. Overall, his 618 runs in 17 innings – second best in the tournament behind KL Rahul – came at a strike rate of 144.73. None of the four other Indian batsmen at the Capitals who aggregated over 200 runs in the season got their runs at a faster rate. With Shreyas Iyer missing the 2021 IPL because of a shoulder injury, Dhawan will have a bigger role to play if the Capitals are to build on their runners-up finish last season. At 35, he is among the oldest contenders for a T20 World Cup spot. Having been left out of four of the five T20Is against England, he will want to make the most of the long stretch at the top of the order in the IPL to keep himself in contention.

Sanju Samson

What the selectors might look for: consistency
While he has timing and fierce ball-striking going for him, inconsistency hasn’t helped Samson’s cause. His highest score in six T20I outings for India in 2020 was 23, which was perhaps why he was overlooked for the series against England. But as the Rajasthan Royals captain this season, he will get a long run of matches to prove himself. Samson hasn’t played a lot of competitive cricket lately, and when he did, he managed only one half-century in five matches for Kerala in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in January. In the 2020 IPL he started with two match-winning half-centuries before tailing off mid-season, although he still finished as the Royals’ top scorer. This season the selectors will be looking for more consistency and impactful knocks from Samson.Only one of Ishant Kishan (left) and Surkyakumar Yadav might make it to the India playing XI at the World Cup•Deepak Malik/BCCI

Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav

What the selectors could look for: middle-overs acceleration
Both batsmen are products of Mumbai Indians’ robust scouting system. Kishan showed he was not afraid of the big stage when he smacked a match-winning half-century on T20I debut. He is a back-up keeping option and can bat anywhere in the top five. No one hit more sixes than Kishan at the 2020 IPL – a testament to his improved power game. His ability to go after the bowling from the get go makes him a fearsome prospect for the opposition.Yadav too has taken the IPL route to get a roaring start in international cricket. He is a 360-degree player who can drop anchor and play the enforcer at the same time. Over the years, he has become inventive with his strokeplay. His first scoring shot for India was a one-footed hook for six off Jofra Archer. He has scored 400-plus runs in the last three IPL seasons, two of which Mumbai won. Another good IPL could strengthen his place in the India side. However, it’s also possible that Kishan and Yadav could be competing for the same spot in the XI.

R Ashwin

What the selectors might look for: powerplay wickets and control
Ashwin is itching for an opportunity in white-ball cricket again after being dropped entirely from the set-up in 2017, but he isn’t fretting over it. He says this has helped him become calmer and focus on red-ball excellence. But India aren’t brimming with spin options in white-ball cricket at the moment; they went into the ODI series decider against England without a front-line spinner. Virat Kohli was testy when asked about Ashwin’s absence, insisting Washington Sundar remains India’s preferred offspiner, but it isn’t unusual for India to have two similar-style bowlers in the squad. Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh were both part of the 2016 T20 World Cup side. Ashwin has been a key member of the Delhi Capitals think tank and his 13 wickets at an economy of 7.66 in 15 games at the 2020 IPL were more than respectable. His seven wickets in the powerplay were the most by a spinner in the season, ahead of Axar Patel and Washington, and joint fifth overall. Can he force his way back into white-ball mix once again?A good IPL season for Rahul Chahar could put Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav under pressure•Saikat Das/BCCI

Kuldeep Yadav and Rahul Chahar

What the selectors might look for: wristspin options
Left-arm wristspinner Yadav has spent more time on the bench than in the middle since 2019, not only losing his spot in the India XI but also at the Kolkata Knight Riders, a franchise he has been part of since 2014. He managed only four wickets in nine innings in the 2019 IPL and one wicket in four in the 2020 IPL. In India’s 2020-21 season he took three wickets in four innings (three ODIs and a Test) and admitted he was confused about what lengths to bowl against England. Of all the players in this article, he is one who desperately needs a big IPL season to be in contention for that World Cup berth.Meanwhile, legspinner Chahar’s career has taken a different trajectory. For two seasons now, he has been the Mumbai Indians’ lead spinner, which, given he is 21, is a remarkable distinction. In the 2019 IPL he picked up 13 wickets in as many games, at an economy of 6.55. He followed it with 15 in 15 (econ of 8.16) in 2020. It’s clear that Chahar is a strike bowler; not a traditional leggie who gives it a rip but one who relies on change in length, angles, and bounce, like Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan. Getting rid of the fear of being hit, Chahar says, has contributed immensely to his improved mindset. He has also shown the ability to bowl in different phases of an innings. Yuzvendra Chahal, India’s senior legspinner, has had an indifferent run lately, his T20I economy of 9.14 being the second worst among those who have bowled 50 or more overs since the start of 2019. And he has taken only 18 wickets in 21 T20Is in that period. While there may not be an immediate threat to Chahal’s place in the India squad, a strong performance from Chahar will keep Chahal on his toes and give the selectors another healthy selection dilemma.

Navdeep Saini

What the selectors might look for: death bowling
Raw pace, the ability to hustle batsmen with the short ball, and getting it to swing both ways make Saini a key component of the Royal Challengers Bangalore attack. But to make the step up to become a T20I regular and be in World Cup contention, he needs to build on his IPL gains from 2020, where he carried the team’s bowling alongside Chahal, Mohammed Siraj and Chris Morris. He faces stiff competition from other India quick bowlers like T Natarajan and Shardul Thakur, who is an all-round option. For long now, RCB have identified death bowling as an area of concern. If Saini can deliver telling spells and win them games to possibly qualify for the knockouts and beyond, he has an excellent chance of making the World Cup longlist.Navdeep Saini could make a strong case for himself if he delivers for RCB in the death overs•Saikat Das/BCCI

Deepak Chahar

What the selectors might look for: powerplay wickets and death bowling
He bowls the tough overs economically, and has pace and swing. Chahar has been on the periphery of India’s white-ball squads since 2019. He has taken nine wickets in the powerplay overs at an economy of 7.14 in 13 games for India. His corresponding figures in the IPL are 33 wickets at 7.58 in 48 innings for the Chennai Super Kings. Captain MS Dhoni has often preferred to give Chahar three overs in this phase because of his impressive economy. For India, he is ideally seen as a like-for-like replacement for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, but given the senior bowler’s spate of recent injuries, Chahar can always come in as a back-up.

Rahul Tewatia

What the selectors might look for: all-round back-up
Tewatia was part of the T20I squad against England but did not get a game. He is an explosive lower-order batsman who can also bowl two or three overs of handy legspin, offering all-round skills like the Pandya brothers do. Tewatia is best remembered for walloping Sheldon Cottrell for five consecutive sixes to turn around an impossible chase for the Rajasthan Royals in Sharjah last season. He is often praised for his street-smart approach, and he will do well to show some of that for the Royals in what could be an audition for a T20 World Cup berth.

Though he made key contributions with bat and ball, his drop of Kieron Pollard in the 19th over turned out to be expensive

S Rajesh17-Apr-2021Vijay Shankar had a more-than-reasonable game with both bat and ball tonight: he took the key wickets of Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, finishing with excellent figures of 2 for 19 in three overs, and in difficult batting conditions, scored a 25-ball 28 that kept the Sunrisers in the game even as wickets were falling at the other end. According to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats, based only on the batting and bowling stats, he was third in terms of impact points for the game, next only to Rahul Chahar and Jonny Bairstow. And yet, his one error in the field undid much of that good work and might have been a factor in the Sunrisers’ defeat.ESPNcricinfo LtdOff the third ball of the 19th over, with Kieron Pollard on 18 off 16 balls, Shankar dropped a straightforward chance at deep midwicket. Pollard faced only five more balls after that drop – he also got a single off that delivery – but creamed 16 runs, including consecutive sixes off the last two balls.According to ESPNcricinfo’s Luck Index, that chance cost Sunrisers nine runs. That is calculated through a complex algorithm, which takes into account the quality of the batters to follow and puts a number to the runs that the other batters would have scored off the extra deliveries that Pollard faced.In this case, the algorithm calculates that had Pollard been dismissed, the remaining batters would have scored just eight runs off the five balls that Pollard faced after the chance. That would have given the Sunrisers a target of 142 to win, and not 151.You could argue that the Sunrisers fell short of that target too, but then the approach of the batters would have been different – especially in the last few overs – had the Sunrisers required nine fewer runs. Shankar might have had the luxury of playing out Jasprit Bumrah instead of having to take him on, for instance.That is in the realms of conjecture, but what is almost certain is that the let-off made the Sunrisers’ target steeper. On a difficult pitch against a high-quality line-up, that target proved to be too big an ask.

“The Beast” talks about the two-year plan that culminated with him making it into England’s squad for the T20 World Cup

Matt Roller06-Oct-20212:59

England’s big hitter on his fantastic summer, batting in the IPL, and Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson

For six heady weeks earlier this year Liam Livingstone was the world’s must-watch batter. After a period of self-isolation in July, following positive Covid-19 tests in the England camp, Livingstone strode out at Trent Bridge with bleached blond hair and renewed confidence in his six-hitting ability.There he produced a 42-ball hundred, England’s fastest, followed by a purple patch of form that felt like a midsummer fever dream. Between mid-July and the end of August, Livingstone hit 43 sixes – one every 6.3 balls, including one measured at 122 metres off Haris Rauf to clear the new stand at Headingley – in 13 innings for England, Birmingham Phoenix and Lancashire, averaging 52 with a strike rate a shade over 190. Having started the year on the fringes of the England set-up, he inked his name into their starting XI for the first game of this month’s T20 World Cup.”I just rode the wave,” Livingstone reflects from Rajasthan Royals’ team hotel in the UAE. “I had quarantine when I arrived to sit back and reflect on it. I guess it’s been such a good summer for me, but I’m still not where I want to be. I want to keep getting better, keep hitting more sixes and hitting the ball further. I’ve proved to a few people what I can do, but over the next couple of years I want to keep improving.”Related

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Livingstone puts his form down to a eureka moment during a training session in Bristol with Paul Collingwood and Marcus Trescothick, England’s assistant coach and batting coach respectively. He had been running drinks during the ODI series against Sri Lanka and had diagnosed a flaw in his technique. He says that his power comes from his back hip and that he was “losing my front foot”, which meant it collapsed rather than driving through his swing.”Colly and Tres both said exactly the same thing in that session and it pretty much clicked from there,” he says. “It was weird: I’d had this breakthrough moment and then the same day, everyone tested positive for corona and we went into ten days of isolation. I came out, had one training session and then went straight into the Pakistan series. It all stemmed from that one training session, which is pretty scary – I’ll have to buy Colly and Tres a beer at some stage for the help they’ve given me.Livingstone made 348 runs in nine matches at a strike rate of 178.46 in the Hundred earlier this year•Getty Images”It was a great summer for me. I was really enjoying my cricket and feeling super-confident. I couldn’t have wished for it to go any better but it’s done now, it’s gone. We’re moving on to a new phase with the IPL now and the World Cup coming up and it will be an even better year if I can put in some performances in them.”Livingstone was the undisputed superstar of the Hundred’s first season, finishing the tournament as the leading run scorer, leading six hitter, and MVP. His unbeaten 92 off 40 balls in Phoenix’s final group game earned him the nickname “the Beast”, which Shane Warne yelped on commentary throughout his innings of 46 off 19 at Lord’s in the final. Livingstone used the same bat, borrowed from his Royals team-mate Riyan Parag, through the summer. “It’s still just about hanging on now – the handle is superglued and taped together,” he says.”My biggest heroes growing up were Freddie [Andrew Flintoff] and Shane Warne, from watching that 2005 Ashes series, and as I got older, I always wanted to bat like KP,” he reflects. “To have your two heroes and KP commentating and talking about you, that was so cool and pretty surreal. I filmed a six-hitting masterclass with KP on Sky and that was a little bit of a fan-boy moment.ESPNcricinfo Ltd”For the last two weeks, before I came away, everyone was like, ‘Oh, so you think you’re the Beast now, do you?’ Towards the [Hundred] final, it felt like a big build-up, but those last couple of games were probably as well as I’ve played in my career. It’s something that comes with doing well, and hopefully I can keep on entertaining because that’s the biggest motive for me: to be an entertainer on the pitch.”That was the coolest thing I found from the Hundred: kids coming up to me, saying, ‘I really want to bat like you.’ Travelling around the country, you’d see people going into service stations with Hundred cricket shirts on. It felt like it was about inspiring the next generation, seeing kids wanting to go out and smack cricket balls on the front drive rather than staying inside playing Xbox.”Livingstone’s emergence could be crucial for England, with his middle-order hitting and ability to bowl both legspin and offbreaks according to the match-ups on offer, making him close to a like-for-like replacement for Ben Stokes, whose ongoing mental-health break will extend through the World Cup. There is an element of good fortune in the timing but Livingstone has targeted this tournament for some time.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn 2019, he decided after discussions with the ECB that he should spend his winter playing short-form leagues rather than touring Australia with England Lions. He thought that at the age of 26 and two years since his only two international caps, he needed to broaden his horizons to force his way back in.”It was a two-year plan to work my backside off in T20 franchise tournaments,” he explains, “firstly to get back into the England environment, then to push my way into the squad for 2021.” Over a four-month period from November 2019 to March 2020, Livingstone played more T20s than anyone else, with stints in the MSL, BBL and PSL. “I knew it was going to be hard – [England is] probably one of the hardest teams in world sport to get into – but it’s something that I worked really hard at, trying to go away and learn.”I went to South Africa and played with Quinton de Kock. You don’t get that sort of opportunity playing [England] Lions cricket. I had to go away, get out my comfort zone and learn in different environments. The pressure you get as an overseas player is like no other, wherever you go in the world – South Africa, the Big Bash, Pakistan, the IPL – and it sets you up for when you get back to international cricket. I made that decision and I think it was the right one.”In that light, Livingstone’s performances for Rajasthan Royals since the IPL’s resumption have been a disappointment: his 25 off 17 against Punjab Kings included a 97-metre six off Arshdeep Singh, but his next three innings brought 11 runs off 18 balls and cost him his place for the game against Chennai Super Kings. He has struggled to adjust to the unexpectedly slow pitches in the UAE but insists he is staying level-headed.”That was the coolest thing I found from the Hundred: kids coming up to me, saying, ‘I really want to bat like you'”•Getty Images”It’s been a little bit frustrating, but I’ve learned that you can’t get too high when things are going well and you can’t get too low when things aren’t going well. I haven’t changed anything – I’m doing exactly what I did in the summer – and I’m not feeling too disheartened by it all. I feel like I just need to get a couple of shots away and I’ll be fine. Just because I’ve had a couple of bad games, it doesn’t mean that I’m a really bad player all of a sudden. Things can change very quickly.”In England – or pretty much anywhere in the world – you have a vague idea of what’s coming up. The pitches [in the UAE] have been so different from ground to ground and sometimes you can get caught out by not adapting quick enough. Some of them can be quite bouncy when the grass is left on, but when it’s taken off, they can be really slow. Clearing an 80-metre boundary in England is a lot easier than it is out here. That’s going to be the challenge going into the World Cup, trying to adapt as quickly as you can.”Another stumbling block – not one that is unique to Livingstone – has been adjusting to long stints “locked up” in biosecure conditions. He benefited from time around England’s white-ball squads in 2020, because large squads were being picked by necessity. It helped him feel “very comfortable in that environment”, but he flew home citing bubble fatigue during the India leg of the IPL earlier this year and will skip this winter’s Big Bash in order to spend Christmas with his family.And the boy can bowl: Livingstone’s all-round skills make him a nearly like-for-like replacement for Ben Stokes at the World Cup•Stu Forster/Getty Images”The days where you can get out and play golf feel as though they’re the biggest privileges in the world at the moment, which is a bit of shame,” he says. “I haven’t had a break for about three years. I really wanted to go back to Perth but sometimes I’ve got to make sure that I’m in the right place mentally. It’ll be nice to put the bat down and switch my mind off from cricket for a month or so.”But first Livingstone has the World Cup in his sights, and England’s bid to become the first team to hold the 50-over and T20 trophies simultaneously.”We’d be silly not to go in feeling very confident of being able to win it. I certainly think we’ve got a lot of very good players, a really good squad and a very balanced team. Who knows what the pitches are going to be like, but I guess the teams that go far will be the ones who play the smartest cricket when it matters.”Playing for your country is one thing, but representing them at a World Cup is probably the biggest thing you want to do as a sportsman. I’ll take a lot of confidence from the summer into it. It’ll be great fun and an even cooler experience if we can go on and win it. The work I’ve got to do over the next three weeks is gearing up to that: how can I best help England win a World Cup?”

Covid restrictions and the impending arrival of the Hundred threaten to cast a shadow on county T20

David Hopps08-Jun-2021″Data not dates” might have been the UK government’s mantra as it seeks to plot a route out of lockdown, but June 21 remains a date imprinted on the nation’s consciousness – as the government deliberately chose a midsummer’s day celebration how could it be otherwise? – and county cricket has cause to cling to that promised reawakening with more desperation than most.End restrictions on attendances after the first two weeks of the T20 Blast, with about 60% of the fixtures remaining, and the competition can just about deliver financially and in terms of entertainment.But what if the date is put back? Travel, hospitality, and all sports and culture would suffer, in the name of avoiding a third spike in Covid transmissions, but few sporting events would so obviously be hit as the Blast as it seeks to survive the most uncertain summer in its history. Losses to the professional game, already mired in debt, would run into millions.Track back three years and the county game appeared to be relatively settled. The Blast was heading towards a million spectators and corona was something visible during a solar eclipse. Then came the Hundred and Covid-19, tipping county cricket into yet another prolonged bout of uncertainty and soul-searching that will drag on for a good while yet.Related

• Can Notts become Blast's first back-to-back champions?

• Gloucestershire, Sussex seek to stop Surrey strutting into a home quarter-final

• Notts suffer T20 Blast blow as Christian departs for Australia

• Milne joins Kent as T20 Blast replacement for Amir

Gordon Hollins has experienced both sides of the debate. Now CEO at Somerset, one of the counties that will play no active part in the Hundred, other than losing half its players for an entire month, he filled a variety of roles in 12 years at the ECB, latterly the managing director of county cricket.Reflection about the relationship with The Hundred is not his most pressing thought. With the Blast 24 hours away from starting, the possibility that a feared third wave could disrupt the competition will have occupied most of his attention.Interpretation of the data depends a lot upon an individual’s risk aversion and philosophy of life. Positive Covid tests have risen disturbingly to 6,048 with the seven-day average up by 60%. But there is more promising data, too, that suggest the vaccines remain effective: hospital cases remaining steady, daily deaths barely into double figures, and vaccinations rising to 53% twice vaccinated, 77% once.There is little point in Somerset second guessing. Hollins, like every other county administrator, can merely plan and wait.”We have four matches up to 21 June and the next stage of Government unlocking,” he said. “We have sold these four matches at the 1800-2000 restricted capacity and then for the three matches after that we have sold them out to full capacity, planning for success, knowing there is a risk we will have to row back and reduce the capacity if the government’s road map isn’t delivered.”We’ll just have to roll with whatever the decision is but it would be a significant financial cost. We have the unusual combination of a relatively high membership and a relatively small ground. We took the decision to prioritise the membership who have been loyal to us for a number of years, so if the road map is not unlocked, we would not sell any tickets at all this year.”Somerset, like many counties, have already had to impose redundancies.Hollins hopes that will help see them through. “We think over the last 12 months or so we have made some tough decisions. We have had to make a dozen roles redundant. We are actually starting to build again as we look at the blue sky on the horizon, rather than the thunderstorms of the last 14 months, but we think we have managed the financials tightly enough to be able to manage that extra storm if it comes our way.”The big question is how long that lasts. If it is this year only then that’s one thing but if it goes into next year then like so many other businesses, and every other county cricket club, that’s a different situation.”

As to the Hundred, my hope is that when you have a strong England team for example, and you get euphoria around the country, the interest in county cricket goes upGordon Hollins, Somerset CEO

That leaves the Hundred – its monetary benefits even more essential, its advocates contend, now that Covid has wrecked the game’s financials. But many county cricket followers are adamant that the Hundred, if successful, is actually a canker that will gradually destroy the 18-team county structure. The battle lines are partly generational, but not entirely so. County cricket is built upon history, community and a deep sense of belonging. The Hundred is a marketing gambit, intended to satisfy a new, made-for-TV global audience which has little interest in tradition, but simply wants the quick fix of big names on big grounds.Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Hollins adopts a positive view about the potential synergies that many – this correspondent included – do not share.”Do I agree with the premise that the Hundred will undermine the Blast?” he said. “I can only talk for myself but I feel we have a really passionate support here who will support Somerset before the Hundred. And having a Somerset team that is competitive to service, or accommodate, that interest is really important. I don’t have any fear that the Blast here will cease to be relevant.”My job as CEO of Somerset is to ensure that the Hundred delivers positive outcomes for Somerset CCC. That’s not just about money, it’s about making sure that if the audience widens as forecast – in terms of the increased number of people who are interested in cricket, and the interest it creates at club level – then Somerset need to pick up the benefits of that, whether it be players playing the game or people attending matches. I believe we can do that. I’ve got to look at it that way.”As to the Hundred in a wider sense, my hope is that if you look at the history when you have a strong England team for example, and you get euphoria around the country about England, what happens really consistently is that the interest in county cricket goes up.”The Ashes 2005 is the ultimate example of that. I was at Durham at that time and Durham’s attendances during that summer went up significantly that summer. I’m hoping that the Hundred does that for county cricket and that it creates the noise and the awareness and pulls in people from lots of different places.”English football could never have got away with the imposition of such a new structure – the quick death of the European Super League is proof of that. But Premier League football is all powerful, and international football knows its limits, whereas, in professional cricket, the international programme has become more and more empowered over the past generation, arranging tours at the last minute, withdrawing players without warning and treating clubs with disregard – the Indian Premier League being the one exception.Getting fans back in grounds for the Blast is essential to county finances•Alan Martin/Action Plus via Getty ImagesBut cricket has no long-term future if it is merely reliant on the same old players traversing the world for another T20 payday, changing countries, clubs and shirts with barely a thought, any sense of loyalty limited to the confines of the dressing room and their own sense of professionalism.The Blast might have suffered its annual rush of eve-of-tournament withdrawals, but it is still a central part of a 18-team professional circuit unmatched in the world. Many of them might not be able to claim a relevance with the entire community (could they ever?), many are over-reliant on the efforts of the private school sector, but they still develop and employ around 450 English-qualified professionals, most of them possessing a deep sense of club commitment.And those who cannot get into the grounds for the Blast can now watch on live county streaming services that are improving every year, with every boundary and every wicket available on video clips, and more online coverage than ever before. We fear county cricket is in a time of crisis, but it might just be entering a golden age.To gaze upon Taunton as crowds returned for the Championship last week was to rediscover a sense of optimism. “I think there is massive expectation,” said Hollins as he observed spectators clearly happy to feel the sun on their backs and hear the sound of bat on ball.”When Championship cricket returned to Taunton after 614 days you could feel the buzz around the ground,” he reflected. “Every time a boundary was scored the whole thing was amplified beyond what it normally would have been. There was so much excitement about being back.”Yes, it’s a slightly different audience for the T20 Blast, but by the number of people desperate to get their hands on tickets for the Blast I’d say the anticipation is greater than ever. I have never subscribed to this death of county cricket scenario. This club goes back to 1875. It has survived two massive world wars. A competition like the Hundred that is well intended is not going to destroy county cricket.”There is such depth to county cricket that I don’t buy that it’s dying at all, I think it can and will go from strength to strength.”

Awesome foursome of Gayle, Bravo, Russell and Pollard can’t prevent title defence from flopping

Deivarayan Muthu04-Nov-20216:49

Are West Indies playing an outdated brand of T20 cricket?

October 7, 2012. Marlon Samuels devours Lasith Malinga and Sri Lanka as West Indies win their first T20 World Cup title. Their coruscating T20I reign begins there and runs until…….November 4, 2021, when it comes to a grinding halt at the hands of Sri Lanka in the UAE.It was Chris Gayle who led West Indies’ rousing celebrations nearly a decade ago in Colombo, with press-ups and jigs as Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell and Kieron Pollard all cheered him on. The quartet go on to become the face, heart, and soul of T20 cricket around the world.Once the West Indies board underwent a revamp, with Ricky Skerritt taking over from Dave Cameron, their grand plan was to get the old rock band back together in 2019. Pollard was appointed West Indies’ white-ball captain under a new administration, Bravo decided to come out of T20I retirement for his last dance. Gayle pushed himself on to another World Cup, becoming the oldest player at the tournament at 42. You can probably hear Russell’s knee rattle when he runs into bowl, but he, too, is in for another tilt at the world title.

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On Thursday, West Indies, the defending champions, are up against Sri Lanka, who had to play the qualifier to make the tournament proper. Former captain Daren Sammy keeps repeating on the TV commentary that West Indies’ legacy is on the line. After losing three tosses, Pollard finally wins one and opts to bowl first in Abu Dhabi. But his bowling attack never really turns up, as has been the case throughout the tournament.Related

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Dwayne Bravo confirms international retirement after West Indies exit

West Indies’ success in 2012 and 2016 was built around a versatile attack. Samuel Badree gave nothing away in the powerplay; he was superbly backed up by Sunil Narine (in 2012) and Suleiman Benn (2016) in the powerplay. In 2016, Bravo was at the peak of his T20 powers while Carlos Brathwaite and Sammy also pitched in with the ball.In this edition of the tournament, their bowling attack has been fragile although Jason Holder’s late inclusion in the main squad did make it look slightly better. Ravi Rampaul, who was part of West Indies’ title-winning team in 2012, is now 37-years-old. Sure, he bowled some tough overs for Trinbago Knight Riders on his return to the CPL, but it was a gamble to pick him as one of the frontline seamers after just one good season.ESPNcricinfo LtdFabian Allen was originally lined up to do the role that Benn did with the ball five years ago, but an injury sidelined him from the tournament. Akeal Hosein had one of the best economy rates in the most recent CPL, however, couldn’t find similar control in the UAE. Bravo was in hot form for Chennai Super Kings in their run to the IPL title, but cooled off so much that he conceded 42 runs in his four overs against Sri Lanka. It was his third-worst analysis in what could be his second-last T20I.Watch cricket live on ESPN+

Sign up for ESPN+ and catch all the action from the Men’s T20 World Cup live in the USA. Match highlights of Sri Lanka vs West Indies is available here in English, and here in Hindi (USA only).

All up, West Indies’ attack picked up only 14 wickets in four innings at an average of 37.71. Only India and Netherlands have taken fewer wickets in the tournament, having played one game fewer.Oshane Thomas, who bowled with renewed vigour for Barbados Tridents in the CPL, could have added some extra pace and fizz to the attack, but West Indies were rigid with their combination and didn’t use him at all.

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How about their batting? It was just as one-dimensional, with their high-risk six-or-nothing approach failing them in the UAE. West Indies’ dot-ball percentage of 45.70 was the third worst in the tournament, behind Namibia and Scotland. Lendl Simmons epitomised West Indies’ batting struggles when he dawdled to 16 off 35 balls in a match-losing innings against South Africa.The big four – Gayle, Pollard, Russell and Bravo – couldn’t get the big hits away either. Against Sri Lanka, Gayle chipped left-arm seamer Binura Fernando to mid-on. Russell was bounced out by Chamika Karunaratne while both Pollard and Bravo were done in by sharp wrong’uns from Wanindu Hasaranga.Success was limited for West Indies in the UAE•ICC via GettySri Lanka aced their match-ups and Pollard would later admit that West Indies lacked enough game-smarts.The old band is now breaking up and the search for a new one is already on. In a way, the fading seniors have already passed the baton to Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran, who hit 81 and 46 respectively even as West Indies crashed out. Pollard has tipped them to be the future batting leaders, but the prospects do look bleak on the bowling front. Who is the next big T20 spinner after Sunil Narine? Who is the next big T20 fast bowler from the Caribbean?Pollard, Gayle, Bravo and Russell transformed West Indies into the first great men’s T20I team and revolutionised the format, but winds of change are already beginning to blow through Caribbean cricket.

Worryingly for South Africa, Miller has a hamstring niggle and Shamsi is nursing a groin strain, and there isn’t much turnaround time

Firdose Moonda30-Oct-20211:56

Tabraiz Shamsi: ‘There’s a World Cup to be won, how can you not be passionate?’

It wasn’t perfect – almost nothing about South African cricket is these days – but they kept their knockout hopes alive with a scratchy but ultimately successful chase against their favourite opponents. This was South Africa’s sixth successive win over Sri Lanka and their best, because it came against the backdrop of serious pressure.Although defeat would not have guaranteed they would be knocked out, it would have made progressing to the semi-finals complicated. It may still not be straightforward but this team has now proved to itself that it can overcome adversity. They have done it twice this week, which could otherwise have descended into (even more) chaos following what most in the squad have described as their toughest time in international cricket.Related

• Bavuma wants South Africa to add '5% more' for crucial England fixture

• South Africa look to keep momentum going against hapless Bangladesh

• SACA CEO: Cricket South Africa has caused a 'crisis'

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• 'I am not a racist' – de Kock apologises, will take the knee

The drama, in case you missed it, started on Monday night when the CSA board resolved to issue a directive to the men’s national team instructing them all to take a knee before every game. The players found out on Tuesday morning, five hours before their match against West Indies, and by the time they reached the ground, that Quinton de Kock had decided he would not comply and withdrew from the XI. Two days later, de Kock apologised and U-turned, and yesterday Keshav Maharaj said the squad was more united than ever.As they took the field against Sri Lanka, they were determined to show it. They stood with their arms around each other as they sung the national anthem, the first time they have done that at this tournament and, in the time of Covid-19, the first time they have done that in a while. They all took a knee. And then they worked together to end Sri Lanka’s most profitable partnership, the 40-run second-wicket stand between Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka. Crucially, they kept Sri Lanka under 150, thanks mostly to Tabraiz Shamsi, who has now taken more T20I wickets in a calendar year than anyone else, and a strangling effort at the end of the opposition innings.

“We have won these kinds of moments more often than we have lost them. That’s a huge positive. We are here to win the World Cup”Tabraiz Shamsi

Dwaine Pretorius is not the perfect death bowler. In fact, South Africa entered this tournament without an obvious candidate for the final overs but chose Pretorius despite his domestic record, which does not immediately suggest he would be a good candidate. Prior to this tournament, Pretorius had bowled 36 overs at the death, taken 18 wickets and had an economy of 10.38. In the three matches he has had so far, he has bowled 5.4 overs at the death, taken six wickets, and has an economy of 8.64. His use of the slower ball, in particular, has been impressive. Today, two of them brought him wickets and he finished with his second three-wicket haul at this tournament.”If we had to give out an award for Scholar of the Team, it would be Dwaine Pretorius,” Shamsi said at the post-match press conference. “He wants to make sure he is well prepared and he is always working with our analyst. We can’t speak enough about the job he did for us at the end. The game was so close. It’s turned out that he has become our death bowling specialist and he has done a great job.”Temba Bavuma is not the perfect T20 player – and most of the criticism around him is about scoring too slowly – but he is, as de Kock put it, “a flipping amazing leader” and this was the week he showed it in word and deed. His run-a-ball 46 anchored a wobbly chase but there will still be pressure on him to get going. Bavuma faced 29 balls before he found the boundary and was on 37 off 42 when he hit the six over midwicket that took his strike rate to 100. He took that as his cue to finish the innings and tried to hit Wanindu Hasaranga over cow corner but picked out a fielder to become the filling in the hat-trick sandwich. Bavuma berated himself and told the television broadcast he wanted to see the chase through. “I took on that responsibility. I felt someone had to take it to the end.”South Africa have their problems, but they are learning to live with them•ICC via GettyDavid Miller is not the perfect finisher. Although his ability to clear the rope is reputed, he has not won a game for South Africa recently and he was fast going to run out of partners. Luckily Kagiso Rabada “always has the shot of the day”, as Shamsi put it, and the classy six he smashed over long-off cut through some of the stress of the situation but not all of it. “I was a bit tense,” Bavuma admitted. “But I had a lot of confidence in the fact that David was there. He hasn’t done that for us in a while but he has got the most beautiful swing.”

Watch cricket live on ESPN+

Sign up for ESPN+ and catch all the action from the Men’s T20 World Cup live in the USA. Match highlights of South Africa vs Sri Lanka is available here in English, and here in Hindi (US only).

This is not a perfect South African team, and their batting has big holes. Today was an example of where their top-heavy approach could backfire. Like it or not, there simply isn’t room to play what are essentially five openers – de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Bavuma, Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen – in the top six, but because South Africa lack middle-order options, it’s a combination they are stuck with for now.Shamsi is comfortable with it, because “there’s different batters that put their hands up and take the team to victory”, but against stronger opposition, like Australia (as we saw in the Super 12s opener) and England, who are yet to come, it may not work. More worryingly, the only middle-order batter they seem to want to use, Miller, has a hamstring niggle. Shamsi, too, is nursing a groin strain. South Africa’s next match is against Bangladesh on Tuesday so there isn’t much time to recover.But these are all problems that tournament-winning teams, who are often imperfect, overcome and Shamsi believes South Africa will do the same. “We have won these kinds of moments more often than we have lost them. That’s a huge positive,” Shamsi said. “We are here to win the World Cup.”

It was a tournament that had plenty of thrillers. Which ones kept you on the edge of your seat? We’d say all of them

S Sudarshanan06-Apr-2022