Two of South Africa’s last three series were only two-Test rubbers and they were customarily drowsy in both. But they have set about at a new pace with a win in Galle

Firdose Moonda23-Jul-2014Distance runners are taught to treat their bodies like car engines by going easy at first and demanding more later on. In the recent past that is also how South Africa have approached Test cricket.They started series slowly – the Oval in 2012, Abu Dhabi in 2013 – and played catch-up later on. The exact causes for their marathon-style approach were never quite pinned down but Graeme Smith mentioned the time they took to adapt to different conditions and the need to shake off the rust which develops when Test series are spaced months apart as factors. Both those things applied on this tour too, to an even greater degree.South Africa had not played a Test match in Sri Lanka in eight years, most of the squad had come off at least a month of entirely no cricket and the conditions are as foreign as they get for men used to green tops, trampoline bounce and moderate summers. But this time they bolted off the blocks as though the machinery was already warmed up.Something changed. “Having the one-dayers before the Tests helped because guys acclimatised,” Amla said. “And maybe the fact that we just got out and did the business without too much fuss about anything else.” Or it could be that South Africa have discovered two-Test series are not quite a distance run. Starting too slowly can make it difficult to recover the ground later on as they found out recently.Two of South Africa’s last three series were only two-Test rubbers and they were customarily drowsy in both. Against Pakistan in the UAE, a lethargic bowling showing in Abu Dhabi meant that even after ruthlessness in Dubai, they could not win the series. Against India at home, the caution to go for the draw in Johannesburg meant that even victory in Durban – which did provide a series win – did not supply one big enough to hold on to the No.1 ranking.Amla on the possibility of rewriting history

South Africa last won a Test series in Sri Lanka 21 years ago. In the three times they’ve been back since, their defeats have got worse. But now, they can reverse the trend and enter the Colombo Test with an advantage.
“It’s strange (to be considered favourites),” Hashim Amla said. “We are really pleased with our performance in the last game but we are addressing this game as though we are coming in with a clean slate. There’s a bigger picture here.”
A 1-0 victory would be enough for South Africa to reclaim the No.1 Test ranking. But the approach at SSC will give be a measure of Amla as either an attacking or defensive captain.
“It will be important to assess after two days before we know where the game is going,” he said. “We always say on the subcontinent that the game speeds up later on. Lets see how it starts before we start making any tactical decisions.”
The last three matches at SSC have been high-scoring draws but South Africa’s bowlers have already showed they won’t operate in the shadows of a surface’s reputation and Amla hopes they will show that again. “Our fast bowlers have managed to do the job wherever we have been in the world so it’s not a big surprise for us that they did well here,” he said.

The stresses that come with staying on top eventually showed in next series. Against Australia, South Africa experienced the differences between the effort involved in getting somewhere and the effort required to stay there, which involves more than standing still. You have to keep moving at the same fast pace.For South Africa, Gary Kirsten was the pace-setter. He took them to No.1 and he has now returned as part of his 100-days-a-year consultancy deal. Some may feel that those hours could be better used at a time when South Africa’s batsman actually seem to be struggling rather than when they’ve piled on 455 runs. South Africa got through the Galle Test without being bowled out and are now headed to a venue reputed for being flat. But Kirsten’s purpose is not solely technical.His methods are rooted in process: do the right things more often and the outcome will be favourable. The philosophy can take some time to settle into but once it becomes a habit, its effective.Kirsten will elaborate on that tomorrow night when he is due to speak at the Cinnamon Grand on the subject of “How to build a winning team.” For 9000 Sri Lankan rupees (US$69) a ticket anyone can go and listen to the strategies behind the success Kirsten generated with two different Test teams from completely different cricket cultures and with completely different sets of personnel.South Africa already know what some of those secrets are because they have been schooled in them. They have been times in the recent past where it looked like they had forgotten some of those. Their recent results run before Galle reads: lost, won, drawn, won, lost, won, lost. That is decidedly different from the seven-match stretch they had before that which looked like this: won, won, won, won, won, won, drawn.Getting consistency back after a period of change is the real distance run, in which South Africa have started well. In-between they have to concentrate on the markers: another series, another match, another day of Test cricket, another session, another hour. To win most of those there has to be a mix between even-paced jogging and smart sprints which can be tricky to get right. At least South Africa will know that the engine has been turned on and is running smoothly.

Stats highlights from the second day of the third Investec Test at Ageas Bowl

Bishen Jeswant28-Jul-20141 Number of centuries by Ian Bell in his last 20 Test innings. However, he has scored four fifties during this period, leaving his average at an acceptable 33.84.2.59 England’s partnership run-rate for the fifth wicket in 2014, before this Test. This was their slowest for any wicket this year. However, Moeen Ali and Bell posted 42 runs for the fifth wicket today at an impressive run-rate of 4.94. Only Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes scored at a faster rate when they added 43 for the seventh wicket at a manic 8.32.3 Number of times Shikhar Dhawan has been dismissed by James Anderson in three Tests, with an innings to go. He has scored only 30 runs off 58 balls against Anderson. However, Dhawan has scored 43 runs off 54 balls against Anderson’s new ball partner Stuart Broad, without being dismissed even once.4 Number of times that England’s No.3 and No.4 batsmen have made 150-plus scores in the same Test innings. The last instance of England doing this was also against India, in 2011. India have been at the receiving end of such a display on seven occasions.5.02 Ravindra Jadeja’s economy rate on the second day. He conceded 119 runs off 23.4 overs. On the first day, he bowled 22 overs and conceded only 34 runs at a miserly economy rate of 1.54.8 Number of English wicket keepers to make a 50-plus score on debut, with Buttler being the latest. Matt Prior is the only keeper to have gone on to score a century.10 Number players who have made their debut for England in the last 12 months. The team with the second most debutants in this period is New Zealand, who have had only five.11 Number of English batsmen who have scored more than 7000 Test runs, with Ian Bell being the latest to reach that landmark. Bell went past Andrew Strauss and is now tenth on the all-time list of most Test runs scored by an English batsman.21 Number of times that four Indian bowlers have conceded 100-plus runs in an innings. Only the part-timers, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, conceded lesser. Fourteen of these 21 instances have come in the last 13 years, with there not being a single such instance in the 11 years before that.24 Number of Indian bowlers who have taken one wicket in their Test career. Rohit Sharma became the 24th addition on this list after M Vijay in the previous Test. The only other bowler on that list who may have the opportunity of improving his career tally is Vinay Kumar.25 Number of 50-plus scores that Ian Bell has made post 2010. This is the most by an English batsman during this period. In all Test cricket, Kumar Sangakkara with 28 50-plus scores is the only player to have made more such scores than Bell in this phase.28 Number of times, in 51 previous attempts, that England have not won the match after scoring 500-plus runs in the first innings of a Test. However, England have lost a Test on only two of these 28 instances, with the rest being draws. The only time that India has won a Test after conceded 500-plus runs in the first innings of a match was against Australia at Adelaide in 2003.35 Number of innings since England last reached 300 before the fall of their third wicket. This was against New Zealand at Dunedin in 2013.65 Number of innings since an English No. 3 batsman made a 150-plus score in Tests. The last man to do it before Gary Ballance today was Ian Bell. He scored 235 at the Oval in 2011, also versus India.146 Number of runs that Pankaj Singh conceded in England’s first innings. This is the second highest number of runs conceded by a bowler on debut without taking a single wicket. Only Bryce McGain, who gave away 149 runs on debut, has given away more. Pankaj is one of four Indian bowlers to have conceded 100-plus runs on debut without taking a wicket, with the other three being Jaydev Unadkat, Subrata Guha and Bapu Nadkarni.

MS Dhoni’s tactical moves could make you pull your hair out but off the field, he brought trust to the Indian dressing room. He could let Test matches drift, but his control of his team was absolute

Sidharth Monga01-Jan-20153:28

The longest reign of a wicketkeeper-captain

There is a little story from the World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007 that tells you as much as any about MS Dhoni the captain. He was leading a side of young unknowns into the unknown – a format India hadn’t accepted yet – when news came from India that Rahul Dravid had given up the captaincy and that Dhoni had been made the ODI captain. Captains usually publicly accept the job. Steven Smith did four press conferences in the first week of his Australia captaincy. The first two were on successive days: first he was unveiled as captain, and on the next day he showed up for the pre-Gabba Test discussion.Smith is 25. Dhoni was 26 back then. And ODI cricket is big deal in India. You just couldn’t get him to do a press conference or talk about captaincy. He was reluctant to the point of being shy. The team manager tried, some senior journalists tried, phone calls from home arrived, and eventually he gave in, agreeing to read out a statement while coming out of the nets in Durban. He didn’t take any questions.The template was being set. Dhoni was taking up a job that would ask him questions every step of the way, but he wanted to answer few of them. He hadn’t gone out seeking the job. He saw it as any other job that he wanted to end at stumps. He wanted to enjoy the captaincy, not the paraphernalia that comes along with it.Dhoni’s Test captaincy began similarly, without much scrutiny or intrusion, but not by design. Anil Kumble was on his last legs, missing as many Tests as he was playing. Dhoni didn’t even do a press conference on the eve of his captaincy debut, for Kumble pulled out only later. India won easily in Kanpur. To the toss Dhoni wore a blazer two sizes too big. He’d soon get one made for himself, but he was never a blazer man.Later that year Dhoni and Kumble shared the reins in a series once again. The matches that Dhoni captained, India won. Kumble managed draws. It is instructive again that in his first Test as full-time captain, against Australia in Nagpur, Dhoni was hailed as a tactical genius for a move bedded essentially in defence. Australia were trailing in the series, they had to do all the running, and Dhoni gave them an 8-1 off-side field and asked Ishant Sharma to bowl well out of their reach. Frustrated, Australia threw away their wickets, and 1-0 became 2-0.It was a clever move. There are many ways to skin a cat. This one was skinned through denial. Then again this was a finite environment. Dhoni knew if he could deny Australia runs for long enough, he would ensure a series win, and then take the rest as a bonus. Dhoni is spectacular when cricket is finite. Limited to 20 overs. To 50 overs. When there is a result in sight. It was when the possibilities were thrown wide open that he showed he was limited.Dhoni’s ambition was limited too. He showed a great fear of losing. In Wellington, in the last Test of his first away series as captain, Dhoni sat on the series lead again, and set New Zealand 617 to win with forecast of rain on the final evening. Until then New Zealand had scored 600 only three times in their history. And only one team had ever scored 600 in the fourth innings: England in the timeless Test in 1939. In the first innings of this Test, New Zealand hadn’t even reached 200. India had taken eight wickets when rain arrived, giving them just the draw.Dhoni expressed no regret at setting New Zealand such a ridiculous target. Some New Zealanders still rib India about their declaration. This was pragmatism taken to frustrating extremes. This was the story of a majority of Dhoni’s career as Test captain. Too easily he would let games drift, control his only means of taking wickets. Sometimes the batting bailed him out, like at P Sara Oval, when he had let Thilan Samaraweera and Ajantha Mendis run away with the game. Sometimes he let golden opportunities go, like at Newlands when he sat back on defence too early in the injured Jacques Kallis’ second dig. Sometimes it worked, but mostly at home, when his spinners and Zaheer Khan provided him the control he was after.Dhoni’s fast bowlers have rarely given him what is required of Test bowlers•Getty ImagesThere would be passages of play when Dhoni would make you want to pull your hair out. In Nagpur, December 2012, India were behind in the series against England. This was the last Test of the series. India had to do everything to force a result. It was a slow pitch that made run-scoring extremely difficult. In response to England’s 330 in 145.5 overs, India were 297 for 8 in 130.1 overs at the end of the third day. We were getting into the moving day, the fourth day. India spent the first hour, 62 golden minutes, scoring just 29 runs. The lack of match awareness was mindboggling. In the previous Test England had brought the fields up for R Ashwin for the last two balls of the over. Here Ashwin said he was surprised they didn’t. The dressing room remained cool.This cool became infuriating. Dhoni had taken India to soaring heights in limited-overs cricket by remaining cool. In Tests, sometimes, you have to make things happen. Under him, India didn’t make things happen. They accepted fate too easily. They accepted too easily that some of the seniors had the right to decide when they wanted to go. They accepted too easily that some players had the right to choose IPL even if it jeopardised their chances of winning or drawing Tests. They accepted too easily that a 1-0 series lead was enough in the West Indies, and they called off a chase with 86 required in 15 overs and seven wickets in hand. You felt like holding Dhoni by the shoulders and shaking him up.There is more, though, to India’s captaincy than just tactics, bowling changes and field sets. The previous long-term captain quit because he couldn’t handle all that. Sachin Tendulkar’s recent book has proved how difficult even such a consummate professional could be to handle at most times. Dhoni managed all that brilliantly. He rid most of his players of any insecurity. Players found it hard to break into the side, but once they did they were assured decent runs before playing themselves out of it. Outsiders ceased to be a factor in the dressing room. Trust was a big factor. A regular occurrence in the past, players now hardly sulked to journalists. A youngster was left out of the side because he leaked what happened in a team meeting to a journalist.Dhoni could demand all this because his control was absolute. He had a board president in whose company he was a vice-president, for whose company’s team he played IPL, and who vetoed a move to sack him as captain after 8-0. Dhoni was untouchable now. He stopped squatting in his wicketkeeping stance. He stopped going for catches between him and first slip. This is not about integrity and commitment, but sometimes you need a nudge from the rest of the team and the selectors. You wondered if he was being reminded of this. Trevor Penney, the fielding coach at one time, said in a press conference that the slips have to realise that Dhoni won’t go for those catches.As a batsman he applied himself much more even though he didn’t seem to always trust himself outside Asia. He showed his more talented batsmen what could be achieved through application. In England, in 2014, he took the responsibility of batting at No. 6 in order to force results, and faced the second-highest number of balls among India batsmen. At home, he could set up declarations, he could counterattack as he did in his superb double-century to take the series decidedly away from Australia in 2012-13. He became a regular No. 6 at home, allowing the luxury of another spinner. That will surely be missed now.**Dhoni was India’s captain. He let others bask in glory when matches were won. He gamely took all responsibility for losses, although he still didn’t answer questions. A lot of it he deserved, but no appraisal of his Test career will be complete without looking at the other side of the story. Since he took over the captaincy full time, against England at home in 2008-09, India have spent 120 overs or more in the field on 36 occasions. That’s six more than the next-worst, Sri Lanka. Over the same period, only Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been more profligate than India.Dhoni’s fast bowlers have rarely given him what is required of Test bowlers. The quick ones don’t remain fit, the fit ones don’t bowl quick, and the in-between ones keep bowling loose balls to release the pressure. His spinners were outplayed by England’s at home. Did they fail to respond because the captaincy was defensive, or was the captaincy defensive because the bowling was ordinary? The circle of Dhoni’s Test life.In a period of seven years, Dhoni has gone up and down in his keeping stance 1,13,120 times with captaincy also on his mind•Getty ImagesNo other wicketkeeper in the history of Test cricket has captained in 20 Tests. Dhoni did so in 60. All the while he also captained in as many ODIs, T20Is and IPL matches as he could. In a period of seven years, Dhoni has gone up and down in his keeping stance 1,13,120 times with captaincy also on his mind. Slow fielders at times. Inconsistent bowlers almost always. Fading seniors. Erring juniors. Over-rates. Overenthusiastic sledgers. Around fifty squats per day, without counting IPL matches.No other player has put himself through this strain over the period. The price of this effort is paid by the body. For a long time towards the end of his Test career, Dhoni has been shaking hands softly and carefully so as to not hurt his fingers. His lower back has begun to give him trouble, which he has kept to himself and to the team. He has continued, though. He has maintained he doesn’t want a long career in the sport. He wants to make the most of it while his body supports the strain, play as many games as possible before it gives up.By all means it is a super-human effort. But was it necessary, was he so indispensable in Tests?**On the last tour of Australia, Dhoni was asked pointblank why he was still captaining, what excited him about the job. He had lost seven away Tests in a row. His captaincy was being panned. There were issues in the dressing room. Dhoni didn’t get flustered. He didn’t shoot back. He waited and then said, “It’s an interesting responsibility given to me. The challenge excites me. The challenge to be with the senior guys, the challenge to groom the youngsters, to keep the dressing-room atmosphere good. Leading a side is all about when the team is not doing well.”Dhoni had been inconspicuous as the team rode the success of the seniors and of Zaheer to rise to No. 1 in Test cricket. The foreign tours broke the team’s back. Dhoni had now decided to become more in charge. He wanted to build his own team. To win home Tests and then given a better account of himself and of his side in the next cycle of away tours.Dhoni asked for turning wickets at home. The ordinariness of his spinners cost him the series against England, but they whitewashed Australia. On the away leg he came a desperate man. He pushed himself up to play another bowler, who always turned out to be ordinary. His bowlers weren’t giving him much control, but Dhoni had become too funky. Leg slips, silly mid-offs, fly slips, all kinds of positions would be tried too early in an innings. The bouncer became his new friend. It won him a Test at Lord’s, but cost him two in Australia, including his last. It seemed a bit of an admission that he doesn’t have the bowlers who can win him away Tests in conventional manner.Apart from that he has left a mostly settled team behind him. The last four debutants were signs of desperation, but 10 of the 12 previous ones were and will continue for some time to be part of India’s Test squads. There is continuity to the side. Dhoni deserves credit for facilitating this transition. The near-misses over the last year will rankle him. Maybe they took a heavy toll on his mind. Maybe his body just couldn’t take it anymore. Maybe he wanted to end it after this series, but his body gave him signals he could risk his World Cup prospects if he kept straining his lower back or bad hands for another Test. We don’t know. We have never known with Dhoni.**It was about time, too, many think. India needed newer ideas on the field. They had come as far as Dhoni could bring them. It was now time for someone else to see what he can do with these bowling resources. Resolve the egg-and-chicken situation. Every time India have let a Test slip, every time India have lost an away series, every time there have been tactical errors, we have said to Dhoni what rebellious adolescents say to their parents: you are old school, we can look after ourselves better, we are better off without you. And he has smiled back like all-knowing parents, infuriating us further. He is no longer there now. We’ll soon find out how much better off we are without him, but that smile will be missed.

Senanayake’s half-sleeved shirt and England’s increasing extras count in plays of the day from the fifth ODI between Sri Lanka and England

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Alan Gardner11-Dec-2014The elbows
Sachithra Senanayake 1.0 had been shy about showing his arms, but now having been reconfigured, partly in a lab, he has embraced his inner exhibitionist. His nude elbows were on brazen display on his return to international cricket, and the crowd drank in the details of his arm’s angles and flex. The elbow jiggled a bit in his run up, and though it had a slight kink during the delivery swing, did not seem to straighten. Senanayake took two wickets in his first spell, assured that the assets he was showing off need not be airbrushed.The extras
England have been generous with the extra runs they have handed over during the series – the wides count now stands at 58 – and three times in this innings well-intentioned throws at the stumps deflected away to give up singles that would otherwise not have materialised. In the ninth over, Kumar Sangakkara pushed into the covers, headed back to his ground and then pinched a run when the direct hit ricocheted past the keeper. A few overs later, he nudged to midwicket, made sure he was in his ground and then picked up one more when another attempt to run him out failed. It happened again in the 45th over, as Jos Buttler failed to take a difficult throw which again disturbed the bails, allowing Thisara Perera and Jeevan Mendis to run a second.The action replay
James Tredwell extracted turn right from the start, prompting Sangakkara to come down the pitch to negate it. Tredwell managed to beat him in the flight and the ball looped up off pad and then bat, just dropping short of Eoin Morgan’s acrobatic dive running in from extra cover – although a leg bye was given. Later in the innings when Tredwell came back during the batting Powerplay, he had Lahiru Thirimanne, a left-hander in the Sanga mould, pushing uppishly forwards… but again Morgan’s valiant dive forwards on to one of the practice pitches was in vain.The fumble
England applied the tourniquet during the final overs and, having removed Sangakkara for a doughty 91, they should have had a run out from the very next delivery. With Chris Woakes bowling, Thisara guided the ball down to third man, called his partner Jeevan for a second only to realise that Chris Jordan had tracked it down quickly and the throw was coming in. Thisara changed his mind but, with Jeevan stranded, the ball went into and out of Buttler’s gloves before he had broken the wicket. Chance gone.The lecture
Few specialist batsmen are as animated in the field as Mahela Jayawardene, and having already chided fielders for letting balls go by or not backing up, Jeevan Mendis felt the full force of Jayawardene’s intensity when he let his second over go for 10. Jayawardene strode down to Mendis from his place at slip at the end of the over, and launched a minute-long lecture, gesturing to help illustrate where he felt Mendis should be bowling. As agitated as Jayawardene seemed, he was as pleased with Mendis after his next over, which cost three.

Did you know that if you bowl economically, you won’t win the World Cup?

Andy Zaltzman21-Jan-2015How do you win a cricket World Cup? The answer to that question has been troubling humankind since the very dawn of time. The great minds of the planet came up snake-eyes for millions of years, until eventually cricket evolved from the innate human desire to hit things with sticks. This was, clearly, a major breakthrough in the epochal quest to solve the “How to Win a Cricket World Cup” quandary.In the 19th century, in between working out how not to die of obvious diseases and wearing enormous underwear (and with a little help from the industrial revolution and British penal policy), this great species of ours developed international cricket. Another great stride forward, but the answer to the question remained frustratingly elusive for another 100 years, until cricket begat one-day cricket, which begat one-day internationals, which, in 1975, begat a World Cup.Finally, Clive Lloyd’s West Indians provided a deceptively simple answer – win all your matches. They confirmed their findings four years later, but in five of the eight tournaments since, the winners have lost one, two, or in Pakistan’s case in 1992, three matches, before emerging triumphant. Crucially those defeats have not occurred in knockout matches – an important aspect of failure-scheduling to which England have yet to adjust.Various victory methods have been employed by the ten tournament winners. Being clearly the best team has often proved a sound strategy (the fearsome West Indies in those first two tournaments; the untouchable Australians in 2003 and 2007), but has not been necessary. Staring into the abyss of group-stage elimination, then slapping yourself in the face with the caffeine-addled haddock of desperation and surging back to glory has worked on more than one occasion (India in 1983, when 17 for 5 against Zimbabwe; Pakistan in 1992, saved by the rain against England).Dhoni’s Indians in 2011 won by never failing with the bat (barring one major collapse, against South Africa, from 267 for 1, in a non-crucial match). Ranatunga’s Sri Lankans rode on the revolutionary cavalierings of Jayasuriya and the timeless genius of Aravinda. Waiting for Mike Gatting to play the stupidest reverse sweep in human history did the job for Allan Border’s 1987 Australians; Steve Waugh’s 1999 Aussies found their path to nirvana by spluttering slightly less hard than South Africa in one of sport’s greatest simultaneous chokes.However, in ten tournaments, one tactic no World Cup winner has yet taken has been: have the most economical bowling attack in the competition.The team with the most statistically parsimonious bowlers over the course of the tournament has never won the World Cup. Furthermore, only once in the last eight World Cups have the winners even had one of the top three economy rates (Australia, who were the second-most economical in 2003). And furtherfurthermore, only twice has the team with the most economical attack even finished as losing finalists (England, in 1979 and 1992).(The full list of winners: 1975 West Indies: third most economical out of eight; 1979 West Indies: seventh out of eight; 1983 India: third out of eight; 1987 Australia: sixth out of eight; 1992 Pakistan: fourth out of nine; 1996 Sri Lanka: ninth out of 12; 1999 Australia: fifth out of 12; 2003 Australia: second out of 14; 2007 Australia: fifth out of 16; 2011 India: ninth out of 14.)Clearly, bowling economy statistics in a single tournament emerge from a relatively small number of matches, and can be skewed by various factors such as:● One particularly good or bad match against one particularly good or bad team (and recent World Cups have had some properly bad teams).● An early elimination (India exited the 2007 tournament after just three matches, but ended up with the third highest batting run rate and the best economy rate, and could thus make a statistical argument for being the best side in the competition) (if they wanted to).● A very ropey pitch.● A very un-ropey pitch.● Kevin O’Brien; and● Chris Tavaré.Even more clearly, taking wickets is also a relevant factor in bowling. I do not think I am going out on too gangly a philosophical limb to argue that.However, I think it remains statistically unexpected that the most economical bowling attack has never trundled home with the trophy. By contrast, the fastest-scoring batting team has won four World Cups (West Indies in 1979, Sri Lanka in 1996, Australia in 2007 and India in 2011), and the last five tournaments have been won by either the fastest or the second-fastest scorers (Australia were second in both 1999 and 2003).The statistics wonks will no doubt be jumping all over this curiosity like a penguin penguining itself into a paddling pool full of herring. Bowlers in teams that find themselves near the top of the economy league in the latter stages in March will start plobbing down long hops and half-volleys in a desperate attempt to maximise their chances of winning. Perhaps. Or perhaps they will conclude that it is a statistical quirk of minimal relevance.From an England point of view, if Eoin Morgan’s men are to defy (a) the odds, (b) expectation, (c) their form of 2014, (d) the greater experience of most of their rivals, (e) their own nutty administrators, and (f) the precedent of two decades of World Cup rubbishness, they will, I think, need to break, or come close to breaking, this unnoticed niggardly bowling hoodoo. If a hoodoo can be a hoodoo without being noticed. Which it probably cannot.Other teams have the proven batting firepower to compensate for any bowling breakdowns. England have more batting firepower than they have traditionally trusted themselves with, plus a new skipper and new-look team, but their most likely recipe for success remains the bowling excellence that almost won them the Champions Trophy in 2013, and which, as I write, has just demolished India’s batting in Brisbane. Stuart Broad and James Anderson reunited for the first time in more than 18 months. Steven Finn taking more than two wickets in an ODI for the first time since early 2013. Bowling out a team for less than 160 outside England for only the third time this decade. Bowling out an opposing team in Australia for their lowest total since skittling Sri Lanka for 99 at the Gabba in January 1999, 38 matches ago. No captains sacked or autobiographies published for ages…Confectionery Stall prediction: Quarter-final exit.● Whether or not your bowlers are or are not economical matters little if one of your players hits 149 in 44 balls. The various records splattered by AB de Villiers’ scoreboard-melting onslaught on Saturday have been listed elsewhere.De Villiers’ statistics have become as spectacular as his strokeplay, his versatility as impressive as his consistency – he has played two of this millennium’s four slowest Test innings of more than 180 balls, including the longest recorded Test innings without a boundary.He currently has the highest average as a wicketkeeper-batsman in both Tests (58.2) and ODIs (70.5) (minimum ten innings as designated keeper). This decade, his ODI average of 67.9 from 82 innings is more than 10 ahead of his nearest challengers, Hashim Amla and MS Dhoni.AB de Villiers: if he was a Hollywood movie, he’d be directed by Michael Bay•Gallo ImagesHis strike rate is 106, the sixth best of the 194 players who have batted ten or more times in the top six in ODIs in the 2010s. None of the five men ahead of him has played more than 40 innings; of the other 11 players with a strike rate of over 95, none averages more than 40.Cricket literature’s founding romantic Neville Cardus and the undisputed Shakespeare of Stats Bill Frindall must be simultaneously exploding with delight in the celestial press box. A rare combination.What made de Villiers’ innings on Saturday slightly unusual (other than its comprehensive demolition of the record books, of course) was that if he has a relative weakness in ODIs, it is in the last ten overs. This decade, until adding his new chapter to the encyclopaedia of cricketing ballistics, he had averaged 36.7 in overs 40-50 (decent, and with an impressive strike rate of around 150, but behind several others, notably Dhoni, who averages almost 60 in the final ten overs since 2010).In overs 1 to 40, however, de Villiers’ numbers are properly Bradmanesque – he averages 97.3 this decade. Write that down. 97.3. And then write down how you would try to get him out without the prospect of a sandwich or the end-of-match presentation looming within ten overs’ time. Michael Hussey (69.9) and Amla (65.2) are the next best first-40-overs players. If de Villiers comes in early, he bats long. If he comes in late, he bats like a volcano. He is the ultimate 21st-century batsman – technician, artist, chameleon, magician. If only he batted for his average in the final few overs, he’d be clocking up some really tidy numbers.(These last stats exclude run-outs. Statsguru’s secret ball-by-ball facility simply won’t play ball on the run-outs. The flighty little temptress. But the points all stand.)

Damien Fleming explains a few of the concepts he cooked up, his fondness for hard-rock and dishes on who hid a Britney Spears CD in their bag

Sidharth Monga13-Jan-2015What is the whole bowlologist concept?
You say as though it is a negative, with that bit of frown over there.I know the serious side of it, but I mean stuff like Avenue of Apprehension…
We played this beach cricket series. Australia, New Zealand, England, West Indies. Really good fun. Great way to play with legends like Viv Richards and Thommo [Jeff Thomson] and Dennis Lillee and Richard Hadlee. I remember talking to Sir Richard one night. About Geoff Boycott’s Corridor of Uncertainty. I can’t remember what exactly, but Sir Richard wanted to ban that. Next day on he said, “I am going to ban it, let’s come up with some options.” And so we came up with Avenue of Apprehension, Snick Street, and Hallway of Hesitation. But what I did was, I used other people’s ideas and used them as mine. Mixture of me and people coming up with stuff on Twitter and stuff.Were you always wacky?
We are in the entertainment business. Even Test cricket is entertainment. I want to make sure I am insightful and take the game seriously, but if there is a chance to have fun, do that. I was someone who could provide a bit of humour, I suppose. Sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional. Just by being pretty sloppy. Boys reckoned I used to talk a lot of rubbish when I was playing, but guess who is in the media now. Bad luck, lads.How did you turn out like this?
I roomed with Merv Hughes for six years. I left school and got picked two weeks later at the age of 18 years. Nothing prepares you for that. No wonder my personality is slightly off the kilt, because to room with Merv for six years and survive, one, I deserve a medal, and two, I am not going to come out normal. I blame it on Mervyn Hughes.How was your first night with him?
It was in Queensland. Tony Dodemaide and Michael di Venuto wished me luck going up in the lift. I went, “What am I in for here?” Going in there, [Hughes asked], “What bed do you want? Double or single?” I said single. And he went, “Aww gee, you are good to room with.” And then he ended up putting his arm around me and said, “Mate, you will be all right.”We didn’t room together only one time in those six years, and we lost, so went back together. He taught me a lot about cricket. For all the fun and games, he is a very mentally tough cricketer. I learned the level that I needed to be at. You need those role models when starting out, and you need to be a role model.Tell us more about rooming with him
We have got our own clubs. I have got a Test-hat-trick-for-Australia-on-debut club. Table for one each year. Merv and I form the club with Test hat-tricks and Test 70s club. So obviously Merv was the first. Me. We inducted Shane Warne last year. He never turns up, Warnie. Merv wanted to get Dennis Lillee, but he has got a 70 but no hat-trick. I threw in Glenn Mcgrath’s name, but Merv mentioned he doesn’t have a 70. It is a small club, but we catch up.What’s with Australian fast bowlers and scores in the 70s?
Well Rhino joined us. I rang Merv. No, Merv texts me saying, “hope Rhino gets a hat-trick. Hoping to induct him.”So just a club of two?
We are waiting. Warnie never bloody turns up, does he?Was it difficult to be yourself while being in and out of the side?
I never got dropped a lot. I helped the selectors by getting injured. I am sure if I was uninjured I would have been dropped a lot more.What did you tell Warnie and what did Warnie tell you after that drop?
I still haven’t spoken to him after that. I am not happy with it.Did you see the skit we did on Cricket Australia’s website. Make sure you plug that in the article.When I speak at corporate gigs, I build up the story a fair bit. I like to say I was on a second hat-trick, and I wasn’t that nervous because I had taken test hat-tricks before. I had got bored, really. In all seriousness, when I released the ball, and you don’t have enough time to think this, “Oh no it’s wide, oh beauty Srinath has nicked it, you beauty it’s going straight for Warnie, oh no Warnie has dropped it.” I wasn’t disappointed. We had beaten India to go one-up in the series, I took 5 for 30 so I am on the honours board, but the only thing I am disappointed about is, 5 for 30 is up there but how good would 6 for 29, including a hat-trick look? Just the 6 for 29 including the hat-trick on honours board. That’s my regret. In a statistical way, it would have been nice. But I have a story to tell.You could have started another club…
Two Test hat-tricks. Just for one. I could merge it with Australians-with-hat-tricks-on-Test-debut club.The one that slipped from Shane Warne at slip left Damien Fleming with hands on hips•Getty ImagesYou fast bowlers seem to have a strong bond…
We call ourselves the fast-bowling cartel. Obviously Glenn McGrath is the president. But the rest of us, we didn’t have a bowling coach when we were there. But the fast bowlers, we would talk about the opposition, we’d talk about what we were going to do and even to this day, you can just see we are talking over cricket. James Sutherland, an ex-fast bowler is the CEO of Cricket Australia, Tony Dodemaide [for] Cricket Victoria, Glenn McGrath’s doing a lot of things, Kasper [Michael Kasprowicz] is on the board. I am in the media. Dizzy [Jason Gillespie] is Yorkshire coach. We have an Indian brand ambassador as well. Srinath is an ICC match referee.But there is N Srinivasan there who has never bowled…
He’s not part of the cartel.But he controls everything…
At the moment, yes. But the fast-bowling cartel is sitting here, boys.Did you share Dizzy’s love of wrestling?
We actually – not that it should be allowed to be shown in public – but we got a bit bored on the 2001 series in India. In Delhi, I think. We mixed mini-golf with WWF. We called it Slam Punk Mania 2001. So we dressed up and we filmed it all. Just for the boys. But as you’d imagine, with the Indian people that were staying at the hotel, we ended up with a massive crowd thinking, ‘what the hell is going on?’What names did you have?
All I can say is, I was FFF. I’ll say that, but I don’t want to say the rest. Dizzy was Goofball Gillespie. And what was Kasper? He was the Hooded Avenger. He had a bit of a sock as an ally.Have you read any wrestling books?
I’ve read Hulk Hogan. I borrowed it off Dizzy. He used to love him, Mankind and all those guys.Were there cracks in the cartel when it came to music?
Dizzy and Kasper are very close because we are big hard-rock fans as well. That’s one thing I liked about India. India liked their rock. So you knew you can always buy rock CDs in India.Heavy metal?
I can go pretty heavy. Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax. I go as heavy as that. That would be the limit for probably Kasper and Dizzy. But you know AC/DC, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice In Chains. I am more a big rock fan.The only disagreement we had in the Australian dressing room was what went on the rockbox. We had the hard-rock guys like Kasper, Dizzy and me. And the big little head-banger David Boon. Loved his Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin. Cause he is a legend, I gave him a Motley Crew CD, and we get a few plays out of it. Because no one wanted to take Boony on. But when he retired, I had no one. So they chucked them out.Then we had the pretty-boy bands. Like Warnie, he likes ABBA and Aqua, and Ricky Martin. Ricky Martin? Warnie. Binga Brett Lee and Blewy [Greg Blewett]. The worst thing is they all knew the dance moves to Backstreet Boys and all that. And we are going, “Jeez.” It was the near the end of Michael Slater’s career that I found a Britney Spears CD in his bag, and I am not lying. And I was like, ‘Mickey, you’re out, mate. You can’t open the batting for Australia.’But they weren’t the worst. The worst were the country and western fans. Guys who liked Kenny Rogers and Johnny Denver, and an Australian guy called John Williamson. Like Steve Waugh, the captain.And that’s where you saw the guys who wanted to please their captain. Like Justin Langer and Hayden and Gilchrist. They would act like they actually liked that music just to get the captain handy. So that was the only dissension in there. I think that shortened my career. I had serious arguments with Steve Waugh, which we still have. There’s still a bit of friction. We play a little bit of golf together, me and Steve. And we’ve been partners, and we haven’t been winning. I reckon that our music dissension doesn’t help us gel as a team.Did you ever play Megadeth in the dressing room?
Yeah, yeah yeah. We’d get set periods where we would get to put it on. Particularly, Warnie hates my music. His brother Jason loves my music. So he would be like, “You’re like my brother.” And he hates it. For every Megadeth song or Metallica song from , you hear . And you’re like, “Are you serious?” Ricky Martin, , what you doing? And you’re dancing to it? Seriously how about you get a few more runs? Then we would get Holy Wars on. Then we’d get Metallica on.Did bad music bring around bad results?
I had bowled pretty well in this ODI series in 2001. I had got a few 2 or 3 for 30s. We got slogged a bit. And I don’t even know where it was. We are about to go out and bowl. Warnie has on. Phil Collins. That’s the atheist of rock ‘n’ roll. I said to John Buchanan. “John, you expect me to go out and be a fiery fast bowler, bounce Tendulkar and Ganguly, and rip into them with in my ear?” Go out there, of course I get 0 for 60 off 10 [0 for 53 off eight]. Walk in, see John Buchanan, and all I say, “Are you happy?” And walk away. That was my last ODI in India.What did Buchanan like?
Buey was pretty happy if the team was happy. He would float everywhere. He didn’t mind a bit of banter. He didn’t mind a little bit of friction within the dressing rooms .He thrived on them a bit. He would have meetings and pose questions. Mark Waugh would be asleep. The rest of us would listen. I reckon he was pretty easy.Who knows, he might have been writing his own tunes?
He might have been. He was a bit loopy, Buey. Pink Floyd might have been up his alley. He was a little out there, John.What does bowlology recommend?
This is in the bowlology handbook, fast bowlers have got to listen to hard rock. If you are going to bowl fast, you have just got to rock. I used to have a pump-up tape and a mellow tape. Just if I was getting a little bit over. But mellow for me was AC/DC or Pearl Jam.What about the mullets?
I did have one early. I had one halfway down the back. Kasper never. He didn’t have the head-cut for a mullet. Glenn didn’t either. Glenn had that Dumb Dumber Christmas look for a while there.You would have heard Parables Of Glenn McGrath’s Haircut?
No, but Glenn was, like Merv, a pest in the dressing room. He is always throwing forks and knives. He is a real wildlife person. Whereas I was more witty comments. I was always there as a bit of wingman if someone wants to go out for a bit of a beer. I liked the social side of things. And not getting famous enough so you can’t go out and enjoy things.It’s all part of being in a team, the camaraderie. Something I really enjoyed. The fun we had away from the game. But also we were very fortunate that there was still the fun side to it in the mid-’90s. Where we still celebrate pretty hard. Because we won quite often. Only towards the end that we started to get more professional and paid more. That era from ’93-ish to early 2000s we started to get paid well, but we could still have a real life outside the game.

Plays of the day from the Group B match between Ireland and Pakistan in Adelaide

George Dobell and Daniel Brettig in Adelaide15-Mar-2015The milestoneWilliam Porterfield came within an inch of being the latest batsman to fall agonisingly short of a century. Porterfield, the Ireland captain and opening batsman, was the only man in his team to reach 30, but enjoyed a moment of fortune just short of his seventh ODI century. On 99, he drove uppishly at a delivery from Rahat Ali which went straight back at the bowler at relatively comfortable catching height and pace. But Rahat, in his follow through, misjudged the opportunity and, after the ball brushed past his fingers, Porterfield was able to run two and celebrate his fine century.The orchestrationWhen Sarfraz Ahmed passed 50, Pakistan still needed another 127 runs to beat Ireland. But as he pushed closer to his hundred, the available tally of runs from which to compile it began to shrink. This was partly due to a few clean blows struck by Misbah-ul-Haq, but also a noticeable tightening by Sarfraz as he neared a first ODI century. Pakistan’s win had long become a formality when Sarfraz began refusing singles and farming the strike in an attempt to ensure he did not miss out on his century, eliciting a few boos from an Adelaide Oval crowd not used to such excesses of individual pursuit. In the end the gulf between the teams allowed Sarfraz his moment, a boundary bringing up his century and tying the scores. In that moment the earlier boos faded from memory.The throat ballJohn Mooney has recently started wearing a specially adapted helmet with a view to preventing the same sort of injury suffered by Philip Hughes to the back or side of the head or neck. But it was his throat that needed protecting as his attempted ramp stroke went wrong. Attempting to use the pace of Sohail Khan to ramp the ball over the keeper – an ambitious shot for a lower-order batsman – Moody instead ramped the ball straight into his throat. While he brushed away the immediate offers of help, Mooney was clearly in some discomfort and, perhaps unsettled, fell two deliveries later to a smart catch by Umar Akmal at short midwicket.The chanceIf Ireland were to have any chance of defending their modest total, they needed to take every chance Pakistan offered. But Gary Wilson, standing up to the stumps, was unable to cling on to a chance offered by Sarfraz, attempting to run the ball down to third man, when the batsman had 37 and the Pakistan score was 90 without loss. No chance standing so close is simple, but Wilson seemed to have the ball in his gloves for a moment and looked bitterly disappointed when he was unable to hold on.The wasted reviewHad Pakistan not squandered their review on an appeal for a caught behind against Ed Joyce – Rahat was convinced he had Joyce caught behind, but replays were inconclusive and the review was lost – they would surely have seen the not-out decision against Mooney for lbw on 6 overturned. The Sohail yorker struck Mooney on the back foot and seemed destined to hit the bottom of middle stump but umpire Marais Erasmus thought there was some bat on the ball and Mooney was credited with a run.The colourSouth Australia has been dry of late – pretty much forever – but while the Adelaide hills may be parched and brown, the inside of the the Oval looked verdant on the pitch and in the stands. With the supporters of both sides wearing green replica kits or waving green flags, it looked from a distance as if the entire crowd was supporting one side. But with a decent contingent of Ireland supporters among the Pakistan-dominated crowd, there was a fine atmosphere despite the relatively one-sided match.The errorErasmus didn’t enjoy the best of days. He also saw his decision to adjudge Wilson leg-before off the bowling of Sohail overturned. The inswinging yorker was a fine delivery, but Wilson reviewed immediately when Erasmus raised his finger with replays showing the thickest of edges on the ball. It made little difference – Wilson was out later in the same over without adding to his score – but at least there was no doubt about his dismissal to a catch at third man.

Stats highlights from Mirpur where Bangladesh achieved their first series win against Pakistan.

Shiva Jayaraman19-Apr-2015 0 Number of bilateral series wins for Bangladesh against Pakistan before this one. Bangladesh had previously played five bilateral series against Pakistan and lost all of them, without winning a single game.3 Number of ODIs that Bangladesh have now won against Pakistan. Their first win was in the 1999 World Cup. Between that game and the start of this series, Bangladesh had lost 25 consecutive matches to Pakistan. 71 Bangladesh’s victory margin in terms of balls remaining – their second biggest win against Test teams other than Zimbabwe. Their biggest win came against West Indies in 2011, with 180 balls to spare.248 Runs scored by Tamim Iqbal in this series – the highest by a Bangladesh batsman in a bilateral series with three or fewer matches. The previous best was by Shahriar Nafees who hit 204 runs in a three-match series against Ireland in 2008.0 Number of times a Bangladesh batsman made two centuries in a bilateral series, before Tamim’s back-to-back centuries. Tamim is only the second Bangladesh batsman to score two hundreds in an ODI series or tournament, after Mahmudullah’s successive centuries in the recent World Cup. Incidentally, Tamim is the third batsman after Mahmudullah and Nafees to hit two successive ODI hundreds.18 Number of boundaries hit by Tamim in his unbeaten innings of 116, which equals the most by a Bangladesh batsman in an ODI. Tamim had hit 18 boundaries, including three sixes, in the last game as well. Nafees and Shakib Al Hasan are the other batsmen to hit 18 boundaries.6 Hundreds by Tamim Iqbal in ODIs. He is equal with Shakib on the list of Bangladesh batsmen with most ODI centuries. Tamim and Shakib also have the same number of fifties – 28.0 Number of times Bangladesh had won chasing against Pakistan, in 20 previous attempts before this game. In the other two victories, Bangladesh batted first.80 Average runs scored by Bangladesh per wicket in this game – their fifth-highest against a Test team in chases in ODIs. The four previous instances when they had averaged better than this came against Zimbabwe.5 Number of fifty-plus scores by Mushfiqur Rahim in eight ODI innings in 2015. Mushfiqur has made 469 runs this year – with a century and four fifties – at an average of 58.62 and a strike rate of 109.32.85* Partnership between Saad Nasim and Wahab Riaz – Pakistan’s highest against Bangladesh for the seventh wicket and only their second fifty-plus stand against the opposition. Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Yousuf had added 53 in an ODI in 2003.

ESPNcricinfo looks at how the four teams performed in the ICC Americas Region Division One Twenty20 tournament in Indianapolis

Peter Della Penna14-May-2015

Canada

The champions didn’t lose a game thanks in large part to the strongest bowling unit in the four-team field. Nikhil Dutta was the standout performer with the ball, finishing second overall with 12 wickets at an economy-rate of 4.91. Of the six emerging talents from the Americas region who have been offered Caribbean Premier League trials, he has the best chance of latching on with his assigned team, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. The only thing preventing Dutta from getting that contract may be the clash of dates with the World T20 Qualifier.Part of Dutta’s success was the fact that he had excellent support in the pace department and fast bowler Cecil Pervez shined with nine wickets at an even more impressive economy of 4.33, the best in the tournament. He was as equally effective in the Powerplay as he was at the death, ensuring the opposition never got the late surge needed to post a defendable target against Canada.On the minus side, medium-pacer Khurram Chohan, with one wicket in two games, looked average in his return to the team after not making the cut for Division Two in January. Raw talent Satsimranjit Dhindsa got more opportunities to press his case but didn’t leave Chohan behind as he claimed just two in five games. If they’re kept in the squad for the Qualifer, they’ll need to make more significant contributions in seaming conditions in Ireland and Scotland to improve Canada’s chances of finishing in the top six.On the batting side, four Canada players scored more than 100 runs in the tournament, led by Ruvindu Gunasekera, who finished second overall with 196 including three half-centuries. However, Gunasekera offered a slew of dropped chances throughout and will need to tighten up his game in the face of fielding units who show far less mercy than those in the Americas.Rizwan Cheema also showed signs of his vintage form. Though he never crossed 50, his consistent explosions at the top of the order regularly heaped pressure on opponents and at the same time eased the burden on Canada’s middle order. He’ll need to convert some of those into bigger scores come the Qualifier in July.The most glaring weakness for Canada was their appalling fielding. In their day three encounter against USA they missed six chances and at least that many run-out chances alone in the rematch with Suriname. Each squad is allowed to add a 15th player for the Qualifier and Canada should think long and hard about Usman Limbada. He has had a lean run with the bat in the past 18 months, but he is arguably the best Associate fielder in the Americas and would immediately provide the lift that Canada desperately need in that department.

USA

The Americans swept the tournament awards as MVP Fahad Babar finished as the leading run-getter with 242 while legspinner Timil Patel took the most wickets, with 15 at an economy-rate of 4.79. USA may have had the more impressive individual performers, but their overall squad depth and balance was weak in comparison to Canada, with Babar and Steven Taylor the only two to pass 100 runs in the tournament while not a single wicket was taken by a fast bowler.USA had the more impressive individual performers•Peter Della PennaIt did not help matters that wicketkeeper Taylor is going through a period of scratchy form. Though he finished third overall with 167 runs at 27.83, it was a far cry from his dominance of 2013 when he terrorized the region’s bowlers for 413 runs at 59 including two centuries. Taylor looked bewildered at times, particularly in the first match against Bermuda when he had 14 dots in his 17 deliveries at the crease. He needs to regain the confidence of two years ago to come back out of his shell so that the burden to score isn’t placed solely on Babar.As for the middle order, there was nothing significant to note outside of Nicholas Standford’s half-century against Suriname, and this area should come under the microscope from selectors, particularly after the ponderous effort chasing on day six against Canada. Mrunal Patel had trouble timing the ball on the Indianapolis pitch, and played on thrice in three chances at No. 3 to finish with 34 runs.Adil Bhatti is highly regarded by many around the USA and was their best asset in the field, taking three catches and pulling off three run-outs. He looked to be gaining steam coming out of Division Three in Malaysia when he scored 52 not out and took 3 for 29 in a win over Bermuda, but he has been consistently underwhelming with the bat in T20s for USA. His best score in 19 matches remains the 21 he made on debut against Uganda in 2012. Likewise, Barrington Bartley has played 20 T20 matches for USA but has never surpassed his 26 on debut against Canada in 2012. USA can’t expect to win close games, particularly chasing, if these two don’t get their act together.Sitting on the sidelines is Aditya Mishra, who remains the only USA player besides Taylor to record multiple fifties in ICC T20 tournaments. He is still only 33 and pining for a recall. If USA’s selectors want to get very creative, they could do no worse than reaching out to Josh Dascombe or Harry Bush. Dascombe, an Australian with US citizenship through his mother, had a brief trial with USA two years ago in Florida where he barely got a look-in but in the time since progressed this year to the point where he made it into the Queensland second XI in October. The 21-year-old left-arm spinning allrounder batted at No. 8 for Queensland but is capable of slotting in much higher for USA.Bush is a more intriguing prospect. Born in Los Angeles, the 25-year-old was raised from the age of five in the UK and began representing minor county side Norfolk from the U-13 level. He made his first-class debut with Leeds/Bradford MCCU in 2012, top scoring with 70 in the first innings against a Surrey attack featuring future England Test bowler Chris Jordan, and was good enough to score a century for Kent second XI while on trial in 2013. Bush continues to play minor county cricket for the Norfolk senior side and the tall batsman would add invaluable experience of English pitch conditions similar to what the team will be going up against at the Qualifier.As for the pace unit, Hammad Shahid bowled well despite not taking any wickets. In 2011 at the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland, Shahid claimed 13 wickets at an outstanding 3.52 economy. He should do well in those conditions again but his support act is up in the air. Jasdeep Singh was given one game in Indianapolis and it’s unclear if the selectors will stick with him for the summer.Allrounder Japen Patel is in line for a recall after withdrawing from Indianapolis due to work availability and his nippy medium-pace could prove handy but USA still need a frontline seamer to support Shahid. Usman Shuja took 17 wickets in 2008 at WCL Division Five in Jersey in seaming conditions similar to Ireland and Scotland. He still has the hunger to play for USA and is the country’s leading wicket-taker in 50-over cricket having set the mark at Division Three last October in Malaysia. Whether selectors are interested in recalling him to the T20 squad at age 36 is a different matter. USA won’t have any chance in Ireland without better output from their fast bowlers and taking along four specialist spinners to Ireland like they did for Indianapolis is a recipe for failure.

Bermuda

The island nation is essentially clinging on for dear life to their status in Division One of the Americas as well as Division Four of the WCL. They looked competitive against USA on day one but a tight loss took the wind out of their sails and they managed just a lone win over Suriname while losing to the South American nation in the rematch.The future is looking bleak for Bermuda once David Hemp calls it a day•Peter Della PennaOffspinner Jacobi Robinson was their leading wicket-taker with six at 5.09. Young left-arm spinner Delray Rawlins had a decent economy of 5.41 but only managed four wickets. The 17-year-old has undergone a tremendous growth spurt in the past year, now hovering comfortably above six feet, and as a consequence of adjusting to his physical maturation has drifted away from flighting the ball. Instead, he spent much of the tournament darting his deliveries in flatter, making it difficult for him to spin the ball past the edge. He needs to rediscover the tricks that made him a wicket-taking threat at junior level to give Bermuda someone to build their bowling unit around.Two men in their 40s, captain Janeiro Tucker and David Hemp, were the only two to cross 100 runs. Bermuda’s failure was encapsulated by Dion Stovell, who opened every match but scored a grand total of 11 runs off 39 deliveries in six games. The future is looking bleak once Hemp and Tucker call it a day.

Suriname

Suriname’s tournament was decided on the first day when they dropped four simple catches against Canada. Had they capitalized on the opportunities created by their bowlers, they may have kept Canada under 90 and made the chase very interesting. The confidence from scoring an early upset may have propelled them to stronger overall results. Instead, they crumbled and never recovered until the last day when they finally pieced together a complete performance in a seven-wicket win over Bermuda.Captain Mohindra Boodram and left-arm spinning allrounder Sauid Drepaul have been reliable assets for Suriname in the last few years but both fared poorly in Indianapolis. Drepaul in particular had a disastrous time, accumulating 25 runs in five innings without hitting a single boundary and only taking four wickets. Boodram wasn’t much better, finishing with 84 runs though he redeemed himself on the last day with an unbeaten 26 in the win over Bermuda.Unquestionably the biggest bright spot for Suriname was Muneshwar Patandin. The seam-bowling allrounder made waves when he took 6 for 22 on day four against Canada before top-scoring with 36 in a chase that ultimately lost steam after his opening partnership with Wasim Akram ended. Patandin and Akram were the leading run-getters for the team with 118 and 95 respectively. If Suriname can produce a few more players to hold the fort in the middle order, they’ll be one step closer to overhauling Bermuda not just on the regional ladder but in the WCL structure as well.

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jun-2015Matt Henry stumbles backwards after taking the catch to remove Alex Hales•Getty ImagesJoe Root was quickly into his stride as England lived up to their promise to attack•Getty ImagesEoin Morgan hit a fifty off 45 balls in a stand of 121 in 15 overs with Root•Getty ImagesSam Billings fell for 3 on his ODI debut, lbw to fell debutant Mitchell Santner•Getty ImagesJos Buttler smashed 13 fours and five sixes…•Getty Images…and brought up his hundred from 66 balls, the second-fastest for England (he holds the record)•Getty ImagesAdil Rashid made his maiden ODI fifty off 37 balls in a record seventh-wicket stand of 177•Getty ImagesEngland passed 400 in an ODI for the first time•Getty ImagesBrendon McCullum fell to Steven Finn in the first over of New Zealand’s chase•Getty ImagesAfter his fifty, Rashid took 4 for 55 as New Zealand’s innings fell away•Getty Images