Goodall and Bosch admit there is still a lot to work on ahead of the Commonwealth Games

Firdose Moonda24-Jul-2022South Africa are on a five-match losing streak in white-ball cricket and have just one game left before the Commonwealth Games, but are not hitting the panic button just yet.”It’s been tough to be on the losing side because we haven’t experienced it for a while but there are girls who were around when we used to lose every game. We have to find a way to deal with things and help each other get through,” Lara Goodall, the opening batter said after they lost the T20I series to England.Related

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“I had a quick chat with Trisha Chetty and asked her, ‘How do you get through it?’ A lot of young players are asking the senior players how to get through the tough times. The mood is still very good. We are still enjoying each other’s company and having a lot of fun off the field.”It’s true that things have been worse for this team. South Africa lost 13 straight T20Is between August 20008 and October 2010 and Chetty played in all but one of those games. Though she has been benched in favour of Sinalo Jafta in the shortest format in this series, she remains one of South Africa’s most experienced campaigners and in the absence of Lizelle Lee and Marizanne Kapp, someone to turn to for advice. And coping with defeat is not all Goodall has been researching. She has also been canvassing ideas to adjust to a new role at the top of the order.That’s where the team has suffered a major blow with Lizelle Lee’s mid-tour retirement . The exact reasons for Lee stepping down have not been revealed (and may come out in the wash after this tour) but there’s little doubt it rocked South Africa. Kapp, who has since left the squad after her brother-in-law suffered an accident, said being without Lee, who is “one of my best friends,” had taken a mental toll on her , and doubtless, there have been similar effects on the rest of the group. For the batting line-up, finding an immediate replacement for South Africa’s leading run-scorer in T20Is has not been easy.Lara Goodall: ‘There’s still a lot for us to work on consistency-wise and a few things to iron out as individuals’•Getty ImagesTazmin Brits, who was being considered, struggled in Ireland and now South Africa have installed Goodall and Anneke Bosch in the opening positions. They both recognise they have a “massive opportunity,” to make the roles theirs and so far, they have laid down one good marker. They posted South Africa’s fifth-highest first-wicket partnership in the format with their 102 in the second match , and though there might be criticism over how long they took to accelerate, they were aware that they had to. “We had an alright start and by over 10 or 11, Lara and I said we should probably go for it. After 11 overs, we said we both have to try and go. I struggled a bit in the middle period but Lara was hitting it well,” Bosch said.Goodall struck at 123.52 and had started to take on the spinners, which is more in line with her natural game, when she played one big shot too many. Bosch followed two overs later, prompting a mini-collapse and South Africa were unable to finish strongly. But they’re both still working out how to pace an innings and given that they’ve only opened together twice, some patience would not go amiss. “I’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Bosch said. “To change my game plan and be even more aggressive in the beginning and show more intent is something I still need to work on.”But already she’s shown signs of being able to adjust. Bosch went from attacking balls outside offtsump to hitting straight down the ground because she recognised she would “get more value for shots.” Their partnership has to be one of the “positives” Sune Luus told the broadcasters South Africa are taking from every game, but are there any others?South Africa’s middle order has failed in both matches so far and their finishing has been absent. In the field, they’ve made simple errors and their attack lacks a specialist spinner who can control the game the way someone like Sophie Ecclestone does. Resources are a concern because South Africa’s domestic system does not have the depth of England’s, Australia’s or India’s. The gap between those who have become big-name players, the ones who were around when losing was more common than winning, and the rest has shown itself to be quite large. There’s a sense that one golden era may have culminated at the last 50-over World Cup and there won’t be enough time before next year’s T20 World Cup at home for the glimmers of a new one to emerge. For this group, that’s not a problem to solve immediately.Right now, they want to take something out of their series in England to the Commonwealth Games before they regroup ahead of hosting the T20 World Cup in 2203. They know there’s work to be done. “There’s still a lot for us to work on consistency-wise and a few things to iron out as individuals,” Goodall said. “But if we execute our skills we know we can be hard to beat on the day.”

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan is a rivalry that is full to bursting with final day fun and this match is no exception

Andrew Fidel Fernando19-Jul-2022Are we ready for this? A nerve-wracking final day? Come out from behind the couch. You can face this. Let’s do it together.The factsPakistan need only 120 runs, and have seven wickets in hand. One of the not out batters is centurion Abdullah Shafique. Since coming on the scene, he’s quelled a bowling attack containing Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon. Now he’s got a fourth-innings hundred in Galle. As far as fourth-innings hundreds go, this is one of the toughest assignments. Only three batters have ever done it here before, and only one (Dimuth Karunaratne in 2019) in a victory.The pitchGenerally, on days four and five, the surface at Galle is not so much a cricket pitch as much as an altar on which batters are sacrificed to the spin gods. We’ve seen big turn from the first day of this Test, but when Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, and Babar Azam were batting on day four, the pitch didn’t seem to be providing the kind of rapid, unplayable turn that is often a feature here.That is until the last 10 overs of the day, in which Shafique and Babar – who were sailing – suddenly hit a wall, and the Great Galle Spinmonster stirred from its slumber. Prabath Jayasuriya and Maheesh Theekshana suddenly had the ball spitting – basically pouncing out of the rough like terrifying lionesses at helpless gazelle fawns. This big turn got Babar out. He tried to pad away a delivery that pitched way outside the line of the stumps and was bowled – not un-embarassingly – behind his legs.Even Shafique, who was on triple figures, played out the last few overs meekly.Related

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The bowlersWhat Pakistan’s top order have done so far is play Jayasuriya well. They’ve been patient against him, but have watched intently for that straighter ball, that got several batters in trouble in that first innings. Although he’s taken three five-wicket hauls, Jayasuriya is in only his second Test, and is unused to the task of bowling Sri Lanka to victory. Ramesh Mendis, ostensibly the most-senior spinner, is only in his ninth Test. Maheesh Theekshana is in his second as well.They’ll start on day five under substantial pressure, but they’ll have a shiny new ball in hand. The theory is that the new ball, with its hard seam, turns more on these pitches than the older one. Whether this is true or not, it forms the hope Sri Lanka cling desperately to.The historyThe last time Pakistan played a Test on the island they chased 377 at Pallekele, thanks largely to Younis Khan’s all-time mastery, with strong support from Shan Masood, and Misbah-ul-Haq. But that was a very different kind of surface, on which both teams fielded three specialist quicks. By the fourth innings, the juice had left it, and it had flattened out.At Galle, the most comparable match is the 2009 Test between these teams, which Pakistan began with 87 to get, and eight wickets in hand, until Rangana Herath gobbled up the batting line-up wholesale. Sri Lanka won that by 50 runs.There’s no Herath in Sri Lanka’s attack anymore, though. Though there’s also no Younis in Pakistan’s batting order.The fansLook. We get it. Pakistan fans perhaps feel they have the market cornered on drama. Against Sri Lanka, though, this is not necessarily true. There have been wild results – matches they had no business winning, losses they had no business even contemplating, match-winning innings from unwinnable situations, primary-school level fielding errors, and weapons-grade bowling stupidity. It’s all there. These narratives belong to both sets of fans. Whatever takes place tomorrow, there are enough bonkers cricketing memories here for it to be typical Pakistan. Or typical Sri Lanka.

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Crushing three-day victory belies under-stated credentials of hugely impressive team

Firdose Moonda19-Aug-2022What does it feel like to win at Lord’s? For Kagiso Rabada, already hailed among the game’s greats at just over 27 years old, to get his name on the honours’ board? For a self-labelled “proper Dutchman”, Anrich Nortje, to rip out the core of the English batting line-up? For Dean Elgar, whose first trip to the venue was as stand-in captain in 2017, when he looked anything but a permanent leader?It feels like solid confirmation that this team is finally getting somewhere. Or at least it should.It was just over a year ago that South Africa were ranked seventh on the ICC’s Test table and heading to West Indies with genuine concern that they may be beaten there for the first time since their one-off return to Test cricket in 1992. Fast-forward 15 months and not only are South Africa top of the WTC points’ table, but they’ve got there with a series win over the world No.1s, India, a drawn rubber against the current holders of the WTC, New Zealand and now by ending one of the most audaciously successful streaks England have enjoyed in a home summer.And they’ve done it with a group of players that some may label a motley crew, lacking significant experience, strong reputations and even the kind of super-egos that makes professional sport the stuff of celebrity. Only three of South Africa’s current squad have previous Test experience in England. Many of the rest had never even been to Lord’s before and spent time earlier in the week just soaking up the feeling of arriving, as cricketers, to their spiritual and sentimental home.But even with the full house and the media hype and the pressure, South Africa were doing more than just being. They were bossing it. At the end of only three days of this series in England, the birthplace of the empire, they were able to nail their colours in triumph to some seriously prime property on the visiting change-room balcony. That’s the kind of decolonisation we can all get behind.South Africa players walk off after registering a win inside three days•AFP/Getty ImagesSince their first post-readmission tour here in 1994, South Africa have raised their flag five times at Lord’s. Only Australia have won the same number of Tests in the same period of time. Australia have also won the most number of series in England since 1992 – three. South Africa can equal that on this trip but that might be thinking too far ahead. For now, it’s about – as Elgar has started to say – “staying in the moment,” and realising how (to use another Elgarism) “bloody good” South Africa have been.This performance stands out because it came from a team who did things their predecessors were conditioned not to do, like bringing on a spinner in the eighth over with three short catchers, and then seeing him take the two wickets that started the victory march. And they were able to do it because they have resources previous teams have not had.There are four genuine quicks in this South African XI, all of whom can bowl 140kph-plus and when they’re not doing that, they’re asking other questions. Two of those, Marco Jansen and Nortje (and we could even push that to three if we include Rabada) have some ability with the bat as well, which gives South Africa a deceptively long line-up. Jansen can come in as early as No.6 and, with Maharaj’s batting also nothing to scoff at, the only real bunny is Lungi Ngidi. The cracks in the line-up can, to a degree, be covered by the lower-order. Because there are cracks, that we cannot ignore.South Africa have won five Tests at Lord’s since their first match at the ground post-readmission in 1994•Getty ImagesSince Elgar took over, excluding Zimbabwe who have played one Test, South Africa have scored the least number of centuries among Test-playing nations – just three. One of the players who notched up a hundred, Quinton de Kock, has retired from the format. Two others in the top six, Keegan Petersen and Rassie van der Dussen, haven’t yet scored Test hundreds at all. When Elgar talks about the negatives he always has to try to find, this has to be one of them, but he should not reflect on it too harshly.While it’s a no-brainer that big scores are the building blocks of big wins, South Africa have shown that those don’t have to be individual big scores or even big partnerships. Since June last year, South Africa have only had two century stands (Zimbabwe have had fewer) but 33 half-century partnerships, the second-most of any team after England. Smaller, more consistent contributions have allowed their batting line-up to do just enough. And, of course, they have the attack to compensate for the runs they leave unscored.In the same period that the batters have struggled, South Africa have had the joint-most numbers of five-fors, and have produced series-changing spells that are made for highlights packages.The attack allows Elgar’s “margin for error to be a lot bigger”, and he doesn’t seem to be erring too much as he has learnt how to use his arsenal strategically. The quickest of his bowlers doesn’t get the new ball, so an opposition line-up cannot relax when the change bowlers come on. Imagine seeing off Rabada only to face Nortje.Related

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Maharaj is not in the mould of the classical South African spinner who bowls an over before lunch, another before tea, and then tries to hold an end in the third session. He is “world-class”, as Elgar put it, and Elgar trusts his gut feel for when to bring him on. Together they set creative fields and get results. As a collective, the attack pushes each other and Elgar still wants more. “I need to achieve; them to want to achieve more,” Elgar said. “Once they all buy in to that, which I am sure they are doing with great victories like this, we’re going to be a pretty special bowling attack.”Because of the chaos of the last three years, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone in South African cricket who doesn’t think of cautious as optimism’s first name. Despite everything the Test team has achieved since Elgar took over the captaincy, the words “great” and “best” still don’t quite seem to be the right ones to describe them. But there are others that Elgar used.”What we’ve laid down over the last year has been pretty solid,” he said. “It hasn’t been fake, it’s been unique. It’s been real. It hasn’t been far-fetched. These are our team goals that I have with the coaches. It’s not unrealistic. It’s pretty achievable. As a player group, we are a special bunch and we play bloody good cricket when we are doing well.”That’s what it feels like to win at Lord’s.

A look at the records broken during Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s maiden ODI century and his partnership with Mahmudullah

Sampath Bandarupalli07-Dec-20222 Number of players to score an ODI hundred while batting at No. 8 or lower, including Mehidy Hasan Miraz in Mirpur. Simi Singh was the first player with the feat, who also scored an unbeaten 100 against South Africa in 2021 while batting at No.8.202 Runs added by Bangladesh after the fall of the sixth wicket. Only four teams have added more runs for the final four wickets in an ODI. The highest is 213 by Australia against New Zealand in 2017. The previous highest for Bangladesh was 174 against Afghanistan earlier this year in Chattogram.148 Partnership between Mehidy and Mahmudullah for the seventh wicket. It is the joint third highest by any pair for the seventh or a lower wicket in ODIs. The highest is 177 between Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid against New Zealand in 2015, while Mehidy shared an unbeaten 174 with Afif Hossain against Afghanistan earlier this year.The 148-run stand between Mehidy and Mahmudullah is now the highest for Bangladesh for any wicket against India. The previous highest was 133 between Anamul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim, for the third wicket in Fatullah in 2014. The unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 138 between Justin Kemp and Andrew Hall in 2006 in Cape Town was the previous highest against India in ODIs for the seventh or lower wicket.14.08 Run rate of the partnership between Mehidy and Nasum Ahmed, the second-fastest 50-plus stand for Bangladesh in ODIs. Their only stand to have come at a quicker rate is the 54-run one between Mushfiqur and Tamim Iqbal, it came off 3.2 overs at 16.2 against West Indies in 2018.298 Runs scored by Mehidy while batting at No. 8 this year. These are the most ODI runs by a batter in a calendar year while batting at No.8 or lower since Heath Streak’s 429 runs in 2001. Overall, he is sixth on that list.

He has always been able to bowl these unreal spells, but this one was doubly special

Vithushan Ehantharajah18-Feb-2023We were all thinking it.The Barmy Army had awoken from their early evening slumber on the third day of this Test, pushing right up to the picket fences at the City end in Mount Maunganui, a thousand corner men hyping their prize fighter. The hums were deafening, yet no words among them. You could swear you heard the knowing looks cast into every set of eyes that looked back.But no one dared to say it. Not out loud. Not even when Devon Conway (2) and Kane Williamson (0) had their stumps rearranged in the two overs from that end. The knees were pumping, the tail was up. And as Stuart Broad set off for his third over of demonic hour, even though you knew he was in the midst of it, you wouldn’t want to be the one who jinxed it. Form the words “one of those Broad spells” in your mind, sure. But don’t risk speaking it.With the second ball, a drop. Zak Crawley, for the second time in the match, shells a regulation slip chance. Someone’s said it, haven’t they? Tom Latham scampers away for two. Couldn’t help themselves, could they? It’s hard to begrudge, to be fair.Related

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Australia at The Oval in 2009. India at Trent Bridge in 2011, South Africa at Headingley in 2012, New Zealand at Lord’s in 2013. Australia at Chester-le-Street in 2013. Australia at Trent Bridge in 2015. South Africa in Johannesburg in 2016. Why not New Zealand at Bay Oval in 2023? Why wouldn’t you want to turn to the person next to you and tell them you were living the next one?No doubt that chatter has happened more times than during the seven above, all of which saw Broad take five or more wickets unchanged. You here reading this might have been one of those jinxes. Baseball has its “perfect game”, where pitchers go for no base hits and those two words must never be uttered until it is done. Maybe it’s the same deal with “one of those Broad spells”, or words to that effect. Don’t utter it to yourselves, each other and certainly not to the player at the centre of it all. They, of course, wouldn’t dream of it.Except that Broad did. As Crawley cursed under his breath and Latham breathed a sigh of relief, Broad stomped back to his mark. James Anderson joined him for part of the stomp, the pair now out in front as the most prolific bowling duo in Test history thanks to Broad’s early inroads. “Pfff, you know – what if that had been taken?” Broad said he told Anderson. “I feel it could’ve been my day.”Four deliveries later, Latham’s off stump was knocked back.ESPNcricinfo LtdOf course, Broad is immune to universal whims. How could he not be? Three overs later, first-innings centurion Tom Blundell had his middle stump knocked back. New Zealand were reeling on 28 for 5 in pursuit of what now looks an unlikely fourth-innings chase of 394 – Broad clean bowling four of them for just 15 inside 6.2 overs. “I can’t think I’ve done that before,” he said cycling through spells in his head like Springsteen being asked for his favourite lyric. As it happens, he became the first Englishman to bowl the top three since Fred Trueman against West Indies in Kingston in 1960.There was no over-complication in Broad’s mind, because there has never been when he is in this groove, and he knew he was. No thoughts on swinging one way or the other, mixing up lengths, or lining up a batter’s movements. There was no one else there. It didn’t matter if he spoke of what was to come – all there was to him were three sticks in the ground.There would be no fifth. Broad reluctantly went as far as a tenth over, eventually closing out on 4 for 21 with five maidens. “I was buggered,” he admitted, explaining he had lost the snap and energy in his delivery that made the most of the movement on the pitch accentuated by nightfall. “I didn’t want a tenth but Stokesy wouldn’t have it.”It seems like the captain himself was saying it aloud, too. Which matters far more than what the rest of us were or weren’t.Over the last couple of years, it has been hard not to talk of Broad’s powers dwindling. It was at its loudest in 2021 when he returned just 12 wickets from 13 innings – comfortably his worst from a calendar year in which he has played more than one Test. The emergence of Ollie Robinson and the prolonged brilliance of Anderson made it a little easier to fathom. Even when both he and Anderson were dropped for the West Indies series last March, it looked terminal for one, and it wasn’t the bloke about to turn 40, even if both had thoughts about retiring altogether. The natural consequence of being a great in a greater great’s shadow. The breakdown of their combined dismissals has Anderson over a 100 in front, despite Broad’s effort to even the scales here.But since Ben Stokes became captain, Broad has bowled the third-most overs after Jack Leach and Anderson, while taking 34 wickets. His time is clearly not up, his purpose not served. The one new factor to consider is that a starting berth is no longer guaranteed, which he acknowledges: “I can’t control whether I play or not, but I can control whether I’m fit, fresh, in rhythm and hungry. And my competitive spirit is high.”Of course, without the requisite stage, there would not have been an opportunity for Broad to own it. England’s Super Smash Bros blitzed 158 for 4 in the first session before a more subdued 112 for 2 from 27.5 overs in the second. A brief flurry after the second interval allowed them to reach 374 in their second innings to lead by 393 and, importantly, give them what turned out to be 23 overs against an accomplished top order.”The way we set the whole game up throughout the day, we were sort of building towards wanting to bowl as much as possible under the lights, with the harder pink ball,” Broad said. “It’s drier than it is in the first innings but we found it nips pretty quickly under lights.”As it happens, Broad thought he could be in play in a big way long before he took the field on day three. Tim Southee had just nipped a few through Joe Root in the morning session, and it was at that point, he says, the bowlers looked at each other. Each of them knew they had a part to play. And for all the talents of the other two, only one could have played it like this.Agony and ecstasy: Kane Williamson bows his head while his conqueror Stuart Broad wheels away•Getty ImagesThere’s something to be said for regarding this spell as something of a throwback. Yes, it has all the trappings of the modern era: fast-paced, mind-melting exhilarating, hitting fast-forward on the match itself. But that it has transferred into one of the most Bazball fixtures of the 11 so far, not just given the scoring but the fact Ben Foakes batted above Stokes because the skipper was sat on the toilet, speaks to something greater. Aspects of what made the old era great are being allowed to flourish in the new.Which brings us neatly to the Nighthawk. Coined by Stokes last summer as a byproduct of an environment cultivated by the coach Brendon McCullum where no idea is too ridiculous, and given to Broad, the role and its purpose are relatively straightforward: go out and swing in the moments when a traditional nightwatcher may block.The original Hawk swooped into our lives on Friday night (Sorry Rehan, but you were an understudy) after McCullum tipped Broad off the physio table and into his pads at 8.45pm on day two. It didn’t work, of course. Six off 13 overnight, then 7 off 17 three overs into the day was neither the 30 off 10 nor the 0 off 1 regarded as success for the role. But that’s not the point. Maybe it never was.The Nighthawk could just be a way to coax the chaos out of Broad which, truth be told, has been missing. Perhaps since the last of “one those Broad spells” in 2016. And lo and behold, this Frankenstein’s monster made up of one-part tactic and two-parts banter has given Broad a new lease of life.As he strode out to assume the role for the first time, the 13-hour time difference was such that those at home had roused themselves enough to get #NightHawk trending in the UK. A day later, his real name was top of the viral pops. The man himself proving once more that no alias, mask or cape is required for him to arrive in the nick of time.Time moves faster when you’re 36, and each day brings us closer to when his powers will truly dissipate. It was hard not to wonder if it was approaching sooner rather than later after 1 for 72 in 17 overs of the first innings.Does Mount Maunganui 2023 ranks alongside the Oval 2009, Trent Bridge 2011, Headingley 2012, Lord’s 2013, Chester-le-Street 2013, Trent Bridge in 2015 and Johannesburg in 2016? Broad replied, “If I would have got five tonight then maybe.”Suddenly panic. Could we say the next one was coming on Sunday to bump it up, as England close in on victory? “Not yet,” he added. “Always room for improvement.”

On Thursday, he proved he does not shy away from the big stage. In fact, that’s where he thrives

Sreshth Shah07-Apr-20232:46

Dasgupta: Shardul’s best IPL innings by a distance

Over the years, Shardul Thakur has evolved from being a red-ball fast bowler, primarily, to a handy lower middle-order batter who also picks up key wickets in the limited-overs formats. He may not be as consistent as he would have liked to be, whether with the bat or with the ball, but Thakur has proved several times that he does not shy away from the big stage.On Thursday, there was a chance for Thakur to be the star, and he cashed in. With Kolkata Knight Riders at 89 for 5, and Andre Russell gone for a first-ball duck, Thakur knew that the stage was set up for him perfectly: a packed Eden Gardens, a first home match for the Knight Riders, the star team owner in the stands and star Indian cricketer in the opposition camp. All that was needed was action. He provided that with a 29-ball 68 that left Royal Challengers Bangalore so stunned that the eventual target of 205 proved too steep.Related

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Over the years, Thakur has become a character who wants to be in the thick of the action. Even when things aren’t going his team’s way, Thakur has that look on his face – he wants to bring his side back in the contest. And even as he produced heroic performances in Tests – twin fifties at The Oval and a 67 in Brisbane, both in India’s victories – he never was the star performer.On Thursday, nothing quite stood out about his innings against Royal Challengers from a technical standpoint. He offered poor defensive technique first ball and was lucky to not become a hat-trick victim for Karn Sharma. The nine fours and three sixes that followed were not extravagantly beautiful either. They were effective shots built on a base which is a handy technique from the Mumbai school of batting. In short, they were shots from a cricketer who briefly felt invincible, and it was this confidence that translated into runs.The three sixes in his innings epitomised that. Thakur cleared the boundary once off Akash Deep and twice off Michael Bracewell. None of those shots came off the middle of the bat, but they did come off the bat of someone who was willing to give it a full swing. For 45 minutes, everything that Thakur touched turned to gold.Shardul Thakur swings across the line during his match-winning innings•BCCI”Even I didn’t know where it came from,” Thakur said after the match. “Looking at the scorecard, anyone would’ve said we are struggling out there. But at some point, your subconscious mind has to take over and pre-empt what bowlers are going to bowl and areas you are going to hit.”On the night, that plan worked perfectly for Thakur – who also picked up a wicket in the chase – and in the process, also vindicated the decision of the Knight Riders backroom staff, who chose to trade him into the squad as part of an all-cash deal of INR 10 crore from Delhi Capitals.
Thakur’s innings did one more thing – it brought the Eden Gardens crowd to life. Knight Riders came into the season with very few marquee names barring their two West Indians, Russell and Sunil Narine, and there was a sense that the home crowd was not finding the common ground that would give them a connect with their side.Virat Kohli shadow batting brought the loudest cheers before the start of the game, and shouts of “Kohli, Kohli” were getting more frequent as the Knight Riders top order crumbled. Previously, when Russell was dismissed cheaply at Eden Gardens, pin-drop silence would follow. On this occasion, there was a big roar when he was out the first ball. Perhaps a lack of faith in the team. Perhaps the worth of the opposition. Perhaps both.Royal Challengers have built a loyal fanbase around the country centred on their biggest star, and also their social media game. A direct impact of that could be seen in Kolkata, where before 2019, it was almost impossible that Knight Riders’ wickets would be celebrated with such fervour. Before the match, walking into the stadium, even if more fans were hoping for a home win, it seemed more spectators had the Royal Challengers red on compared to the Knight Riders purple.

“The innings Rinku played was as important as Shardul’s. He is a (amazing) guy. If you keep things simple with him, he will play cricket in a simple way too. And that is our strength”KKR captain Nitish Rana

After Thakur’s innings, though, the Knight Riders faithfuls went back to creating the sort of buzz that made Eden Gardens such a stronghold for the home side. It culminated with the loudest cheers of the night when Kohli was bowled by Narine in the chase, the start of a collapse that led to an 81-run win for Knight Riders.While Thakur stole the limelight, Rinku Singh also made a valuable contribution of 46 off 33 balls. Rinku is best known in the IPL for his sharp fielding and cameos with the bat, but those small efforts have not gone unnoticed. In Kolkata, he has developed a cult-like following and has turned into a crowd favourite. Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana later said that Rinku played his role – to stay till the end, and not start slogging too early – perfectly.”The innings Rinku played was as important as Shardul’s,” Rana said after the match. “In the time out, I told him that I know he can hit seven sixes if he wants to, but at that time he didn’t need to. I told him he can hit three sixes [to make up] later in the innings because he has the skills for it, but at that time it was important for him to stay till the 19th-20th over. Rinku is a (cool) guy. If you keep things simple with him, he will play cricket in a simple way too. And that is our strength.”While the Knight Riders’ win at home changed the trend for them somewhat, their top order looked out of sorts for the second game in a row. It took the highest sixth-wicket stand in the IPL since 2012, a rare, freakish innings and partnership, to lift them from what looked like 140 to 200-plus. For now, they can afford to bask in the afterglow till their next challenge: against defending champions Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Towards the end of a unique career, Warner has two massive assignments ahead of him: the WTC final and the Ashes in England

Osman Samiuddin04-Jun-2023David Warner is both a first-of-a-kind cricketer and a last-of-a-kind cricketer. There hadn’t been anyone quite like him when he landed; the first Australian to debut in the national side – ODIs and T20Is – without having played a single first-class game. Now that the process of his exit has officially begun, it’s difficult to imagine a new opener can ever be as domineering across all formats. The shorter way to say this is that Warner is kind of unique.Admittedly, he hasn’t felt so unique lately. One part of that is the unavoidable bloom-onslaught of modern batting. One day Warner was batting’s ‘I’m Him’; now suddenly, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill and Harry Brook are ‘I’m Hims’. Warner used to feel like a freak for what he could do with a bat. On Saturday, as he stood in front of a small, polite media scrum in small, polite Beckenham, a little grizzled, a little reflective, under a grey sky that would give up and turn blue soon, he felt like that friend of dad’s who was once in a band.But a bigger part of it is form, that intemperate and inevitable feller of all athletes. And Warner does not have it. Take out his Boxing Day double-hundred against South Africa and his highest score in his last nine Tests is 48. He is 36. He has the World Test Championship [WTC] final immediately ahead of him, but no runs there and he might be running out of road.Related

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Still, he deserves more ahead of this summer than to be sucked into some nonsensical, entirely confected war of words with Stuart Broad, his chief dismisser the last time Warner was in England for the Ashes.Worried about Broady, Davey?WTC final first, mate. Then Broad, “if they select him for the first Test this time.”Saw his five-for against Ireland?Nope, saw his figures. Need to see the wickets. “Five Tests for any bowler, even our camp as well, it’s going to be tough to keep backing up.”Heard Broady said he’d voided the last Ashes series in Australia – which England lost 0-4 – because of Covid restrictions?Should I void my 2019 series too? “He [Broad] might get homesick and he can’t cope with playing under those circumstances but we’ve all played Ashes series away. It’s the same.”You are such a cad, Davey.Maybe it was the Beckenham air, but none of these came out like barbs or snipes, as much as the headlines might make it seem that way. No fire, just some words. He played along, perhaps for old times’ sake, perhaps because he was bored, perhaps because he’s human and if he’s asked pantomime questions, he’ll play panto.That bit of Warner that once felt so fearsome, that jaggedness in his energy, the bruiser in him is gone. Family, TikTok, success, Sandpapergate, who really knows why? He’s not exactly cuddly. Fuzzier somehow and a little less vivid in outline.None of what he’s like will matter if he scores runs, runs which help Australia become Test champions, runs that win a first Ashes in England in over 20 years. How he thinks those runs will come is interesting, though. He said that in 2019, he wasn’t playing his game. “I was listening to some other voices which, from my perspective, probably didn’t suit my game.”Some other voices? Another flash of old Warner, the one who upended the whole sticks and stones schtick. His words did hurt.This time he’s going to back his real game. That one where he’d rather nick off cover-driving than get bowled on the backfoot defending. The Brendon McCullum mindset, he said, to be brave, to unsettle opening bowlers, to not cede those good areas to them. “You’re going to have to make some brave decisions and be content with getting out, whether it’s a cover drive or what not.”It is an interesting bit of reflection this, on age as much as anything. As we grow older, we assume we grow wiser. We evolve, we mature, we learn from the mistakes of our youth. This, we think, is the natural order. Sometimes when we get there, though, we learn that how we were when we were young is the way to be, because that is what got us here in the first place.A healthy enough season at the IPL plays right into that. Transitioning in the past from red-ball state cricket to Tests, Warner said, had changed the DNA of his batting, focusing his mind on survival. Transitioning from the IPL to Tests, on the other hand, where the mode is attacking from the get-go, remains perfect.Time was when we thought T20 batting was killing Test batting. But Warner’s logic, this way around, of good T20 batting feeding into good Test batting doesn’t sound so outré anymore. That you have to be content with getting out, that you value your wicket slightly less, Warner heralded the coming of this, long before Bazball, before Rishabh Pant, before Gill.It’s easier said than done. Warner’s troubles with Broad in Ashes 2019 – seven dismissals out of ten – from around the wicket were not an abstract. They were very real and the perfect illustration of a specific and long-running global trend. Like punches and plans, broad-brush intent is good, until a Dukes ball comes out and nicks it off. Warner’s opponents this summer are two of the best from that angle, Broad and Mohammed Shami.If he gets past them, then Warner has a shot at a serious all-format legacy, leaving the game as an opener in a modern era – not an easy one for them – who has won the ODI World Cup, the T20 World Cup and the WTC. A first-of-a-kind, probably the last-of-a-kind.

Takeaways: Fringe players make a mark, Mandhana doesn’t, fans have their say… there is change in the air all right

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Mar-2023More than just the cricket
India’s women cricketers now know what it is like to play with a fan base in place, or how it feels to play in front of packed stands, or have your social media notifications blowing up. This wasn’t new for the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur or Smriti Mandhana, but certainly a different experience for the D Hemalathas and the Shreyanka Patils.India’s domestic structure is still a little old school, where coaches are taught to go by a rule book that players follow. So it was refreshing to see not-too-experienced players challenged by top-level coaches or elite players.Someone like Jammu & Kashmir’s Jasia Akhtar learnt to deal with success and failure from Meg Lanning. Anjali Sarvani improved the mechanics of her bowling action thanks to Ashley Noffke.From Alyssa Healy saying she was at the WPL to develop Indian talent, to World-Cup winning captain Heather Knight picking Richa Ghosh as the team-mate she wanted to get to know, the WPL threw up a variety of intangibles that players will benefit from.2:47

Healy: I like to lead from within the group and empower players

Fringe players make a splash
Shreyanka Patil, on debut, walked out with Royal Challengers Bangalore six down against a rampaging Mumbai Indians, and crunched a pull for four first ball. She found the boundary three more times in an enterprising 15-ball stay.In the next game, against Gujarat Giants, she didn’t shy from tossing it up in her first over to an all-guns-blazing Sophia Dunkley and prised out her first WPL wicket; later, she bowled a nerveless 20th over where she accounted for Harleen Deol – the game’s top scorer – and conceded just nine runs.In the reverse fixture against Giants, she got the ball for the first time with the scoreboard reading 135 for 2 after 16 overs, and Laura Wolvaardt and Ashleigh Gardner in full flow. She dismissed both and gave away only 17 from her two overs.Two days later, Parshavi Chopra – just 16 and playing only her second game – too was tasked with bowling the 17th and 19th overs with D Hemalatha and Gardner threatening to take Giants towards 200. Unafraid to flight the ball, Chopra got both of them out – with Gardner fooled by a legspinner’s dream delivery.Hemalatha herself, through the tournament, was handed the thankless role for a specialist batter, almost exclusively walking out either with her top order having collapsed or with less than five overs remaining. Sample some of her scores: 29* off 23, 21* off 13, 16 off 7, 16* off 6. The one time she entered at a better stage, with Gujarat 50 for 3 in six overs in their last outing, against UP Warriorz, she smashed 57 off 33.Three players, at different stages of their careers, with different storylines. The common thread? None of them was too well known to the wider audience. Given difficult roles, they showed signs of blossoming. And they weren’t alone. Long may it continue.3:29

Meg Lanning: WPL made it easier for young girls to see what is possible

A learning experience for Mandhana
Mandhana had a most forgettable WPL. Five losses to start the campaign as captain of Royal Challengers, finishing nearly at the bottom of the table, and for a change, struggling to get into a free-flowing rhythm at the top. That is one of the purposes of tournaments like the WPL: provide such learning experiences even for some of the established names.Apart from in domestic cricket, Mandhana had led India and Trailblazers in the past. But not like this. The WPL was a different deal because it gave her the captaincy for an entire tournament. It came with a lot more limelight and pressure compared to the Women’s T20 Challenge and might have put some price-tag pressure on her (she was the most expensive player at the auction). It may have also put her under constant scrutiny as captain and player, like every time she batted against an offspinner. She was also, for the first time, leading several stars in her team, such as Sophie Devine and world champions Ellyse Perry and Heather Knight.At the end of it, Mandhana will likely emerge as a much stronger player and captain, and could be more at ease in high-pressure situations to serve Indian cricket in the future. She is just 26, after all.1:32

Harmanpreet Kaur: Real benefits of WPL will be visible only in two or three years

Fans embrace the WPL, and how!
When the WPL began, there was a bit of uncertainty about in-stadium attendance.The hope was that free entry for women and nominal ticket prices on the whole would sell out tickets, but that was no guarantee of footfalls. To expect Mumbaikars to travel to far-flung venues daily for women’s cricket was an ask irrespective of ticket rates.Related

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By Sunday, March 26, it felt like Brabourne Stadium didn’t have enough seats. But what stood out most was the diversity of the fans. Though predominantly male, there was a good mix.There were men in the old Mumbai Indians men’s jerseys, middle-aged women purchasing knock-off kits outside the venues, parents with little children headed to the venues in trains and buses, young girls in their club-cricket uniforms, housewives who play recreationally, students who have travelled from neighbouring towns like Pune and Kolhapur, and even stragglers in the hope of an unwanted, or unbought, ticket.The atmosphere the fans created was rare for women’s cricket in India and it was special to see packed stands even on weekdays. There were traditional Mumbai stadium chants and new, innovative ones. In Royal Challengers games, you would know where Ellyse Perry was fielding just by the cheer in that section. Delhi Capitals’ Shafali Verma was as good as a home player.So there is an audience. And the BCCI has been able to build on their pilot project of ticketing attendances during the India vs Australia series in December. Now for the next step.The atmosphere the fans created was rare for women’s cricket in India and it was special to see packed stands even on weekdays•BCCI2013 to 2023 – the change couldn’t be starker
It’s a little embarrassing to think of it now, but for long, cricket boards the world over marketed the women’s game like a buy-one-get-one-free scheme with the men’s game.During the 2013 Women’s World Cup, the ICC sent out nearly 10,000 invites to as many as 50 schools in Mumbai for the opening game, held at Brabourne, and when not even 2000 seats were occupied, it left the ICC and the BCCI red-faced.A decade later, the contrast is stark. Both WPL venues – Brabourne and DY Patil Stadium – were sold to capacity several times over. Sure, women were awarded the privilege of watching games for free, but that the BCCI earned from gate receipts, even if it may cobble up to be a minuscule portion of their overall WPL earnings, was a heartening sign.It was also equally heartening to see media attendance reach unprecedented levels. There have been several instances over the past decade where thin attendances have forced organisers to instruct players to look left and right while answering questions from the same source, making it appear as if they were fielding questions from different corners of the room. But this time, when it was announced loud and clear that only one question would be allowed per journalist, it was bittersweet.Women umpires get a taste of the big time too
Like it was for the players, the WPL was also a platform for less-experienced umpires to get a taste of cricket played under intense scrutiny. There were a number of women umpires in action, too – N Janani and Vrinda Rathi stood in the final. Of them, Rathi was part of the Commonwealth Games last year too.The level-up was not all hunky-dory. There were some errors that led to an increased level of scrutiny on the officials. But all said, the experience they gained is a good start which the BCCI should try and build on by having them officiate more regularly, perhaps even in senior men’s domestic matches, in the Ranji Trophy and other big-ticket competitions.

Following his retirement, the New South Wales seamer discusses a career with an unusual route

Alex Malcolm27-Mar-2023How do you reflect on what you’ve achieved in your career?I’m incredibly proud knowing I was nowhere near the level of talent that 90% of the cricketers I played with and against were at. I’d like to think that I gave it everything I possibly had, coming from the country, being a Bathurst kid, and a wicketkeeper-batter until I was 20. Nothing ever really is as it seems. You can always change and set your focus on different things and achieve. Obviously getting a baggy green is incredible. But even just playing for New South Wales after my pathway and upbringing being so different to everyone else. It’s really unique and it hasn’t sunk in, the magnitude of it. But I’m very proud of it.How did you convert a rare opportunity for an uncontracted 23-year-old out of grade cricket into a 14-year first-class career?I don’t know the answer to that. I think the one thing that stood out to me was that I’d given the wicketkeeping gloves away, and initially I was focused on batting and getting myself six opportunities in the next grade above rather than just one. That was the focus, and I was constantly then having to dispel people that knew me as a keeper and a batter that I was now a bowler. And then from there, I was also not the 150kph sexy new toy that was going to be the next 15-year superstar at Test level that inevitably is part of the psyche when it comes to picking teams. It was built into me and the way I go about things from a young age that I love proving people wrong.Related

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I’m a determined guy. I’m sure [my wife] Kim will say even when it comes to playing monopoly or scramble at home how bloody competitive I am. When I got my first chance I was literally coaching a kid in an indoor centre for a living, playing grade cricket, not on contract. I got the call I think on a Wednesday and I had to be there on Thursday afternoon to meet Simon Katich at the SCG and was told you’re going to play the Shield game against Queensland on Friday.It drove me to want to just soak that all up and enjoy it, but you get one chance and I’ve seen so many people miss that or get overawed by it. I guess once I had that sniff and I had done well I never wanted to let that go. And I still don’t now to be honest. But it’s a reality of life that you have to at some point.How did you turn yourself from a 195cm wicketkeeper into a first-class bowler with incredible skill level with immaculate control?I didn’t have people teaching me. To be honest, it came from trial and error, failing on the go. Bowling to set batters in grade cricket and having to figure it out, rather than it just being my attributes that got me selected if that makes sense. That’s part of the stuff that I see now. Inevitably kids come into a talent ID situation, people see stuff and they want to accelerate that process and get them to try and figure it out almost in Shield cricket. I was so lucky that I had to wait until I was 23. I’d had such a big body of work of learning the skills and being put under pressure, but winning a few competitions in first grade and those grand finals, doing really well personally but also most importantly getting across the line and winning before I played Shield cricket was massive.Trent Copeland took a wicket with the second ball of his Test career•Associated PressDo you think that is part of the reason why you had so much success at Shield level first up? And then how did you find the jump from Shield cricket to Test cricket in such a short time?My first ball in Shield cricket bounced twice before the keeper. It was one of those things now looking back on that, the ridicule or the how slow does he bowl type narrative is…it was interesting that that was my entry point into first-class cricket. At no stage were any of my team-mates saying things like that but inside your own mind you always doubt, are you good enough? You doubt whether you belong. [Copeland went on to take 8 for 92 on his debut, which remained career-best figures]I was able to settle in and just have a good time with it and remember who I was as a person, and what I do well. There was a whirlwind stage of success in Shield cricket and we had just come off the Shield final down in Hobart. We didn’t win that final but myself and Pat Cummins in particular had bowled a lot together and started to forge what it is to be successful at the elite level. When we went over to Sri Lanka and then I took five wickets in the tour match I felt really confident that I could do a job in Test cricket and I guess the challenge, reflecting back on it when I was picked, was incredible.It wasn’t necessarily the conditions that were most conducive to my success but I think now watching our Australian team playing in the subcontinent, how difficult it is to have success. It was bloody phenomenal that I was able to be over there with Nathan Lyon in our first tour and we could beat Sri Lanka in the subcontinent. It’s disappointing that probably about three years after that I was 10 times the bowler I was when I did play international cricket and probably more like 20 times the bowler now. But that’s the reality of it.When I got dropped it was in South Africa, the Vernon Philander famous game in Cape Town. And after that moment, there were some bloody good bowling conditions that I missed that stung me a little. But you think of James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Cummins, Josh Hazlewood that all came onto the scene immediately thereafter and credit to all of those guys I just could never work my back.How did you reconcile the fact that you were a better bowler as you got older than when you played Test cricket and yet there were no opportunities, particularly in conditions that might have suited you in England or South Africa? And how do you feel in general about Australian cricket’s preference for bowlers with ball speed over the last 10 years ahead of seam or swing bowlers who have been successful at Shield level? At no stage do I feel bitter or angry about anything to be honest. People are employed and have their own necks on the line to make these sorts of decisions. It’s not easy. And whether you like it or not, there is an arbitrary view that ball speed is essential to success in Test cricket. I’d like to think that there are many guys around even currently that are proving that wrong. Essentially there are multiple tours where I think I was bowling at my best and could have really made a long-lasting difference in international cricket.

The way our contract system is working and the way we pick teams even at the national levels, I think is centered around young kids or elite talent and if they’re not already elite by 25 it’s hard to find a place. It’s not to say that no one will push through that. But really, I think we’ve lost some good players in that ilk

Particularly the year where we played Victoria in the Shield final [2018-19] and I think I took 50 plus wickets [52] and felt at my peak and was using a Dukes ball in Australian conditions that was flowing straight into an away Ashes. Sids [Peter Siddle] was back in the frame then and did a really good job and they ultimately took guys they thought could play significant roles and [the chance] didn’t come. That was probably the moment where I realised that my time at that level was done. Despite my success, there was no avenue back, and as I said, I don’t look at that with bitterness.There’s a little bit of frustration that there was no other opportunity. But my hope is that people continue to be seen, be it batting or bowling really, not for the aesthetic, not for the opinion that sort of precludes people from playing, but rather for what they deliver. And that should afford them the opportunity to at least be given the chance to try and succeed at the level. If they fail, so be it. But people guessing on whether someone can be good enough because of ball speed or the way their technique looks when they bat, I don’t love that about our sport in this country.’I was 10 times the bowler I was when I did play international cricket and probably more like 20 times the bowler now’•Mark Brake/Getty ImagesThe era of Australian domestic cricket you played in was for a long time led by Greg Chappell as national talent manager and youth development was a priority above performance for a number of those years you played. How did you find being in a system that viewed a cricketer like you as perhaps someone who didn’t quite fit the age and style profile in terms of what was trying to be achieved?I must say I got really lucky. To debut, in my case at 24, outside of the contract system, it’s so unique. Not many people got the chance let alone were able to make it stick so I was very, very lucky. Greg Chappell was the one who selected me and was the selector on tour and delivered the message that I was going to make my Test debut. So this is in no way a direct reflection on my relationship with him.My opinion though is when I started, there was a real fierceness about the contest in Shield cricket. There was a fierceness to the 2nd XI team in New South Wales and whoever we were playing against was the second-best state team that walked out onto the field for the [CA] 2nd XI competition. Whether a kid was 18 or if they were 29, if they were good enough, they were playing in that game. Inevitably you’ve got to have an eye on the future and look towards who could be a long-term player for us. You’ve got to look at things like who to award contracts to. That’s part of the reality of why you are picking these teams. I get that nature of it. But my obvious impression is that we’ve lost the 25 to 31-year-old cricketer from our game and whether they’re interested in playing because the contracts just simply aren’t there and the amount of opportunities simply aren’t there.That to me is something that I’ve seen diminish over my career and something that I’d love to see come back. I don’t know the answer specifically on contracts. But I think you ask any of the elite cricketers, particularly batters, but I would say bowlers as well, what age do you become your best self, the best cricketer, know your method and have the ability to sit in your own skin and just enjoy cricket and flourish?Batters, in particular, would be saying 27, 28, if not even 30. And bowlers are probably the same. I certainly was the same. My last five years have been so much better from a bowling sense. The way our contract system is working and the way we pick teams even at the national levels, I think is centered around young kids or elite talent and if they’re not already elite by 25 it’s hard to find a place. It’s not to say that no one will push through that. But really, I think we’ve lost some good players in that ilk.Trent Copeland picked out Marnus Labuschagne as one of the best batters he had bowled to•Getty ImagesDo you see a future where someone will play three T20s and 112 first-class games like you did? How difficult will it be now for either a young batter or young bowler or a late developer to have that career arc as opposed to focusing on short-form cricket?I think there is a lot of things at play here. There are way more opportunities to excel in T20 cricket now. There’s way more money available for people which has the natural pull of guys taking that opportunity at the outset to give them the money so they can then focus on this long term and have a full-time commitment to doing it. I don’t begrudge anyone for taking that path. The answer is no. And I guess the rationale for me saying that is I have a real concern. And I’ve voiced this to CA quite a few times and numerous people within the pathway.

I don’t know if everyone knows that, but I’ve never had a locker in my entire career. Something as simple as a locker to go and put my kit in every day.

I see U19s and U17s cricket at national carnivals, and I see a lot of people come through that are just unbelievable cricketers. But there’s not a single red-ball game that’s being played in domestic underage carnivals. And the requirement of a forward defence for example, is almost a waste of a ball. So temperament and technique which I think are two of the most central characteristics for anyone succeeding at the next level, and particularly Test level, is almost seen as a waste in our pathway. No one would ever be sitting there as a coach and saying don’t focus on your forward defence or don’t get better at it. But you’re also playing with white balls that swing for about five overs. They don’t move off the seam. These sorts of things to me are part of the reason why my answer is no to your question.I really hope that we get to a point where it’s a hybrid of both. Test cricket to my knowledge is still in CA’s mission statement, to be the number one Test nation. I’d love to see a bit of the focus and a bit of asset management go towards that as a priority. I’m talking about athlete development and not just bums on seats and who’s watching. I don’t profess to know all the answers. But kids being required to be good at a forward defence or be accurate with the ball for long periods of time, I think needs to become an essential part of our pathway.How difficult is it then for the likes of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood to traverse across three formats at international level?It’s tough and I think for those three guys in particular, it’s almost a case of what’s coming in the next 12 months? Is it a 50-over World Cup? Okay, let’s focus there. Is it a T20 World Cup? Let’s focus there. If it’s the World Test Championship, an India or an Ashes series, and in the case of this year it’s all three, we really need to turn our attention there. I think they are, and there are a few batters as well, three of the last people that will be dominant forces in all three formats and able to play all three formats. Not because people aren’t capable, but just because I don’t think it’s possible.We’ll start to see, much like England have already done, almost a completely different unit that’s playing white-ball cricket to Test cricket, splitting coaches, things like that. When T20 first started, I think you could get away with just being elite, just in general as a cricketer. Now, conditions, tactics, the prowess of those games are so specific that you really need to be someone that’s really focused on it all the time. Otherwise, in the big moments sometimes it gets exposed.Who are the best batters you have bowled to?Marnus Labuschagne sticks out at present. I remember a Shield final at Allan Border Field that he got the better of us significantly. But there have been times when having the ability to move the ball around and set plans and work a batter over, I really found it was a good litmus test on whether I am actually up to the challenge and still good enough. Mike Hussey I found a thrill of a challenge mainly because it was never like he just took you down, but it was more that he understood game planning. He understood his strengths intricately and the moments where you’re able to knock someone like that over even in amongst the times where he would hit you to all parts, was always a good challenge.Trent Copeland in his role with Channel Seven•Getty ImagesNew South Wales has been the gold standard in Australian cricket for a long time and it was during the majority of your career but the state has struggled in recent times. What is happening there currently and what does need to happen for New South Wales to get back to being a domestic force?My opinion is that the talent is there. So that needs to be dispelled from any conversation, that we’re not producing the talent that we always have. There’s no doubt in my mind that there is talent. There is the ability to dominate elite-level cricket and be Test cricketers just like there has been for so many years. The interesting part is the programs and the training environment have been what they have been for almost 15 years in my experience.Essentially we have had no home ground, no training facility that is always our own. That’s now changed. So hopefully Cricket Central can be a part of one home, one locker, one place to call your own and train and get better in a consistent environment. I don’t know if everyone knows that, but I’ve never had a locker in my entire career. Something as simple as a locker to go and put my kit in every day. Because we go to the SCG some days, Blacktown, Bankstown, then we’re using nets at Olympic Park. It’s basically been a bit part process to try and get an elite facility.Then we’re playing one to three games at the SCG and then grade grounds and country grounds where we stand there at the toss and we have no idea essentially on how to build a game plan, what to do at the toss or even a best guess on what the pitch is going to play like, versus our opposition that are walking into the same venue every game. So these are a few of the little challenges that I think are going to start to be naturally fixed.Outside of that, I see a lot of hope. I see a lot of belief in the ability and the talent. But I still see a lot wanting to aspire to do well rather than getting in, taking it head on, and believing that we’re going to just be better than the opposition and not take a backward step. And that’s not anyone in an individual sense. But I hope that certainly in a training environment and playing sense in the future that becomes a priority.Lastly, how did you find mixing playing with being a commentator for Channel Seven and how advantageous was it to still be playing with and against some of the players you were commenting on?I think it’s been a real asset to me in the sense that I’m living and breathing it still and playing with and against these guys knowing what they’re practicing, what they’re struggling with, who’s done well in the last Shield game. Those sorts of things are first-hand information that is just always there for me in my mind when I’m speaking on air, particularly about domestic players. The actual physical nature of doing it whilst I played was a nightmare. To juggle it was a lot of planning. But I’m really fortunate that I had the chance to do it, and I bloody love doing it. So I can’t wait to do more of it and dig in and maybe even focus more on the content that we’re going to produce and then expanding the horizons. Not just being an analyst but hopefully being a well-rounded broadcaster on all sports.