Although the end of the day revealed a clearer image of the two teams, for a little while this Test was all about this fast bowler

Danyal Rasool01-Sep-2024One of cricket’s recent contributions to viral online discourse is the image of an amateur batter holding the pose, having ostensibly played the perfect straight drive. It isn’t until the next frame that you see the stumps completely askew, bails up in the air with the ball having freshly clattered into them. A picture may speak a thousand words, but is also equipped to conceal at least as many.Sometimes, as any coach – or medical professional – recognises, the truth doesn’t matter as much as what’s needed to keep those under their watch going. Dwelling upon the full picture of what transpired on the third day of the second Test is unlikely to do Pakistan many favours. Khurram Shahzad would much rather have the first hour of the morning framed and hung up, a snapshot in time that will sustain him far more than any sober analysis of how things turned pear-shaped.For as a new-ball spell, it was one of the greats. Seeing the movement on offer, Shahzad pitched it up and brought it back in, drawing a false shot to draw first blood. His captain Shan Masood had pointed out last week Pakistan had never taken wickets in clumps, allowing Bangladesh to bat nearly 170 overs in the first innings. Perhaps it was a gauntlet thrown down. On Sunday morning, Shahzad took it up.Related

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Looking to capitalise on that inward movement to the left-handers, he plugged away in that corridor of uncertainty until eventually he scrambled Shadman Islam’s sense of space. Moving across to head off the swing, the Bangladesh opener would end up exposing his stumps, the ball managing just enough zip to clip the top of leg. That sort of dismissal always looks like a batting mistake instead of a bowling plan, but there’s a reason Shadman was so far across in the first place.”The surface was more helpful than the first Test,” Shahzad said in the press conference at the end of day three. “The first session was ours because we were taking wickets in bunches. When it swings, it helps us a lot.”And Shahzad was accepting that assistance with both hands. After all, what’s better than thudding into leg stump? Knocking back middle, of course. And did he hear the captain wanted two quick wickets? How about three? With the swing still there, Shahzad honed in on off, letting the ball do what it was doing. Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto had perhaps still been shaking off the early morning cobwebs when the first two lefties were dismissed, for he unwisely tried to flick across the line to midwicket. The ball slipped in between bat and pad, cutting him in two with the ease of a knife slicing through butter. Middle stump, just like Bangladesh, was in tatters.The finishing brushstrokes on this masterpiece were applied, and by now Shahzad was displaying his versatility. Coming around the wicket and using his wrist position to maximise the movement back in, he had Shakib Al Hasan falling over as he was rapped on the knee roll; Bangladesh were 26 for 6. Shahzad had provided the clump of wickets Pakistan wanted to force a quick result. ESPNcricinfo’s Statsguru was fired up throughout the press room; Bangladesh’s lowest totals got plenty of hits. The TV graphics reminded viewers Pakistan needed only a 150-run lead to enforce the follow-on. There may have been more to the story, but Shahzad’s picture was complete.Khurram Shahzad caught Mehidy Hasan Miraz off his own bowling for his maiden Test five-for•AFP/Getty ImagesPitches flatten out, balls get old, and photographs fade into distant, hazy memories. There are limitations in Shahzad’s game, and indeed the remainder of this Pakistan attack so uncharacteristically and curiously bereft of pace; the fastest bowler this Test has been Naseem Shah on the practice pitches. And when conditions ceased to offer as much assistance, Shahzad, by his own admission, turned to damage limitation.”But when it wasn’t swinging, we were trying to contain them and not give runs away,” Shahzad said. “We were waiting for the batter to make mistakes when their partnership was flowing. We were making sure we were disciplined with the ball. The beauty of Test cricket is momentum keeps switching hands.”By the afternoon, the desperation had become palpable. Pakistan placed six men on the onside as Shahzad went around the wicket to the right-handers, banging the ball in short in a fairly transparent attempt to squeeze a miscue to the keeper or perhaps fine leg. But Bangladesh knew it was a bluff; Shahzad simply didn’t possess the speed to trouble them this way, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Litton Das went about demonstrating this in the most public way. Each would pick Shahzad up and deposit him over the very fielders Pakistan had placed on the boundary, their only involvement being a perfect view as the ball sailed over their heads. Bangladesh were steamrolling towards parity.Shahzad would find more success soon, but only after he recognised he was better off doing what his arsenal allowed. A routine, unflashy ball on good length that may just have held up in the pitch was chipped up by Mehidy, letting the bowler snaffle the opportunity that had fallen his way, and the five-for that came with it. Having created his own momentum, Shahzad – just as he had done in the morning – capitalised on it, turning one wicket into two, and five into six.What happened in between, and as Bangladesh’s tail frustrated Pakistan for another couple of hours, may not show up in Shahzad’s album. And he may feel he has the right to keep them out of sight, because he needs no further reminder of adversity. While Pakistan moved on from a series whitewash against Australia, focusing on the white-ball summer and the T20 World Cup to come, Shahzad was battling back from the cruellest of body blows.After making his debut in Perth last December and acquitting himself reasonably well, a short PCB update informed us he was out of the series with an injury. A niggle carried over from the Quaid-e-Azam trophy the previous month turned into a rib stress fracture and an abdominal muscle tear, ruling him out for months. Stress fractures are notoriously difficult to come back from unscathed. The sight of Shahzad dominating the first hour of a Test match isn’t just the story of a moving ball, but an insight into the resilience of a man who needs no documentation for proof of his hard work.But while cricket will find rich ways of rewarding its most committed, it also has a mischievous sense of humour. Sent in as nightwatchman after Pakistan lost Abdullah Shafique early, Shahzad squared up to a Hasan Mahmud beauty which just shaped away and knocked his off stump back. Michael Gough dislodged the bails at the opposite end, and on a day Shahzad had spent rattling timber, the last image captured him on the receiving end. “I tried to see the day out, but unfortunately I got out,” he smiled.Best leave that out of the picture, too.

Across two Tests and three innings, they bowled unchanged for 89.5 overs, turning into Pakistan’s two-man answer to Bazball

Danyal Rasool24-Oct-2024Plenty had happened since Pakistan last made a bowling change. They had won a first home Test in four years. The entirety of the knockout stages of the Women’s T20 World Cup had taken place. New Zealand had won their first Test in India in 35 years. Pakistan’s newly-formed selection committee had travelled from Multan to Rawalpindi alongside the chief curator Tony Hemming, and, in what vaguely felt like a crime against horticulture, heated, fanned, sunned, shaded and raked 22 yards of soil to subvert its natural characteristics.Spanning eight days, three England innings and two cities, Sajid Khan and Noman Ali had thrown themselves into the cause with the zeal of men who could barely believe they had been called on. It appeared that their surprise was matched by that of their head coach, who had, twice in the past two days, made clear to anyone who would listen that none of this was his plan. But having bowled Sajid and Noman in tandem for the final 15 overs of England’s first innings last week in Multan, Shan Masood, who had similarly had his wings clipped, stuck with them for all of their second. Sajid and Noman were then entrusted with the new ball in Pindi – the first time a Pakistan side had ever opened a Test with two spinners – and they simply carried on.Related

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Lunch was taken, and yet, when play resumed, there was no change. Like one of those Fantasy Football games where, once locked out of your account, you can never go back in to make changes, Pakistan kept to their last default setting. On commentary, Ramiz Raja worried about the two spinners tiring their fingers out, but, having played no first-class cricket since January, Pakistan’s new 31- and 38-year-old saviours were making up for lost time.The journalists were briefly ushered out of the press box to commemorate a milestone, with the PCB having prepared a cake to mark English journalist Scyld Berry’s 500th Test match. When everyone returned, Sajid and Noman were still bowling; they might as well have been there before Berry made his debut.The pleasant morning gave way to a warm afternoon, and the crowd gradually built up. The stadium announcer was doing his best to keep them animated, rousing them into cries of Sajid and Noman, but swiftly found himself out of ideas beyond that. If he was anything like the DJ in Multan, whose entire playlist was a shuffle between Wonderwall and Skyfall, that admittedly didn’t take much.In truth, though, when the change finally happened was merely a statistical curiosity. There was not once in what would become 89.5 unbroken overs from the pair that a change was required and passed up. This Pindi surface, after all the ignominies visited upon it, was taking spin from the outset, and few bowlers in Pakistan currently can exploit that better than Sajid and Noman.Noman preyed on Zak Crawley’s impatience at a crucial point in the first session, when England’s openers appeared to have countered the spin threat in a 56-run stand, slowing the pace down – a tactic the left-arm spinner has employed cannily through his career – and landing it wide. Earlier that over, he’d beaten Crawley with a perfect delivery that drifted in landed on middle, and ripped past Crawley’s outside edge. This, by contrast, looked like a loosener, and Crawley snatched at it, slicing it to gully.Sajid Khan finished with figures of 6 for 128•Getty ImagesSajid found an area outside off stump from where he could turn his offbreak at pace, and stuck with it. His knack of in-match problem-solving helped Pakistan turn around the second Test, and he found turn to trap Ollie Pope and Joe Root in quick succession – the latter with a ripper that even Root’s quick hands were unable to keep out.By now, the pitch’s demons were making no effort to conceal themselves. Ben Duckett had battled for his half-century on a surface designed specifically to preclude him from doing so. But no batter, however set, could have accounted for the one that just about rolled along the ground after landing on middle. It barely hit him above the ankle; he hardly had enough time to shoot the surface a look of disgust before the umpire sent him on his way. There were cackles in the crowd, and even the Pakistan players’ delight was tempered by the acceptance that this wasn’t a manner of dismissal usually found in the first session of day one.But it’s often too easy to treat and the moustache-twirling, thigh slapping Sajid as gentle, harmless figures of fun. Their presence in the side can be explained away by Pakistan’s chaotic desperation, their success as a product of pitch preparation. The pitch was expected to hold itself together for a couple of days, but if these two were getting wickets, it must have been crumbling apart. Even when in the wickets, as they have been since they were called up, the marketability of Sajid and Noman – combined age 69 and combined hairline to match – doesn’t hold a candle to Pakistan’s quicks, thick luscious hair and all. Even ESPNcricinfo has been guilty of this in the past, only talking Noman up if it could be done through the prism of Naseem Shah’s wider appeal.But it is when things got deadly serious that Pakistan turned to Sajid and Noman. Jamie Smith, the only batter to comprehensively pass Pakistan’s death-by-spin test, called Sajid a “fantastic bowler”; having missed the first Test, he is already the series’ highest wicket-taker. It is the presence of these two that emboldened Pakistan to try out this drastic change of strategy in the first place, confident that their quality on helpful surfaces would overcome their rust. Masood’s rallying call over the last fortnight has been 20 wickets; the two have managed 29 in three days of bowling. You’d have to require incredible commitment to the bit if you handed them 90 consecutive overs for a bit of a laugh.Sajid, too, gently pushed back against insinuations that his wickets haul was down only to the surfaces. “This wicket isn’t like Multan,” he said. “The ball gets soft after 25-30 overs. In Multan, even with a softer ball, you get assistance from the pitch. This wicket is not like that. There were some good balls, but also poor shots from them. Wickets don’t get given to you here. You have to vary the pace, use the crease, and that’s how I got my wickets.”Forty-two overs into England’s innings, Pakistan finally made a change. With England’s seventh-wicket partnership beginning to blossom, Zahid Mahmood stepped up from Pavilion End. He banged in a long hop to Gus Atkinson, and was pulled away to deep midwicket.Sajid and Noman were no longer bowling together, and everyone could tell.

Also, a bucketful of allrounders with many left-hand batting options included

Sidharth Monga18-Jan-20251:09

No Shami in Bangar’s XI for Champions Trophy

Transition can waitThere was some chatter around whether India would start their preparations for the 2027 ODI World Cup right away, and pick only those senior players who can be sure of playing two years from now for next month’s England ODIs and the Champions Trophy. However, after the Champions Trophy is a more natural reset point. As of now they have complete faith in Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, but when they sit down to pick the squad for the next ODI assignment after the Champions Trophy, they will surely take into account their game, their age, their fitness, their desire vis-a-vis the 2027 World Cup.Gill, a future ODI captain?When the incumbent captain is certain to lead the side for the next few years, the identity of the vice-captain is not that significant. This, though, is a team in transition. Should, for any reason, Rohit not be part of the team going forward, the selectors seem to have a captain in mind. Shubman Gill was the vice-captain of the last ODI squad too, has been a consistent run-getter, and is most at home in ODIs out of the three formats. His continuing as vice-captain, ahead of other senior players in the Champions Trophy squad, can be seen as a stamp of approval for him as the next captain.A bit of this, a bit of thatThere seems to be a clear impetus for multi-skilled players. They are not quite genuine allrounders – as in, they can’t play based on one discipline alone – but they add depth to the batting. India have picked four of these. Unfortunately, only one of them is a seam bowler – Hardik Pandya. Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar are the three spinner-batters in the squad, which leaves room for only three out-and-out bowlers in the first XI and only three specialist fast bowlers in the 15-member squad.Mohammed Siraj did not find a place in the 15•AFP/Getty ImagesUnfortunate SirajHaving that many allrounders is sure to cause a casualty in one of the two specialist departments. Mohammed Siraj is the unfortunate one to miss out despite taking 47 wickets at 22.7 per wicket and conceding 5.41 per over since the start of 2023.According to captain Rohit and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, uncertainty around Jasprit Bumrah might have played a role. Rohit said that if Bumrah doesn’t make it, they want their fast bowler to be effective in all phases of the ODI innings. Rohit said that Siraj’s effectiveness comes down a bit if he doesn’t get the new ball.At any rate, the make-up of the squad suggests they expect conditions where they will regularly play three spinners. The question of not getting the new ball arises only if three quicks are playing. Keeping all that in mind, with Bumrah not certain to play, Rohit said they wanted Arshdeep Singh to be there for the “back end”.What is more interesting is that Harshit Rana is Bumrah’s cover in the three-ODI series against England, which precedes the Champions Trophy. That is probably because India already know what they get with Siraj. Rana is someone they want to take a look at. This is no indication that Siraj won’t be considered should Bumrah not be able to make it. Asked if the selectors had someone in mind if Bumrah didn’t make it, Agarkar said his panel was “just hoping Bumrah’s fit. We will have a chat if he’s not fit.”Domestic cricket – important or not?Sanju Samson scored a hundred in the last ODI he played while Rishabh Pant was not a regular in the last ODI series he was a part of. However, Samson was unlikely to be part of the discussions here because he was disciplined by his state association for allegedly not turning up for the one-day camp. If the national team goes ahead and ignores Samson’s absence in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, it sends a mixed signal after having just insisted on the importance of paying domestic cricket.However, there will always be exceptions. Kuldeep Yadav, who has now recovered from his sports hernia surgery, will walk back into the squad even though at various times the decision-makers keep saying injured players have to prove their match fitness in domestic cricket in order to make a comeback. Nor will they ask Bumrah to play domestic cricket if he has to play the Champions Trophy.Kuldeep Yadav is back after an injury layoff•Getty ImagesIt would be naive to think that the singularity of what Kuldeep and Bumrah do doesn’t play any part in exceptions being made for them. At the same time, circumstances are such that there is no domestic cricket on for Kuldeep’s team when he has been cleared for action. He has worked up to loads of 10-12 overs at the National Cricket Academy, where he has been recovering.Left-hand reservesIndia’s top five were in such sensational form the last time they played together that they select themselves in the first XI. However, they are all right-hand batters: Rohit, Gill, Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Rahul. Then the only seam-bowling allrounder, Pandya, is also a right-hand batter. No surprise that the next cabs in the rank are both left-hand batters: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Pant. All three of the spin allrounders are also left-hand batters. Axar, in particular, has been used to break up the right-hand batter cluster in the past.Possible first XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill (vice-capt), 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel/Washington Sundar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah/Arshdeep Singh

Head doesn’t just score runs, he scores them quickly, and often against balls that aren’t all that bad – a recipe to deflate any attack

Alagappan Muthu15-Dec-20241:33

Pujara: India fed too many balls to Head outside off

Sometime during the 2019 Ashes, there was an announcement at St Johns Wood tube station: “Mind the gap. Also, does anybody know how to get Steven Smith out?” The moment stands out in “The Test”, Amazon’s documentary about the Australian team. There might be some places in India sending out a similar SOS about Travis Head. The irony is that he came into this Test having been dismissed for 0 off 1 three straight times at the Gabba.Getting a bogey batter out early is the ideal scenario, and also maybe a slightly easier one, when compared to getting them out after they’re set. And Head is not without his weaknesses. There is one that India failed to exploit rather famously at the WTC final in 2023. And they might be guilty of something similar here too. According to HawkEye data only 10% of the fast bowling he faced was bouncers.When Head came in at No. 5, Jasprit Bumrah was fairly fresh and he was brought on pretty quickly. His first over included one that rose up towards Head’s chest. He went for the pull and made no effort to keep it down because there was nobody at deep square leg. He was happy to hit it in the air. there was nobody down at deep square leg. The field wasn’t set for that ball.Related

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India had reason to explore more traditional lengths on this Gabba pitch. Even at 54 overs, Akash Deep was getting the ball to bounce past the shoulder of Smith’s bat. Normal Test-match bowling was working in Brisbane… so long as Head wasn’t the one facing it. This is what his talent to a cricket ball – not meet it under his eyes, not defend it close to his body but it – does. It breaks a game in two.Morne Morkel, the India bowling coach, in explaining their plans to Head, hinted at just how easily he forces oppositions on the defensive. “The margins to him were just so small. And like I said, once he’s in, you know, what is the best way for the team and for you to maybe slow down the scoring rate? Because you know he’s going to be aggressive. What is the best way of bringing a little bit of control into the game?”Morkel was still talking about getting Head out but the way to do it had changed from targeting him to tying him down. India had a deep point in very early into Head’s innings. They had discovered that unlike most left-hand batters they come across, he enjoyed the ball coming into him from around the wicket. “Our plan going into this game was to bowl a little bit more over the wickets, just to bowl a straighter line,” Morkel said.Travis Head notched up a 115-ball hundred•Cricket Australia via Getty ImagesAustralia scored 130 runs in the middle session at 4.8 an over with Head scoring 80 of them to bring up his fourth century against India across formats. Bumrah went to a bouncer and actually cramped him once, but Head adjusted by leaning back from the ball and just letting it glance off the face of his bat which he had propped up like a ramp. It was deliciously intentional.The ball that most people think brings him down, bowled by one of the best in the world, simply flew off the middle of his bat. That’s how Head brings the opposition’s shoulders down. He doesn’t just score runs, he scores them quickly, and often against balls that aren’t all that bad.”The way he’s able to put the bowlers under pressure from the outset is quite incredible,” Smith, a fellow century-maker and his partner over the course of 241 runs, said. “You know, he’s got an unbelievable eye and the areas in which he scores, it’s tough to put fielders in those positions in a way.Steven Smith and Travis Head combined well for Australia•Associated Press”You know, you see them put the deep point out and stuff, but he just finds ways to just put it past him. Yeah, he’s batting beautifully, he’s confident and it’s nice to get in a partnership with him because the scoreboard moves extremely fast. And I was just in the sheds with him then and he goes, ‘geez, that went quick today.'”Ravindra Jadeja thought he had Head caught behind in the 55th over. It was a lovely ball, spinning into the batter against the angle from around the wicket. But he couldn’t bowl it again. One of the most accurate spinners in the world couldn’t back up a good ball with another good ball because when he tried he was hit for two successive boundaries, which forced Jadeja into bowling darts. Head faced them with ease, off the back foot, with all the time in the world. He had thrown the bowler off what he wanted to do and made life easier for himself seconds after being in trouble.India weren’t at their best on Saturday. Morkel admitted that there is a lot of work they still need to do on bowling between the 30th and the 50th overs and that finding the right length at the Gabba has been a bit of a challenge. They had a scare with Mohammed Siraj grabbing his left knee and walking off the field (he came back though). As they waited for the second new ball, cycling through their change bowlers just before tea, and leaking three fours in 12 balls, they turned to Bumrah sooner than they might have liked. He had two balls’ notice to warm-up. Every ball, every over, every session, Head kept pushing India to the brink and now they are teetering.

Young opener in his seventh Test notches his country’s fastest hundred during buoyant display

Firdose Moonda23-May-2025Brian Bennett celebrated almost before he scored it: his second Test hundred and his country’s fastest and arguably the most high-profile since Murray Goodwin’s against the same opposition at the same venue 25 years ago (with apologies to Andy Flower and his exploits in India).Bennett wasn’t even born then and carved his own slice of history in Nottingham, his roar of delight coming almost at the same time as the sound of bat on ball, as he cut Gus Atkinston wide of the cordon and took off, right fist clenched, head bowed, the Zimbabwe bird facing the sun.That emblem is a replica of the carved stone birds of Great Zimbabwe, a historic kingdom that existed between the 11th and 14th centuries. No one really knows what the birds represent but suggestions range from the crowning of a new king to the symbol of a spirit. On Friday at Trent Bridge, it symbolised renewed hope.Related

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Despite the pummelling Zimbabwe’s attack took on the opening day – and that Bennett was dismissed for a single in the second innings – to see a 21-year-old, playing in his seventh Test, score a century against a top-tier nation is a sign that something is working in Zimbabwean cricket. Bennett is young, talented and almost entirely homegrown. Almost, because he was schooled at Peterhouse, the of Gary Ballance and Stuart Carlisle, but the finishing touches were added in South Africa, at Kingswood College.Peterhouse regularly play at a cricket festival at the Eastern Cape institution and Bennett’s father Kelly, a blueberry farmer by trade, organised for his sons to spend a post-school bridging year at Kingswood. Brian, and his twin David, were there in 2022 and their young brother Sean has since followed. The school’s cricket academy is one of the most elite in southern Africa and includes individual mentorships programs and coaching by professionals, including former Warriors seamer Andrew Birch. Bennett immediately impressed him.”When he first arrived, we had a game against one of our rival schools, Pearson, and he just took them apart. He smashed 151 of 100 balls in his first game,” Birch told ESPNcricinfo. “He’s a very attacking player.”That much was evident from the first over at Trent Bridge. Bennett collected three boundaries and though the first two came off the inside-edge, the third was a glorious cover drive, a stroke that he returned to throughout the day and is a natural strength. But it’s the other strong skill Bennett has – the ability to take on the short ball – that Birch noticed early on. “He was not scared and very good on the short ball. Anything back of the length, he is scoring on the off side, and square of the wicket. In the younger groups, often they can score on the front foot but if you can do it off the short ball, you can really get away.”It only took Bennett three more balls in this innings to show that. Atkinson’s fifth delivery was short of a length and wide and Bennett seared it through deep point for a fourth boundary in 11 balls. He has six fours off 17 balls by the time Ben Curran was dismissed and then bedded in for a 65-run stand with his captain Craig Ervine. In that time, there were moments of fortune: he survived a Sam Cook inswinger that almost found leg stump, and almost nicked off against Atkinson but there was never a sense of nerves.Bennett was positive in his strokeplay•PA Photos/Getty ImagesThen came the spinner, almost at the same time as Birch was on the line.”Oh yes, he’s very attacking against spin,” Birch said. “He looks to take the guys on down the ground. He looks to attack the bad ball and put the others under pressure, so I’m sure he’ll carry on in that way.” On cue, Bennett hit Shoaib Bashir through the covers and in front of the sweeper.His fifty came off 56 balls and Zimbabwe’s boisterous fan contingent began to dance. They barely stopped for the rest of the day. Though Bennett gave them heart-in-mouth moments when he edged Cook short of second slip on 63 and then edged Stokes to Joe Root on 89 (but was dropped), he also gave them reasons to keep singing. None more than that cut he knew had sliced off a piece of a history even before he’d seen where it had gone.Zimbabwe, by virtue of how little they play(ed – that will change with 11 Tests this year) and the irregularity of their wins, often have very little to genuinely cheer but Bennett has provided something different. In a career that is only six months old, he already has two Test tons and a five-for and an ODI hundred. If you believe Birch, there’s more to come. “His work ethic is unbelievable and his drive to succeed was the most impressive thing for me,” he said. “You get kids that arrive and they’ve got the talent and they don’t really have that drive and that work ethic. He straight away had that.”He also has a mature mindset, which comes from a family love of the sport and a household immersed in the game. “He’s very relaxed and chilled but he’s a thinker of the game, which is really nice because sometimes in this day and age with the young kids coming through, they don’t really think,” Birch said. “They don’t watch cricket much. That’s what I find is lacking in schoolboy cricket. A lot of kids don’t watch cricket much or if they do, they watch the T20s. They don’t watch Tests and really get to know the game. But him and his whole family really watch cricket. It’s ingrained in them. They think about cricket. They talk cricket.”And best of all, Bennett has the express backing of Zimbabwe’s coach Justin Sammons, who spent time with Birch recently while his own son was playing at a schools’ festival, and “we just had a conversation and he was very excited about the way he plays”.After an innings like this one, who wouldn’t be?

The squads for the West Indies series reflect a new importance for domestic form

Valkerie Baynes16-May-2025Emily ArlottThe 27-year-old seamer received her maiden England call-up in a 17-strong squad ahead of the 2021 home Test against India. At the time, then-captain Heather Knight said her discovery “out of nowhere” was just an early indication of the sort of talent the team could unearth through the professionalisation of the domestic women’s game. Three years on, Arlott is yet to make her international debut but, as the joint-leading wicket-taker in the Metro Bank One Day Cup with 14 wickets at an average of 20.85, she has been rewarded with selection for both the T20s and ODIs. She even showcased her batting credentials with a maiden hundred against Essex.Tammy BeaumontIt looked like Beaumont’s T20I career was over when she was dropped ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She had to wait more than two years for another appearance in the format, during England’s tour of New Zealand in March last year, and then Ireland in September while the first-choice side was preparing for the World Cup. How becoming the first woman to score a century in the Hundred (118 off 61 balls) in 2023 didn’t earn her a recall sooner remains a mystery. Beaumont didn’t play the T20Is during the recent Ashes tour but, after two unbeaten centuries at a run a ball in four domestic 50-over innings, she has been picked for both squads.Alice Davidson-Richards could be in line for a run in the ODI middle-order•Getty ImagesAlice Davidson-RichardsA brisk century against Lancashire proved to be in vain for her Surrey side, but not for Davidson-Richards’ quest to regain a place in the ODI squad. Scores of 57 not out off 47 balls and an unbeaten 40 off 23 earlier in the domestic season did no harm either as she seeks to add to her 15 England caps for the first time since Sri Lanka’s visit in 2023. With Danni Wyatt-Hodge overlooked after 15 ODI innings without reaching fifty, there is space in the middle order.ESPNcricinfo LtdEmma LambOpener Lamb made a big impression in her first match of the season, scoring an unbeaten 130 for Lancashire while Edwards looked on in person, and she’s barely stopped. Scores of 52, 86, 43, 20, 74 and 88 followed, making her the leading run-scorer in the One Day Cup, more than 100 runs ahead of the rest. She also has 12 wickets at 20.50. Lamb could add to her 14 ODI appearances, so far highlighted by the 2022 home series against South Africa in which she scored 65, 67 and 102. Maia Bouchier’s omission opens the door at the top of the order.Paige ScholfieldScholfield made her international debut in Ireland at the end of last summer and was poised to continue with the winter tour of her native South Africa until she was injured during training and had to fly back to England before the series began. She backed up a haul of runs for England A on their tour of Australia with solid performances for Surrey and she’ll return to Oval Invincibles for the Women’s Hundred in the top salary bracket, highlighting the value the franchise places on her run-scoring capacity.Linsey Smith played a role in England’s T20 World Cup campaign•ICC via Getty ImagesLinsey SmithSmith fell out of favour during the 2019 home summer after nine T20I appearances and it wasn’t until the tour of New Zealand just over a year ago that she returned. She held her own as part of England’s four-pronged spin attack at the T20 World Cup. Now, with fellow left-armer Sophie Ecclestone out of the squad, she can take even more responsibility. As joint-leading wicket-taker in the domestic 50-over competition with 14 at a better average and economy rate than Phoebe Turner and Arlott, Smith appears ready to do just that, not to mention make her ODI debut at the age of 30, having been named in both squads.Issy WongSince the end of 2022, Wong has only played three T20Is and a sole ODI – on the Ireland tour – having made her international debut as a 20-year-old tearaway quick during the home Test against South Africa. Struggles with her run-up and rhythm ensued but, after some time out of the spotlight, an impressive tour of Australia with England A, where she took eight wickets, put her back in contention for the T20 leg against West Indies in a considerable show of faith from Edwards and her fellow selectors.Mahika GaurJust turned 19, the left-arm seamer has already experienced the ups and downs of someone far more advanced in years. In September 2023, he produced a player-of-the-match performance on her England ODI debut with 3 for 26 against Sri Lanka, but that was followed by injury disruptions, an eye-opening Ashes tour as an observer with the senior side and a promising return to Australia with England A. Before any of that, she represented UAE in 19 T20Is. Now her cricket education is set to move to the next stage with a return to the ODI squad where she could add to her two caps in the format.England Women T20I squad: Nat Sciver-Brunt (capt), Emily Arlott, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Heather Knight, Paige Scholfield, Linsey Smith, Issy Wong, Danni Wyatt-HodgeEngland Women ODI squad: Nat Sciver-Brunt (capt), Alice Davidson-Richards, Emily Arlott, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Mahika Gaur, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Heather Knight, Emma Lamb, Linsey Smith

The West Indies opener looks back on the best moments of his previous 99 Tests – his maiden century, the Headingley win, and the hundreds in Australia and South Africa

Interview by Andrew McGlashan02-Jul-2025On Thursday in Grenada, Kraigg Brathwaite will become the tenth West Indian to play 100 Tests. At his best, his powers of concentration have been legendary: he has faced the most balls by a West Indian batter in a Test.Runs have been harder to come by of late, and a new-look batting order needs him to perform, but his career is littered with some outstanding performances. Among the teams he’s played more than once, it’s only against India that is he missing a century. Brathwaite also captained the Test side on 39 occasions before stepping down earlier this year. And he holds one of the game’s quirkier stats for a player of this generation, having not played a single professional T20.”I was privileged to be captain when he played his first Test and to be coach now as he’s playing his 100th Test, 14 years later, it shows his contribution to the game,” West Indies coach Daren Sammy said. “I think that’s a great achievement. And I wish him all the best. I know his team will be rallying with him. It will be a special moment for him and also for the team.”On the eve of his landmark Test, Brathwaite spoke to ESPNcricinfo.Related

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What does 100 Tests mean to you?
It means everything. Words to describe it would be pretty tough. You always want to play for the West Indies as a youngster, but to play 100 Tests was a dream. I’ll never forget when I was teenager, I was 14 years old, I would have done an interview and they asked me what my goals were. I remember one of my goals was to play 100 Tests.I think it’s quite amazing to go through the journey of 14 years playing for West Indies and seeing that goal come to fruition. I just want to be a role model, to hopefully inspire even just one youngster in the Caribbean to set their goals from a young age. Whether it’s 100 Tests, 300 one-dayers, playing in all the franchises around the world, whichever it may be, the key is to set a goal and work extremely hard throughout, through the ups and downs, to achieve it.But despite setting that goal, when you played your first Test, against Pakistan in 2011, did you think 100 was realistic?
Obviously, I’ll say no. Playing the first Test wasn’t the easiest. To say it at that time, that I would play 100, would be pretty hard. But from scoring my first hundred [against New Zealand in 2014] – I never thought I’d score a hundred for West Indies, I never thought I was that good, even though I was inspired to want to play – that really helped me get the confidence to go on.There have been a few periods where things really clicked for you: in 2014 you averaged over 77 and in 2022 you were named in the ICC Test team of the year. Do they stand out for you?
In 2014, I remember every series we played I scored a hundred. That was a very good patch for me. Then 2022 as well, those two really stood out for me. We played Bangladesh in 2022 and I made 95 or so [94], otherwise it would have been the same [a century in each series]. As a batsman that’s what you set out to do. I was obviously hoping that 2025 would be as good as those two periods.In West Indies’ famous win at Headingley in 2017, Brathwaite scored 134 and 95•Getty ImagesThe runs haven’t flowed of late. Where do you feel your batting is? Have you got another peak in you?
I still have that belief. I still feel ready and raring. I think it’s just an example of what Test cricket is; it’s a grind, especially as an opener, it’s never easy. You always have your ups and downs, so it’s about staying strong and believing in yourself. Test cricket is all about being mentally strong. I do believe I have those periods left in me.Is opening now as tough as it’s been? It’s a topic in Australian cricket, for example. Are pitches doing more?
I won’t say they’re doing anything different to normal, to be honest. Playing in the Caribbean is obviously never an easy place because pitches, especially early on, can be a bit slow and the ball gets a bit of a nip. But I won’t say the pitches have changed. I think the challenges as an opener still remain, regarding fielding for whether it’s 90 overs or 100 overs and having to run off for five minutes to change, then face world-class bowlers. Kudos to the bowling around the world. Each team pretty much has quality fast bowlers. So it’s always a mental grind for openers.Looking back on the 99 Tests from a batting perspective, can you pick out some highlights?
I can never forget the maiden hundred. At the time I was in total disbelief that I could actually score a hundred for West Indies. But moving on from there, the hundred [against Pakistan] in Sharjah; for me as an opener, I always dream about being there at the end, especially in the second innings, for the team. And to be able to do that in both innings was quite special for me. That was Jason Holder’s first win as captain, so very special.Then Headingley [in 2017] as well. There’s a bit of back story behind that. We lost the first Test, so to come back and play two innings like that to help us to win was quite amazing. But also, and this is just an example of opening the batting, it was my first tour to England and we had three county games before the first Test. I barely got any runs. Mentally, you are really doubting yourself at times.Brathwaite’s advice to young cricketers: “Dream big first. Set your goals from a young age. And then you’ve got to work hard. It’s a a long journey playing red-ball cricket”•Nick Potts/PA Photos/Getty ImagesGoing into the first Test, I made zero in the first innings. It’s not easy place to be. But that’s just the example of having to keep having that inward belief. When that bowler runs up and bowls the ball, pacer or spinner, you’ve got to have that deep belief in yourself. In the second innings of the first Test, I got 30-odd [40], then the second game we won and I got runs. That was just a great example for me as a player and as an opener of what it really takes to do well in this career. You’ve got to be mentally tough. So those were special.But then, emotion-wise, when I got the hundreds in Australia [in Perth in 2022] and in South Africa [in Gqeberha in 2014] – they were both No. 1 [teams] at the time. For me, that was very, very special. We drew one and lost one but those two against the No. 1 team meant a lot.Have you always prided yourself on your powers of concentration?
For sure. When I was young, 10 or 11, I used to bat really fast and hit a lot of boundaries, a lot of sixes. But as I got older, I started to buckle down. I always understood my strengths and weaknesses from a young age. I still knew what I was good at aggressively and not going for other things. But as I developed, I understood playing the longer format.I remember there was an intermediate game back home. I got out playing a bad shot, looking for something that wasn’t there. The next week – because it plays on weekends – two of the guys scored a double and a 180. From there I decided I’ve really got to buckle down. The next game I made a double.That was an example of taking your time and waiting for your strengths. You know your weaknesses, you don’t go too hard at them. And that stood with me throughout my career. Playing for West Indies, it’s always my job, and I knew once I could bat at least two sessions as opener, it will only benefit the team.Brathwaite captained West Indies in 39 Tests, winning ten, including famous victories in Chattogram, Brisbane and Multan•AFP/Getty ImagesDo you think there will be an opportunity for more West Indians to reach 100 Tests?
There’s a lot of talk about it in recent years. At the end of the day, we need all the teams; we need South Africa, they’ve just won the Test Championship, we need West Indies. I think eventually we’ll get to ten-plus Tests in a year, hopefully. Right now, we’re averaging probably between six to eight a year. So, obviously, that would take a younger guy playing for a number of years to get up to 100. But I do believe that in time we will get more games. I can see it happening. I think there’s a lot of youngsters that are spurred to want to play for West Indies.Is there one opener you’ve especially enjoyed batting with?
I’ve enjoyed batting with them all, because I’ve batted with a number of openers, but John Campbell. For me, the bond is quite special because we played from Under-15, then to U-19s and senior cricket. So that one will always remain. We have good camaraderie.Having not played any T20s in this era does stand out. How has that played out? Would you still like to play?
To say I still want to play, it’s pretty foreign. But it’s something I wanted to do. I played a few 50-over games [for West Indies] but I missed a few regional tournaments in the Caribbean, so I was never really able to put my case to get back in the one-day team. Not being able to play 50-overs, it’s pretty tough to play T20s. It’s just how it went. I’d have loved to have played T20, it just didn’t work out. But you never know, there’s a lot of leagues about.If you had advice for a next-generation batter who has that dream of 100 Tests, what would it be?
Dream big first. Set your goals from a young age. Obviously that inward belief in yourself is very important. And then you’ve got to be disciplined, you’ve got to work hard. Things won’t always be easy. It’s a long process, a long journey playing red-ball cricket.But the main thing is, regardless of success or failure, do your routine. Whatever it is, in terms of running, gym, hard work at home, after a series, you don’t ever stop it. You do well, you’ve had a purple patch, a great year, you don’t sit back on your laurels and think that, okay, I’m done working, I’ve received or retained a contract and I’m happy. To be able to do it year-in, year-out through all the success and failure – because there’s way more failure than success, especially in red-ball cricket. But it’s about believing and dreaming it because you can do anything you put your mind to.