A look back to the time two Australian journalists touring England broke the news of one of cricket’s most seismic events

Daniel Brettig09-May-20170:00

How WSC transformed cricket

“Oh, Kerry wouldn’t do that, son.”With these words, the News Limited chairman Sir Kenneth May cooled the jets of his young group cricket writer and fellow South Australian Alan Shiell. It was April 1977 and Shiell had just told May all he knew about a prospective breakaway cricket competition to be helmed for television by the owner of the Nine network, Kerry Packer – a notion so apparently preposterous that May rejected it out of hand.The two met in Sydney, the afternoon before Shiell was due to fly to England with Australia’s Ashes tourists. Forty years after eventually breaking the story of World Series Cricket alongside his fellow correspondent Peter McFarline, Shiell wonders how things might have panned out if he had pushed the issue that day.

“I was surprised that Peter had gone to such lengths to keep me out of the way for the sake of a story – I suppose that’s journalism for you”Journalist Brian Mossop on losing out on the big story to McFarline

“I had told Ron Boland, editor of the in Adelaide, and he told me to tell Sir Kenneth.” After at first refusing to believe the story, May said: “Well, see what more you can find out over there and send the story through as soon as possible.””I could have written something based on what I had at the time, and I wonder what difference that would’ve made to the trip, and whether some of those players would have toured at all,” Shiell says. “I didn’t realise it was going to be quite as big as it was, but I guess I was naive.”A similarly bright-eyed exchange had taken place a little less than a week before, at the Newmarket Hotel in Adelaide. Shiell was there for lunch with his friend the recent Test debutant David Hookes, who rather changed the tone of the afternoon when he let slip the biggest secret in the game, partly as a favour to Shiell ahead of his first overseas assignment with News Limited.”He was worried about his future and whether he’d be able to play Test cricket again,” Shiell says. “He didn’t think he would, and was quite concerned. He didn’t know for sure but he assumed everyone was in on it, but he wasn’t completely comfortable. He was pretty happy about the money, A$25,000 a year, but the more it went on and the closer it got, the more he became worried about it and went to see Packer, who told him there was no way out of it.Alan Shiell in the Adelaide Oval press box in 1989•Mark Ray”They all knew what it involved from the start. Some might not have liked it, but they all knew they wouldn’t be playing Test cricket. He would have been speaking to me as a friend too, chatting all about it knowing I wasn’t going to write it the next day, but once it all broke he never had a go at me about it in England and was always comfortable about it there.”As a former batsman of some distinction for South Australia, Shiell’s contacts among the players were impeccable. But he was also wary of the impressive connections built up by McFarline, the irascible and competitive correspondent for the in Melbourne. A few hours after being rebuffed by May, Shiell dined with McFarline at Sydney’s Boulevard Hotel. Both were booked on the same Qantas flight that would convey Australia’s Ashes tourists to England. Though he had filed a broad story the previous October about televised cricket on Nine, McFarline needed more.”McFarline didn’t know anything, really, until I told him that night at the Boulevard,” Shiell recalls. “But there was that fear that because he knew so many officials like [Victoria Cricket Association secretary] David Richards and others, and because he used to get fed a few more stories than me, that he would drop it [into print] before me. So I thought it was better to take him into my confidence and we’ll both work together, so I was guaranteed it either way then.”

“I wish I’d had a mobile phone or better phone connections then. I should’ve phoned Sydney, I should’ve phoned the sports editors to vouch for the story. But in those days you didn’t make unnecessary phone calls!”Alan Shiell

Their resources duly pooled, the pair joined the team on the plane to England. In the early days of the trip both missed opportunities to follow up. McFarline, who died in 2002, recalled that several players, including the England fast bowler John Snow, greeted him with the words “See you in Australia next summer”, which seemed odd with India slated to tour.”It was strange in hindsight that I didn’t ask much more about it immediately after I got to England,” Shiell says, “particularly not talking more about it to Greg [Chappell], who I’d roomed with for South Australia. But I was so bloody busy filing for morning papers, evening papers and Sunday papers. Murdoch’s Sydney papers weren’t taking AAP then either, so I was having to do the scores as well. I had the , the Murdoch Sundays, the and the . The and the drove me mad!”So it was that the touring team and its attendant press pack reached Hove in Sussex for a tour match starting on Saturday, May 7, with little inkling of the storm about to break. At this point it actually seemed most likely that the WSC story would emerge from either Packer’s own magazine the , which was quietly preparing an official version about the venture for June, or the respected English correspondent Ian Wooldridge, who was taken into the confidence of Packer’s prime consultant, Richie Benaud.Wooldridge had called Benaud at his home in London and got an evasive response initially. Some hours later Benaud called Wooldridge back with the words, “I think you’d better come round for a chat”, leading to a comprehensive story being published in the on the Monday. By that time, Benaud and Packer had expected their formal letter to inform the ACB would have arrived on the desk of the board’s chairman Bob Parish. Rain at Hove proved the catalyst for a more hectic turn.Peter McFarline and the break the news that would change cricket forever•The AgeAfter the Australian batsmen Greg Chappell and Craig Serjeant sought cover with the score 35 for 1, Shiell wandered from the press area to a corporate tent, where he bumped into the business manager of another former South Australia batsman, Barry Richards. That conversation helped Shiell learn far more about the international implications of WSC, fleshing out the one part of the story where he was most sketchy.Returning to the press corps, Shiell found that other conversations had also taken place. “When I got back, an English journalist came to me and said, ‘What do you know about an Australian TV mogul going to start up a rebel series in Australia?'” Shiell says. “I pleaded innocence, that I didn’t know, and he replied, ‘Wooldridge will have the story in on Monday.’ Once I heard that, I said to McFarline, ‘We’ll have to do it now for the Monday morning papers’, so we went to see Greg after play was called off early.”When I told him, he had a funny look on his face and said, ‘It sounds like an interesting proposition. I’d like to know more about it before committing myself.'”McFarline was a friend of John Snow’s, and he’d organised to go off to Tony Greig’s place to a party that night. And McFarline went to that and I went to the hotel and wrote what I knew. McFarline came back later that night, told me a bit more of what he’d been able to glean about more players being involved from other countries, and that was it.

Ian Wooldridge had called Richie Benaud at his home in London and got an evasive response initially. Some hours later Benaud called Wooldridge back with the words, “I think you’d better come round for a chat”, leading to a comprehensive story in the

“I still had time that Saturday night to ring the London bureau, and rang the story through to John Murche, who took it down and then put it on the telex through to Sydney, the and the . I wish I’d had a mobile phone or better phone connections then. I should’ve phoned Sydney, I should’ve phoned the sports editors to vouch for the story, but without that, they weren’t quite sure what to do with it. As it turned out it was on the front page of the , the ran McFarline’s story inside, and I’m not sure where the ran it. It should’ve had bigger exposure, but in those days you didn’t make unnecessary phone calls!”While Shiell worried over whether the story would get its due, McFarline hatched a plan to ensure an Australian exclusive, inviting fellow reporters Brian Mossop and Norman Tasker to a Sunday morning round of golf that ensured they were out of range for their respective offices.Mossop offers a wry chuckle when reminded of what had seemed a jovial offer to get away from cricket for a few hours. “So off I went to golf, and it was only when I got back that I discovered there was a flurry of speculation going around. Fortunately I had at least one friend among the cricketers, Ian Davis. I was sitting with Norm Tasker back at the Dudley Hotel when he came over and said, ‘Oh, dramatic events eh?’, then unveiled what those events were.Cricketers’ wives express their approval of the World Series in the , November 1977•The Australian Women’s Weekly”I ran off to find out whatever I could and it snowballed from there. I think I managed to get a stop press or something in the , because by then it was pretty late at night Australian time, by the time I’d finished paddling around on the golf course. I phoned the office and said this was going on and that was about the end of it for that night. Of course all hell broke loose and then it was a case of filing stuff about both tours almost every day.”I was surprised that Peter had gone to such lengths to keep me out of the way for the sake of a story – I suppose that’s journalism for you. I wasn’t amused, but there wasn’t much I could do about it after the event. It was a big story and a bit of a pain to miss out on it… If I’d had a good day’s golf it might have been a bit more acceptable!”As Mossop, McFarline and Tasker sauntered around the links, Shiell took it upon himself to inform the tour manager, Len Maddocks, and his assistant, Norm McMahon. “They didn’t believe it and didn’t want to believe it, but they soon had to believe it!” he says. “That was the end of their comfortable trip. Things were never the same, on the tour or after it.”What followed was a bizarre few months for players and journalists alike. Initial disquiet at McFarline’s tactics faded away, but it was apparent that a cricket rebellion of this size had changed things irrevocably for the players and also the correspondents commissioned to report on them. For one thing, the usually comfortable relationship between the players and the press soon began to be eroded by the desire for further scoops.

“When I got back, an English journalist came to me and said, ‘What do you know about an Australian TV mogul going to start up a rebel series in Australia?’ I pleaded innocence, that I didn’t know”Alan Shiell

One Australian paper sent an investigative reporter to the tour, who soon mucked in with the cricket correspondents. At collegiate dinners or pub meetings he had little to say, but then wrote several lengthy pieces about it all that appeared to be chapter-and-verse renderings of bar talk. The stories resulted in Mossop and others being harangued by their editors along the lines of “why didn’t you write that?”, when they had reasoned much of this information would have jeopardised an already febrile triangle between the press, the players and the tour management. It seemed, like so much else about WSC, to foreshadow a wilder future.”Every day they wanted a political story apart from the cricket story,” Shiell says. “There was a real undercurrent on the whole tour – you saw someone talking to someone else and you’d wonder what they were talking about. You felt sorry for the four guys who weren’t involved, Kim Hughes, Gary Cosier, Geoff Dymock and Craig Serjeant. They felt left out when there were meetings among the players and they weren’t involved. It just put pressure on everyone and hung over the entire tour.”Mossop’s memories are similar: “The news was out, so one or two players were prepared to say a few things they previously had not admitted to, and as these things happen gradually, bits come out and you get a whiff of something, so you chase that. It was a fascinating time, apart from the fact I missed the first edition. So having missed that, it was a case of chase, chase, chase and make sure you didn’t miss anything else!”We had basically two tours going on from then on. We were writing about the tour we were on and writing about the tour to come – the break-up of cricket. It was pretty split between those who had been approached and those who hadn’t, but the atmosphere was different from a normal tour. It wasn’t terribly antagonistic but some of the guys felt very left out. There were two camps, and it was a fascinating tour to be on.”Something else Shiell recalls keenly is the savagery of the criticism directed at the players, a trend started by Wooldridge’s copy, headlined “Cricketers Turn Pirates”. “Back then, when cricketers were so terribly underpaid, it was surely an accident waiting to happen,” he says. “And yet they got no sympathy at all in the press, particularly the English press, who were really savage on them, but I’m sorry to say the Australian papers said much the same thing.Kerry Packer dragged cricket into the future•Getty Images”They felt that Packer was a media competitor and treated it as such. I was told certain things about how to tackle it. But when you boiled it down, the players were so terribly underpaid, it’s a wonder it didn’t happen earlier. So many players had given the game away prematurely because they couldn’t afford it, and when you think about how far they’ve come now, 40 years on, it’s terrible to think about how little sympathy the players got from anyone. No surprise from there how many players around the world jumped in on it.”Shiell and McFarline attended Packer’s first press conference at Lord’s after the venture became public, scene of his infamous declaration: “Now it’s every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost.” Later Shiell served as wicketkeeper in a press match, where Packer stood beside him at second slip. “McFarline had a freer rein, whereas I couldn’t be spared from the tour,” Shiell says. “I had to file scores every quarter of an hour at the county games. He stayed on for a little while after the tour and wrote , which was fair play to him because I was stuffed.”At the end I had an offer to join some of the players and go to Amsterdam for a week to play some social games, all expenses paid, and I knocked it back. All I wanted to do was come home to see my son Brad, who was born in January 1976, so by September 1977 he was only one. Getting on that Qantas flight at Heathrow was one of the greatest feelings of my life, I tell you. That plane was a beautiful sight. There have been a lot happier and smoother trips!”In recognition of five months’ work without a day off and a share in the biggest story cricket had yet seen, Shiell was handed an envelope containing one extra week’s pay, and then asked to get back out to cover the SANFL finals in Adelaide. “Difficult days they were,” he says. “Difficult days.”So yes, son, Kerry would do that.

For her entire career, Mithali Raj has been burdened with being the one and only. Now, with her team-mates stepping up, she has a chance to bow out of her last World Cup in style

Jarrod Kimber in Derby19-Jul-2017Just over 12 years ago, India played in the semi-final of the Women’s World Cup against New Zealand in Potchefstroom. Mithali Raj came in at 38 for 2 and lifted her team to 204 for 6. She made 91* and India eventually won.A lot has changed since then. India are no longer the emerging superpower, they are the greatest power the game has seen. T20 has changed cricket’s priorities. Women’s cricket is no longer some amateur backwater; it’s on the verge of a professional revolution.But for Raj, the world has not changed so much. She is still the spine, heart and several other limbs of the Indian batting line-up. She still has to play more conservatively than she would like because ultimately she doesn’t trust her team-mates yet. She calls it her burden.After the loss to Australia earlier in this tournament, Raj said: “Playing for a stronger side with more players to stand up and win games it gives you the freedom to play your shots and you don’t have to think about what happens if you get out. There are times when you want to take calculated risks, but ‘What if you get out?’ has always been in the back of my mind through my career. India has always had that problem. Faced with crunch matches, the team doesn’t step up.”In that game, Punam Raut scored a hundred, her second in ODIs, and the 21st overall by an Indian woman. But of those 21 hundreds, Raj has six alone. She also has more scores over 50 than the next three players combined. Raut’s century against Australia was great but other than Raj’s 69, only one player made double figures. This is a woman that has been not out in 28% of her ODI innings. She’s not in another class, she is entirely a class of her own. Raj and Jhulan Goswami have been Indian cricket for the longest time.But even with Raj’s record and her lament at some of India’s batting in this tournament, this is most probably the best team the country has ever put out on the field. They have a 25-7 win-loss record since the start of 2015, which is only inferior to Australia’s.Australia vice-captain Alex Blackwell called them a “dangerous unit” and said: “I’m very impressed with the way India have played in this tournament from the very beginning. Their match against England in round one. They were very proactive as a team and they have brought a more proactive approach to their batting in particular. I thought the way Punam Raut batted against us; she timed her innings beautifully.”Blackwell also praised the bowling. “The Indian bowling attack is dangerous if you allow them to bowl to you,” she said. “They’ve got some excellent spinners, who don’t necessarily give you a lot of flight to get down and hit the ball where you want to hit it”.All that makes it sound like Blackwell is more a fan of this Indian team than Raj, but since the loss to Australia, Raj has seen her team-mates step up. “The other batters are in form now. Harmanpreet Kaur is among runs now. Veda Krishnamurthy also scored runs. The positive of playing against New Zealand was that these two middle-order batters have runs backing them. We do have now, in the top four-five, at least three-four who are among runs.”And what does all that mean for Raj? “I won’t probably be shackled, but I could play more positively tomorrow because I am confident that batters coming after me have runs and the ability to come along,” she said.The burden is gone, the shackles are off, and we’re about to see the uncut Raj in one of the most important games of her incredibly long career. An unshackled Raj is something that could be very special because the shackled and burdened version has been the greatest of her generation, if not in history.Even the unshackled Raj may not be enough to beat Australia, a team that has a 24-7 record against India during her career and have beaten them in seven of their last eight matches. Australia are a team that are favourites for this tournament, they are the reigning title holders, and it will need something special to topple them. A team effort, like the one that defeated England in the first game, is what India need. ‘Magic Mithali’ would be nice, but ‘Incredible India’ will have to do it.And that this team is capable of that shows how much they have improved. Before the tournament Raj said: “I will be more than happy that I’m leading a team which can actually go on to be one of the best sides.” Here, with her mix of young and old, overseas pros and raw talent, she can be in one of the best sides right now.Raj won’t captain India in the next World Cup. This might be her last significant moment. This is the one chance her team has to honour her, their hero, and greatest warrior. For her entire career, she has been burdened with being the one and only, and now in what could be her last, or, hopefully, second-last match, she has the chance to go out, having taken Indian cricket from the bottom to the top.If there is any player who deserves to bow out in a packed Lord’s, it’s Raj. “I would love to be a part of that atmosphere,” she said. “It tempts me but I realise tomorrow is the game that can get us there, and it gets me back into now that we have Australia to play.”An unshackled Raj at a packed Lord’s and all she needs is her team to go from burden to brilliant. It’s been 18 years; it’s time.

Bangladesh have not beaten India in a global tournament since that famous win in 2007. We take a look at how they could halt India’s run

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jun-2017Apart from Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh’s top order has been jittery so far this Champions Trophy•ESPNcricinfo LtdAddress top-order wobbles and over-dependence on TamimTamim Iqbal, with 223 runs from the first two matches, carried Bangladesh’s batting on his own. The rest of the top order, though, has had a lean time, and selection changes have failed to turn fortunes around so far. In seven innings in total, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes and Sabbir Rahman have scored just 67 runs at an average of 11.17. They will be up against India’s pace attack, whose economy rate of 4.33 in the Powerplay has been the best in the tournament so far.Rubel Hossain has had the measure of Virat Kohli in recent times•ESPNcricinfo LtdUnleash the Fizz, target Kohli’s Achilles heelIndia’s top order, on the other hand, has struck fine form in the three games so far, accumulating 609 from Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli. Bangladesh, though, have bowlers who have managed to trouble them in the past with variations and pace. For a start, India are Mustafizur Rahman’s favourite opponents – he has 13 wickets at 11.53 from three games against them. Rubel Hossain has had the measure of Kohli, dismissing him twice in the last four matches between these sides, including the World Cup quarter-final in 2015. India’s lower order has not been under pressure yet, and winning these mini-tussles could hold the key for Bangladesh.India’s late-innings accelerators will be up against a Bangladesh attack that has been miserly in recent years•Getty ImagesWin the death overs battleDespite having an ordinary tournament so far, Bangladesh’s bowlers possess the second-best record among the top eight sides in the death overs since World Cup 2015, conceding just 6.8 runs per over at an impressive average of 16.00. They will be up against one of the most destructive sides in the last ten overs, scoring at 8.18 per over in the same period. Should India bat first, Bangladesh’s ability to restrict them in this phase could make the difference between a competitive total and one beyond their reach.

Modern West Indies sides face a daily struggle to regenerate the folklore scripted between the eras of Frank Worrell and Viv Richards, but Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope helped rectify that in Leeds

Mark Nicholas at Headingley26-Aug-2017Whatever else happens in this Headingley Test match, West Indies cricket has shown a better and happier face. The ugly fall out from Edgbaston was understandable, given practitioners and critics alike care so deeply for the game that has long held the hearts of the folk in the Caribbean. It is one thing to lose to a better team, quite another to do so without resistance.What was said or done in the interim has worked. It was a good toss to win on Thursday morning, and therefore a bad one to lose, but there was no sign of self pity or resignation amongst those beaten in Birmingham. In fact, quite the opposite.Shannon Gabriel gave the bowling attack real edge, while Devendra Bishoo gave it variety. Why Bishoo bowled so little remains a mystery, especially as Roston Chase bowled twelve overs of mainly anaemic offbreaks. Kemar Roach fought every bit as manfully as Malcolm Marshall might have done for his wickets and the tall, slim captain, Jason Holder, asked awkward questions with his swing and extra bounce amidst some humdrum stuff that didn’t always make sense.The only grumble was the catching. Oh the catching! England may not have made 180 had Joe Root and Ben Stokes fallen when they were first found out.It is said that Greg Chappell’s team talks were short, something like – “If we stay in, bowl straight and hold on to our catches, we’ll enjoy a beer tonight.” Well, thus far at Headingley, West Indies are two from three. I write “West Indies” out of habit and respect, although the instruction to the media is to call the team “Windies”, an annoying rebrand that tells us more about sport’s misguided commercial agenda than a truly relevant and attractive collective noun for elite Caribbean cricketers.Today it was the turn of the batsmen to restore faith and they did so to great effect. Indeed, the game is now theirs to win. To do so will take courage as much, or perhaps more, than anything else. Winning is a long forgottten habit among those who have represented West Indies in Test matches and the knack will not be easy to recover. Should they pull it off, it will be a win to rank with any in the ages of the game.The partnership between Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope was a joy, incorporating as it did, the very essence of batsmanship in both defence and attack. Not since Gordon Greenidge and Larry Gomes put on 287 together in the famous run chase at Lord’s in 1984 has a partnership made more for any West Indian wicket in this country. That stunning performance is talked about to this day. Brathwaite and Hope have now become a part of the same folklore and, hopefully, will be as fondly remembered for their achievement.The challenge for West Indies cricket is to regenerate that folklore. Since January 1997, only 40 Test matches out of 199 have been won while 105 have been lost. Of the 40, just three against anyone other than Bangladesh or Zimbabawe have been won away from home. The teams involved included such names such as Lara, Hooper, Chanderpaul, Ambrose and Walsh.

Test cricket still provides aspiration for the young, and both satisfaction and glory for those involved. The faces of Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope told one enough about the realisation of an ambition to pursue it further.

The long running battle between players and administrators – a mistrust that cost the game dear – has been behind an overwhelming bitterness that divides both opinion and region. It’s doesn’t help that the legacy created by the era that began with Frank Worrell in the early 1960s and continued through to the end of Viv Richards’ amazing career is so damn difficult to emulate.Johnny Grave, once of Surrey’s communications team and more recently the commercial director of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, is the new CEO of Cricket West Indies. He wants a clean slate and has begun the process by finessing the amnesty that allows the likes of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels to come to England for the ODIs that follow the Tests.These two names, along with a host of others such as the Bravo brothers, Kieron Pollard, Fidel Edwards and Sunil Narine are often mentioned in a team that could be here were it not for the myriad issues that have led to the mistrust mentioned above. The fact is that most of those guys don’t want to play Test cricket. The lure of the dollar in the global, “franchised” world of T20 is a) irresistible and b) less hassle.Grave quickly wants to establish a workable relationship between the players and board. At Edgbaston he spoke of the misconception that no one cared for cricket in the Caribbean anymore.”They are proud people” he says, “who like tradition and cricket has always been their number one sport. This applies to the players every bit as much as to the public.” He talks passionately of the need for a sustainable system that develops young talent and offers a pathway to success. I should add that he insisted West Indies were a much better side than the Edgbaston humiliation suggested, a judgement that has proved spot on.Shai Hope’s maiden Test century may turn into one to remember for some time•Getty ImagesThe question is can Test cricket still capture Caribbean hearts and fill grounds? Clearly, this is a challenge on many levels and there is a view that West Indies cricket would be better served reinventing itself as a home for the short form of the game and not expending energy and money on what is widely believed to be a lost cause. What nonsense.Test cricket still provides aspiration for the young, and both satisfaction and glory for those involved. The faces of Brathwaite and Shai Hope told one enough about the realisation of an ambition to pursue it further. Any West Indian crowd on any of the Caribbean islands would have wildly celebrated their partnership and crowed about the fightback from Edgbaston. Such things are an inspiration and provide both relief and hope.The people of the Caribbean don’t expect another Richards or Marshall by the end of the week but they do expect their team to realise its level of potential and fight as if their lives depended upon it. The Under-19s are the world champions, having beaten India by five wickets in last year’s final. Two of that side, Alzarri Joseph and Shimron Hetmyer, are in this touring party in England.The point is that the talent is still there but the journey to fulfillment in the longer form of the game has become complicated, often frustrating, and certainly underpaid in relation to what else is on offer. Grave is going to work on that too.Meanwhile, days like today warm the soul. There were shades of both Greenidge and Desmond Haynes in the strongly built Shai Hope, especially when he drove through the off side. Come to think of it, that pull shot he plays, left knee off the ground, is very Greenidge and all the more thrilling for it. As first Test match hundreds go, this one did. Neither Hope himself, nor any of us I suspect, will forget it.Alongside him, Brathwaite compiled hundred number six, so he must be able to play a bit. It’s only a start but it will get folk talking far and wide. If these fellows go on to win the match, the rum will flow and tales of the present will invade the space long occupied by those of the past. It’s about time.

ESPNcricinfo rounds up the highlights from the latest matches in the NatWest T20 Blast

Will Macpherson17-Jul-2017The Championship success of Simon Harmer and Kyle Abbott, and the concurrently touring South Africans, means that Kolpak has rarely been a hotter topic. There’s one outstanding T20 cricketer, perhaps because he has been here a little longer and prefers the white ball to red (he will not play Championship next year), who flies a touch under the radar: Colin Ingram.With centuries on consecutive Sundays, Ingram provided a reminder of why he is the best white-ball batsman in the county game. First there was a 46-ball effort against Sussex to trump Luke Wright, then his T20-best 114 from 55 balls in the last-ball win over Essex.Don’t forget that in the Royal London Cup this season he also made three centuries and averaged over 70. Glamorgan have themselves a gem; perhaps the IPL, where he has played just three games, and as long ago as 2011, will come calling once more.He might be 31, and he might describe himself as “a journeyman,” but he admitted upon signing a new Glamorgan contract earlier this season: “I’d like to get out there and experience what’s on the world stage.”

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Noise is the answer for the Blast The Blast is on notice. We know that in 2020, it will not be the premier T20 competition in the land. With funding, resources and exposure largely shifting to the as-yet-nameless Dream Competition, the Blast will have to find its place and relevance in the world.It is worth looking at Old Trafford on Friday, where the Roses match drew the largest Blast attendance outside London. Before rain intervened to ruin a match in the balance, the Roses crowd was everything the Blast should aspire to be.Such was the raucousness of the Roses match that conversation on comms turned to how it was much like a football crowd: loud, packed, partisan and boisterous. The Blast, of course, is not always – or even often – like this, and it is worth noting that another derby, Sussex and Hampshire’s El Classicoast (excellently monikered but perhaps not well marketed?) drew a disappointing crowd at little Hove two nights earlier.But a noisy, partisan response to the action should be the direction of travel for the Blast, just as tranquillity best suits the Championship. The new Dream Competition, like the very family-friendly crowds of the BBL, will hone in on attracting kids and new fans. Meanwhile the Blast already has supporters, and teams with history: it must play on this, pack fans in, charge their glasses, voice those loyalties and get the party started.Perhaps, just perhaps, the two competitions can then co-exist harmoniously.

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Middlesex still can’t get it rightIt seems curious, given their star-studded side and big name new coach in Daniel Vettori, that Middlesex have won just one game (and they made a mess of that one, too) and that the youngsters seem to be doing some heavy lifting. In the loss to Somerset on Sunday, Nos 3-6 all got in, then got out, with Eoin Morgan the worst offender, making 33 from 31, leaving the potentially destructive Ryan Higgins in a no-hope position.One of those youngsters is the rather innocuous looking Nathan Sowter. His curious low leggies, all spindly variations, have proved expensive (8.73/over), but they get a wicket every 15 balls too. This was in evidence when he took 3 for 43 against Somerset.Daniel Vettori has been a fan since long before he joined Middlesex, and tried to sign him for Brisbane Heat this year. Sowter is Sydney-born, but turned the offer down because it would have rendered him ineligible for Middlesex.

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Tabraiz Shamsi: so very NorthantsNorthamptonshire have a way of doing things in T20, and it works. We know that by now. They look deep into the stats, then go low-key, high value and routinely pluck rabbits from hats. Moneyball, if that’s what you want to call it.So when Seekkuge Prasanna found himself back in the Sri Lankan fold, they turned to the South African left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi for three games. One of them was rained off, but Prasanna returned with a niggle, so Shamsi stayed for a third match of a highly-successful spell, anyway. Another left-field pick has gone right.Having gone wicketless in the opening defeat to Derbyshire, Shamsi took 2 for 20 as Durham were strangled, then 2 for 24 to restrict Warwickshire to 156, a total Northants chased down off the final ball.Shamsi’s figures of 11-0-68-4 tell a tale and, judging by the joyous way in which he farewelled his new club on Twitter, he evidently made plenty of friends and fans. He leaves with Northants in fine shape (in the table, if not physically). Don’t be surprised if he returns.

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In Leicester, of all places, anything is possibleThe sides leading the two Blast groups have a different look about them. We should not be surprised by Hampshire’s ascension in the South. Having reached six straight Finals Days before missing out last year, they have a formidable T20 record, and have hardened up this year.The retention of Shahid Afridi was curious, but Abbott and Rilee Rossouw bulk them up, Reece Topley is finally fit and Mason Crane is actually playing. They might just have Liam Dawson back from England soon, too. T20 nous, in James Vince, Michael Carberry and George Bailey, teems through the batting.Also three from three, and atop the North Group, are the altogether more surprising Leicestershire. Theirs is, crucially, is a settled side (they have used just 11 players so far), with a well-travelled top order and a varied bowling attack.Clint McKay, a canny appointment as captain, took the club’s best T20 figures (5 for 11) as Worcestershire were swatted aside. In that game, Colin Ackermann made his second major unbeaten contribution in a chase (47 following 62 against Lancashire). Ackermann failed with the bat against Warwickshire on Sunday; never mind, he then took three for 21 to help defend 147.They are nothing if not resourceful, and they know better than anyone, in the city where Leicester won the Premier League barely a year ago, that anything is possible.

Rangana Herath mixed some cracking shots square of the wicket with a good sprinkling of plays and misses in a unique innings that was frustrating for India and very, very handy for Sri Lanka

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Kolkata19-Nov-20170:49

‘Compared to first two days, today much easier to bat’ – Herath

Bowlers who bat a bit (as opposed to bowling allrounders like Mitchell Starc or Vernon Philander) can be broadly divided into two camps: blockers, such as Ishant Sharma or Devendra Bishoo, and bashers, of whom Tim Southee – who has clattered 61 sixes in 57 Tests – would be an extreme example.Rangana Herath doesn’t really fall in either camp. He isn’t built like most bowlers, of spin or seam, and like other short, squat batsmen he’s happiest playing square of the wicket. Early in his innings on Sunday, Bhuvneshwar Kumar swung one into his stumps, late, and was on the verge of appealing for lbw when Herath braced his front leg to make last-minute room for his bat to flick the ball to the midwicket boundary.At that point Sri Lanka were 206 for 7 and led India by 34. Herath had walked in when India had taken three wickets for just one run, and Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar were snaking the ball this way and that. The first ball Herath faced, from Shami, beat his inside edge and whooshed over the off bail. His flicked four came in an over in which he was beaten four times. When he misread one that swerved away from him and tried to whip it through the leg side, he missed by more than a foot.But Herath, as he often does, kept fighting, kept punching, kept playing his shots. His glory shot is the pull, into which he puts everything he’s got, swiveling violently and slapping the ball like it’s the villain in a revenge melodrama. He unleashed it on 22, when Shami dropped one short, swatting it away well in front of square.Slowly, he gained a measure of the conditions and began looking relatively secure even while defending, getting behind the line, flourishing his bat high over his head when he left outside off stump.Dilruwan Perera, whose delayed decision to review an lbw on 0 earned him the chance to extend his innings by a further 27 balls, added 43 with Herath for the eighth wicket. Suranga Lakmal, weathering a barrage of short balls including one that hit him on the grille, added 46 with Herath for the ninth.BCCISri Lanka’s lead swelled. Herath, not really leaning over the ball but trusting his hands to do the job, square-drove Umesh Yadav to bring up his third Test fifty. He pulled Umesh in his next over and beat deep square leg sprinting to his right.That prompted Virat Kohli to place a fielder two-thirds of the way back at deep midwicket. No use. Herath pulled one to that fielder, Ravindra Jadeja, who fired at the non-striker’s end and gave away four overthrows.Next ball, Herath flashed at and missed a wide one from Shami. Wriddhiman Saha collected the ball and passed it to second slip, from where Kohli hurled it to R Ashwin at mid-off. It was a flat, hard, one-bounce throw more suited to a run-out chance than the passing chain from keeper to bowler returning to his mark. Few captains are as transparent with their emotions.By the time India found a way to take the last two wickets – Herath was ninth out for 67 – Sri Lanka’s lead had grown to 122. Every run of that lead was a run they would not need to score while batting last, whether they were to bowl India out quickly in the third innings or, as it turned out, chase leather in rapidly improving batting conditions.

Cricket Australia team performance manager Pat Howard would prefer a system which ensures the national coach and a selection manager are the only people involved in choosing a squad

Daniel Brettig15-Nov-20172:41

At sixes and sevens: Who will fill Australia’s two lower-order spots?

When Australia’s four selectors meet in Brisbane on Wednesday to determine once and for all the team for the first Test, they may be the final selection panel ever to do so for an Ashes side walking onto the Gabba in the baggy green. Every four years, Australian players are under a harsher microscope during the Ashes than any other time and it’s worth noting that this time the selection panel of interim chairman Trevor Hohns, national coach Darren Lehmann, Mark Waugh and interim selector Greg Chappell is facing equally close scrutiny.Should the current method of selection last until 2021, it will be in defiance of the strong opinions of the Cricket Australia (CA) team performance manager Pat Howard. Among many other battles, Howard has spent much of the past six years arguing strongly that the model of a selection panel is outdated and difficult to square with the lines of accountability set out in the Argus review of 2011 that spawned his own appointment.ESPNcricinfo understands that Howard has petitioned for the disbanding of selection panels in the form known classically to Australian cricket on a number of occasions. His preference is to replace the present model with a streamlined set-up where the national coach has the final call on any tight decision, having consulted with a national selector who is the single point of communication for the labyrinthine debates over who should be in and out.That would look like the model adopted six years ago by New Zealand Cricket (NZC), when the former Australian coach John Buchanan was acting as the Kiwi game’s impresario. “The national selection manager would operate with the head coach to form a ‘two man selection panel’, with the head coach of the team having the final say on debated decisions,” Buchanan said in 2011.In Buchanan’s vision, a large part of the role would involve working with first-class coaches to assess leading domestic players, as well as other high-performance staff and stakeholders, including the captain.Drawn from a background in rugby union high performance, Howard is less wedded to the concept of a selection panel than others in the national game. He is also known to favour the use of deep statistical analysis and computer-based modelling to judge the suitability of players. In that sense, Sabermetrics, the concept championed by the Michael Lewis book , is far more in line with his thinking than the anecdotal or visual evidence compiled by selectors watching domestic matches.James Sutherland has a word with Pat Howard at an Australia net session•Getty ImagesThis would also align – a favourite term of CA in recent years – with the now predominant domestic model whereby the old state selection panels have been pared back to simply feature a talent manager and the coach. That sort of operation was emphasised by the New South Wales chief executive Andrew Jones (also the former head of strategy at CA) in explaining the decision to drop Ed Cowan in favour of the younger Daniel Hughes for round one of this season’s Sheffield Shield.It would also offer the possibility of simplifying lines of accountability regarding selection of the national team, a problematic area that Don Argus tried to address by naming the Australia captain as a formal selector. Pre-Argus, Ricky Ponting had often complained that as captain but merely a consultant on selection he had “leadership but no ownership”. But that decision was rescinded two years into Michael Clarke’s tenure, after which he made complaints similar to Ponting’s.The greatest obstacle to such structural change appears to emanate from the CA Board. Decisions over the shape of the panel remain one of the nine directors’ two remaining responsibilities directly related to the performance of the national team.For more than a century, the Board has been responsible for selector appointments as well as holding the final approval on the choice of Australian captain. In a climate where CA’s move to an independent Board has encouraged corporate achievers to lobby for directorships, the ability to debate such questions is deemed an attractive element of the job when lined up against countless other drier discussions on other boards.Equally there are questions among directors about whether CA management, in this case Howard, should be given full responsibility for such appointments. The perceived importance and prestige of selection roles was underlined earlier this year when longtime director Mark Taylor stated publicly that he was interested in serving as one, having been a CA director for more than a decade alongside his commentary for Channel Nine, as well as universal respect as the man who captained Australia to world dominance between 1994 and 1999.The Board’s desire to remain directly involved was demonstrated aptly little more than a year ago, when directors put together a resolution for the panel that convened amidst a fifth Australian Test match loss and either side of the resignation of then selection chairman Rod Marsh. Their directive was principally to look for younger players with prospects of representing Australia over the long term.At the same time the shape of the panel was redefined to include as interim Chappell, the national talent manager with a youth focus, while the role of Waugh was more sharply defined to be primarily responsible for the selection of the Twenty20 international team. Nevertheless, Waugh remains one of four Test selectors and is in Brisbane for Wednesday’s meeting to choose the Ashes squad.Hohns, also appointed on a purely interim basis, chairs a panel sitting astride a national network of talent managers that was installed in 2010 to help supersede the idea of selection panels purely concerned with picking the best 11 players in each state, when a more strategic outlook was deemed necessary.

Some say he needs to be most aggressive, but he does things best when he bats his way – as the Trent Bridge Test has shown

Nagraj Gollapudi at Trent Bridge20-Aug-2018What do you reckon was India’s priority this morning as the overnight pair of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli took fresh guard?Do not lose a wicket, at least in the first hour?India did much more than that. For the second time in three days, they batted out a wicketless session. If Kohli and Rahane had provided wings to India’s first innings with their highest partnership of this series (159) on Saturday, Pujara and Kohli’s vigil on a humid morning today put England out of the game thoroughly.And as many records as Kohli broke during the course of his second century this series, India ought to thank Pujara too. A cricketer that modern cricket finds hard to accept.In times when attack is the motto of every Test team, Pujara is something of an introvert. He goes into his shell and enjoys operating quietly. But that is how he finds his comfort zone. Not that he cannot play aggressively. Late on Sunday afternoon, Pujara played more freely than at any point of time this year in all cricket, scoring quickly against Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid. His first scoring shot of the innings was a four, a flick off the hips against a short one from Stokes. He got to 25 off 26 balls. By stumps, Pujara retired to bed on 33 off 67.The boldness elicited a response from the pundits and critics who pointed out that is what Kohli’s India is asking Pujara to do: play with freedom. At one point Pujara was under duress, but in general this series he has looked more assured and at ease than otherwise of late. And he also knows exactly what his role is: provide stability, be the sponge to absorb the pressure created by the opposition’s fast bowlers.Pujara did that in that in the first session on Monday, of which the first hour was the most engrossing. It was when James Anderson bowled with high intensity. Pujara faced 34 deliveries in the first 10 overs. Twenty-four of those were from James Anderson, from the Pavilion End. Pujara had two scoring shots. By the time the first hour finished Pujara had faced 58 balls, scored 8 runs. Half of those deliveries had come from Anderson and Pujara scored 5 runs.Getty ImagesThe day started humid, but there was a steady breeze around and no swing. Anderson focussed on hitting the seam hard. Bowling fast. There are not many disciplined fast bowlers in the world, barring Vernon Philander, who can dissect the batsman’s mind and technique with sustained, probing spells.Having got off to a stroke-filled start this innings, Pujara scored no run off the last 11 deliveries last evening. This morning he was on the lookout, not for runs, but for that one surprise Anderson has in store for a batsman, and which arrives in the post sans a knock at the door.Anderson was hitting the Anderson lengths. Pujara would leave most of the balls pitched on a length, most on the sixth stump. The first ball of Anderson’s fourth over today, Pujara reacted quickly to a fuller length delivery on his legs with a flicked four past midwicket. Anderson pushed the square leg back. The next two balls were in the channel that Pujara negotiated without fuss. The fourth delivery was a bouncer. Pujara ducked, no more hooking.Anderson then sneaked in that surprise quietly. Ball pitched about five metres from Pujara. It landed on the seam. Straightened. Opened up Pujara. Nearly took the edge. Next ball Anderson pitched on the sixth stump. Pujara was at ease. But you never are when it is Anderson.In his following over, the second ball, Anderson pitched the ball a hair’s length fuller. Pujara’s trigger movement was to move forward, but he had not covered the line. The ball straightened and took the edge. Jos Buttler attempted to collect the ball, which was to his right, like a goalkeeper in football. The man moaning in pain was Anderson. Pujara had switched off. Soon Anderson would finish his first spell. Pujara had taken the venom off England’s attack.The runs were coming slowly, but Pujara continued to be watchful. Kohli encouraged him to do that. In the first session India made 70 runs. Kohli’s strike rate was 55.97. Pujara’s 55.97. Importantly, India had won the session without being bruised. These things matter in Test cricket.After the break, Pujara would raise his bat for the first time in this series as he pipped Kohli to the half-century. It was Pujara’s second half-century in Tests this year, after his vigilant effort in Johannesburg where he took a record 54 balls to get off the mark. The man at the other end at the Wanderers was… you guessed it right, Kohli.Their 113-run stand here was the first time Pujara was involved in a three-figure partnership in England/Australia/South Africa/New Zealand since the 2013-14 tour of South Africa where he scored handsomely. Pujara continued to play with the same tempo in the 40 minutes post lunch before he was forced to exit after Stokes induced an edge off him. Post lunch Pujara scored 16 off 40 deliveries at a strike rate of 40 compared to Kohli’s 48.27.In the end Pujara had done what Kohli had been asking of his main batsmen: build partnerships, force the fast bowlers into their third and fourth spells, make use of the old ball. India could not have asked for better conditions. The pitch, although it has played faster than on the first day, has been dry. The conditions have not been dank and seaming as it was at Lord’s on the first morning.Importantly, India had been on top on the first two days. Today their batsmen needed to not just frustrate England, but amass a target that eventually could psychologically hurt England. They have achieved that and Pujara played a crucial role.After he finally started to walk back to the dressing room after Cook caught him at first slip, Kohli walked up patted his back. “Job done, Puji,” Kohli might have said. The naysayers might nitpick about Pujara not scoring a century. They might also say that he is unsure about how to score, because of the pressure from the team think tank to score aggressively. Only Pujara knows the truth. What he also knows is he can score big only when he plays way.Don’t curse Pujara for what he is good at.

Alastair Cook marked his farewell Test innings with a hundred at The Oval. The cricket world and beyond shared their tributes on Twitter

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Sep-2018

That was a very very special moment … All of us who are privileged to be here today will remember that forever … #Cook #100 … If any person deserves that send off it’s Alastair … Fairytales do happen …

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) September 10, 2018

Crying like a baby here at the oval and not afraid to admit it #hero

— Niall John O Brien (@niallnobiobrien) September 10, 2018

Bloody hell! Cook 100!

Script written!

Fairytale ending!

Richly deserved having had to face a brand new Duke’s ball for 12yrs!

BRAVO

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) September 10, 2018

Congratulations Alastair Cook #Champion Innings

— Saqlain Mushtaq (@Saqlain_Mushtaq) September 10, 2018

Longest standing applause I’ve ever seen! Well done Oval crowd, brilliant Alastair Cook. #FirstAndLast

— Mel 'MJ' Jones (@meljones_33) September 10, 2018

Just seen has got the 100 lad is just quality…good things happen to good people in the end #legend

— Alex Tudor (@alextudorcoach) September 10, 2018

I am part of this piece of history..dropped cookie in his 90s on his debut…now here he is.. what a LEGEND pic.twitter.com/DkhITPocAR

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) September 10, 2018

Thanks for the memories Cookie @englandcricket
A class act !
It certainly was a pleasure to play against you#farmer #greatbloke

— Brett Lee (@BrettLee_58) September 10, 2018

What a way to say goodbye…test No 33 for Alastair Cook, richly deserved! #topclass #Congratulations

— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) September 10, 2018

Alongside all his achievements as a player and captain – including this, his 33rd Test century – Alastair has inspired thousands of cricket players and fans across our country. He leaves a lasting legacy to British sport and I wish him all the best for the future. #ENGvIND

— Theresa May (@theresa_may) September 10, 2018

Goodbye, Alastair Cook.
We've had our differences, but it would be churlish not to acknowledge your enormous contribution to English cricket.
You made the very best of your abilities, worked ferociously hard, scored a barrel-load of runs & ended on a high. Congratulations. pic.twitter.com/qJpMJKOQRc

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 10, 2018

What an innings Alastair Cook, the only way it could be more fairytale is if with the final delivery he clobbers a six and the ball lands on @piersmorgan

— Jack Whitehall (@jackwhitehall) September 10, 2018

A century in your last innings. And an ovation that looked like it would never end. It was, as Joe Root said, "written in the stars". What a moment for the mighty Alastair Cook.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) September 10, 2018

Brilliant ton from Alistair Cook! What a way to go out!! #ENGvsIND

— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) September 10, 2018

Fairytales do exist….what a farewell. Well played, Cook. Well played. #EngvInd #Respect #Legend

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 10, 2018

YES Chef!!! What an incredible fairytale last innings for one of worlds greatest batsman! He’s been an inspiration and an example to so many! Nobody deserves it more #ThankYouChef

— James Taylor (@jamestaylor20) September 10, 2018

Well done Cooky ..!!
Absolutely Brilliant …..@englandcricket

— Paras Khadka (@paras77) September 10, 2018

Fitting final innings for Alastair Cook. 100 in his last test innings must be a very fulfilling feeling, along the way also becoming the 5th highest run scorer in test history .

— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) September 10, 2018

Alastair Cook – talented, mentally strong, modest and a team player. Bravo.

— Brian Moore (@brianmoore666) September 10, 2018

They kept beating the bat, had two catches dropped off them, and were wicketless at tea, but Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami simply refused to let up with their discipline and intensity

Nagraj Gollapudi at The Oval07-Sep-20181:01

Roland-Jones: Patient India seamers deserved their rewards

Jasprit Bumrah’s expression immediately after Alastair Cook played on in the fifth over of the third session was revelatory. It was a ball that Bumrah did not fancy taking a wicket with. A regulation delivery outside off stump that Cook could have safely left alone. But he poked and inside-edged onto his stumps.Bumrah flicked both his hands and broke into a wry smile. He, along with Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, had persevered through the first two sessions, beaten the bat frequently, and even found the edge a few times, but the wickets column for all three bowlers had remained empty. Now, just like that, he had got a wicket off a not particularly threatening delivery.The onus was on always on the fast bowlers to create pressure, especially in the absence of R Ashwin, who Kohli declared at the toss had aggravated his hip injury during the Southampton Test last week. Ravindra Jadeja, playing his first overseas Test since last August, stuck to his strengths – bowling flat and fast and playing the holding role. Although Jadeja had managed to distract Keaton Jennings into playing a false stroke before lunch, he did not pose too much of a challenge to Cook and Moeen Ali post the break.Conditions didn’t really favour India’s fast bowlers after England won the toss and The Oval dressed up for Cook’s farewell Test. There was no real movement in the air or off the pitch with the new ball. Bumrah and Ishant erred with their lengths slightly to begin with, allowing Cook and Keaton Jennings to settle. Before lunch, India’s quicks bowled 63 balls on a good length and 44 short of a good length, and only 18 full.The fast bowlers came out with recalibrated radars in the second session, bowling noticeably fuller between lunch and tea: 65 balls on a good length and 29 full, but only 29 short of a good length.All three sustained pressure on Cook and Moeen, and both batsmen enjoyed lives early in the session. Ajinkya Rahane put Cook down at gully when he was on 37, and Virat Kohli shelled Moeen at third slip in the next over, when he was on 2.Ishant and Bumrah were the unfortunate bowlers, but Shami was the most consistent threat through the session. In a nine-over spell between lunch and tea, he kept drawing Cook and Moeen into playing at balls in a tight channel outside off stump, and kept beating their edges. His round-the-wicket angle forced the batsmen to play, and he kept finding movement to straighten the ball past their groping bats.At one point he beat Cook’s outside edge three times in four balls. All three times, Cook looked down and re-marked his guard. Yards in front of him Shami stood quietly, hands on hips, disbelief all over his face. But he did not change his plan or lose intensity. He kept running in, with wrist right behind the ball and seam upright, and stuck to his line of attack. He only conceded 13 runs in those nine overs.England only made 55 runs in the session, in 31 overs, and their uncertainty was summed up in their control figures. Before lunch, they had a control percentage of 79.54 against India’s quicks. Between lunch and tea, it dropped to 69.84.Getty ImagesShami, Ishant and Bumrah were validating Kohli’s decision to leave out the allrounder Hardik Pandya and go in with just four specialist bowlers. India might have felt Pandya’s absence had any of the three quicks been wayward and released the pressure on England’s batsmen.But nothing swayed them from their lines and lengths and plans. Nothing could distract them, not the two dropped catches, not the plays and misses, not the loss of both of India’s reviews, by the second over after tea, as Kohli grew restless for a wicket.That wicket didn’t come for 40.1 overs as Cook and Moeen added 78 at 1.81 per over. It was frustrating, but the fast bowlers knew they had no choice on this slow pitch but to remain disciplined and build pressure from both ends. Right through the series, they had seen the rewards of staying patient rather than going all-out to attack.The wicket, as Bumrah’s subdued reaction showed, didn’t come in the way India may have envisioned it, but they had found the opening. Minutes after Cook walked back, Bumrah erupted in joy after sending Joe Root back for a duck with a vicious incoming ball that pinned him to the crease and trapped him in front. England’s captain reviewed in vain.In the next over, after straightening one and forcing Jonny Bairstow to nick behind, Ishant walked back to his mark in a matter-of-fact way. The job wasn’t done yet.The accuracy of India’s quicks, already so impressive, reached a peak in the final session as they kept hitting a good length over and over. They bowled 81 balls on a good length, 28 short of a good length, and 17 full.Ishant, Bumrah and Shami kept coming back, kept bowling at a high pace, and kept asking questions of England’s middle and lower order. At tea, murmurs around the crowd had predicted a big century for Cook and a massive total for England. By close of play, the India fans at The Oval were dancing the in the aisles.