She’s arguably the best bowler in the world at the moment, but Sophie Ecclestone says she has a lot of unfinished business to take care of
ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jul-2024Sophie Ecclestone, England’s indomitable left-arm spinner, has been at the top of her game for years, but tells Valkerie Baynes and Firdose Moonda that there’s plenty left to achieve.
ESPNcricinfo looks at the road ahead for Gautam Gambhir as he takes charge as head coach of India
Shashank Kishore10-Jul-2024More than six years since playing his last competitive game, Gautam Gambhir takes over as India’s head coach at the age of 42, the second-youngest Indian after Kapil Dev in the late 1990s to be given the job. Fiercely competitive on the field, and feisty and outspoken off it, Gambhir takes charge of an Indian side that qualified for the finals of the last World Test Championship and ODI World Cup in 2023, and just won the T20 World Cup in 2024.
His first series in charge is a white-ball tour of Sri Lanka at the end of the month, followed by two Test series at home against Bangladesh and New Zealand, which are part of the ongoing World Test Championship. India are currently on top of the WTC points table and well placed to make the final.The first big one for Gambhir, is India’s five-Test tour of Australia at the end of the year. India won their previous two Test series in Australia, in 2018-19 and 2020-21, and this contest could be crucial to the final shaping of the WTC points table.
Well, he hasn’t coached a domestic or international team previously in List A or first-class cricket, but that’s not unusual for the Indian team. For example, both Ravi Shastri and Anil Kumble did not have prior coaching experience when they took charge in 2014 and 2016 respectively.Gambhir got the job on the back of successful stints as mentor of two IPL franchises. Under his guidance, Lucknow Super Giants qualified for the playoffs in their first two IPL seasons, and then he oversaw Kolkata Knight Riders’ run to the title in 2024. So in that regard, Gambhir’s pathway to the India job is extremely different to his predecessor Rahul Dravid, who spent years as head of the National Cricket Academy and coaching India’s age-group and A teams.
In terms of personnel, with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja retiring from T20Is, the transition is already underway in that format. The ODI and Test set-ups are stable for the near future and the question of transition or succession may only arise after the Champions Trophy and the World Test Championship in 2025.Gambhir, in his role as a media professional, has been critical of senior players resting between high-profile assignments but with his tenure likely to run until the 2027 ODI World Cup, he might have to work with a workload management plan to have India’s best players at their fittest for the most important assignments.
After winning the T20 World Cup, Rohit thanked Dravid in a poignant note for leaving all of his “accolades and achievements at the door” and making the players feel “comfortable enough to say just about anything” to him.Rohit and Dravid were often aligned in their strategies and used data and analytics in their planning, like when they selected four spinners in their T20 World Cup squad because of conditions in the West Indies.Gambhir is driven more by instinct and less by data, something he has stated a number of times, which means he may need to get onboard with a major aspect of Rohit’s captaincy, both with India and formerly with Mumbai Indians.Rohit (37) and Gambhir (42) are also contemporaries, having made their international debuts four years apart. They were regular India team-mates between 2009 and 2013 and opponents in the IPL up until 2018.Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir appeared to bury the hatchet in IPL 2024•BCCI
In 2009, Gambhir handed over his Player-of-the-Match award to a young Kohli who had scored his maiden ODI century. A year later, the two shared a crucial third-wicket partnership to prevent a collapse in the 2011 ODI World Cup final. Then in 2016, Gambhir made a comeback to the Test side under Kohli’s captaincy.But it’s their on-field confrontations in the IPL – as captains in 2013, and as mentor and player in 2023 – that has defined public perception of the equation between the two. In IPL 2024, however, the two were seen to be more friendly with each other in public. When asked about his relationship with Kohli, Gambhir said the “perception was far from reality.” And when Kohli was asked about it during the season, he said: “I hugged Naveen [ul-Haq, with whom he had an altercation in IPL 2023], and then the other day, Gauti came and hugged me … We’re not kids anymore.”
It’s true that Gambhir has been involved in a fair share of heated moments – on social media and in person – over a number of issues ranging from cricket to politics. However, he is believed to be someone who goes to great lengths to stick up for those in his team. For example, his altercation with Kohli in IPL 2023 is believed to be a result of him not taking kindly to a verbal spat between Kohli and the LSG fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq. And in 2017, he had a run-in with the Delhi state coach over the handling of youngsters in the team.
Gambhir has been outspoken against giving an individual excessive limelight in a team game, a philosophy he followed during his mentoring stints at LSG and KKR.
In IPL 2021, 22 and 23, Sunil Narine had scored only 154 runs and had stopped opening for KKR. Once Gambhir returned to the set up as mentor in 2024, he convinced Narine to go back up the order and to play without pressure. Narine went on to score 488 runs at a strike rate of 180.74 to go with his 17 wickets, his best bowling performance in an IPL season since 2018.Off the field, Gambhir is believed to have been a mediating influence between the head coach Chandrakant Pandit, whose old-school methods brought huge success in domestic cricket, and a number of overseas players who found Pandit’s approach unusual.
Under their long-time head coach, Ireland women have been more successful than at any time in their history, but he’d rather the side focus on the process than the results
Nathan Johns06-Sep-2024Three years ago, a request to interview Ed Joyce for the first time was met with a friendly warning from Cricket Ireland’s media staff: Joyce, now head coach of Ireland women, was happy to talk, but was reluctant to speak extensively on his own playing career.For plenty among the Irish cricket fraternity, Joyce will always be primarily regarded as perhaps the best pure, technical batter the country has produced. For those outside that bubble, he represents one of English cricket’s great unknowns. In a three-year period from 2012-14, playing for Sussex, he never dropped outside the top ten run scorers in the County Championship. In 2013, he was the fourth-most prolific run-getter in Division One, Gary Ballance and Sam Robson among those above him. In 2014 he finished second, behind only Adam Lyth. All three featured in England’s Test side, on the conveyor belt of top-order batters trialled after Andrew Strauss’ retirement in 2012.His Sussex team-mate, Matt Prior, asked Joyce if he would be open to playing for England again. The only problem was, prior to the 2011 World Cup, he had already recommitted to Ireland, when his England career petered out after just 17 ODIs following the original switch from green to blue.Related
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Upon retiring in 2018, Joyce became a batting consultant. Predominantly working with male players in Ireland’s development pathway, he started working with the women’s side just as their previous head coach left the job. Already on Cricket Ireland’s payroll, Joyce took over in June 2019.Now, five years into his coaching role with the women’s side, their new successes, most recently their ODI series win over Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka, means a new generation of cricket fans primarily associates him with the women’s game.For the first time since Joyce took over as head coach, Ireland will host England for an ODI and T20I series. “I’ve played so much cricket, I didn’t love playing the game [anymore],” says Joyce, on the eve of England’s visit. “I couldn’t go into county coaching or franchise cricket at that stage, but I really cared about Irish cricket. It’s given me a lot; you want to give back. I happened to be there at the time and Cricket Ireland thought it would be a good fit. Sliding doors…”
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This current Joycean arc of Ireland’s development truly got underway in 2022. That summer, devoid of pandemic disruption, professional contracts were introduced. Given the age profile of the young squad, a fair few took part-time deals as they completed their education. As the years roll on and more players graduate, the list of full-time pros grows.Gaby Lewis (left) and Orla Predergast have emerged as linchpins in Ireland’s women’s side under Joyce’s tenure•Getty ImagesSince that contractual turning point, spearheaded by the likes of Orla Prendergast, Gaby Lewis and Amy Hunter, with more regular vital contributions from elsewhere in the squad, Ireland have beaten South Africa, Pakistan, Australia and now Sri Lanka. “The contact time has made a massive difference, that consistency with training,” says Joyce. “You can see progression from session to session, you can map things out and say ‘this is what we’re working on, this is what we’re doing today.’ You can really only do that with full-time players.”It’s the same thing in the gym with strength and conditioning. I’m touching a lot of wood at the moment, but it’s no coincidence Orla [Prendergast] is fit to bowl for the longest period she’s ever had just after she’s become a full-time professional. She’s become a lot stronger, more robust and able to get the loads in training, which actually allow her to play. Hopefully that stays the same way.”
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Inevitably, making progress with the women meant that when the men’s job became vacant at the end of 2021 Joyce was linked with a move across. He took to social media to deny reports that he was a contender. No outlet said as much, but there was an undertone to some of the public speculation that the men’s job was seen as a better gig.”It is offensive to say that’s a step up, they’re both international teams,” says Joyce. “The men’s team undoubtedly has more eyes on it, but not that many more.”It was a running joke with the girls and the support staff: ‘Are you going to go and do that?’ Even if I’d been asked, I wouldn’t have done it. No job is ever finished but I wasn’t even halfway there. It was a non-runner.”The speculation was undoubtedly linked to how Joyce’s playing career influenced his coaching – there is a nostalgic narrative to the old pro returning to coach the current holders of the jersey he once donned. Such curiosity extends to how Joyce, an international and county veteran, adapted to coaching literal children – the likes of 16-year-old Alice Tector – in Ireland’s young squad.With regular captain Laura Delany out injured, the average age of the women’s squad is only 22. Joyce jokingly takes umbrage at being labelled an old pro, but there is an awareness that, compared to the Ireland dressing rooms he once frequented, often filled with grizzled part-time players battered by the challenges of Associate cricket in the noughties, he is now operating in a different stratosphere.Ireland women beat Sri Lanka this year for the first time in an ODI series•Cricket Ireland”You have to be very understanding of the level of experience the players have,” he acknowledges. “If you look at a 21-year-old boy who’s been in a pathway system, and how many games they have played at the top level… the girls just don’t have that [experience]. You see something that seems pretty obvious is out of place [in technique or game play] and you ask the player, there isn’t that knowledge you’d expect from someone in an international team but that’s just the way it is. There’s a lot of teaching, rather than coaching, that goes on.”Maybe at the start or up until the last few years, if you look at video analysis, the girls wouldn’t have known the stuff we were asking them to look for. That’s improved out of sight as well, to the point where we have really detailed conversations with the bowling, batting, leadership group about what’s coming up in a series, who we’re about to face, being able to adjust as the game goes along.”One of the best things we’ve done is try to get the team to coach and communicate with each other. They’re absolutely brilliant at that.”When scoring 1000 runs in a season for Sussex, Joyce probably didn’t have as strong an awareness of the developmental deficiencies in Irish women’s cricket. When asked about his learning curves, he points towards the crucial skill of player management.”I’m still going to sessions and learning from players and other coaches. Selection, that’s evolved a bit. I would always speak to players who are left out of squads or gameday XIs, I think that’s the right thing for the head coach to do. But you can speak too much.”You want to give the player something to hang their hat on: ‘How am I going to get back into the team?’ Sometimes you don’t know how they’re going to get back into the team. Or, the only way is by doing really well, and they say, ‘Well if I’m not playing how am I going to do really well?’ You can tie yourself in knots if you go into too much detail. Sometimes you’re better off saying it how it is.”It’s the same with contracts. I’m heavily involved with those, giving good and bad news to players. Some really bad news, in terms of losing jobs. Sometimes you can speak too much. You just have to get it done. Say it and move on.”Two years ago, Ireland lost a T20 series at home to South Africa 2-1. Given injuries and exam-enforced absences – again highlighting the youth of this side – any victory was almost inconceivable, but Ireland upset the odds in the series opener. Joyce didn’t speak to the press until the end of the series, after the pair of defeats that followed that historic win. Despite back-to-back losses, the overall tenor of the conversation was positive.In 2022, Gaby Lewis (right) at age 21 led an inexperienced side to victory against South Africa in a T20I – only Ireland’s second win against them•Oisin Keniry/Getty ImagesMinutes after the conversation concluded, the head coach returned. Feeling he had been overly critical of his players, a request was made to redo the interview over the phone the following morning.”I’m very protective of the team, I’ve no problem saying that,” says Joyce, looking back. “It’s that awareness that you’re often coaching very young people. It would be the same if it’s on the men’s side – there’s just more experience on the men’s side.”Trying to make sure your understanding is clear, [that the] girls know what’s expected of them, that’s a big one. A good example would be Alice Tector. Alice is hugely talented, she’s done really well, which is why we’ve picked her, but she’s hugely nervous, she’s 16.”How can we expect someone who’s 16 to do well? It’s bonkers. She did great, but it’s that knowledge – that all you can do is expect the players to do their best. I think that’s what I got wrong in that interview, I was probably a bit critical and then I realised when I went back: ‘Were the girls doing their best? Yes. Did we play that well? Not really, but maybe we played to our potential, we’ve just got to get to a higher skill level.'”Listening back to the tape, Joyce needn’t have worried. The closest he came to genuine criticism was a call for his side to play without the fear that was on display during the final game in that T20 series. South Africa spent much of their fielding innings with mid-off and mid-on inside the ring, so lacking was Ireland’s power game.Any lack of bravery appears to have disappeared two years on. Amidst all the positivity though, one significant blot on Joyce and Ireland’s record is the qualifying defeat to Scotland earlier this year, one which cost them a place at the upcoming T20 World Cup. Ireland’s newfound batting aggression saw them collapse to 21-4 in the powerplay, with their hopes of back-to-back World Cup appearances left in ruin.As with all practitioners of modern batting philosophies, overall trends, rather than individual defeats, no matter how crushing, convince Joyce and co to stay their aggressive course. Since the introduction of the contracts, Ireland’s overall batting strike rate has gone up compared to previous years, balls per boundary has decreased while balls per dismissals has increased. Batting average has also gone up.Joyce has reinforced the importance of aggressive batting and more dynamic fielding in the women’s game, given the shorter boundaries•Ramsey Cardy/Getty Images”Scoring ball percentage is a big one for us,” Joyce adds. “Sri Lanka outscored us quite considerably in terms of boundaries but we beat them considerably in terms of ones and twos. When we beat Pakistan (a T20I series victory in 2022), it was more boundaries than ones or twos, whereas I feel like we can do both things now. All the players as well. That’s really pleasing.”Ireland’s increased power is a key pillar of Joyce’s philosophy. Since starting to coach in 2019, he has identified three areas of emphasis in the women’s game, which differ slightly to his own playing days: the heightened importance of fielding, batting power and, perhaps most intriguingly, how targeting the stumps more was a better bowling ploy than in the men’s game.”The game is definitely changing. Franchises, the skill level of the players, the power, the difference of strength and conditioning, the depth. I always think that fielding will be slightly more… it’s very important in men’s cricket, but if you can field well, be dynamic, powerful in the field… [it’s] more important in the women’s game because the ball just doesn’t go as far. It spends a bit more time on the ground.”In the women’s game, with the smaller boundaries, more powerful players are going to take advantage of that. The strength and conditioning stuff is so important. The bowling straight bit, that’s becoming more nuanced. You see more teams bowl cleverly wide of off stump with an offside field and ask less powerful athletes to hit the ball through there.”England have picked Lauren Filer for this series. I’m interested to see how we go about facing her. In terms of being able to play the short ball, can we deal with that and deal with making sure we’re able to play the balls afterwards, if she does go fuller? The short ball is coming into things a bit more even for us, [even though] we don’t have the quickest attack in the world. It’s definitely more nuanced. The stumps are in play but it’s definitely not the be all and end all it possibly was a few years ago.”Talk of Filer brings us back to England’s upcoming visit for the Women’s Championship and then a T20 series. While protective of his players, Joyce is not afraid to let them know when aspirations have not been met. Does a series win over a side like Sri Lanka, as opposed to the one-off victories of the past, allow changing-room chatter to venture towards beating England?”Performance, that’s what we’re looking for. You cannot go into any game thinking we have to win. I’m just looking for performances.””The team is so young that you can influence things so much. There’s so much growth there. As a coach it’s just a dream”•Seb Daly/Sportsfile/Getty ImagesFor once, Joyce’s answer disappoints. Most of the discussion went without clichés. The modern sports psychology approach of being process-driven may have its merits, but it can take the joy out of sporting ambition, of Ireland longing to beat their nearest neighbour. There must be more to this series than that.”If you’re England coming to Ireland I don’t think you’re talking about performance, you’re talking about winning the series,” explains Joyce. “That’s absolutely fair enough. If we were going to the Netherlands – who are not a bad team, they’re competitive against us – I have said to the team ‘I want to beat them 3-0. I’m putting you under pressure here to do the things we want and win the series 3-0. I want us to be dominant against teams I think we can be dominant against.'”If you look at the Sussex team I joined, it was a brilliant, brilliant one-day team. In 2009-11, we went out going ‘We’re going to win every game’. We knew how to do that, we had probably 14 match-winners there and it was just the XI who went out and played. Maybe at a different point with Middlesex, or later on with Sussex, we just didn’t have those weapons, so you’re going out and talking about getting the performance right to have the best chance of winning.”Despite an understandable reluctance to make things about him, Joyce himself cannot help but see the intrigue in how his own playing exploits inform today’s work. How long that lasts, though, remains undecided. His current contract expires early next year. There will be a 2025 World Cup qualifying event thereafter. At this stage, with just two Women’s Championship series left for Ireland this winter, it seems inconceivable he will not be kept on for the qualifiers. For now, Joyce’s expressed motivation remains focused away from results.”It’s clear the team is growing. They’re so young that you can influence things so much. There’s so much growth there, an opportunity. As a coach it’s just a dream.”That Sri Lanka series…I loved how the players spoke. Whoever was player of the match, there was a normality, it wasn’t [a case of being] absolutely overjoyed, it was ‘job well done.’ I loved that.”Acclimating to success to is a new phenomenon for Ireland. Perhaps it foreshadows that development of a process-driven team into a results-driven force, experienced by their head coach during his county days. Maybe Ireland won’t ever be truly dominant, but in Joyce’s tenure so far, they have grown enough that thoughts of one day looking to beat England, rather than just playing well against them, are no longer absurd.
They are entering the Test series with a batting unit that has had one of its worst years against spin
Ashish Pant14-Oct-2024This was meant to be New Zealand’s great Test-match adventure in the subcontinent. They were to start with a non-World Test Championship (WTC) game against Afghanistan in Greater Noida to get acclimatised to the conditions, travel to Sri Lanka for a two-Test series and work on their spin game, and then return to India and try and achieve something no team has in 12 years – win a Test series in the country. It was a rare stretch of six Tests in the region with their WTC final chances still very much alive.But halfway into it, the plan has unravelled, quickly.To start with, no play was possible in Greater Noida across five days. The spinners and Kamindu Mendis blew them away in Sri Lanka for a 2-0 knockout. Tim Southee has stepped down from captaincy, and their best and most experienced batter, Kane Williamson, has a groin injury and will miss at least the first Test in India.Related
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Now in Bengaluru for the first of the three Tests starting on Wednesday, New Zealand are with a new captain, without their best batter (temporarily), and with a batting unit that has had one of its poorest years against spin.In 12 innings in 2024, New Zealand have lost 67 of 104 wickets to spin – their most in five years – and they still have six Tests to go this year. Their average of 22.58 against spin in 2024 is the worst for any team in the WTC.They were found out in Sri Lanka, where they lost 37 of their 40 wickets to spinners. While still competitive in the first Test, with Latham, Williamson, Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell all scoring half-centuries across the two innings, they were left shell-shocked in the second Test. On a surface where Sri Lanka amassed 602 for 5, New Zealand were bowled out for 88 inside 40 overs. They came up with a much better show in the second dig to score 360, but the Test was pretty much done by then.
New Zealand’s struggles against spin is not just limited to the subcontinent.They started the 2023-25 cycle with a trip to Bangladesh, where 31 of the 36 New Zealand wickets fell to spinners, even as New Zealand fought back in Dhaka to level the series 1-1.Then they went back home to play a second-string South Africa side and mowed them down in the two Tests. While Will O’Rourke was the leading wicket-taker in the series with nine wickets, second and third on that list were South Africa’s left-arm spinner Neil Brand and offspinner Dane Piedt, both taking eight wickets apiece. Brand was making his debut in the series while Piedt was playing a Test after more than four years.New Zealand then played another two Tests at home, against Australia. They went down 2-0 with Nathan Lyon turning out to be Australia’s highest wicket-taker with 13 wickets in the series, which included a ten-wicket haul in the first game in Wellington.Of New Zealand’s current top order, Williamson has scored the most runs against spin in the ongoing WTC cycle for them: 410 at an average of 37.27. But 11 of his 14 dismissals have come against spin too. The same is the case with almost every other major batter. Ravindra has fallen to spin seven out of 12 times; Phillips nine out of 12; Mitchell eight out of 12; and Devon Conway eight out of ten. In the Sri Lanka series, several batters got stuck on the crease making them easy targets for Prabath Jayasuriya & Co.!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
Barring Williamson (four) and Ravindra (one), no other New Zealand batter has scored a century in this WTC cycle. As things stand, Joe Root (six) has more centuries than the entire New Zealand batting unit in this period. And as New Zealand get ready in Bengaluru, they won’t even have the Williamson cushion.It’s not entirely doom and gloom for them, though. Latham has five fifties in ten Test innings in India, Ravindra had a fabulous ODI World Cup here last year, and the likes of Mitchell, Phillips and Conway all have decent exposure to the conditions through their stints at the IPL.India is arguably the toughest country to visit in Test cricket, and with R Ashwin breathing fire and Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav to back him up, New Zealand don’t need to be told that they have a mountain to climb.But Bengaluru is one place in India where New Zealand are likely to feel at home. There has been decent rain in the lead-up to the opening Test, and there is plenty of cloud cover expected throughout. That’s not to say there will be no turn on offer for the spinners, but New Zealand will have something to cling to, especially with the WTC final spot on the line.
England’s modern great moves clear of Cook with ultimate Test summit still in his sights
Matt Roller09-Oct-20242:04
Roller: Test greats in sight for Root after becoming England’s top scorer
Prior to this Test, Joe Root had described the prospect of becoming England’s all-time leading run-scorer as “irrelevant”, and his understated response to the landmark on Wednesday morning proved that he meant it. He gently waved his bat to acknowledge the standing ovation on the dressing-room balcony after driving Aamer Jamal down the ground to reach 71, but then was straight back into his work.Root’s point had been that the record would simply be the by-product of his wider ambitions: “I’d like to get more than that in this game,” he explained. He was true to his word, even if he looked sapped by the South Punjab sun by the time he reverse-swept Abrar Ahmed for the single that brought him his 35th Test century.In time, Root will reflect with immense pride on his elevation into the pantheon of the greatest batters England – or anyone else, for that matter – has produced. But more immediately, his focus was on putting England in a position to win this first Test: upon reaching three figures, he kissed the badge on his helmet before raising his bat.He then looked to the skies, acknowledging the influence that the late Graham Thorpe had on his career. Thorpe, who died in August at the age of 55, had been the driving force behind Root’s first Test call-up in 2012, and worked closely with him for the first decade of his career, helping a batter brought up on seaming pitches in Yorkshire become England’s best-ever player of spin.Root went on and on, fighting cramp to reach the close on 176. He played the supporting role in partnerships worth 109, 136 and an unbeaten 243 with Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Harry Brook respectively, but was the constant through England’s mammoth innings. After 250 overs spread across three days’ play, Root has only spent eight balls off the field.”[I feel] tired, more than anything. It’s been a long day,” Root said. “I’m obviously proud, but still feel as though there’s plenty more left to do and many more runs to get. I’m sure I’ll look back on it at some point when I’m finished and be very proud of it.”This was his first hundred in Pakistan, after a quiet tour two years ago. It leaves only one obvious gap in his stellar Test CV: Root is yet either to score a century or win a Test in Australia. He will be desperate to address both of those shortcomings as England look to win back the Ashes in just over a year’s time.Root has faced more threatening spinners in much trickier conditions than Abrar on this Multan motorway. But he played him with total ease throughout: he did not score a boundary off him until he swung a full toss through midwicket to reach 166. Instead, he spent the day milking him mercilessly with flicks off his pads and steers through cover.This was an innings which will not quite translate to a highlights package, a slow-burning epic rather than something bitesize. Root only hit a dozen boundaries in 277 balls but ran Pakistan’s fielders ragged on a slow outfield, with seven threes, 16 twos and an incredible 75 singles. He survived two unsuccessful reviews for lbw, but looked in control throughout.For Jason Gillespie, Pakistan’s coach, it was nothing new after spending five years at Yorkshire when Root was early in his international career. “I remember Joe asking coaches, ‘Tell me what I need to hear, not what you think I want to hear.’ It was a coaching lesson for myself,” Gillespie recalled. “He always strives to get better: that was my experience with him.”Joe Root kissed his helmet before raising his bat after reaching his 35th Test century•Getty ImagesLongevity demands resilience – not only mental, but physical too. Remarkably, Root has never missed a Test through injury: he has played in 147 of England’s 149 since his debut, with the two exceptions due to being dropped (Sydney 2014) and the birth of his second child (Southampton 2020).He was clearly struggling physically in the heat of the day, dragging himself up the dressing-room steps at tea. But after spending the interval rehydrating – and wearing an ‘ice sleeve’ around his neck – Root ran back out to the middle in trademark style. He was drained by the close, his foot movement limited through sheer exhaustion, but maintained his focus.”To bat through the whole day in that heat shows, mentally, how fit he is – and also physically,” Duckett said. “I was only out there for a session or a bit under in it and it was tough working that heat. I’m sure he’ll sleep well. Between sessions, we’ve got a great support staff and fluids and getting food on board is so important on a day like this – but to be honest, I think he probably enjoyed more just sitting in an air-conned room.”It was only ever a question of when Root would overtake Alastair Cook, not if. After breaking Cook’s centuries record at a sold-out Lord’s last month, this sparse crowd in arid Multan was a much more low-key backdrop – but reaching the upper echelons of the format demands the ability to adapt both temperament and technique to such diverse surroundings.Since relinquishing the captaincy two-and-a-half years ago, Root has ascended to a higher plane as a batter. It is not as though leadership had a deleterious effect on his batting – he averaged 46.44 as captain – but since then, he has scored 10 hundreds in 30 Tests, averaging 61.11.Related
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If he scores seven more runs on Thursday, Root will become the first Englishman to achieve another notable landmark: 20,000 international runs across formats. While the majority of those have come in Tests, this milestone would be a reminder of his compelling ODI record – and his vital role in England’s only 50-over World Cup win.And yet, like James Anderson and Stuart Broad before him, Root has benefitted from a streamlined schedule. He has only played 28 ODIs in the last five years and – much to his frustration – not a single T20I, but his singular focus on Test cricket has given him enough periods of rest to stay fresh and hungry.He is not done yet. Root turns 34 in December and has no plans to retire: if his body continues to hold up, he could happily play through to the 2027 Ashes and beyond. At his current rate, Root could surpass Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting’s aggregates in the next year, while Cook believes he is an even-money bet to eventually surpass Sachin Tendulkar.”Your best one is always your next one,” Root said, asked where his latest hundred ranked among the previous 34. “You’ve got to keep staying hungry to find ways of keep contributing and getting better.” It is that hunger that has defined his career, ever since he first picked up a bat.Tendulkar’s aggregate of 15,921 is still 3,343 runs away, but England play so often that Root will have regular opportunities to close the gap, not least if Pakistan continue to roll out pitches like this one. As for whether he is already England’s greatest? A successful tour to Australia next winter would put that beyond any doubt.
No shortage of allrounders in the final XI and perhaps a controversial call or two
Andrew McGlashan26-Oct-2024Ahead of the tenth season of the WBBL we thought it would be fun to select an all-time XI. The aim was to try and pick a balanced side with players as close to their usual positions as possible, or a role that they could fill. There are a few particularly notable omissions, with the top-order and spin options especially stacked.Beth MooneyThe leading run-scorer in the competition’s history heading into the tenth season, Mooney’s consistency has been remarkable. Only twice has she averaged under 42 for a season; one of those was the first year of WBBL in 2015-16 and the other was 2018-19 when she was still able to score a hundred and then play the defining innings in the final for Brisbane Heat. Her most prolific campaign was 2019-20 with 743 runs at 74.30 – she has followed that with four more seasons of over 500 runs following her move to Perth Scorchers.Related
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Alyssa HealyIn this XI, Healy forms her international opening combination with Mooney. It won’t always be about volume of runs for Healy – the way she plays means low scores are part of the risk – but when things click she can be unstoppable. She has the most centuries (five) in WBBL history and the second-highest strike rate of those with at least 1000 runs. In 2019, during which she added a tournament-record stand of 199 with Ellyse Perry, and then 2020, Healy had the eye-watering strike-rates of 155.69 and 161.44. The following two seasons were less productive (albeit including 107 off 64 balls against Perth Scorchers) and the dog-bite incident meant she missed all but one game last summer.Grace HarrisOne of the WBBL’s most iconic figures. Harris’ three centuries all come with great stories: she struck the first in the competition’s history, then made the fastest off 42 balls and last season surged to 136 off 59 balls with one of her sixes coming with a broken bat. “Stuff hit, I’ll hit it anyway,” was the viral quote. As with a number of players in this side, there is a high level of risk vs reward and there will be lows amid the highs. But Harris can win a match on her own.Sophie Devine has regularly made an impact with bet and ball•Getty Images Sophie DevineThe most formidable allrounder in WBBL – and there’s good competition for that title. An ever-present across the nine seasons, split between Adelaide Strikers and Perth Scorchers, things started a little slowly for Devine in the first year but then she found lift-off with 103 not out off 48 balls against Hobart Hurricanes. Barring a tough 2022 season, she has remained ultra consistent. The 2019 edition was a stunning one where she averaged 76.90 with the bat and claimed 19 wickets. She remains the only player in the tournament with a half-century and a five-wicket haul in the same game.Ashleigh GardnerIt’s possible to argue that Gardner has underperformed overall with the bat in the WBBL. But her strike rate remains in the top 10 for those with at least 1000 runs, and in the middle order it’s about the impact a player can have over a shorter period. Initially it was Gardner’s batting that led the way – including the magnificent 114 off 52 balls against in 2017 – but the last two seasons has seen her offspin excel. In the 2022 edition she managed to bring both aspects together with a player of the tournament return where she averaged 28.25 with the bat, alongside a strike rate of 150.66, and claimed 23 wickets.Marizanne KappKapp gets into the side for her bowling, which includes the stand-out economy rate of 5.59 – the second best in WBBL history with a minimum of 200 overs – while providing a middle-order safety net with the bat. Until last season, where she admitted she had a torrid time at Sydney Thunder, Kapp had been the epitome of consistency. Her peak all-round seasons came in 2019 and 2020 when she averaged 32.61 with the bat and 19.82 with the ball across the two editions for Sydney Sixers. Then, having moved to Perth Scorchers for the 2021 season, she was player of the match in the final against Adelaide Strikers.Amanda-Jade Wellington has produced some remarkable figures•Getty ImagesJess JonassenThe leading wicket-taker in the competition, Jonassen has been an ever-present for Brisbane Heat. She has never had a poor season and peaked with a brilliant all-round double of 419 runs at 38.09 (strike rate 133.01) and 21 wickets at 19.19 in the second of their back-to-back titles in 2019. In the last two seasons she has taken a combined tally of 70 wickets across 46 games.Sammy-Jo JohnsonThe pace-bowling allrounder has been a key figure in two tournament deciders for two teams: in 2019 she broke open Heat’s run chase with 27 off 11 balls against Adelaide Strikers, then in 2020, having moved home to Sydney Thunder, took 2 for 11 off her four overs to set-up victory over Melbourne Stars to take the title. That capped a season where she was the tournament’s leading wicket-taker. In the 2018-19 edition, the first of Heat’s back-to-back titles, she produced a memorable all-round display with 260 runs and 20 wickets, becoming the first player to complete a 250 run/20 wicket double for a season. Last summer she joined the century of wickets club.Amanda-Jade WellingtonIt’s a tough race to be the legspinner in this team. In another era, Wellington would have played a lot more for Australia. Few bowl a harder-spun leg-break. Instead, she has been an integral figure for Adelaide Strikers with the last few seasons seeing her game go to another level. Across Strikers’ back-to-back titles she has taken 46 wickets. For 12 months she held the best figures in the tournament’s history with 5 for 8 against Heat in the 2021 Eliminator final, a return she matched against Renegades a year later, and she was player of the match in the 2023 final. Across all nine seasons only once (2016-17) has she not taken at least 10 wickets.Molly StranoLike Wellington, Strano is unfortunate not to have played more international cricket. She led the way from the WBBL’s launch, initially for Melbourne Renegades, and was the first bowler to reach 100 wickets. In 2019-2020 she was the leading wicket-taker in the season with 24 and only once has taken fewer than 13 in a campaign. Her best figures of 5 for 15 came in the first season of WBBL against Melbourne StarsMegan SchuttAs one of the leading pace bowlers in the world for a number of years, it’s little surprise that Schutt is the most successful quick in the WBBL although it is over the last two seasons where her wicket-taking numbers have really exploded including the 6 for 19 which are the best figures in the competition. While she wasn’t always a prolific wicket-taker, her economy rate has often been a standout: as low as 5.06 during the 2016-17 season never higher than 6.46 in any edition.
His temperament is his greatest gift, and both Sam Konstas and his friends expect him to profit from it if he makes his Test debut come Boxing Day
Alex Malcolm23-Dec-2024Sam Konstas stood in front of a huge media throng on the outfield at the MCG on Monday and looked not a day older than the 19 years and 82 days that he is.It was his third visit to the MCG this summer, having been there for a Sheffield Shield game in late October, and an Australia A game in early November.There was arguably more media peppering him with questions on Monday than patrons in the crowd for those two MCG first-class games combined.Related
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If he were to make his Test debut on Boxing Day against India, he would become the fourth-youngest Australian to do so behind Ian Craig, current captain Pat Cummins, and Tom Garrett.And he would do so in front of 90,000 or more fans.You could have heard a pin drop in the MCC Members’ when he faced his first ball from Scott Boland in the Shield game back in October. On Boxing Day, if the crowd is anything like that India-Pakistan 2022 T20 World Cup game at the MCG, the first ball he could face from Jasprit Bumrah might sound like a sonic boom.”I think it’s just another day for me,” Konstas said while acknowledging his debut is yet to be confirmed. “Obviously, it’s a bit more special. Got my parents coming. Pretty simple, just back myself and see-ball-hit-ball really.”That clarity of mind is part of the reason he stands on the precipice of debuting for Australia at such a young age. The naivety and brashness of youth are seen as a strength, not a weakness.”The way he approaches the game, it does not bother him who he’s coming up against,” New South Wales and Australia team-mate Sean Abbott said of Konstas. “He’s pretty unfazed. And I’d imagine, should he get the opportunity, it’d be pretty similar. From what I’ve seen so far, I’d probably say it’s his most admirable attribute.”Sam Konstas is the third-youngest player in Sheffield Shield history to score twin hundreds in a match•AFPPart of it also comes from his relationship with former Australia allrounder Shane Watson. Konstas counts Watson as an idol and a mentor. The entire Watson family is set to fly down to Melbourne should he make his debut.Konstas is a disciple of Watson’s mental skills teachings. The former Australia allrounder has written a book called and has turned it into an online course to help young cricketers hone their mental skills. It is the story of his own mental journey from being paralysed by an intense focus on results during his Test career to discovering and implementing a simple process-driven mindset in his successful late-career renaissance in T20 franchise cricket. He has worked with New South Wales as a mental skills consultant, having already been a mentor to Konstas since he was 16.In that sense, Konstas might be the best mentally prepared 19-year-old to have ever been thrust into such a scenario given what he understands.Konstas was asked if he had been studying videos of Bumrah in preparation for a possible face-off. “Nah, not really,” he said. “I’ve watched him quite a bit, but [I am] just trying to be in the moment. Hopefully, I get the opportunity on Boxing Day.”How he got here is even more remarkable. As late as October 7, barely anyone in Australian cricket had given a thought to Konstas playing Test cricket this summer. By October 11, after becoming the third-youngest player in Sheffield Shield history to score twin hundreds in a match, he was being compared to Ricky Ponting and there were demands for him to be picked immediately.
“The way he approaches the game, it does not bother him who he’s coming up against. He’s pretty unfazed”Sean Abbott on Sam Konstas
Nine days later he was at the MCG under the microscope. Not one, but two Australian selectors – coach Andrew McDonald and Tony Dodemaide – watched him face Boland and Victoria at the MCG after chairman of selectors George Bailey had been in Sydney for his twin centuries.He made 2 and 43, sawn off by a dubious lbw in the first innings and undone by some immaturity in the second. There were glimpses that he was a player for the future, but it looked like he wasn’t quite ready for the here and now.Scores of 0 and 16 against India A in Mackay served to further consolidate that view. On his return to the MCG on November 7, he did not open the batting in the second A game, a further sign he was not likely to be chosen for the first Test. But his second innings of 73 not out batting at No. 4 showed a different set of gears. He struck seven fours and a six and played some outrageous shots in a tricky, pressurized chase.Nathan McSweeney’s temperament, his consistency of method, and his early-season form saw him get the Test nod over Konstas. But ironically the consistency of method across a brutal series so far has now gone against McSweeney and for Konstas.McSweeney’s struggles have been clear. He is 4 for 15 from 66 balls against Bumrah in the series. He is not alone there, with Usman Khawaja (4 for 17 in 71 balls), Marnus Labuschange (2 for 6 in 72 balls), and Steven Smith (3 for 20 in 54 balls) also having problems against Bumrah.But McSweeney is 57 off 146 against the rest of India’s attack, striking at just 39.04. It is the lowest strike rate of all of Australia’s top nine against Indian bowlers not named Bumrah. McSweeney has paid a price for being too similar to Khawaja and Labuschagne in method, and they have survived because they are doing more damage at the other end.Sam Konstas scored 107 off 97 balls against the Indians late last month•AFP/Getty ImagesKonstas over the last month has proved he can be the “different look” that Bailey and the selectors want to throw at India. His 107 off 97 in Canberra against all of India’s bowlers bar Bumrah backed up his last innings in the A series. He added 88 off 146 against a good Western Australia attack that featured Australia ODI quick Lance Morris and A spinner Corey Rocchiccioli, with his first 55 coming off just 64 deliveries. He then smashed a 20-ball half-century on debut for Sydney Thunder in the BBL, albeit against an Adelaide Strikers attack that McSweeney himself made 78 not out off 49 on Sunday night.It is understood a decision had been made to add Konstas regardless of the BBL scores, as they are no indicator of anything in relation to facing Bumrah on Boxing Day.There’s no guarantee Konstas will play either, as a decision is still to be made. But even at his first Australia training session on Monday, he looked completely unfazed. He kept his net session short, not trying to impress or over-exert facing deliveries that he didn’t need to face. It was eye-opening compared to the hour-plus nets that Khawaja, Smith and Labuschagne had. He was one of the few Australian players to help his team-mates out by flinging balls to Labuschagne before leaving the optional net early, joking with a couple of team-mates on the way out with the air of a 30-year-old veteran.He was asked about being compared to his mentor Watson on social media. “I don’t look through too much on social media, but I’ll take it as a compliment,” Konstas said. “I like to take the game on and put pressure on the bowlers. I think he’s [Watson] a legend of the game, and hopefully I can do that this week if I debut.”
The men are on the cusp of the WTC final, while the women are about to play their first Test at home in 22 years
Firdose Moonda14-Dec-2024Red-ball fever should be raging across South Africa with the men’s national team one win away from the World Test Championship (WTC) final and the women on the eve of their first Test at home in 22 years, and first of six in the next FTP cycle.But is it really raging? If you turn on your television, you may not think so. You may ask whether South Africans really care about watching Test cricket (which is, of course, different to knowing about it or celebrating it). The numbers say no. South Africa’s series win over Sri Lanka was watched by a total of around 14,000 people over nine days at Kingsmead and Gqeberha. On any single day of the matches, there were never more than 2000 people at the ground.So how many will turn up in Bloemfontein, a place cricket has largely forgotten, with no SA20 franchise, and a domestic team that was recently relegated but since promoted to the top division, to watch a women’s Test? The next four days will reveal the answer, but don’t be overly expectant. A heatwave is sweeping across the country and temperatures tipped over 40° Celsius in the Free State in the last week. With large swatches of the ground unprotected from the sun, fans may prefer the cool of their homes.Their absence may tempt you to explain the South African men’s lean Test schedule (they will only play 12 games in this cycle) in terms of a response to this perceived apathy, but it is more a case of economics. Broadcast rights, for one, favour fewer Tests, more white-ball games, and a franchise T20 tournament. Given all that, the South Africa men are still in the running for the WTC final, and the women will over the next four years play the same number of Test matches as they did in the 20 years between 2002 and 2022. So something is changing, and it may be that red-ball matches are rare enough to be really valued.Related
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There is a general consensus that playing more red-ball cricket, especially in the women’s game, will benefit players across the board, and new coach Mandla Mashimbyi is specifically focused on the longer format as a key growth area. So the red-ball fever is there; you just have to dig a little deeper for it.”Mandla did a bit of a presentation for us yesterday on red-ball cricket, and a lot of the stuff he was saying made me definitely want to play more of the format,” Laura Wolvaardt said at the pre-match press conference. “I absolutely love Test cricket. It’s the purest form of the game, and to be able to play it is always such an awesome opportunity.”Her counterpart, Heather Knight, who has played four times as many Tests as Wolvaardt, used exactly the same words – “absolutely love” – to describe how she felt about Test cricket. “The mental challenge of it, the repetition of skill, the adapting to so many different situations that you might face, I think it’s a really good learner for younger players,” Knight said.But both of them acknowledged that it is tough to play a format at international level that they have no foundations in at domestic level. South Africa, England, and every other country apart from India and, as of this month Bangladesh, do not play any red-ball, or time-based version of cricket at any level other than occasional Tests. Wolvaardt described it as a “bit weird” that her only red-ball matches have been Tests, while Knight called herself a “novice at Test cricket”.In that context, it seemed unfair to ask bigger-picture questions over things like form or player development. Yes, South Africa have played two Test matches and lost them heavily this year, but they were in vastly different conditions – Perth and Chennai – and perhaps all they demonstrate is how difficult it is to adapt to playing in different places at Test level. Yes, England have a multi-format Ashes to think about and Knight admitted they have “one eye” on that while also trying to have success against South Africa. Without the consistency of playing Tests regularly, it’s more sensible to assess and analyse them in isolation.Following their comprehensive victory against Sri Lanka, South Africa’s men are just one win away from the WTC final•AFP/Getty ImagesIn this case, what stands out is how differently the teams have approached preparation, and what that may suggest about the kind of contest we can look forward to. Knight said England have “tried to incorporate the odd red-ball session to practice the skills”.South Africa, meanwhile, didn’t “really want to be training in the middle of a T20 series for the Test match, so we sort of just left it for right before the Test,” Wolvaardt said. What they agreed on was that the two-day turnaround after the last ODI to the start of this Test was too little time to work on any technical skills. Instead, they’re working with what they already have, but in opposite ways to England.Wolvaardt is trying to rein in any attacking instincts to allow herself to bat for longer. “Batting is more of a reaction type of thing. My cover-drive is my favourite shot, and now it’s the one shot that I’m not allowed to play early on, with all those slips behind me.”Knight thinks it’s better to play the way you normally would. “A key message is not changing your game too much because it’s a red ball. That certainly was a mistake I made early in my career, when I went into Test match cricket and I was like, ‘Right, I’ve got to block it, I’ve got to leave the ball’, and I don’t want us to have that mentality because I don’t think it’s a good mentality to have.”Heather Knight: “A key message is not changing your game too much because it’s a red ball”•ECB via Getty ImagesCould this indicate we will see a more aggressive England against a conservative South Africa? If that is how it transpires, it will be keeping with what we have to come to know about the teams’ DNA over time. It was no surprise that a reference to Ben Stokes (but not Bazball) was made when discussing how England will look to put the opposition under pressure, which drew a response that began with “We’re our own team,” and went on to touch on soaking up pressure and then counter-punching. Likewise, Wolvaardt was asked about the men’s performances in the WTC and called the second Test against Sri Lanka “very cool” to watch.These narratives will continue to be woven into women’s Tests until the matches become more than one-offs, though Knight cautioned against longer series until there is are domestic foundations in red-ball cricket. “Preparing bowlers [for Test cricket], in particular physically, without breaking them is really tough because naturally the amount of cricket that we play is all white ball,” she said. “It’s really tough to play too many more and get the preparation right in terms of those bowlers. Selfishly, I do really love playing Test cricket but I think it’s about how you incorporate it alongside franchise cricket, alongside all the cricket that we play.”And so the cycle of too much in a world that can’t get enough continues, but South Africa are an interesting case study. You could argue the men have had too little Test cricket and merely played the best hand they could have with the cards they were dealt, and that is proving inspirational for their women’s team too. “It’s obviously really nice to see them doing well and to see them almost in the final of their Test championship,” Wolvaardt said. “I hope that it just sparks interest around the country to watch more Test cricket. Hopefully if there’s a bit more of a buzz around Test cricket in the country people will be keen to watch us as well.”Maybe red-ball fever is not quite raging, but it is rumbling along until it gets the opportunity to really roar.
From a young girl who loved to bat, she’s transformed into a legspinner and is a key part of Gujarat Giants’ run into the playoff
Daya Sagar12-Mar-20254:30
Priya Mishra: I feel batters are not able to read my googly
In 2005, Sandeep Mishra came to Baljeet Nagar, a locality in West Delhi, from Allahabad (now Prayagraj). The neighbourhood was home to daily-wage labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Back home, he was fed up with the unprofitable returns in farming and, having learnt the work of an electrician, had come to find some work in a big city.At the time, the expansion of Delhi’s metro network was on and the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation needed electricians, so Sandeep, a 30-year-old high-school dropout, found a job. He was blessed with a daughter just months before he came to Delhi, and brought her and the family along two years later. It was not long before that she started playing cricket in the street with the boys.That irked the neighbours and relatives, who used to taunt Sandeep. But it had little effect on Sandeep, who looked at it as a way for her daughter to get a government job via the sports quota, if nothing else. Like most of his time, Sandeep longingly looked at government jobs for the security they provided. He used to play state-level kabaddi for getting a government job using the sports quota but when that did not work, he dreamt of the same for his children.Related
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That girl now has an India cap and a WPL contract to her name. Priya Mishra, 20, made her international debut last year and has 15 wickets in nine ODIs at an average of 26.60 and a strike rate of 27. She has picked up six wickets in eight league-stage matches of WPL 2025 where Gujarat Giants (GG) have made the playoffs for the first time.”When I played cricket in the streets, I did not think of it as a career prospect; I used to play with the boys just for fun,” Mishra tells ESPNcricinfo. “People used to tease me, saying I am playing with the boys for nothing, as I will have to take care of the house [get married and be a housewife] eventually. But my family, especially my father, supported me a lot.”The Gujarat Giants players gather around Priya Mishra after a wicket•BCCIThe turning point in Mishra’s life came when her sports teacher at Salwan Girls Senior Secondary School, Priya Chandra, saw her playing cricket. Chandra, a former state-level player, advised her to go to Shravan Kumar, who has coached Ishant Sharma, Harshit Rana, Simran Dil Bahadur and Pratika Rawal among others.”When an 11-year-old Priya came to me in 2015, she loved batting,” Shravan says. “She came to the academy on foot and was also fond of medium-pace bowling. But since she was not tall, I suggested her to bowl spin, because she got the ball to spin sharper than the boys did. It did not take long for her to develop a googly, which is her main weapon now.”Most of Mishra’s international wickets have come with the googly, as have all of her six wickets in WPL 2025 so far – Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews, Deepti Sharma and Yastika Bhatia. Mishra maintans that the googly is just to deceive the batters and her stock ball is still the legbreak.”I take wickets from the googly because batters can’t read me,” she says. “I try to set batters up using legspin, try and attack their feet as much as I can. This makes batters think I can only bowl the legspin, which is when I bowl a googly to pick up wickets.”Shravan Kumar suggested Priya Mishra to bowl spin instead of medium pace•Priya MishraAfter enrolling in an academy, Mishra had to travel to various parts of, and sometimes outside, Delhi to play school-, district-, state-level and age-group matches. Since she was young, Sandeep used to accompany her for those, even when he did not get leave from work.”Irrespective of what happens at work, if Priya had a game to play, I used to always go with her,” Sandeep says. “As she progressed in the sport, my seniors became accommodating and I used to get more leaves. That aside, Shravan sir also never took money for coaching and cricketing equipment, which, at that time, was difficult for us to afford.”Mishra made it to the Delhi Under-19 team at the age of 13. She picked up wickets in bundles for two seasons, which meant she made it to Delhi Under-23 team at 15, and then to the senior team at 18. Since then she has 78 wickets in 35 List-A appearances at an average of 16.48 and a strike rate of 21.79. She also has 22 wickets in 26 T20 matches at an economy of a mere 6.85. In August last year, Mishra was part of India A’s tour of Australia, where she picked up six wickets in the unofficial Test including four in the first innings. She also returned a five-for in the only unofficial ODI she played.”I took about 26-27 wickets in nine Under-19 matches in a season and was confident of going to the next level. But there is a big difference in the level of international cricket and domestic cricket,” Mishra, who considers Shane Warne her idol, says. “Balls that are a good option in domestic cricket are easily played by international players, so I try and attack the stumps now.3:53
Mithali Raj impressed with Priya Mishra’s talent
“T20 cricket is such that you have to think before every ball because batters are there to hit every ball. You have to think about the line that will trap the batter. For now, I am trying to bowl in line of the stumps as much as possible. By doing that, you don’t give batters much room and increase your chances of picking up wickets.”At GG, Mishra works with spin-bowling coach Pravin Tambe, who makes her undergo single-wicket drills for a long time. She also exchanges notes with Deepti in the India team.”I constantly talk to Deepti and I consider her my second guru. She helps me as much as she can. If she is at slip, she tells me what ball I should be bowling and where I should be bowling. Even Harman tells me not to be nervous and do what I have been doing thus far.”For now, Mishra is happy she does not have to live on rent in Baljeet Nagar. With her WPL earnings from last year and savings from domestic cricket, she bought a house and a car in 2024. Now her dream is to play long for India and help them win a World Cup on home soil.
England have made a mess of their succession planning after ignoring white-ball cricket since 2019
Andrew Miller07-Apr-20255:06
Roller: Managing all three formats will be Brook’s biggest challenge
The devil was in the detail of Rob Key’s statement, after the ECB confirmed the inevitable elevation of Harry Brook to England’s vacant white-ball captaincy.”This opportunity has come slightly earlier than expected,” Key said in his second sentence of the board’s press release – which is hardly the sort of glowing appraisal that you might expect from the England Men’s managing director on Coronation Day.And though Key did add that Brook had long been part of the team’s “succession planning” – whatever that may mean – his tone betrayed the shocking tangle that England have got themselves into in their once-formidable white-ball set-up.As recently as November 2022, that white-ball squad was still a genuinely groundbreaking outfit, with England’s victory in the T20 World Cup in Australia making them the first men’s team to hold both of the ICC’s white-ball trophies concurrently. Earlier that year in 50-over cricket, they extended their ODI record total to a massive, and still unsurpassed, 498 for 4 against the Netherlands at Amstelveen.Since then, however, the rot has been rapid and entirely foreseeable. Leaving their T20I fortunes to one side for a moment, the specific ineptitude of their recent Champions Trophy campaign reflected a generation of players – Brook included – who simply do not play enough 50-over cricket to know how to pace an innings.Prior to his England ODI debut against South Africa in January 2023, Brook hadn’t played a single 50-over match for Yorkshire since May 2019, two months before the team that he now leads had even broken their duck at the 50-over World Cup.His situation is mirrored by pretty much any player around whom England might hope to reinflate their white-ball fortunes – Jamie Smith, Jordan Cox, Gus Atkinson … the list goes on. And so, when Key says that his elevation has come sooner than would be ideal, it’s an admission of desperation, as much as an acknowledgment of how badly the Buttler-McCullum alliance failed to live up to expectations.For when it comes to “succession planning” … pull the other one. England have been on a wing and a prayer for the past two years in white-ball cricket. England’s preparations for the 2023 World Cup amounted to a séance, as the spirit of 2019 was summoned for one last dance (and duly failed to materialise), while the mere fact that Ben Stokes was seriously considered as a stop-gap is proof of how rapidly those standards are continuing to swirl around the plug-hole.Jos Buttler’s tenure disintegrated after the early high of the 2022 T20 World Cup•Sameer Ali/Getty ImagesIn terms of his career progression, it probably is too soon for Brook, but what’s a team to do? In an ideal world, he would have built up his 50-over experience over the next two and a half years until the 2027 World Cup, then taken over from Buttler with standards restored and legacies polished. In an ideal world, he would have had a few more chances to shore up his technique against high-quality spin: a genuine problem area, though clearly not an insurmountable one, even if his two-year ban from the IPL after his late withdrawal from Delhi Capitals’ campaign will deny him an obvious source of experience.In an ideal world, Brook would also be averaging more than 28.50 in his T20I career. In part this is a legacy of his anonymous role in that 2022 World Cup win (56 runs at 11.20 in six matches), which if nothing else was proof that experience cannot be bought off a peg. But more problematically, it reflects Brook’s lack of opportunity in white-ball cricket to date, given his extraordinarily central importance to England’s Test fortunes.This is where Key’s concerns about the timing really hit home. For all that Brook’s unveiling as white-ball captain will be a proud moment – and his sparky leadership against Australia last September suggests there’ll be plenty tactical nous on show when he takes the field against West Indies – there’s also little doubt where his true focus will be heading into a genuinely seismic nine months.Related
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England’s Test team, for which Brook is currently the No.2-ranked batter in the world behind Joe Root, has five home Tests against India looming in June and July, followed by the Ashes in Australia from November to January. It promises to be a legacy-defining period for the team’s elder statesmen – Stokes, Root and Mark Wood in particular – but also for the Bazball project itself, as the players are just about allowing themselves to call it these days.As Brook noted when pulling out of the IPL, “it is a really important time for England cricket … I need time to recharge.” No wonder he’s missing the opening rounds of the Championship to take a family holiday. All being well with his form and fitness, he is going to be the busiest player on the planet in the coming 12 months, because no sooner does the Ashes end than he’ll be leading the T20I side in the next World Cup in India. By which stage, the 2027 World Cup will be little more than a year away. Rinse, repeat … sleep whenever there’s a chance.It’s a rod that England made for their own back, from the moment they won the 2019 World Cup then spurned the format that had brought them glory. Every ounce of know-how has subsequently been re-invested in the Test set-up, at the expense of the white-ball game … with the honorable exception of Buttler, whose career was sent off on a branch-line while his generational peers got busy Bazballing.The irony is that Buttler should never have had to become a man apart in England’s white-ball set-up. Hindsight suggests that England could have won that 2022 tournament on autopilot, and pretty much did, such was the residual excellence in their set-up – as epitomised by Stokes’ matchwinning innings in the final, having not played T20Is in 18 months prior to the tournament.Now, under McCullum, there has at least been a belated attempt at unification, to ensure that the same values and knowledge that have reinvigorated the Test team are carried across formats before it’s too late. But this also means that Brook is the right choice as white-ball captain because he’s a guaranteed pick across formats, but also the wrong choice because he’s a guaranteed pick across formats. Go figure. It’s a mess, and there are no easy answers.