While England will be wary of the threat from Yasir Shah, they will be eased into the series at the least spin-friendly venue in Asia in recent past

Shiva Jayaraman12-Oct-20153-0 Margin by which England lost their previous series in the UAE to Pakistan. This was only the fourth time England had been blanked outside the Ashes in a series with three or more matches. This was also only the fifth time Pakistan had whitewashed any opposition in a series involving three or more Tests.5-3 Pakistan’s win-loss record in the UAE since they beat England 3-0. They beat Australia 2-0 and have drawn 1-1 against South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in this period. Overall Pakistan’s win-loss record in the UAE is 11-5. They have drawn six out of the 22 Tests they have played in this country.1-6 England’s win-loss record away from home in Tests since 2013. Their win-loss ratio of 0.166 in away Tests during this period is better than only Zimbabwe and West Indies who both haven’t won a single away Test.2000 The last and only the second time England won a Test against Pakistan away from home, which was in Karachi. England have lost five of their six Tests against Pakistan outside England after that Karachi win. Overall, England have lost seven of the 27 Tests away to Pakistan, while 18 have ended in a draw. Their first win had come in Lahore in 1961, which was their first away Test against Pakistan.46.19 Runs spinners have averaged in Abu Dhabi after the last time Pakistan played England here in 2012. In Tests since 2013, this is the worst they have averaged at any venue in Asia. In four Tests here during this period, spinners have taken 51 wickets and only one five-wicket haul. In the Test here between the two teams in 2012, they took 31 of the 40 wickets to fall at an average of 18.00.38.25 Runs per dismissal that batsmen average in Abu Dhabi – the highest they average at any venue that has hosted at least five Tests. In just seven Tests at this venue, batsmen have hit 21 centuries and 33 fifties. The hundreds per Test ratio of 3.0 in Abu Dhabi is the highest for any venue that has hosted a minimum of five Tests.

51 Runs made by Ian Bell in six innings in the last series played by England against Pakistan in the UAE. Bell, however, will not have to face Saeed Ajmal, who dismissed him cheaply four times in that series. Since his last hundred against Pakistan, which came in the first innings at Headingley in 2006, Bell has averaged just 9.12 against them from nine innings with a highest of 29. Before that he had made four hundreds and two fifties in ten innings against Pakistan and had scored 666 runs at an average of 83.25.

17.65 James Anderson’s bowling average against Pakistan in Tests. He has taken 32 wickets against them in seven Tests, nine of which came in the 2011-12 series in the UAE at an average of 27.66 apiece. Among bowlers in England’s current squad, Stuart Broad was the highest wicket-taker for them in their last series in the UAE: he took 13 wickets at an average of 20.46.

19 Runs Younis Khan requires to go past Javed Miandad as the top run-scorer for Pakistan in Tests. Younis has 8814 Test runs at an average of 54.07 and has 30 centuries. Miandad retired with 8832 Test runs in 1993. When he gets the 19 runs that are required to go past Miandad, Younis will break a Pakistan record that has stood for nearly 22 years.

120.57 Misbah-ul-Haq’s batting average at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. He has made 844 runs in just seven Tests at this venue. His last six innings here have produced five hundreds with four of them coming in consecutive innings in the last three Tests. Abu Dhabi has been a productive venue for Pakistan, with the batsmen in their current Test squad collectively averaging 62.30 here. Their 12 hundreds at this venue are the most they have made at any venue.257 Runs Alastair Cook needs to go past Jacques Kallis as the top run-scorer in Asia among batsmen from outside the subcontinent. Cook has 1802 runs at an average of 56.31 in Asia and has made seven hundreds and seven fifties in 18 Tests here. Among overseas batsmen, only Kallis, Ricky Ponting and Shivnarine Chanderpaul have scored more than him in Asia.0 Centuries Cook has made in the UAE – the only country he has played a Test in but hasn’t scored a hundred. Cook has got hundreds in each of the other eight countries he has played Tests in. Should he make a hundred on this tour, he will become only the second batsman after Rahul Dravid to make a hundred in each of the nine or more countries he has played Tests in.

8 Wickets Yasir Shah took the last time he played an England XI in a first-class game in the UAE, which was in a tour match before the 2012 Test series. Playing for the PCB XI, Shah took 8 for 114 in the match, including a five-for in the first innings. Andrew Strauss, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen (twice) and Ian Bell were among the batsmen he had dismissed in that game. Shah has gained in reputation since then, having become the quickest Pakistan bowler to 50 Test wickets. He has taken 61 wickets in ten Tests – the most taken by any Pakistan bowler in his first ten Tests – at an average of 24.81 including four five-wicket hauls.

Playing the No. 1 team on their own patch will be a huge challenge for an inconsistent England side but there are signs of weakness in South Africa to be exploited

George Dobell in Durban23-Dec-2015On paper, it shouldn’t even be close.The No. 1 side in the world are playing at home. And they are playing against a side that has lost three of its last four Tests, has won just one of the four Test series it has completed this year and which seems likely to be without its leading wicket-taker due to injury. The bookies make South Africa the favourites; it is hard to disagree.And yet, the sense remains that England have an opportunity in South Africa. The sense remains that, despite having won only one opening Test on tour since victory in Port Elizabeth in 2004, a new look England have an opportunity to exploit a South Africa side whose confidence was dented by defeat in India, whose key players are all over 30 and, in a couple of cases, recovering from injury.Might there be parallels with 2012? At that time, England were the No. 1 rated side and South Africa the hungry chasers. The hosts were tired, divided and in decline. South Africa punished their lack of unity and their mistakes.More specifically, England were wedded to an approach that brought short-term benefits but, in retrospect, could not work over a long period: the balance of their side – three seamers and a spinner – compromised the effectiveness of the players required to do much of the bowling. Graeme Swann retired early, Tim Bresnan’s elbow problems robbed him of the nip that, just briefly, rendered him a top-class performer and both Stuart Broad and James Anderson have been obliged to curb the pace they possessed early in their careers. Too much was asked of them.Could it be the same with South Africa now? Almost every seamer in contention for their Test team has suffered some sort of injury in the recent past. Vernon Philander, so effective in Cape Town (where he averages 19.93 with the ball), has already been ruled out of the first two Tests, and while Dale Steyn has proved his fitness, the number of overs he may be required to bowl does not give him the best chance of maintaining it. He is a thoroughbred; he shouldn’t be pulling a plough.To spread the load, South Africa could consider playing four seamers and using Dean Elgar and JP Duminy for a spin option but Hashim Amla’s indication was that they would play offspinner Dane Piedt which would further increase the load on three quicks. Whichever way you look at it, Jacques Kallis is missed almost as much for his bowling as his batting.It would be silly to compare Ben Stokes to Kallis. But there is no doubt that the presence of two allrounders (Moeen Ali is the other) is a major asset to England. It allows them to rotate their bowlers in a way that may prove crucial with just two days between the first two Tests and it allows them to bat deep. The runs added by Moeen and Broad in the Ashes, for the eighth or ninth wicket, and always made at a fast pace against tiring bowlers, were vital.The excellence of four or five players seems to be masking cracks in the South Africa side. On the basis of the performance of the A team against England this week, there is a worrying lack of depth in domestic cricket. The drain of talent to England – Kolpak registrations, UK passport holders et al – has diluted the quality of the domestic system in South Africa. But for a stronger Rand and a more rewarding domestic programme, the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Craig Kieswetter, Michael Lumb, Nick Compton and many, many more might have pursued their careers in the land of their birth. Had they done so, the domestic system might have been improved and the standard may have remained higher.Perhaps, in the long term, it is just as worrying that despite the free entry, very few local spectators turned up to watch the match in Pietermartizburg. Long-form cricket has no room for complacency in South Africa, just as it had no room for complacency in the Caribbean a decade or two ago.None of this is meant to denigrate the current South Africa Test side. In Amla and AB de Villiers they have two great batsmen; in Steyn and Morne Morkel they have a pair of top-class bowlers and Andy Murray showed us recently what impact just one top player can have on a team.Will Dale Steyn be hampered by his workload?•Getty ImagesKagiso Rabada offers hope for the future, too. But, now without Graeme Smith and Kallis, they are not the side they were and the bench strength looks weaker.It would be easy to dismiss defeat in India as an aberration. Conditions at home will bear little comparison and it seems unlikely that any potential weakness against spin will be exploited. But South Africa play so little Test cricket these days – a rain-ruined series in Bangladesh was their only other complete series in 2015 – that new players have little opportunity to adapt to the disciplines required in the longest format. You have to go back almost two years, to the Australian tour, since they were seriously challenged at home.As a result (and as made clear by S Rajesh in his preview of the series), there is little “home advantage.” New South African batsmen are almost as unfamiliar with their Test wickets, which traditionally have offered a little more bounce, as their visitors.England have questions to answer themselves. They have been inconsistent throughout the year, reserving most of the best moments for typically English conditions and again being well beaten by Pakistan. The opening partner to Alastair Cook has tended to have the poor employment prospects and the middle-order, the excellent Joe Root apart, has not delivered with any consistency.Moeen, for all that he offers as an all-round package, knows he needs to contribute more as a holding bowler and using Jonny Bairstow as a keeper is a risk; some might even interpret it as an accident waiting to happen. Standing back to the seamers he is serviceable; standing up to Moeen he is very much a work in progress.As England learned in 2012, when Amla was reprieved early on the way to make two match-defining centuries, you cannot give such players lives. The success or failure of England’s new-look slip cordon – with Alex Hales the new man at third – may define the series. Anderson’s potential absence as slip fielder to the spinners would add to the magnitude of his loss.And, for all the talk of how impressive Chris Woakes looks in training – and he really does – the fact is he currently has a Test bowling average in excess of 50. He’s better than that, but filling the shoes of Anderson is a daunting task and Woakes is yet to prove he is up to it.But Cook, relieved of the uphill struggle that captaining the ODI had become, looks to have recovered the freshness that rendered him such a relentless accumulator of runs, the return of Compton would appear to stiffen the top-order and James Taylor is tough and versatile. Stokes and Root look in top form and, with all six of the batsmen having made half-centuries at least in the warm-up games, they should all go into the first Test with confidence high.The series may come a little early for a redeveloping England side but, against a South Africa team which appears to be in decline, they have a great opportunity to prove themselves.

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2016Both batsmen scored fifties as they added a 101-run opening stand inside 11 overs•Getty ImagesSri Lanka then pulled things back by dismissing both batsmen soon after they had reached their fifties•Getty ImagesCorey Anderson – playing his first international game since May 2015 – failed to make an impact, as Sri Lanka’s bowlers thwarted New Zealand’s momentum in the death overs•Getty ImagesNuwan Kulasekara was Sri Lanka’s best bowler, with returns of 2 for 26, as New Zealand were pegged back to 182 for 4•Getty ImagesTrent Boult and Matt Henry gave New Zealand the upper hand in chase, with four wickets in four overs to reduce the visitors to 42 for 4•Getty ImagesDanushka Gunathilaka, however, kept Sri Lanka’s runs flowing, taking his side to 84 before he fell in the tenth over•Getty ImagesSri Lanka’s lower order, steered by Milinda Siriwardana, then took the visitors closer to the target with handy contributions…•AFP… as the equation was reduced to 13 off the last over•Getty ImagesGrant Elliott, however, pulled it off for the hosts, giving away just one boundary, to seal a three-run win•Getty Images

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Dec-2015

A strong performance followed by time outside the XI has been a recurrent theme in Kyle Abbott’s Test career so far. And it looks unlikely to change in the near future

Firdose Moonda in Delhi05-Dec-20151:38

‘They want to drag it out’ – Abbott

Hurry up, Kyle.It’s February 2013 and Jacques Kallis has tweaked a calf muscle in the nets is probably not going to be able to play the third Test against Pakistan. You might have to debut but don’t be overwhelmed. Just listen to your coach Lance Klusener and keep it tight please.Oh, you’ve taken seven wickets on debut. That’s great.Now wait.

****

Hurry up, Kyle.

Longer India bat, happier we are – Abbott

The only people who do not seem in any real hurry are the Indian batsmen, who are are content to bat time out of the game and themselves into form. They may even bat so much that South Africa could entertain thoughts of a draw.
“The longer they bat, the happier we are because it’s more overs out of the game. I thought they would have had a crack at us tonight actually,” Kyle Abbott said. “But obviously not, they want to drag it out.”
South Africa were on the verge of hitting the fast-forward button themselves with two wickets in two balls this morning but then Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane took any thoughts of unlikely win away.
“Even though we had them four down, they still had a lead of 260. If we’d maybe had rattled one or two more… maybe 350 was in our mind. We threw everything at them but it probably wasn’t reversing as much today as it was before,” Abbott said.
“The pitch has got a bit slower and there maybe a bit of fatigue setting in; we’ve been in the field for quite a long time so maybe we haven’t been as tight as we would like to have be. They only had a strike rate of about 40. When there is not much happening and they are not taking too many risks, it gets harder. They played within themselves and quite sheltered. They made it harder for us. Even when we did tempt them, they either left it or that patted it back but its Test cricket and we are testing our skills and our patience.”

It’s March 2014 and Wayne Parnell has suffered a groin injury midway through the second Test against Australia in Port Elizabeth. South Africa managed to draw level anyway and now want to fling as much firepower as they can at the opposition to try and win the series. You’ve just taken 12 for 125 in a domestic match so you’re the fireball.Oh, you’ve kept it tighter than any other seamer. That’s great.Now wait.

****

Hurry up, Kyle.It’s December 2014 and time to wipe the floor with probably the weakest line-up in the modern game, West Indies. Don’t be upset if Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander leave just the one wicket for you. Just keep it tight, remember?Oh, you ended with another decent performance. That’s great.Now wait.

****

Hurry up, Kyle.It’s November 2015, Philander has tumbled in training and his ankle does not look good. Forget brushing your teeth, just get on the next flight to Johannesburg, and the next one to Dubai and the next one to Bangalore. Whatever you leave behind, make sure it’s not your bowling boots.Sleep if you must, shine those pearly whites somewhere along the way and make sure you’re ready to bowl even if you step off the plane ten minutes before the first ball. You will play. You have to because Steyn will also miss the match with a groin strain.Oh, the rain is spoiling everything. That’s not great.Now wait.

****

Hurry up, Kyle.It’s December 2015 and the series against India is gone. Steyn is still injured, the spinners have suffocated South Africa’s run-scorers and stubbed out much of their spirit but there is something to salvage. Conditions are not going to be as skewed in their favour and off the abrasive surface or in the smoggy atmosphere, you may find some movement.You found it to beat M Vijay’s bat. The first time he didn’t touch it, the second time he did, but then you overstepped, the third time the ball went just over the stumps and the fourth time he inside-edged onto his pads. You showed him that on a strip with variable bounce, he needed to be more sure of his footwork. It turned out Cheteshwar Pujara wasn’t looking. You managed to get the ball to sneak through the bat-pad gap and take out his off stump.Then you found some reverse swing. You managed to move the ball in to the right-hand batsmen and forced them to play. The first time Rohit Sharma blocked, the second time he blocked, the third time he let it go, the fourth time it found the edge but Hashim Amla dropped it. In the end, Wriddhiman Saha was the victim, when a ball moved into him just a touch and he played on.You frustrated India with a consistent line and you asked questions of them with your lengths. You kept it full, you bent your back, you had another catch dropped and two more taken. You ended the Indian innings.Oh, and you became just the second seam bowler since 1987 to take five wickets at this venue. What did such a performance mean to you?”I think I will take a lot of confidence from this. There was a perception that maybe I can only bowl in South Africa where there is a bit of nip but I have shown that if the ball is reversing, I have ability to take wickets. So I will use is as motivation.”That’s great.Now wait.But, not too long.

****

Hurry up, Kyle.It’s the same match and South Africa’s batsmen are making the bowlers work much harder by ensuring they are back on the field less than 24 hours after they left it. You will have to try and do it all again, even though the ball is not moving and the batsmen are more assured. You will be tired. You may not have the success.Oh and the Indian captain wants to keep you out there to make his point that it is entirely possible to get runs in this series. That’s great but it means before you and your team-mates can go home…You have to wait.

****

Hurry up, Kyle.It’s still December 2015, and Philander has probably not recovered from his injury. Irrespective of whether Steyn has, the strangle by spin in India will mean South Africa want nothing more than the green, green grass of home. Your home, Kyle.Kingsmead will host the first Test against England, and South Africa could be tempted to go in with four pacers. If Philander is unavailable, both you and Kagiso Rabada could play.Oh, but they can’t go in with four pacers in every match. And when Philander recovers, he slots back in. And they don’t seem too keen to do without Rabada, who has leapfrogged all the competition.That’s great. For him. But where does that leave you, Kyle?”Your career is never a guarantee. It’s always something you are fighting for, constantly. Not just me but every other player. It’s a fight the whole time.”So all you can do is wait.

Sixty-three-year-old Viv Richards may never have played T20 cricket, but the Quetta Gladiators mentor managed to grab the attention of every single youngster around him with his baritone voice and big-hearted laughter

Nagraj Gollapudi03-Feb-20161:48

‘We should all work as one family’ – Richards

Like a powerful magnet, he kept drawing those around him, towards him. And like many, many before them had done, each and every member of the Quetta Gladiators listened to the man in front of them with rapt attention. After all, it was Viv Richards: the king of cricket.Clad in the grey team attire, a black Emporio Armani cap, branded black sunglasses, and a thin grey French beard, Richards looks as imposing as ever. But he is not intimidating. Instead, on his first day of the Pakistan Super League, where he is the mentoring the Gladiators, Richards showed a light-hearted personality that put the inexperienced Pakistani youngsters at ease.Despite having never played the Twenty20 format, Richards remains a favourite with franchises in various domestic leagues, including the IPL, Big Bash League and the Caribbean Premier League. A singular presence during his time as a top-order batsman for West Indies, Richards has been hired by teams to not just perform the role assigned to an after-dinner speaker, but more importantly, to inject a heavy dose of motivation in young players. T20 cricket is a pressure sport, after all.On Tuesday, at the sprawling ICC Cricket Academy campus, Richards’ baritone voice and big-hearted laughter echoed all around. He is 63-years-old, but never for once did he act his age. Instead, Richards puts his arms around young Pakistan players like Sarfraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq, while earnestly responding to their numerous questions.”It was my first meeting with him. I had never seen him play, but I had heard about him,” Sarfraz, Gladiators’ captain, said. “He said that you should never have doubt when you play. He said when he went in to bat he never had doubts in his mind. ‘Even if I walked in without wearing a helmet I knew that I would not be hurt by the ball,’ he told us. He said if I am playing at this level then I must be good. But if I had fear inside then no one could help me.”A sturdy and aggressive middle-order batsman, Sarfaraz specifically wanted to know the role he should play in a dynamic format like T20 where pressure is omnipresent.Viv Richards: One among the players•PSL”In his opinion, my decision should be backed by the team. And if the team backed me it would be successful. Importantly, he said that at all times, good or bad, the team should always be one and trust each other.”What was fascinating for Sarfaraz to see was Richards, despite his legendary status, behaving like one of his friends.”He had an aura when he played. But today he was one of us. He is our mentor and made us feel at ease.” When Moin Khan introduced Richards to the group as “Sir”, he was told “in the future, forget the ‘Sir’. Vivian is okay.” You could hear the laughter among the Gladiators’ group from a distance.Richards’ message to Sarfaraz was straight and simple: “If you do not believe in yourself no one is going to believe you. So you got to trust yourself all the time. And back yourself. That’s why you are here. So it is important that you yourself trust yourself and believe that you are good enough.”Former Pakistan wicket-keeper Moin, who is Gladiators’ head coach, was not surprised by Richards’ popularity. “Look at them, every one of those players is standing and listening to him,” Moin turned back, pointing to the group listening intently to Richards. For Moin, Richards is the pioneer in making cricket aggressive. “He taught all of us that you can quicken the pace of the game. He is a big inspiration.”According to Richards, the key in T20 cricket is to stay committed to the task at hand. To stay committed to the role given to you. “I am here basically to try and instil as much confidence as possible. As you know, T20 cricket is very spontaneous. The things that you see on a regular basis is tough to coach. What I am here for is to inspire (with) whatever information that is necessary. There are a lot of young kids here and I am quite happy doing that,” Richards said.For the last nine years, Pakistan has been starved of international cricket at home. Consequently, the domestic players and youngsters like Sarfraz have been denied the opportunity of watching live cricket, attending training sessions, and interacting with past greats in the flesh. These are all important steps in the evolution of a young player.It’s not just Richards. Kevin Pietersen (Gladiators), Chris Gayle (Lahore Qalandars) and Shane Watson (Islamabad United) are all reputed and proven names that can teach a thing or two the uncapped domestic Pakistani youngster.As Sarfaraz said, the PSL has now presented him and all Pakistan players across the five franchises that lost opportunity. “He [Richards] has already put the confidence inside us where we can walk up to him and ask any question we want. That is what I would like to do for the next 20 days.”

MS Dhoni made India the world champions on his captaincy debut in 2007 and has continued to rack up silverware like they are half off at a clearance sale

Alagappan Muthu in Mirpur07-Mar-20162:50

‘Asia Cup is a special win for us’ – Dhoni

“It’s a special win.”MS Dhoni is not often prone to such grandiose statements, least of all in front of a cadre of journalists searching for big, bold headlines and hashtaggable quotes. He even confessed to changing the speech he had cooked up for a function at the Indian High Comission last Sunday upon hearing the media would also be present. So when a man who measures his words so carefully felt the Asia Cup “was an important one to win”, you get curious.On the surface, it doesn’t look particularly startling. An eight-wicket victory in a rain-curtailed game where India were chasing 121 in 15 overs. It was their sixth on the trot, meaning they were in form, and everyone from the opposition captain to umpteen cricket experts had tagged them as the favourites. India were ranked No. 1. Bangladesh were at No. 10. Things merely panned out to establish that, right?Sure. If Twenty20 cricket cowed down to logic like that.Dhoni seemed acutely aware of the format’s penchant to make anything happen and he worked tirelessly to ensure he wasn’t caught off guard. He had assessed this to be the “best batting wicket in the tournament”, but keeping the runs down was crucial because “it is a knockout game. If it’s an off day for you, you’re completely out and you have to start all over again.”Going back to the drawing board with a World T20 waiting for them when they return home was not an option. So Dhoni was adamant to stay ahead of the game. He brought Ashwin on for the first over to perhaps see if the ball turning away from the left-handers could offer India an edge. It didn’t so he was quick to bring on Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah, who have been absolute nuisances to opening batsmen since the start of the year. Soumya Sarkar fell in the fourth over, Tamim Iqbal followed him in the fifth.Dhoni drew Ashwin out of his sleeve again the minute the Powerplay was done, but that also meant he had only one over left from each of his three lead bowlers for the rest of the innings.He kept Bumrah for the final over – which yielded only seven runs – knocked Nehra’s quota off in the 13th so he needn’t feel too much pressure on the one day he didn’t seem at his best and sprung Ashwin on Shakib Al Hasan in the 10th after the batsman had crashed Hardik Pandya’s pace for a brace of boundaries in the eighth. A lazy sweep resulted in a top-edge and short fine leg was perfectly placed.

“Asia Cup is one tournament that happens every alternate year. So you don’t get a lot of opportunity. Once you get an opportunity, it is important to get to the final and once you are there you look to win.”MS Dhoni on winning another trophy

Dhoni made India the world champions on his captaincy debut in 2007 and has racked up ICC silverware like they are half off at a clearance sale. Big finals seem to be his forte. He is animated, even a bit OCD, when setting the field. He has a helpful word or two to the bowler when things aren’t going well, like after Hardik Pandya was smashed for two sixes in the penultimate over. The two legitimate balls after that conversation – noticeably fuller and straighter – yielded only two runs.In short, Dhoni became very involved because he was playing a final in a tournament that featured four of the ten Test nations. And he wanted his team to be the best.”Recently if you see there have not been too many tournaments where three nations have participated,” Dhoni said. “Asia Cup is one tournament that happens every alternate year. So you don’t get a lot of opportunity. Once you get an opportunity, it is important to get to the final and once you are there you look to win.”There was another player who was as vigilant as Dhoni was. He had come into tonight’s game with scores of 2, 1 and 16 not out and was the guiding force behind a superbly calculated chase: Shikhar Dhawan.His 60 off 44 balls began in familiar fashion – with a four through point – but this one was ever so minimalist. Dhawan hoped to only time the ball and he was careful not to waft the bat out away from his body. The ball, as if thoroughly impressed, sped off to the boundary defying an outfield was still a bit soggy after the storm. Awareness of that fact fed into his running as well. The 94-run match-winning stand he had with Virat Kohli began with a couple, then a single and then a couple again, all rapidly run. And the routine continued. Bangladesh were never allowed to build any pressure.Dhawan made India comfortable with a couple of fours off inexperienced left-arm seamer Abu Hider, punished the experienced Shakib when his left-arm spin was fired in too quickly or was too short in length. A late cut in the sixth over epitomised Dhawan’s ingenuity. Third man was up, the ball was short, his shot selection couldn’t have been more perfect.Then out came Dhoni, who finished the match off in a whirlwind of fours and sixes. The chase didn’t even go to the final over. Neither India nor their captain wanted to leave anything to chance tonight.

Kevin Pietersen has fuelled the fire over a potential international comeback for South Africa. If the extraordinary did happen, he would join a select group of players to have appeared for two countries. ESPNcricinfo picks out a few names

Andrew McGlashan10-Apr-2016Albert TrottBorn in Melbourne, Trott played three Tests for Australia in 1895 with considerable success, but was ignored for the 1896 tour of England, ironically captained by his brother Harry, and was not picked again. Instead, he joined Middlesex, and in the winter of 1899, played two Tests for England on the tour of South Africa, claiming 17 wickets in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The following summer, he crossed 1000 runs, alongside taking 239 wickets – it was also the season when he famously hit a six over the Lord’s pavilion – but there were no further Tests despite, at the turn of the century, being considered “just about the finest all-round cricketer on earth,” as David Frith wrote in a 1973 edition of .Nawab of Pataudi snrThe only man to have played for India and England, he made a century on Test debut against Australia at the SCG in the Bodyline tour of 1932-33, but returned home before the end of the series after a disagreement over the tactics employed by Douglas Jardine. One more England Test followed before, in 1936, he was named India captain for the tour of England, although he was later not fit for the trip. Due to the Second World War, it was not until 1946 that he appeared in a Test again. By then, his best years were behind him and he made just 55 runs in five innings.John TraicosAn offspinner, Traicos holds the record for the longest gap between Test appearances of (the very neat) 22 years and 222 days. Born in Egypt – another good quiz question – he grew up in South Africa and made his debut in 1970 against Australia, but three Tests were the sum total of his chance. Having then gone to play in Zimbabwe, or Rhodesia, as it was known then, he made his ODI debut for them in 1983, and when they were granted Test status in 1992, was still bowling well enough to earn a place. On his second debut, at the age of 45, he took 5 for 86 in 50 overs against India in Harare – including the scalp of Sachin Tendulkar for a third-ball duck.Kepler WesselsThe most recent dual-nation Test player, Wessels returned to captain South Africa – including at the 1992 World Cup – following their readmission to international cricket post-apartheid. This came after a long career in Australia that included three years at Test level and stints in World Series Cricket. Two of his six Test centuries came for South Africa: the first against India in Durban then a historic innings at Lord’s in 1994 in what would become his final series. While playing for Australia, he fronted up outstandingly against the West Indies pace attack of the mid-80s with scores of 61, 98, 70, 90 and 173 during the 1984-85 series.Luke RonchiThe most recent player to switch between Full Member nations, Ronchi made his New Zealand ODI and T20 debuts in 2013 having previously played four ODIs and three T20s for Australia between 2008 and 2009 – which included a 22-ball fifty against West Indies. He was born in New Zealand, but raised in Australia, which created his first route into international cricket but after his Australia career faded he looked back across the Tasman. He made his New Zealand debut at Lord’s in May 2013, marking the occasion with a duck, and it took him 20 ODIs to pass fifty again when he made 99 against South Africa. His returns have been inconsistent, but the highlight was an unbeaten 170 against Sri Lanka, in Dunedin, when he shared a world-record sixth-wicket stand of 267 with Grant ElliottEd Joyce and Boyd RankinNever mind switching once, these two have done it twice. Joyce and Rankin both started their careers with Ireland before opting to pursue international honours with England. Joyce played ODIs and T20s – including at the 2007 World Cup where he faced Ireland – while Rankin reached Test level with what became a difficult outing against Australia at the SCG in early 2014. Joyce was granted an exemption to return for Ireland at the 2011 World Cup shortly before his four-year re-qualification period had elapsed but, after the ICC tweaked the regulations, Rankin only had to wait two years from his last England appearance and returned to Ireland’s T20I side shortly before the recent World T20 in India.

James Faulkner talks about the IPL, his slower balls, bouncing back from a drunk-driving episode, and bad haircuts

Interview by Arun Venugopal26-Apr-2016This is your fourth team in the IPL, but obviously the high point was your stint with Rajasthan Royals. How have you found the Gujarat Lions set-up so far?
It’s been different. Obviously, I was with Rajasthan for three years. [Three years there] made you very used to what happened around you. You’ve got the same sort of squad pretty much every year, the same support staff, coaches and senior players as well. We all knew each other inside and out. Obviously it’s going to be new any time you come to a new franchise, or whether it’s a new team. So you are playing county cricket or Big Bash, there are going to be different challenges and different relationships you have to build with team-mates. You know their game as well and what they are trying to achieve. That’s all part of the challenge and so far we have started well as a team.How long does it generally take for you to develop a sense of attachment with the team?
Ah, it doesn’t happen quickly. It all depends on the players you know already. I am lucky here I knew a lot of their players, especially their international players, but I even knew a lot of the Indian locals as well, having played with them in other franchises, whether it was way back at the start at Pune [Warriors] or Kings XI [Punjab] when I wasn’t obviously playing. But I was training with them and spending time. [At the] end of the day it’s up to the players to gel and it is up to the coaching staff to get them to gel as well.When you are playing alongside a few ex-international captains like Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Bravo, what are the things you learn from a leadership perspective?
Nothing has really stood out too much for me. Probably it’s just that we are all in it together, so all the senior players are trying to help the young players improve their games and at the end of the day we can all improve as a group. That’s what stands out. For the younger players who haven’t played any games in the IPL, talking to those players – they probably idolise a few of them, which is great. It’s healthy for any team.Anyone who idolises you in the team?
() I am not too sure. I am just trying to help as much as I can. I encourage the younger players to ask questions and [share] little pointers every now and then when I feel like it’s the right time.

“I just haven’t had the opportunity to bat. If you look at how many balls I have faced in the last 12 months, it’s not many”

Is there a system in Gujarat Lions where each senior player takes a younger player under his wing and mentors him?
No, I think it just naturally comes up. With any player you notice something with which you help them. You are not there to tell them off or make them change their games too drastically. It’s just little things that they can [work on]. At the end of the day they are responsible for their own games. If they want to take your advice they can. If they don’t, no issue at all.Talk us through the different kinds of slower balls you bowl. The back-of-the-hand delivery seems to be a clear winner.
Yeah, I have tried to play out with a new one off late, just to have another option. That’s just an offcutter. It all depends on the wicket. [On a] slow wicket you can bowl different sorts of deliveries. On quicker and flatter wickets they are not as effective, so you will have to really try and out-think the batsman compared to when it is slower and turning, when you can bowl the same sort of balls consistently.Did starting out as a wristspinner make it easier for you to bowl the back-of-the-hand one?
When I was young I would bowl spin in the backyard with Dad and then I just sort of developed [it] into my game with hours of bowling in the backyard. That’s pretty simple, so it’s one of my weapons now. It’s just a matter of trying to find other deliveries to keep the batsmen guessing.How do you extract the amount of bounce you do from that delivery?
For me, it’s all about not just putting it there. Instead of just putting it there when I am bowling the ball I get more revolutions on it. That’s where you get the bounce and the spin. It can be harder and challenging here in the IPL, especially with the dew factor, it’s hard to hold it. I bowled one the other night [in Mumbai] that came out not very good. It’s hard to get that feel and grip on the ball sometimes in certain grounds around India.Have you had an opportunity to swap notes with Bravo on slower deliveries?
Yeah, he’s got a beauty, so I have spent some time in the nets talking to him about certain fields, asking how he bowled it. I can’t actually bowl it like him, but it’s one of those things you have to get if you are trying different deliveries to improve your game.In the recent past, your bowling seems to have grown in strength, but the batting has been a little patchy. Do you think bowlers around the world have worked you out better now?
I just haven’t had the opportunity to bat. Whatever the teams I have played in, the top order have got the runs, so you can’t really go out there and score runs if you are only getting to face four-five balls. I tend to look at it as if I am batting down at 6, 7 or 8, I am not getting to bat a majority of times in many games. If you look at how many balls I have faced in the last 12 months, it’s not many.”It’s different cricket over here [in India]. The fans love the game, and you can’t explain that to your friends and family back home about how crazy they are for all the players, all the teams, just cricket in general”•Associated PressDoes your father, Peter Faulkner, a former first-class player himself, share cricketing advice with you?
He shares his advice, but he lets me do my own thing. He is supportive of what I am trying to achieve and that’s to play the best cricket I can in any format. We talk cricket, but, to be honest, when I am not playing I enjoy my time at home with my friends and family.You said you will regret the drunk-driving episode for the rest of your life. Is it something that’s past you now? What have you done to get over it?
Yeah, it’s nearly a year – it was June or July. It’s ages ago now. I have just got back to playing cricket and tried to play as well as I could. From the incident, the next game I played [in the Royal London Cup 50-over tournament] I switched on. We [Lancashire] won that T20 [Natwest T20 Blast] after that.How did you manage such a quick turnaround from an incident like that?
It was just about obviously owning up to it, putting your hand up to apologise and then putting it behind me and try and improve as a person, and improve as a player as well. I have enjoyed cricket after that even more, so that I can get away from it all. Obviously it was a tough time and yeah, at the end of the season we won the T20s, which is great. I felt like I did owe my team-mates something as well while I was there, so doing that was satisfying.How did your family react to this incident – your parents and girlfriend?
I had support from everyone, whether it was family or friends or team-mates. That’s what friends and family are there for. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s just a matter of your owning up to it and learning from it and not making the same mistake twice. I had support from everyone. [My parents and girlfriend] were just as supportive.

“I want to try and play as many games for my country as I can and perform as well as I can in tight situations”

How much did the alcohol management counselling session help? Have you tried to stay off the bottle completely like David Warner has recently?
No, for me, it’s the same thing. You celebrate your success as you celebrate your downtime. I had one [counselling] session with Tim Paine, who was there [with him during the incident in Manchester]. We were trying to celebrate his engagement. That was it. I have put it behind me since that.You said last year that you would ideally like to spend a lot more time with your sisters? Have you managed to find time to do that?
Yeah, it’s hard. My sisters, one of them has just finished uni and got a degree and the other one, I have hardly seen, so it is hard. When I am back home as well I am not in one specific spot – you travel around Australia. It’s the same with all the players that fly for inter-state games. It’s very hard for them [my sisters] as well because they have got their own lives to live and their own studies and full-time job to do.Given the kind of adulation cricketers receive while playing in India, how do you ensure you retain perspective and stay grounded?
It’s just one of the things [when] you come to India and play the IPL. It’s different cricket over here. The fans love the game, and you can’t explain to your friends and family back home about how crazy they are for all the players, all the teams, just cricket in general. I think it’s fantastic. I definitely do enjoy playing in front of the crowds over here because of that factor.How has your girlfriend found the experience? How does her presence help you on tours?
It’s definitely massive bonus if you have a friend or family or girlfriend over at the moment – someone around for company. Obviously here in Rajkot, it’s quite hard for the overseas players. I know some of the Indian players are struggling as well. Yeah, she is holding up. She has done enough travel now. She understands that this isn’t a holiday, it’s purely work and that [it] comes down to performance. She is supportive and she is studying at the moment, so she is busy doing that.You are a big Aussie Rules football fan. What are the things from the AFL that you have learnt and tried to incorporate into your own game?
I haven’t seen much AFL over the last couple of years purely because I was never home to watch it. I haven’t really brought anything to my own game. It’s a different sport, but I am into sport and games. Probably enjoyment is the only thing I have brought into my game.”Me and Virat get on fine and he said the same thing to the press as well. There is nothing there. It’s just a contest and he likes getting into a contest.”•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesYou seem to have had your fair share of banter on the field, like a few chats with Virat Kohli recently.
I think [with] every player, not every player, but it’s just friendly banter at the end of the day. Me and Virat get on fine and he said the same thing to the press as well. There is nothing there. It’s just a contest and he likes getting into a contest. That’s what makes him one of the best players in the world.Are you comfortable taking the piss and being at the receiving end of such banter?
Oh, I have copped plenty of banter. Don’t worry about that! Definitely, I enjoy it as well. It’s part of it.Is your current hairstyle inspired from that of the volleyball, Wilson, in , as someone pointed out on your Twitter page?
() I had asked for a number two [on the shaver] on the side. Next thing I know I have got a number one. I just let him go with it. That [the haircut] was in Mumbai. I am not too fussed about it. I normally let the hairdresser do what they want to do. Yeah, couple of weeks hopefully away from a good haircut.Is there a culture shift now in the Australian side with many younger players like you being a departure from the archetypal beer-guzzling, macho player of the past? Most of you appear to be a lot more metrosexual.
I am not too sure. I didn’t grow up in that generation. I think now what you see is a lot more cricket being played, so that’s definitely a lot harder when it comes to that. [There are] so many different formats around the world, and T20 has changed the dynamics so greatly. It’s obviously fantastic. You will have to ask players who have had played in both generations, but I think the big factor is that there is so much more cricket.Speaking of so much cricket, it’s perhaps natural to fall out of love with the game at times. How do you rekindle that love?
I think it’s about enjoying your downtime as well. We don’t get many days off – we had yesterday off and then we train today, play tomorrow and then we go pretty much flat out after that every second day with travel. You have to spend time with your mates and relax and try and forget about it [cricket], switch off and get ready to switch back on again.I have got my girlfriend here in India at the moment. I watch movies. That’s probably the main thing I do. We had a couple of days in Mumbai last week. We spent some time around the pool, trying to relax and get out of the hotel room. [We] went out to dinner and restaurants and came back ready to play.What are the benchmarks you set for yourself as a cricketer? Are you working on something specific to get better at red-ball cricket?
Personally, I want to try and play as many games for my country as I can and perform as well as I can in tight situations. A measurement of that is how many games you are involved in or you win as a group. Whether I bat well or bowl well or have a poor day while winning, that’s how I measure myself.It’s hard to do that [get better at red-ball cricket] when I am not playing any. I haven’t really played much Shield cricket in the last few years. I have played a lot of white-ball cricket and obviously we won the World Cup in Australia. So yeah, just concentrating on winning the game I’m playing in at the time.

Lauderhill is home to the CPL in the USA currently, but a host of criteria, such as the absence of local fans and the tropical weather, go against it and could force a change

Peter Della Penna08-Aug-2016The Caribbean Premier League’s maiden foray into playing on US soil was a chance for the sport to be revived at the Central Broward Regional Park (CBRP) in Lauderhill to combat the burgeoning presence of soccer at the facility. In some ways, the CPL accomplished this because, India agreed to play two Twenty20 Internationals against West Indies shortly after the league’s conclusion. That would have made it two big-ticket events in successive months at CBRP after going four years without a major revenue-generating cricket event.CPL officials have repeatedly said they are committed to coming back again. Several sources have even said CPL officials explored hosting the finals in Florida, though the limited number of pitches on the square would have posed a basic logistical problem. Whether coming back means Florida or to elsewhere in the USA remains to be seen though.The CPL has declined multiple requests to provide official attendance figures for the games in Florida, but the raw visual evidence for bums in seats over the course of the four days in Lauderhill was a mixed bag.Seating capacity at the venue is malleable based on the desires of each tenant. For the CPL, they opted to cap sales for each day at 10,000 people. The July 28 curtain-raiser between Guyana Amazon Warriors and Barbados Tridents was played in front of a crowd that was comfortably less than half of that total, while a Friday night match on July 29 between Trinbago Knight Riders and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots was marginally better.By far the best crowd of the weekend showed up for the July 30 doubleheader, led off by the Jamaica Tallawahs and St Lucia Zouks and followed by the Warriors and Tridents. Though the 5000 permanent seats on the south half of the venue were officially sold out and total attendance was estimated to be around 8000, it was a deceptive tally. At no point were the permanent seating sections filled up because many fans who bought a ticket for the day either came for the first or second game, but not both, though the crowd was much fuller and noisier for the latter contest with the Guyana expat community turning out in force.A similar scene was on display for July 31. The opening game of a 12 pm doubleheader start was played in front of a healthy crowd with the Trinidad expat community providing overwhelming support for the Knight Riders against the Patriots. However, game two between the Tallawahs and Zouks was played in a stadium that was almost half-empty, exacerbated by an early finish to game one and a 50-minute lightning delay to push back the first ball of game two.Despite the fact that local officials hyped up the Jamaican expat community’s presence in the Lauderhill area as a reason for Saturday and Sunday’s games having better sales than the first two days, this was not borne out by the evidence. Support for the Tallawahs flagged well behind that given to the Warriors and Knight Riders and local fans were hard to find.Instead, out-of-towners provided the majority of the gate revenue. Support was strongest from fans traveling to Florida from New York and Toronto for the weekend. One party of 50 Guyanese cousins and friends living in Queens, New York made the trip down to Florida. According to Kyazoonga, the official ticketing website, tickets were sold online to people from at least 35 states, further promoting the image of a tourist-dominated event. Even if the stands were not jam-packed by locals, they were definitely vibrant and loud.A shining example of this was the Balchand family, who drove down 20 hours from Ozone Park in the Queens borough of New York City to take in the weekend action. Originally from Guyana, Darren Balchand and his wife Shafiqua came to New York in 1991. Their four kids, all rabid cricket fans, were all born in New York. Darren came with his eldest son Ronald, now 20, back in 2012 to see the West Indies play New Zealand, but this time the rest of the family made the trip, including twins Damien and Alicia, 16, and youngest brother Brandon, 14.”We’re West Indians so our cricket is a very festive atmosphere and I like that we don’t have to go all the way to the West Indies to experience that,” says Ronald. “We can have the same experience here.”High summer temperatures added to the fans’ discomfort during the Florida leg of CPL 2016•Peter Della PennaIt wasn’t just the West Indian expats that came from New York though. Joel Katz, 52, and his wife Susan discovered cricket while on vacation in the Caribbean three years ago. They went to six CPL games in St Kitts in 2015 and decided on seeing games in Florida this time around mainly because there were six games slated for Florida, but only four games scheduled at every other home venue. Quite simply they were willing to travel to any venue for the CPL, they just wanted to see as much cricket as possible.”Last week, I saw the Mets at Wrigley [in Chicago] for the game the Mets won in the ninth and I gotta say Cubbie fans are into their local team but here everybody is having a blast,” said Joel, who was decked out in Tallawahs gear all weekend, eager to see his favorite cricketer. “Chris Gayle. Christopher Henry Gayle! He brings such excitement to the game. You never know which Chris Gayle is gonna walk onto the field. It’s just a great experience. I’ve never been to Lord’s but I can’t imagine this kind of experience there.”However, there was a subtle difference between the Katz and Balchand families that was repeated throughout the stadium on all four days. Most fans of West Indian heritage who had their kids born and raised in the USA brought them out to enjoy the festivities, regarding it as a very family-friendly atmosphere. While there were numerous Americans outside of the West Indian community present, none of them brought their kids.This cultural disconnect was summed up by a middle-aged couple from Connecticut who came out for the entire weekend. David and Trudie retired on a yacht to Trinidad and discovered the CPL while based there, going to the finals last year at Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain. While saying they loved every minute of it, they also confessed they wouldn’t even think of bringing their grandkids, while nodding to a group of carnival girls dancing at the front of their section. “We call this baseball with strippers,” said David.Whether one considered the event family friendly or not, a bigger concern was the stifling heat and humidity, which also contributed to fans leaving early or showing up late on the pair of doubleheader days. Temperatures remained over 90F every day with a real feel climbing over 100F when humidity was factored in. It was one of the few complaints people like the Katz and Balchand families had about the experience and several sources stated that vendors ran out of beer on the first doubleheader day with fans desperate to quench their thirst.Summer in New York can be hot, but generally is a bit more moderate and without the threat of tropical weather interfering. The Cricket All-Stars crowd at Citi Field in New York last November was officially 27,846. Based on the healthy contingent of fans from New York who traveled south for the CPL this year, such a number could be within reach for the CPL should they decide to stage games in New York in the near future.However, league organizers appear to be firm in their stance that the games must be played on fields with true boundary dimensions. A drop-in wicket at Citi Field may have been passable for the All-Stars, but 45-meter boundaries will not be for the CPL. Lauderhill may a default candidate to host CPL games in the USA in the near future if the league decides to persist with it’s expansion in the USA, but as soon as a suitable turf wicket venue becomes available in New York, don’t be surprised to see the league leave Florida behind.