ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2016Liam Plunkett made the first breakthrough when he removed Kusal Perera•Getty ImagesDanushka Gunathilaka attempts to scoop the ball over short fine leg•Getty ImagesLiam Dawson enjoyed a debut to remember as he claimed three wickets•Getty ImagesAngelo Mathews was one of Dawson’s wickets when he missed a sweep•AFPThere was plenty of pooring runn from Sri Lanka and Dasun Shanaka is caught short of the crease courtesy a direct hit•Getty ImagesJason Roy was bowled sweeping at Angelo Mathews in the first over•AFPJos Buttler opened for England and struck a half century after an early reprieve•Getty ImagesEoin Morgan found the middle of the bat despite dislocating a finger in the field•AFP

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jul-2016Kusal Mendis added only seven to his overnight score of 169…•AFP…before Mitchell Starc had him caught behind•Associated PressBut Rangana Herath chipped in with a feisty 35 off 34, hitting six fours to help Sri Lanka to 353, setting Australia a target of 268•Associated PressHerath then struck early, removing David Warner for 1 with the second ball he bowled•Associated PressSoon thereafter, Usman Khawaja missed an attempted sweep and was trapped in front by Dilruwan Perera•AFPWhen Lakshan Sandakan extracted sharp turn to get one through Joe Burns’ defences, Australia were precariously placed at 63 for 3•AFPSteven Smith and Adam Voges added 20, before bad light forced play to be called off for the day with Australia still needing 185 runs for a win•AFP

Stats highlights from the second day in Mirpur

S Rajesh29-Oct-20164 Spinners who have taken five-wicket hauls in each of their first two Tests; Bangladesh’s Mehedi Hasan became the fourth bowler in this list when he took 6 for 82 in England’s first innings, after taking 6 for 80 in the first innings in Chittagong. The others in this list are India’s Narendra Hirwani, who had 24 wickets in his first two Tests, Australia’s Clarrie Grimmett, and England’s Nick Cook. Grimmett and Hirwani took three five-wicket hauls in their first two Tests.13 Wickets for Mehedi in his first two Tests so far. With one more innings to go, Mehedi already has the most wickets by a Bangladesh bowler after two Tests. Mahmudullah and Sohag Gazi had both taken 12 in their first two matches.99 The partnership between Adil Rashid and Chris Woakes, England’s highest for the ninth wicket in Asia. The previous best was 83, by Keith Fletcher and Norman Gifford, against India in Chennai way back in 1973.3.72 The economy rate for England’s spinners so far in this series – they have leaked 603 runs in 161.5 overs, compared to Bangladesh’s 599 in 236.4 (econ rate 2.53). Bangladesh’s spinners have also taken more wickets – 28, to England’s 19 – at a much better average – 21.39, to England’s 31.73. In the second Test, England’s spinners have leaked 4.11 runs per over, compared to Bangladesh’s 2.64. In comparison, England’s fast bowlers have an economy rate of 2.37 in this series.

Pace and spin in the series so far

PaceSpinTeamWicketsAverageEcon rateWicketsAverageEcon rateBangladesh1124.004.002821.392.53England1417.072.371931.733.722 Instances of Bangladesh spinners returning better figures than Mehedi’s 6 for 82 when opening the bowling in a Test innings: Gazi took 6 for 74 against West Indies in 2012, while Mehedi himself took 6 for 80 in the first Test of the ongoing series.13 Fifty-plus stands between Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes, the second highest by any Bangladesh pair; only Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan, with 16 such partnerships, have more. The Tamim-Imrul aggregate partnership runs of 2213 is easily the highest by any Bangladesh pair.

The former South Africa allrounder is best remembered for his 169 in an ODI against New Zealand in 1994

Luke Alfred22-Aug-2016Once or twice in a lifetime, a batsman will play an innings of such thoughtless brilliance that he’s at a loss to know where it’s come from. Each innings in this category takes some of its shape from the batsman’s personality. Mike Atherton, for example, played an innings of cussed charm against South Africa at the Wanderers in late 1995. His 185 not out was long, stubborn and heroically restrained. No one else could have played in quite the same way.A little less than a year before that, up the road at Centurion, Dave Callaghan played another type of memorable innings – the quick blaze, the shooting star – all the more remarkable for being so quickly and absolutely forgotten. South Africa were in the midst of a prolonged quadrangular series against Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka that lasted from early December 1994 until the middle of January 1995. Against the run of things, Callaghan was pushed into service at the top of the order.”Hansie [Cronje] came to me after the Saturday game [against Pakistan at the Wanderers] in which Gary [Kirsten] and Andrew [Hudson] had opened and sort of raised the possibility that I might play the next day,” remembers Callaghan. “Gary had been struggling slightly and they were looking for a proper batsman to give the innings some impetus up front. Bob [Woolmer] and Hansie were always thinking about things, always experimenting, there was very much that kind of attitude around the side at the time, and I was keen.”I was usually a pretty sound sleeper but I don’t think I slept as soundly that Saturday night as I usually did.”New Zealand’s last game had been against Sri Lanka in Bloemfontein a couple of days previously. Sanath Jayasuriya had opened for Sri Lanka and carved the New Zealand bowlers to all corners of the largest ground in South Africa, scoring 140 in 143 balls with nine fours and six sixes. Richard de Groen had figures of 10-0-75-0. Callaghan remembers that the South African management took note of the innings but doesn’t give the idea that it made too much of an impression. He was aware, however, that the New Zealand attack – de Groen, Simon Doull, Chris Pringle and Chris Harris – was ill suited to the harder Highveld wickets. “We got there on the Sunday and the track was just like glass,” Callaghan says. “Those Kiwi attacks needed a bit of give in the wicket. They liked it when perhaps it wasn’t coming onto the bat as the batsmen would like, and Centurion wasn’t really like that – it was just perfect for batting.”

“One guy came on with a two-litre bottle of Coke and I remember being so thirsty that I just grabbed it out of his hand. The problem was that I think there was more brandy in that bottle than Coke”

Callaghan was part of a talented group of South African allrounders – Brian McMillan, Hansie Cronje, Richard Snell, Eric Simons, Steven Jack and Mike Rindel – but if you were neither Cronje nor McMillan, there was precious little job security for you and your allrounder kind. Callaghan would bounce up and down the batting order and boomerang in and out of the side. It was both the best and the worst of times, so he knew when Cronje opted to bat first that it was time to take advantage.That said, he wasn’t greedy. He never set his sights above getting fifty, and when Hudson, his opening partner, went early, a half-century looked an awfully long way off.”Andrew cut it down Mark Priest’s throat off Doull at third man early on and I played exactly the same shot to get off the mark a little later. I got away with a one-bounce four but ten metres either way and I might have followed Andrew to the pavilion. I just had an inkling that it was going to be my day.”Callaghan and Cronje, the next man in, put on 149 for the second wicket. They knew each other well, and Callaghan was buoyed by the fact that his captain clearly had faith in him.”The previous season, I think it was, I’d played for Rochdale in the Central Lancashire League,” says Callaghan. “Hansie had played as Norden’s overseas pro and the two clubs were virtually neighbours. We trained together and although I was slightly older, we became mates. Towards the end of the season we’d train together in preparation for our return to South Africa, running sprints and shuttles and even doing some 400m laps.”As the innings unfolded, Callaghan stepped into a sacred realm. Everything he tried came off. He was driving well and hitting it crisply through square on the off side – his bread-and-butter shot. He’d always liked batting at Centurion because it provides value for shots, and he became aware that there was no need to hit the ball too hard, as opposed to simply stroke it into the gaps he seemed to find everywhere he looked.Sensing a growing imperiousness, Doull tried to bounce him as he came on for his second spell. It didn’t work. As a small man, Callaghan was always a good puller and cutter and the strategy ended as quickly as it had begun.”We watched Doull, obviously, but the guy we were aware of was Pringle,” Callagahan says. “His second spell was impressive: he was one of the first cricketers to bowl slower balls and slower bouncers. If you’d talked to us about slower-ball bouncers in those days, we would have thought you had rocks in the head.”Centurion, where it all unfolded•Getty ImagesWith the total on 159, Cronje (68) holed out to Bryan Young in the deep off the offspinner Shane Thomson, bringing Daryll Cullinan to the wicket.”I remember us coming down for a mid-pitch chat between overs and him saying: ‘Look, you can get a hundred here’,” Callaghan says. “I looked at him before it sunk in and then I thought to myself, ‘Yes, he’s right, isn’t he. I can get a hundred too.'”With the seed planted, Callaghan snuck up on a century. He had been in this position of total command a couple of times before. He remembers once hitting a Clive Rice beamer over the Firestone Pavilion at St George’s Park for six. Now, again, he found that everything he touched came off. If fine leg and third man were brought up, Callaghan would find a way to ease the ball past them; if they were placed on the boundary, he somehow managed to find the ropes. Eventually, three figures hove into view. Callaghan brought up his century with a lap off Mark Priest down to fine leg for two. “Hansie was one of the first guys to get up and start clapping in the dressing room. He was so pleased for me. He was supportive throughout.”There was no standing back after Callaghan had hauled himself onto the summit of a hundred. Several mortar-like lobs sailed over the long-on boundary off Doull. Callaghan destroyed the left-arm seamer, Murphy Su’a, and milked Thomson through midwicket.”Those were still the days when fans could flood over the boundary, and a whole wave of them came onto the square to congratulate me on reaching my 150,” says Callaghan. “One guy came on with a two-litre bottle of Coke and I remember being so thirsty that I just grabbed it out of his hand. The problem was that I think there was more brandy in that bottle than Coke. Sometimes I pull out the video and my son and I watch it and I tell him that was the day when I celebrated my 150 with a brandy.”Thanks, in part, to their victory over New Zealand in that match, South Africa marched into the final of the Mandela Trophy. Callaghan opened in the first final with Kirsten, falling to Aaqib Javed for 4. Two days later at the Wanderers, Cronje and Woolmer were rearranging things yet again – Callaghan losing his position as opener to another of his allrounder ilk, Rindel. The left-hander, known as Guava for his habit of going pink in the sun, eased to a maiden ODI hundred and was involved in an opening stand of 190 with Kirsten (87). Callaghan was back in the familiar middle-order netherworld, scoring 7 not out.Chasing 267, Pakistan could only muster 109, with Fanie de Villiers and Allan Donald sharing six wickets between them. It was a comprehensive victory against a gun Pakistan side, South Africa’s embarrassment of allrounder riches meaning that Callaghan’s crisp, brandy-slugging brilliance was quickly overshadowed by other things. He played his last ODI six years later, never scoring a fifty, let alone a hundred, his 169 not out so oddly miraculous that it must feel like an innings in a dream.07:25:30 GMT, August 22, 2016: The summary for the article originally identified Callaghan as a wicketkeeper-batsman

India became the first team to post four totals of 400 or more in a series despite losing the toss four times

Shiva Jayaraman19-Dec-2016India have posted a total of 759 for 7 in their first innings in Chennai, despite losing the toss. This is the fourth time in the series that they have scored 400 or more after having lost the toss. It is also the first instance in Tests that a team has done this in a series.Including this series, there have been 23 instances in all when a team has posted totals of 400 or more after losing the toss three or more times in any series. Incidentally, three of the last five such instances have been in series played in India. India themselves had got three such totals in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2012-13, and England had done it when they toured India in 2012-13.

400+ totals after losing toss 3+ times in a series (last five instances)

Team Series Season Venue 400+ TotalsIndia England in India 2016-17 India 4South Africa Sir Vivian Richards Trophy 2014/15 South Africa 3India Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014/15 Australia 3India Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2012/13 India 3England England in India 2012/13 India 3Including their first innings in Visakhapatnam – where they won the toss – this is their fifth total of 400 or more in this series. Before India in this series, there were only two instances of teams managing totals of 400-plus in the first innings of each Test of a series of five or more matches. Australia were the team to do it on both occasions: over six matches in the 1989 Ashes in England and against Pakistan at home in a series in 1983-84.

400+ totals in first inns of each Test of a series (5 or more Tests)

Team Series 400+ totals SeasonAustralia Pakistan in Australia 5 1983-84Australia The Ashes 6 1989India England in India 5 2016-17This is not the first time India are posting a total of 400 or more in each match of a five-Test series. They had done so in the series against New Zealand at home back in 1955-56. That instance, though, had come in India’s second innings of the Kolkata Test when they had declared on 438 for 7.

400+ totals in each match of a series (5 or more Tests)

Team Series Season 400+ TotalsIndia England in India 2016-17 5Australia The Ashes 1989 6Australia Pakistan in Australia 1983-84 5India New Zealand in India 1955-56 5

How the county turned from a feel-good story into a failed experiment

Tim Wigmore21-Nov-2016Durham began 1992 in a state of buoyancy. For a full century, Durham had been a minor county. Now, finally, they were a first-class team. And there was always the sense that Durham were not merely the 18th first-class team, but something more: flag-bearers for the entire north-east, giving a region deprived of professional cricket an identity at last.Twenty-five years on, the club approaches 2017 in trepidation and despair. They will begin the season demoted to Division Two of the County Championship as punishment for having to receive an ECB bail-out of £3.8 million, and, as if that was not bad enough, they will start on minus 48 points, as well as with points deductions in the other two formats. Chester-le-Street has also lost its status as a Test match venue.How did it ever come to this?

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With hindsight, it was in these heady early days that the roots of Durham’s demise can be found. At the start of the county’s first-class existence, two decisions were made which, together, would underpin its descent to the brink of insolvency.The first mistake was the ECB’s insistence that Durham develop a Test match ground. At huge expense, Chester-le-Street, which opened in 1995, became not just a beautiful ground, but one able to host Tests. The trouble was that in 13 years of hosting Test cricket, Durham was never able to make the games pay, with the glorious exception of the Ashes Test in 2013. The rest of the time Durham were lumbered with hosting unappetising tourists at an unappealing time of year, the attraction of games further undermined by often being scheduled from Friday to Tuesday, and so effectively denying Durham any chance to sell day four tickets in advance.The consequences were dire. For all their investment, Durham only earned an average of £300,000 from England matches from 2008 to 2015. The average at other Test grounds was £1 million. “The fundamental problem is that almost since day one the club has not generated sufficient revenue to cover its fixed overheads,” says David Harker, Durham’s chief executive. “The requirement to have a venue capable of staging international cricket without then earning the required receipts from international cricket is the single biggest cause of the problem.”
Another county chief executive reflects: “They ‘bet the farm’ and lost.”Hosting Test cricket, for most part, was a burden for Durham, which wasn’t given marquee matches and prime summer dates•Getty ImagesThe second mistake was Chester-le-Street itself. The town is simply too small to have a first-class ground, let alone a Test one. Only 25,000 people reside in Chester-le-Street, which is easily the smallest of all the centres of population that are the main hosts of the 18 first-class counties. In an age when counties have to increase their non-cricket income, Chester-le-Street lacks the population to do that. The train from Newcastle to Durham is only 11 minutes. For Durham, those 11 minutes might have been the difference between being stable and almost going out of business. “Our out of town situation is certainly a factor, especially for T20,” Harker says. When Durham was created, no one appears to have seriously suggested that building the ground in Newcastle would have been preferable. Yet such a ground would be ideally suited not just to packing in T20 crowds on Friday evenings in high-summer, but also – even more importantly – staging corporate events all-year long.The ECB’s demands when elevating Durham and the small population around Chester-le-Street were bad enough. But those two factors alone might not have proved disastrous had it not been for a third obstacle, perhaps the most potent of all. The north-east’s dire economic reality has made it harder for Durham to sell tickets to fans for Twenty20 or Test matches, and meant that fans who do come are less willing to indulge in the half-dozen pints that many who go to T20s down south regard as par for the course. Lavish spending from corporates is also harder to find. In 2015, Durham brought in just under £600,000 in gate receipts and membership income from domestic cricket. Other Test grounds earned another £500,000 on top of that; even the first-class counties that don’t host internationals earned £200,000 more than Durham.Better and more innovative marketing could have helped, but only up to a point. Ultimately, Durham’s plight should be seen as part of the wider decline in north-east sport, which is itself inextricably linked to crude economics. In the Premier League in 2014/15, Sunderland had the sixth-highest attendance in the Premier League but only had the 15th-highest revenue. Last year, Sunderland finished 17th in the Premier League, yet were still the leading north-east club. Only in two previous seasons in the 128-year history of English league football has the top north-east club finished lower. Never has it been harder for sporting clubs to fight against regional socio-economic deprivation than it is today.

By 2015 the club had shaved £800,000 off their 2012 wage bill. Their total player remuneration was just over £1.3 million – £200,000 less than the average for all first-class counties

None of this is to deny that Durham have been partly complicit in their downfall. Bidding for Tests they couldn’t afford was foolhardy, even if this error highlights the ECB’s original mistake in pushing them to develop a Test ground. Durham were also guilty of negligent planning over player contracts during the run of three Championships titles in six years from 2008. The club was ill-prepared for how to react when England players, including Paul Collingwood, Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett, lost their central contracts. And, with hindsight, the club made poor decisions to award sizeable long-term contracts to Harmison and Ian Blackwell when they were past their peaks. For these reasons, Durham mislaid their prudence. And so, in 2012, Durham spent over £2 million on salaries. It remains the only time that any county has breached the salary cap.Among the counties there is no little sympathy for what has happened to Durham, and a belief that the punishments meted out to them fall well beyond reasonable. Even before the ECB bail-out, Durham’s £8 million debt was about half the average at other Test match grounds outside London. The difference is that, partly because of their revenue potential from internationals and the underlying land value of the grounds which are located in the city centre, other counties’ venues have been able to raise larger amounts from public bodies, in the case of Glamorgan and Warwickshire, or private benefactors, in the case of Hampshire and Yorkshire. While those counties found men – Rod Bransgrove for Hampshire, and Colin Graves for Yorkshire – to bail them out, Durham did not. The only consortium that showed an interest in buying Durham was backed by a man who the ECB privately admitted would not pass their fit and proper person test.Durham have received further sympathy due to their not-inconsiderable efforts to turn things around. By 2015 the club had shaved £800,000 off their 2012 wage bill. Their total player remuneration was just over £1.3 million – £200,000 less than the average for all first-class counties, and £350,000 less than the average in Division One of the County Championship. Given these constraints, coming fourth in Division One this year was a remarkable achievement; Durham estimate that they would have needed to reduce player salaries by a further £500,000 a year over the past four seasons, rendering fielding a competitive team impossible. Back-office staff costs fell almost £200,000 from 2013 to 2015 when Durham’s total spending, just in excess of £400,000, was half that of the other Test match grounds. It is not as if Durham were blasé about the need to rein in spending before the ECB’s bailout and sanctions.Giving a long-term contract to a player like Steve Harmison, who was past his peak, proved to be a misstep for Durham•Getty ImagesThe ECB have helped counties before, of course. But, as they stressed in the press release revealing Durham’s fate, the financial support given to Durham was “unprecedented”. The determination not to be seen as the lender of last resort underpinned the severity of the ECB’s sanctions. To chief executives of a slightly conspiratorial bent – though they preferred not to go on the record – such sanctions also highlighted the counties’ financial dependence upon the ECB, and served to weaken their opposition to a new eight-team domestic T20 competition, from which the 18 first-class counties would stand to gain about £1.5 million each. “The relegation was certainly avoidable,” says one chief executive. “This sanction was particularly bizarre. It was also pre-planned, as rumours have been circling since August. Punishing the players and supporters of Durham for the commercial failure of international cricket seems very wrong.”

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At this juncture, it seems unlikely that Durham’s fate will be the start of a new trend. Most counties are in a far better financial position than five years ago. Even unfashionable counties have innovated – Northants regularly stage concerts, including Elton John; Derbyshire’s press box also acts as a university lecture theatre – to ensure their financial viability. The notion that the smallest counties are lumbered with the most debt is also fundamentally untrue. It is actually the Test-staging counties – Durham, Hampshire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire – that are in worse financial positions. Too late for Durham, the ECB has also sanitised the bidding process for international cricket, stopping counties outbidding each other, and sometimes paying far more than they could afford, to stage the most appealing fixtures. The ECB also believes that a new domestic T20 competition would raise extra cash and help shore up the financial positions of the counties.All Out CricketStill, the underlying irony of Durham’s plight remains. Hampshire, who benefit the most from Durham’s fate by retaining their Division One status despite finishing in the bottom two, are the most indebted county in the country. Without Rod Bransgrove’s financial backing they would face a situation every bit as perilous as Durham’s.As for Durham, the club are confident that the threat to their future has now passed. But years of grim austerity loom and, perversely, in some ways the ECB have made it even harder for Durham to generate funds. Their punishment in T20 cricket, which appears insignificant set against that in the County Championship, threatens to be financially debilitating. Durham need two wins just to eradicate their points deduction; in practice this could see them knocked out of the competition in its early stages, meaning that fans will be less likely to attend knowing that chances of progress to the quarter-finals are remote.For years Durham were county cricket’s feel-good story. Just 22 seasons into their first-class existence, they had already won three Championships titles and the homegrown talent that underpinned the team, and is the county’s raison d’être, was at the heart of England’s success, too. Now, despite all these achievements, there appears little to feel good about for cricket in the north-east. Ultimately that is just very sad..

Stuart Broad withstood the pain from a foot injury to exemplify England’s spirit, but defeat is still the likely outcome in the second Test

George Dobell in Visakhapatnam19-Nov-20162:18

Compton: Stokes, Bairstow showed the fight England need

The Barmy Army trumpeter played The Great Escape theme several times on Saturday.Maybe it was optimistic or maybe he was simply trying to be encouraging. But when one of the supporters sitting near him pointed out that the vast majority of those who tunnelled out of Stalag Luft III in 1944 (the escape upon which the film was based) were recaptured and murdered by the Nazis, it did little to dampen spirits.That’s because most people understand that The Great Escape – as a film, at least – isn’t really about escaping. Or not entirely, anyway.It’s about spirit. It’s about a refusal to accept defeat. Even when it is seemingly inevitable.So maybe the theme was the perfect accompaniment to an absorbing day’s cricket when England gave their all and still finished facing almost certain defeat.There have been days – some of them really not so long ago – when an England side going into a day like this would have subsided with a whimper. Think of Sydney 2014 or Leeds 2009. Think of the 1990s. That band of spectators who watch every day – and no other country can replicate such travelling support – has had to put up with some dark days amid the good ones.Everything was against England here. They had conceded too large a first innings score and their top-order had failed to give them the start they required in reply. With the pitch deteriorating and several players struggling with injury or illness – Stuart Broad has a foot injury, Zafar Ansari vomited on the pitch on Friday and Jonny Bairstow rolled his ankle on his way to the crease on Saturday – they knew their chances of clawing their way back into the game were slim.But, to their immense credit, they did not buckle or bend. Instead, Ben Stokes and Bairstow stretched their overnight partnership beyond 100 and, in the process, provided a reminder of the technique and temperament England will need to demonstrate to prosper in these conditions.There were none of the indeterminate prods we saw the previous night from Alastair Cook or Ben Duckett. Instead, we saw both men use their crease and their feet. We saw them trust their defence but take the opportunity to attack. We saw them render a pitch that had appeared treacherous on the second evening look nothing more than tricky on the third morning.Stokes was especially impressive. His improvement against spin is so marked that he is suddenly looking the best player of slow bowling in the side. Such is his ability to come down the pitch or play back, that he confuses the bowler as to the length they should bowl and then punishes anything short or over-pitched.It is true that life seemed somewhat easier against the older ball. It is true that, just as it seemed the partnership was in danger of becoming dangerous, Bairstow was punished for playing across a straight one by a quick, full ball that may have reversed a little. And it is true that, without Chris Woakes, the tail – Adil Rashid apart – folded fast.But the stand between Stokes and Bairstow was just what England needed after a disappointing second day. It reminded them of the attitude, the fight and the technique they are going to have to show if they are going to get anything from this series. It reminded them how they should have played on the second day.Stuart Broad is deep in thought as England face an uphill challenge•Associated PressThat resilience was then replicated by the bowlers. Broad, despite limping heavily, produced an opening spell of 6-2-6-2 (he had figures of 4.1-4-0-2 at one stage) to put India under just a little bit of pressure, while James Anderson (who had figures of 6-1-5-1 at one stage) produced a peach of a ball to swing back through Cheteshwar Pujara’s defensive prod to leave them 40 for 3.It would have been perfectly understandable – perhaps even sensible – for Broad to sit in the dressing room with his feet up. A scan taken on Friday night had shown a strained tendon and joint in his right foot and, whatever advice the medics gave, running in and bowling as fast as he could was surely not among it.But, perhaps reasoning that he is out of the third Test already, he gave this spell everything. And, just for a few minutes, he hinted that he could replicate the sort of drama that we have seen at The Oval (2009), Durham (2013) or Jo’burg (2016). The Barmy Army’s songs increased in intensity (their song for him rhymes the words ‘Stuart Broad’ with ‘large pork sword’) and, in between urging them between deliveries to sing louder, Broad hit the pitch hard enough to gain the seam movement that accounted for both the first two wickets. Anderson, meanwhile, touched 90mph and reiterated the same message: we’re not giving up; we’re not losing belief.Maybe, had it not been for Kohli, England might have been able to creep back into the game. Increasingly, though, he is emerging as the key difference between the sides. Just as he prevented a tricky situation in Rajkot from becoming a crisis, so he prevented a wobble becoming a collapse here. Even when the ball kept low, he seemed to find it with the centre of his bat. His half-century has effectively shut the door on England in this game.His declaration will probably come around or just after lunch on day four. The lead is already 298 and is already probably enough. England will try to slow India’s progress but it is inevitable they will then be left with a minimum of five sessions of batting before them. It’s hard to see any result other than an India win. But cricket wouldn’t be half the game it is of it was predictable and if England are doomed, nobody has told them yet.Whatever happens, England’s attitude can have significance beyond this game.It should prove to them that they can prosper in these conditions. It should prove to them that Ravi Ashwin, for all his skill and control, can be combatted and that there is no place in this England dressing room for defeatism or excuses. Previous England teams (and not just England teams) may have bemoaned the conditions, the food, the climate and the loss of an important toss. This one will learn to deal with challenges or make way for players who will. This one, despite its flaws, has much to admire about it.Will there be a great escape? Probably not. But if we witness more spirit of the Great Escape this England team will receive no complaints from those watching.

With the hearing over Andre Russell’s alleged anti-doping violation set to resume on Thursday, here is a look at the key issues

Nagraj Gollapudi17-Nov-2016The anti-doping hearing to look into whether West Indies allrounder Andre Russell missed three dope tests between January and July last year will resume on Thursday in Kingston. The hearing is significant because an athlete can be suspended for up to two years under the World Anti-Doping Agency code if he misses three tests in a year, which amount to a failed dope test.On Thursday, an independent three-member anti-doping disciplinary tribunal will hear the final written submissions made by both parties – Russell and the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) – after which it is likely to determine whether Russell was guilty of violating WADA’s whereabouts clause.Russell, a popular player in various domestic Twenty20 competitions around the world, skipped the T20I series against Pakistan and admitted that the allegations have been “stressing and depressing.”The following details trace the case from its beginning.Who has accused Russell of the breach?
In March this year, JADCO alleged that Russell had failed to file his whereabouts three times between January and July 2015, citing the dates of January 1, July 1 and July 25.What is Russell in breach of?
JADCO’s main claim is that Russell was negligent in filing his whereabouts. Its executive director, Carey Brown, told the tribunal that workshops had been organised between 2014-16 where athletes, including cricketers, were educated on the WADA guidelines and details of filing of the whereabouts clause. He also said that Russell had been contacted via email, on phone and letters by JADCO to remind him about filing his whereabouts on the three occasions he missed the tests.Tajae Smith, one of the JADCO officials, said that he had guided Judith Lue, a travel consultant authorised by Russell to help him with his visas and such, to file the whereabouts at least twice. Lue had told the tribunal that she had filed the whereabouts for Russell on JADCO’s website twice last year with Smith’s help: on February 17 and April 1.Nadia Vassell, the whereabouts officer and director of technical services at JADCO, who was also the first witness, told Russell’s legal counsel, Patrick Forster, that a first reminder was sent through a letter on July 6, 2015. An extension was given to Russell to file his whereabouts by July 13, 2015. On July 20, Vassell sent another email to Russell asking him to file his whereabouts by July 24.What was Russell’s defence?
While deposing before the tribunal, Russell pointed out that he had authorised Smith and his agent Will Quinn to take care of the process since he was not properly trained to carry out the whereabouts filing on his own. He said the reason behind someone else filing it was because of his unavailability due to his cricket commitments.At a hearing on July 20 last year, Forster said that JADCO’s Vassell failed to copy her response to an e-mail from Quinn sighting an extension for Russell to file his whereabouts for the third test scheduled for July 25, 2015. Vassell admitted she had not sent the e-mail to Russell. Since two the alleged filing failures occurred last July, Forster said he was trying to establish that procedural breaches by JADCO could mean there was actually just one violation on Russell’s behalf.Russell admitted that he understood the notice sent to him last March informing him about this first filing failure on January 1. But the West Indies allrounder said he did not understand the language in the second notice which was on the second filing failure on July 1. However Lackston Robinson, JADCO’s counsel, argued the language in both notices was the same.Russell also pointed out that he received a fresh communique from JADCO on September 19, on his third failed test that was scheduled for July 25 last year. Russell said he was “confused” since he had thought Quinn had sorted the matter with JADCO over the extension. But Robinson countered saying Russell would have known about the exchanges between Quinn and JADCO as he was also copied on the email.What happens now?
On Thursday, the tribunal will hear the final written submissions by both parties. Counsels representing Russell and JADCO were expected to file their written submissions by November 7.Who sits on the independent panel?
Hugh Faulkner is the chairman of the three-member panel which includes Dr Marjorie Vassell and Dixeth Palmer, a former Jamaica cricketer.

Stats highlights from the third ODI between Australia and Pakistan in Perth

Gaurav Sundararaman19-Jan-20175 Batsmen from Australia to score more than fifty in their debut Test and ODI. Peter Handscomb scored 82 on his ODI debut in addition to 54 he made against South Africa in Adelaide on Test debut. He joined Phil Hughes, Shaun Marsh, Michael Slater and Kepler Wessels to achieve this rare double.2 Batsmen to have made higher scores than Peter Handscomb on debut at No. 4 in ODIs. Mark Chapman and Stephen Fleming are the others.183 Runs added by Steven Smith and Peter Handscomb for the third wicket. This is the third-highest partnership for any wicket for Australia against Pakistan.79 Innings taken by Steven Smith to score 3000 ODI runs. He is the fastest Australian to this feat overtaking George Bailey and Micheal Bevan, who got there in 80 innings.21 Innings taken by Babar Azam to score 1000 ODI runs. He is the joint fastest to this feat equaling Viv Richards, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Quinton De Kock. He is the quickest from Pakistan to get to 1000 runs going past Azhar Ali, who got there in 23 innings.Babar Azam became the fastest batsman from Pakistan to 1000 ODI runs•ESPNcricinfo Ltd84.2 Average of Steven Smith in Perth. He has now made two consecutive hundreds at this venue. He scored 149 against India last year and an unbeaten 108 against Pakistan. Australia won both matches.50 Runs scored by Pakistan between overs 41 and 50. When batting first, this is their third lowest in the last fifteen years when they have batted out an innings. Previously, they scored 45 runs against England in Dubai in 2012.4 Scores higher than 263 that Pakistan have made against Australia in Australia. Incidentally three out of their top-five scores have come in Perth.

Aakash Chopra analyses the action from day two in Hyderabad

Aakash Chopra10-Feb-2017Taskin still not spot on
At the end of the day’s play, most bowlers revisit what they did. On the first day Taskin was guilty of bowling a little too short; he was expected to learn from that and bowl fuller on day two. But that did not quite happen. Whenever he did bowl on a good length on the fifth-sixth stump line, he kept both Kohli and Rahane quiet. Unfortunately for Bangladesh, those few good balls had for company several short and wide balls. Test bowling on flat pitches is about discipline: having one plan and the field to back it up.Not quite right outside off
First Taskin, then Kamrul Islam tried bowling the outside-off line but couldn’t do it well for two reasons. Firstly, the length becomes critical while executing this plan: you must bowl full, forcing the batsman to play on the front foot. The Bangladesh seamers were too short and lacked control. Secondly, you have to have the field to support the plan, which means having six or seven fielders on the off side. But Mushfiqur chose to keep only five fielders on the off side.The puff of dust
The cracks opened a little bit on the pitch, and the first signs of deterioration appeared. Taijul Islam’s deliveries took a piece off the pitch on a couple of occasions, including the ball that dismissed Ajinkya Rahane. The issue with the pitch exploding once in a while is that it alters your response against normal deliveries too. Ever since the first ball that disturbed the surface, India’s batsmen showed caution.Wriddhiman Saha’s wagon wheel against spin•Getty ImagesCaptaincy in the spotlight again
While in the first half of the day Mushfiqur was quick to put out a defensive field, he chose to attack a little more when India had 550 on the board. For a well-set Wriddhiman Saha, he didn’t make any attempt to plug the hole at short fine leg for the sweeps and, also, the fielder at slip never moved back to short third man, allowing Saha the chance to collect runs through late-cuts. Saha’s wagon wheel against spin highlights his preference for these two areas.Saha’s spin advantage
Saha has got a very effective way of handling spin. He isn’t afraid to step out and hit either along the ground or over the top, has three variations of the sweep shot, and plays the square cut well. The shot that stands out is the sweep, for that simply doesn’t allow the bowler to settle. He chooses his variation of the sweep shot depending on the line and length: a really full ball within the stumps is paddled fine, a slightly shorter ball is conventionally swept towards long leg, and he picks deliveries from outside off to go over the midwicket fielder.Bhuvneshwar’s angles
Bhuvneshwar Kumar began over the stumps. He got the ball to come into and go away from the left-hand batsmen. Then the umpire had a word with Bhuvneshwar about running on the pitch and that prompted him to go around the stumps. Kapil Dev, who was on commentary at the time, was of the opinion that as a swing bowler, there’s more merit in staying over the stumps for a couple of reasons. One, the moment you bring the ball back in, the chances of getting a leg-before dismissal increases. And two, the natural angle from over the wicket will keep the batsman guessing.