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Mohammad Isam24-Apr-2015The Bangladesh selectors face the challenge of picking a Test squad that allows the team management to play three quicks against Pakistan, a combination that has worked in ODIs over the last six months. However, there isn’t enough depth in the pace stocks to provide long-term firepower in Test cricket.The squad could be announced during the T20 international in Mirpur on Friday, because the team leaves Dhaka for Khulna on Saturday to prepare for the first Test, which begins on April 28.Likely Bangladesh squad

Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Taijul Islam, Jubair Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Anamul Haque, Mohammad Shahid

Among the fast bowlers, only Rubel Hossain has a confirmed spot in the squad, after he was rested for the T20 international. Rubel has reignited his international career since the World Cup with more pace and movement, but his 16-wicket aggregate in ODIs over the last six months is second to Mashrafe Mortaza’s 19. Taskin Ahmed, third in this list, hasn’t played long-form cricket since February 2013.Rubel’s automatic selection is not entirely because of his Test performance. His bowling average of 73.34 is still the worst in Test cricket for anyone who has bowled at least 3600 deliveries.The options are thin for the selectors.Shafiul Islam’s seven wickets were the most for a Bangladesh quick in Tests last year, but he didn’t play a World Cup match and picked up a hand injury recently. The selectors did not choose Al-Amin Hossain for the Pakistan ODIs, so unless he and Shafiul did something dramatic in the nets, they are doubtful selections.Chief selector Faruque Ahmed has been interested in the left-arm quick Mustafizur Rahman for the last 12 months. After his stint with the Under-19 team, the young bowler from Satkhira was a surprise inclusion in the Bangladesh A side for their West Indies tour last year. Rahman has been the country’s leading wicket-taker among pace bowlers in this first-class season.Apart from Rahman, the selectors mentioned Mohammad Shahid a few times, though he has only made it to the second string sides. Shahadat Hossain, who played one Test against Zimbabwe last year, took only 13 first-class wickets this season but he has remained on the selectors’ radar by bowling regularly in the Bangladesh nets.Robiul Islam, Bangladesh’s highest wicket-taker among quicks in the last three years, is low on the list of contenders after a series of injuries this season. He played just three first-class and two List-A matches since the Test against West Indies last year.Selecting the spinners will not be as much of a problem. Shakib Al Hasan should have left-arm spinner Taijul Islam and legspinner Jubair Hossain for company. They finished just behind Shakib in the list of most wickets for Bangladesh last year.Taijul holds the Bangladesh record for best bowling figures in an innings while Jubair took a five-wicket haul against Zimbabwe. Coach Chandika Hathurusingha has made it clear that he wants Jubair around. Left-arm spinners Abdur Razzak and Elias Sunny are the only bowlers with more than 40 first-class wickets this season but it is doubtful whether the selectors will pick either of them. Offspinner Sohag Gazi could be ahead of them if an extra spinner is needed, after he was cleared to bowl by the ICC in February and has been doing well with bat and ball since.The other area of discussion might be Tamim Iqbal’s opening partner, though Soumya Sarkar could have settled that with his unbeaten 127 in the third ODI against Pakistan. He has been in the Bangladesh team since the fifth ODI against Zimbabwe last December. He opened with Tamim against Pakistan and looked at ease despite two low scores. They added 145 runs in the third game, the first time in ten innings the Bangladesh opening pair had added 50-plus.If Sarkar is picked he will replace Imrul Kayes, who made two Test hundreds in six innings last year. He also added more runs in two stands with Tamim than what Shamsur Rahman managed in 12. But Imrul made just 14 runs in four ODIs since the Zimbabwe Tests, and was poor in the World Cup.Anamul Haque is likely to be picked too, though not as first-choice opener; he has not been a Test regular since his debut in 2013. He made a striking return to competitive cricket with 94 and 111 for Prime Bank South Zone in the Bangladesh Cricket League first-class match against BCB North Zone that ended on Friday. He was the regular opener in ODIs with Tamim until his shoulder injury midway through the World Cup. Anamul’s performance will push Rony Talukdar and Litton Das down the pecking order.Nasir Hossain could make the No 7 spot after a reasonable comeback in the World Cup. He got to bat just once against Pakistan but his bowling was handy. Shuvagata Hom had replaced Hossain against Zimbabwe but averaged only 23.40 in six innings and did not take wickets.

On the occasion of his 100th Test, test how well you know the Pakistan batsman

25-Jun-2015

Imran Tahir has a wide repertoire of variations but has to blend that with consistency. To do so, he might also require delicate management

Firdose Moonda08-Nov-20151:21

Manjrekar: Tahir dismissed top batsmen while they were defending

It happened. Imran Tahir celebrate a wicket. Really.A smile barely bubbled on the face of South Africa’s effervescent legspinner when he nailed Umesh Yadav’s middle stump with a classic googly. Three balls later, the same delivery brought the same result against Varun Aaron but the champagne stayed corked.Those scalps were the last rites in an Indian innings that had already been dismantled by Dean Elgar and Tahir knew his contribution would only be an afterthought. That was not something to get excited about. He accepted the high-fives and back-pats with polite resignation.Tahir’s Test career to date has been a story of anti-climax. He made his debut in the same match as Vernon Philander, in November 2011, in the 47 all out Test. Understandably, Tahir was not a talking point that day.In the Tests that followed, he continued in the shadows of South Africa’s pace pack which had become complete with the addition of Philander. Previously Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel had lacked a third prong, someone who mastered the more subtle art of seam movement to complement their speed, swing, and bounce.There was no space for an attacking spinner in the South African set up then. By the time Tahir could sink his teeth into the opposition line-up, only the scraps were left. In his desperation to gobble them up, Tahir tried everything. He would send down all the deliveries in his repertoire. A liquroice allsorts package of inconsistency.Eventually, South Africa could no longer afford the novelty Tahir offered and returned to their comfort zone with a containing spinner even though Tahir never really disappeared from their thoughts. He kept himself in the mix with impressive performances in shorter formats. His ability to control the middle overs of an ODI innings begged the question of why he could not replicate that in Tests.Some theories suggested Tahir could adapt easier to the limitations of only bowling 10 overs (or four in the case of T20s) and that kept him from trying too many things. He concentrated on effective use of his stock ball – the legbreak – and intermittently unfurled the googly and the flipper. He showed tact in Mohali, something he displayed only once at Test level before.In Dubai two years ago, Tahir took what is to date his only five-for running through Pakistan on the first morning to dismiss them for 99. Some of those wickets, though, were results of rash shots from the batsmen – Shan Masood went out to drive a full, wide delivery and played on, Asad Shafiq was bowled after missing a slog – but others, like Misbah-ul-Haq, who was trapped lbw by a googly, were part of a plan. Tahir picked up eight wickets in the match but his stay in the team was shortlived.He was rotated in and out of the side as South Africa went back to Robin Peterson and then tried to go forward with young offspinners Dane Piedt and Simon Harmer. South Africa would probably have stuck to those two if the schedule did not send them to India just months after Piedt and Harmer had been blooded. They needed a spinner with experience in India and Tahir was the most viable option.In the days leading up to the match, it became evident Tahir would make a comeback. The news was met with nervousness by South Africa’s supporters who wondered whether he was being given a chance too many but hoped that a different captain – Hashim Amla – would find new ways to manage him.In the first innings, Amla’s method seemed to be to shield Tahir for as long as possible. He only brought him on in the 44th over, after the other specialist spinner Simon Harmer and part-timer Elgar had bowled. Tahir’s first spell was just three overs long, he seemed anxious to make an impact. He tossed it up, he bowled short, he threw in a few googlies, he rushed, he slowed down – all in the space of 18 balls. That was exactly what had undone him in the past and Amla did the right thing by taking him off and calming him down.Tahir was much more controlled in his second spell. He maintained a fuller and used flight. Best of all he showed patience. The two wickets which came at the end may not have been the ones he wanted – on a spinner-friendly surface Tahir would want to be snaffling the big names – but he had something to show for his efforts.He would have known he had to build on that to justify his recall and he did. In the second innings, with South Africa needing something special from the spinners, Tahir delivered.Amla used Tahir only in short bursts of three of four overs and in that time, he showed the control that had been lacking in previous displays. He used variation as a strength and mixed up his pace on a pitch where batsmen were already uncertain. He was rewarded with the two biggest scalps of the day.M Vijay was befuddled by the bounce of the googly and offered a catch to short leg and then Chesteshwar Pujara, half going forward, half hanging back, edged a tossed-up delivery that turned from outside off and Amla took a low catch at slip. And then, it really happened. Tahir could not control his enthusiasm.He was so pumped he seemed ready to run all the way to the country of his birth. He had to be reined in before he got to the third-man boundary by team-mates who were also keen for Tahir to keep catching India’s batsmen off guard and not the train to Pakistan.Tahir was consistent and attacking for the rest of the innings. He used the legbreak to surprise as well as he used the googly and picked up two more wickets to finish the match with a six-for and claimed his best average in a Test to date.Those efforts did not result in a South African win but they did their bit to ensure the team was in a position to push for victory at one point. It also told South Africa they probably made the right decision by recalling Tahir, but that they need to be careful with when and how they use him.In conditions and circumstances which suit him, Tahir can be a handful. That means he should not just be used on slow on turning pitches but also at times in the match when he is neither under too much pressure to perform nor when there is nothing left to get pumped about. He needs to be managed delicately, but don’t all legspinners? And if he is, South Africa may have a reason to celebrate again on this tour.

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2015Angelo Mathews showed why the P Sara Oval was one of his favourite grounds as he started to settle in•AFPMilinda Siriwardana added 67 for the fifth wicket with Mathews to stabilise the Sri Lankan innings, but was dismissed by Kraigg Brathwaite in the 56th over•AFPBrathwaite started to get more out of the pitch and quickly ran through Sri Lanka’s middle order and tail, completing his first Test five-wicket haul•AFPBlackwood took his fifth catch of the innings and Brathwaite his sixth wicket when Nuwan Pradeep was dismissed for a first-ball duck. It set West Indies a target of 244 to level the series•AFPDhammika Prasad struck early to send Brathwaite back in the ninth over before rain forced an early end to the day•AFP

Stats highlights from the third day at the MCG, where Australia extended their lead past 400, despite some fight from West Indies

S Rajesh28-Dec-201552.57 Darren Bravo’s average in overseas Tests, the highest among West Indian batsmen who have played at least 20 away matches. Bravo’s average at home is 31.25, which means the difference between his away and home averages is 21.32. This difference is the second highest among batsmen who have played at least 30 innings each home and away: the only batsman with a higher difference is India’s Mohinder Amarnath, who averaged 51.86 away and 30.44 at home (difference 21.42).73.33 The average partnership for West Indies’ seventh wicket in this series. Their two 50-plus stands in this series have both been for the seventh wicket: 99 between Bravo and Kemar Roach in the first innings in Hobart, and 90 between Carlos Brathwaite and Bravo today. Their next-highest stand in this series is 42, also between Bravo and Roach, for the eighth wicket today.12 Consecutive innings in overseas Tests before this one, when West Indies did not bat for 100 overs. The last time they achieved this was a couple of years ago, in Hamilton in 2013, when they played 116.2 overs to score 367. (The promptly folded in 31.5 overs in their second innings of that Test.) In these 12 innings, the average length of their innings was only 65 overs.21 West Indian batsmen who have scored 50 or more on Test debut in an overseas Test. Carlos Brathwaite became the latest to join this list today. The last batsman to achieve this before him was his partner at the crease, Darren Bravo, who made 58 against Sri Lanka in Galle in his debut in 2010. The current West Indian team has a third player who is in this club: Denesh Ramdin scored 56 on debut in Colombo in 2005.188 Runs added by West Indies’ last four wickets, which lifted them from 6 for 83 to 271. The last time their last four partnerships added more runs was in 2012 at Edgbaston, when Tino Best scored 95 at No. 11 as the last four wickets added 218.45 Test wickets for Nathan Lyon in 2015, his best in any calendar year; his previous highest was 42 in 2013. This year Lyon has taken those wickets in 13 Tests, at an average of 28.75. Lyon is the third-highest wicket-taker in Tests for Australia this year, after Josh Hazlewood (51 at 22.56) and Mitchell Starc (46 at 25.06).5.59 Australia’s run rate in their second innings, the fifth time they have scored at more than five an over in Tests in 2015 (min 30 overs). Of their ten fastest Test innings with the same qualification, five have been scored in 2015.3 Instances of two batsmen scoring at least one century and a fifty in the same Test at the MCG. Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith have both achieved it in this game. The two previous such instances were in 1929 and in 1928. In all, there have been 28 instances of at least one century and a half-century in an MCG Test; last year Virat Kohli achieved the feat, while Chris Rogers did it in 2013.

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Feb-2016Mohammad Amir picked up from where he left off against India, finding early swing to knock off Muhammad Kaleem’s off stump•Associated PressUAE were reeling at 12 for 3, but Shaiman Anwar almost single-handedly dragged his team to a competitive total, stroking 46 off 42 balls•Getty ImagesUAE swung wildly in search of runs after Anwar’s dismissal, but were greeted by quick wickets. Amir returned at the death to bowl Muhammad Usman out•Getty ImagesIt meant he ended with match figures of 4-1-6-2, the second-most economical spell in T20Is•Associated PressPakistan needed just 130 for victory, but they suffered early setbacks in the chase, with the captain Amjad Javed striking thrice•Getty ImagesThose blows seemed to tilt the contest UAE’s way, with Pakistan struggling at 17 for 3•Getty ImagesUmar Akmal, though, played a calm ahead, hitting a vital half-century to put his team back on track•Getty ImagesShoaib Malik, too, found form with a 49-ball 63, as the pair’s unbroken 114-run partnership eventually took Pakistan home with eight balls to spare•Getty Images

Also: England’s highest scorer across formats, and five-fors against all 18 counties

Steven Lynch17-May-2016England’s two newcomers for the first Test against Sri Lanka were both born on the same day. Has this ever happened before? asked Rajiv Radhakrishnan from England
That’s a great spot, as Jake Ball and James Vince – England’s two new inclusions for Thursday’s opening Test against Sri Lanka – were both born on March 14, 1991. Just as I contemplated going back through every Test scorecard to discover whether two men from the same side had ever made their debut together before, Wisden’s statistician Philip Bailey spared me the trouble with a bit of fancy database-delving. And it turns out he saved me an awful lot of time: this has happened only once previously, in the very first Test of all, back in 1877. In that historic match in Melbourne, both Australia’s opener Nat Thomson (the first man ever to get out in a Test) and his middle-order colleague Ned Gregory were born on May 29, 1839. There was a similar occurrence for opposite sides in Durban in 1913-14, when Lionel Tennyson made his debut for England, and George “Dusty” Tapscott his first for South Africa. They were both born on November 7, 1889. So watch out if both Ball and Vince win their first caps at Headingley – although I have a feeling that one of them might end up as 12th man, which would leave that 139-year-old record intact.In a recent interview on ESPNcricinfo, Phil DeFreitas said he was pretty sure he was the only bowler to take a five-for against all 18 first-class counties. Is he right? asked John Lynch from Vanuatu
Phil DeFreitas is indeed the only bowler to take a five-for against all 18 possible opponents in the County Championship, during a long career for Leicestershire, Lancashire and Derbyshire. The full 18 has only been possible since Durham joined the Championship in 1992, and it obviously also needs at least one switch of counties to allow completeness. Before that, seven men had collected a nap hand of 17: seamers Tom Cartwright, Ken Higgs, John Shepherd and Ossie Wheatley, slow left-armers Tony Lock and George Paine, and legspinner Percy Fender. Six other more recent performers have managed 17 out of 18 in Durham’s time. Martin Bicknell remained loyal to Surrey, so didn’t get the chance to take five against them; his sometime colleague Ian Salisbury never managed a five-for in eight matches against Surrey. Courtney Walsh never played a Championship match against Gloucestershire (his only first-class game against them was for the Rest of the World in 1987; he took 2 for 20). Peter Such never managed a Championship five-for in five matches against Essex, while John Childs never did it in 17 attempts against Warwickshire. And Eddie Hemmings never achieved it in 25 matches against Middlesex, despite rattling off five-fors against all 17 other county opponents.Ben Stokes has a highest score of 258 in Tests, but his average is only 33. Is there anyone who has a higher score but a lower average? asked Joshwin Maharaj from South Africa
Ben Stokes’ current batting average, from 23 matches before the start of England’s Test series against Sri Lanka, is 33.73. He would probably be grimly amused at the identity of one of the only two men below him in the averages who have a higher Test score: West Indies’ Marlon Samuels, something of a red rag to Stokes’ bull, currently averages 33.53 with a highest score of 260, against Bangladesh in Khulna in 2012-13. The other one is New Zealand’s Bryan Young, who averaged only 31.78 despite making 267 not out against Sri Lanka in Dunedin in 1996-97. There are 20 other double-centurions with lower averages than Stokes’ current mark, including Ian Botham (33.54), Vinoo Mankad (31.47) and Grant Flower (29.54). Bottom of the list is Jason Gillespie, whose 201 not out in his final Test innings raised his average only to 18.73; just above him on 22.64 is Wasim Akram, whose highest Test score was 257 not out, one shy of Stokes’ recent tour de force in Cape Town.Bryan Young has a highest Test score of 267, but an underwhelming Test average of 31.78•Getty ImagesWas Adam Zampa’s 6 for 19 the other day the best bowling analysis in the IPL? asked Bharani Ganesan from the United States
Adam Zampa’s 6 for 19 for Rising Pune Supergiants against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam last week were the second-best figures in IPL history, behind only the 6 for 14 of Pakistan seamer Sohail Tanvir for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur in May 2008. There have been only 13 better analyses than Zampa’s in all senior T20 matches, the best of all being Arul Suppiah’s 6 for 5 for Somerset against Glamorgan in Cardiff in 2011. The previous-best by an Australian was Michael Dighton’s 6 for 25, from only three overs, for Tasmania against Queensland in Toowoomba in 2006-07.Alastair Cook will soon complete 10,000 Test runs – but is he the highest scorer for England over all three formats? asked Arushi Makhijani from India
Alastair Cook needs just 36 runs to become the first Englishman to reach 10,000 Test runs – Graham Gooch is next on 8900 – but he’s only third on the list for all international cricket at the moment, with 13,229 in Tests, one-day and T20Is combined. Ian Bell is just 102 ahead, with 13,331, but the leader for the time being is Kevin Pietersen, with 13,779 runs in all formats for England. Pietersen is only 37th (and Cook 40th) on the overall list, which is headed by Sachin Tendulkar, who made 34,357 international runs, more than 6000 ahead of Kumar Sangakkara.In his recent autobiography, Younis Ahmed writes about the long gap between his second and third Tests. There are two players with longer gaps in their careers, but Younis reckons he holds the record for the number of matches missed, with 104. Is he right? asked Richard Green from London
There were 17 years and three months between Younis Ahmed’s second Test appearance, in 1969-70, and his third, after a surprise recall in 1986-87. There are indeed two men who waited longer between Test appearances: George Gunn of England (nearly 18 years between March 1912 and January 1930), and John Traicos, who played for South Africa in 1969-70 and in Zimbabwe’s first Test in 1992-93, some 22 years and 222 days later.Younis is right in saying that he missed 104 Tests during his absence. That was a record at the time, but it’s been surpassed since, as this list shows. The Surrey seamer Martin Bicknell missed a record 114 England Tests between playing two in 1993 and two more in 2003, while Floyd Reifer missed 109 between 1998-99 and returning as West Indies’ captain during a contracts dispute in 2009.Send in your questions using our feedback form.

Goonesena was the buccaneering all-round Sri Lankan talent, who plied his trade with distinction well before his country made ripples in the cricketing world

Rob Collins06-Jun-2016One of the most entrancing stories of world cricket during my lifetime has been the rise and rise of Sri Lankan cricket. Their successes appeal to the romantic in us all. That such a small, seemingly idyllic, teardrop-shaped island in the Indian Ocean has, since its elevation to Test status in 1981, produced a conveyor belt of batsmen with superb technique allied to visible spirit, nous and courage, is remarkable in itself. In the last generation, however, this has been complemented by some of the most entertaining, idiosyncratic and compelling bowling the world has ever seen, featuring the likes of Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath and, of course, the great Muralitharan.In their pre-Test incarnation of Ceylon, Sri Lanka produced a cricketer who has been somewhat overshadowed by these cricketing giants of recent years. Gamini Goonesena represented Nottinghamshire in county cricket for 11 seasons, on and off, with much success. I was too young to have watched him, and only recall his contributions as a summariser on Test Match Special on early Sri Lankan tours of England. Nevertheless, a cursory examination of the record books reveals an impressive all-round cricketer, who may just have been one of the best cricketers that the island has ever produced and whose contribution bears a second examination.Goonesena was a highly skilled legbreak bowler with excellent control of line and length, honed by endless hours of practice. Richie Benaud recalls that he was “a big spinner of the leg break and had a decent top-spinner and googly”. As a batsman, he may not have been prolific, but he was a meticulous and organised predominantly back-foot player. Nearly 700 first-class wickets and nearly 6000 first-class runs are, however, a testament to his all-round abilities. In fact, he was probably the best player ever produced by Ceylon. His captaincy was said to be outstanding too. His team-mate Ian Pieris claims that his charismatic captaincy was “head and shoulders above his contemporaries in England at a time when there were captains in the counties such as Peter May, Colin Cowdrey and Cyril Washbrook”.A legspinner of some repute, Goonesena registered to play for Notts in 1952, along with a fellow leggie, the Australian Bruce Dooland. However, he needed to wait until the following year while serving the required qualification period. As it happened, Notts had to share his services in his early years in England, because, like his countryman Kumar Sangakkara, his talents were not confined to the cricket field alone. Although he had originally headed to England in his early twenties with the aim of becoming a pilot at RAF Cranwell, he abandoned this idea and instead took up a place at the University of Cambridge to study law.Whilst obtaining his law degree, he became the first Asian to captain Cambridge (Ted Dexter was his vice-captain), and in 1957, with his side struggling at 80-4, he hit 211, which remains the highest individual innings by a Cambridge batsman in the varsity match, and is still the only double hundred made by a Sri Lankan at Lord’s. His partnership of 289 with Geoffrey Cook also remains the highest seventh-wicket partnership at Lord’s in first-class cricket. After his four-wicket haul in Oxford’s second innings, Wisden reported “…Goonesena, by reason of his splendid batting and his bowling in the second innings, was the matchwinner…The Cambridge captain and his men received the ovation they deserved as they left the field”.Goonesena had taken up legspin only because, as he wrote in his 1959 book, , “I was the smallest boy in my form at school and it wasn’t much use trying to bowl fast – the bigger boys could do it so much better and more successfully”. Yet, his career produced 674 wickets at 24.37. Although at first he struggled to adapt to English conditions, Goonesena achieved “the double” in 1955 (1380 runs and 134 wickets) and 1957 (1156 runs and 110 wickets). He also became the only man from either Oxford or Cambridge to have scored 2000 runs and taken 200 wickets, a feat which will, of course, now never be equalled.A peripatetic childhood had taken Goonesena from Ceylon to Kenya, before he returned to Ceylon where he starred for Royals in their classic rivalry with St.Thomas – the second-longest uninterrupted cricket rivalry in the world. He then headed to England in his early twenties, appearing as a professional for Notts and an amateur for Cambridge.His wanderings continued and later took him to Australia where he played for New South Wales, mostly as a locum for Richie Benaud, helping them win the Sheffield Shield in 1960-61. He also played grade cricket for Waverley in Sydney (as did his son), whilst, off the field, he worked for the Ceylonese Embassy and the Ceylon Tea Board.After his playing days, Goonesena used his acquired knowledge and experience to represent Sri Lanka on the ICC and to manage the Sri Lankan Test team on their 1982 tour of India.All-round cricketer, law student, businessman, diplomat, cricket administrator, team manager – Goonesena was both a trailblazer and a Renaissance man for Sri Lankan cricket.Want to be featured on Inbox? Send your articles to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line.

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford23-Jul-2016Eleven o’clock on a bright, slightly sticky Saturday morning in Manchester. Mohammad Amir runs in from the Statham End and bowls to Joe Root, who is 141 not out. The ball is on a good length but wide of the off stump. Root plays no shot and it passes to Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps.And so another day in the grass arena has begun. One ball has been bowled and there are scheduled to be roughly 539 more; or a minimum of 1617 pieces of action if we include the participation of bowler, batsmen and fielder. Some will be faithfully recorded and never mentioned again; others, the dismissal of Ben Stokes, for example, will be reviewed and scrutinised for, perhaps, five minutes.”I wouldn’t care if it was another sport but cricket takes up so much of the day.” With these words the partner of even a club player explains why things aren’t working. Yet for many of its supporters the length of a first-class cricket match is the essence of its attraction. They like the slow accretion of events and the way time imposes its demands. They enjoy their T20 matches – this isn’t an either/or dilemma – but they appreciate a format in which a cricketer’s endurance and mental strength are examined and in which batting for ten hours receives its due reward. It is, for them, truly a ball-by-ball game in which progress can be close to invisible.And so they enjoyed Root’s 618-minute innings and his Jesuitical quest for absolution after his transgressions at Lord’s. Successful Test batsmen are defined by their ability to go on. For them, a century is a junction not a terminus. So it is with Root and it was curious how his watchfulness in facing the Pakistan bowlers in that first session was matched by that of most spectators as they, in their turn, watched the way he began again.For most people on earth, the idea of being watched as they work is inimical; for sportsmen it is essential. And the symbiosis between the crowd and cricketers repays its own close attention. We watch the watchers watching the watched. The applause that greeted Chris Woakes’s first fours – a cut, a cover-drive, a square-drive – were almost celebratory, as if the good times had begun to roll and another drink was, indeed, the order of the day.Root, though, continued to wear a hair-shirt and we were 16 overs into the morning before he found the boundary courtesy of an edge and Younis Khan’s dropped catch at slip. He scored 44 runs in that first, exploratory session and only after tea did he bat as if truly liberated. By then, of course, there were beer snakes and fancy dress; some spectators may have watched the cricket a little less closely than they had in the morning. Stokes and Jonny Bairstow played trampling innings on tired fielders, hoping that weight of runs would earn early wickets. There was less intensity but more fiesta; summer in full, good-humoured riot.Then the declaration and a re-cranking of tension. A new guttural as James Anderson ran in from the Pavilion End. Earlier in the day Anderson’s team-mates, suddenly spectators themselves, had watched from one of the pavilion balconies. But it was not the local hero who made the breakthroughs. That honour fell in large measure to Woakes, whose three wickets were greeted with fresh roars as spectators scraped their plate in the last hour of the day.6.25 on Saturday and the air is a little fresher, the clouds higher. Stokes runs in from the Statham End and bowls to Shan Masood. The ball is on the off stump and the batsman plays it defensively and safely. There is a slightly subdued gasp from the crowd as if the air had been released from a huge balloon. Then ringing applause for the England players as they return to their dressing-room.For Woakes this has been another fine day; his shares on cricket’s stock-market have risen. He has masqueraded as a nightwatchman and reinforced his position as a potent strike bowler at a time when England are not short of them. As the crowd disperses, many are talking about how his bowling has helped make their day memorable.Within fifteen minutes Old Trafford is almost deserted and a few minutes later Pakistan’s players, rucksacks on their backs, are returning to their coach, trooping over the outfield like blue-uniformed trekkers.And so it ends, this gentle, fierce ticking down of 540 pieces of action, the shape of it all collaborative, confrontational, intense. “If you rush, you’ll never get anywhere,” said the man on the gate this morning.

Also: the earliest international matches from which all 22 players are still alive

Steven Lynch04-Oct-2016Two debutants opened the bowling as Australia lost to South Africa the other day. Has this ever happened before? asked Mitchell Frazer from Australia
The two newcomers who had the chastening experience of sharing the new ball in Australia’s defeat by South Africa in Johannesburg on the weekend were Victoria’s Chris Tremain, who took 1 for 78, and Joe Mennie of South Australia, who ended up with 0 for 82. They were the first pair of debutants to share the new ball in an ODI for Australia since 1996-97, when Andy Bichel and Anthony Stuart did the honours against West Indies in Brisbane. There were four other instances for Australia in the early days of ODIs. Graham McKenzie and Alan “Froggy” Thomson took the new ball in the first ever official one-day international, against England in Melbourne in 1970-71. In Australia’s second match, against England at Old Trafford in 1972, Dennis Lillee and Bob Massie opened the bowling. Max Walker and Gary Gilmour took the new ball against New Zealand in Dunedin in 1973-74, while the following season Alan Hurst and Jeff Thomson started things off against England in Melbourne.Where does Quinton de Kock’s 178 stand on the list of highest ODI scores by a wicketkeeper? asked Hammad Shakil from Pakistan
There’s been only one higher individual score from a wicketkeeper than Quinton de Kock’s turbocharged 178 for South Africa against Australia in Centurion last week. That was 183 not out, by Mahendra Singh Dhoni for India against Sri Lanka in Jaipur in 2005-06. Next come Adam Gilchrist, with 172 for Australia against Zimbabwe in Hobart in 2003-04, and Luke Ronchi, with 170 not out for New Zealand v Sri Lanka in Dunedin in 2014-15. Kumar Sangakkara made 169 for Sri Lanka v South Africa in Colombo in 2013, and Denesh Ramdin 169 for West Indies against Bangladesh in Basseterre in 2014, while Gilchrist added 154 against Sri Lanka in Melbourne in 1998-99, as well as 149 against them in the 2007 World Cup final in Bridgetown. De Kock’s 11 sixes has been surpassed just six times in any ODI innings, and only once by someone who kept wicket in the same game – AB de Villiers smashed 16 sixes while scoring 149 from 44 balls for South Africa against West Indies in Johannesburg in January 2015.Six different South African bowlers took a wicket against Australia at the Wanderers. Was this a record? asked Hendrik Hitge
There were indeed six different wicket-takers as South Africa bowled Australia out for 219 in Johannesburg on the weekend – but the record for any one-day international is seven, which has happened four times. The first two were by New Zealand: against India in Auckland in 1975-76, and Sri Lanka in Dunedin in 1990-91. Netherlands had seven wicket-takers in their win over Bermuda in Rotterdam in 2007, as did Australia in overcoming Scotland in Edinburgh in 2009. The Test record is also seven, and that has also happened four times, most recently by New Zealand against South Africa in Centurion in 2005-06.What are the earliest Test and ODI from which all 22 players are still alive? asked Steve Austin from Australia
I hope I’m not tempting fate here in saying that the longest-ago Test match from which all the players are still with us is the first one between Australia and Pakistan in Adelaide in December 1972. All of them have thus survived nearly 44 years – and let’s hope there’s many more to come. The oldest single team who are all still alive is also Australian – their side in the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town in 1966-67, almost 50 years ago. All the Aussies are also still alive from the first-ever official one-day international, against England in Melbourne in 1970-71 (England, sadly, have lost two men from that game). The oldest ODI from which all 22 players survive is the one between England and New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1978.Rawle Brancker (right) toured England in 1966 but never played a Test•PA PhotosWas Mosaddek Hossain the first Bangladesh player to take a wicket with his first ball in ODIs? asked Savo Ceprnich
Offspinner Mosaddek Hossain played his first one-day international for Bangladesh last week, in Mirpur, and took the wicket of Afghanistan’s Hashmatullah Shahidi with his first delivery. He’s the 24th bowler to strike with his first ball in ODIs, but the first from Bangladesh. For the full list, click here.Another Bangladesh record was set in the third and final match of that series against Afghanistan, also in Mirpur: slow left-armer Mosharraf Hossain, 34, played his first match for nearly nine years. That puts him seventh on the overall list, just ahead of Faruk Ahmed, who went eight years 144 days between ODIs for Bangladesh between 1990 and 1999. For that list, click here.My dad left me a piece of paper signed by Garry Sobers and his 1966 West Indian side. There’s one name on there I can’t work out – it looks like “R. Barker”. Do you know who this is? asked David Fifield from England
That sounds like an interesting piece of memorabilia, from a famous team – Garry Sobers’ strong 1966 line-up won that year’s series in England 3-1. His team included big names like Rohan Kanhai, Conrad Hunte, Basil Butcher, Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith and Lance Gibbs, all among West Indies’ all-time greats. But there were some lesser lights. Two of that year’s 17-strong touring party never played a Test: the back-up fast bowler Rudolph Cohen, and the man I suspect you’re after… Rawle Brancker, a slow left-armer from Barbados. He played in most of the first-class matches outside the Tests, and finished with 33 wickets, including a career-best 7 for 78 against Kent in Canterbury, when his victims included Colin Cowdrey, Alan Knott, Brian Luckhurst and Derek Underwood. (Sobers took 9 for 49 in the second innings of that match.) Brancker also took 6 for 39 for Barbados against Combined Islands in Bridgetown earlier in 1966. He played his last first-class match early in 1970, ending up with 106 wickets at 27.32 – and an almost identical batting average (27.31). He was a handy lower-order batsman who hit five first-class centuries for Barbados, including one against the 1964-65 Australian tourists, when he shared a big stand with Sobers, who made 183.Post your questions using the comments below