An age-related incident may have kept Ankit Bawne out of the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, but he has not let that controversy affect his batting. Instead, he is making his presence felt by the weight of his Ranji Trophy runs for Maharashtra

Karthik Krishnaswamy27-Jan-2014In September 2011, Ankit Bawne was removed from the India Under-19 squad ahead of a quadrangular tournament in Visakhapatnam. He had earlier been named captain of the side. The date of birth in his passport, it was discovered, didn’t match the one in his birth certificate and the BCCI’s records. It didn’t fulfill the cut-off date for the 2012 U-19 World Cup.Bawne protested that the agent who arranged for his passport had messed up the date. The selectors, not wanting to take a risk, left him out. Unmukt Chand took over the captaincy. A year later, Chand led India to the World Cup title with a century in the final.Chand earned lavish praise from Ian Chappell, won an IPL contract and wrote a book. In a TV commercial, he sneaked into the senior India team’s dressing room for a bottle of Pepsi. Confronted by MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, and asked if he thought there was no difference between him, an U-19 player, and them, the seniors, he told them: ” (I can get into your team right now, but you people can never get into mine).”Bawne couldn’t get in either. You wonder if Bawne, watching that ad, thinks to himself, “That could have been me”.”Obviously if he [Chand] is doing all this, then… he made a hundred in the final, the Indian team won the final, so the credit has to go to him,” Bawne says. “Whether I had a chance [to do that] or not, I can’t keep thinking about that.”What was it like, though, when he was left out?”It was obviously a shocking time for me, individually speaking, but it’s okay,” Bawne says. “Basically, my aim is to play for the senior Indian team. U-19 is obviously a good thing. It’s a shortcut, but my dream is to play for the senior Indian team.”At that time, family, coaches, players, everyone supported me a lot. But this is a big stage, if you play well in the Ranji Trophy, you will get the chance. India A opportunities will open up. And it isn’t like if you are the U-19 captain you will automatically move up from there. You have to perform there. That was what was in my mind. The Ranji Trophy is there, and I have to do well there. After that, I’ve been averaging 60-65 in every season.”In his last three first-class seasons, Bawne has averaged 75.85, 60.30, and 77.33. Since his debut in 2007, he has scored 2616 runs in 40 first-class matches at 54.50, with eight hundreds. Chand, as an aside, has 1688 runs in 31 games at 36.69, with four hundreds.Bawne began 2013-14 with an unbeaten 115 against South Zone on his Duleep Trophy debut and has carried that form into the Ranji Trophy, where he’s scored 581 runs for Maharashtra at 64.55. His numbers, though, get a little lost amid those of his team-mates. Kedar Jadhav has scored more than a thousand runs, and Harshad Khadiwale needs 20 more to reach that mark. Even Sangram Atitkar, after his 168 in the semi-final against Bengal, has scored more runs than Bawne.But it was interesting that Surendra Bhave, Maharashtra’s coach, singled out Bawne’s 89 against Bengal as the innings that set the semi-final up for the team, and raved about his defensive technique. “Look at his front-foot stride,” Bhave said after the match. “I can’t see anyone else who has a front-foot stride as big as that against fast bowlers. Middles everything, bat sounds very sweet, and he gives us solidity, real solidity.”From the press box, Bawne’s innings was remarkable for how unremarkable it looked. If you hadn’t seen anyone else bat in that match, you might have thought Bawne batted comfortably against an average attack in pretty good batting conditions, and missed out on a century. That, though, wasn’t the case.On a green pitch at the Holkar stadium, Maharashtra had rolled Bengal over for 114. In reply, their batsmen had looked much more comfortable than Bengal’s, but not uniformly so. Khadiwale and Chirag Khurana survived their share of plays and misses in a 78-run opening stand. Vijay Zol and Rohit Motwani, the left-hand batsmen, got trapped on the shuffle early in their respective innings. Jadhav shuffled down the pitch to the fast bowlers and struck eight fours in scoring 40. He looked good, and could have made a lot more. With that approach, he could have also made a lot less. Even Atitkar, early on, looked uncertain outside the off stump and saw a few edges scream away to the third-man boundary.’I can’t see anyone else who has a front-foot stride as big as that against fast bowlers’ – Surendra Bhave on Ankit Bawne•ESPNcricinfo LtdNone of them, in the early parts of their innings, gave you the feeling you could open a book, read two pages, and confidently look up to see them still at the crease. You could have done that with Bawne.It might have appeared straight out of a manual, but Bawne’s technique doesn’t owe all that much to formal coaching. Growing up, he says, he didn’t have a coach. When he played for Maharashtra’s U-15s, after playing for Aurangabad in the MCA Invitational U-15 league where he made “11 hundreds in 12 innings” and helped them reach the final, he came under Bhave for the first time. Apart from that, he says he watched TV (Rahul Dravid is his favourite batsman) and taught himself how to bat.”I haven’t had any personal coach,” Bawne says. “Whatever I’ve learned is from TV, from watching matches, and from state camps. You get the chance to play with experienced players, I’ve attended a lot of camps at the NCA, matches are coming on TV continuously, so I’ve learned small-small things.”It’s apparent that Bawne learned a lot more than just technique, as he talks you through his innings of 89 against Bengal. When Atitkar walked in to join him, Maharashtra were five down and only 50 ahead. Bawne, by then, had sized up the conditions, and communicated to his partner exactly how he needed to play.”On that wicket, you weren’t going to get out to the bouncer, because the bouncer wasn’t coming through quickly,” Bawne says. “Secondly, if the ball seams in off the wicket, you have to cover the pads so that you don’t get lbw or bowled. Against the [second] new ball, if it swung, you could get caught in the slips, which was how I got out. It was just a question of playing out four-five overs against the new ball, and against the rest just cover your stumps and play the line. Then there was no chance you’ll get out. you are that strong, mentally.”I told Sangram that, and I was telling him continuously, ‘Look, our lead is only 100, and from here, rather than get out and bat again, it was better if we batted just once, and put the opposition under pressure’. We kept playing, the lead went from 100 to 200, then I got out, and after that the wicket eased out so much that batting with a lead of 50 and batting with a lead of 200 were entirely different. If he had come in with a lead of 50, Anupam [Sanklecha, who made 52] couldn’t have played so freely. Those guys wouldn’t have given the ball to the legspinner. After the lead was 200, they would have thought, ‘okay, the lead is now 200’, and gave him the ball, and Anupam batted freely, and the game opened up. They gave us a target of 8. If we had taken a lead of 150, we might have got a target of 200 and anything could have happened.”As it turned out, Bawne fell 11 short of a hundred. It took more than just reading the scorecard to know how big a role he had played in Maharashtra’s win. Something similar happened in the quarter-final against Mumbai as well.That win will most likely go down as one created by the fast bowlers, who bundled Mumbai out for 129 in the second innings, and finished off by Zol and Jadhav, who remained not out on 91 and 120 respectively as Maharashtra raced to their target of 252 with eight wickets in hand.Bawne’s first-innings 84, however, was just as important. He came in with Maharashtra 24 for 3 replying to 402, survived a couple of early chances, and counterattacked alongside Jadhav in a 115-run fourth-wicket partnership.”At that stage, when I went in, there were four slips and a gully, a leg slip,” Bawne says. “So I decided, these guys are attacking us. In this situation, rather than just survive, why not attack them? I don’t play like that normally. But at that time, I did what was necessary for my team. I started a counterattack, and from there, the game opened up. Suddenly 20 for 3 had become 145 for 3.”In that way, what I did in that innings was, I showed how Maharashtra had to play through the rest of that game to win that game. We weren’t going to play like underdogs. We were going to play with aggression.”Still, Bawne “only” made 84. In this Ranji season, he has one century and five half-centuries. Last season, when Maharashtra were in the top rung of the tournament, he scored six fifties before getting that elusive century in his team’s final match of the season. Five of those fifties came in successive innings, some at venues as challenging to batsmen as Lahli and the Roshanara Club in Delhi, but they were still fifties. Batting at No.5, Bawne says, has restricted his chance of getting big hundreds. But he isn’t complaining about it.”If you see that match in Roshanara also, even when I had made fifty I was batting with the last few batsmen,” he says. “The opportunity wasn’t there for me to go make double-hundreds and hundreds. I try to see, in the role I’m given, how best I can help my team succeed.”I don’t mind any number. In Duleep Trophy, I got to bat at three and I scored a century. Last year, last innings, I got to bat at three and got a century then too. Whatever the team’s requirement is, you have to bat according to that.”

India are in top form going into the World T20 final, but the on-field challenges they pose are not the only ones Sri Lanka will have to contend with; they must also shed the mental baggage of many global finals lost

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-Apr-2014As Sri Lanka fans watched Virat Kohli gun down an imposing South Africa total on Friday evening, a familiar shadow of dread crept upon many. A final against an unrelenting India, whose belief and demeanour suggest they are champions already. This has all happened before.After four major finals in seven years, a clot of public superstitions has developed around big games. Among the more amusing is the notion that the country’s president’s attendance brings bad luck. This thought had been cemented in the 2012 World T20 final, when the president’s arrival at the Premadasa coincided roughly with the moment the match turned, swiftly and dramatically, for the opposition.There are other appeals to the supernatural to make sense of Sri Lanka’s spectacularly heartbreaking run. A middle-order batsman, no longer in the side, was believed to be the Jonah on Sri Lanka’s ship for some time. Batting first is an ill-omen, but depending on whom you speak to, chasing can be as well. Some say the curse will not be cast off until Arjuna Ranatunga is welcomed back into the administrative fold.Fortunately for fans, Sri Lanka’s players have not drunk from this irrational whirl of swill. But as they approach another grand occasion, they would be almost inhuman if the garbage compactor of previous failures had not begun to close in, in their minds.It is an odd thing to contend with, because the team’s meltdowns have come so specifically at this stage of the tournament. Sri Lanka’s campaigns have often been forged on mental strength; on valiant innings, desperation in the field and soaring, irresistible spells. Twice already in this tournament, against South Africa and New Zealand, Sri Lanka have reaped victory on fallow ground. In the semi-final, even against the opponent that had set a fire on their hopes in a home final 18 months ago, Sri Lanka were nerveless and professional.”I guess it could be the fact that you’re so afraid of losing the final that it can actually contribute to you doing badly,” Kumar Sangakkara had said, as he reflected on Sri Lanka’s finals downfalls. “When you’re playing in a final it’s not really hope, it’s almost a delivered certainty at times, where you think, ‘This is our game and we are going to win it.’ When you’ve done all of that and you lose, it’s a much worse feeling than going out earlier in the tournament. There’s no comparison between the stages of the tournament. There’s a huge difference between the semi-final and the final. It’s a very tough place to be, not just for players but even for spectators. The fact that you’ve come this far… You’ve won every game so far, so why couldn’t you win the most important game?”In a Sri Lanka cricket utopia, where the board does not contemplate sending a second XI to the tournament 24 hours before they depart due to monetary reasons and the best captain retains the reins until he retires, the team might have had some preparation for this eventuality: a formal exercise, led by a psychology professional, which allowed players to confront and shed their fears, and perhaps break free of the inhibition that has visibly damaged their title-hopes before.But instead, the team is left largely to its own devices – to hope the Asia Cup triumph was enough to snap the noose, to put hearts and minds at peace and in focus. In the past, the team has sought to view each final as “just another match”, but after Thursday night’s victory, the senior players will have given serious thought to making drastic adjustments to that approach. They may now feel frank discussion and collective acceptance of the gravity of the next match, for themselves, their families, their fans and their country, is the surest way to ward off inhibition.”It’s also not something that we like to talk about because I think sometimes we have that fear that if you talk about it, you might jinx it, or if you talk about it being a final you might change your attitude or the way you think,” Sangakkara had said.”At the back of your head you know it’s a final. You know what winning it means. You know what it means for yourself and the team and the people supporting you. One of the most important things that we’ve got to do is work on better, clearer communication, especially before big games – about exactly how we feel, because how we feel has an impact on what we do on the field and how we approach a game.”The one thing we haven’t done is express our fears, or whatever our feelings are, fully, before a final – especially the day before and the two or three days leading up to the final.”Whether those feelings have been laid out in the open before this game is unknown. Sri Lanka players rarely give much away in public, and in any case, it is not ideal to bring the public in on a heartfelt, load-shedding exercise. Perhaps Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene’s departure from the T20 team may spur the flow of raw emotion that might make this discussion effective. Whatever the case, Sri Lanka have far more to overcome than Kohli’s broad blade and Amit Mishra’s drift and spin on Sunday evening.

Plays of the day from the match between Royal Challengers and Daredevils

Devashish Fuloria13-May-2014The hat-trick
Whose return to form has been the most pleasing, asked a poll question on television, and Yuvraj was the popular choice by a large margin, over Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. You could see why. Yuvraj hadn’t just scored runs like the other two, he had been explosive. His first six tonight was off a powerful sweep against Tahir. It landed a few rows back in the stands. He kept getting better and better. The next two deliveries sailed deep into the crowd too – the first one over cover and the second one into the second tier behind long-off.The hat-trick part – II
Shukla had bowled his first three overs for 14 runs and had dismissed Chris Gayle with the ball and Kohli with his fielding. But then he came up against a steaming hot Yuvraj in the last over. He tried to bowl a full and wide line to Yuvraj but was smoked into the stands over cover with imperious drives off consecutive deliveries. When he shortened his length for the third delivery, Yuvraj was ready for the pull and swatted the ball over fine leg, scoring his second hat-trick of sixes.The daze
After taking 27 runs off the first five legal deliveries in the last over of the innings, Yuvraj finally missed the last ball. But no one was ready to leave the field just as yet – Rahul Shukla went to the top of his run-up, Yuvraj readied himself to play the supposed last delivery and the fielders stayed where they were. Belatedly, the umpires realised the innings was over. It was another case of everyone at the ground being in a daze; yesterday, a Mumbai batsman incorrectly took strike after a time-out and no one realised the error till the end of the innings.The throw
Virat Kohli is an excellent runner between the wickets but his wretched run was extended by an excellent throw from the deep. Kohli got an inside edge down to deep backward square leg off Imran Tahir and looked set for a couple, but Rahul Shukla, who had earlier sent Gayle back, charged towards the ball, swooped low and fired a flat throw, without wasting time in getting in an upright position, right on top of the stumps. Kohli, the replays showed, was only a few inches short.The drops
That Chris Gayle cannot run is no secret. That means he has to be hidden in the field, in positions close to the bat. The only job he is needed to do then is to take catches – he is a dependable catcher – and stop the balls hit straight at him. Tonight was not a good night for him at the office though. First he dropped Mayank Agarwal at slip off Yuzvendra Chahal in the eighth over – a regulation chance, then, at point, he juggled a high chance before dropping it, off JP Duminy’s bat in the 17th over. The second one of those could have been a gamechanger, but luckily for Gayle, Duminy could add only six more runs.The turn
Today was not turning out as one of those happy days for legspinner Chahal, the find of the season for Royal Challengers, not at least in his first 17 balls. He had been hit for two fours and three sixes, a catch had been dropped off his bowling and 36 runs had been taken off him. But out of nowhere, he unleashed the ball of the day. Kevin Pietersen stepped out early knowing that Chahal doesn’t turn much. The bowler though spotted the move, slowed it down, got it to drift in and then turn a mile past the swinging bat to end Pietersen’s stay.

Usman Khawaja’s alleged involvement deepens the intrigue as the ECB struggles to formulate a decisive stance on abuse, sledging and darker forms of misbehaviour

David Hopps21-Sep-2014Usman Khawaja, Lancashire’s Australia batsman, has been named as the driving force behind the official complaint to the ECB that sees Andrew Gale facing formal allegations of racial abuse which, if he is found guilty, will bring the risk of a record ban.Although exact details of Khawaja’s involvement have not been made public, the has alleged that Khawaja was “the leading figure in taking the case further than the Level 2 charge originally brought by the umpires for dissent”.Usman Khawaja has been alleged as the man to complain about Andrew Gale’s abuse•Getty ImagesKhawaja has potentially become the MS Dhoni to Ashwell Prince’s Ravindra Jadeja in a case that has vague echoes – although with the charge of racism attached – of the stand-off between India and England during the Test series this summer.Khawaja was batting at the time with Prince when Gale, who was increasingly infuriated by Lancashire’s timewasting tactics on the third evening of the Roses Championship match, launched into a tirade, telling Prince to “f*** off back to your own country you Kolpak f*****”.The umpires, Steve O’Shaughnessy and Steve Garrett, immediately lodged a Level 2 dissent charge which saw Gale suspended for the last two Championship matches of the season, with previous charges also taken into consideration, and controversially banned from taking any part in the trophy presentation after Yorkshire won the Championship at Trent Bridge.Khawaja, according to the , then pushed for Gale’s outburst to dealt with more severely – leading to Gale to become the first England county cricketer to be charged of a racism offence when Gerard Elias QC, head of the ECB’s disciplinary committee, decided that a formal hearing was necessary.Khawaja, now back in Australia, has not yet had the opportunity to comment. It is believed that he was interviewed by the ECB before he returned to Australia, but after Elias lodged further charges against Gale.Widespread derision that the term “Kolpak” could be termed racist has caused the ECB to adjust its ground and privately to brief that it is effectively concentrating attention on only half the sentence – to whit, whether Gale’s rejoinder to “f*** off back to your own country” can be construed as racist under the Race Relations Act and Equality Act or whether it is just another example of the abuse with a dollop of knee-jerk xenophobia thrown in, which Yorkshire insist is endemic in the game.

The ECB must take this opportunity to provide leadership, stop hiding behind the Spirit of Cricket, and restate strong guidelines to umpires about how it expects the professional game to be run

The involvement of Lancashire in supporting the case against Gale has not yet been made clear. Khawaja has been recalled by Queensland and will not be available to play the final Championship match of the season against Middlesex next week, which Lancashire need to win handsomely to avoid relegation. They have been most anxious that the hearing should not coincide with that match, which could also lead to Prince being unavailable. Such a clash would also not go down well with Sky, which has chosen to televise the match.In his first public appearance since the affair escalated, Gale displayed the Championship trophy at Elland Road on Saturday during Leeds United’s derby against Huddersfield Town and, even as a Huddersfield supporter, received resounding applause.Far from parading remorse, Yorkshire will defend Gale with a top legal team. They will pursue their conviction that the ECB must give serious attention to an increasing failure by umpires to manage the game and insist that Gale must not be scapegoated on the grounds of a forensic interpretation of a single retaliatory phrase at a time when sledging is incessant and gamesmanship has reached epidemic proportions.This view has already been expressed in writing to the ECB but it is likely to act as mitigation, at best, as the ECB wrestles with an affair which has become a political minefield. This summer, the ECB successfully defended England’s fast bowler James Anderson against charges of physical violence and personal abuse towards Jadeja and also remained silent when British Indians shouted at Moeen Ali to “f*** off home” during the ODI at Edgbaston – less difficult than they might have imagined as he is Birmingham born and lives a couple of miles down the road.Anderson’s comments that his clash with Jadeja should have been sorted there and then emphasises the conviction in the England camp that abuse is part and parcel of the modern game. The ICC seemed to uphold that view when, in the absence of video evidence and with the testimonies of witnesses on both sides condemned by the judicial commissioner Gordon Lewis as hopelessly biased, Lewis found both players not guilty.One view expressed in ECB high office is that “at least we will know where we stand” when the Gale ruling is made. On what constitutes racism, it is true that the lawyers will provide an expensive education and Gale, whatever the outcome, will be branded for life. But it suggests a governing body struggling to provide a coherent message.Prince himself said that he had not viewed Gale’s outburst as racist when he spoke to a South African radio station – and although that was in direct answer to a question on the Kolpak phrase, Yorkshire will seize on the remark. Prince made no reference to Khawaja’s alleged involvement.But on the general topic of player behaviour, on the abuse and gamesmanship that is spreading to all levels of the game, this regrettable episode gives the ECB an opportunity to provide leadership, stop hiding behind the sham of the Spirit of Cricket, as well intentioned as it was, and restate strong guidelines to umpires about how it expects the professional game to be run. Only if that is a beneficial outcome of the Gale investigation will cricket be the better for it.

Naman Ojha’s performances for India A in Australia are rewards for almost two years of work with batting coach Pravin Amre

Amol Karhadkar17-Jul-2014Over the last fortnight, Naman Ojha has exemplified the skill of extending one’s batting form across seasons. Touring with the India A side in Australia, Ojha hit three successive hundreds and finished the four-day leg of the tour with 430 runs in three innings. The results were Ojha’s reward for nearly two years of work done with batting coach Pravin Amre.After a disappointing series against New Zealand A in 2012, where he scored 70 runs in four innings. Narendra Hirwani, the former India legspinner and national selector, came up with a suggestion. Hirwani, who has known Ojha since the latter’s first-class debut in 2000-01, asked the wicketkeeper-batsman to approach batting coach Pravin Amre for guidance.Amre, who had coached Ojha’s corporate team, Air India, agreed and the duo have been working closely at the Air India facility in Mumbai. “We realised there was not much wrong with his technique. In fact, his extraordinary bat speed is his biggest strength, so there was no point in tinkering with it,” Amre told ESPNcricinfo. “Instead, we realised it was more of a mental problem for him when it came to batting long. We then decided to focus more on building an innings.”The rewards followed quickly for Ojha, known as an underachiever in first-class cricket, despite India caps in the shorter formats. The 2013-14 Ranji season turned out to be his best in domestic cricket. Between his debut in 2000-01 and 2012-13, Ojha had scored nine first-class centuries. In 2013-14, he scored four hundreds and finished as the eighth-highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy, even as his team, Madhya Pradesh, had one of their worst seasons in the last decade.Ojha carried that form into Australia, too. His knocks of 219 not out, 101 not out and 110 were scored while batting at No. 7 for India A and each one came with the team in a precarious position. Moreover, he scored the centuries after long spells keeping wicket, thus underlining his fitness.In the first innings of the first unofficial Test, Ojha came in to bat with India A at 191 for 5. With the aid of the tail, he ensured the score reached 475 for 9 before the innings was declared. Then, he took three catches, including a diving take down the leg side, while keeping for more than 140 overs. In their second innings, India A slumped to 86 for 5 and there was a remote possibility of a loss to Australia A. Ojha was at it again, pulling the team to safety with Ambati Rayudu.In the second four-day game, Ojha had to keep wicket for almost a day and a half before taking guard with India A at 199 for 5 in reply to Australia A’s 423. He completed a hat-trick of centuries and took the team close to Australia’s total before Umesh Yadav’s blitzkrieg ensured a sizeable lead.”Even before we started preparing for the tour to Australia, we knew he had to make this opportunity count. He had realised that he may not get many opportunities to prove himself in the longer form, so he took it as his last chance,” Amre said. “I am glad he has grabbed the opportunity with both hands. To score three centuries, that too after keeping wickets for so long, is just incredible. It’s also a compliment to his fitness levels.”Hirwani, who has been a guiding force for Ojha, first as a senior team-mate and then as a selector and coach, called the wicketkeeper-batsman a late-bloomer. “His talent is unquestionable,” Hirwani said. “What was perhaps lacking was temperament and patience. I thought Amre would be the best man to help him out in such a case and I am delighted that it has worked.”There are players who realise what their game is all about at a tender age and there are some who take time to know themselves. It’s a question of maturity and I think Naman has matured now – both as an individual and as a cricketer. This is his right age. I hope he continues to excel and hopefully bring in richer laurels for himself, MP cricket and possibly the Indian team.”

The Hagley Oval has put Christchurch back on the cricketing map after the AMI Stadium was damaged by the earthquake of 2011

Marc Swain-Rogatski04-Nov-2014The venue
While the Hagley Oval has only had a handful of international matches so far – during the World Cup qualifiers in January 2014 – the newly built facilities are set to host New Zealand’s first Boxing Day Test in 11 years, against Sri Lanka, as well as the first match of the 2015 World Cup, featuring the same teams. The new set-up looks picturesque, with its lush outfield and floating tensile roof covering the pavilion – a fitting setting, indeed, for the cricket Christchurch has fought so hard to get back.The primary venue in the city was the AMI Stadium – formerly Jade Stadium and originally Lancaster Park – in the south-east of the city. Following the devastating earthquake of 2011, the ground suffered irreparable damage. From late 2014 building up to the World Cup, cricket in Christchurch will be homed in the more central Hagley Oval.The AMI Stadium was always abuzz on game day. Before the Hadlee Stand and the other large seating arrangements were raised, the ground had a large embankment area that was often home to some very colourful individuals; its atmosphere provided a lot of fun for the boundary fielders. Spectators were even allowed to play their own games of cricket on the field during the lunch interval. If one was to walk the corridors beneath the DB Draught stand, they would find games as fierce as those on centre stage, raging between the New Zealand players of the future.Ground page | FixturesGreat matches (AMI Stadium)
New Zealand v India, 3rd ODI, March 2009
The third ODI between New Zealand and India in 2009 saw an Indian batting class in session, led by Sachin Tendulkar. On track to record the biggest ODI score, he helped pummel New Zealand’s attack, but retired hurt in the 45th over on 163 as India reached a mammoth 392. An excellent Jesse Ryder century and a late partnership between Kyle Mills and Tim Southee gave India a scare, but they still emerged victorious by 58 runs.New Zealand v Australia, 3rd ODI, 2005
A few years earlier, in 2005, in the third ODI of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, a New Zealand chase led expertly by Scott Styris and Brendon McCullum got New Zealand to the highest ODI score at the time (332), and won them the match. McCullum’s unbeaten 50, thrashed from 25 balls, aided Styris’ gallant century in chasing down the large total, which had seemed a high mountain to climb after Michael Hussey’s 88 from 56 earlier in the day.Top performers in ODIs (AMI Stadium)
Most runs: Nathan Astle 705 at 50.35 | Highest score: Sachin Tendulkar 163* v New Zealand | Most wickets: Daniel Vettori 23 at 31.82 | Best bowling: Simon O’Donnell 5 for 13Major players
Chris Cairns | Stephen Fleming | Nathan Astle | Chris Harris | Shane Bond | Craig McMillan | Richard Hadlee | Rod Latham | Lee GermonHome team
Christchurch is home to Canterbury, which supplied several players to the New Zealand one-day team in the 1990s. They won the one-day trophy seven times in the 1990s. They have also won the first-class Plunket Shield 17 times.

Stats highlights from the fourth day of the third Test between West Indies and South Africa in Cape Town

Bishen Jeswant05-Jan-201566 Number of Test fifties scored by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, second only to Sachin Tendulkar who scored 68.27104 Balls faced by Chanderpaul in Tests. From matches where balls-faced data is available, only three batsmen have faced more deliveries: Rahul Dravid (31258), Sachin Tendulkar* (29437) and Jacques Kallis (28903).8 Number of years since Chanderpaul has been run-out in Tests. He was run-out against New Zealand in Napier in 2006. This is the fourth time he has been run-out in his Test career.7 Number of wickets taken by Simon Harmer, the most by a South African spinner on debut in a home Test. Two other South African spinners have taken seven or more wickets in their first Test – Dane Piedt (8 for 152, Harare, 2014) and Ian Smith (7 for 189, Nottingham, 1947)50 Number of overs bowled by Harmer in this Test. He is only the fourth South African spinner in 68 years to bowl 50 or more overs on Test debut. Interestingly, three South African spinners bowled 50-plus overs each on debut in the same Test in 1947, against England.890 Runs scored by Chanderpaul in South Africa, the most by a West Indies batsman. He went past Lara (841) during his 50 in the second innings.98 Marlon Samuels’ strike rate against Harmer during his knock of 74 in the second innings. He scored 46 runs off 47 balls against Harmer. Against the other bowlers, Samuels scored 28 runs off 103 balls at a strike rate of 27.5 Number of times that Samuels has faced 150-plus balls in an innings against South Africa, more than against any other team. He has done this three times each against England and India. Samuels played exactly 150 balls for his 74 in the second innings.8 Number of ducks scored by Denesh Ramdin, the second-most by a West Indies wicketkeeper in Tests. The only wicketkeeper to score more ducks is Ridley Jacobs – 12 ducks.355 Number of balls since Vernon Philander has taken a Test wicket at Newlands, Cape Town. His last wicket here was against Australia in March 2014, when he took a wicket in the first innings and returned match figures of 1 for 158.

26-Feb-2015Coming together at 40 for 3, Matt Machan (pic) and Preston Mommsen accumulated 53 in 10.1 overs•ICCMohammad Nabi, though, bowled Machan for 31 in the 22nd over to end the partnership•AFPShapoor Zadran bowled with more verve and purpose in his second spell, as Scotland collapsed to 144 for 8•AFPHe was aided by Hamid Hassan, who ended with figures of 1 for 32 to add to a tumbling catch to dismiss Josh Davey, paving the way for his somersault celebration•Associated PressMajid Haq and Alasdair Evans (in pic) showed some stomach for a fight, adding a record 62 runs for the ninth wicket even as an early finish loomed large•AFPEvans became Shapoor’s fourth victim off the last ball of the innings, but Scotland had gone past the 200-mark by then•ICCEvans carried forward the momentum, this time striking with the ball to remove Nawroz Mangal and Asghar Stanikzai cheaply in their chase of 211•AFPJaved Ahmadi counterattacked, clattering 51 at a run a ball•AFPOnce Richie Berrington got rid of the opener, though, the chase went to a free fall. He claimed figures of 10-0-40-4 to snatch the game by the scruff of its neck, as Afghanistan slumped to 97 for 7•Getty ImagesSamiullah Shenwari then built his innings steadily, before finding his range to help Afghanistan fight back•AFPHe added 60 for the ninth wicket with Hamid Hassan, and with 38 needed off 24 balls, turned the match around by whacking Haq for three sixes in the 47th over•ICCBut the game took another twist when Shenwari was caught attempting another six off the final delivery of the over. He was dismissed for 96. Scotland needed just one wicket. Afghanistan needed just 19 runs•Getty ImagesBut it was Afghanistan’s last pair Shapoor and Hassan who stayed cool under immense pressure, nudging away for crucial singles. With five needed off the last over, Shapoor finally sealed Afghanistan’s historic win with a swipe past short fine-leg for four•Getty ImagesIt sparked frenzied celebrations among the players, who could scarcely believe what they had just pulled off•ICC

The Bangladesh batsmen are already faced with the challenge of dealing with alien conditions. The last thing the team needs is an unwarranted rejig in the batting order

Mohammad Isam19-Feb-2015The 10,000-plus people who turned up to create a raucous atmosphere in Canberra gave Bangladesh a little taste of home. But the players were far from known conditions against Afghanistan and will be even further away in Brisbane.Although the threat of Cyclone Marcia is hovering over Saturday’s Australia-Bangladesh game, even a bit of cricket at the Gabba will be demanding for the Bangladesh batting line-up that has not fully grasped the nuances of Australian conditions.Then came the reshuffle in the batting order which had them cornered by the 30th over against Afghanistan. Although some of the batsmen took it into their strides, the rejig seems to add to the challenges the batsmen face.Shakib Al Hasan batted at No 5, the only one in the top six to stick to his usual position. Soumya Sarkar had only one outing at No 3 in List-A cricket before playing his first two ODIs at this position; Mahmudullah is new at No 4 while Mushfiqur, who bats his best at No 4, batted at No 6. They were not exactly uncomfortable but have been given little time to grow into their new roles.The batsmen have never publicly criticised or discussed their preferred batting positions but they looked jittery for about 30 overs before Shakib and Mushfiqur rescued the innings. The only hitch was that by the time this pair were having a measure of the bowling attack, the slog overs had come. Leaving only 20.5 overs for your top pair seemed counter-intuitive.Sarkar impressed with his positive approach while trying to up the slagging run-rate, but he is essentially an opener. Mahmudullah looked to be stuck in first gear while Mominul Haque, who came in at No 9, usually needs time to get going. Still, personal sacrifices were the order of the day, and some should be lauded for adjusting and keeping their shape in a tricky game.Anamul Haque taking first strike for only the ninth time in his ODI career was the portent of the change. It was the first time in eight years for Tamim Iqbal to not face the first bal. Incredibly, Tamim has always taken first strike in Tests and T20s.Such a small change has little consequence on the match but it was a not so subtle signal from Tamim that all was not right with his confidence, particularly after the arthroscopic surgery on his left knee a couple of months ago. And that wasn’t the only change in the batting line-up.Mahmudullah batted at No 4 for only the fifth time in his career though four of those occasions have come in the last four Bangladesh matches. Mushfiqur is also increasingly shifted to bat at No 6, as he did against Afghanistan, a position he is accustomed to in ODIs, but most of his recent successes have at No 4.There remains room for adjustments but the batsmen ought to be given sufficient time. Mominul was wasted lower down the order but Mashrafe later explained that he was their insurance in case of a batting collapse which Bangladesh have had plenty of in the last 12 months. The recent batting debacles in the four practice matches too surely played in the team management’s mind.To use eight batsmen against Afghanistan was ultimately defensive on Bangladesh’s part. Against higher-ranked teams, another spinner would most likely be used in place of the eighth batsman. The chop could fall on Mominul, and that will be a bigger sacrifice on his part than for the team. It will be these big and small sacrifices that the Bangladesh players would have to make throughout this tough World Cup campaign.

Stats highlights from the Group A match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Christchurch

Bishen Jeswant14-Feb-2015100 Number of venues to host a World Cup game. The Hagley Oval in Christchurch, the venue of this ODI, is the 100th.1030 Runs scored by Kumar Sangakkara in World Cups. He is only the third Sri Lankan and 14th player overall to score 1000-plus runs in World Cups. Sachin Tendulkar leads with 2278 runs.13,732 Career ODI Runs scored by Sangakkara, the second-most for any batsman after Sachin Tendulkar (18426). He went past Ricky Ponting (13704) during his innings of 39.111 Opening partnership between Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill, the second-highest for New Zealand in World Cups against a top-eight opposition. Their only higher stand was 114, against South Africa, in 1992.11 Number of 50-plus stands between Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor since 2013, the second-most for any pair. Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan are above them with 17.22 Runs scored by McCullum off Lasith Malinga during the eighth over of New Zealand’s innings. The only batsman to score more runs off a single Malinga over is Virat Kohli, who scored 24 in Hobart in 2012.84 Runs conceded by Malinga, the most for him in a World Cup match. He had never conceded more than 55 runs previously. There has been only one previous instance in ODIs where Malinga has conceded more runs without taking a wicket, when he conceded 0 for 85 against South Africa in 2014.7 Number of 300-plus scores for New Zealand in World Cups, the second-most for any team. Australia lead with 14.20 Number of 50-plus opening stands for Sri Lanka since 2013, the most for any team. Lahiru Thirimanne and Dilshan put on 67 runs in this game.331 Runs scored by New Zealand, the second-highest by any team at the Hagley Oval. The highest score at this venue is 341, by Scotland versus Canada in 2014.