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Ben Hilfenhaus talks about his old job as a bricklayer, the best captain he has played under, and the number of Test wickets he finished with

Interview by Arun Venugopal22-Apr-2017What is a must-do for someone who visits Ulverstone, your hometown?
Not much (). To paint a picture for you, Ulverstone is a small, little town. Not really a lot there.Do you like going back there?
It’s nice, yeah. It’s nice to go back and catch up with friends and family.What do you miss most about your days as a bricklayer?
I don’t think I miss it, that’s for sure. It’s pretty hard work, but it is something that put me in good stead. The hard work involved with that sort of job set me up pretty well and showed me the real world out there, and you know that you have got to work hard.Was moving from Ulverstone to Hobart for cricket a difficult thing to do?
I was fortunate enough to have my cousin living down at Hobart at that time, so I moved in with him for a while and he showed me around and looked after me there. It was good to have his support.Ninety-nine Test wickets is an interesting number. When you look back at your career, do you think about missing out on that one wicket?
Ah, not really. I am just quite grateful that I have been given the opportunity to represent my country, and probably I have been fortunate enough to be able to take 99 wickets more than most other people.

“The hard work involved with being a bricklayer set me up pretty well and showed me the real world out there”

How did you come to be a fast bowler?
I guess from a young age I was always able to swing the ball. But it wasn’t until I was in my early 20s, when I actually started to generate a little bit more pace, that it made the swinging ball a little bit more effective for me. As your body matures, you bowl quicker and have an understanding of how to swing it later, how to swing it out of the hand and all these sort of things. I guess with experience you gain that knowledge.Who were the swing bowlers you grew up admiring?
I always admired Glenn McGrath and how he went about his cricket – just his immaculate line and length, even though he wasn’t really a swinger of the ball. I tried to take away from him that it’s about being patient and in control and putting the ball in good areas for long periods of time.If you could go back in time and get one of the best swing bowlers to coach you, who would you pick?
() I don’t know. I have been quite fortunate along my journey that I have had some pretty good coaches who have helped me. I don’t think I would change anything, to be honest.Are you the superstitious kind?
Not at all ().Who is the most superstitious of your mates?
I wouldn’t say people are superstitious. They just have some habits, I reckon. I found Michael Hussey quite funny. He has to have his bats lined up exactly the right way and facing the right way, and it always used to be a bit of fun turning his bats around. Coming back five minutes later, he would have them turned back around again.Hilfenhaus on his poor hat-trick-attempt ball against Hobart Hurricanes: “You can’t always execute your skills exactly how you like. Maybe the moment, maybe I was trying a bit too hard on the ball”•Getty ImagesBrett Geeves, your former team-mate, said you once showed up for training after a full day on the bricks and ran six kilometres in 22 minutes. He reckons you were capable of pursuing an Olympic career.
I think he is making a little bit of that up (chuckles). I do enjoy the physical side of the game and the preparation involved. I guess it is something that I have always thrived on and really enjoyed.He also said that the more you drank, the better you got at the game. Is that true?
Sounds like you are talking too much to Brett Geeves at the moment (laughs).We all like a bit of fun, don’t we? And a bit of downtime. That’s what it is, really.What other sports have you been good at?
I wouldn’t say I am good at them, but I do like participating. I do enjoy a game of golf, and used to enjoy Aussie Rules [Football] back in the day. As a kid, just gave every sport a bit of a crack.Do you still do sudokus when your team is batting?
Ah, you have talked way too much to Brett Geeves (laughs). Again, it’s a bit of downtime and I enjoy that sort of stuff.If a movie was made about you, which actor would you pick to play you?
I am not sure. Who would you pick?I would pick you…
Exactly.…But you would require a lot of training.
(laughs) Yeah, I will do the training and play it myself. Why not?

“I haven’t copped a lot of sledges. I am just never out there long enough”

In the recent game against Hobart Hurricanes, you bowled two peaches and then bowled a full toss to Kumar Sangakkara, which was called “one of the worst hat-trick balls in the history of cricket”.
Ah, it just didn’t come out very well, did it? I mean that’s the game. You can’t always execute your skills exactly how you like. Maybe the moment, maybe I was trying a bit too hard on the ball. Obviously I was pretty thrilled to get off to a pretty good start and it ended up being a good game of cricket. [My mates] bring it up every now and then, but hey, that’s just part of the banter and the fun you create within a team environment.Who takes the piss with you the most?
We all have a few jokes along the way. No one in particular [takes the piss] more than the others, but we definitely give as much as we get, that’s for sure.What’s the funniest piece of sledging you have copped?
I haven’t copped a lot of sledges. I am just never out there long enough. Being a tailender, I don’t actually get exposed to a lot of sledging. That’s not part of my game, so I don’t really have a lot of stories for you (laughs).Are you one of those rare Australian cricketers who don’t sledge?
Yeah, I don’t see a lot of point in it. When I am batting, I am not out there long enough. In the field, I am down at fine leg for most of it. So, you miss that little build-up to it all, and I like it that way. I am happy to listen to everyone else’s stories. I think I will leave [the sledging] to the smart people.”Ricky Ponting was amazing. [He was a] fantastic leader on and off the field”•Getty ImagesWhich is the cleanest dressing room – Melbourne Stars, Canterbury, or Delhi Daredevils?
They are all clean at the start, until everyone gets in there and starts training and batting and fielding and throwing their gear everywhere. It’s pretty hard to keep it a tidy dressing room.Are you messy yourself?
No, I am not. I consider myself quite neat and that’s why everything is in its little spot and ready to go.What’s the best part of playing in different T20 leagues around the world?
I think it’s just a very good learning environment. To sit there and talk about the game with some of the greats and also different players from different countries on how they see and play the game, I think it’s good for the game of cricket. And I think the game will just keep evolving because of this.Who were the best captains you played under?
Just about all the captains I have played under have been quite good. They were all slightly different, which has been good. It’s good to get different ideas on how they see the game, the role they want you to play, different fields and how they see different batters’ strengths. But if I have to pick the best captain, I think Ricky Ponting was amazing. [He was a] fantastic leader on and off the field.You are one of the most successful Tasmanian bowlers of all time. Is it something you are particularly proud of?
Tassie is quite a small state, so to have the career that I have had… I am obviously quite honoured and privileged to be given that opportunity. It’s obviously nice knowing that you have given the game a little bit and hopefully created a bit more interest in the sport in Tassie.

“To sit there and talk about the game with some of the greats and also different players from different countries on how they see and play the game, I think it’s good for the game of cricket”

Are you a good dancer?
Not at all. I have two left feet.Who among your team-mates do your reckon is a good dancer?
There are a lot of people who think they can dance, but I am not sure they can. That’s why we play cricket (laughs). I haven’t seen enough of them [Australian team-mates] dance.Why is Ben Hilfenhaus not on Twitter?
I am just not really into social media. I am on Instagram now. I find that’s quite good, just sending photos and stuff up there. I am starting to [get the hang of it]. I am a bit of a novice too, but hopefully my Instagramming can improve.

Bangladesh returned to the scene of one of their finest hours, and the occasion brought out the best in two players who have been pivotal to their rise

Andrew McGlashan in Cardiff09-Jun-2017Cardiff has again been good to Bangladesh. The full worth of a remarkable chase won’t be clear until Saturday evening, but Mashrafe Mortaza may have been tempted to find the number for a local limo firm even before knowing if England or the elements do them a favour to earn a semi-final spot after one of their great one-day performances.They were taken to victory by their record ODI stand of 224 between Shakib Al Hasan, who carried Bangladesh during the fallow years and has since helped them rise, alongside Mahmudullah, a player who is inspired by global one-day tournaments. In the 2015 World Cup, Mahmudullah scored back-to-back centuries, the first against England in Adelaide, which set up the victory that put them into the quarter-finals, and the second against New Zealand. Today, he backed those up with another mighty showing.This was his first ODI hundred since that New Zealand meeting in Hamilton, and it can rank alongside the England century as his finest innings. Shakib has achieved more in his 11-year career, but his hundred – brought up with a top-edged six over fine leg – can also sit in the highest echelons of his accomplishments. A slightly shell-shocked Kane Williamson called them “unbelievable knocks”.When asked before the match how much rested on Tamim Iqbal after his scores of 128 and 95 in the first two games of the tournament, Mashrafe had been quick to remind everyone that Bangladesh’s rise up the one-day rankings has been far from a one-man show. And they had the perfect chance to show it here after Tamim was lbw to the second ball of the innings, but even Mashrafe doubted their chances from 33 for 4.”To be honest at that time, it was very difficult,” he said. “But once the partnership got to 100 I started to believe because I knew that these two can make the difference as they have a lot of times. But I never thought that they will have more than a 200 partnership. That was phenomenal.”We knew Tamim wasn’t going to get a score every day. That’s exactly what happened today. And we knew that we have some extraordinary players. I knew that Shakib and Mahmudullah could make a difference. We have the players, we knew that, and 266 we knew that it was gettable but after being 33 for 4 it was hard.”There was a small crowd, the ground less than half full, but the majority were supporting Bangladesh and as reality dawned that the chase was on, the noise grew louder. “Bangladesh, Bangladesh,” rang around this corner of Cardiff. Well before the target was hunted down, Shakib and Mahmudullah were cantering, flogging a dispirited New Zealand attack to all parts of Sophia Gardens. This was another statement. Bangladesh have not reached the ranking of No. 6 by accident.3:29

Fleming: Shakib and Mahmudullah’s composure was the key

Both needed more than a dose of fortune to survive the new ball during one of the most testing periods of bowling seen in the tournament from Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Adam Milne’s rapid early burst. The partnership will go down in Bangladesh cricket folklore, but there was little chest-thumping emotion from the pair in the middle.”There was nothing in my mind at that time,” Shakib said of the parlous scoreline he faced. “I was just thinking of batting as long as I can because there were so many overs left and not many wickets. When we had a 100-run partnership and were still in the game, then we were thinking we had a chance.”The ball was doing a bit, the first 10 overs I thought they did really well and created a lot of chances. Once it stopped swinging it became easier.”Without Shakib and Mahmudullah, Bangladesh would have been sunk, but they would have been chasing a tougher target if it had not been for a superb final 10 overs in the field when they kept New Zealand down to 62. The surprise package in that period was the offspin of Mosaddek Hossain, introduced in the 42nd over and finishing with 3 for 13, which was complemented by a series of pinpoint yorkers from Rubel Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman.Mashrafe picked out Mosaddek’s brief but starring role. “You see that most of the days he bowls maybe three overs only and can change the game. He’s a youngster and can also bat really well.”Regardless of whether Bangladesh progress, Mashrafe said that this experience will serve his younger players well ahead of the 2019 World Cup, which will also be staged in England and Wales. “We have been improving over the last three years and performances like this really help us move forward.”This was a glorious day for Bangladesh. But now all they can do is wait. A squad of 15 players, the backroom staff, and hundreds of millions of fans around the world will be supporting England or cheering the rain at Edgbaston. Still, they will once again always remember Cardiff.”It would be nice if England won, but we can’t just ask that Australia will lose that game,” Mashrafe said. “But I would like to say to both teams, best of luck. Whatever we could do, we did. That is the most important thing for us.”

The two were deadly together with the ball, but never got along. Now, a possible reunion at Multan Sultans has been called off

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-2017

It has been an odd month in cricket

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Nov-2017The lapsed villain
Reports from New South Wales have suggested this month that former international umpire Darrell Hair, who had lorded it so stubbornly over several controversial incidents, pleaded guilty to stealing from the liquor store he was working at. Apparently, this was in order to fund a gambling habit that had spun out of control. The news was particularly startling for Sri Lankans (and perhaps Pakistanis) of a certain generation, because it humanised the man who had been among their foremost childhood villains. It was like discovering Darth Vader put out of action by a hip replacement, or that Hannibal Lecter no longer eats his victims because his teeth had started to fall out.The non-war
In the build-up to the Ashes, David Warner was roundly criticised for comparing the coming series with England to “war”, in addition to suggesting he would “dig deep” to develop “hatred” of the opposition. Apparently, Ashes sledges now cannot be one iota more inflammatory than abuse based on opposition players’ legitimacy of parentage, choice of preferred species for sexual relations, promiscuousness of spouse, stupidity of offspring, and gingerness of their hair. I suppose a line had to be drawn somewhere.The straight face
Chris Gayle won his defamation suit against Australia’s Fairfax Media, but the best line of the case surely goes to Gayle’s friend Donovan Miller, who without flinching told the court that Gayle had become reserved “and scared, especially [around] females” since the 2015-16 Big Bash League. It is unclear if he is referring to this condom ad in which Gayle cannot stop cowering amidst a gang of cheerleaders or this Instagram post in which Gayle appears to have been frighteningly ambushed by a posse of swimsuit-clad models.The victims of historical irony
For two decades, the Barmy Army’s go-to chant down under was one that preyed on Australia’s history as a British prison colony. Even when their cricketers were being resplendently shamed 5-0, England fans may have felt they could draw themselves to their feet, wipe the tears from ruddy cheeks, and croak out a sobbing rendition of “they’re the convicts over there”. The world, however, has been upended in 2017. Team England has left for the Ashes without Ben Stokes, who is suspected of exactly the sort of action that would have seen him transported to Australia in past centuries. As one of their own players now stands accused of antisocial behaviour, could it be possible that when groups of England supporters sit shirtless in sunny Australian stands, painted lettering upon flabby chests, lips foamed from the ninth beer of the day, they will reflect they are not intrinsically a more refined species of human being than the natives?”We essentially beat Pakistan in their own game”•Getty ImagesThe pitch scandal
The spectre of corruption was raised again in October, most notably with the allegation that Maharashtra Cricket Association curator Pandurang Salgaoncar had given pitch information to people posing as bookies, ahead of India v New Zealand ODI in Pune. However, it was not the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) – whose job it is to stamp fixing out of the game – that presented evidence against Salgaoncar. The issue was brought to light by an Indian TV channel, just as the 2010 Lord’s spot-fixing scandal had been the result of a media-driven exposé. All of this highlights long-held concerns about what the ACU actually does, apart from, as in this case, allow international matches to go ahead unhindered on what was apparently a suspect pitch.The tough act to follow
Commiserations are due to Cricket South Africa. One month after the IPL bagged what was effectively the biggest television rights deal in cricket, CSA was forced to postpone the 2017 T20 Global League, thanks partly to an inability to land a decent broadcast deal. This must have been like watching Michelangelo sculpt the famous statue of David before stabbing yourself with the chisel.The altruist
Particularly irked at this cancellation was would-be GLT20 star Kevin Pietersen, who tweeted: “I feel so sorry for all the youngsters who were going to learn & earn out of this comp!” Yes, what a pity for… “the youngsters”. We can have no reason to doubt that Pietersen’s immediate worry was for the younger players’ loss of earnings, based of course on his career, which was most distinguished by the concern he displayed for people other than himself.The collapsathon
If Pakistan are the classical masters of the batting collapse, Sri Lanka have in recent years perfected their own equally dramatic version: the neo-collapse. Their two-Test series early in the month, became, at times, a festival of batting incompetence. When Sri Lanka went into the third innings of the first Test with a three-run deficit, for example, they hurtled comically to 138 all out. They should have lost the match had they not been out-collapsed by Pakistan, who were all out for 114 less than a day after they had made 422 (in the first innings). The second Test was almost as extraordinary. Sri Lanka crashed to 96 all out after claiming a 220-run first-innings lead. Though at times in the chase Pakistan seemed like they had the measure of a big total, they lost 5 for 52 and 5 for 23, with a 173-chase in between.

Another cheap dismissal pushing at Trent Boult extended Alastair Cook’s run of indifferent form – but it never pays to write off England’s leading Test run-scorer

Andrew McGlashan in Christchurch01-Apr-2018With a push outside off stump, Alastair Cook’s series with the bat was done. His tally of 23 runs in four innings was the leanest series of his career.Before this series he spoke about coming through dark times in Australia with the double-century in Melbourne. It was his second double in 12 innings which is impressive. The problem has been what has come either side of those huge innings: outside of those doubles, he has made 216 runs in 16 innings. Shortly before his 243 against West Indies, his 88 against South Africa at The Oval was an innings of absolute class in demanding conditions. But is one major innings per series enough?”It is an easy story to write when a slightly older player isn’t scoring runs,” Cook said a couple of weeks ago. “Is he going to give up? Is he thinking about it? Phil Mickelson is to me a prime example… I’m not saying I’m anywhere near Phil Mickelson’s league, but he hadn’t won for five years [when he won the Mexico Championship in March]. But people weren’t doubting his hunger or desire to play, just because he wasn’t quite getting the results.”So it’s amazing how a little period in a cricketer’s life can get transformed into a lot bigger than it is. If you hang about in Test cricket long enough, there are going to be little periods when you play really well and little periods or slightly longer periods when you don’t play well.”This is not a time to write him off. He has proved doubters wrong at numerous times in his stellar career. But neither should the issue be ignored. The start of the English season, and a spell with defending County Champions Essex, is shaping as important with runs needed to stop a debate igniting.The opening bowlers took all 20 wickets in the first two innings of the Test•ESPNcricinfo LtdIn this series he has been outdone by Trent Boult bowling at his best, so there is no disgrace in that, but he has looked out of nick in New Zealand. Perhaps that was caused by the far-from-ideal lead-in period which consisted of a muddled four days in Hamilton and nets. The early signs at Seddon Park were that he was actually hitting the ball nicely, but Boult has proved a demanding prospect.The second-innings flick down the leg side in Auckland can be put a little down to bad luck, but in the other three innings he has been unpicked by classy swing: edging to the keeper/cordon twice and losing off stump to a beauty in Christchurch.There were hints when he began his innings on Sunday that there was positive intent. There was a good stride into a delivery from Tim Southee as he drove through the covers and after lunch he pulled the same bowler strongly through square leg, then in the same over flashed over the slips.A curious aside in Cook’s career against New Zealand has been the difference in facing Southee and Boult. Southee has never dismissed him 11 matches; when Boult found the outside edge it was the ninth time he had removed the left hander in nine Tests.The challenge of a left-armer will follow Cook in the first part of the English season with Mohammad Amir set to lead Pakistan’s attack in the two-Test series. Amir has spoken of managing his Test workload, but surely the England series won’t be one to make way. He has removed Cook five times in eight matches. India will also bring an impressive seam attack with them – arguably their best ever – and both touring sides also likely to be among the better-prepared visitors.At the start of the English summer it will be 18 months since Cook gave up the captaincy. He has spoken about how he is now finding his place in Joe Root’s team, knowing when to offer advice without compromising the current captain, but for a player who invested so much in leading his country it will have been a significant change. There is the carrot of another crack at Australia on home soil in 2019, but after 153 Tests only Cook will really know how much more he has to give.

Nine teams will contest a total of 27 bilateral series in the inaugural World Test Championship between 2019 to 2021

Nagraj Gollapudi17-May-2018What is this World Test Championship all about?Essentially, it is a league, like the zillions of T20 leagues out there, but this one is for Test cricket. It will be contested over two-year cycles, the first of which starts on August 1 with the opening Ashes Test at Edgbaston. The group phase officially began on July 16, 2019 and will run until March 31, 2021 after which the top two teams will contest a final.How many teams will participate?Nine of the 12 Full Member countries will contest in 27 series during the window. The nine teams are: Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.ESPNcricinfo LtdWhy has the WTC been brought in?For a long time, there have been attempts to bring additional context to Test cricket beyond the result of individual series. There are the Test rankings where the top team is anointed on April 1 each year, but that is just based a rolling table. The idea of the WTC is to have a Test ‘winner’ every two years – like the World Cups in other formats – creating something else to play for outside of the series result. It is also hoped that it will increase interest in all series within the WTC, regardless of who is playing, because it can have a knock-on effect on other team’s chances of reaching the final.How many series will each team play and do all series count?The teams will play three series each at home and away. Each series will comprise a minimum of two and maximum of five Test matches. Therefore, all the teams do not play each other in the WTC in the two-year cycle. There can also be series played outside the WTC – an example being the New Zealand v England in November which is part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) but not the Championship.India go into the inaugural Test Championship as the world’s No. 1 team•Getty ImagesWho decided on which series will be played under the WTC?The competing countries. Some of the series already committed in the previous FTP will now be played as part of the WTC with each team playing against some higher-ranked opposition and some lower-ranked opposition.How are points allocated?This is where things get a little complicated because, well, cricket can be complicated. For every series under the WTC, there are 120 points available, distributed evenly over the number of Tests in the series. So, for example, in the Ashes, which is a five-match series, there will be 24 points for each win. In a two-Test series (such as Sri Lanka v New Zealand and West Indies v India which also start in August) there will be 60 points for a win. A draw is worth one-third of the points for a win: so eight in the Ashes scenario above and 20 in a two-Test series. A tie, just in case we need to know, is worth half the points for a win.Ishita Mazumder/ESPNcricinfo LtdAnything else about the points we need to know?Recently the ICC had announced that teams will be docked points in the WTC for slow over-rates. Two points will be deducted for every over a team is behind at the end of a match.How will the finalists be determined and when will it be played?The top two teams on the points table at the end of the league phase will play the final which is scheduled in 2021.ALSO READ: ‘We want every game in the Test championship to count,’ says Geoff Allardice, ICC general manager of cricketWhat will happen if the final ends in a draw or is tied?If the final ends in a tie or a draw, the two teams will be joint champions. Although the playing conditions allow for a reserve day, it can only be used if net playing time is lost during the scheduled five days of the final. Net playing time for every Test amounts to 30 hours of play (six hours per day).The reserve day kicks in only if the time lost during regulation play on each day is not made up on the same day. For example, if you lose an hour of play due to rain and then make it up by the end of the same day, then that is zero net time lost. But if you lose an entire day’s play due to rain and then make up, say, only three hours over the remaining four days, then you are short of net playing time for the match. That is when the reserve day kicks in.What about the other three Test-playing nations?Zimbabwe and the two latest Test nations, Afghanistan and Ireland, are the three who will not be part of the inaugural WTC. Zimbabwe are currently suspended by the ICC till October for government interference into cricket affairs. However, Afghanistan and Ireland will play Test series as part of the FTP, points from which will be considered for the Test rankings, but not the Championship.

ESPNcricinfo looks at the most and least profitable auction punts of the season

Shiva Jayaraman29-May-2018The methodology

Both batsmen’s runs and bowlers’ wickets are adjusted by taking into account their relative strike rate or economy (to the season average), respectively. With the season average strike rate of 137.92, if a batsman scored 100 runs at 150.0, his runs are adjusted to give him a credit of 8.7 (100*150/137.92). Similarly, if a bowler has taken 5 wickets at an economy of 7, he is given a credit of 1.37 additional wickets to reward for his superior economy (season average: 8.92).
Batsman collectively scored 19098 runs and bowlers took 662 wickets in this IPL. Teams spent over 551 Crores INR on the players, which meant that each run scored this IPL cost the teams roughly INR 1,44,734 and each wicket INR 41,75,432. Each player generates value based on the adjusted runs he scores or the adjusted wickets he takes.
For example, Sunil Narine scored 357 runs at a strike rate of 189.89 (season average SR – 137.92), so he is credited with more runs than he actually scored, which works out to 478. This multiplied by the value of each run (INR 1,44,734) gives a batting value of INR 6.91 crores. Similarly, Narine took 17 wickets at an economy of 7.65 (season ER – 8.92). So his 17 wickets are weighted up for his better economy and get him returns equivalent to 18.4 wickets. The bowling value he generates is INR 7.67 crores (18.4 multiplied by the value of each wicket, i.e. INR 41,75,432 . The total notional money he generates for his team is the sum of his batting and bowling values – INR 14.69 crores. This minus the price at which Narine was retained by Kolkata Knight Riders give the gains made by the team by investing on him. This figure works out to INR 6.05 crores.

The Indian Premier League this season may well have been the most closely contested in its 11-year history, but it was hardly a photo finish when it came to how the teams fared with the returns they got off their auction punts. While each of the teams had their fair share of hits and misses, some teams ended up doing significantly better than others in terms returns on their buys at the January auction. ESPNcricinfo looks at the best and worst buys of the season based on how the players fared on the field and the money they cost.The price that teams pay for the services of a player may not always depend purely on his potential to perform on the field. His marketability off it and his popularity among local fans to drive gate revenues – among other factors – may also play a role. However, for the purpose of this exercise we look at the season numbers – runs, strike-rate, wickets and economy – to arrive at guesstimates of the that the players generated for their teams and how the teams themselves fared.A number of actions on the field in cricket aren’t easily measurable and would need a much-evolved effort to quantify: how would one quantify MS Dhoni’s instincts as a captain or AB de Villiers’ I-can-fly-too catching effort? To keep it simple, for the reader, and for ourselves, we look at only the easily quantifiable aspects of the game – batting and bowling – in this analysis. To this end, only the runs scored, strike rates, wickets taken, and the economy rates are taken into account to come up with a return on investment value for each player and thereby, for each team.The Marquee-player tag worthiesThese players generated values of over INR 10 Crores and should trigger off a prolonged bidding war in the next auction if this season is anything to go by. Nine of them make the cut with Narine topping the list. He chipped in with returns of 14.59 Crores for KKR through his performances. Rishabh Pant, Rashid Khan, Shane Watson, Andre Russell, Kane Williamson, KL Rahul, Andrew Tye and Hardik Pandya complete the list.Graphic: Sunil Narine’s all-round excellence put him right at the top of the MVP charts in IPL 2018•ESPNcricinfo LtdThe windfall gainsThese were the relatively cheap buys who ended up contributing in a big way for the teams. Among players to play in at least seven matches this season, Mayank Markande was bought at his base price of just INR 20 Lakhs, but generated notional returns of INR 6.37 Crores through his performances. The rest of top-five, incidentally, are all bowlers who were bought cheap but turned in creditable performances: Shreyas Gopal, Prasidh Krishna, Lungi Ngidi and Deepak Chahar.Graphic: Rookie wristspinner Mayank Markande was among the biggest surprise packages in IPL 2018•ESPNcricinfo LtdNot-worth-the-money buysRohit Sharma came at a price tag of INR 15 Crores but could generate returns of only INR 3.88 Crores. His negative return of 74.12% makes his the most over-priced buy of the season when we look at only his batting performances. However, he is excluded from this list as he contributed by leading the Mumbai Indians. Among players who didn’t add value to the team as captains or as wickekeepers, Deepak Hooda was the worst buy of the season. He was bought at a price of INR3.6 Crores by Sunrisers, but could generate returns equivalent to only INR 95.34 Lakhs: a negative return on investment of 73.52%. Yuvraj Singh, Aaron Finch, Manish Pandey and Axar Patel round up the bottom five. Like Rohit, Wriddhiman Saha – whose performances with the bat a created returns of a negative 70.22% – too avoids this club on account of him being a wicketkeeper.

Players with lowest ROIs (min. 7 mats.)

Player Mats Price (INR Cr) Value created (INR Cr) % ROIDeepak Hooda 9 3.60 0.95 -73.51Yuvraj Singh 8 2.00 0.59 -70.47Aaron Finch 10 6.20 1.83 -70.44Manish Pandey 15 11.00 3.34 -69.58Axar Patel 9 6.75 2.18 -67.65Stuart Binny spends some time in reflection•BCCIThe spectators in the XIThese players, well, were just there. No significant performances of note with bat or ball and ended up creating notional value of less than INR 1 Crore. Stuart Binny was bought for INR 50 Lakhs in the auction and he managed to generate just enough to cover his cost for Rajasthan Royals. Among players to play at least seven matches in the season Binny contributed the least in terms of his performances. Yuvraj, Sarfaraz Khan and Deepak Hooda complete this club.

Players with notional value < INR 1 Cr (min. 7 mats.)

Player Mats Price (INR Cr) Value created (INR Cr) Return MultipleStuart Binny 7 0.50 0.50 1.01Yuvraj Singh 8 2.00 0.59 0.29Sarfaraz Khan 7 1.75 0.64 0.36Deepak Hooda 9 3.60 0.95 0.26More-bang-for-the-buck buysThese were value-for-money buys: not necessarily bought for cheap money but turned in performances that justified their price tags and more. Williamson returned his team more bang for the buck than anyone else in the season: he was bought at INR 3 Crores and generated INR 10.65 Crores. The difference of INR 7.65 Crores between his auction price and his notional performance value is the highest for any player this season. Shane Watson, Shakib Al Hasan, Ambati Rayudu and Narine round up the top-five.

Top notional values over auction price (min. 7 mats)

Player Mats Price (INR Cr) Value created (INR Cr) Delta value (INR Cr)Kane Williamson 17 3.00 10.68 7.68Shane Watson 15 4.00 11.06 7.06Shakib Al Hasan 17 2.00 9.00 7.00Ambati Rayudu 16 2.20 9.19 6.99Sunil Narine 16 8.50 14.59 6.09Graphic: The top three sides also got the best returns of investment in IPL 2018•ESPNcricinfo LtdTeam ROIs At the end of the league stage, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab were tied on 12 points with NRR deciding their eventual spot in the table. However, the return on the investment that they generated through their players’ performances were significantly different. Royal Challengers Bangalore spared no expense this season, doling out over INR 2 Crores to as many as 12 players, in addition to spending INR 28 Crores on two of their retentions in Virat Kohli and de Villiers. In comparison, MI and RR had only nine such players (excluding retentions). A forgettable season for the team meant that they were the least profitable team with a return-on-investment of -19.98%. Royals managed to just get across the line to the playoffs this season, but the negative ROI is reflected in their most expensive buys of the season in Ben Stokes and Jaydev Unadkat underperforming. They were the only team with a negative ROI to make it to the playoffs. On the other hand, Delhi Daredevils returned a positive ROI for the season in spite of getting the wooden spoon. It only helped that Chris Morris who was retained at a price of INR 7.1 Crores left midway due to injury driving down their costs.

Jhulan Goswami, Lisa Sthalekar, Mel Jones and Tushar Arothe share their ideas

Annesha Ghosh19-Feb-2019How many teams should be in action?Jhulan Goswami (India ODI player): There are enough domestic players for four or five teams because in the Elite Group itself [in the inter-state domestic tournaments], every team has three-four good players. And four-five teams will also let you include more domestic players because at the end of the day, the objective is to strengthen Indian women’s cricket at the grass-roots level, right? To include more girls to take up cricket professionally. So unless there’s a big motivation ahead of them, I don’t see them taking that route.Why not check with the IPL franchises if they are willing to start a women’s team of their own. If four teams are willing, we should be starting a women’s IPL with four teams, and involve the best foreign players and our local and international Indian cricketers.Lisa Sthalekar (Former Australia captain, broadcaster): If they are going to keep it to two teams, then I’ll play a series of three-to-five matches and make the squad as big as you want, and expose the young Indian domestic players to international stars.The aim should be to align it with the IPL franchises somehow, and you’ve got to make the franchises buy into it, so the stadiums have the same colour, same vibe. One of the reasons why BBL-WBBL have been successful is because whatever you see on TV is what you see on the ground. The dressing up of the game is the same, and that’s great from a fan-engagement point of view because there’s nothing different between how the two leagues are carried out.Tushar Arothe (Former India women head coach): I am okay with having two quality teams or even three because I think there are good spinners and wicketkeepers in the domestic circuit to start off with three teams, but not enough for a full-fledged six- or eight-team league. I would love to see more Smritis, Harmans, Jhulans and Mithalis in the Indian team, and that can happen when you have more girls playing cricket, for which these exhibition games are going to be very important.Mel Jones (Former Australia player, broadcaster): The first year, if it has to take place in the heat of the day in Mumbai with the IPL going on, getting that kind of traction may not be easy. Having a couple of teams can help focus on what can really help the women’s game grow. Or, if you have three teams, and split the current Indian squad into three sides and have some of the next-best young guns and probably a couple more senior players outside of the squad as well.

The only other way you could have double-headers is if you have weekend games, where the men can play the 4 o’clock game, while the women’s game can start at 7pm, as it happened in the 2010 World T20 finalLISA STHALEKAR

When WBBL started, because they had five years of Big Bash behind it, there was a clear structure path Cricket Australia followed, with the Women in Cricket strategy. Until the BCCI have a similar idea about where they want to take women’s domestic cricket in India, perhaps they may be looking to create an okay product so that the best of women’s cricket is put up on display.How many overseas players should each team have?Goswami: Having four-five overseas players means you can accommodate more uncapped players alongside the current India players.Sthalekar: Instead of cutting it up the same way as the men’s IPL, the women’s teams in these exhibition games could have a couple more overseas players, to ensure it is more competitive and exciting, it could be flexible. Five players in a two-team structure.Arothe: I’d say five is good as it was last year.Jones: Four overseas players in each squad, if you have three teams, but doesn’t mean all have to play in the XI in each game.Where should the matches be played?Jones: I think there’s great potential to build a connection with the local community. A lot of it might be about putting out an expression of interest; to place it out there and see who really wants it. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of cities go, “This would be fantastic to have.” Then you start to build long-term relationships with these cities.Goswami: Take these games out of the metros and try to connect with the smaller towns. If we are playing in stadiums with 30,000 capacity, you’ll barely be able to make it appear full. They better take the games to state associations which do not have IPL teams at the moment, like Vadodara, Lucknow, Vizag and Ranchi, to name a few.Arothe: Ideally, it should be organised in two-three legs if there are three teams. Say, you take the eight league games to two cities – big or small – and the final elsewhere, over a period of two weeks. That will give your uncapped players substantial time to learn and interact with the foreign players or even those in the current Indian squad. But ensuring the smaller cities are given as much or more preference as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, etc will play a big part in how these games are received.Smriti Mandhana and Suzie Bates have a chat during training•Annesha GhoshWhen to play – afternoon or evening?Jones: If you’re trying to get the regular IPL-watchers to follow these games, you’ll have to keep their mindset in mind – they’re all working in the day on weekdays – and do evening games. If you want to model it after the WBBL, their whole marketing campaign is about family, that means weekend games, family-friendly time, and engaging local schools. So there’s good opportunity to look at it as something to drive women’s empowerment or inspiring the next generation of boys and girls in India.Goswami: If there are 2pm starts in April-May summer like last year’s game, I won’t expect too many people to come in. Either do it on the weekends with 5pm starts, or host them on IPL match eve.Double-headers: yay or nay?Goswami: I don’t think double-headers are or will be encouraged in our country anytime soon.Sthalekar: To have double-headers in the afternoon, in that time of the year, it’s not nice to be out and watching cricket. The only other way you could have double-headers is if you have weekend games, where the men can play the 4 o’clock game, while the women’s game can start at 7pm, as it happened in the 2010 World T20 final. What happens is the crowd in the stadium is already there. In the WBBL, too, there was a game in Perth where women played after the men, and there were 17,000 of the 30,000 people from the men’s game watching the women’s.How should the games be promoted?Goswami: Bring in Bollywood and regional movie stars, famous ex-cricketers, just like the IPL did when it started. Hyderabad had involved their local stars, and Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty, Akshay Kumar were all there. Why not try to do the same?Jones: When you have a Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni introduce these players as such and such or the teams, people will automatically want to know more about them and start following these games. So you’re in a way piggybacking on the association to give the competition a leg-up.Arothe: Last year, so many came to watch the India-Australia ODIs because there was a separate event management company that had been employed to publicise these games. Do you remember how many hoardings were put up across the streets? And there were results for everyone to see.Sthalekar: If you buy a ticket for a men’s IPL game, it should certainly have a mention of the women’s game – whether it’s before or after – like in a concert. The supporting act is always mentioned. We should all be educated on what’s happening on that day.

The former opening partner to Tendulkar at the IPL hopes he can bring cricketing glory to Canada, a country that has given him a renewed sense of freedom in somewhat serendipitous fashion

Peter Della Penna in Windhoek20-Apr-2019The World Cricket League, besides being a celebrated bastion for aspiring Associate players looking to climb up the global ladder, has served as a pathway for career rebirths for players who have already had a taste of the big time and are giving the game one more go at their adopted home.Davy Jacobs falls into the latter category. This week, in Namibia, the former Champions League T20 winner with Mumbai Indians who used to open the batting alongside Sachin Tendulkar is hoping that he can be a difference-maker while giving back to Canada, a country that gave him a renewed sense of freedom, not to mention a new lease on cricket in somewhat serendipitous fashion.

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“The honest answer is I really wanted to get my kids out of South Africa,” Jacobs says when asked how he ended up in Mississauga, a western suburb of greater Toronto. “I was looking for a better future. My wife and I would be literally googling on our phones while lying in bed, ‘education, healthcare and safety’.”She was keen on Australia. I wanted to move to Northern Ireland, Belfast. I played a few years of club cricket. This is where I wanted to move… I sent a few emails around because we knew we had to look at all options and my wife said, ‘Check out Canada because we’ve never been there.'”And so the wheels were set in motion for a whirlwind experience. Just months after officially retiring from playing first-class cricket in South Africa for the Warriors franchise, Jacobs was on a plane on June 17, 2015 to meet with Derek Perera of the Ontario Cricket Academy (OCA). He was only supposed to do a few coaching camps and had no intention of staying in Mississauga beyond a few weeks before proceeding with resettlement from Port Elizabeth to Belfast. That all changed when he rocked up with OCA director Perera, a former Canada player, to see who he’d be coaching.”Derek took me to Mavis, the cricket ground there where the academy trains,” Jacobs says. “As I walked up wearing jeans and was tired from the flight, Nikhil Dutta was bowling and Abraash Khan was batting. I just stood there for 5-10 minutes just watching these guys play. I don’t know what I was expecting when I came to Canada. But Derek told me about this Narine-type guy bowling, a Kuwait-born Canadian Narine and I watched Abraash batting, an 18-year-old kid who wants to be a doctor, watching him chuck Nik over extra.”I said to Derek, ‘What is going on here?!’ They were in the WCL Division Three, but I was like, ‘How is this possible?!’ It blew my mind how many good cricketers there are in the world. It took me about a week and I called my wife and said to her, ‘We to move here. It’s done!'”It wasn’t a case of simply snapping his fingers, though. Jacobs had initially come to Canada on a holiday visa but was determined not to leave. While continuing to do a bit of coaching at the OCA, he became a five-month houseguest in the Perera home while waiting for immigration paperwork to be sorted that allowed his wife and two young daughters, ages six and two at the time, to finally leave Port Elizabeth and come to Canada. That wasn’t the only bumpy part of the family’s transition.”The first night my kids got there, I took them for a walk through the neighborhood and my oldest daughter, who was about six, kept pulling my pants,” Jacobs says. “It was like 10 at night. She started crying and said, ‘We have to go inside! It’s dark!'””I just realised she knows South Africa is dangerous. I couldn’t believe that she knew that we can’t be outside because it’s dark because that’s how she grew up. The next day we go grocery shopping and she starts grabbing candles, ‘For the blackouts’. Same thing, there’re no blackouts in Canada. Electricity works.”Davy Jacobs watches as Brendon McCullum plays a reverse sweep•AFPWhile trying to get his day-to-day life in order, Jacobs began an apprenticeship with a construction contractor specialising in commercial and home renovations as a way to pay the bills beyond the limited opportunities in cricket coaching.”I couldn’t even put a screw into a wall,” he recounts of an experience that would help him gain a greater appreciation for life in the Associate world, where players and coaches generally have day jobs to make ends meet beyond pursuing their cricket dreams.Through his first year in Canada, he was only seriously thinking about coaching and not playing. He was appointed Canada head coach on a temporary basis for the 2016 Auty Cup tour of Los Angeles, helping oversee a 2-1 one-day series win over the USA. Playing again was the furthest thing from his mind after a career that went through a sharp ascent during a three-year stretch from 2010-2012 before a series of frustrating lows.

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A former South Africa Under-19 representative at the 2002 Under-19 World Cup, Jacobs was entrenched in a solid first-class career in South Africa, but rarely on the radar for senior national team selection. However, the advent of the franchise T20 boom, propelled by the formation of the IPL, changed the course of his career.”I was watching one of the first IPL’s and [Sanath] Jayasuriya was walking down the Wankhede to bat with Sachin Tendulkar,” Jacobs recounts.The Champions League came into existence subsequently.”That winter our trainer at Warriors, we just studied like baseball-hitters. I copied a program like that, a cricket one but focusing a lot on hitting. I thought, ‘How are you gonna get into these leagues? You’ve got to hit sixes, bowl 150 or chuck without getting caught! I can’t bowl; I’m a keeper, I bat in the middle-order. So I’m a finisher, I get in and try to hit at the end.”That whole winter, I was superb with discipline, and became really strong. We qualified for the Champions League. Jacques Kallis pulled out. He had to play for RCB in the Champions League. We needed an opener. Russell Domingo was our coach and was like, ‘Why don’t you go open?’ I was the captain at the time and was so comfortable in the middle order, but knew this was my one chance and I have to take this.”At home, during the 2010 Champions League T20 in South Africa, Jacobs and Ashwell Prince opened the batting followed by Colin Ingram at No. 3. The powerful top order clubbed with a bowling unit of Makhaya Ntini, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Rusty Theron and Johan Botha propelled Warriors all the way to the final before falling short against Chennai Super Kings. Jacobs made a massive impression striking three fifties in six innings to end with 286 runs, just eight short of CSK’s M Vijay at the top of the aggregate.The consequence was commanding a US $190,000 bid from Mumbai Indians.But after just 92 runs in six innings with a best of 35, Jacobs found himself on the bench. In 2012, he played only one match for Mumbai and did not come back for 2013. Carrying out a fanatical fitness regime in the pursuit of franchise T20 cricket’s pinnacle competition came at a price far different than the auction bid.Davy Jacobs gave Mumbai a strong start•AFP”It’s difficult to retire because it’s a nice life, it’s easy,” Jacobs says. “So it took me three years to build up the courage to retire. After the IPL, I was done. My body had nothing left because I trained too much. I was training like a triathlete. I felt like I had to be the strongest and fastest. I was dumb like that.”When the Canada guys want to overtrain, I stop people from training and doing too much weights because I know what happens. My body couldn’t take it. I had a massive hip surgery. I had to learn to walk again, took me 9-10 months. I had surgery on my shoulder, ankle, wrist, thumb.”The final breaking point came on February 25, 2015, when looking at himself in the mirror wearing his Warriors training shirt, something clicked in his mind. He called his manager and Warriors officials to say he was retiring. He texted his wife and his dad while sitting at a traffic light on the way to a hastily arranged press conference to say farewell to the franchise where he was the first captain since Kepler Wessels to lead to a domestic title. That was meant to be it for playing cricket.But a year after he had coached Canada in Los Angeles in October 2016, he began playing some casual club matches with OCA. Before long, he was scoring heavy runs again as Perera and others started to point at the calendar to see when he would become eligible for Canada under the ICC’s residency guidelines.”The first time I thought I might take this seriously again was in a night festival in August 2017, the Mississauga Night Festival,” Jacobs says. “Nitish Kumar was in the team, [Ruvindu] Gunasekera, Srimantha Wijeyeratne… In the final we played an all-star team, all the imports who come to Toronto for the summer, mostly West Indian guys. In the final, we had about 100 after 14 overs, and I came in the last six overs and got 90 not out. Afterwards we were sitting having a beer and Derek said to me, ‘Mate, you’ve got to think about this.'”Discussions soon began in earnest with Cricket Canada. Then the ICC trimmed down the residency qualification period in late 2017 from four to three years, opening the door for him to be eligible in October 2018. Not only did he come immediately into the squad, but was also named captain.On his first tour, he finished as the side’s second-highest run-getter in Trinidad & Tobago at the CWI Super50 tournament with 175 at 35.00. Now he’s got his sights set on leading Canada past the heartbreak they experienced last year at WCL Division Two when he was a bystander following the team from afar as they lost off the final ball to Nepal, courtesy an epic 51-run 10th-wicket stand.”It was devastating,” Jacobs says. “I was sitting on my balcony outside with a beer for that final over. I just saw dot, dot, dot, dot. Obviously it happened for a reason. Things they learn from there they’ll take.”One player in particular he feels has come out of the experience better is the bowler of that final over, Cecil Pervez. Jacobs points to the evidence of Pervez defending 14 to beat USA in a Super Over in North Carolina during a 2020 T20 World Cup Qualifier in September last year and says it won’t be the last time Pervez comes through for Canada at the death.”We’re gonna need him to bowl that over again,” Jacobs says. “I don’t know where or when but he will.”Much of the last 14 months has been spent not so much stewing but fuelled with motivation from that devastating loss.”I think that hunger is just there,” Jacobs says. “What happened to Afghanistan and Ireland, I think all the Associate nations now are a little more motivated because we know what might happen. We’re just trying to get Canada to where we used to be. That definitely is a motivation. Losing those games [to Nepal] makes you better for the next one.”

Pace dominates our team of the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jul-2019Two in-form openers, two steady No. 3s, three allrounders, one keeper-batsman, and four fast bowlers. That sums up the composite XI picked by ESPNcricinfo staff.ESPNcricinfo LtdFinalists England and New Zealand contribute three players each, with two apiece from semi-finalists Australia and India. Shakib Al Hasan was the only unanimous choice among the teams picked by 46 of our staff members (and the only front-line spin-bowling option), while Rohit Sharma, Ben Stokes, Kane Williamson and Jasprit Bumrah featured in over 90% of the teams. While ten spots in the XI were clear cut, the 11th was a close contest: Jimmy Neesham pipped the likes of David Warner, Babar Azam and Jos Buttler.Vote for your XI here.Jason RoyInns 7 Runs 443 Average 63.28 Strike Rate 115.36 100s/50s 1/4
Roy was the aggressor in England’s successful opening pairing. He and Bairstow had the best average and strike rate among opening pairs with at least 200 runs in the tournament – no surprise given they top those stats for any ODI opening pair with over 1000 partnership runs. Roy missed three matches due to injury; England lost two of those. His only single-digit score came in the loss to Pakistan. His 85 in the semi-final hastened Australia’s exit after the bowlers restricted them to 223.Rohit Sharma
Inns 9 Runs 648 Ave 81.00 SR 98.33 100s/50s 5/1
A record five hundreds made Rohit the leading run scorer of the tournament, and such was his form that his captain, Virat Kohli – the only one ahead of him in the ODI batting rankings now – called him the “best one-day player”. With regular opening partner Shikhar Dhawan ruled out, Rohit took on the onus of ensuring the team got off to good starts. Unfortunately for India, his run of three consecutive hundreds ended in the semi-final.Shakib Al HasanMatches 8 Runs 606 Ave 86.57 SR 96.03 Wickets 11 Ave 36.27 ER 5.39
Bangladesh’s management accepted his request to bat at No. 3, and Shakib, currently the world’s best ODI allrounder, repaid the faith with seven 50-plus scores in eight innings. His bowling was steady in a tournament where spinners struggled, but he managed to take a vital five-for against Afghanistan, becoming the first Bangladesh player to take a five-wicket haul at the World Cup, and the second to complete the double of a fifty and a five-for in a World Cup match. No wonder many felt he deserved the Player-of-the-Tournament award.Kane Williamson (capt)Inns 9 Runs 578 Ave 82.57 SR 74.96 100s/50s 2/2
As captain, Williamson would know best whether he should bat at No. 3 or not. He was New Zealand’s rock – with the bat in a fragile batting line-up and in the field in tense situations. He scored in tough conditions, and he all but led his team to the title after three straight defeats to end the league stage. He was voted the Player of the Tournament, and his composure after the cruel loss in the final will be an abiding memory of this World Cup.Ben StokesMatches 11 Runs 465 Ave 66.42 SR 93.18 Wickets 7 Ave 35.14 ER 4.83
The most runs for a batsman at No. 4 or lower in the tournament. Stokes scored five fifties in his ten innings, and remained unbeaten in the final, in which he was the Player of the Match, took a stunning catch against South Africa, and chipped in with the ball all through.Alex Carey (wk)Matches 10 Runs 375 Ave 62.50 SR 104.16 Dismissals 20
Not many would have tipped him to make this XI at the start of the tournament. Carey came up with crucial runs in close wins for Australia; Steve Waugh called him a “hybrid of Michael Hussey and Michael Bevan”. If he remains in the same league as those names, watch out for Australia in 2023.James Neesham
Matches 10 Runs 232 Ave 33.14 SR 78.91 Wickets 15 Ave 19.46 ER 5.35
Neesham was thinking of retirement a couple of years ago. Three allrounders might seem too many, but it’s hard to ignore Neesham’s all-round heroics. Can score runs, can take wickets, can pull off diving catches and have us in splits with his tweets (the last one wasn’t a selection criterion). He nearly took New Zealand over the line in that Super Over.Mitchell StarcInns 10 Wickets 27 Ave 18.59 ER 5.43 4s/5s 2/2
Like in 2015, Starc finished with the most wickets. His 27 broke Glenn McGrath’s record for a single World Cup. One could argue he wasn’t as supremely good as he was in 2015 – when he took 22 wickets at 10.18 apiece – but that would be just nitpicking. Also the only one from our 2015 World Cup XI in the 2019 team.Jofra Archer
Inns 11 Wickets 20 Ave 23.05 ER 4.57 4s/5s 0/0
Would England have been champions had they not drafted Archer into their final squad? Playing only his 14th ODI, he was entrusted with bowling the Super Over in the final, given how he had performed in the death overs. He kept New Zealand to exactly 15 runs – two off the final two balls – to clinch their first World Cup title. His 20 wickets are the best for an England player in a World Cup.Lockie FergusonInns 9 Wickets 21 Ave 19.47 ER 4.88 4s/5s 1/0
New Zealand’s strike bowler brought real pace into the middle overs at this World Cup. Always in the wickets, Ferguson was only behind Starc on the wicket-takers’ list in the tournament.Jasprit BumrahInns 9 Wickets 18 Average 20.61 ER 4.41 4s/5s 1/0
It was business as usual for the top ODI bowler in the world. Bumrah was India’s Mr Reliable, and even when those at the other end got more wickets, it was his control and frugality that stood out.Vote for your XI here.