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Stats highlights from the washed-out Bangalore Test between India and South Africa

Bharath Seervi18-Nov-201581 Number of overs played in this Test, the second-shortest in India in terms of overs bowled. The only Test in India where fewer than 81 overs were bowled was the Chennai Test in 1995-96 between India and New Zealand, which had 71.1 overs bowled; in that Test, the second, third and fifth days were washed out. Overall, this is the 11th shortest Test in terms of balls bowled.0 Shorter Tests before the one in Bangalore in terms of balls bowled where more than one innings was completed. In this Test, two innings were played with 81 overs overall – 59 overs by South Africa in the first innings and 22 by India in the second, making it the shortest match with two or more innings. The previous shortest was also in India – the Delhi Test of 1986-87 between India and Australia where 101.4 overs were bowled in two innings.2005 The last time three or more days were lost in a Test due to rain before this, in Chennai against Sri Lanka ; MS Dhoni made his debut in that match. There was no play on the first three days of that Test.0 Tests in India before this in which there was no play on three or more days; this Test had four days without play. There have been three Tests in India when there was no play on three days – Delhi in 1986-87, Chennai in 1995-96 and Chennai in 2005-06. Overall, this is the sixth Test were four or more days of play was lost. The last such Test before this was in Dhaka between Bangladesh and South Africa earlier this year.7 Number of consecutive home Tests India won before this drawn Test, the second longest streak of home Test wins for India after their 10 consecutive wins from December 1988 to November 1994.10 Number of days lost due to rain in South Africa’s last four Tests this year out of 20 possible days of play. Two days were lost in the Chittagong Test, four days in the Dhaka Test, and four days in this Test. Also, their last Test in Mohali ended in three days.

Plays of the day from the first ODI between New Zealand and South Africa in Mount Maunganui

George Binoy21-Oct-2014The quip
Ryan McLaren had bowled a bouncer that reared at Kyle Mills, forcing the batsman to hurriedly swerve his head out of the way, but as he turned in his follow through he saw umpire Chris Gaffaney first call a no-ball and then change his decision to a wide for height. It was a marginal call, and someone – perhaps McLaren – was heard on the stump microphone telling the umpire in jest, “You must have been a batter in your day.” And indeed he was.Fast off the blocks
Quinton de Kock shares the record for being the quickest to 1000 ODI runs and his five catches and a stumping today made him the fastest wicketkeeper to claim 50 dismissals – in 28 matches. One of those six – a joint one-day record – was an incredible catch to dismiss Nathan McCullum. Spotting the short ball down the leg side early, de Kock’s trigger movement was to his left, and once McCullum only managed to glove the pull, he dived full stretch to take the catch with one hand.Quick hands, quick feet
JP Duminy came down the pitch to Nathan McCullum, clipped the spinner towards midwicket, and began to run a single because the ball was certainly going to beat the fielder. Martin Guptill, however, is no ordinary fielder. He sprang to his right, dived and stopped the ball, and threw accurately at the keeper while lying on the ground. Duminy, though, was nimble enough to stop dead, turn around and dive full length to make his ground before Luke Ronchi broke the stumps. A direct hit would have had him.Brendon breaks free
Vernon Philander had suffocated the New Zealand batsmen, his unrelenting good length and ability to seam the ball both ways returning figures of 5.3-1-8-2. Seven of those deliveries were to Brendon McCullum, and the New Zealand captain had not yet scored. To his eighth delivery, McCullum skipped out and swung through the line, clearing the straight boundary. To his ninth, he stayed back and pulled over deep midwicket. Philander’s first spell ended with a beating.The common-sense decision
Dean Brownlie pushed forward at a quicker delivery from Imran Tahir that did not turn much and tried to defend. The moment de Kock caught the ball, he and the bowler went up in concerted appeal, but umpire Gaffaney said not out. On referral, there was a noise and Snicko recorded a faint blip as the ball passed the outside edge. There was no visible deviation, however, and Hotspot showed no mark on the bat. It just felt out, though, and the umpire changed his decision to give Brownlie out.

Plays of the Day from the IPL game between Pune Warriors and Chennai Super Kings in Pune

Sidharth Monga30-Apr-2013The howler
In their previous game, Chennai Super Kings suffered because of bad umpiring. This time they benefitted when Wriddhiman Saha was caught plumb by Bhuvneshwar Kumar without having scored a run, but the only man that mattered, Subrat Das, disagreed with everybody else watching the match. This is perhaps the biggest conflict of interest: a BCCI product doing its best to make a case for DRS.The sweep
MS Dhoni playing a sweep is rare enough, but today he kept sweeping Ashok Dinda. The first time he faced Dinda, he went down on one knee and dragged the ball from wide outside off to send it to fine leg for four. Two more attempts followed, with Dhoni missing one, and the other being sent to midwicket for four. The plan to bowl full and wide with a strong off-side field was well and truly foiled.The overthrow
This was hardly an overthrow, but Dhoni and Suresh Raina stole it. Both the batsmen were happily settled in their respective creases when Dinda, the bowler, failed to collect cleanly, and the ball rolled onto the adjacent pitch. The batsmen sprinted and were helped by a miss from Robin Uthappa, the wicketkeeper. Eventually this was worth more than just one: Dhoni got the strike back and smacked the remaining two balls of the innings for a four and a six.The let-off
Allan Border won’t be proud of Uthappa. In the first over of the chase, the ball slipped out of Ravindra Jadeja’s hand, and bounced outside the cut strip. Uthappa started charging towards it, but then let it go. Bowling the first over of an innings for the first time in IPL, Jadeja wasn’t complaining. When England toured India last year, Jonathan Trott hit a similar delivery for four in the Nagpur Test. It had slipped out of the hand of … Jadeja.

There has been far too little analysis of the economics of the game in India, its financial nerve centre. This book makes a start

Ashok Malik02-Jul-2011For a popular and lucrative phenomenon, the business of cricket in India hasn’t been adequately recorded and analysed. True, there are regular media reports about one deal or the other – whether signed by a cricketer, by the BCCI, or an IPL franchise. Yet where is the big picture? What do these dazzling and bewildering numbers add up to?This book tries to answer those questions. Its conclusions are decidedly limited, and it will need many similar books to adequately complement it. Nevertheless, it is a start and one for which the authors needs to be thanked.The book is trapped between three stools: explaining cricket as a vehicle of marketing and explaining the marketing of cricket; explaining sports marketing; and explaining the business of cricket and the development of properties such as the IPL, which is a story that goes beyond merely sports marketing. Shyam Balasubramanian and Vijay Santhanam make an honest and purposeful attempt to weave all three threads into their narrative. However, the reader does sometimes wonder whether too many themes are being packed into one volume.Even so, in describing the evolution of cricket and cricket marketing in India, in tracing the history of cricket icons – from Sunil Gavaskar in the 1970s, Kapil Dev in the 80s, Sachin Tendulkar in the 90s, to somebody like MS Dhoni in the first decade of the 21st century – and attempting to parallel India’s economic growth and the changing urges of the Indian consumer, the authors make some valid points.Perhaps too much space is devoted to scrutinising and telling the story of individual ad campaigns and what aspect of which cricketer was highlighted in each. There are also some pat conclusions. Talking of Imran Khan’s appearance in an ad for Cinthol soap some 30 years ago, the authors write: “The Cinthol campaign widened the appeal of cricket to include women, for obvious reasons – Imran’s star/sex appeal. As women are the primary decision-makers in the purchase of consumer goods such as soap, this was very significant.”There is a contradiction here. The Cinthol ad did not bring new women fans to cricket; it brought women who could already identify Imran as a cricketer, to Cinthol. It did nothing to enhance and increase the interest of cricket-agnostic women in the sport. On the other hand, say, the IPL is specifically geared towards making a form of cricket attractive to female audiences. There is a difference between the two approaches, and on occasion this book seems to confuse them. makes some telling observations. It correctly points out cricket’s commercial viability and popularity are not the function of some conspiracy against all other sports, especially India’s official national game, hockey. Rather, they are a reflection of fairly regular success on the field, and of performance.Everybody loves a winner, whether a team who win or an individual who wins in a personal contest – Kapil versus Richard Hadlee, to use an example wonderfully illustrated by the authors – within the context of a team experience. Since the 1980s, Indian cricket has delivered such episodes time and again, and this is the single biggest factor why its business graph has zoomed. The book emphasises this and does so persuasively.Second, the authors quote ad guru Sam Balsara as saying, “It is not that Indians love cricket, the game; it is that we love to win.” A few sentences later, this is linked to the IPL – “popular because an Indian team (with a majority of Indian players) wins every match”.This is so true. Indeed, one of the motivations for the launch of the IPL in 2008 was that Indian sponsors had burnt their fingers with the 2007 World Cup – Rahul Dravid’s team were knocked out in the first round, losing to Bangladesh – and wanted a product/tournament that was world-class and yet ensured an Indian presence till the end.The book is useful as a compendium of statistics related to the cricket business, and for offering some keen insight into an industry that should, really, have many more chroniclers. Balasubramanian and Santhanam need to be congratulated for opening the innings.The Business of Cricket: The Story Of Sports Marketing In India
Shyam Balasubramanian and Vijay Santhanam
Harper Collins India, Rs 299

Sri Lanka’s first win of any significance on this tour couldn’t have come at a better moment: it will lift the morale of a side that was seemed to be on the slide with one resounding defeat after another

S Rajesh12-Feb-2008
Tillakaratne Dilshan did a task he hasn’t always performed in the past – seeing his side past the finish line © Getty Images
Since October 2007, Sri Lanka have spent a month and a half, spread over two instalments, in Australia and apart from a couple of moments of individual brilliance, given their supporters little to cheer about. Their first win of any significance on this tour couldn’t have come at a better moment: it will lift the morale of a side that was seemed to be on the slide with one resounding defeat after another, and equally importantly, it throws open a triangular tournament that has seldom seen a three-horse race in recent times.It might be argued that the Sri Lankans were helped by the shortened game – it gave their batsmen, some of whom weren’t in form, the license to hit out from the start – but they comprehensively beat an opposition who are the world champions at the shortest version of the game. That can’t be a bad thing for a side which has had little to celebrate in Australia.Player for player, the Sri Lankan team has the skill and experience to challenge any opposition. The batting seems, on paper at least, to be the superb blend of experience and youth: the explosiveness of Sanath Jayasuriya complemented perfectly the class of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chamara Silva add a dash of pizazz. The bowing is, arguably, even more varied and classy, with Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan being helped along by a group of promising young fast bowlers. Despite all the individual brilliance, Sri Lanka’s results on this tour have been disappointing.Even in this victory at the Manuka Oval, the bowlers were less than convincing, leaking far too many runs at the end: add the 65 runs in the last six overs today to the 105 in the last ten against India at the Gabba, and Sri Lanka have conceded 170 runs in 16 slog overs against India. The batsmen, though, were up to the task: once the rain reduced the contest to a 21-over bash, they had no option but to launch an offensive from the start, which clearly simplified the situation for them.Mahendra Singh Dhoni made it a point to mention after the match that the mindset of the batsmen would have been different had it been a 29-over run-chase, but it’s unlikely Jayasuriya would have altered his style much. The Australians have worked out the way to bowl to him – just short of a length, into the body, to cramp him for room – but Sreesanth clearly hasn’t got the hang of that technique yet: in the 52 balls he has bowled to Jayasuriya in all ODIs, he has been spanked for 84 runs, with just one dismissal.It’s a match-up Jayasuriya relishes, even if he is out of form; the next time India take the field against Sri Lanka, it might not be a bad idea for Dhoni to hold Sreesanth back till Jayasuriya is out. His blitz gave Sri Lanka an early cushion, but they still had plenty to do when he left, needing 109 from 17.1 overs. Dilshan was largely instrumental in ensuring they reached the target without any hiccups.Since he made his debut in 1999, Dilshan has been seen as a big factor in the Sri Lankan middle order. He is 31, and has played 134 ODIs, but still hasn’t married consistency to the flair that he undoubtedly has – in 21 innings from the 2007 World Cup, he had only topped fifty twice before today’s effort. His tendency for expansive strokes could have cost him early on in this innings as well, but once he settled down, it was easy to see why he is so highly rated. Importantly, he did a task he hasn’t always performed in the past – seeing his side past the finish line.Sri Lanka’s win will have lifted their morale, but they need to ensure the momentum is maintained through the rest of the competition, in 50-over contests which will require their batsmen to pace their innings and bat longer, and for their bowlers to sustain their intensity over three-and-a-half hours. Their next challenge is a mighty one, against a team they haven’t challenged so far, on one of the newly laid pitches at Perth which promises plenty of pace and bounce. It’s a daunting task, but for inspiration they only need to look at what happened the last time a team from the subcontinent took on the home side in an international game at that venue.

Australia batter Cameron Bancroft will return to Gloucestershire this year after signing a deal to represent the club across formats in the 2024 season.Bancroft was recently overlooked by Australia’s selectors for the Test opening spot vacated by David Warner, but has been prolific for Western Australia in the last two Sheffield Shield seasons. He was named men’s domestic player of the year at the Australian Cricket Awards earlier this week.He previously played for Gloucestershire in 2016 and 2017, and also played county cricket for Durham (2021) and Somerset (2023). “I’m absolutely delighted to sign with Gloucestershire and to have the chance to return to the club where I started my county career,” Bancroft said.He will link up with the club in April and be available for the majority of the summer. “I love playing county cricket and the opportunity to play all formats with the club is something I’m really excited about,” he said. “With a new coach and a really talented playing group, I’m looking forward to the season ahead.”Gloucestershire are in a transitional period after losing senior players Ryan Higgins (Middlesex) and Benny Howell (Hampshire) last season. They were winless in the County Championship last year, finishing bottom of Division Two, and failed to qualify for the T20 Blast knockout stages and were losing semi-finalists in the Metro Bank Cup.On Thursday, they unveiled Mark Alleyne as their new coach after Dale Benkenstein left for Lancashire. “I’m really excited to have someone of Cameron’s ability and experience on board for the season to come,” Alleyne said. “We already have an exciting group of players here so to add to that with a player of international calibre in Cameron, it’s fantastic for me as a coach to have such depth in the squad.”Meanwhile, Surrey have confirmed that Kemar Roach will re-join the club for the first seven matches of the Championship season. “Everyone knows that Surrey is a second home for me, and I love coming to London to play at one of the best grounds in the world,” he said.”The Club’s ambitions in the red-ball game are a big draw for me and I want to play my role in winning another County Championship trophy. I cannot wait to start my fourth season with Surrey.”

Emi Martinez has been dropped from the Aston Villa squad amid speculation linking him with Manchester United but Marc Guehi starts for Crystal Palace.

Martinez left out of squad for Palace clashHas been linked with a move to Man UtdGuehi in starting XI after Palace receive Liverpool offerFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Aston Villa have announced their starting lineup for Sunday evening's clash against Palace at home, with Martinez dropped from the team and not even named among the substitutes amid growing speculation that he could join United this summer. Meanwhile, Guehi has retained his place in the Palace starting XI after the club received a fresh bid from Liverpool earlier this week.

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On Sunday, reports emerged claiming United and Villa are exploring the option to include Jadon Sancho in a swap deal involving Martinez. Per the Red Devils have already reached a personal agreement with the Argentine goalkeeper, despite keeping a keen eye on Senne Lammens. Interestingly, Villa have made a formal approach to Royal Antwerp for Lammens, who has a €25 million (£21.5m/$29m) price tag attached him.

Meanwhile, reported late on Saturday that Liverpool tabled a fresh £35m (€41m/$48m) bid for Guehi, who has just one year left on his contract at Selhurst Park. Although Palace boss Oliver Glasner has expressed his desire to retain the star defender this season, the Eagles are desperate to avoid losing Guehi on a free transfer next summer, which could prompt them to accept the Reds' bid.

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In response to Liverpool's interest in Guehi, English media reported that Palace are interested in signing Joe Gomez to fill the potential void in defence. A loan move is expected to be rejected swiftly, as Liverpool are keen on cashing in on Gomez. Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji has also caught Palace's eye.

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With the game between Villa and Palace set to be the final fixture before the international break, one can't help but wonder which colours Martinez and Guehi will don once club football resumes in a fortnight.

Arsenal’s preparations for the upcoming season have been significantly bolstered by the return of key defenders Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber to full training. The duo were spotted taking part in sessions ahead of the Gunners’ upcoming friendly clash against Villarreal and they are now in line to feature in the club's Premier League opener against Manchester United.

Gabriel & Timber return to full trainingPrimed to feature against the Red DevilsMadueke & Kepa are also back on the grassFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Neither Gabriel nor Timber made an appearance during Arsenal’s recent tour of Asia. The Brazilian underwent a hamstring operation in April and only recently managed 45 minutes of action in a closed-door fixture against Watford. Unfortunately, a minor issue picked up during training halted his momentum, keeping him out since then.

Timber, on the other hand, has been carefully managed since undergoing surgery in May to address an ankle problem. Though he travelled with the squad throughout the pre-season tour, the Dutch defender was not risked in any of the matches, instead gradually building up fitness under the supervision of Arsenal’s medical team.

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According to the both players have now resumed training, and there is cautious optimism in the Gunners' camp that they will be available for the upcoming friendly against Villarreal. Mikel Arteta previously indicated his belief that both Gabriel and Timber could be ready in time for the Premier League opener against the Red Devils, and the sight of both defenders participating in training at London Colney will come as a welcome relief for the Spaniard. 

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In more encouraging news for Arsenal fans, new goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga has also resumed training. The Spaniard, who was unavailable during last week’s defeat to Tottenham due to a minor knock, is expected to be back in contention for the Villarreal match. Meanwhile, fellow summer recruit Noni Madueke could be set for his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt. The winger, who arrived from Chelsea, has been training since last week after cutting his holiday short to acclimate quickly with his new team-mates and surroundings.

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Arsenal's highly rated 15-year-old duo, Marli Salmon and Max Dowman, were also involved in first-team training sessions. Both academy talents have impressed during the Gunners' summer camp and could be in line to play against Villarreal.

The ECB pulled Wood out of IPL 2024 to manage his workload ahead of the T20 World Cup and Tests against West Indies and Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Feb-2024

West Indies fast bowler Shamar Joseph has joined Lucknow Super Giants as replacement for England quick Mark Wood. He will join Super Giants for INR 3 crore, an IPL statement on Saturday said.ESPNcricinfo understands that the ECB pulled Wood, a centrally contracted player, out of IPL 2024 to manage his workload, with the T20 World Cup scheduled in June and England hosting West Indies and Sri Lanka for Tests in the home summer. Recently, the ECB had prevented Jofra Archer from being a part of the IPL 2024 auction as it manages his comeback from injury leading up to the T20 World Cup.Super Giants had signed Wood in the auction before the 2022 season for INR 7.50 crore. He, however, missed that season because of an elbow injury. In IPL 2023, Wood played four matches and picked up 11 wickets at an average of 11.82.Joseph made his West Indies debut in the drawn series against Australia, dismissing Steven Smith with his first ball in Test cricket, in a game West Indies lost in Adelaide. He then became a worldwide phenomenon when he took a seven-wicket haul in the final innings despite an injured foot to give West Indies a dramatic eight-run win at the Gabba in the second Test. It was West Indies’ first Test win in Australia since 1997.Joseph had been signed by Dubai Capitals for the ongoing ILT20 season before West Indies’ tour of Australia, but was subsequently ruled out because of the toe injury he suffered in the Brisbane Test when a Mitchell Starc yorker struck him. But his performance in Australia has since landed him a deal with Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL, which starts on February 17.While Joseph has just played two T20 games in his professional career, and doesn’t have a wicket to show yet, West Indies white-ball coach Daren Sammy has indicated that Joseph could find a berth in the T20 World Cup squad, saying the fast bowler has “created a good headache” for the selectors.Apart from Joseph, the Super Giants’ fast-bowling line-up has Naveen-ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan, David Willey, Shivam Mavi, Yash Thakur and Yudhvir Singh. They also have allrounders Marcus Stoinis, Kyle Mayers and India’s Under-19 World Cupper Arshin Kulkarni, who can give them quite a few overs. Though just two seasons old in the IPL, Super Giants have been one of the best-performing teams, making the playoffs and finishing third both in 2022 and 2023.

Tom Abell has stepped down from the Somerset captaincy with immediate effect, after struggling for form during the 2023 season.Abell, 29, was handed the Somerset captaincy ahead of the 2017 season, and led the club to victory in the 2019 Royal London Cup, and a trio of runners-up spots in red-ball competitions – a second-place finish in the County Championship in 2018 and 2019, and the final of the Bob Willis Trophy in the Covid-affected summer of 2020.Somerset did collect silverware in 2023 with victory in the Vitality Blast – however, Lewis Gregory had taken over the reins from Abell following their run to the semi-finals in the previous season, and with a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Championship coinciding with a downturn in his own form, Abell has decided to relinquish his role.”I’m stepping down with a heavy heart,” Abell said. “As a Somerset boy it’s been a massive privilege to captain the club and the experience has been incredible. It’s not been an easy decision, but I’ve thought about it a lot and I believe that it is in the best interests of the team and the club. Sometimes change can be a good thing and I think that now is the right time. My decision is entirely based on what I feel is best for us moving forward.”During the last seven seasons there have been some great times and some tough times. I’m so grateful for the support that I’ve received, and Andy Hurry and Jason Kerr have been tremendous allies. I’ve had a tremendous support network behind me, especially my family, and I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of some great teams with some great players, who have helped to keep me in the job for so long!”Abell came close to securing international honours earlier this year, when he was named in England’s white-ball squad for their tour of Bangladesh in March, only to withdraw with a side injury.”I didn’t have a great season in 2023 and it can be tough to lead when you’re not necessarily content with your own performance,” he said. “This will give me the opportunity to get back to where I need to be, which is contributing to Somerset winning games of cricket.”Hurry, Somerset’s Director of Cricket, said that Abell had led the club with “distinction” during his seven seasons in charge.”Everyone connected with Somerset will agree that he has been an absolute credit to the club both on and off the field,” Hurry said. “His conduct, commitment, leadership and dedication have been exemplary during his time in the role, and he has written himself into the history of the club forever.”