Stats highlights from the second day of the Dunedin Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka

Bharath Seervi11-Dec-20152.51 The run rate on the second day in Dunedin: 219 runs were scored in 87.1 overs. On the first day, 419 runs were scored in 90 overs at rate of 4.54 runs per over. There were 23 maidens on the second day, compared to seven on the first.19.05 Sri Lanka’s average opening stand in Tests in 2015, their second-lowest in any year where they have had ten or more partnerships. In 2006, they averaged 18.60 in 21 innings. This year their openers have had only one fifty-plus stand – 56 between Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva against West Indies in Galle. Among all teams in 2015, only West Indies have a lower opening partnership average than Sri Lanka.293 Number of balls faced by Dinesh Chandimal and Karunaratne in their partnership of 122, which is the highest by a Sri Lankan pair in New Zealand. The previous best was 285 balls, between Mahela Jayawardene and Marvan Atapattu in Napier in 2005. Overall, this is the fourth-highest for Sri Lanka against New Zealand (where balls-faced data is known).6 Number of 75-plus scores for Karunaratne in Tests, the fourth highest among Sri Lankan openers, after Sanath Jayasuriya (23), Atapattu (21) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (11).792 Dinesh Chandimal’s aggregate runs in Tests in 2015, which is the highest among Sri Lankan players this year. His tally is also the highest among batsmen from the subcontinent teams this year, going past Younis Khan’s 789.4 Number of times Nuwan Pradeep has taken four wickets in a Test innings. He has never taken a five-wicket haul in his 16-Test career. He is one of 11 players to play less than 20 Tests and take 40 or more wickets without taking any five-wicket hauls; his average is the poorest among them.4.48 New Zealand’s run rate in their first innings – they scored 431 in 96.1 overs. It is their second-highest scoring rate against Sri Lanka in Tests. Their fastest is 5.13, when they scored 441 in 85.5 overs in the Boxing Day Test in Christchurch last year.9 Number of times BJ Watling has taken four or more catches in a Test innings; only Adam Parore (13) and Ian Smith (11) have done it more often among New Zealand wicketkeepers, while Brendon McCullum has also done it nine times. If Watling takes another catch in Sri Lanka’s first innings, he will be the first New Zealand wicketkeeper to take five or more catches in an innings five times; he is currently tied with McCullum on four.

Sylhet Super Stars’ campaign began in farcical circumstances, included three narrow defeats, and ended with even their captain bogged down by pressure

Mohammad Isam11-Dec-2015Tournament overviewSylhet Super Stars had some hope of making it to the last four even on the last day of the league phase, but as their 71-run defeat to Comilla Victorians showed, they were not really up to it this season. They won three of their 10 matches, giving them a fifth-place finish, just above Chittagong Vikings.Sylhet could consider themselves unlucky too after losing their first three games to Chittagong, Barisal and Rangpur, by the closest of margins – one run, one run and six runs. But their troubles had already begun before their first match, when due to a bungle up between them and the BCB, they did not have the necessary signatures to field Ravi Bopara and Josh Cobb. When the pair finally got their NOCs, it came through a few minutes after the toss, but they were still sent to play despite not having their names in the team sheet.The match was delayed by an hour and during the discussion out in the open, Tamim Iqbal and one of the Sylhet owners got into a slanging match. Sylhet ultimately lost that game and the next three before they finally won for the first time in Chittagong, against Comilla by 34 runs. Upon returning to Dhaka, they crushed Barisal Bulls in a nine-wicket win before Junaid Siddique, Bopara and Shahid Afridi inspired them to the third win, against Dhaka.Mushfiqur Rahim left the captaincy just before their second win, with coach Sarwar Imran saying that the Bangladesh Test captain could handle the pressure of losing close games, coupled with his wicketkeeping and batting duties. Indeed Mushfiqur’s batting suffered, but barring Mohammad Shahid ,none of the other locals really stood out either with their performances. Sylhet would also feel that their foreign recruits, particularly Bopara with the bat, could have given them a lot more.High pointWith Sylhet facing certain elimination, Junaid Siddique and Ravi Bopara steered a tricky chase against Dhaka Dynamites in their penultimate match. When they had exited after making fifties, Afridi swept Farhad Reza for consecutive sixes in the final over to seal the win. Their celebration looked more like relief but they needed that win to stay relevant till the last day of the league phase.Low pointTheir worst moment was when Mushfiqur walked into the Mirpur field with Bopara and Cobb behind him, despite not having their names in the team sheet at the toss about 30 minutes earlier. The situation went into a tail-spin with Chittagong refusing to take the field until the matter was resolved. Ultimately the BCB had to ask Sylhet to play without the English pair, and they went on to lose the game by one run.Top of the classBopara did not start well with the bat but he was effective with his military medium-pace, with much variation. In Sylhet’s first win in the tournament after four losses, Bopara took four wickets and scored 50 while his second half-century also came in a Sylhet win. He finished with 10 wickets, but must have wanted to score more than the 132 runs he managed.Under-par performerMushfiqur was the highest scorer in the last BPL, in 2013, when he inspired Sylhet Royals to the last four. This time however, he was weighed down by the captaincy so much that he left the role towards the end citing extreme pressure. Afridi took over as captain, while Mushfiqur ended up with just 157 runs in the 10 matches.Tip for 2016The team owners, Alif Group, would have to approach the player selection differently in the BPL’s next edition. They missed out on Brad Hodge but the likes of Bopara, Cobb and Ajantha Mendis did not perform according to expectations. Their local players, except Shahid perhaps, left a lot to be desired.

The identity of the big hitters in India’s lower-middle order is the only piece of the puzzle that needs to be solved, as they approach the World T20 in March

Sidharth Monga01-Feb-2016Even before the 3-0 sweep in Australia, India were one of the favourites for the World T20 at home. More so after the return of Ravindra Jadeja to a stock of spinners that has had success in the subcontinent, and the accidental discovery of fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah – MS Dhoni is impressed by him, and he rarely expresses his being impressed in public. The team management feel like things are falling in place leading up to the tournament in March.What have India learnt about themselves in Australia that they didn’t already know, though? The big question that faced them before that series remains – who bats at nos. 5, 6 and 7?In the top four, only Shikhar Dhawan – no international fifties and a career T20 strike rate of 120 – is an uncertainty; Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina select themselves. The only match in Australia that India came close to losing was because that lower-middle order was asked to do the work under pressure.After having struggled with the likes of Ambati Rayudu in the past, India roped in a youngster and a veteran in Hardik Pandya and Yuvraj Singh into the T20 middle order. The advantage they brought was their part-time bowling, which they did well – Yuvraj more than Pandya – but they did not get tested with the bat. Yuvraj got over the line after getting into strife, which will give him confidence, but India can’t be sure if he has still got it. Pandya didn’t get a chance to bat.Dhoni has said time and again that it is not an easy job to come in and immediately play according to the situation. He is part of the smaller team that will be given this responsibility. While he was happy with the results, he will be mindful that he can’t trust Yuvraj and Pandya yet to be the men to do that job.Virat Kohli’s being rested for the three Twenty20s against Sri Lanka has given Dhoni another option to look at. Manish Pandey began India’s turnaround with that hundred in the final match of the ODI series in Australia, and now Dhoni can take a look at him in the shortest format too. Pandey has scored a 90 in an IPL final before. However, he is more of a top-order batsman and doesn’t bowl, which means if he has to break through he might have to do so in Dhawan’s place, for which Ajinkya Rahane is already a contender.While Dhoni and India will deservedly celebrate a rare whitewash of Australia in Australia, over the next seven international Twenty20 matches and a possible final at the Asia Cup, they will need to look at and lock in the two big hitters they want. Yuvraj and Pandya remain the frontrunners, and Dhoni will hope to see positive signs from them in pressure situations before the World T20 starts. Other than that India seem to have bases covered thanks to the awesome form of the top order and the spinners R Ashwin and Jadeja.

How a wicketkeeper from Western Australia came to be Hong Kong’s great hope in his middle age

Jarrod Kimber15-Mar-201616:31

‘I was always aggressive’

The ball drops short – not all that short, but that never bothered him. It disappears a long way away.It happens in one smooth motion, it is instinctive, and pure. In other people’s heads there would have been thoughts of other shots, smaller shots, defensive shots, even attacking shots with just a bit more caution. That is not how this batsman thinks. The ball clears the fence easily, goes a long way.The small boy drops his bat and heads over the fence, while his brothers and sister wait.Ryan Campbell doesn’t know why he bats the way he does, he just does. Campbell doesn’t even know why he plays, he just does.

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Hong Kong has a rich cricket history. Rich, as in, you needed to be incredibly wealthy or privileged to play the sport. There were many passionate people who loved the sport, but their clubs, such as the prestigious Hong Kong Cricket Club, were more about being seen with the right kind of people, rather than a place to improve cricket in Hong Kong. Their weightiest historical tome is called and was written by Peter Arthur Hall. Despite the care and passion that goes into the book, what it really chronicles is not so much a national team but a small club cricket culture.Whether it be the famous Hong Kong Sixes, end-of-season trips or their club leagues, essentially cricket in Hong Kong was played by the people of the major cricket countries who are drawn to “Asia’s world city”. It was a low-stakes United Nations of cricket. The Craigengower Cricket Club started in 1894 and was a place where, regardless of race, people would mix together. In many ways it was an early forerunner of what Hong Kong cricket would become. Teams full of Pakistanis, Australians, English, Indians, Sri Lankans and locals born in Hong Kong were very common.Occasionally, very occasionally, the locals were encouraged to play. In 1910, at the Chinese recreation club, tennis star Ng Sze-Kwong played in one of the first games made up of Asian and Eurasian players. He made 22. The rich Chinese believed that the English should pay someone to play for them. The poor Chinese often showed promise as net bowlers, but they were seen as inferior to the locals in Sri Lanka and Malaysia.By the 1950s you could turn up to the nets on your own and have the Hong Kong Chinese groundsmen bowl very well to you. But despite this, those players never progressed beyond being walking talking bowling machines.With no emphasis on Hong Kong as a cricket nation, despite the odd tour, there was no reason to encourage the locals to play, so cricket remained the plaything of men like Sir Denys Roberts, the Attorney General and President of the Hong Kong Cricket league. “I was delighted to move there, as an uncle of mine, severely injured in a brawl there in a brothel before the war, couldn’t speak highly enough of the place,” he once said.Ryan Campbell ended the World T20 with 36 runs from three games•Getty ImagesSince the ’90s, things have changed. The passion for cricket in Hong Kong has changed. They are no longer just a Sunday club league. The ICC funding, small as it was, started coming in, and they started moving the game forward. Much of the current players are descendants of that move. While the names might sound English and Pakistani at times, all but three of the squad were in Hong Kong before they were 18, several born and bred. Their team is a mix of ethnicities because Hong Kong is.Hong Kong as a city has always drawn people in. Now Hong Kong cricket is doing the same. Ryan Campbell is just the most recent one.

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Campbell is in his cricket academy bedroom. He is Western Australia’s No. 2 gloveman, behind Tim Zoehrer, who is not far from retirement. Life is looking good for him. Someone knocks on the door. A “geek with big ears”. That geek is about to make his entire life tougher. Adam Gilchrist enters the room and tells Campbell that he is coming to Western Australia.It’s like being the Chicago Bulls shooting guard and having Michael Jordan tell you he’s joining the team. You might be good, you might turn into one hell of a player, but your life, and career, won’t be what you dreamed it would be when staring at the academy ceiling before falling asleep each night. You are now Adam Gilchrist’s understudy.Campbell thought his career was over. But another great Australian keeper disagreed. Rod Marsh had an idea based on how Campbell played. Campbell was at his best when he was in backyard mode. When he had too much time to think, it would affect his batting, so why not send him out there first and let him play first? Marsh let him open the batting against England for the academy.England’s attack consisted of Devon Malcolm, Phil DeFreitas, Angus Fraser, Shaun Udal and Craig White. Campbell made 57 off 45. He was playing T20 cricket when there was no T20 cricket. The Academy team chased the 245 total with 6.5 overs to spare.Marsh took Campbell aside and told him he was going to be an opener. Campbell had been an offspinner when he was young, and then a keeper, but he had never really thought too much about being a batsman. But in Australian cricket when Rod Marsh tells you he believes in you, that is like being chosen by royalty. Marsh said, “You will play as a batsman, you will play as many games as you want.”From that day forward, in one of the greatest batting line-ups in first-class cricket history, Campbell was their opener.There are too many occurrences of Campbell being awesome to properly do justice to how he played. When you were watching him, especially in a Shield match, you were seeing something that shouldn’t exist. He was batting as if he was trying to kill a bunch of zombies, while the rest of his team were having calm business meetings. Gilchrist was ultra-attacking, Campbell was a pack of piranhas in a feeding frenzy.

He was so worried about his place in the team, he would never put all of Western Australia’s games in his diary

He was scoring at better than a run a ball when that wasn’t a thing in ODI cricket, and doing it in first-class cricket. At the MCG in one match, he opened with Mike Hussey. When Campbell was out, the score was 144. He made 113 of them at better than a run a ball against an attack of David Saker, Tony Dodemaide and Damien Fleming. And when he really let fly, like in a Lilac Hill tour match in 1999-2000, he was just brutal. A hundred and three off 58 balls. The bowlers included Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed and Shoaib Akhtar.Not that bowlers ever mattered to him, they were just there to be hit.

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The first two words of Campbell’s ESPNcricinfo profile are “confident” and “aggressive”.Campbell batted as if the normal rules of failure did not apply to him. He was in various batting teams that consisted of players like Chris Rogers, Marcus North, Murray Goodwin, Tom Moody, Damien Martyn, Justin Langer, Simon Katich and Adam Voges. His opening partner was Michael Hussey. David Hussey had to move states as there was just no room in the side for him.And yet, when he batted, there was no fear in Campbell. It was the same boy who hit the ball over the fence as a kid; he was now just doing it on bigger grounds.That is what it looked like to the many young Australian boys who loved watching him play. That wasn’t who Campbell thought he was, “In my career I had the long hair and bashed the ball around a bit. But that was the anti me.”Campbell was so worried about his place in the team, he would never put all of Western Australia’s games in his diary. It was other people who believed in him, people like Marsh, his Western Australian coach Wayne Clark, and his team-mates. His entire on-field persona was the mask he wore to get by.Then came a potentially career-ending knee injury. Then came depression.Campbell only told his family and Clark. The thought of other people knowing terrified him, “Aussie blokes would rather admit they have a sexually transmitted disease before they would say, ‘Yeah, I’ve got depression.’ I was typical of that. My parents are wonderful people, but they’re old school, they told me to shake it off, you know, what’s wrong with ya?”In Brisbane for a Shield match, he almost made the biggest mistake of his life. There was a random drug test. Campbell knew what that meant. He would have to write down he was on anti-depressants. He thought about running out the back door. He didn’t want to be known as a drug cheat, but in that moment, he was less afraid of that than admitting, to one drug tester, that he was depressed. Clark, sensing that something was wrong, took Campbell aside and calmed him down. He went into the room and wrote he was on anti-depressants, and when he handed the form back, the tester looked at what he had written and then looked back to Campbell, who thought, “He’s thinking, ‘He’s a sportsman, how can he be depressed?'”At Western Australia, Campbell had to compete with Adam Gilchrist for the wicketkeeper’s spot•Getty ImagesEven now, Campbell understands why some, who have never been depressed, won’t get how someone like him, living the dream, could ever be depressed. But he also knows the pressures that professional athletes face that most people don’t, “We spend our lives at a high-level job, and your failures meant the difference between earning money and not earning money.”Campbell is a spokesman for Beyond Blue, an Australian depression charity. When he is in public he feels other men gravitate towards him who want to chat but are too nervous to say anything. So when Campbell senses it, he opens with, “What’s going on? Are you okay?”That’s not the anti him, it’s who he is.

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Hong Kong had won a game at the previous World T20 when they beat Bangladesh. They had come equal third in the first qualifying tournament. But they are a team with limitations.Irfan Ahmed is in their top two players, and he did not play in this tournament after he received a ban for failing to inform the ICC of an approach for match-fixing. Few teams can afford to lose one of their best players. For a team like Hong Kong, where they have four cricket grounds (one of which is completely – not just the pitch – AstroTurf), and only 795 registered players, it meant they were almost one short in every game.Against Zimbabwe their bowling held up well, and they were looking at a target that could be chased.Then Aizaz Khan, the 22-year-old medium-pacer, dropped short and wide to Elton Chigumbura. He was flat-batted over mid-on for six. Next ball was a six too. The next over, the last, Haseeb Amjad beat the bat, and keeper Jamie Atkinson threw the ball at the stumps. The ricochet gave away a bye. Worse still, it brought Chigumbura back on strike and he scored ten runs off the remaining three balls of the innings.Campbell came out for the chase but never got going. His pull shot, his shot, the shot that anyone who saw him in his prime would have tattooed in their memory, ended with the ball stuck in his grill. Hong Kong’s innings was valiant but it also was stuck in the grill.There was a time when Campbell ate pace. In the second game, against Afghanistan, he was not quite dining out on it, as much as poking it with a fork from a distance. For a 44-year-old man, facing Dawlat Zadran and Hamid Hassan is not a pleasant experience. Campbell was hit on the back of the leg, the thigh, the chest.He backed away and smashed the ball over cover. He backed away and sliced another four. He backed away and swung as hard as he could, and missed. Dawlat gave him the angry eyes that scare Associate batsmen. Campbell had been receiving angry eyes from fast bowlers since before Dawlat was born.

Campbell went up to his captain. “Mr Waugh, thanks for the opportunity.” Waugh told him not to be an idiot, and to call him Tugga. Around him were Shane Warne. Mark Waugh. Glenn McGrath

He survived the new-ball pair and went after the spinners. There was a quality cover drive. And then a back-foot push through point off Mohammad Nabi that dripped with timing and assurance. Campbell had survived and was now prospering. He was better than a run a ball, his happy batting place.Then he tried to sweep.It is not apparent what happens at first – the crowd, and most of the Afghan team didn’t seem to know. Nabi had spun the ball a bit, Campbell was down for the sweep and moved just inside the line to get it a bit finer. Then it’s a mess. Campbell sweeps too early, the ball bounces up and off his forearm, probably, maybe his helmet, somehow, with Campbell completely in front of the stumps the ball still makes it back to them, slow enough so Campbell can see himself get bowled.He was 27 off 24. The score was 40 for 1 after 5.4 overs. In the remaining 14.2 overs Hong Kong would add another 76 runs.Simon Cook, their coach, admitted that Hong Kong have a lot to learn. They seem to bat for themselves rather than in partnerships. They cluster wickets together. They don’t adjust their minds well to lower par scores. And they panic.No side had ever needed an on-field batting coach more.

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Kath White, the WACA CEO, called Campbell to congratulate him on his selection for Australia A. Campbell thought she had got confused. Brad Haddin was clearly the No. 2 keeper, everyone knew that. Campbell was only just back in form after his injury and his depression. But the Australian selectors wanted to give Haddin a kick, and with Campbell back in health, mentally and physically, and in form, he was the man they wanted.Soon after, Gilchrist was having a game off for Australia. He phoned Campbell to tell him, and also to say he thought it was Campbell who would replace him. Campbell thought he was crazy. Then Michael Brown from Cricket Australia called him. “Cambo, congratulations you are going to be the 176th player to play for Australia.” Campbell thought it was a mate playing a prank and hung up. Brown rang back and told him that if he hung up on him again, he’d get someone else to play.Campbell was on a plane straight to Sydney. He walked into the SCG, then the SCG ladies’ stand, then the dressing room, and then he finds the gold plaque with the black writing that says “Ryan Campbell”, with his uniform hanging up. He went up to his captain. “Mr Waugh, thanks for the opportunity.” Waugh told him not to be an idiot, and to call him Tugga. Around him were Shane Warne. Mark Waugh. Glenn McGrath.Campbell found it hard to reveal to his team-mates and family that he was suffering from depression•Getty ImagesAustralia took an early wicket, and the group came together and asked Campbell how he was feeling and he said, “You blokes don’t understand how loud these people are when 40,000 people roar. Are you guys just used to this, or what?” The next morning he was on a flight back for a Shield match that day. Campbell would only ever play one more match for Australia.

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Charlie Burke wants to change the culture in Hong Kong.It is a big call for a grade cricketer from WA. But Burke has already gone a long way in professional cricket for someone who never played top-level cricket. He worked for the ICC and then became a coach for Hong Kong. He is now director of cricket for the HKCA.Part of what he is trying to do is change the way Hong Kong treats sport. Hong Kong parents love their kids playing sport, but they don’t see sport as a profession. That is what Burke is trying to change. In Hong Kong cricket they are all about pathways. In the Kowloon Cricket Club they have plastered on a wall how you get from being a five-year-old cricketer to the Hong Kong senior side. A side they want to be as professional as any around the world.Along with Burke is Tim Cutler, the enthusiastic former insurance broker who started as a club cricketer before becoming the CEO of Hong Kong cricket. Cutler has a million ideas, boundless energy, and is the sort of passionate CEO you see in the best Associate teams. At one stage during this tournament he hurt his hand from clapping too hard as Hong Kong took a wicket. Cutler, a former grade cricketer from Easts in Sydney, even has an app on his phone that is counting down the days until he is qualified for Hong Kong, should his left-arm orthodox spin be required.These people, and so many more like them, aren’t just expats working in Hong Kong cricket for a bit of fun, they are Hong Kong’s cricket soldiers. There is no zealot like a convert, and there is something exciting about Hong Kong cricket that keeps finding new fanatics. These people are as passionate as any before them. As passionate as many of the home-grown players are for Hong Kong cricket. And with a plan of how to make Hong Kong a top international side.Cutler and Burke are on a mission, to achieve what they want. They know their team has to win. Associate cricket is kill or be killed.

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Campbell woke at 4am, sat bolt upright, and he knew. A few hours later he told people he was going to retire.He was only in his early 30s, but Luke Ronchi was coming through Western Australia cricket at that time. Campbell could have stayed around, fought for his place, but he didn’t have anything left to achieve, and he didn’t want to be a bloke who stuck around for a payday. For some cricketers, the thought of never playing again sends them into a dark hole, but Campbell had already been in the darkness, now he saw a life outside cricket as something he could be excited about.

Campbell was batting as if he was trying to kill a bunch of zombies, while the rest of his team were having calm business meetings

He had already set up his new life. He was a morning presenter on radio station Nova, he was a TV presenter on a show called , he would later become a sports agent and was also a MC for events. He also commentated on cricket, the IPL (which in his prime he would have been worth a fortune in), and he even commentated on the ABC with Harsha Bhogle, where he suggested Bhogle should get a tattoo.Campbell enjoyed not playing, he enjoyed being free of his cricket commitments, and living the life of a single Perthonality. When the IPL was announced he thought about joining in, but decided it would be ridiculous. Then Damien Martyn and his Ahmedabad Rockets, the ICL side, came calling. Campbell still didn’t want to play, so he came up with a ridiculous asking price. Twenty minutes later he was temporarily out of retirement.Soon after, Campbell was on a motorbike holding a novelty cheque, having scored 92 off 52 balls. He enjoyed the cricket, and the crowds, but he was in no rush to make a comeback.In 2010, Campbell’s friend Burke contacted him about being a batting consultant in Hong Kong. Campbell enjoyed his time there, was excited about the amount of talent they had, but was soon back in Perth.In 2012, Burke let him know that the Kowloon Cricket Club coaching position was available. This time Campbell was 40. He had spent his whole life in Perth. His work in the media was fun, but scattered around many different jobs. The thought of a new adventure, and one solid employer, in the game he loved was something he wanted to try.Just by flying in he could see one of the biggest problems facing Hong Kong cricket. “You go to Australia and there is green grass, space, a ground, on every street, nearly. Hong Kong is a beautiful place, but there is no space.” Kowloon CC’s land is worth potentially over a billion dollars. In a place where land is so expensive, making cricket grounds is not a priority. But the passion for cricket is there. “I have a school that practises on their roof. Dangerous, yes, but that’s their only space”.”My Kowloon cap represents 118 years of history. When I was presented with mine for Hong Kong I was deeply touched”•Getty ImagesCampbell loved Hong Kong, the passion, the cricket, the culture. Although he has Chinese heritage through his mother’s side, what made him most at home was meeting his fiancée. She, and now his young son, are both Hong Kong born and bred. He might be a Perth boy, in look and accent, but Hong Kong isn’t just where he lives, it is his home.

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When Burke first suggested that Campbell come back, Campbell thought he must have been drunk. He said no. “Once again people are gonna talk about how Associate cricket is old expats, and I’ll be seen as some old bloke trying to get a game of cricket.” It was his fiancée, who knows nothing about cricket (and was almost hit by a Campbell six once), who suggested that he should find out the reasons, and if they were pure, he should consider it.The reasons were obvious: Campbell was qualified, he was one of the top run scorers in Hong Kong, and the average age of the team without him in it was almost in the teens. He also knew that while some would complain, it would help Hong Kong get noticed, “It’s given Hong Kong a lot of good publicity. We want to get better and right now we need all the publicity we can get. We want to get more attention, we want to get better, we want to play in bigger tournaments, we want to get more and more money so we can pay for more and more players to go on tours and stuff like that”.His role would be as an on-field batting coach, support in the field, a few overs, and, hopefully, the man to get them off to a flyer. That is why a 44-year-old batting coach became a dual international.But he was also a Hong Kong player, and that meant something to him, “That cap is bigger than you. It represents something. My Kowloon cap represents 118 years of history. You are now a part of that. And I guess when I was presented with mine for Hong Kong I was deeply touched, he [Burke] said some really nice words, and I’m glad I had the sunnies on and walked away, because it was getting a bit much.”

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There is a bruise on the back of his thigh the size of a dinner plate. His groin is troubling him as well. His 44-year-old body looks young but feels old. He has been Hong Kong’s most consistent bowler. A quality fielder. And a calm head when needed.But now he needs to do something special with the bat. He was unlucky with his last game, but Hong Kong can’t go home with a bad-luck story, “We need to win, because, unfortunately, we can’t have honourable draws.” Losing to Scotland is not an option.Campbell doesn’t get much strike early on. When he does, it is two short balls and a slider from left-arm orthodox bowler Mark Watt. One finds a fielder, one is played back to the bowler, one he misses. Then he faces Gavin Main, who delivers a length ball wide outside off stump. It is just a bit wider than Campbell sets up for, so instead of slashing it over covers, he tries to blast it down the ground. The bat twists in his hand, one hand comes off, the ball flies off the face, high and long. Third man completes the catch. Campbell has made no runs in the game Hong Kong has to win.He doesn’t swear. He doesn’t lose it. He just looks disappointed. Disappointed that he couldn’t help his team, the nation with 175 years of cricket history, win the game they needed to win. Disappointed that he came back, that he got his body right, that he spent time away from his young son, that he risked injury, that he risked embarrassment, and after all of it, he couldn’t help the team he loves. The team he was prepared to go through all this for.The next time Hong Kong play in a WT20, Campbell will be 48. He isn’t worried that this is his last chance, this was never about him. He is disappointed that it could be Hong Kong’s last chance, and that he couldn’t do anything about it.Ryan Campbell didn’t know why he played as a kid – he just played. He knows why he plays now: he plays for Hong Kong.

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-2016Wriddhiman Saha and Gurkeerat Singh Mann contributed 27 each and shared fruitful partnerships with Amla to set Kings XI up•BCCISunrisers Hyderabad were dealt a blow when Ashish Nehra limped off the field with an injury in the 14th over•BCCIWith temperatures touching 43 degrees centigrade, the players’ fitness was tested•AFPAmla ensured Kings XI sustained momentum throughout; he hit 14 fours and two sixes in his 96 before holing out to long off in the final over•BCCIDavid Miller provided the late impetus through a nine-ball 20 that lifted Kings XI to 179 for 4•BCCIIn a surprise move, Vijay brought himself on to bowl in the second over of the chase•AFPShikhar Dhawan made a fluent 25, before a brilliant throw from Mohit Sharma from long on caught him short of his crease at the bowler’s end•BCCIDavid Warner brought up his sixth half-century of the season before his dismissal – he hopped back onto the stumps to be hit wicket – left Sunrisers needing 83 off 47.•BCCIDeepak Hooda kept Sunrisers in the hunt with 34 off 22 balls before finding David Miller at deep mid wicket on the pull•AFPBut Yuvraj Singh’s unbeaten 42 off 24 balls took them home with two balls to spare as a spot in the playoffs was all but sealed•BCCI

For 237 balls, Mashrafe Mortaza’s team did justice to their captain’s grace, abided by his vision. But in three balls, Bangladesh lost sight of the distance they have come

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Bangalore 24-Mar-2016In the third over of Bangladesh’s chase, Hardik Pandya climbs high into the night, at long-on, and snatches the ball flying overhead. In the next few seconds, as the Chinnaswamy Stadium erupts around him, Pandya appears to undergo a series of eruptions himself. His fists are clenched, his lungs are emptied, his vocal chords are in a state of almighty tremor. He advances towards his teammates in violent jerks and pulses. He is riding an invisible rodeo bull.It had been an outstanding catch in a tough situation, so maybe exuberance is understandable. On many nights, this may even have been the catch of the evening. Not on this one.In India’s innings, Sabbir Rahman had tracked a ball that would have challenged any Bangalore skyscraper for height, then dived, and held the ball cleanly. When he rose, there was a grimace on his face and slight arrogance in his gait, but there was no wild gesticulating.Ten overs later, Soumya Sarkar tore to his left from deep square leg, dived full-length, 12 inches from the ground, and took in both hands one of the catches of the tournament. He lay there on the grass and grinned. His teammates paused, processed what had happened, then rushed towards him, all grinning as well. These were moments lived out in the sudden silence that had filled the stadium. It only made them sweeter.This is not how all Bangladesh teams reacted to extraordinary catches. In years past, put-on chest-thumping, aggressive flailing, and preening celebrations had sometimes defined them.Today, Shuvagata Hom didn’t so much as bellow when he uprooted the middle stump of the best limited-overs batsman around. There were no contrived oohs and pained looks when Mustafizur Rahman beat the bat. Tamim Iqbal still retains a little of his old prima donna avatar, acting like he had taken a cruise missile to the chest when he had only lightly bumped Ashish Nehra. But even he has become a more muted and more effective version of himself.For 237 balls, Bangladesh were defined by a deep and powerful, but restrained brand of confidence. Coach Chandika Hathurusingha has been among those leading this team to this new way – to this light. He is not, though, the key man in the enlightenment.

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With some quicks, there is almost as much pleasure to be had in their approach to the crease as their actual deliveries. Trent Boult is one of these. Mashrafe Mortaza is not.His thighs seem a burden to him, he makes strides of varying lengths, and occasionally appears as if he wants to pull up. Mashrafe gets cortisone injections every year to dull the aches in his knees. Every movement seems an effort. At times it seems like the man’s disobedient body is being dragged by the collar to the crease by his willpower. When he bowled just one over against Australia, some wondered what he was even doing in the team.Mushfiqur Rahim started celebrating three balls into the final over, three balls too soon•AFPBut to understand Mashrafe, to cut to what he really means to Bangladesh, we must look some distance beyond the light spells, his damaged joints, and even his sometimes odd field placements. To know Mashrafe the captain, we must listen to the teammates who have made Mashrafe’s room their permanent haunt for joking, talking and fooling around when there is nothing else to do. We must take note of those who have publicly spoken of the strength Mashrafe’s words have bestowed them in lean times, both cricketing and personal. We must take stock of the small seam-bowling revolution that has begun to take grip in a nation traditionally known for spin. And so, we must conclude, that Mashrafe would be worth his place in the side, even if a fielder had to carry him to the bowling crease in a wheelbarrow.For 237 balls, Mashrafe’s team did justice to their captain’s grace. They abided by his vision. They did right by the man, whom three days ago had been so personally affected by the suspension of Taskin Ahmed that he had got choked up and, in private, asked a journalist: “What kind of captain would I be if I can’t stand beside the boy who will serve my country for the next 10-15 years?”

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Bangladesh made mistakes in their chase. Some batsmen were fortunate to have catches dropped off them. One was unlucky to be stumped in the fraction of a second his back foot was in the air. The men in form had made runs, and those out of touch made the best of their situation, but all were in the grip of that grim, recently-acquired determination.And it seems fitting when Pandya is the man called upon to bowl the final over. He is virtually mobbed by supportive team-mates when he gets the ball in hand. There are whispers in his ear from Virat Kohli. Dhoni deals out instructions. Ashish Nehra gives advice. Through the course of his walk from long-on to the top of his bowling mark at the opposite end of the ground, Pandya has more arms around him than a 21st-century warlord.This is all for very little, because in truth, he bowls a poor over. Mushfiqur Rahim is sublimely calm as he drills the second ball through cover. He showcases the wit that made him a former captain when he paddles the next ball past the wicketkeeper for a boundary.Two runs needed from three balls. Bangladesh have the tournament favourites and their baying home fans by the throat. The World T20’s biggest upset is at the tips of their fingers.But this is the end of their 237 balls of glory. In the seconds after that shot is hit, something profound is lost. Mushfiqur gets in Pandya’s face. He flails, he screams, he snarls, he pumps his arms.In three balls, Bangladesh lose sight of the distance they have come. They forget the captain that has inspired them. In three balls, Bangladesh turn out the light.

After a week that included skill-based training, yoga, meditation, a buddy programme and even drum-rolls, it was evident that the Indian team had made strides both on and off the field

Shashank Kishore in Bangalore04-Jul-2016Late on Sunday evening, India’s squad of 17 for the tour of the West Indies was asked to assemble at the team room in their Bangalore hotel for what was to be a “team-bonding activity”. If the players expected a serious game involving pen and paper, they were in for a surprise when Anil Kumble, the head coach, announced the drum circle, an activity aimed at “discovering creativity” and “energising participants.”

Having fun can help ride tough times – MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni stressed on the need to “have fun” and “back each other” in his motivational speech to the Indian team on the penultimate day of their training camp.
“Most of us started cricket when we were five. I think this is the period where Indian cricket will move forward,” he said. “Last two-three years, we were talking about the youngsters getting into the Test arena. Now, we have a set of batsmen and a pool of bowlers. That is why this coming phase will be very interesting.”
Dhoni emphasised bringing back the fun element to their game. “Make sure you have a lot of fun, because in Indian cricket, it is something we don’t do often. Cricket is too much for us. For a lot of us, if you take cricket out of our personal lives, there is not much left. But it is important to have fun.”

The agenda, it was later explained, was to get the whole group in sync with the beats, much like they would have to in the West Indies. It started with a pep talk from MS Dhoni, who urged the players to “enjoy cricket and not be consumed by the pressures associated with being an Indian cricketer”. Over the next hour or so, they jammed to the beats of a popular musician.”We were surprised by Anil ,” Kohli said. “We thought it would be a serious session, but it turned out to be a fun session. This is very important for the team. Sometimes, when we are focused on our individual game, we forget the importance of team bonding. We wanted to improve our camaraderie and understanding. This is important because the performance on the field can be better if everyone understands each other better. Everyone enjoyed it a lot and we had fun. It is going to be a long season, and these sorts of activities are required.”Shikhar Dhawan had been one of the first to congratulate “Sir” Kumble on Twitter when he was appointed head coach, and he somewhat summed up the mood in the camp when he said, “Kumble sir is too old now, easy to face”, before walking off with a grin.Going by what has happened over the last week, this much was certain: Kumble’s shoulders must be sore, if not creaking, given the number of hours he has spent bowling in the nets.One of the first to arrive at the ground, Kumble planned the net sessions meticulously, with the bowlers gearing up to bat first, before role reversals. It was no different on Monday, the final day of the team’s week-long camp in Bangalore.Kumble rolled his arm over again, his enthusiasm to beat the bat a constant, and the joy on his face when he eventually did suggest not too much had changed since his playing days, except maybe his waistline. After each ball, he would walk back to where an umpire might stand, and monitor the fast bowlers’ landing. So while Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar earned appreciation each time they beat the bat, they were also politely informed that they were pushing the crease in their quest for pace.Bhuvneshwar said he was happy to have a bowler as head coach. “When you have a coach who is a batsman, he talks more to the batsmen. He talks to the bowlers as well, but those practical things don’t come. I am not saying he can’t give feedback, but with a coach like Kumble, who is a bowler and has played for India for so many years, you can get more practical things from him rather than from a batsman. That is something I am really looking forward to, and it’s one thing I will take from him being a coach.”Each of the batsmen spent considerable time at the three nets – one for the spinners, one for the quicks, and another for throwdowns, with batting coach Sanjay Bangar hurling the ball down with his sidearm for more than two hours.There was one nervy moment at the pacers’ net, when R Ashwin walked off clutching his elbow after being hit by a lifter from Shami. He eventually returned, and didn’t bat any further. Kumble later said Ashwin had suffered nothing more than a “bruise.”

COMING UP – #TeamIndia bonding session full video on https://t.co/CPALMFZaWL #MustWatch pic.twitter.com/gRVZFOZjL4

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 4, 2016

The intensity picked up when the frontline batsmen geared up for their stints. Dhawan, batting with a slightly open stance after a chat with the video analyst, nicked a few before waltzing down the track to the spinners. Kohli, walking out with three bats, seemed unhappy with his footwork while sweeping the spinners, and asked them to pitch the ball in the same area till he was satisfied. Then he hopped over to the pace bowlers’ net and was welcomed with a peach from Varun Aaron that squared him up and took the edge. At the throwdown net, he spent close to 20 minutes simply leaving the ball.By the time his first camp as head coach had drawn to a close, Kumble had engaged his team in a drum circle, in sessions of yoga and meditation, and a buddy programme to help them open up to each other.”I certainly believe that as a coach of a young team, you need to be hands on and you need to really get your hands dirty as well – train with them, be a part of their training,” he had said last week. “And be with them more like an elder brother, in every aspect, not just on the field, but also off it.”The players seemed to have listened, judging by how quickly they went from “Sir Anil” to “Anil “.

Steven Smith and Shaun Marsh gave Australia a template for successful batting in Asia before their platform was wasted. Australia will reflect that it was progress at least to have a position to squander in the first place

Daniel Brettig in Colombo15-Aug-20161:29

‘It was really challenging out there’ – Shaun Marsh

Early in his innings, on the second evening, Steven Smith went back to try to cut Rangana Herath off the line of the stumps. The ball skidded through, Smith was hurried in his shot, and the ball skittered away for no run. Immediately, Smith reeled away in self-recriminating histrionics, angry at himself for taking the same risk that resulted in his dismissal in Galle.Of all his Test hundreds, this was perhaps Smith’s most draining. He has had a difficult tour, his first experience of defeat as captain, and tried several methods to succeed as a batsman in a region where he had never scored a century.There had been extremes of approach in Pallekele; first a harebrained charge down the pitch that precipitated a ruinous first innings, then a highly disciplined second innings wagon wheel; his scoring was restricted almost exclusively to leg side deflections until Rangana Herath found a way through. In Galle, Smith tried something in between with limited success, before, if anything, adding a few more shots to the locker at the SSC.Importantly, he chose to add the inside out drive over cover to his methods of scoring off Herath, a shot the left-arm spinner is known to detest almost as much as the blow to the groin that took him from the field for periods of days two and three. Smith was then able to rejoice in the success of Shaun Marsh, and mark a milestone of his own: a first hundred in Asia and the first signs that Australia might be able to find a workable blueprint to defeat India at home in February-March 2017.There were plenty of cues to be taken from the way Marsh went about his own business: covering his stumps, not being perturbed by balls that spun and capitalising on anything fractionally loose. There was also liberal use of the sweep shot – the result of overnight discussion between Marsh, the coach Darren Lehmann and the team analyst Dene Hills – including for the nibble down leg side that took him to three figures for the fourth time in Tests.”I was just trying to stick to my game plan,” Marsh said. “Trying to play for the straight ball and if it spun past me so be it. I was basically trying to do that over and over again and it was really challenging out there. It was good fun.”Last night night when [Dilruwan Perera] came over the wicket to me, he caused me a few little problems. So I had a good chat with Boof and Dene Hills last night and it was certainly something for me to come out today and play that shot. It worked well. I was very relieved when it was called runs … I thought I got a little bit of glove there…”But even as Smith and Marsh went on to a put together a stand of 246, the highest second wicket stand in Tests between Australia and Sri Lanka, the feeling remained that danger was only ever a ball or two away.Smith and Marsh made a significant stride in Australia’s efforts to find a better way in these conditions, but once they were dismissed, there was soon a reminder of how much more needs to be done by others. Having ascended as high as 267 for 1, the last nine went down for 112.Australia’s batsmen will perhaps look back on day three as one of missed opportunities•AFPThis was not, in fairness, an unprecedented occurrence in these parts. Plenty of Australian teams have fallen in similar heaps after a big stand is broken. In 2001 in India it happened virtually every time Matthew Hayden got out, in 2010 likewise after Ricky Ponting’s exit. The progress made in Colombo was the fact that at least one partnership had been formed, so for once there was actually a platform to squander.Even so, the litany that followed the dismissals of Marsh (to pace) and Smith will be a source of further concern for the coach Darren Lehmann and whoever is chosen to work as his full-time batting assistant after this tour. The inclusion of Moises Henriques as a No. 5 batsman reached a sad, yet foreseeable conclusion; the New South Wales allrounder poking around nervously until drawn out of his crease by Herath. While serious injury and a preponderance of Twenty20 assignments have made it hard for Henriques, the fact remained that the most recent of his four first-class hundreds was as far back as March 2015. Expecting another one here was asking a lot.Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh and Peter Nevill all showed varying signs of improvement, trying to adapt the clam style earlier exhibited by Smith and Shaun Marsh. Voges was perhaps unfortunate to be given out on a marginal lbw call, and Marsh could at least toast his first 50 since his second Test, against Pakistan in the UAE near enough to two years ago. Nevill’s latest low score was a cause for more worries, as the wait for substantial runs from a wicketkeeper with a strong first-class record continues. A dropped catch in Australia’s brief stint in the field was a sign of sapped confidence, and Nevill’s edge on other suitors for the gloves will not last if that continues.In all, this was a day in which Australia found the first few green shoots of genuine progress in Asia, yet still found themselves in a dicey position by the time stumps were drawn. Smith will be frustrated with this of course. At least he now has helped to fashion a working example of how his batsmen should operate in this part of the world.

West Indies failed to chase down 346, but a few records would have been broken had they got there

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2016Highest total in a defeat
Pakistan’s 579 for 3 would have been the second-highest total in a defeat; Australia’s 586 is the highest – the match in which England pulled off the first win for a team following on•AFPMost balls faced by a West Indian in an away Test*
Had Darren Bravo taken West Indies to a win, he might have come close to going past Brian Lara’s record of 569 balls, in Colombo in 2001. Bravo faced a total of 507 balls•AFPMost runs scored by the final four wickets in a winning chase
Had West Indies chased down 346, it would have meant they had scored 152 after the fall of the sixth wicket. The best is South Africa’s 182 back in 1906, in their first ever win•AFPBiggest deficit conceded by a team in a win
With West Indies 222 behind, Dubai would have bettered the 1999 Barbados Test as the highest first-innings deficit they have overcome to win a Test, and the fifth-highest overall**•Getty ImagesHighest successful chases
Had West Indies pulled off 346 to win the second day-night Test, it would have been their third-best chase, the highest in the UAE and the second-highest against Pakistan.•Hamish Blair/Getty Images*where data available
**The 2000 Centurion Test has not been considered

Given another chance because key Test bowlers are resting, he has shown he has the x-factor a legspinner brings, but needs to improve as a fielder and a batsman

Arun Venugopal in Ranchi25-Oct-2016Whenever there is debate over Amit Mishra’s place in India’s limited-overs side, a few standard arguments against his selection come up. His slowness in the field and limitations with the bat hampers the team’s flexibility. Or that Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel add more all-round value. Two of his dismissals in the Mohali ODI against New Zealand, however, make a compelling case for why Mishra should be in the XI.In the 29th over, he floated a loopy leg break that drifted into middle and leg stump. Ross Taylor, batting on 44, was looking dangerous for the first time in the series. Seeing that a regulation single through midwicket was on offer, he ventured a flick and in the process strayed out of the crease. By then, the ball had dipped and spun across Taylor, and MS Dhoni completed a stumping.In his next over, Mishra bowled a similar delivery outside off stump to Luke Ronchi, who missed a drive and dragged his back leg out of the crease for just an instant. Dhoni’s hands were right by the stumps, and unlike other wicketkeepers, there was no give in his gather; the Mishra-Dhoni combine accomplished another stumping, and a collapse was set in motion.For all that he offers as an attacking legspinner, Mishra might not have been picked had R Ashwin and Jadeja been available. And he could well go out of the squad when they come back from a rest. In the World T20 in 2014, Mishra was India’s second-highest wicket-taker. He had to wait more than two years for his next T20I. Earlier this year, on India’s limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe, he was passed over and Yuzvendra Chahal played as the first-choice legspinner.Mishra is a rare breed in limited-overs cricket – a crafty spinner beating batsmen in the air, and manufacturing wickets even when batsmen are not taking risks. One-day teams need a bowler of this kind to be effective in the middle overs. With eight wickets in this series at an average of 19.37, Mishra has been the most successful bowler on either side.The problem though is in a team that has Ajinkya Rahane and Umesh Yadav capable of hitting the stumps from the deep, Mishra has been caught on his heels. In the ninth over in Mohali, he overran the ball and what should have been a straightforward save became a boundary.Then there is his batting. Mishra has four Test half-centuries, including one in the Antigua Test in July, but averages 4.14 in ODIs. That doesn’t compare favourably with Jadeja’s or Ashwin’s.In Mishra’s defence, he has faced only 65 balls in 10 innings, but dismissals like the one in Delhi, where he mistimed a slog instead of helping Hardik Pandya take the game deep, will be held against him.To an extent, Mishra has the right to feel aggrieved about the stop-start pattern of his limited-overs career. Or he could look at two more chances, in Ranchi and Visakhapatnam, to reinforce his bowling credentials as much as show improvement in the field and with the bat.