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Our correspondent finds her favourite place in London, enjoys the company of the South African contingent – and has a brush with tragedy

Firdose Moonda17-Jun-2017June 1
It’s 25 degrees in London, there are a few powder-puff clouds in the bright blue sky and this is not a dream. The great British summer actually exists and I will experience almost three months of it. South Africa and I are on one of the longest tours we’ve been on, including a Champions Trophy, a Women’s World Cup and four Tests. This is going to be fun.South Africa will be training at the London School of Economics. I set off for Russell Square in Holborn and pop into the London Review Bookshop before discovering that the city campus of the LSE does not have a cricket training ground. Instead, they own a facility in New Malden, 20km (and at least 50 minutes on two different trains) away. Luckily, I’ve left enough time and get there before the team, in time to see the end of Surrey’s training and Hashim Amla and Vikram Solanki exchange warm greetings. I chat to a rather reserved JP Duminy, who insists his IPL absence will do him good. Given his recent form, we can only hope.June 2
AB de Villiers holds the Champions Trophy aloft and smiles for the cameras. The Champions Trophy, not a replica. I checked. “It feels good in my hands,” he says. It might be the only time he gets to touch it. He dismisses Lasith Malinga’s comeback as nothing special, which seems a bit off. Maybe he is just overwhelmed by getting to touch the trophy.In the heart of multicultural Brixton in South London•Firdose Moonda/ESPNcricinfoJune 3
Sri Lanka don’t seem to have changed much since they were in South Africa earlier in the year. Their bowling effort is enterprising but even with Allan Donald as a consultant, it lacks bite. Angelo Mathews is out injured. Their batting threatens a few bursts but fizzles out. South Africa win easily.Something (how would I know what?) prevents me from sending my post-match video and I am only able to leave the ground after 9pm. A few other journalists are also still working and we decide to go to a nearby pub to watch the second half of the Champions League final. It’s 1-1 at half-time so it looks like we’re in for a good evening. Cristiano Ronaldo soon spoils the fun and Real Madrid emerge comfortable winners. The pub empties significantly, as do pubs all around London. Three kilometres away from us, patrons are leaving Borough Market.An hour later, we’re still in our pub and the television screens have been switched to news. We watch reports of a van driving into people on London Bridge and of stabbings. The bar staff tell us it is best if we go home. We walk in different directions and promise to let each other know that we’ve reached our destinations safely. My walk takes me past Vauxhall Station. On reaching the hotel, I see there was another incident at the station, which turns out to be unrelated. I cannot believe that I’ve come from one of the most crime-ridden countries on earth only to be so close to something much more chilling here. Sleep does not come easily.Foyles: miles of aisles of books•Firdose Moonda/ESPNcricinfoJune 4
I leave London for Birmingham and overhear a sobering conversation at Marylebone Station. A woman is talking on the phone to a friend and recalls leaving Borough Market about 15 minutes before the attack. Some of her party remained behind, and at first, she could not get hold of them. She had since learnt they were locked in the restaurant for protection and had come very close to danger. The reality of what has happened hits home. It seems unlikely the tournament will be cancelled but I wonder about the rest of the summer. How many more times might this happen?June 5
Normal service resumes: it’s raining and cold. South Africa train indoors at Edgbaston. Selection convener Linda Zondi is in town and we chat about the squad’s hopes for the tour. Wayne Parnell talks to us about how he has tried to find a more consistent spot in the XI. South Africa seem fairly settled.June 6
De Villiers’ strange remarks continue – this time he brushes off Pakistan’s spinners, calling “two of them part-time”.This is the first time in ages we have more than a handful of South African journalists. Eight of us are in town and we have a team dinner at a Caribbean chain called Turtle Bay to celebrate. Someone had to bring a West Indian flavour to the event.Brick Lane: a corner of London that is forever Asia•Firdose Moonda/ESPNcricinfoJune 7
De Villiers is dismissed for the first golden duck of his ODI career. The first one in 212 innings, 221 matches. Something definitely seems off. He does not come to the post-match press conference to explain why South Africa’s batting continued to employ ultra-conservative tactics upfront or why he took off wicket-taker Morne Morkel and replaced him with Parnell, who had been expensive, with rain imminent. Pakistan’s well deserved victory has pushed South Africa to the brink of elimination. De Villiers has to switch on.June 8
Back in London, Group B is cracked open as Sri Lanka, the same Sri Lanka who could barely push past 200 in South Africa, chase 322 to beat India. Two upsets in two days means the next two games in this group are virtual quarter-finals. At least it’s not boring.I visit Brixton in the evening. I take a picture of the iconic sign at Electric Avenue and explore Brixton Village. It’s a covered market with rows of restaurants and cute shops. We eat Venetian tapas and later head to a French stall – Champagne and Fromage – for some indulgences.June 9
Shaun Pollock’s sponsors Nissan invite some of us to a lunch at the Pilgrim Pub in Kennington. The bonus is being able to chat cricket with Polly. I’m more interested in talking about the upcoming Tests but we also discuss Kolpak. “It’s just about cricketers making business decisions,” he says.June 10
Tensions are expected to be high ahead of a crunch match but both captains appear fairly calm. De Villiers is asked if his leadership position is on the line in tomorrow’s game. He denies that suggestion strongly, but still, something seems off.The Imperial War Museum in Lambeth•Firdose Moonda/ESPNcricinfoJune 11
Here we are again. The memories of 2013 come flooding back as South Africa stutter through the worst batting performance of the tournament. Everything about it is wrong. They squander a solid, albeit slow start, there are two mid-innings run-outs, both involving Far du Plessis, Duminy’s break does not seem to have done him any good, and no one would have blamed the bowlers for going on strike. De Villiers still says he believes he is the captain to take South Africa forward even though he admits he does not know how to explain what went wrong. No one does. Not Russell Domingo, whose lack of interest in clarifying whether he will continue as coach suggests he won’t. Not du Plessis, although he is the only one who apologises for the performance.June 12
What now? With so many colleagues covering the tournament and my team out, I won’t be needed for the semi-finals, and I find myself at a loose end. I decide to stay in London and enjoy the attractions. My favourite is Hyde Park. I love the open space, the walkers, the joggers, the dogs, and it now becomes the place where I turn into a yoga teacher for the first time.Before this trip, I attended a yoga-teacher training programme, so I am now a qualified instructor, but I have not had the chance to give any lessons yet. Fellow scribe Tristan Holme is interested and it is in Hyde Park that we find a spot to practise. I put him through some sun salutes and hip openers.June 13
I see David Warner and his wife Candice jogging in Hyde Park. I have nowhere to be, so I pace myself leisurely, buy a coffee afterwards and then make my way to Charing Cross Road to spend the afternoon in Foyles, my favourite bookstore in all the world. I leave with so much, I will definitely need to buy excess baggage.A remnant from the Palestine war•Firdose Moonda/ESPNcricinfoJune 14
I spot the South African physiotherapist Brandon Jackson, fitness trainer Greg King and Roz Kelly-Morkel in Hyde Park. Again, I have nowhere to be, so I head to Whitechapel and, ultimately, Brick Lane, to take in a bit of East London.June 15
No notables in Hyde Park today and still nowhere to be. Head to the Imperial War Museum where I could spend the rest of the trip if I wanted to. The five floors are filled with artefacts, and I only end up seeing a smidgen of them. My interest is piqued by the diaries of soldiers from World War I, whose handwriting you can still read, and a Reuters van that came under attack in Palestine in 2006.Later, I wander into one of the thousands of pubs in London and see Corrie van Zyl, CSA’s general manager. The world is truly small. He is in town to meet with Domingo – and maybe decide on his future – and to attend the launch of the CSA Global T20 tournament in a few days. Originally the announcement was due to take place at Lord’s but it has now been moved to the Bulgari Hotel. Rumour has it Shah Rukh Khan will be there. The Knysna Knight Riders may be in our future.June 16
What do you call a South African in the Champions Trophy final? Marais Erasmus. And this time… Mickey Arthur. As the India-Pakistan game draws closer, a major trophy has never seemed further for South Africa. And this is only the beginning. South Africa have already lost the one-day series and are resting several senior players for the T20Is, while England have a promising squad. It could become a very long summer but as long as the sun shines in London, I can’t complain too much.

While there was little in the way of nailbiters, the Ram Slam T20 Challenge showed how the tournament could do with more established internationals, better domestic performers and smarter scheduling

Firdose Moonda18-Dec-2017It was no premier league and it certainly was not a T20 Global League but the Ram Slam T20 Challenge, which took place with the availability of all national players, was well received by the South African cricket public. Titans, a franchise loaded with internationals, dominated the competition and were the eventual and expected winners. So while there was little in the way of nailbiters, there were some key takeaways, especially if CSA hopes to revive the idea of a league next summer.Internationals make everything OKSouth Africa’s domestic 20-over competition was previously played as a low-profile event, with the national team on duty elsewhere, and only a handful of foreign players and the short-sightedness of that approach has been shown-up now. With internationals available and no other cricket involving South African players simultaneously underway, attention could be solely focused on this event. There was an increase in both television audience and stadium attendances. Matches featuring Titans and Cape Cobras, the franchises loaded with big-name players, were particularly well received, with SuperSport Park reporting a 33% increase in feet through the gate.The message to the suits is obvious: a T20 tournament needs gravitas and it can only get that through the presence of established internationals. Why it has taken CSA this long to realise this undeniable truth is anyone’s guess but now that they have proof, they cannot go back to the dour domestic tournament they once had. If the T20 Global League can’t happen – and there are still so many questions over its financial viability – then CSA will have to look at ways to turn the franchise T20 into something resembling a league. That may mean clearing the calendar, as was forced on them this time, writing it into national players’ contracts – that they need to make themselves available – and launching a marketing campaign. Those are things the organisation needs to start working on now.Mind the gap At the same time, the strong performances by internationals only made the lack of the same by domestic players more glaring. Apart from Sarel Erwee’s century in the opening round, no other player – who has not been involved with the national team – made any significant mark on the tournament. Recently, concerns about the gap between South Africa’s domestic set-up and the international stage have increased and a tournament like this only shows why. There is no one banging down the door, which will cause problems for the national side in future. Solving this problem isn’t easy but the mingling of more internationals in domestic competition could be a start. The average franchise player needs to see how an international prepares and plays so he can emulate that. Time will tell if any of the current crop does.AFPParnell in danger of wasting away? All of the above said, there is one player who floats between the international and domestic scenes and routinely fails to set either alight. While it’s unusual to name individuals in a competition review, Wayne Parnell cannot escape this time. He played just two matches for Cobras, scored 35 runs and conceded 56 for none, before being dropped. Given the uneven distribution of internationals across franchises, CSA made allowances for players to be loaned to other teams in this tournament and Parnell returned home to Warriors for two matches but didn’t fare any better. He scored just five runs in two innings, including 4 in the semi-final, and bowled three overs for 31 runs in the two matches. Parnell’s inconsistency can no longer be brushed off because he offers an “x-factor,” because he doesn’t. Injury and irregular game time may be one reason for his inability to regularly play at his peak and, while there is nothing that can be done about the former, an obvious solution would be for the selectors to demand that Parnell play all 10 domestic one-day cup games before they consider him for the limited-overs’ series against India or any more international caps.Nothing lasts forever…except warm Durban rainA country with one region experiencing its worst drought in more than a century should not complain about rain but while the Western Cape pleads for a few drops, Durban has had the bulk of them and it affected this competition significantly. Four of Dolphins five home games and one of their away fixtures were rained out, which meant they only played five of their 10 league matches. They won only three but the shared points from their washouts meant they qualified to host a home semi-final.As luck would have it, the semi-final was also abandoned due to rain and so, Dolphins advanced to the final. That they were probably not the most deserving opposition for Titans was clear in the manner in which Dolphins were drowned in Centurion. Cobras, who lost out on hosting a knockout game and were then prevented from playing in the semi-final because of rain, were spitting mad but only had themselves to blame for their poor start to the tournament. Short of building a roof over Kingsmead, there’s not much that can be done, but CSA should give serious consideration to scheduling – maybe fewer home matches for Dolphins in November/December and more in February/March once the rains have cleared – and a reserve day for playoffs.Getty ImagesWhere’s the Lions’ roar?The Johannesburg-based franchise was bossing domestic tournaments a couple of seasons ago but has lost its bite. Lions have been ravaged by player losses – Quinton de Kock and Chris Morris left them for Titans, Temba Bavuma for Cobras – and though they continue to produce players of international quality like Dwaine Pretorius and Wiaan Mulder, something seems amiss. Their coach Geoffrey Toyana was in line for the national job but did not get it and was also overlooked for the assistant role in favour of Warriors’ Malibongwe Maketa. Toyana is the kind of person who would be able to contain disappointment from spilling over onto the players but lack of motivation may be affecting everyone. Lions remain home to some of the most exciting players in the set-up but need to start putting results on the board before big questions get asked.What next for Warriors?Last season’s finalists were unable to give their coach, Maketa, a farewell gift after they lost to Titans in the knockout but they made sure they competed, despite fewer resources than other franchises. Warriors have no national players on their books and are still searching for a sponsor and now they will also have to look for a new coach. Maketa will join the national staff this week, leaving Rivash Gobind to mind Warriors before they find a replacement. Russell Domingo is already occupied with the South African A side where he is “very happy” but the franchise would benefit from the experience of a coach like former national assistant Adrian Birrell, who is from the region. There is no word on Warriors’ way forward but they represent an important region of the country – the Eastern-Cape is the heartland of black African cricket – and it is crucial they are managed well.

Disturbing behaviour was exhibited by many in cricket in January. Except Pakistan, who were just their usual weird selves

Andrew Fidel Fernando01-Feb-2018The heavy-handed presentation
At the end of the second-best attended Ashes of all time, Cricket Australia rolled out a podium design that justifiably raised a few eyebrows. On one side of the dais was a giant hand overlaid by the Australian flag, holding up four fingers – to signify the four Ashes Tests Australia won. On the other side, overlaid with the English flag, was a closed fist – to signify Ben Stokes.The home-wrecker
Asked who his favourite opponent was, Dale Steyn said on Twitter that it was Kumar Sangakkara, because not only was Sangakkara great to watch but was also “genuinely the BEST guy out there”, adding the hashtag #smallcrushonSanga. Well, Dale, sure you might be tall and fit and a big-shot match-winner of the modern era, but Mahela Jayawardene has stood by Sanga through the crap sweeps and the put-on posh accents and the endless over-appealing, so how bloody dare you, and STAY THE HELL AWAY!The hazard-tamers
The India Test side is often accused of only performing in friendly conditions, but over the recent past a strange new pattern has emerged. In November, Virat Kohli declared the India innings and put his own team in the field after Sri Lanka’s bowlers got ill in the dangerously polluted Delhi air. Now, in South Africa, on a Wanderers pitch that several former players considered unsafe – and on which even South Africa’s best batsmen would have preferred not to play – India battled bravely on to victory, and even chided the opposition for being less keen on the contest than they were. The message to their future opponents is clear: put India on a pitch with a little bit of grass and they may struggle, but put them in conditions potentially injurious to human health – at oxygen-deprived altitude, say, or in the crater of an active volcano – and they will not only dominate the match, their captain will swear copiously at you while they do.What can we say? He’s a man who likes a good beating•BCCIThe sightscreen beating
In quite incredible non-Stokes violence news, Bangladesh batsman Sabbir Rahman was found by the BCB to have assaulted a 12-year-old fan behind the sightscreen of a first-class game, after the 12-year-old had supposedly “made a noise” at Sabbir. In fact, not only had Sabbir repeatedly hit the spectator, an acquaintance of Sabbir had actually assisted in getting the boy inside the playing area. Later, when the match referee questioned Sabbir about the incident, the batsman was also supposedly aggressive towards the official.Although Sabbir had other punishments imposed on him, he was allowed to continue playing for the national team on probation – an outcome that BCB president Nazmul Hassan said constituted a “strong message to all players”. That message, of course, being: “If you want to continue being a Bangladesh cricketer, you are allowed to assault up to one child just outside the boundary of a cricket match, but absolutely, under no circumstances, more than one.”The side-switchers
Congratulations to Sri Lanka, who this month won their first ODI trophy since late 2016, defeating Bangladesh in the tri-nation series final. The impact of new coach Chandika Hathurusingha, whom the board had lured from Bangladesh in November, was writ large upon the campaign, which obviously benefited from Hathurusingha’s knowledge of the Bangladesh team and their conditions. Sri Lanka’s next tour is to the West Indies in June. If SLC had any brains, it would take stock of the factors that led to this win and steal West Indies’ coach from them in the weeks before that series as well.A team that would confound even Nostradamus•AFP / Getty ImagesThe cliche clique
Last June Pakistan won the Champions Trophy, beating arch-rivals India in emphatic fashion. Now they have lost the ODI series 5-0 to New Zealand. Nineteen months ago, Pakistan were the No. 1-ranked Test team in the world. Now their most recent Test result is a 2-0 loss in the UAE to Sri Lanka, and instead of ruling the longest format, Pakistan now are the top-ranked T20 side. Following the relative stability of the Misbah-ul-Haq years, regular service has clearly resumed. For a while Pakistan were – even if only mildly – a quantifiable cricketing force, with strengths and weaknesses that might be logically recognised and assessed. Now, however, they have slipped back into insanity, and the rest of us have no choice but to renew the old cliches, such as: “they are a mercurial side”, “you never know when they will ignite”, and “depends on which Pakistan turn up”.The walker
As we were indisposed for several days after the company end-of-year bash, the Briefing was regrettably out of commission for December. There is, however, one incident from that month that we cannot overlook. Just hours after wrapping up victory in his debut Test match – a game in which he had scored a hundred – wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Blundell was seen walking home from Wellington’s Basin Reserve, still in his New Zealand Test whites, a stump from the match in hand. So low-key is cricket in New Zealand that this is only the third-quaintest thing to happen in the national team this decade, right after the time Kane Williamson brought his ironing to do during the innings break of an ODI, and Chris Martin tutored history while waiting to bat in a Hamilton Test.

There’s politics, ire and Yorkshire in the July edition of the Briefing

Andrew Fidel Fernando01-Aug-2018Just who is eligible for selection in each cricketing nation? So goes the burning question in cricket, after England’s selectors, headed by Ed Smith, called up legspinner Adil Rashid to the England Test squad, just months after Rashid said that his “heart is not there” in red-ball cricket. What does that mean for players like Dinesh Chandimal, whose heart is roughly where it should be, but whose spit (and spirit of cricket) is in places that the ICC finds deplorable, leading to his being suspended for all of July? And why, while England are yanking Test cricketers from the IPL and other limited-overs games, are Sri Lanka suspending more and more of their potential Test cricketers and yet somehow still winning? Confused? So, frankly, is the Briefing, which means we are making fun of everyone. Strap in.The greats of wrath
From the dawn of the universe, since long before Earth’s continents had separated, Yorkshire natives have been complaining about England’s Test selection. Generally they gripe that one of their “ludds” has been unfairly overlooked, but on this occasion Yorkshire is actually aflame because Rashid – one of their own born-and-bred cricketers – has been selected for England despite his refusal to play first-class cricket for the county this year.Rashid, though, has responded to this criticism in truly incendiary fashion, calling negative comments from former England and Yorkshire captain Michael Vaughan “stupid”, and “nonsense”, in addition to profusely slamming his county side for not backing him, thereby proving beyond doubt that he, Rashid, is the most Yorkshire of them all.Long-format deserters?
In bad news for Test cricket – from Bangladesh this time – the BCB president has claimed some of their players, including Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman, are reluctant to play the long format. Though, come to think of it, this may not be bad news for everyone. Smith and Co will probably take it to mean that Shakib and Mustafizur are available for England Test selection.Spin-trouble corner
Over the last few years, the world’s Test outfits have split themselves into two groups: teams who can barely play spin, and teams who would rather set themselves on fire. In July, South Africa proved themselves to be in that second group, crashing to 124, 73 and 126 in the same series in which Sri Lanka opener Dimuth Karunaratne hit 356 runs by himself. The visitors did their very best to not moan about the state of the pitches, but couldn’t quite make it through the whole series. On the penultimate day, opener Dean Elgar suggested that Sri Lanka had stitched them up with a flat surface in the practice match before running through their batsmen on spinning pitches in the Tests.Ishita Mazumder/ESPNcricinfo LtdThe Icelandic honeypot
Dreamt up as a cricketing magnet for “mums and kids”, the ECB’s new format, The Hundred, has been in the news this month, with newspapers reporting that the ten-ball over that was originally proposed could be scrapped in favour of 20 five-ball overs, which would make up the 100 deliveries. While the ECB is fretting over these details, however, the Iceland Cricket board announced it would get the jump on England and host their own Hundred match, at which point, presumably, all of Britain’s mothers and children leapt with joy and booked their tickets to Iceland immediately, unable to resist the new format’s charm.The head of state
Congratulations are due to Imran Khan, Pakistan’s World Cup-winning captain of 1992, who became the first international cricketer to become his nation’s elected head of government. Somewhere, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lanka’s recent minister of petroleum development, has become elated watching the Imran news, certain that just like with the World Cup, it will soon be his turn to shine.Lessons on how to suck
While would-be franchises pondered legal action against Cricket South Africa in July over the cancellation of last year’s T20 Global League, Sri Lanka Cricket administrators provided their South African counterparts with a masterclass in failing. The Sri Lankan board cancelled their own Lankan Premier League less than seven weeks from when it was supposed to begin, and had done so little work on the tournament that there were no sponsors, no franchises, or any vested groups of any nature to take umbrage, brilliantly protecting the board from potential lawsuits. This particular cancellation was largely due to the government’s dissolution of the board, which was in turn to the board’s incompetence. In general, this is the third occasion that an announced T20 showcase tournament has failed to materialise in Sri Lanka.Next month on the Briefing– Britain in crisis as mums and kids completely obsessed with the Hundred refuse to return from Iceland.- SLC unveils fresh plans for a grand T20 tournament in June 2019; schedules cancellation of said tournament for May.- As a reward for outstanding recent form, England’s selectors call up footballer Harry Kane into Test squad.

All the news you missed in June, and some stuff you wished you’d forgotten – it’s all in the Briefing

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Jul-2018The football World Cup might have the planet giddy at the moment, but these uncouth football folks should honestly start watching their backs. Ever since the ICC announced it would like cricket to be the most popular sport in the world, in 2015, its officials have been working tirelessly. They have done things like confirm the cricket World Cup will be shrunk to ten elite teams, while football has plans to expand to 48 nations. Who wants to give pleb underdogs the chance to upset the natural order of things, or turn no-name players into heroes on the biggest stage the sport has to offer? Officials have also gone out of their way to stop and steel bands playing in venues in Sri Lanka and South Africa, because what kind of moron commoner needs an atmosphere to distract from the high art of a stonewalling batting day? What else is cricket doing on this unstoppable march to global domination? The Briefing takes a look.Cricket’s actual best chance of becoming the world’s favourite game
Is there any way we can get the football World Cup, as well as major events in all other competing sports, to be administered by the ICC?Turning over a new leaf

While diving is the bane of football, cricket has been dealing with its own player-behaviour issues this year, with verbal aggression towards opponents coming under the microscope in the aftermath of Australia’s tour of South Africa. Under new coach Justin Langer, Australia arrived in England vowing to do away with “abusing” the opposition, while sticking instead to mere “banter”. Langer even used the example of the words he exchanges with his daughter while playing the Uno card game, to lay out the boundaries of what was acceptable.Perhaps, thanks to this new Australian philosophy, we will not see the kinds of classic sledges that Ashes series in past decades have been known for.But whatever the case, Langer’s men did emphatically deliver on the promise that there would be a fresh start, in the sense that no Australia side in living memory has been thrashed as extravagantly in England, as this team. They lost the limited-overs encounters 6-0.Ishita Mazumder/ESPNcricinfo LtdThe series enliveners
One outfit that did their best to keep cricket in the news in June was Sri Lanka, who upon seeing largely empty stands in their Test series in the Caribbean, took it upon themselves to make the tour interesting. In the second Test, their captain, Dinesh Chandimal, was charged with ball-tampering, to which the defence was that he did not remember exactly which of the objects in his pocket he had put in his mouth before using saliva on the ball. (Maybe what he swallowed was one of those memory-loss drugs.) He was eventually suspended after being found guilty.In the next Test, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 154 in the first innings, conceding a significant first-innings lead. Then their own quicks knocked West Indies over for 93, swinging the match dramatically, like it was under the influence of so much Chandimal saliva.Mr Sharma goes to Washington
The USA is one of the key markets the ICC wishes to crack – a market Rohit Sharma was last month given a chance to impress, when he was invited to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a Seattle Mariners baseball game. He could have showed the Americans just how superior cricket was compared to their puny baseball. He could have loaded up, taken aim, and sent a laser beam right into the middle of the catcher’s mitt, from which smoke would immediately pour due to the heat on that ball.But instead Rohit ambled casually up to the mound, and fired in a throw so wayward it sent spectators ducking for cover at a separate baseball game two states over, setting cricket back several decades in North America.1:08

WATCH – Rohit Sharma at a baseball game

Steven Smith’s rough day
Spare a thought for Steven Smith, who according to a news story originating in Australia, cut a “sad and lonely” figure in New York, on a day in which he visited global superstar Hugh Jackman to talk about charity, supposedly looked at property in swanky neighbourhoods, and in the evening, visited a bar for a few quiet beers. Going by the tone of this coverage, Smith then presumably retired to his hotel room to weep loudly about the state of his life, while a homeless person played violin outside his window.MC Shastreezy
From the mouth that brought us “tracer bullet”, “what the doctor ordered”, as well as “flashing and flashing hard”, a new cricketing witticism comes. Maybe it was hearing the word “yo” so many times in the dressing room that inspired India coach Ravi Shastri to try his hand at a little rap, when he announced at a press conference about India’s yo-yo tests, that “If you pass, you play / If you fail, you sail.” Now, to the layman, this doesn’t seem to make sense – isn’t sailing generally thought of as a pleasant, even pleasurable activity? But Shastri isn’t speaking to the layman. If you don’t get it, it’s because you are too stupid. The word “sail” obviously harks back to the time in which India players had to travel by boat to England, and Shastri is making the point that if you fail a yo-yo Test, you are clearly obsolete. Give the man his Nobel.Fawad Alam Sadness Corner
He scored tons of domestic runs, like he does every year. He was overlooked again for Pakistan’s Test team, like he is every year. This time went to England to try and bat away the pain at club level, which is clearly beneath a man of his talents. Then, Fawad is done the ultimate cricketing indignity – he gets out in the lamest way possible when he is timed out for failing to show at the batting crease within three minutes of his Clitheroe CC team-mate’s dismissal. Worse, he angrily throws his bat in the dressing room and “accidentally” breaks a window (no cricketer in history, from Matt Prior to Ricky Ponting to Shakib Al Hasan, has broken dressing-room glass), and gets a load of negative media coverage.Next month on The Briefing– A week after suggesting having a quiet beer was an unsuitable solo activity, Australia media outlet does follow-up story on Steve Smith. Headline: “Disgraced cricket cheat forlornly poops all alone in Toronto toilet.”- Fawad Alam’s taxi falls into lake on way to match; Fawad kicked out of Clitheroe CC side for turning up late.- Dinesh Chandimal kicks himself for not having thought to tell the match referee that what he swallowed in the tampering clip was actually truth serum.

Umesh Yadav became only the third fast bowler for India to take a ten-wicket haul at home

Bharath Seervi14-Oct-201810 – Number of consecutive Test series wins at home by India with this 2-0 victory over West Indies, including the two one-off Test series against Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It is the joint-longest streak for any team at home. Australia had two such streaks ending in 2000 and 2008. No other team has more than eight home series victories in a row.23-1 – India’s win-loss record in home Tests since the start of 2013, easily the most dominating record for any team at home. They played 29 Tests, winning 23 of them, losing one and drawing five. No other team has fewer home defeats than India in this period. Australia are the next with a 20-2 win-loss record from 27 Tests.

3 – Number of consecutive home Tests won by India within three days of play. They won in just two days against Afghanistan in June and in three days in both the matches of this series. India had won four successive home Tests inside three days between 2013 and 2015, which is the record.7 – Number of successive series wins for India against West Indies. India have won all the seven series played between the two teams since the 2002-03 home series. In 21 Tests in these seven series, they haven’t lost a single Test. In seven series prior to that, India had not won a single series against West Indies. In fact, in 16 series before the current seven-series streak, India had won only two series.20.37 – West Indies’ average runs per wicket in this series – the fifth-worst for any visiting team in a series of two or more Tests in India. In the 2013-14 series, West Indies’ average was 19.27 which is second on the list. South Africa’s average runs per wicket of 14.78 in the 2015-16 Freedom Trophy is the worst. Three of the five worst averages for visiting teams in India have come in the last five years.57.42 – Average runs per wicket for India in this series, which is their fifth-best in any home series of two or more matches. It was also the highest such average for India in any Test series against West Indies beating 50.30 in the 1978-79 home series. In comparison to their counterparts, India’s batsmen averaged 37 runs more every wicket.

3 – Number of India fast bowlers to take a ten-wicket haul in home Tests. Umesh Yadav, with figures of 10 for 133, became the first India pacer since Javagal Srinath against Pakistan in Kolkata in 1999, to take a ten-for. Kapil Dev is the only one to have taken two such hauls, in the early 1980s. Umesh is also the first fast bowler since Dale Steyn in Nagpur in 2010 to take a ten-for in India.Umesh Yadav became only the third India fast bowler to take 10 wickets in a home Test•ESPNcricinfo Ltd29.9 – Umesh’s bowling strike rate in Tests this year, which is the best for any India bowler in a calendar year taking 15 or more wickets. He has picked up 18 wickets in four Tests this year. He also had a strike rate of 36.1 in 2011, which is the next-best among India fast bowlers in a year.6 – Instances of teams managing a ten-wicket victory after gaining a smaller lead than India’s lead of 56 in this Test. The smallest lead after which a team went on to win by ten wickets is 26, on two occasions: Sri Lanka versus New Zealand in Galle in 2012 and Australia against England in Brisbane in the Ashes 2017. For India, the previous smallest lead to result in ten-wicket victory was also in Hyderabad: a lead of 104 runs, against New Zealand in 1988.

He isn’t the dominant player he used to be, but he still offers the team plenty of value

Aakash Chopra17-Jan-201913:05

Match Day – Second ODI, Review show

Are MS Dhoni’s powers on the wane? Yes.Is Dhoni still useful to the team? YesThe first two games of the three-match ODI series between Australia and India answered both questions above.In the first ODI, Dhoni walked in to bat at 4 for 3, with his task being to arrest the slide. Over the course of his career, Dhoni has showed that there are few batsmen better than him when asked to play such a role, and this first game was no different. If you have Dhoni in the middle order, it’s almost certain that your team won’t have a massive collapse. It’s not a given that Dhoni will rescue the team and produce a win every time but it’s almost certain that he will take the game deep into the innings. In Rohit Sharma’s company, Dhoni played the part of rescuer to perfection, but the asking rate skyrocketed in the process. That’s when it was clear that his powers have waned. And no, this hypothesis isn’t based on a single innings where he couldn’t take off but on how his strike rate has fallen over the last few years.In the second game, Dhoni had Virat Kohli for company. And while Dhoni took time to get going, Kohli shifted gears swiftly to take the burden off his partner’s shoulders. That’s the essence of good partnerships: sometimes you’re the aggressor and sometimes you hope for help from the other end. By the time Kohli was out, Dhoni had found his feet and was ready to choose his prey. He went after Nathan Lyon, while Dinesh Karthik, just like Kohli, eased the burden by playing the dominant role from get go. Run chases are a lot about keeping your composure and breaking a target down into small pieces without taking your eyes off the final goal. Dhoni’s ability to do this is priceless. He has been in those situations so many times that nothing fazes him.This means that even if he isn’t the player he used to be, he is still good enough to be a part of the XI. Not to forget his immaculate glovework, accuracy with the DRS, and strategic inputs in the field. Earlier Dhoni the batsman was sufficient to seal the deal; now Dhoni the package is worth sticking with. Also, we must be mindful that while India’s top three are the best in the world, there is very little experience and pedigree to follow them if there is no Dhoni in the mix.Let’s try and analyse what might have changed in Dhoni’s game from a technical standpoint. Over the years his biggest strengths have been the ability to hit sixes at will, to put the ball in gaps to keep the scoreboard moving, run extremely fast between the wickets, and his understanding of the game to know when he needs to go big. While the last two are still intact, the first couple have declined marginally.