England consigned India to two reverse-swing-induced collapses whereas India bowlers mainly relied on the new ball’s movement and uneven bounce by hitting the deck hard

Sidharth Monga15-Jul-2014There was a time when reverse-swing was a strictly Asian art. Well, Pakistani first, and then rest of Asia’s. The rest of the world has caught up with it now. Dale Steyn and James Anderson might even be the finest exponents of it. Still, when an England side outdoes India in almost Indian conditions on the reverse-swing front, it must hurt them as much as it should England or Australia if India or Pakistan bowl at top of off more often than them in green seaming conditions. In Nottingham, on a slow and low surface acknowledged by both sides as more Indian than English, the hosts out-reversed India.England consigned India to two reverse-swing-induced collapses whereas India bowlers mainly relied on the new ball’s movement and uneven bounce by hitting the deck hard. There are three aspects to a contest of reverse-swing, and India were short on all three: maintaining the ball, then actually bowling with it, and weathering the storm with the bat once the opposition starts getting it to go.Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane seem to be India’s designated ball shiners. They worked hard on it through India’s bowling, but there is more to maintaining the ball for reverse swing. Those commentators who were watching closely, looking for signs of reverse, say England simply maintained the ball better.Earlier in the year, a Test between South Africa and Australia, played in similar conditions in Port Elizabeth, got ugly because the umpires took an exception to the repeated banging of the ball into the ground by infielders. England were smarter here.They waited for the ball to go just far enough to justify that throw on the bounce. On occasions throws from mid-off or mid-on reached the stumps at the striker’s end on a half-volley, which forced Matt Prior to go back and collect them on the bounce. Stuart Broad didn’t mind sticking the boot out when fielding in his follow-through. In 2008, Wasim Akram, the king of reverse-swing, told ESPNcricinfo in an interview: “Sometimes bowlers used to stop the ball played back at them with their foot. If the boot spikes hit the rough side, it was Christmas. If it didn’t, you shone the ball and moved on.” Liam Plunkett bowled a spell made up almost exclusively of bouncers before lunch on day one, and the ball began to go just after lunch.The reverse might not have been a direct result of all this, but England were trying more than India. And this is not ball-tampering. Not until it gets so excessive that umpires start to take notice. You have to keep trying, and keep trying within reasonable limits. After maintaining it, though, you need to bowl well with it too. The England quicks do seem to have more pace and accuracy, than India’s, to be able to exploit reverse. At various stages, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami have shown they can cause damage with reverse, but they are not quite Zaheer Khan with it. When Cheteshwar Pujara was asked if it was disappointing that England did more with the old ball than India, he bemoaned the lack of carry in the pitch, but isn’t the lack of carry the necessity in the first place?Also India are familiar with batting on such pitches, which is why their two periods of struggle against the reversing ball should come as a disappointment. In the first innings, Pujara went hard at one slightly slower inswinger from Anderson, and offered a catch to short mid-on. This was just when the ball had begun to go with the shine. Virat Kohli followed Pujara by becoming too mindful of inswing, and poked at a delivery wide enough to be left alone in normal circumstances.The second innings was worse. On the final day, which began with the ball reversing, Kohli committed the biggest mistake: a drive across the line. Ajinkya Rahane repeated Kohli’s first-innings mistake by looking to cover for the inswing, thus playing at a delivery wide enough to be left alone. It was a nervous shot, but also a better delivery than what Kohli got in the first innings. MS Dhoni became a victim of inswing later in that session, which could have cost India the Test.The conditions, by all popular expectations, are not likely to change drastically over the series. It is hard to tell if India are pleased or displeased: they will welcome the soft launch for their batsmen, but these conditions eliminate their spinners and their quicks have struggled to bowl sides out twice for a long time. Reverse-swing promises to be a big factor in the rest of the series, and India will need to get better at dealing with it both when bowling and batting. Watch out for those throws into the ground and stuck-out boots.

Peter Moores admits England have to work fast ahead of the World Cup but there is an all-too-familiar sense of chaos about their planning

George Dobell01-Sep-2014It seems to be a characteristic of England cricket that, while other teams utilise the natural four-year cycle in the schedule to prepare their team for the next World Cup, the English react to the impending event like a long-married man who has forgotten his wedding anniversary.Oh, they may rush to the florist and scribble a card. But the end result still tends to look ramshackle and hurried with a sense that they are hoping, rather than expecting, that things will turn out all right on the night.The 2015 World Cup carries all the hallmarks, from an England perspective, of the five that preceded it. Six months out from the event, England are not sure of their tactics or their team. In a format of the game where role definition is so important, England do not know who will fill the allrounder positions – a month ago, you might have thought Ravi Bopara was a certainty. They do not know who will bowl at the death – the experiment with Chris Jordan may well be shelved. They do know who will bowl spin – Moeen Ali is likely to win another opportunity before the end of this series. And questions over the position of the captain will remain until Alastair Cook can start contributing more with the bat.Lagging behind? England have drafted in Alex Hales but Alastair Cook’s position at the top of the order continues to come in for scrutiny•Getty ImagesSuffice to say, after four ODI series defeats in five – and there is something of an irony in the fact that the series they won, in the Caribbean, came in a team sans Cook, when they were trying to provide extra opportunities to their T20 players ahead of the World T20 – they are not among the bookies favourites for the World Cup.Peter Moores knows all this. He knows that he did not inherit a hand bursting with aces, after the retirement of Graeme Swann, the banishment of Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott’s illness. He knows the team are not playing well enough to win a World Cup. He knows he is running out of time.”We’ve got to work fast,” Moores said ahead of the fourth ODI of the series against India at Edgbaston. “We’ve got to accelerate the development of the team quicker than might be normal to get ourselves really competitive by the World Cup.”It was noticeable that, while Moores unambiguously backed Cook to lead England at the World Cup – “Yes, I’m confident he will” – he offered far less security to other players. In short, his message was, there are still places to be won in this side.”What we’re doing is we’re trying to find a balance for our team,” he said. “That’s part of the process we’re going through. We’re creating opportunities and, if you play well enough and you show you can score consistently enough, you get to stay in the team.”Our goal is to basically try to draw this series but also to prepare for a World Cup. To do that we’ve got to identify the right people in the right slots to play a brand of cricket that players feel they can deliver and be successful against the best teams.”There’s still time for people to force their way in. We’ve had a lot of change and that creates opportunity. We need to get enough experience in there but also there’s a chance to try some different things. We’ve looked at different options and that helps you evaluate a side to play in that World Cup and win.”A substantial part of their problem is the form of the captain. While the value of England’s ODI tactics can be argued either way – and the depth of feeling against their somewhat old-fashioned game plan does little to appreciate the danger of two new balls or England’s success up to the end of the Champions Trophy – there is no avoiding the fact that, if they are going to field two technically correct accumulators in the top three, one of them has to go on and contribute a match-defining total.It is not only 37 innings and 26 months since Cook made an ODI hundred, he has not reached 80 in that time either. If a player is going to devour the number of deliveries, particularly Powerplay deliveries, that Cook tends to devour, they really do have to produce something at the end of it.Peter Moores on…

Using analysis: “The brain of a top-flight player is a fantastic bit of kit. It works fast, it takes bits of information, it sees things that sometimes a computer might not. We have to use that. The best players in the world have the ability to adapt quickly on the field, more than off the field. If analysis is being used to add clarity and help people develop their thinking, great. If it’s there to replace their thinking then it’s flawed.”
Eoin Morgan: “I’m not saying whose place is safe or not safe but Eoin is frustrated he hasn’t got a score. His skill, once he gets up and running, is that he’s hard to bowl dots to and he can attack pretty well any sort of bowling. I see him as a real key component as we go forward.”
Playing Moeen Ali and James Tredwell: “We could play both. Probably two offspinners in the same team wouldn’t normally be your absolute ideal. Moeen’s not had much opportunity yet. We saw him rapidly develop as a Test match bowler and we want to create opportunities for him at some point, to look where he’s at. We’ve seen always in international cricket some people grow very fast and that’s what we have got to find out.”

But despite Cook looking in wretched form at Trent Bridge, Moores insisted the captain was inching his way back to his best. “I think his form is going the right way,” Moores said. “If you come out of a Test match series averaging just under 50, you know you’re starting to get back into some sort of form.”He’ll be the same as everybody else, in that in the last two games – after we’ve got off to two good starts – he’ll be disappointed that he personally couldn’t push on and get a more significant score. But he’s hungry and his form is coming back. He’s starting to hit the ball better.”When he’s in form, he’s got his way of playing that can be effective in one-day cricket. It doesn’t mean he’s exactly where he wants to be, and I don’t think we are as a side.”That is true. But Moores remains confident that it is not England’s tactics that are flawed as much as their current failure to execute them. He remains unapologetic about preferring batsman such as Cook and Ian Bell to the likes of Jason Roy and James Vince.”When you bat in any one-day international, the second part of it is when you increase your scoring rate,” Moores said. “We have to score at the right rate for the pitch. There’s been lots of talk about scoring 300, but that doesn’t happen all the time. In different conditions you have to score what is a winning score on that pitch.”You’ve got to have a balance in your team of people who strike the ball and also people that rotate, that’s part of the job. You need to know you can create situations when some of your strikers, the Jos Buttlers of this world, have the freedom to play that sort of game.”We know we have people who can score at a very high rate. Alex Hales at the top, then Eoin Morgan and Buttler. But to get to that point, you’ve got to get in and build an innings.”The very best in the world are striking at 88, 89 in 50-over cricket. You can’t really go much above that, unless you’re batting in the bottom part and you’re whacking it from ball one. Fifty-over cricket isn’t quite the same as people just walk out and whack it. The best sides don’t do that either.”This pitch should suit England. It has not been used for 14 months and is expected to provide little assistance to spinners and a bit more to seamers. With a 10.30am start in a distinctly autumnal September, though, it may well prove to be a bowl-first surface. The large crowd – more than 20,000 spectators are expected – might want to arrive in good time to see what may prove the key passage of play.England’s safety-first approach might not be popular but, on a seaming pitch in Birmingham, it may prove ideal. You might ask whether that bears any relation to the conditions anticipated in Australia, in particular, at the World Cup. But a drowning man probably doesn’t worry about his pension.

Keith Miller lived his life and played his cricket king-size

Ashley Mallett03-Nov-2014Arguably Keith Miller was cricket’s greatest swashbuckler. Larger than life, he leapt straight at you from the pages of .He was born in November 1919, named after airmen brothers Keith and Ross Smith, who were creating world aviation history with their first epic flight from England to Australia. He never lost his stamina or zest for life. Miller whacked sixes, backed horses, had film-star looks, bowled bouncers, caught blinders and attracted beauties.He flew night missions over Germany and Occupied France in his Mosquito, bombing and strafing Nazi rocket bases. The stories from his war days are legion.Michael Parkinson quizzed him about the pressure in the Test arena once. “Pressure?” Miller asked, “There’s no pressure in Test cricket. Real pressure is when you are flying a Mosquito with a Messerschmitt up your arse!”Flight Lieutenant Miller’s love of classical music compelled him on one mission to turn his Mosquito back to the war zone. Taking a slight detour, he flew over Bonn, Beethoven’s birthplace.One day at Great Massingham, Norfolk, Miller fought to control his plane as he came in to land. The starboard engine was spurting flame and Miller crash-landed the ailing aircraft, which lost its tail on impact with the ground.Miller once flew up the straight at Royal Ascot one clear Saturday afternoon and another day he buzzed the Goodwood track. His commanding officer gave Miller a dressing down, calling him an “utter disgrace to the air force”.How the worm turned.During the Australian team’s tour of England in 1953, Miller, resplendent in top hat and tails, drove to Royal Ascot in a gleaming Rolls Royce. As he drove into the car park he noticed that the attendant was none other than his old RAF Commanding Officer. Miller stepped from his vehicle and, pretending not to have recognised his ex-CO, said in his best official voice, “Ah, my good fellow. Park my Rolls in the shade, will you? That’s a good chap.”A week or two earlier Lindsay Hassett’s Australians had visited Buckingham Palace. Miller was rumoured to have been friendly with Princess Margaret, and when he emerged from the bus he began to wander from the vehicle and headed towards a distant building.”Nugget, where are you going?” Hassett asked.”Oh, it’s okay, skipper. I know of another entrance here,” came the reply.For much of the war, Miller was based near Bournemouth. Every Friday night it became tradition for Miller and his mates from the RAF base to meet at the Carlton Hotel in Bournemouth. One fateful Friday night, Miller couldn’t make the regular appointment and when he returned he found the town barricaded after a German raid. A Focke-Wulf fighter bomber had strafed the church next to the hotel, causing the church spire to collapse directly on to the front bar, instantly killing his eight mates.
Each year for more than 50 years Miller returned to England and spent time with a relative of each of his mates killed that tragic night in 1943.Miller’s attacking batting and brilliant fast bowling made an instant impact in world cricket when he impressed as an allrounder in the Victory Tests in 1945. He scored 514 runs in the series, including a brilliant 185 at Lord’s, where he hit Eric Hollies for seven sixes, one of the hits crashing into the top of the Lord’s pavilion.Miller bowls in the nets at Lord’s in 1948•PA PhotosJohn Arlott once wrote that Miller seemed to be “busy living life in case he ran out of it”. Miller found a classical-music soulmate in Neville Cardus and had an equally good rapport with the great conductor Sir John Barbirolli.Miller never captained Australia but he did lead New South Wales with distinction in the 1950s. Richie Benaud regards Miller as the best captain “never to have captained his country”, for the way he led by instinct and by example.In November 1955, Miller’s New South Wales struggled to 215 for 8 on the first day of a Sheffield Shield match against South Australia. At stumps Miller declared the innings closed and then partied long and hard to celebrate the birth of his first child. His NSW team-mates were already on the ground when Miller arrived the next morning, so he hurriedly tossed on his cricket gear, his bootlaces trailing as he wandered onto the ground. When he focused his bleary eyes on the wicket, they opened wide, for the wicket was green as a tree frog.Left-arm paceman Alan Davidson had already measured out his 15-paced approach and was eager to bowl the first ball. He was standing at the top of his mark when Miller approached.”Ahem, now Davo, I think you can do a job for us today,” Miller said before turning his back and walking down towards the stumps and the beginning of the green pitch. He stopped, turned around and waved to Davidson. “Ah Davo, try the other end, I’ll have a go here.”Within a few overs South Australia were dismissed for 27. Miller took a career-best 7 for 12. Davidson didn’t get a bowl.As NSW captain, Miller’s legend grew. Once, someone alerted him to the fact that there were 12 men on the field. “It seems we have too many men out here,” Miller said. “Will one of you blokes piss off?”In 55 Tests between 1946 and 1956, he took 170 wickets at 22.97 and scored 2958 runs at 36.97. He also pulled off some wonderful catches in the slips. He was agile, some said he possessed lightning reflexes and moved swiftly and gracefully, like a panther.

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In 1969 I was invited by the NSW Cricket Association to take part in making a coaching film. The event was sponsored by the Rothmans Sports Foundation. I was rapt at getting the chance to spend time in the company of Alan Davidson and Keith Miller. Each of us was required to bowl a couple of balls at a set of stumps on the SCG No. 2 Ground.Miller borrowed some gear and as he walked past me, he said, “Ahem, I’ll pitch leg and hit off.” He did not measure out his run. He simply wandered back a few paces, turned and began his approach. Despite being 50, not having bowled a ball in a decade, he moved in with the grace and power of a finely tuned racehorse. The ball left his hand seam up. It came from a fair height, for Miller stayed “tall” throughout and the ball pitched on the line of leg stump and hit the top of off. He bowled three balls and two of his deliveries pitched leg and hit off. Then he walked away. It was the most amazing thing I’ve seen in cricket.Benaud once confessed to Miller: “You know, Keith, I wish I had been given the chance to bowl to Don Bradman. I came into the side just too late.” Miller coughed and replied, “Ahem, Richie, my boy, your not having to bowl to Bradman was your one lucky break in cricket.”Miller and Bradman chat during a charity event in London in 1974•PA PhotosLen Hutton, one of the greatest England batsmen of all time, always found Miller a handful. “He’d just as likely bowl me a slow wrong’un first ball of a Test match as he would an outswinger or a searing bouncer,” Sir Len told me in Adelaide in 1984. “Keith was the greatest bowler I ever faced in Test cricket.”Miller admired Hutton’s cricket too, and when I once pressed him about the relative merits of Hutton and Geoff Boycott’s batting, Miller said: “Both were fine players. Hutton had a far greater range of attacking strokes, but defensively I reckon they were pretty much on a par.” He then looked at me and smiled, “But for heaven’s sake, don’t tell Boycott!”Miller greatly admired the skill of Bradman, but he didn’t quite know how great the Don was until he bowled to him in a match after his retirement. “I decided to bowl a few short ones, “just to test his reflexes,” Miller said. “First one was a medium-fast bouncer. It didn’t get up too far, but Don was swiftly into position and he smashed it like a rocket past mid-on.”Fast bowlers don’t like that treatment, so I charged in for the next ball and gave it my all. It was a tremendous bumper, straight at his head, but he simply swung into position and cracked it forward of square, almost decapitating Sam Loxton on its way to the fence. If Bradman was ‘better’ in the 1930s he must have been some player.”So too Keith Ross Miller, Australia’s greatest allrounder.

Zimbabwe’s marks out of 10 following their disappointing series in Bangladesh

Devashish Fuloria17-Nov-20148Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor had vastly contrasting series•AFPHamilton Masakadza (356 runs, Avg 59.33)After hardly making a dent in the first Test, Hamilton Masakadza illustrated why Zimbabwe had pinned their hopes on him as he went on to score a career-best 158 and followed it up with two more half-centuries. With past experience of playing in Bangladesh, Hamilton was expected to be an important cog. He held one end together, and at times, was immovable. Additionally, he picked up three wickets with his part-time medium pace.Regis Chakabva (317 runs, Avg 63.40)Registered his maiden Test century during the Khulna Test. All through that innings, his quick footwork and range of shots helped him counter the spin threat. Frequently, he would use his feet to hit over the top or employ the sweep. The presence of Hamilton Masakadza perhaps helped him in pacing his innings and improved his confidence progressively. Playing on turning pitches for the first time, Chakabva was probably the biggest positive for Zimbabwe. He batted the most deliveries among the Zimbabwe players.Tinashe Panyangara (14 wickets)The lone seamer in the top five wicket-takers in the series, Panyangara announced himself with a ripper to Tamim Iqbal in the first Test. With the bounce in the pitch favouring his bowling, he went on to collect a five-wicket haul that put Zimbabwe in a position from which they could have controlled the Test. He played a support act in the second innings but was again crucial in keeping the match open. In less helpful conditions, Panyangara didn’t get the rewards but he remained disciplined.6Sikandar Raza (243 runs, Avg 40.50)Was comfortable against the Bangladesh spinners and registered three half-centuries, but he wasn’t able to convert them to bigger scores. His 51 in tough batting conditions in Dhaka was probably at par but Zimbabwe needed more from him in the next two Tests where batting was simpler. He picked up five wickets with his part-time offspin too.5Natsai M’Shangwe (7 wickets)Joined the team for the second Test. After a tough first innings during which he struggled to find the right length, he settled into a better rhythm in the second. Found more turn and bounce compared to Zimbabwe’s first-choice legspinner, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, and picked up four wickets in the second innings of the Khulna Test. Bowled the most overs in the series for Zimbabwe.4Elton Chigumbura (135 runs, 5 wickets)Another Zimbabwe player who had past experience of the conditions and was expected to play a role. Although he was impressive with the discipline in his bowling, he wasn’t able to pick up wickets. It was his batting skill that Zimbabwe needed, but unfortunately, his only innings of note came too late in the series.Malcolm Waller (6 wickets)Made regular strikes with his part-time offspin, including Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim off consecutive deliveries in the second innings. But he was disappointing with the bat, scoring just 10 runs in two innings.Tendai Chatara (3 wickets)Played the first two Tests and created a lot of pressure by keeping one end tight. He was the most economical of all Zimbabwe bowlers but his failure to pick up wickets eventually forced Zimbabwe to drop him from the XI for the last Test.2Tinashe Panyangara wrecked Bangladesh with a five-for in Dhaka, but his team was unable to capitalise•AFPBrendan Taylor (135 runs, Average 27)The biggest disappointment for Zimbabwe. Taylor, along with Hamilton Masakadza, has been the best batsman for his team over the last few years and just like Hamilton, he was one of the few players with knowledge of the Bangladeshi conditions. He scored a fighting 45 not out in the second innings of the first Test when Zimbabwe’s batting crumbled around him, but as the conditions improved for batting, Taylor’s form waned.Craig Ervine (112 runs, Average 18.66)Did not do justice to his position as a middle-order batsman. Four times in the series, he was dismissed for less than 20 and his highest score was 34.1The restThe experienced Vusi Sibanda was dropped after his twin failures in Dhaka. The young Brian Chari replaced Sibanda but appeared raw for Test cricket. Zimbabwe’s first-choice spinners – John Nyumbu and Kamungozi – failed to take advantage of conditions on which Bangladeshi spinners ran through their side. Nyumbu also dropped crucial catches and lost his place in the team.

Twelve years on from masterminding the introduction of professional Twenty20 that revolutionised cricket, Stuart Robertson says that full grounds are essential in any successful format

Interview by Freddie Wilde13-Jan-2015Ten years on from leaving the ECB, are you happy with the direction in which English T20 has gone?I’m happier now but I wasn’t happy for a while. I think the game got greedy. So we had a format. I think I am right in saying the first season of the competition lasted 11 days. It was a real short, sharp festival in the middle of the summer, which grouped all the best players together and all of that. Now the smaller grounds, who had huge gate receipts, thought ‘We want more of this’ and they could almost fill the ground all the time with 3000, 4000 seats. But the bigger grounds, even a really good cricket ground – a crowd of 15,000 at Lord’s, the ground is half empty. And as we got greedier and the game got greedier, we were asking the same customer to come two or three times in a wage packet … and it’s too many.

Tomorrow in our T20 debate

• George Dobell: How to make things work

• Mark Butcher: Change or die

• Jarrod Kimber: A night at the Big Bash

I think what we’ve seen is over the years, every year bar one, the total number of people watching T20 cricket has increased but the average attendance has been falling for a while because there’s been more and more of it. So yes, you’ve got more people coming, but the average attendance has been going down. And one of the beauties of sport and what makes people go to sport as a social occasion is feeling and looking popular and then it creates its own atmosphere and it becomes self-perpetuating. The minute you start losing the atmosphere at a live sporting event people become more fickle and they look for something else to perhaps spend their leisure pound on. So I wasn’t happy for a while, the game got greedy, they overegged it, they were playing too much of it and it was losing some of that fizz.I think there were two alternatives. One was to drastically cut the number of matches and concentrate it into a small period. Or, if they were going to play as much as they’ve been playing, then spread it out over the season and that’s what we’re now doing. So the last couple of seasons we have developed this schedule which is predominantly Friday nights and it is spread out a bit further and I think that’s a decent compromise and I’m really looking forward to seeing how that beds in. I think we can do something quite exciting with that.

Ten English inventions that saved cricket

1701: Seed drill (Jethro Tull): Tull, an Oxfordshire farmer, invented a seed drill pulled by a horse and the best cricket outfields began to benefit.
1823: Waterproofs (Charles Macintosh): Macintosh, an amateur chemist, invented the material that has been the salvation of cricket crowds; particularly invaluable in the English climate
1827: Lawnmower (Edwin Beard Budding): What could be more English than a neatly-striped cricket outfield. Buddings invention meant lawns were no longer the preserve of the rich and cricket misfields became less common.
1837: Electric Telegraph (Charles Wheatstone/William Cooke): Cricket reports were still being filed to England via telegraph from India in the 1970s.
1863: Steamroller (William Clark): France might say they have a prior claim, but William Clark’s design was the first to be sold commercially after tests in Hyde Park. Improved pitches, although not always as much as might hope.
1880s: Cricket bat (Charles Richardson): The current design of a cane handle spliced into a willow blade through a tapered splice was invented by Richardson, a pupil of Brunel and chief engineer of the Severn railway tunnel.
1892: Thermos Flask (Sir James Drewer): Dewer, a professor of chemistry at Cambridge University, invented it for his experiments on cooling gases. Little did he know it would sustain county cricket watchers through rain and shine.
1925: Television (John Logie Baird): Baird shares this claim with several, but he was the first to transmit moving pictures, only for rival versions to prove superior, no doubt imaging the Rights Deals for cricket that would one day ensue.
1989: Worldwide web (Tim Berners Lee): Where would you be without Cricinfo?
2003: Professional Twenty20 (Stuart Robertson): It had been around in amateur leagues for years but Robertson’s ambitions were the start of a revolution.

And the idea of franchises? Basically cutting the number of teams in half – is that something that ever appealed to you?It absolutely did and there are lots of merits to doing that. If we did it properly, if we fully invested in it, if we had the best players in the world coming over to play, a la IPL and Big Bash, yeah I think that would be fantastic. I think the game could grow generally and there would be more cash to share out amongst everybody. Politically, though, with the way the game in the UK is set up, I can’t see it happening … there would be too many eggs broken. It’s 18 firsts-class counties and a franchise system would pretty much take out half of them and for all the sensible side of doing it I think the heart side of it, the emotional side of it and the political side of it would make it difficult.Initially T20 was seen as something to “save” county cricket but now tournaments in India and Australia generate their boards huge amounts of money, without the international market and reliance on the subcontinent. The purpose of T20 is shifting and perhaps the ECB should be considering a standalone TV deal for the domestic competition?Yes, I think there is now sufficient value in the format to think about it as a separate element. Whether it is a TV deal, which is the biggest part of where the money is, or the centralised sponsorships that the ECB do, the advertising packages – because there is a big audience and it appeals to a big demographic. One thing that I am still frustrated a bit with is that we as a game are yet to really attract a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sponsor into that space. There is KFC in Australia, Pepsi in India – we’ve got banks and services still. No disrespect to NatWest, they’ve put in huge amounts of money into the game over the years, they’re a good supporter of the game, as are most financial services and businesses that have been involved. But you’re thinking this should be on the breakfast table, on the supermarket shelf, as a partner to drive attendances and increase the popularity of this whole thing. A franchise system might be a better way … but are we maximising the commercial opportunities that T20 has given us? I don’t think we are.The original survey was targeted it at the demographics that weren’t interested in cricket. But a couple of years ago the ECB did another survey, which has produced the current format, and it was generally put to existing cricket fans. In 2002, you were looking for new demographics and it feels like they are running away from that idea. Is it not the point of T20 to attract new fans to the sport?Stuart Robertson was the driving force behind the creation of the Twenty20 Cup•Getty ImagesOf course it is. The ECB do laud that last piece of research as the biggest piece of customer research that the game has ever done – it usurped the one we did for T20. But you’re absolutely right, it was predominantly about people who were already involved in the game and they were asking some pretty technical questions in there as well, about start days of Championship cricket, all sorts of really thorough questions.What should drive the schedule? What is the most popular form of the game? If it is T20, after internationals, that should drive the schedule and fixtures. Which it is doing in part now – if you speak to Alan Fordham, head of first-class cricket operations at the ECB, the internationals go in the first part of the schedule and the next thing that goes in are the T20s. We need to think about what does the consumer want? What does the cricketer want? And we have to think of them because we have to make sure the playing programme means the quality of the on-field entertainment is as high as it can be. We don’t want to be burning players out but sometimes things were being scheduled because it was difficult for players, when actually, the players are the entertainers and it should be positioned to meet the expectations and requirements of the customer. They should come first in all that we think about.In the eyes of serial pessimists, 20 years down the line international cricket has receded away, the Ashes are played as a relic and T20 dominates, with players hopping from league to league. How do you see the future unfolding?I think there’s a danger of that. But what I usually say to that question is that market forces will determine it. We are a business at the end of the day, we have income and we have expenditure and we rely on people spending their money on cricket, whether that’s people subscribing to TV or paying for tickets, ultimately the customer will decided.I don’t want to see Test cricket disappear, I think it is a fantastic format of the game but I think it needs a bit more context. The contextual element of it seems to be missing. It becomes a bit of a treadmill. I really liked the idea of the World Test Championship and I was sad to see that dropped because I thought that would’ve helped give each series and each match context, if every game was working towards something where the top two teams play off for the World Championship of Test cricket, then fantastic. The flip side of that is, if the game is going to grow globally, is Test cricket the format by which the game will grow in Affiliate and Associate nations? No it is not. T20 is the format that will happen in, so you talk to Afghanistan and around the world … these smaller nations, these emerging nations, a format like T20 is perfect for them to cut their teeth in international cricket. So to protect the game and grow the game globally, I think that T20 should and will continue to dominate in that emerging context.I would love to see Test cricket always as the pinnacle of the game but I think it needs context to do that. But if Test cricket withered and died without T20 beneath it, and the game withered and died then that is disaster and carnage. But if Test cricket withered and died but another format stepped in behind it and kept the game flourishing, with 22 people involved, with a bat and a ball and some stumps – well, it might look a bit different and feel a bit different but if it keeps the game going for another 100, 150 years, then what’s wrong with that?

ESPNcricinfo rates the Sri Lanka performance from the Test series against New Zealand

Andrew Fidel Fernando08-Jan-20157
Kumar Sangakkara (215 runs at 53.75, 1 century)
Was swung twice cheaply by Trent Boult at Hagley Oval, but then he did what Sangakkara does. He went to the nets, took his game apart and came back with a strategy that produced an innings of outstanding value at the Basin Reserve, contributing 203 of the team’s 356. He was unhappy with the DRS decision that brought his overseas Test career to a close in the second innings. He was, at times, also poor in the field, particularly on the first day of the series, when he dropped New Zealand’s two top-scorers in quick succession.Dimuth Karunaratne (185 runs at 46.25, 1 century)
His 152 at Hagley Oval, against an attack smelling blood and a pitch that still had plenty in it, was a knock that should give him immense confidence in his defensive technique. But in Wellington, he returned to a pattern of getting in, then getting out, hitting 16 and 17. He has batted himself into a World Cup spot with that century however, and should now get a long run in the Test side, too. He was the only opener, from either side, to make more than 50 in an innings.6
Lahiru Thirimanne (111 runs at 37, 1 fifty)
Made two starts in Christchurch, including a three-hour 25 that gave Karunaratne vital support, but he saved his best for the final innings of the series. His 62 not out gave some credibility to what was effectively a Sri Lanka collapse. He is now a key member of the ODI middle order, so perhaps that innings was a timely return to form with the matches that are to come. Bowled a few tidy overs of seam as well.Angelo Mathews (139 runs at 34.75, 2 fifties; 4 wickets at 24.25)
This was the series in which Mathews’ average as captain finally fell from the stratosphere. He still averages 76.25 as leader, but will be disappointed at having not having played more impactful innings, particularly in Wellington. He used himself sparingly with the ball due to injury concerns, but his canny seamers were handy at times. The absence of lieutenant Mahela Jayawardene showed in this series. Mathews was a little slow to adjust at times and was guilty of easing off when Sri Lanka were close to a winning position at the Basin Reserve, but he still has plenty of time to learn.5
Suranga Lakmal (6 wickets at 44.33)
Menacing in the first innings of each match, but lacking threat when the ball grew old and the pitch got flatter, Lakmal perhaps was not as tight with his lines as he has been in the past as well. The Sri Lanka coaching staff see him as the spearhead of this pace attack, and will back him to own that title more than he has done in New Zealand.4
Kaushal Silva (92 runs at 23, 1 fifty)
Hit a fifty in the second innings in Wellington to salvage what was otherwise a poor tour. He got some outstanding balls in Christchurch, but although he is a manufactured opener (he batted in the middle order for SSC), he can’t use that excuse for long. Silva knows he needs to convert his half-centuries into big ones. Happily for him, the team trusts he will eventually begin to contribute big runs, just as he does in first-class cricket.Dhammika Prasad (4 wickets at 57.75)
Bowled a few very good deliveries through the series, particularly to right-handers, who were tested by his indippers. Mathews said he was largely pleased with the seamers’ performance, but on helpful tracks, Sri Lanka needed more wickets from their hit-the-deck quick.3
Prasanna Jayawardene (49 runs at 12.25, 5 dismissals)
Once the best keeper in the world, Jayawardene’s glove work has slipped in recent years, and his miss off Kane Williamson on the fourth morning of the Wellington Test proved costly for Sri Lanka. With the bat, he was not capable of handling the moving ball as well as he has done in the past either.One Test7
Nuwan Pradeep (7 wickets at 25.71)
Bowled beautifully to take four scalps in the first innings in Wellington, and it was in large part due to his penetration that Sri Lanka achieved a first-innings lead there. Pradeep bowled a fuller, more testing length than the other Sri Lanka quicks, and moved it enough to get rewards as well. However, he did drop a sitter off Kane Williamson, which probably cost Sri Lanka the match, and his batting could do with a little attention as well.6
Dinesh Chandimal (80 runs at 40, 1 fifty)
Hit an important 67 alongside Kumar Sangakkara in the first innings at Wellington, to help ensure Sri Lanka eclipsed New Zealand’s score. He appears to be batting more freely than he has in the past year, and has also worked out a better strategy against the bouncers that kept dismissing him in the middle of 2014.5
Tharindu Kaushal (2 wickets at 103.5)
Kaushal had a traumatic first day of Test cricket, when he was walloped to all parts of Hagley Oval by Brendon McCullum, and yet, there was so much to like about the 21-year-old offspinner. He kept tossing the ball up, even under duress, and encouragingly, got plenty of dip and turn on both his stock ball and doosra. He needs to work on his control, but he is a fine prospect.4
Shaminda Eranga (2 wickets at 51)
His omission from the second Test was a surprise, given his past performances, but he had been off-colour in Christchurch, and did not bowl as tightly as he did in England. Was whacked off his length by a rampant McCullum, and recovered from that only in the second innings.3
Rangana Herath (1 wicket at 161)
Accurate as ever in Wellington, but lacking the bite he gets when he is at his best. Did not work the New Zealand batsmen out as well as he has in the past either, but perhaps they have just learned to play him better. The lack of significant turn in the Basin Reserve pitch didn’t help, but then he was outperformed by Mark Craig.1
Niroshan Dickwella (6 runs at 3)
Dickwella’s first international Test went poorly, as Tim Southee and Trent Boult picked him up once each. He is being looked at as a long-term wicketkeeper batsman though, so will likely have more opportunities.

Steven Smith had a tough day as captain in Brisbane too, but there he maintained an outward calm at least; today, as Virat Kohli and KL Rahul gathered their runs, he was harried and did not handle things at optimum levels

Daniel Brettig at the SCG08-Jan-20151:41

‘Cannot afford to drop someone like Kohli’

Until Shane Watson popped up with his first return of more than one wicket in a Test innings since November 2011, the most indelible image of Australia’s third day at the SCG was Steven Smith sprawled on the pink sponsors’ logo at the Randwick End, pointing accusingly up at “the f****** wire”.Quite apart from the unnecessary complications of trying to take a catch through the wires of Spidercam, this was Smith’s most difficult day as captain since his first, also in the field at a sweltering Gabba. Wickets were hard to come by, chances were not taken, and in KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, Smith and his bowlers found a pair of Indian batsmen not prepared to bow to Australia’s gargantuan first-innings tally.In Brisbane, Smith had faced up to his first challenging day as captain with an energetic smile and only the occasional grimace. His visage remained largely calm, even though three bowlers succumbed to ailments of various kinds, and M Vijay set a strong agenda for the the match with a fine 144. Smith’s only transgression had been to allow the over rate to sag, leaving him with a fine and the threat of a suspension by the end of a match that would be turned around to a victory inside four days.But at the SCG Smith was harried and frustrated by events, both those conspiring against him and others he could have handled better.The Spidercam episode was clearly a case of the former – though Smith was shielding his eyes from the midday sun, the sight of the camera itself in his peripheral vision and the wires in his line of sight to the ball directly above him were a distraction no international cricketer should have to cope with when trying to claim a catch. His frustrations at that moment were obvious, and the Australians fumed through their lunch break as Cricket Australia and Channel Nine drafted up a joint statement that grudgingly conceded the operators’ error.Adversity is one thing, how it is handled quite another. As Darren Lehmann said of his words to the team at the interval: “Yeah just play the game, can’t change the past – if you could you’d be a millionaire wouldn’t you? So from our point of view it’s a case of getting on with the job at hand and bowling a lot better. I thought we bowled pretty well all day, and create more chances, then we obviously put down another one. So you can’t worry about what happens, you’ve got to try to create more chances.”Australian frustration at Rahul’s reprieve lingered into the afternoon nonetheless, and the critical chance went down at a time when the red mist had not yet lifted. As he did in Melbourne, Kohli offered up a brief period of vulnerability against the second new ball, which was used very well by Mitchell Starc in what has been an encouraging effort as the team’s nominal strike bowler this Test.There were moments on day three at the SCG when Steven Smith’s frustrations were all too obvious•Getty ImagesHis extraction of some useful swing in his first over was complemented by additional bounce in his second, and a perfectly pitched ball across Kohli drew an ideal edge. The ball traveled at a height and a pace, but Smith was ideally placed to take it over his head. Spidercam did not obscure his vision, but its memory probably clouded his mind. Smith’s hands were not sufficiently soft, and the ball burst through.Immediately his head bowed, and he stood motionless as Kohli gained an extra two runs on the way to a fourth hundred of the series. Smith had led by example with his catching in Brisbane, but now he had been unable to do so.Joe Burns was the other target for the ball, his long shift at short leg drawing no fewer than three shots from Rahul that reached him on the full. No chance was straightforward, but one of these would have been enough to lift the team. Short leg has not been a specialist position for Australia since Smith gained the captaincy, with Chris Rogers vacating after he was struck badly in Brisbane. It is not pleasant, but the likes of David Boon and Simon Katich have shown the value of a consistent posting.Once Kohli and Rahul had both made their hundreds, Australian shoulders were sagging. Rogers was off the field with a back spasm, and Starc responded to his return catch of Rahul with a tired non-celebration. At this moment of weakness, Watson responded with a nagging spell, enjoying the good fortune that had eluded him when he earlier coaxed Rahul into the stroke that flirted with Nine’s camera.A skidder thudded into Ajinkya Rahane’s back thigh, seeming to keep lower than it did and causing Richard Kettleborough to raise his finger. Suresh Raina had become well acquainted as a source of hope for opposition Test bowlers at the time he lost his place, and once again he did so, offering an open face at a ball going across him and edging into the hands of a suddenly gleeful Brad Haddin, who appeared to be grinning even before the ball reached him.These two balls served to even out the day somewhat, and in their huddle the Australians would have done well to remember that for all the travails of the technology suspended above their heads, they had also enjoyed a share of good fortune. Not least of this was the Nathan Lyon offbreak that shot through under Rohit Sharma’s bat to bowl him.Had Smith held that catch from Starc, the concerns about Spidercam would not have lingered anywhere near as much. The luck had evened out enough to conclude they had not, in the end, been more sinned against than sinning.

At his best, Daniel Vettori wasn’t just one of the most economical bowlers around, but won New Zealand matches with his wickets too

Shiva Jayaraman31-Mar-2015Daniel Vettori took a wicket every 62 balls in international cricket and he took 705 of them. Only one other bowler of those who took at least 60 balls for each of their wickets bowled enough balls to take at least half as many. By the time he called it a day to a career spanning over 18 years, Vettori had bowled 43661 deliveries – the fourth-most anyone had bowled in international cricket. Among New Zealand bowlers, only Richard Hadlee bowled at least as many deliveries as Vettori did.Vettori took 305 ODI wickets, the most by any left-arm spinner apart from Sanath Jayasuriya, who picked up 323. Vettori took 297 playing for New Zealand – eight of his wickets came playing for the ICC XI – the most by anyone from his country. Outside Asia, in conditions generally regarded as not conducive to spin, Vettori took 228 wickets – Shane Warne (237) is the only spinner with more wickets in these conditions.Vettori’s value to the New Zealand ODI team was not as much as a strike bowler as it was in drying up the runs for the opposition. Among spinners to bowl at least 1000 overs in ODIs since 1997 – the year he made his debut for New Zealand as the youngest to play for his country – only two others – Muttiah Muralitharan and Mohammad Hafeez – have managed to be more economical. In more than half of the ODIs in which Vettori bowled at least five overs, he finished with an economy rate of four or less. His percentage of such innings is the fourth-highest among spinners who have bowled at least five overs in 100 or more ODIs.

Going under four an over (min 5 overs bowled in 100 ODIs)

Spinner Inns eco <=4 %Mohammad Hafeez 116 66 56.9Muttiah Muralitharan 328 183 55.8Ravi Shastri 119 64 53.8Daniel Vettori 255 131 51.4Shane Warne 188 89 47.3Saeed Ajmal 106 49 46.2Vettori took on the role of strike bowler for his team on a fair number of occasions too. When Vettori took more than two wickets in an ODI, New Zealand won more often than not: 26 of his 32 hauls of three wickets or more in ODIs came in wins. Among spinners with 20 or more three-plus-wicket hauls, Vettori's win percentage in those matches is the fourth-best – a significant achievement considering he didn't always play for a New Zealand side that was as strong as the one that played the World Cup. No surprisingly, Vettori averaged nearly 20 runs less in wins than when his team didn't win. He took 188 wickets in wins at an average of 24.04 and 117 at 44.05 in other ODIs.

Three wickets or more in wins (min 20 hauls, ODIs)

Spinner 3+ wkts in wins 3+ wkts total %Brad Hogg 23 24 95.8Shahid Afridi 39 42 92.8Shane Warne 32 38 84.2Ajantha Mendis 22 27 81.4Daniel Vettori 26 32 81.2Anil Kumble 22 29 75.8Muttiah Muralitharan 51 68 75.0Sanath Jayasuriya 24 33 72.7Saqlain Mushtaq 34 48 70.8Abdur Razzak 21 30 70.0Vettori was at his very best in the middle years of his ODI career – from 2003 to 2010 – when he took 196 of his 305 ODI wickets at an average of 27.90. During these years, he was the second-highest wicket-taker in ODIs among spinners after Muralitharan and among 55 bowlers who bowled at least 3000 deliveries during this period, of whom only three – Shaun Pollock, Glenn McGrath and Ray Price – were more economical. He took both his five-fors and five of his four-wicket hauls during these years including 5 for 7 in an ODI against Bangladesh in 2007 – one of the best match figures by a captain in ODIs. Vettori was hampered by injuries during the last part of his career – he played only 47 of the 109 ODIs New Zealand played since 2010 – but was still was one of the most economical bowlers. Among bowlers who bowled at least 200 overs since 2010, he was one of only two with an economy rate below four runs an over, the other being Mohammad Hafeez.

Daniel Vettori – ODI career split

Span Mat Wkts BBI Ave Econ 4w/5wTill 2002 95 81 4/24 39.36 4.48 2/02003-2010 168 196 5/7 27.90 3.96 5/22011-retirement 32 28 4/18 36.25 4.03 1/0Vettori’s ODI career culminated with the 2015 World Cup, in which he was one of the best spinners, if not bowlers, on display. Vettori bowled one of the best restrictive spells of the tournament in the league game against Australia. He finished the tournament as the most economical spinner (minimum ten overs). His 15 wickets – equalling the most by any spinner in the World Cup – ensured he also ended his career as the spinner with the second-highest number of wickets in World Cups.Vettori played his last Test in November last year, after a two-year gap. It was his 112th Test, which made him the most capped New Zealand Test player ever, ahead of Stephen Fleming. His 361 Test wickets for New Zealand are the second-highest after Richard Hadlee’s 431. Among spinners, Vettori ended up as the fifth-highest wicket-taker, and the only left-arm orthodox spinner with 300 Test wickets. He is one of only three non-subcontinent spinners – the others being Shane Warne and Clarrie Grimmett – to take 20 or more five-wicket hauls in Tests.Vettori reserved his best for New Zealand’s trans-Tasman rival, taking 65 wickets in 18 Tests against them when playing for New Zealand (he took one wicket in the only Test he played against them for ICC World XI). Among New Zealand bowlers, only Richard Hadlee took more wickets against the Australians than Vettori, though Hadlee took twice as many wickets in just five more Tests.Vettori’s career-high in Tests came against Australia in Auckland in 1999-00, when he took 12 for 149, taking five-fors in both innings and becoming the youngest spinner and the second-youngest bowler after Kapil Dev to 100 Test wickets. This was also the first time that a spinner had taken two five-fors in a Test against Australia outside the subcontinent in 23 years. Vettori ended his career with six five-wicket hauls in Tests against Australia. Only five other spinners had as many or more such hauls against them.As in ODIs, the middle part of Vettori’s Test career was his best. Between 2004 and 2008 he took 136 wickets at 30.12, including 11 of his 20 Test five-fors. Two of his three ten-wicket hauls came in this period, including a 12-wicket haul against Bangladesh in Chittagong. He took five five-fors in 2008, which equalled the most five-fors by any bowler that year and with 54 wickets from 14 Tests was thesecond-highest wicket-taker among spinners in that calendar year.

Daniel Vettori – Test career split

Span Mat Wkts BBI BBM Ave SR 5w/10wTill 2000 31 106 7/87 12/149 32.61 78.20 5/12001-2003 19 44 6/87 8/229 43.40 88.70 2/02004-2008 39 136 7/130 12/170 30.12 68.90 11/2Since 2009 24 76 5/70 8/141 39.15 95.20 2/0Vettori made significant contributions with the bat as well in Tests with 4531 runs at an average of 30.00. He is one of the three players in Tests with 4000 runs and 300 wickets and the only spinner among them. He hit four hundreds and 2227 runs batting at No. 8 in Tests – both the best by anyone from that position. He produced his best against Pakistan, scoring three hundreds and one fifty in nine Tests.He captained New Zealand in 32 Tests – the third-highest but was not very successful at it, losing 16 of them. His win-loss ratio of 0.375 as captain is one of the worst among Test captains who have led in 30 or more Tests. Four of his six Test wins came against Bangladesh. His 9 for 133 against them in Chittagong in 2008 are the best bowling figures by a New Zealand captain in Tests.

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Mar-2015After scoring 47 runs in the first Powerplay, Ireland suffered another blow when Wahab Riaz dismissed Ed Joyce for 11•AFPCaptain William Porterfield kept the innings going, but Niall O’Brien and Andy Balbirnie also fell for low double-digit scores•Getty ImagesPorterfield and Gary Wilson gave Ireland some stability with a stand of 48 for the fifth wicket to take them close to 200•Associated PressPorterfield brought up his seventh ODI hundred during the Powerplay to put Ireland in a strong position ahead of the death overs•Getty ImagesBut Sohail Khan removed both Porterfield and Wilson to peg Ireland back•AFPThe Pakistan quicks continued with a flurry of wickets in the death overs and Umar Akmal took four catches in all to restrict Ireland to 237•AFPAhmed Shehzad and Sarfraz Ahmed gave Pakistan a solid start with an opening stand of 120•Getty ImagesShehzad raced to his fifty off 52 balls, his second of the tournament•Associated PressIreland struck twice within two overs. They first removed Shehzad for 63…•Associated Press…And then had Haris Sohail run-out for 3•Associated PressJust when it looked like Misbah-ul-Haq and Sarfraz would take Pakistan home, the captain accidentally stepped on his off stump•Getty ImagesWith a bit of drama in the end, Sarfraz completed his maiden hundred in the 46th over and Umar sealed Pakistan’s quarter-final berth with the seven-wicket win•Getty Images

Unlike the usual lean, mean and salty back bacon, streaky bacon is more entertaining, sometimes disappointing but difficult to give up, much like Stuart Broad

Ayelet Haimson Lushkov08-Jun-2015People have used many adjectives to describe Stuart Broad, of which ‘blond’ and ‘tall’ are only the more polite examples. But ‘streaky’ is a word that comes up a lot, and it always puts me in mind of bacon.See, the humble bacon comes in many forms, of which the two main are back and streaky. The English have a preference for back bacon, which is a lean, mean, salty, Geoffrey Boycott kind of bacon. Lovely on a bap, lays a proper platform for the fried egg, and never lets you forget that it is there, doing all the work.Streaky bacon is a whole different animal. It comes from the belly: it’s a gutsy sort of bacon, and its got these lovely seams of fat and meat and smoke and wood. It’s greasy, and crisps up in the pan, and really it’s more than a bit American, which is fine, and, more importantly, it’s wholly addictive. Once streaky bacon gets going, there’s no having just one strip, or even one pound. No, streaky bacon takes 7 for 44 on an afternoon, or 6 for 25, or scores a 169 at Lord’s. And struts around while doing it.And then, just when you think streaky bacon is the thing for you, and you can marry it and serve it with all your eggs, streaky bacon runs out of mojo. It just sits there. Alone, congealing, and broken. Corners come off. You snap it in half, in a frustrated sort of anger. It’s a bit burnt in the edges. And there’s a squeamish feeling in your gut about just how expensive it’s all been.So you wonder. Should you have it again? Surely, health must come first. But no. You can’t. There’s no going back on bacon. Bacon, friends, is the gateway meat. And so you come back to it. Every single time. And you’re disappointed. And wish your grocers had more proper bacon. And maybe you try some different eggs. Duck, or an heirloom chicken. Or sausage. Or pie.And then, somehow, without knowing it, streaky bacon is back. Out of habit. Out of boredom. Out of nothing. One minute it’s just there, and the next, it’s ruling the roost.And that’s how you know Stuart Broad’s the bowler for you.If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line.