All posts by h716a5.icu

Attacking approach gets Pantsed but Ben Stokes’ team will be more sure-footed in the long run

Vithushan Ehantharajah01-Jul-20222:15

Giles on Anderson: ‘He’s a genius, still a pleasure to watch him operate’

Principles don’t really become principles just like that. You don’t just get to walk into a shop and pick a principle off the shelf, plug in and press play. It needs to scoped, whittled, and honed before it is in any fit shape to be a foundation of your ethos.Above all else, it needs to be robustly tested, even knocked around a bit to see if it can withstand the harsher moments. That way you know it’s of real substance. The reason the All Blacks have a “no d***heads” policy is because, after a lot of experimenting, they realised they weren’t winning much with d***heads.This England men’s Test team are on the other end of that spectrum. In it for each other, expressive, some tactics, seemingly more vibes. Three empathic victories over New Zealand this last month has given them a renewed belief, which has been wedded to a sense they are bringing the noise to Test cricket and waking up the neighbours.Related

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India's recovery, Rishabh Pant's quickfire century

Armed with a heightened faith in their ability and self-regard, they charged into the first day of this fifth Test against India, and looked good for the hype. They adhered religiously to the playbook, even if it was only drawn up a month ago: winning the toss and electing to bat last, packing the cordon, encouraging bowlers to use the open spaces to their advantage and entice misjudgements. Within 28 overs of play, they had India 98 for 5.A returning James Anderson led the way with three wickets, but missed out on picking up his all-time great sparring partner, Virat Kohli, who was one of two to fall to Matthew Potts. The Durham quick is one of the poster boys of Bazball, and having removed Kane Williamson three times in the New Zealand series, he unsettled and then unpicked the former India captain. Not since Future has someone come on to the scene and immediately found himself attached to so many high-profile names on merit.It was usually at this point that Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell got to work to bump up New Zealand’s scores. And while their partnership averaged 120.7 across six innings, England were always able to maintain some semblance of control, and were even able to keep focusing on taking wickets. This time, however, as 98 for 5 became 320 for 5 in 38.3 overs, they found themselves needing to reassess. Those principles, still being recited for the sake of memory as much as meditation, looked like they might have to be abandoned, even if only for a moment. To bastardise a famous Mike Tyson quote, everyone’s got five slips until you get Rishabh Pantsed in the face.As India’s one-man band of cavalier free-form jazz set about turning the day around, Ben Stokes did his best to maintain tack throughout. As much as the players truly believe in what Stokes and Brendon McCullum are pushing towards, it is only human to have a few doubts when an opposition batter is hitting you down the ground at will: sometimes for four, sometimes for six, sometimes with one hand, sometimes on one leg, sometimes even ending up flat on his back after.Jack Leach, perhaps the most emboldened in the squad, with 10 wickets at Headingley achieved through not thinking about the negative of saving runs, had to regress on occasion. Having been forbidden from pushing a man back on the fence by Stokes just a week ago, he was allowed the cover, first by two-thirds then fully back when it became apparent that it did not matter where the fielder was stood.Ben Stokes had his hands full in the field•Associated PressThe short-ball tactic also had a sense of defence about it. Stokes and Potts took on that workload in a bid to hurry Ravindra Jadeja or encourage Pant’s ego to bring him down. Such was the manner in which both lefties played – particularly Pant, who was more than happy to indulge pull shots – that the leg side was reinforced to stem the flow. Even the fielding standards dropped, with usually sharp fielders diving over the odd boundary, and a couple of unnecessary, wayward launches towards the stumps that coughed up eight runs in overthrows.Given the manner of the 222-run partnership, these moments were easy to understand. Human, in fact. A passage of play that was instigated to test your resolve and have you questioning how you’ve been doing things, especially if you’ve only been doing them like this for a month.Vindication, however, came from an unlikely source. Joe Root tossed one up above Pant’s eyes which had spotted the vacant regions down the ground like Wile E. Coyote clocking the Road Runner. Pant threw his head back and thought of the 150, only to skew an edge for Crawley’s third catch at slip. And with that, India’s charge was halted, and England were back in it.”It was a brave ball, I’ll say that,” England assistant coach Paul Collingwood said when speaking after stumps. “With two men up and having just been hit over his head, it was brave. Sometimes you need a bit of genius or bravery.”The wicket of Shardul Thakur means day two begins on 338 for 7: India, on balance, ahead but England more than able catch up if they start strongly on Saturday. “We can be happy with the day’s work,” Collingwood said. “Anything under 360, 370 would be a good result for us.”We will only know at the end of this match just how effective this late fightback was to England’s cause. They rallied from 55 for 6 to win the previous Test against New Zealand, and here, for the first time in this new era, the bowlers were in a similar state of disarray. Such is the way in sport that our conclusions from this day will be wedded to the result, which is now a binary prospect given this England side’s dislike for the draw.Perhaps, though, this first day should be regarded as a microcosm of this whole period in general: one of trial and error, where winning is less important than the performance. As that goes on, there will be some corrections, as they were here. Encouraging opposition batters to play through point by leaving it vacant is a great way to coax a questionable bat angle for an edge, but can lead to easy singles to rotate the strike and relieve pressure. Keeping mid-on and mid-off up is effective for eventually drawing loose strokes but can lead to frazzled minds in the field and dampen even the most strong-willed spinner.That being said, the thing to take away was that England did not lose sight of the bigger picture, and in turn wrestled back some initiative. There will be more times in the future when the pressure upon them will be even greater. By then, their resolve and those principles will be a little bit surer thanks to days like this.

Teams in the Hundred are looking very different with players off to the CPL and international duty

Jake Lintott29-Aug-2022It’s been a bittersweet week. We had two really good wins, against Welsh Fire and in a difficult game against Trent Rockets, and it’s still special to win, even if you’re not really in the running for the knockout stages. You want to play for personal pride through to the end, and to trip other teams up if you can.It’d be great to finish with a win against Northern Superchargers on Wednesday, but we’re still disappointed with the position that we got ourselves into at the start of the season. It’d be great for us to finish on a real high by winning at Headingley. It’s crazy how tight the table is and if we win, we wouldn’t end up missing out on the knockout stages by many points at all.The atmosphere at our home games has been great and the fans have really got behind Southern Brave. That’s not been the case at every venue we’ve been to so we’re pretty lucky in that regard. It still feels like there’s a real hype around the Hundred and it feels like the standard has gone to the next level this year.Related

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When you look through the squads, they’re much stronger than last season because of the number of top overseas players that have been involved. It’s been awesome to go up against some of the world’s best but some of the teams are looking very different in terms of personnel heading into the final stages with players leaving for international duty or other leagues like the CPL.There’s so much cricket being played at the moment, all around the world, and the schedules are carnage. I’d love competitions to try and work together a little bit more: when they go up against each other, you end up with worse availability in both, which obviously affects the standard.There’s been lots of chat about the schedule all summer and it has been interesting to hear about the high-performance review. I haven’t played much first-class cricket but I look at the guys who are playing four-day cricket week in, week out and it makes me tired just looking at them. There’s going to have to be some kind of compromise somewhere.Personally, I think you could have three groups of six in the Blast and play 10 group games each, rather than 14, and you could have a three-division County Championship too. That would make Division One really strong and we’d still have 10 first-class games in the season – the same number they play in Australia, for example.I don’t envy Andrew Strauss having to make decisions on it because it is so hard to please everyone involved in the game, but ultimately, I think they will have to cut things back a little bit. There’s just so much going on at the moment: if you play in the Hundred final this weekend, you might start a Championship game 36 hours later.You have to try and find a way of looking after players. People don’t always take travel into account and most of our training is geared towards preparation for the next game: finding time to do much technical work when you’re playing so often is really hard. Volume is a big concern from the players’ perspective.I made my List A debut while playing for England Lions earlier this year and I’m desperate to play more 50-over cricket. It should be a big part of the schedule, for me: if you have 50-over World Cups to prepare for, you have to be playing one-day cricket consistently. At the moment, because I don’t play much red-ball cricket for Warwickshire, I find myself training with them for most of the year, but I only play for them for about five weeks, in the Blast.There are some very good players who have missed out on Hundred contracts this year and in future, you could have more than one wildcard pick per team. I got wildcarded last year because Southern Brave needed a wristspinner and I had done well in the Blast. It would be great for other players to have the same opportunity after breakthrough seasons for their counties.We travel to Leeds on Monday and we have a team meal with our women’s team there. We’ve got a great relationship with them and do lots of stuff together. They’re a great team to watch and we always try to get there before we play to watch their games: it’s really impressive how Charlotte Edwards has got them playing.They’ve got all bases covered. Smriti Mandhana and Danni Wyatt are a pretty formidable opening partnership and Amanda-Jade Wellington’s legspin has been huge for them. For me, they’re far and away the best team in that competition, so hopefully they’ll go all the way.

Under Tom Latham, they are without many of their regulars; Pakistan, by contrast, couldn’t be better placed

Danyal Rasool13-Apr-2023New Zealand were made to offer Pakistan a public vow of compensation in May last year in an attempt to placate their hosts – they would have to pay out of their own pockets to make up for leaving a tour of Pakistan on the day of the first match in September 2021 citing a “specific” security threat. (The amount they would pay, though, was rather non-specific, what with it being undisclosed.)The promises kept coming. They would also invite Pakistan for a triangular T20I series as preparation for the then-upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. And they would visit Pakistan again over the next year, not once, but twice. They would play Tests in December and ODIs in January. And then, as if these two countries were next-door neighbours, New Zealand would pop back over to Pakistan once more, to play no fewer than ten white-ball games, five in each format. Would that be okay, Mr Raja?Ramiz Raja might be gone but, perhaps against all logic, here New Zealand are. Even though it’s now mid-April, and the time of year when it becomes uncomfortably hot has just about commenced. Never mind, indeed, that it’s Ramzan, pushing the start of the T20Is to 9pm local time, meaning they won’t finish before midnight. Or that the series will straddle Eid, meaning Pakistan will be playing cricket while the rest of the country celebrates the end of Ramzan. And never mind that most of New Zealand’s finest players are currently across the other side of the Attari-Wagah border.Related

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Not since the side led by Jamie How in England in April 2008 has a New Zealand side arrived in another country depleted so by reasons other than injury. How was frank at the time when talking about the unavailable players as they played in the inaugural edition of this tournament you might have heard of – something called the IPL. “I think everyone wishes they were in India at some point,” he had said, as if a full tour of England wasn’t among the high points in New Zealand’s cricketing calendar.Tom Latham, standing in for Williamson now, was somewhat more guarded on the eve of the series in Lahore. “The preparation hasn’t been ideal,” he admitted. “But as international cricketers, we have to adapt as quick as we can. We’ve only had one training session leading into this series, but we’ve got to trust the work that we’ve done back home, even if conditions are different. We’ve got some young guys in the group, but we’ve also got some experienced heads. Guys who’ve played a lot of T20 cricket around the world. These guys have been picked on performances in domestic cricket in New Zealand, and it’s a great opportunity for them.”Pakistan have their whole set of first-choice playersPakistan, by contrast, could not be better placed, particularly for the T20I series. If the 2-1 loss against Afghanistan can be written off as a post-PSL blip for inexperienced players in unfamiliar conditions, there are no such issues this time. Pakistan have had a useful little break in the build-up while New Zealand were taking on Sri Lanka at the other end of the world. They will be playing in the same stadiums so many of the young players shone at in during the PSL, and they’ll have the steadying hands of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan back.

“[Sethi] has given me his backing. We try to give our best every series. I can’t get a commitment in writing that I will be captain. But I try to exercise the authority I have, and maintain the standards I’ve set. Things go on in the background, but I don’t try and look at what’s being said. If I did, it would only increase the pressure”Babar Azam on his future as Pakistan captain

There’s more to that last point than just that, but with Babar confirming the two will open the batting, there’s little point flogging that dead horse. Saim Ayub and Mohammad Haris will have the opportunity to put the Afghanistan series in the past; with the T20 World Cup 18 months away, Pakistan have time on their side. Ihsanullah and Zaman Khan also get another shot while Shaheen Shah Afridi returns to partner Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf, which should guarantee that Pakistan are in want of nothing in that department.Pakistan have fast bowlers who breathe fire, and a top order adept at putting them out. It is a formula that has worked for them in the past, and while they look to fine-tune it to help them take the next step, Babar sees little reason to rip it up altogether.”We have the strength to dominate this series,” he said. “The way our youngsters have performed in the PSL, both batters and bowlers, has been extremely impressive. And our senior players like Haris [Rauf], Naseem and Shaheen are also on song. It’s a nice combination we’ve built up. But you can’t say it’ll be easy. People say this is New Zealand’s B team, but most of their players are seasoned players, and even their younger players have had plenty of form and experience.”Babar Azam has confirmed that he and Mohammad Rizwan will open the batting•PCBThe confusion around Babar Azam’s captaincyPakistan’s preparation was as uneventful as it should have been, but, true to form, they found a way to manufacture some of their own. It came, extraordinarily, from the highest cricketing office in the land, with PCB chairman Najam Sethi taking to Twitter to make a statement that was anything but an unequivocal backing of the captain. Confirming he had sought the views of the selection committee on the merits of retaining Babar, he said he would be guided by the selectors and head coach “going forward, and my decision will be subject to the success or failure of the status quo”.Sethi, a former journalist, had casually thrown in that bombshell just a day before current journalists sat down at Babar’s pre-series conference, leaving the captain in the excruciatingly awkward position of defending himself while not appearing to contradict the man with the power to sack him.”[Sethi] has given me his backing,” Babar said, very much with the air of a man walking a tightrope. “We try to give our best every series. I can’t get a commitment in writing that I will be captain. But I try to exercise the authority I have, and maintain the standards I’ve set. Things go on in the background, but I don’t try and look at what’s being said. If I did, it would only increase the pressure.”Pressure that Babar doesn’t need any more of, and in truth, doesn’t deserve. But if it offers this series the extra edge and spice it so desperately needs, the Gaddafi stadium could be in for some surprisingly entertaining Ramzan cricket.

After losing Bumrah and then Archer, and starting poorly, their batters stepped up in a big way

S Sudarshanan27-May-20232:07

Manjrekar: Don’t think Rohit was at his best tactically in IPL 2023

Where they finishedMumbai Indians were knocked out in the second Qualifier by Gujarat Titans, after finishing fourth in the league (eight wins and six losses) and winning the Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants.They began the season trying to cope with the absence of key players and won only three of their first seven games. But they recovered to win five of their last seven and made the playoffs after Royal Challengers Bangalore lost their last league match to Titans.The good – Mumbai find more Indian talentMumbai unearthed not one but three promising players – Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera and Akash Madhwal – in IPL 2023.Varma had broken through last season and took his game to the next level this year. He started with a 46-ball 84 against RCB and finished with a stunning 43 off 14 balls in Qualifier 2. He ended the season with a strike rate of 164.11, up from 131.02 last year.Akash Madhwal was one of the finds of IPL 2023•Associated PressWadhera, too, had a significant impact in the lower-middle order after making his T20 debut in the first game of the season. He scored 21 off 13 balls in that game against RCB, when Mumbai were 45 for 4, and struck back-to-back fifties against Chennai Super Kings and RCB to finish the season with a strike rate of 145.18.Madhwal was brought in only in the latter half of the season, and the Uttarakhand bowler, who had only played tennis-ball cricket until 2018, was a revelation. His high pace coupled with pinpoint accuracy made him Rohit Sharma’s go-to bowler at the death. Madhwal finished with 14 wickets, joint-second for Mumbai this season, which included a best of 5 for 5 in the Eliminator. His death-overs economy of 8.38 was the fourth best among bowlers who bowled at least ten overs in that phase this season.Among the overseas players, their big-money signing Cameron Green proved that he was a solid investment for the future. The 23-year-old allrounder scored 452 runs at a strike rate of 160.28 despite being moved up and down the batting order, and took six wickets as well.The bad – Injured fast bowlers and misfiring openersMumbai had lost Jofra Archer to injury last season. This year they first lost Jasprit Bumrah, Jhye Richardson and then Archer once again to injuries that left their bowling attack severely depleted. Though Jason Behrendorff was able to provide some power in the powerplay, Mumbai’s death bowling suffered big time – their economy of 12.44 in that phase was the highest. They conceded 200-plus in four successive matches between April 22 and May 3, with the last four overs going for 65, 70, 59 and 62.Related

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Poor returns from their openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan further hampered Mumbai’s campaign. Kishan had only three half-centuries and five scores in the range of 28 to 38. His strike rate and average against spin (133.07 and 21.12) were significantly lower than those against pace (149.21 and 40.71). Rohit scored less than 400 runs for the fourth consecutive season. While his intent to attack from the start was evident – his strike rate of 132.80 was his best since IPL 2018 – he did not make much of an impact.Piyush Chawla took the most wickets for Mumbai in IPL 2023•BCCITop performer – Piyush ChawlaAfter spending IPL 2022 in the commentary box, Piyush Chawla made a comeback and enjoyed his most prolific season ever – taking 22 wickets. His performance helped ease Mumbai’s bowling problems to an extent. Chawla took the second-most wickets among spinners this season, and fronted up to bowl ten overs in the powerplay, with an economy of 8.30.The highlights Suryakumar Yadav started the season poorly but eventually turned it around in spectacular fashion. He finished with 605 runs, the second most by a Mumbai batter in a season – at a strike rate of 181.13. He scored 539 in his last 11 games with only one single-digit score – only Shubman Gill scored more in that period.Mumbai scored 200-plus totals six times, the most by a team in a season. However, they also conceded six 200-plus totals, the most in a season.Madhwal’s figures of 5 for 5 in the Eliminator were the best by a bowler in playoffs and the joint-most economical figures in the IPL.

The record for most centuries in a single World Cup game was also reset in Hyderabad on Tuesday

Sampath Bandarupalli10-Oct-2023345 runs chased down by Pakistan against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad. It is now the highest successful chase in the history of the men’s ODI World Cup. The previous highest was Ireland’s 328 against England in the 2011 edition in Bangalore.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 The number of targets successfully chased by Pakistan in ODIs which are higher than the 345 they did on Tuesday. Pakistan’s highest-run chase is 349 against Australia in Lahore in 2022. Today’s effort also marks the biggest chase by any team against Sri Lanka, surpassing the 321 by India during the 2012 CB series in Hobart.8-0 Pakistan continued their unbeaten streak against Sri Lanka at the men’s ODI World Cup, winning all eight meetings. It is now the most dominant head-to-head record at the tournament, going one ahead of India’s 7-0 run against Pakistan.4 Centurions in Hyderabad on Tuesday – Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan. It is the first men’s ODI World Cup match to feature four individual hundreds and only the third instance in all ODIs. The 1998 Lahore ODI between Pakistan and Australia was the first ODI with four centuries, while the 2013 Nagpur ODI between India and Australia became the second.Related

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65 Balls Mendis needed for his hundred, the fastest for Sri Lanka and the sixth-fastest at the men’s ODI World Cup. The previous fastest hundred for Sri Lanka at this competition was Kumar Sangakkara’s 70-ball century in 2015 against England.1 Shafique became the first Pakistani player to score a century on debut at the men’s ODI World Cup. The previous highest score on World Cup debut for Pakistan was 82 by Mohsin Khan against Sri Lanka in 1983.176 Partnership between Rizwan and Shafique is the second-highest for Pakistan at the men’s ODI World Cup. The highest is 194 by Saeed Anwar and Wajahatullah Wasti for the opening wicket against New Zealand in the 1999 semi-final.91 Runs conceded by Matheesha Pathirana through wides in his 12-match ODI career, including 18 against Pakistan in Hyderabad. These are by far the most by any bowler has conceded since his own debut in June this year, with Mujeeb Ur Rahman (34) second on the list.

India play South Africa in Kolkata on Virat Kohli’s 35th birthday and the spotlight on him will only intensify

Sidharth Monga04-Nov-2023Virat Kohli walks into the nets at Eden Gardens on Saturday evening. A small crowd gathered in the stands behind him starts chanting, “King Kohli”. He gestures at them to stay quiet during the training session. And immediately there is pin-drop silence. Security officers, police, and crowd-management personnel seem redundant.Hardik Pandya gets injured while bowling against Bangladesh. Kohli comes on to complete the over. Pune goes wild. Against Sri Lanka, he conducts fans at the Wankhede like an orchestra. The digital platform streaming the World Cup breaks viewership records when he nears what would have been a 49th ODI century, against New Zealand in Dharamsala.India will play South Africa on Kohli’s 35th birthday. The Cricket Association of Bengal wants to hand out 70,000 Kohli masks to the crowd. A grand cake-cutting ceremony is planned in front of the fans. It is all cancelled – was it on Kohli’s request? – on the previous evening.Related

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India’s World Cup campaign is in full swing, but sometimes, aside of that and at times independent of that, Kohli is carrying on his symphony with his fans. Modern-day royalty and his subjects almost. Everybody is playing their part. KL Rahul is turning down singles and Ravindra Jadeja is blocking balls in the death overs, so that Kohli can get to a hundred.Coach Rahul Dravid is saying they have a “wrong-footed inswinging menace” when asked how India are planning for life without a sixth bowler. “And with the crowd behind him, I’d back him for a couple of overs there and a few wickets,” Dravid says. “The crowd was demanding his bowling in the last game. We came very close to giving him an over.”If there is one player you wouldn’t worry about in such intense spotlight, it is Kohli. But he is human too. It eventually got to Sachin Tendulkar when he neared his 100thhundred, and so Dravid was asked how Kohli is handling all the attention.”I think Virat’s been really relaxed,” Dravid said. “As you can see in his performances, batting really well for us, really keen to do well as he always is. So, look, I haven’t noticed anything different. He’s always been the same. He’s always been professional, always been hardworking, always been switched on. So, nothing different.”And no, I don’t really think he’s thinking too much about 49 and 50, and probably certainly not about his birthday getting a year older. I think he’s been really focused on winning the tournament and playing some good cricket for us. I think he’s doing that really well.”Kohli is not really a wrong-footed bowler though he might appear so. And apart from falling just short of two centuries, he has rarely been on the wrong foot when batting. Whether all this is playing on his mind or not, whether it is affecting him or not, only Kohli can tell. One thing is apparent: it hasn’t shown in the way he has batted.And why assume it might have a negative impact on a player? Imagine a whole nation celebrating your birthday with you, wishing for your milestones and cheering them with you, dancing to your tunes. What if Kohli is really enjoying it and it is having a positive impact on his game?

Chelmsford new boy talks about his busy winter, learning from the best and adding a “fourth string” to his bow

Andrew Miller02-Apr-2024What does it take to build a career in professional cricket’s modern, itinerant era? In this fragmenting landscape, the days of biding one’s time and awaiting that international call are receding, and in their place a new generation of go-getter cricketer is emerging, with a restless curiosity and an increasingly clear understanding of how to cash in on their athletic prime.Players such as Jordan Cox, for instance, a 23-year-old whose seemingly inevitable England debut remains, for now, just beyond his reach, but who isn’t about to let that circumstantial setback restrict his career progression.Midway through last summer, Cox secured a high-profile and not-uncontroversial move from Kent to Essex, a club he describes as being “best suited for what I want at this moment in time”, which hardly smacks of the fulfilment of a lifelong dream.Related

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And little wonder, given the winter he’s just had. With apologies to his new county, and with no sense whatsoever that he’ll be stinting on his efforts as Essex’s season begins, next week’s County Championship opener against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge will be Cox’s fifth professional debut of the past five months.His string of new beginnings began back in November, when Cox stepped out for Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10, where his six matches produced 265 runs, two half-centuries and a strike-rate of 232, including a ferocious 90 not out from 36 balls against the eventual finalists, Deccan Gladiators.By the time that final took place, however, Cox had already swapped continents for what became a four-match stint with Melbourne Renegades in Australia’s Big Bash League, which then gave way to a return to the UAE in January to play for Gulf Giants in the ILT20.And, having previously sampled the SA20 and the Lanka Premier League in the 2022-23 winter, Cox then capped this year’s travels by making his first appearances in the Pakistan Super League, with six matches for Islamabad United in February and March prior to his link-up with his newest new squad for Essex’s pre-season in Abu Dhabi.”I left on November 10, and I was back 10 days ago, so I’ve been aware a fair chunk,” Cox says during Essex’s pre-season media day in Chelmsford. “I love it. I went to private school, I was a boarder. So my parents were like, ‘have fun at school, see you at Easter holidays, see you at Christmas’. So I’d only go home like three times a year, so I’m pretty used to being away from home.”That sense of adventure is palpable as Cox lifts the curtain on the touring lifestyle to reveal a glimpse of what this new world is really like. The SA20, he says, is “carnage … the flights are full on … fly, rest day, game, everywhere.” The ILT20, by contrast, was just 40-minute bus rides between Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. “It was the first time I’ve ever unpacked in a franchise environment.”The Eagle has landed: Cox arrived in Chelmsford after a busy winter on the franchise circuit•Getty ImagesAs for the PSL, on one extended break between matches, Cox and his Islamabad team-mate Alex Hales took a leaf out of England’s book from their recent tour of India, and decamped to Abu Dhabi for “99 holes of golf”. “People think that’s crazy,” he says. “But for us, that’s actually paradise.”Hales is just one of a host of world-class contemporaries with whom Cox has been rubbing shoulders all winter long, be it team-mates at his various franchises, such as David Miller, Aaron Finch and Shimron Hetmyer or opponents such as Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell and Faf du Plessis from whom he’s eager to soak up as much knowledge as possible.”It’s a lot better than sitting in the indoor school practising skills,” Cox says. “Watching Andre Russell hitting a cricket ball is fascinating. I was keeping in one of the practice T10 games, and he hit this monster six. And I was like, ‘cor, that’s a big hit’, and he was like, ‘I didn’t even catch that’.”It’s so interesting watching Faf too, he has a different technique, but he still scores runs. Even if you’re not playing, you learn to learn off the people that have done it for years. If you train hard, you realise that you don’t have to be like someone else, you be yourself and you’ll naturally score runs.”Quite apart from his ball-striking abilities, however, Cox is making quite the name for himself as an explosive boundary-riding fielder. This was perhaps best epitomised in the T20 Blast final at Edgbaston in 2021, when he stretched over the rope at midwicket to palm back a crucial relay catch off Somerset’s Lewis Gregory, as Kent surged to their first silverware for 12 years.Since then, he’s become quite the fixture in the outfield for his various franchises, becoming something of a cult figure during his PSL stint in particular.Cox was in fine touch for Oval Invincibles in 2023 until a broken finger ended his season•ECB via Getty Images”I think once you do those catches over the ropes, you learn different things like where you think your stride is going to be,” he says. “You work on it, so that when you see the ball come in, you look at the boundary rope and know roughly [where it is].”I’ve always been lucky in the fielding sense, I seem to read the play pretty well. When batters are trying to run two, you know roughly where the ball’s going to be, so I’m looking at them before the ball comes, and then I zone back in on the ball. It’s about not being lazy, and making sure that every single ball that comes to you, you’re going to make an impact.”Quite apart from his desire to be as involved in the action as possible, there’s a quiet pragmatism at play in Cox’s attempts to make himself more valuable to the teams that are bidding for his services, not least because, at Kent, his wicketkeeping opportunities were restricted by the presence of both Sam Billings and Ollie Robinson.”I think my batting gets in most [franchises] because I can bat one to six in T20 cricket,” he says. “The only problem with that is, if you don’t do as well, you’re the first one to get dropped because you’re not an allrounder, you’re just a batter. So there’s definitely downsides to it. But to have strings to your bow should definitely help you.”It’s quite handy for owners if you’re able to keep and field. They don’t go, ‘he’s a liability’, instead it’s ‘let’s get him in because he’s got those three strings’. I do work pretty hard at my fielding, probably harder than I do with my keeping. Because I know that, in T20 cricket, I can change the game. When you come to the ground I’ll be the last person out catching balls, trying different things, being stupid in a way. But no, that’s definitely not luck.”

“If I’m learning to bowl, that’s four strings to my bow. Why wouldn’t a team want me? It’s tough because I’ll have to show people I’m good enough to bowl but hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to hold an end in T20 cricket”

But why stop at three strings? Cox is already working on a fourth, “farting about” as he puts it with Azhar Mahmood, his bowling coach at Islamabad and with Oval Invincibles in the Hundred, to develop a range of cutters, spinners and carrom balls that could one way offer another cutting edge to his game.”Why can’t I be like Glenn Phillips?” Cox says, recalling how New Zealand’s unlikely allrounder went from keeping wicket in the early months of his international career to playing a pivotal role with the ball across formats. “Everyone thought three years ago, ‘what is this?’ Now he’s got a Test five-for!”I’m giving it the Liam Livingstone-style, off-spin to left-handers, leg-spin to righties, and I’m trying this new carrom ball which is tough … in Pakistan, [Azhar said to get] a tennis ball, I was flicking it against the wall, and in one of the games, you’d have seen me bowling 20 sets from one end.”But why not? If I’m learning to bowl now and practising these stupid little balls, that’s four strings to my bow,” he adds. “Why wouldn’t a team want me? It’s tough because I’ll have to show people I’m good enough to bowl but hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to hold an end in T20 cricket.”It was also in Pakistan two winters ago that Cox had his first taste of the international lifestyle, as an unused squad member during England’s T20I tour. Since then, he suffered an untimely finger injury that arguably denied him a home debut against New Zealand last summer, but his hunger to get the recognition he feels he deserves is undeniable.”I’ve thought about [Pakistan] plenty of times. I was picked for England when I was 20. I’m 23 now, I still haven’t played for England, what am I doing wrong? But actually if you think about it, my finger put me out for 14 weeks – though for a finger I’d rather just chop it off and carry on, you know? But I can’t see why I won’t get any more [chances].”But seriously, add those strings to your bow. It’s good for franchise cricket, it’s good for Test cricket. If they need an allrounder, and then potentially a back-up keeper. It’s like okay, well, I can do that.”

The teams, the format, the big names, and everything else you might have been wondering about

Abhimanyu Bose05-Jul-2024First things first. When does it start?The first match is on Friday, July 5, with MI New York taking on Seattle Orcas in Morrisville. The tournament will go on till July 28. There will be a total of 25 matches.So who are the teams participating? And who won it the first time around?The six teams are Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings and Washington Freedom.It was MI New York, inspired by a whirlwind Nicholas Pooran century, who beat Seattle Orcas in the final to win the inaugural title.Are you sure it’s the MLC and not the IPL? There seem to be a lot of familiar names…That’s because IPL franchises have invested in most of the teams in the tournament, as they have in other franchise leagues like SA20, ILT20 and the CPL. IPL franchises own four teams in the MLC. Apart from the three obvious ones, Seattle Orcas are owned by the GMR Group, who co-own Delhi Capitals.Washington Freedom, owned by Indian-American entrepreneur Sanjay Govil, have Cricket New South Wales as their high-performance partner. San Francisco Unicorns, owned by Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, have a partnership with Cricket Victoria.We saw games in New York and Lauderhill in the T20 World Cup, apart from Dallas. Will the MLC also be played in those grounds?No. This year’s MLC, like in 2023, will only be played at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas in Texas and Church Street Park in North Carolina’s Morrisville.Last season, the first eight league games were played in Dallas and the next seven in Morrisville, before the tournament shifted back to Dallas for the knockout rounds. This year, however, both stadiums will host games throughout the season.Nicholas Pooran’s 137* in the final helped MI New York win MLC 2023•SportzpicsSo you said Pooran played the last season. Who are some other big names that were there last season and will play this year as well?A total of 23 overseas players who turned out in the inaugural season will be in action in MLC 2024 as well. Among them, some of the big names include Rashid Khan, Trent Boult, Heinrich Klaasen and Kieron Pollard.Afghanistan’s left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahmad will replace Daryl Mitchell – who has been ruled out by an injury and is currently doing rehab in New Zealand – for Texas Super Kings. You can find the full list of retained overseas players here.And any exciting new additions this year?Yes indeed. Pat Cummins, Travis Head and Steven Smith are some high-profile Australian signings, while Daryl Mitchell, Shakib Al Hasan and Romario Shepherd are some of the other new signings. You can see the full squads here.USA pulled off a surprise and made it to the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup. So who will their local heroes line up for?USA did have an impressive showing at the T20 World Cup, with a Super Over win over Pakistan the highlight. Their captain Monank Patel, Noshthush Kenjige and Shayan Jahangir will be representing defending champions MI New York, while last year’s runners-up Seattle Orcas have USA vice-captain Aaron Jones and Harmeet Singh in their ranks.Milind Kumar, who took a blinder against Pakistan as a substitute fielder, will play for Texas Super Kings, while Andries Gous and Saurabh Netravalkar will play for Washington Freedom.Saurabh Netravalkar, who was impressive in the T20 World Cup, will be playing for Washington Freedom•AFP/Getty ImagesAll this sounds good. So, what is the format of the league?Like most franchise leagues, the MLC will first have a round-robin league stage. Last year, each team played the other once, but this time every team will play seven matches each in the league stage. This has contributed to the tournament growing from 19 games last year to 25 this season.The top two teams will meet in the Qualifier, with the winners of that match advancing to the final.The third and fourth-placed teams will meet in the Eliminator. The winner of the Eliminator will face the team that loses the Qualifier in the Challenger, where the second finalist will be decided.You can see the full fixture list here.But the MLC games don’t count as official T20s, right?That was the case last year, but the tournament has been given List A status by the ICC. It has become the second Associate-run franchise competition to acquire List A status from the ICC, following the UAE’s ILT20 earlier this year.This means MLC will now be recognised as an official T20 league, with tournament playing records now counted as official format statistics.And with the packed cricket schedule, is it not clashing with any of the several other T20 leagues around the world?The Lanka Premier League is on till July 21, so Matheesha Pathirana will remain unavailable till Colombo Strikers are knocked out.There will also be a six-day clash with the Hundred , which means that 12 players who are part of the MLC could arrive late at the UK.