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Plays of the Day from the match between New Zealand and Scotland in Dunedin

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Dunedin17-Feb-2015The immediate realignment
Trent Boult had picked up an IPL contract worth approximately US $633,000 overnight, but his first over of the day suggested his priorities had not changed. Boult first attempted to angle the ball into the right-hander’s pads by pitching on about leg stump, only to learn there was substantial movement to be gleaned in the air, despite the blue skies. That first one would swing down the leg side, but his next two balls made clinical use of the conditions. Both deliveries straightened late and lavishly, and caught Calum Macleod and Hamish Gardiner playing down the wrong line, to collect two golden ducks.The pad before bat before pad
Preston Mommsen received a nearly-unplayable ball first up when Tim Southee jagged one in from a length, and he did play it. He was given out when ball struck bat and pad, but Mommsen was not sure in which order. Scotland’s review was called for, and though without Hotspot, it was difficult to make out where exactly the ball made contact, replays suggested the ball had brushed front pad, then taken a thick edge, then deflected on to pad again. The on-field umpire’s decision would stand.The spill
With Pakistan and Sri Lanka having toured recently, New Zealand batsmen must almost expect reprieves in the field, and on Tuesday, Scotland fluffed a chance to keep the trend alive. Brendon McCullum flicked a full ball from Rob Taylor towards the man at deep midwicket, and though Gardiner made good ground to the ball, which was dropping in front of him, he never managed to get his fingers around it, and a chance to have New Zealand under slight pressure at 22 for 2 was spurned.The namesake
Rob Taylor bowled to Ross Taylor as soon as the batsman came to the crease in the eighth over. But while Rob, who was born in Northampton to a Scottish mother, could not dismiss Ross, who was born near Wellington and has Samoan heritage, they did manage to get on the scorecard for the same dismissal. Soon after lunch Ross Taylor attempted to bludgeon Majid Haq into the grass bank on the leg side, but his top-edge carried only as far as Rob Taylor, who was at deep square leg and gobbled the chance up.

South Africa have special memories of the SCG as cricketers and as characters. They will need a bit of both on Wednesday to overcome Sri Lanka, and a healthy dose of enjoyment as well

Firdose Moonda16-Mar-2015There was a time when South Africa enjoyed the journey of a World Cup, without the anxiety of whether they would reach the destination. But it may be difficult for any of the current crop to remember it.In 1992, when South Africa were returnees to international cricket, most of this squad were at school and some were not even born. Their predecessors were unsure what to expect from a major tournament and equally unsure what they would bring to it. They were the kids in the candy shop of their day but they were not as naive.They beat Australia in the tournament opener to announce themselves as serious contenders and shocked even themselves with their resolve. From that day everything changed.South Africa went from a team which was testing the waters of a major tournament, to a team that had already begun thinking of winning it. It did (or perhaps did not) help that the only reason they lost the semi-final was a because of a calculation. Had the equation been worked out using the same system that is used today, South Africa would have won that match. That only made it worse for them. They were seen as a robbed squad, who would have to spend every tournament after that trying to claim back what they were made to believe was rightfully theirs.Call it confidence, call it competitive streak, call it unfair expectation but that is what South Africa carried in ICC competitions for the last 23 years. Jacques Kallis wrote in his column on cricket.com.au remembering 1996: “We absolutely believed we could win.” They were blown away by Brian Lara, a figure so large that nobody would begrudge his success.In 1999, South Africa were justified favourites, not merely puffed up ones. They won five out of six series in the 12 months leading up to the tournament, were considered the best lead side with the most talented contingent of players who could do everything from bat aggressively – Herschelle Gibbs and Daryll Cullinan – to bowl aggressively – Kallis and Shaun Pollock to field aggressively – Jonty Rhodes. And it ended in a heartbreak which has haunted South Africa ever since.It was only after the 2007 World Cup that South Africa became serious about recognising the extent of their scarring, which had already deepened by two layers. They had the miscalculation of 2003 and the mistake in approach of 2007, when they sought to attack Australia and imploded instead and the bruises were starting to show.Graeme Smith, who was captain in 2007, remembered that period as a time when he thought South African cricket needed to take a step up. He was entering the phase of his captaincy where he was no longer content with middling performance and he had the backing of the administration and its growing professionalism to help change that.South African sport took to modern practice easily, even though it remained rooted in traditional philosophies of hard work and tough training. In 2007, the Springboks used a psychologist during the triumph at the Rugby World Cup. By 2011, South Africa’s cricket side roped Henning Gericke in too.That year, they took planning to a different dimension. In preparation for the conditions, they picked a squad with three specialist spinners, an unprecedented number in a South Africa outfit. In preparation for the pressure, they acquired the services of Gericke. But in all that, they took out the fun and that was evident during the group stage. South Africa were covering old ground and were not happy to be covering it either. When they lost to England on a crumbling pitch in Chennai and angrily brushed off suggestions that it was another choke, and demanded not to be burdened with that tag.One more consultant

A head coach, a former head coach, an assistant coach, a bowling coach, a spin-bowling coach, a death-bowling coach, a batting consultant, a fitness coach, a physiotherapist, an analyst and a doctor were all not enough for South Africa – they had to get an explorer too.
Mike Horn, who has worked with the Indian team and South Africa before, met with the squad in Sydney to “put it all into perspective for us,” Russell Domingo explained.
In addition to their regular crew of Russell Domingo, Allan Donald, Adrian Birrel and Claude Henderson, South Africa have also made use of some Gary Kirsten’s 50 days of annual consulting and Mike Hussey’s experience. Their contingent of support staff is the biggest in the tournament and has caused questions over whether Domingo needs support because of a lack of playing experience.
He brushed that off as a non-issue citing counterparts Mike Hesson and Graham Ford’s records as proof. “Whether you’ve played a 100 Tests or whether you’ve played ten Tests; whether you’ve played no first-class cricket or a 100 first-class games, coaching’s not easy,” Domingo said. “It’s a lot about how you are going to manage your players and the selections you make and the strategies you employ.
“Whether I have played a 100 Tests or not, it’s not going to make a massive difference to my coaching when we play the quarter-final. No player is going to batting there and thinking, ‘My coach has played a 100 Tests, I’m going to smoke this out the ground now!’ It doesn’t work like that. It’s all about preparing the players well and making sure they are in the right frame of mind.

It eased when they beat India in the next game and finished as the only side to have bowled out each of the oppositions they faced, but came back with superglue sticking power in the quarter-finals. South Africa’s middle-order meltdown only revealed one thing: so much had changed, everything remained the same.And from that day, what little enjoyment remained in ODI cricket seemed to have been sucked out. They took their joy from the longer format, where in 2012 they became the world’s best. ODI cricket was an afterthought and as the World Cup neared, so did anxiety, which has resulted in the South Africa we see today. Stressed, nervous and at times, desperate.All teams talk the company line at press conferences; South Africa to the point where they confuse themselves as to what that line is. AB de Villiers started off declaring his team the best in the tournament, then said they may not be as good as they think they are and then went back to his original assessment. Along the way they lost their two biggest matches in the group stage, which explains his first change of sentiment and beat up on smaller teams, which does not fully explain his second.Those mixed messages are only the ones going out to the media – so what must be swirling in the dressing room. Some players think South Africa need to prepare more carefully for the venues they will play at – Morne Morkel mentioned using new balls – others want them to do as they have always done with an introspective focus on their own game. And that’s before asking any of the members of supports staff what any of them think.Now there’s one more. Mike Horn has been roped in and be brings a fear factor of his own. “He’s done a lot scarier things in the world than facing Dale Steyn or Morne Morkel,” Russell Domingo said. “He’s done some extreme things…and he will put it all into perspective for us over the next few days – what pressure is like and what fear is like; being out of your comfort zone, because he’s been in that situation lots of times with real life experiences – not just facing a cricket ball.”Is cricket really as serious as all this suggests? Not if you ask some of the members of 1992, who remember the fun between the focus. Luckily for this team, they are returning to a place with a bit of both.South Africa have special memories of the SCG as cricketers – the 1992 World Cup game against Australia, the New Year’s Test the following summer which they won by five runs – and as characters – Smith walked out to bat with a broken hand at this venue. They will need a bit of both on Wednesday to overcome Sri Lanka, and a healthy dose of enjoyment as well.

It was relief, rather than raucous, rampant celebration for South Africa because relief has to be the leveller for a side who have made history but still have more history to make

Firdose Moonda at the SCG18-Mar-2015And breathe. This is what the collective exhale of 23 years of expectation feels like.It is not an unbridled rush of joy – the kind that sends Imran Tahir bolting whenever he takes a wicket – it is just a release. For a South African side that has been suffocated for so long, by themselves, their slew of support staff and the significant expectation shoved down their throats, it is a release and a relief that was a long time coming.For six World Cups, the disappointments have collected like layers of silt and settled on the shoulders of each successive squad. This one could not escape that. There were questions about their strength from the time their squad was selected. Would they be balanced enough? Bat deep enough? Have enough options to make up a fifth bowler? And after the group stage, there was the other question, the one that had been answered in the negative against India and Pakistan – would they be able to chase? In their quarter-final, they answered the last two of those, by dominating in such a way that the first two became irrelevant.Their attack won the game before their balance or their batting needing to be tested and in so doing, allowed South Africa to showcase the strength they have spent so long trademarking as their own. Fast bowling. Aggressive bowling. Short-ball bowling. Incisive, obliterating bowling. When you think of South Africa, that is what you think of but at this tournament that hid in the shadows until now. Sweet relief. It’s back.Dale Steyn was back. His vein popping was back. His scary eyes were back. And he was back with a partner and a follow-up bowler who both looked the part. Relief.Kyle Abbott was picked ahead of Vernon Philander because South Africa could see the SCG track promised bounce and carry. Combined with his pace and passion, South Africa could create a pressure cooker at both ends of the pitch and then “follow up with a lot of heat,” as AB de Villiers put it, with Morne Morkel. Relief.South Africa were not the ones holding their breath. Sri Lanka were. Kumar Sangakkara was. The runs were. Relief, but then could have come release.Sri Lanka’s line-up are more than just capable against spin, they can be merciless against it. They bided their time against the pace pack, presumably to target the spin but JP Duminy did not let them. Not long ago he was just a part-time offspinner who would be used to get rid of some overs in the middle phases of a match, today he was a disciplinarian, holding the line so tightly that he gave almost nothing away. Relief.

Allan Donald, part of the heartache in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003, embraced Russell Domingo, not with a chest-bumping machismo but with genuine tenderness.

Then, he became the only South African with a World Cup hat-trick to his name. The tournament surprises in mysterious ways too.None more mysterious than Imran Tahir, who has come into his own as a limited-overs bowler, particularly at World Cups. Tahir seems to thrive on big tournament pressure. For South Africa, who are filled with players who seem to shy way from that, having one person who is willing to take it head on is a relief.Tahir’s variations are becoming the literacy test for batsmen and most are failing to read it. Mahela Jayawardene may be the highest-profile example of that. Tahir has had Jayawardene baffled since the middle of last year when he dismissed him in three successive ODIs. Today, he added a fourth to that. That wicket had Sri Lanka 83 for 4 and separated the two men who could have done the most damage to South Africa. Relief. So much relief Tahir allowed himself t enjoy it with one his customary over-the-top celebrations. “It’s because I just enjoy every wicket,” he said. And why not?As a whole, South Africa do not allow themselves to get as carried away as Tahir because of the burdens they have borne. Even when they dismissed Sri Lanka with more than 12 overs still left in their innings and a small target to chase, they did not seem to be pre-empting success. They couldn’t. Doing that has been their undoing before. Instead they just enjoyed the relief of knowing that this time, surely, it would not be.When Quinton de Kock hit the winning runs, his inner-child wanted to celebrate it with all the gusto it deserved. He wanted to fist-pump his way to the boundary. He hit the ball but he stopped, mid-salute, before his emotions could overtake him. Relief brings reason before it brings anything else. He took in the moment, and let others take it in too.In the dugout, Allan Donald, who had been part of the heartache in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003 and had watched it unfold in 2011, embraced Russell Domingo. Not with a chest-bumping machismo but with genuine tenderness. The rest of the support staff, more than a dozen of them, just grinned. Relief all round. Relief, rather than raucous, rampant celebration because relief has to be the leveller for a South African side who have made history but still have more history to make.For now, they have broken through the ceiling that has capped them at every World Cup they have ever participated in and won a knockout game but they have not yet won the World Cup. And they are not under the illusion that they have. All they know is they have cleared the path and given the country the breath of fresh air it has spent more than two decades gasping for.

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-2015Steven Finn took a fine catch to remove McCullum and fellow opener Martin Guptill went no further than 53•Getty ImagesOnce again it was Kane Williamson who was the cornerstone of the Blackcaps innings but he fell 10 short of a century•PA PhotosNew Zealand were just beginning to flatline before Grant Elliott hit the go button in the last 10 overs…•Getty Images…and Mitchell Santner biffed 28 in one over to lift New Zealand to 349•Getty ImagesEngland needed a good start and Alex Hales blasted them out of the blocks•Getty ImagesBut Matt Henry removed both openers•Getty ImagesOut strode the England captain in fine touch once again•Getty ImagesJoe Root also picked up his superb form. He and Morgan put England well on course•Getty ImagesEoin Morgan was unstoppable, belting the ball to all parts, striking 12 fours and five sixes•Getty ImagesMorgan made a scintillating century from 73 balls as England closed in on their highest ODI chase•Getty ImagesRoot went to his own ton, off 94 balls, as England waltzed home with six overs to spare•Getty Images

Too often have England been three down for not many and this time Joe Root was unable to provide the safety net

George Dobell at Lord's17-Jul-2015Like a trapeze artist learning to live without a safety net, England found at Lord’s that Joe Root will not always be able to conceal the cracks in their top order.There will be days – maybe quite a few days – when England get away with a poor start. With Root looking as if he may develop into a top player and Moeen Ali batting as low as No. 8, there will be times when the middle order are able to help the team rebuild from the loss of three early wickets. There will be times when they get away with it. Times when they have a safety net.But not always. No team, however deep the batting and however able the middle-order, can afford to find themselves three down as often as England have in recent times. No team can afford to have such a fragile opening partnership and no team can be overly reliant on one man.Root’s form in the last year or so has been exceptional: 1,513 runs at an average of 79.63 since June 2014. His stroke here – a waft that spoke of a mind scrambled by five sessions in the field, a huge deficit and a bowler of unusual pace – was unworthy of him, but he is human and he is 24. These things happen.England’s real issue is that so few of his colleagues seem able to fill the void when Root fails. England’s real issue is that he cannot mask all their flaws.Only three times in 13 innings since the start of the Caribbean tour have England gone past 75 two wickets down or less. On six occasions, the score had not even reached 50 before the third wicket fell. Only three times have England put on more than 17 for the first wicket.

If a somnambulant Lord’s was still half asleep when the innings began, it was wide awake after Lyth wafted at a wide delivery. Suddenly there was a hint of the Gabba about the place

All too often, England are starting their innings from the fragile foundation of 10 for 1 and 50 for 3. All too often, England’s middle order are exposed to the new ball. All too often, they are obliged to do the job of the top order. They will not always be able to shoulder such a burden. If England are to win the Investec Ashes, they will need the entire team to contribute.And remember, had Brad Haddin caught Root at Cardiff before he had scored, England would have been 43 for 4 and the weakness would have been exposed even more visibly. They got away with it on that occasion. It is foolish to think such fortune will continue to flow.This was an unsettling evening from an England perspective. The apparent air of resignation that hung around Lord’s as England bowled for five sessions was suddenly transformed into something urgent and desperate when Australia bowled. Perhaps it was superior skill, perhaps it was superior belief, perhaps it was a combination of physical weariness and scoreboard pressure, but whereas Australia had accumulated with calm assurance, England looked rattled and hurried when they began their reply.Reasoning that they had one opportunity to seize this match, Australia went hard at England with the new ball. And if a somnambulant Lord’s was still half asleep when the innings began, it was wide awake after Adam Lyth, looking shaken by the sudden increase in intensity, was drawn into a waft at a wide delivery. Suddenly England looked tense and Australia scented blood. Suddenly there was just a hint of the Gabba about Lord’s.While it would be premature to drop Lyth – it is only five Test innings since he made a century against a strong New Zealand attack – this was not the stroke of a Test opening batsman. He will face far more hostile environments, far less docile pitches. One score above 37 in seven Test innings – and four below 13 – does not bode well.England have not had a really effective opening partnership since Andrew Strauss retired. Or some time before that, really, as Strauss made only three centuries in the final three years of his career and did not make a half-century in his final eight innings. Nick Compton (with an average 31.93 from nine Tests) came closest to making the role his own but he was deemed not to be the sort of character some in the management wanted and was afforded little patience after three successive poor Tests. There are few better defenders of fast bowling in the county game, though.Sam Robson could come again but he appears to be a player in development. And decent batsmen though the likes of Varun Chopra, Mark Stoneman and Alex Lees are, to throw them in against this attack would be a asking a great deal of them. It is at such times, then, that England need their senior players to deliver.England’s top order found life far harder than Australia on a seemingly docile pitch•Getty ImagesIan Bell looked aghast the pitch when he was bowled, but he would have been better served looking at his technique. While Bell was undoubtedly the victim of a lovely piece of bowling – a full ball swung wonderfully late – he will reflect from the replays that his attempt to whip it through midwicket hardly gave him the best chance of negating the movement. The game may have changed in many ways, but the old adage about playing with the full face of the bat and into the V remains as relevant now as ever.Bell is often talked of as having the best technique in the England side. But it is a basic tenet of the game that the new ball is better played straight than with an angled bat. For an experienced player who had just seen his side’s No. 3 bowled by a late-swinging ball, his was a poor stroke. He has now reached 30 once in 11 innings and, on seven of those occasions, failed to pass 1. Of equal concern is the fact that, in those 11 innings, he has now been bowled four times. Coming during a game when he dropped a tricky but vital chance in the slips, the pressure on him is growing.And then there is Gary Ballance. His dismissal here, deep in the crease and unable to negate late swing that hit his off stump, was somewhat familiar. While the facile answer to his issues would be to convince him to play further forward, such an apparent solution would create several other technical problems. In short, it would weaken one of his strengths: the ability to minimise his dismissals edging to the slip cordon by remaining admirably compact and not pushing at the ball.In mitigation, he really did receive a very fine ball. Full and quick to take this docile pitch out of the equation, it swung late enough to beat Ballance’s tentative prod.But his problem may be more basic. If he studies replays of his dismissal, he may conclude that he is not watching the ball on to the bat as closely as he thinks. He need only study Chris Rogers’ method – and Lord knows he has had plenty of opportunity in recent days – to understand how top-order batsmen watch the ball right on to their bat.One option would be to promote Root to No. 3. He did open in the last Ashes series in England, after all. That would, at least, allow him to prevent such collapses rather than rebuild after them. England could also bring in another batsman – the likes of Jonny Bairstow or James Taylor – for the middle-order role. But it would also weaken a considerable strength in this England side. Root averages 33.53 batting in the top three and 65.50 from positions four to seven.Whatever happens over the next three days at Lord’s, England can no longer ignore the mountain of evidence that is building about the top order. They cannot ask for slower wickets. They cannot squeeze any more batsmen into their XI. There have been too many failures to dismiss it as an aberration.

Steven Smith played in every international fixture of Australia’s arduous tour of the British Isles. But victory in the final ODI of the summer allows him to take a break with great satisfaction

Andrew McGlashan at Old Trafford 13-Sep-20151:10

“It’s very satisfying – Steven Smith

A weary Steven Smith praised his inexperienced side after they dug deep to take the series decider against England, but afterwards admitted he was looking forward to a few days at home.Smith was the only player to appear in every one of Australia’s 13 international fixtures on this tour, including the one-off ODI against Ireland in Belfast in August, and he also played in two Tests in West Indies before reaching England. He now has a 10-day break before heading to Bangladesh where he will be in charge of one of Australia’s most inexperienced squads following the spate of retirements which became a feature of this tour.Those retirements – plus player rotation which was a feature for both sides – meant the Australia side which played at Old Trafford only had four survivors from their victory against New Zealand in the World Cup final at the end of March. Smith was one, along with Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Starc after the latter was wheeled out for one final match on this tour when Australia would have preferred for him to rest ahead of Bangladesh.”It’s very satisfying. I think it’s really pleasing for us to be able to win a series away from home with the lack of experience we’ve had over here,” Smith said. “One thing this team does really well is we learn quite quickly which is extremely pleasing. That’s encouraging signs for us going forward, making sure we learn from our mistakes quickly and the guys are doing that.”Although England triumphed in the Ashes, the talk before the one-day series was that Australia’s depth in pace bowling would prove too much. Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood were rested from the whole series while Nathan Coulter-Nile was injured in the second ODI at Lord’s. Ultimately, that proved the case as Starc, Pat Cummins, John Hastings and Mitchell Marsh dismantled England for 138 at Old Trafford.Much as he did in the World Cup final when he bowled Brendon McCullum, Starc set the tone on his recall by removing Jason Roy, albeit to a fortuitous lbw. But the bulk of the wicket-taking was done by Hastings and Marsh, who claimed 4 for 27 with zippy seam bowling. While Hastings may not have a vast part to play in Australia’s future, Marsh, who was named Man of the Series for his 134 runs and eight wickets, certainly does.”I thought he was really impressive throughout this one-day series, probably more with ball than bat, but he’s a really talented young player and he has a very bright future,” Smith said. “He summed up conditions really well and was able to get the ball in good areas through the whole series and he’s just going to keep improving.”Overall, however, Australia’s bowler of the series was Cummins who sustained pace above 90mph as he claimed 12 wickets at 19.66. Including the ODI against Ireland last month, his six-match stretch is the longest of Cummins’ injury-hit career to date, and Smith was confident that he could sustain his performance through to Test cricket as well.”I thought he was extremely impressive through the series,” Smith said. “He has worked extremely hard to get back after a tough time. It’s great to see him back on the field and bowling consistently at 150kph, it’s never nice to face. I’m confident that if he gets picked for a Test that he’ll be able to stand up to it.”A Test chance may come in Bangladesh, but Smith will not be immediately worrying about that. “I’m a bit tired to be perfectly honest,” he said. “It’s been a long summer, it’s been a great summer, a tough summer, so I’m just looking forward to the next 10 days before Bangladesh.”

Plus: women double-internationals, and South Africa’s lowest Test total at home

Steven Lynch19-Jan-2016Was the partnership between Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson at Hamilton the biggest for any wicket in Twenty20 internationals? asked Juan Castro from Hong Kong
The unbroken stand of 171 between Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson, which hurried New Zealand to a ten-wicket victory over Pakistan in Hamilton over the weekend was a new record partnership for T20Is – by just one run. Back in November 2009, South Africa’s openers Graeme Smith and Loots Bosman piled on 170 against England in Centurion in just 13 overs, hitting 15 sixes between them. There had been 11 previous ten-wicket victories in T20Is: New Zealand are the first country to manage three.Is it right that, before last week, Pakistan had lost only one Twenty20 international when defending a total of 150-plus? asked Asim Mahmood from Pakistan
There have now been 67 instances of the side batting second overhauling a total of 150 or more to win a T20I – and it’s true that last week’s match in Hamilton was only the second time it had happened to Pakistan. The other occasion was in St Lucia in May 2010, in the semi-final of the World T20 in the West Indies: Pakistan rattled up 191 for 6, but Australia reached their target when Mike Hussey hit successive balls in the last over for six, six, four and six. For the full list of the highest totals batting second in T20Is, click here.Pakistan lost the World T20 semi-final in St Lucia to Australia after scoring 191•AFPI’ve seen the list of men who played for two countries in Tests or one-day internationals. But are there any women who have done this? asked Jennifer Bradley from England
No woman has yet played for different sides in Test matches, but two have done it in one-day internationals. Nicola Payne played 37 ODIs for Netherlands – her debut, in the 1988 World Cup, was rather painful, as the Dutch were skittled for 29 by Australia in Perth – and in 1999-2000 switched allegiance to New Zealand, playing 28 ODIs for them and scoring 93 against India in Lincoln in 2002-03, her final season. Just to confuse things further, Payne was born in Canada! Wicketkeeper Rowan Milburn – whose father Barry kept wicket for New Zealand in Tests – performed a similar double: she played in seven matches for Netherlands in the 2000 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand (playing against Payne in one of them), then returned home to New Zealand and played eight times for them in 2007, including on tours of India and England.Was South Africa’s 83 all out at the Wanderers their lowest total in a home Test? asked Lysa Lopes from Bahrain
That Stuart Broad-inspired collapse to 83 in Johannesburg at the weekend was South Africa’s lowest all-out total in a Test at home since 1956-57, when they were skittled for 72 by England twice in successive matches, in Johannesburg and in Cape Town. Their only lower score anywhere since then was the 79 they scraped together against India in Nagpur in November 2015. In all South Africa have been bowled out 13 times for less than 83, although seven of those instances came before the First World War.Hardus Viljoen is possibly only the second Test player to hit a four and take a wicket with the first balls of his career•Getty ImagesWas South Africa’s 313 at Johannesburg the lowest total in which everyone – including Extras – reached double figures? asked Tushar Mukherjee from the United States
South Africa’s 313 in their first innings at the Wanderers provided only the 13th instance of all 11 batsmen making it into double figures in the same innings (Extras didn’t get there in two of those). And 313 was indeed the lowest total among those innings: the previous lowest was South Africa’s 358 against Australia in Melbourne in 1931-32, although India came close with 359 against New Zealand in Dunedin in 1967-68. Some statisticians were getting excited at the possibility of South Africa also breaking the record for the highest innings without an individual half-century, but in the end they fell just short of England’s 315 against West Indies in Port-of-Spain in 1985-86, when the highest score was David Gower’s 47 – although there were 59 extras.Hardus Viljoen hit his first ball in Tests for four, and later took a wicket with his first ball. Has anyone else managed this particular double? asked Mark Long from England
Hardus Viljoen’s feat, in South Africa’s third Test against England in Johannesburg, seems to have been the second time this particular debut double has been achieved (we don’t have full details for many early matches). Back in 1929-30, in New Zealand’s first-ever Test, in Christchurch, Matt Henderson hit his first ball (from England’s Maurice Allom) for four, and later dismissed Eddie Dawson with his opening delivery. It didn’t betoken a distinguished Test career, though: Henderson, a 35-year-old left-armer, never played again. Viljoen, whose maiden victim was Alastair Cook, was the 20th bowler known to have taken a wicket with his first ball in a Test.Send in your questions using our feedback form.

Hashim Amla shelved his usual serenity to produce an innings of steely resolve, and led South Africa’s fightback in the only way he knows how

Firdose Moonda at Newlands04-Jan-2016Hashim’s Army had to go to work today. As it turned out, so did he.The 170 guys and gals who wore fake beards and occupied Block B on the North Stand for the weekend, where their hit single was a chant of “Hashim, Hashim-Hashim, Hashim-Hashim, Hashim-Hashim-Hashim,” followed by a pause to allow the Barmy Army to chime “Moeen, Moeen-Moeen, Moeen-Moeen, Moeen-Moeen-Moeen,” in a vocal battle of the beards, were not around to sing their captain’s redemption song. However, as Bob Marley himself would have told them, “none but ourselves can free our minds.”Maybe Amla needed them not to be there, so he could mentally unshackle himself from the chains of the last two months. With every run, he unlocked a link and claimed a little more control to reverse the reasoning of the last few weeks – namely, that he had lost much of it.Du Plessis vows to fight on

Faf du Plessis was proud of his team’s efforts to stay in the second Test but acknowledged that their job was only half-complete after a day in which he recorded his first half-century for exactly 12 months.

Du Plessis finished the day on 51 not out in an unbroken 85-run partnership with his captain, Hashim Amla, whose unbeaten 157 was his first century since December 2014.

“As senior players, we like to score and contribute as much as we can,” said du Plessis. “You don’t want to have three or four seniors that are not contributing. Hashim has put in a lot of hard work in the nets to get a big score like he did today.

“For me, it was nice to spend some time in the middle and get your confidence back. When you are looking for runs, 50s and 40s don’t make a big difference, You’ve got to cash in. That’s going to be my goal tomorrow.

“We are not a team that will sit here and say we are back on top and everything has changed. We know there is a lot of hard work still to be done. Consistency in batting is what we have achieved [in the past] and we’ve got to get back there.”

Du Plessis was one of South Africa’s most notable failures in their recent 3-0 series loss in India, where he scored 60 runs at 8.57 in seven innings.

“India was India. I wish we had an eraser to Tippex it out,” he said. “Sport is all about confidence and we lacked confidence after that series. Mentally it was a challenge for us.

“We’ve had a real strong Test team for a long period of time but any team goes through these changes. There are a lot of new guys, and you try and make the bridge of learning as short as possible.”

On the India tour, Amla made strange decisions about when and how to use his spinners, particularly Imran Tahir. In the Boxing Day Test, he did not seem to be making any decisions at all, neither on the field nor off it. When asked about team selection, Amla said it was not up to him which XI took the field but that he depended on the selectors and committed himself to work with what they gave him. When asked about the choice of consultant – South Africa roped in Amla’s predecessor, Graeme Smith, who was vocal in his criticism on commentary – Amla was uncertain about the nature of Smith’s involvement and said he understood Smith would be around for the rest of the series. Smith later said he had not made a decision about the extent of his involvement.The only thing Amla was sure of ahead of the Newlands Test was that he wanted to continue as captain, even though there was a chorus calling for him to quit. Given his prior reluctance to lead, many thought he’d be better suited to just batting, but Amla defied them. He said he “enjoyed” the job even though he was desperate for runs. He was certain if he could contribute a little more, he could lead a little better. For someone of his quiet character, that makes sense.Unlike Smith, Amla cannot lead by being bullish, he must lead with the bat. Finally, that is what he has done.After South Africa lost an opener early (again), they needed a stoic, solid stand but they did not need the same kind of stonewalling that has seen them save Tests and attempt to save Tests in the past. The second day of the match is not the time to become so defensive that if the opposition attacks, defeat is inevitable. There had to be a balance between scoring runs and refusing them, and between saving face and saving the gam,e and Amla has so far managed to do all of that.Unlike Ben Stokes’ highlights-reel double-hundred, Amla’s innings was not one for the ages. Apart from the late flick to bring up fifty on the second afternoon, a wonderfully timed shot through square leg on the third morning, and a classy cover drive for his 7000th Test run, there weren’t many other memorable shots. There didn’t need to be.This was innings of attrition. It was eyecatching in its stubborness and for its fight. Amla and Dean Elgar steadied South Africa, then Amla and AB de Villiers saw them to some kind of safety, and then Amla saw Faf du Plessis back into some kind of form. In between that, there was the rare sight of Amla struggling. With himself.On a surface that offered very little assistance for the quicks and no turn at all, all the batsmen battled themselves more than the opposition attack. For Amla, the fight was in the footwork. He had to get his feet moving again like he had before, so that he would not offer loose drives as he had in the second innings in Durban. He had to get himself moving forward but not as hastily as he has been doing in the recent past, so that he could still drive but without breaking the speed limit. He had to choose how much to defend – and there was a lot of defending to do – and when to keep things moving, so that he did not end up leaving the rest with a mountain to climb and no-one to guide them. He did not get it right all of the time.The fluency that has become so synonymous with Amla was replaced with a stop-start kind of stiltedness. He scored runs in equal measure on the off- and on-side but not many down the ground and he never really looked as though he’d got going. Even after he’d reached each of his three landmarks, he seemed to be starting over every ball and the effects were exhausting on everyone including himself.He was stuck on 69 for 32 balls, for example, and his concentration was tested throughout. It first seemed to wane when, on 76, he offered a catch to James Anderson at slip off Joe Root. In a cruel reversal of what had happened on the first day, when Root dropped de Villiers off Anderson, Anderson put it down. Amla made another mistake when he was on 120 and flashed at a Steven Finn delivery but Nick Compton put him down at backward point.At the end of the day, Amla’s energy flagged, and he called on the medical staff to assist with cramp. There would be nothing unusual about this observation had anyone else been batting – it was well over 30 degrees and the heat was sapping – but Amla has a reputation for not even sweating. He did not change his gloves once during his record 311 against England in 2012.That was an innings of authority. This was an innings of intent. If Hashim’s army had half an eye on things from their workplaces they would have been satisfied with their soldier today. He hasn’t won yet but he has put up one hell of a fight.

Associate cricket is all about winning, said Scotland’s captain Preston Mommsen, and in a major tournament Scotland have still to experience what it feels like

Jarrod Kimber in Nagpur10-Mar-2016Second ball George Munsey tried to reverse sweep. Third ball as well. The fourth ball he smashed a reverse sweep. The fifth ball as well. Scotland were chasing 147. Scotland were trying to make some noise.The last ball of the first over Munsey came down the wicket. He looked lost the minute he left his crease. Whatever shot he had in his mind, whatever fantasy of destruction was playing, out on the field there was a confused batsman, way out of his crease, trying to invent a shot that would save him. It didn’t.For Scotland, nothing ever saves them.Twenty games. That is how many times Scotland have lined up in a major ICC tournament. One has been washed out. 19 have been lost. Twenty matches in 17 years, scattered around when they somehow qualify by overcoming years of amateur, shambolic administration, or when the ICC allow enough spots for them to claw their themselves into.Eleven of those were colossal smashings. Bowled out for 68 against the West Indies in the 99 World Cup. Making 136 against Netherlands, and having it chased in 23.5 overs in the 2007 World Cup. And losing a T20 game by 130 runs to South Africa.They have also gone close. In the ’99 World Cup they were chasing a low Bangladesh total confidently before they collapsed horrendously. They had Pakistan 116 for 6 in their first game of the ’07 WT20 before Pakistan regrouped. New Zealand only beat them by three wickets in the 2015 World Cup, and they made Bangladesh chase over 300 to beat them. And then there was Afghanistan in the same tournament.Their 210 total seemed safe when Afghanistan fell to 132 for 8. It felt safe again, after a small scare, when it was 192 for 9. It wasn’t. Afghanistan won their first ever match in a World Cup, and the Scottish changeroom went into the eerie silence they know too well.Their fans live with this, many of them travelling to these games. They are passionate, loud, and used to disappointment. Their off field organisation has improved so much in the last year that it’s like this is a different set up. They have never been closer to professional.And this may be the best group Scotland has ever produced. A group that since the last World Cup has played in one ODI. This is a proper cricket country, with a long history, hungry to improve and embarrassed to be the world record holders for the most losses without a win in a major ICC tournament.Kenya, Canada, Netherlands, UAE, Hong Kong and now even Oman have won matches. But Scotland just don’t win.In the first game of this tournament they were smashing Afghanistan around everywhere. Eighty-four runs without loss from 8.4 overs, chasing 160. Captain Preston Mommsen called it a “world class partnership”. The next ball they lost a wicket. It took them nine overs to hit a boundary after that; they ended up 14 runs short of a total they had almost broken the back of.Today Zimbabwe made it to 147. Scotland weren’t perfect in the field, they dropped Sean Williams which cost them. Matthew Cross, their gun keeper, let a ball go straight through his legs and fumbled another. Even their one great highlight, the catch of Michael Leask, came about because he dropped a simple chance.When batting, after Munsey’s wicket, Scotland kept attacking. Michael Leask, who’d been sent up the order to make some noise, moved down the wicket confidently, swung his bat beautifully, and stared straight down the ground hopefully, where he was aiming. Behind him the bails were taken off. It was almost as if he was staring at some alternate reality where things went Scotland’s way.Scotland lost four wickets by the 19th ball. The press scorer had no time to announce them one by one, and instead grouped all four of them together.But Scotland didn’t roll over. They kept fighting, and with Mommsen and Richie Berrington at the crease they got back in charge, and got themselves in a position to win. Even after Mommsen was out, even after Scotland had lost, Mommsen was still fighting. He laughed off thoughts that this was anything but a qualifying event. And then spoke about life as an Associate.”I don’t think people understand the pressure that comes from being an Associate team. Every time you take the field, no matter what kind of cricket, T20, ODI or four-day cricket, you are playing for something. You’re playing for money, you’re playing for funding, you’re playing for opportunity. Associate cricket is about winning at all costs, and that is the nature of the beast, and it is a beast.” He was right, but his comments won’t make much of a noise in this tournament.When he found cover, his team needed 55 off 35 balls with five wickets in hand. There was still some fight left and with Josh Davey hitting big, Scotland then needed 24 from 13 when Donald Tiripano bowled a slow half-tracker to Richie Berrington.A limp ball, a limp shot, and ultimately a limp finish.After the last wicket, when Ali Evans stumps were in random areas behind him, he just stayed on his knee. Staring. Not moving. Even when Mark Watt walked over to him he didn’t talk. They just shared the silence. Scotland’s silence.

Two impassioned screams for lbw, neither of them given, told the story of an Afghanistan side who are so close to winning, but just can’t get over the line

Jarrod Kimber23-Mar-20161:41

Match Day: Nabi showed cricket IQ

The ball hit Ben Stokes’ pad, and eight of them screamed, like this mattered to them more than anything else. All demanding, pleading, appealing, for an lbw where the ball wasn’t in the same post code as the stumps. None of them need much proof. They always appeal like it is the most out dismissal they have ever seen. No matter what their view of it, they know it is out.The umpire disagrees.Mohammad Nabi will not get his hat trick.The ball hit Moeen Ali’s pad, and this time only two of them screamed for the wicket. Screamed like everything they had worked for, everything they wanted, was on the line. Like this mattered more to them than anything else.Again, the umpire disagrees.Shapoor Zadran will not get his wicket. Afghanistan will not win the match.There are some who talk of the Afghan players like they are magical pixie fairy elves, sent from some far-off land to cheer up cricket and provide good-natured mirth. They mention that they are refugees, from a war-torn nation, outside the British Empire, who have somehow turned up in cricket tournaments.It is a disservice to them as cricketers. As professional cricketers. Afghanistan are not here because they have some magic cricket gene, they are here because they work hard, train hard, and they have been given a great deal of funding.USAID helped build Kabul Cricket Stadium. They brought in cricket gear for schools and cricket clubs. They constructed pitches throughout the country. They helped with training. They supported Salam Watander radio network’s attempts to broadcast Afhgan away games.From 2010 until 2014 two USAID programmes spent or programmed $2,287,934 on cricket. It wasn’t just the Americans either, the Indian and German governments also invested heavily in Afghan cricket.That also doesn’t count the tough club cricket in Pakistan, the support from the ICC, the fact that they have become the trendy associate to play, that they were one of the few countries outside the big three to see extra money after the ICC takeover and that as they keep qualifying for major events they keep receiving extra funding. All of this is making them stronger. Making them better.These are professional cricketers, doing a job, playing for a country that demands they win. The money might be smaller, but the stakes are often higher.For five overs, England did what you would expect to an associate qualifier, even a good one. They handled their good balls, dispatched the bad ones, executed their skillsets, as they say. Jason Roy got one that skidded through him. But James Vince drove the ball so fast the grass looked like ice. Joe Root started scoring by putting big Shapoor into the crowd. His next scoring shot was a reverse lap sweep. Vince twice gave himself room and crashed Amir Hamza through the covers and England were 41 for 1 after five.

Nabi is no longer Afghanistan captain. That seems bizarre, as everything about him, with bat, or ball, screams leader

One of the world’s best batsmen was at the crease, the ball was skidding onto the bat, the base had been set, and the run rate was at 8.2 an over. We know what happens from there. It didn’t.Nabi is no longer Afghanistan captain. That seems bizarre, as everything about him, with bat, or ball, screams leader. Even at bad times, he still takes over the team. But when his batting dipped after the World Cup last year, he stepped aside.This World T20 it his bowling that has been amazing. To watch him come in, you are watching what surely must be a part-timer. His action screams “I bowl a bit of offspin”. It’s part-time 101, he comes in slowly, he turns his front shoulder too early, he doesn’t have a powerful rotation through the crease and he’s known as a batsman. But the ball does come out of his hand well. He does spin it, it does get drop, it isn’t as friendly as he makes it look.But even then his accuracy is only ok. He can drop short, does bowl wide, and sometimes the ball gets away from him. He does have a good straight ball. But mostly, he’s super canny. He thinks like a batsman, and works them out at the crease. That coupled with a part-timer’s action means many a batsman slips up.When Vince backed away to give himself room, Nabi didn’t panic, fire down a quick ball, he didn’t go wide of off stump either, he just drifted up a slow turner straight at Vince. It bamboozled Vince so much that somehow Vince was beaten the way you are outside off stump by a ball outside leg stump. The next ball, still in a daze, Vince was out caught and bowled.The following ball, Eoin Morgan received one of Nabi’s straight ones, but he played for the one that turned.Then there was a Root run out chance. In his haste to get back to the stumps, he knocked off the bails. But he had still had the ability to take the ball cleanly, and pick up the stump with the ball touching it. In four balls, Nabi had broken the partnership, bowled the captain and run out the star player.Afghanistan had gone from out the game, to in front of it. Nabi was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament. Both things were pretty unlikely, and pretty amazing.Ben Stokes falls in a heap after failing to pull a slow trundler•Associated PressWith England suddenly looking like it was all a bit much for them, Afghanistan had the opportunity with their four spinners to really go for them. They didn’t. As soon as Nabi’s over finished, the sixth of the match, Afghanistan instantly retreated into after-Powerplay mode. Sami Shenwari, one of their best bowlers this tournament, started against two new batsman, with his team well on top, with no attacking fielders and only the four fielders inside the circle. Nabi continued at the other end, with a slip for a few balls, before his field spread as well.But still England managed to find the few fielders around them. Jos Buttler hit Sami straight to cover. Then Stokes fell over – bowling himself off a short one.Still Afghanistan didn’t push. They took their six wickets as a victory, and let England just find singles. Had it not been for another mistake from England when Chris Jordan found the leading edge, they would have quite happily just let England drift.The problem came when England finished tripping over themselves.Eventually England just found the gaps, and forgot the wickets. Top teams, with all their experience, will, if given enough chances, get it right. It may have looked to Afghanistan that they were still on top, but England were in a position to take control. One more wicket could change that.You only need to see Shapoor bowl once to be hooked. Of all the Afghan bowlers, none is more Pakistan ’90s than Shapoor. There are times when he seems to run faster than he bowls, but he does it with such pomp and swagger, his mane flying around behind him, that he almost convinces batsmen he is as fast as he once was. Afghanistan have three fast bowlers, their first hero Hamid Hassan and the silky Dawlat Zadran.In Australia they formed a trio, but Shapoor has been the man to miss out here. But the others haven’t been firing. Hassan has been bowling as if his hamstrings are made of peanut brittle, and Dawlat has struggled for consistency. So Shapoor was back, the big prancing show horse just about past his best came galloping in like a 1980s rock god and bowled to Moeen Ali.The ball wasn’t seam up, it wobbled about everywhere, but landed on a length just outside off stump, and came back in to slap into Moeen’s pad as he tried to work it on the leg side. The ball flew out on the off side. Ramiz Raja, on TV, said it would miss the stumps. Our ball by ball said “missing leg-stump”. The umpire didn’t even really look at it seriously. The match continued as England took a run.Later the DRS would show the ball hitting the stumps. Had it been possible to refer it, it would have been out. England would have been 102 for 8. But there was no DRS, Afghanistan had to finish the innings out, the final 16 balls with Moeen still there.Shapoor finished his over well. Next up was left-arm spinner Amir Hamza. He had started well, even as England had gone after him in the powerplay. Hamza is not one of the Afghan players who grew up in a Pakistan refugee camp, he has learnt his cricket in Afghanistan, and is a product of their system. His left-arm spin does not turn massively, but he is clever, changes the pace well, and has a great temperament.He had six balls to get through. A good over and his team was still on top. A great over and England were all but gone.

Inzi rubbed his beard. The other players just looked like they had been beaten. Like all their hope was gone

His team-mates in the dugout all brimmed with nervous energy. Moeen had enough and was clearly coming after him. The first ball was saved from a boundary because of great fielding, fielding they are not known for. No one could save the next ball, it was slog swept into the crowd. Hamza was always going to bowl a quicker ball straight away, Moeen knew it, and bashed it down the ground to the fence. Hamza fought back and had a decent shout for lbw, but all that did was bring Willey on strike. Nabi came over, whatever he said didn’t work, two sixes followed.The Afghan dug out went dead quiet. Everyone stared straight ahead. There was no energy, nervous or otherwise. Inzi rubbed his beard. The other players just looked like they had been beaten. Like all their hope was gone.The little hope when they went out to bat was in the hands of Mohammad Shahzad, everyone’s new favourite cricketer. A rotund rebel with the bat who plays the game as if it is to be enjoyed. Shahzad edged his first ball for four, he was unsure about his next one, and for the third he was hobbling off the ground with a bruise on his right leg and a plumb lbw.Noor Ali was the only other batsman who looked like he could handle the English pace bowlers. When he was out, he stood at the crease for such a long time with a face as broken as the dugout had been at the end of Hamza’s over.At the end it was Shafiqullah. Twenty-four off the last over was always going to be too much, but he made sure they batted out, and finished with a slow slash through the covers.The Afghan team were crushed. Not for the first time, not even the second, but for the third time this week they had been in a position to beat a big team, but they have lost all of them. Against Sri Lanka it was sloppiness, against South Africa it was their bowling and here against England it was one over. Just one.They know they are close, they don’t want our sympathy, they don’t want to be our second favourite team, they don’t want patronising, they want to win. And they are so close.When that ball hit Moeen, Shapoor went down onto his knees. Both his arms were straight out at the umpire. His hair flopped all over his head. His eyes were wild with passion, desire, hope. Behind him Mohammad Shahzad jumped into the splits position and appealed with all he had as well. They both screamed, pleaded, like they both knew, that this ball was it. They are professional cricketers; they know how to read a game. If they got that one wicket, right then, maybe they could keep England down to a total they could get.That next over, that over, went for 25. Afghanistan lost by 15. The over that will haunt Hamza for a long time, his team-mates will replay it in their minds for years to come. That will make them train harder, that will inspire them to get better. That damn over. Those damn lbws.They knew how much that over cost them. They knew how much that wicket could have helped. They know how close they are. They know how much they want it.