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The Perth Scorchers quick missed graduation because she was making her WBBL debut

Tristan Lavalette27-Nov-2023Returning home from a pre-season trip, Chloe Ainsworth in an impromptu move decided to show off her self-taught skills on the piano at Brisbane Airport.She held court and played a couple of pieces much to the initial amusement of her team-mates and those listening in, who were left impressed by her hidden talent and confidence in expressing it.”I was involved in music growing up and was pretty good at it,” Ainsworth, who turned 18 in September, told ESPNcricinfo. “My team-mates thought it was all pretty funny. It was good to make them laugh.”Related

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The softly-spoken Ainsworth has injected youthful exuberance in Perth Scorchers, who are built around a veteran core and have enjoyed a bounce back season. After failing to make finals last season in a disappointing title defence, Scorchers finished with an 8-6 regular season record to qualify for the finals. They will face either Brisbane Heat or Sydney Thunder in Wednesday’s Eliminator final in a bid to play Adelaide Strikers for the title.Ainsworth has played a big role in her debut WBBL season to spearhead the attack with 15 wickets at an average of 18.00, enough to get her named in the official team of the tournament announced on Monday. She might be mild-mannered off the field, but Ainsworth follows a lineage of quick bowlers.”I have white-line fever,” she laughed, citing former Australia quick Mitchell Johnson as a childhood hero. “I can be very competitive and it just helps me out there being fired up.”She has been able to back up her snarls at batters. Ainsworth has been clocked around 115kph and is poised to eventually hit the 120s. “I think I can get quicker. That’s the aim…to bowl quicker,” she said.

This Chloe Ainsworth is a seriously talented young cricketer#WBBL09 pic.twitter.com/YjoDhtyEg6

— Weber Women's Big Bash League (@WBBL) November 22, 2023

Ainsworth started off as a wicketkeeper in junior cricket before realising she could bowl faster than anyone else. She rose quickly through the ranks and played one match in Australia’s Under-19 World Cup campaign earlier in the year before breaking her thumb.Even though she’s been well down the order for Scorchers and faced only 20 deliveries, Ainsworth can bat and particularly enjoys hitting the ball hard and long. She has the capabilities of being a genuine allrounder, but right now it’s all about her pace bowling.Bustling into the crease, powered by a burly frame, Ainsworth unleashes rockets and she’s already armed with a deadly yorker. She concentrates on pitching the ball up, but has utilised hostile short-pitched bowling to good effect at the traditionally pace friendly WACA ground.Ainsworth can move the ball around making her a tough proposition and an acceptable economy of 7.29 suggests an ability to maintain control. There is work needed to become a more rounded pace bowler, but the foundations have been built.

It would have been nice to celebrate with friends, but I’m committed to cricket. It will be amazing to play in the finals. I’ll be doing everything I can because I’m competitive. I want to win.The WBBL has come before end of school fun for Chloe Ainsworth

“I will need more variations, especially in T20 cricket,” she said. “You need different deliveries to pull out in different situations. I also want to keep learning how to control swing.”But I try to keep things simple. Cricket is cricket. I’m there to take wickets and I’m backed in to do that.”The team’s confidence in Ainsworth was underlined when Scorchers captain Sophie Devine entrusted her to bowl the final over of a nerve-jangling match against defending champions Adelaide Strikers at the WACA.”When there were a few overs left, I looked at the scoreboard and realised that I was going to bowl [the final over]. I was excited,” she said.With Strikers needing 12 runs to chase down a total of 166, Ainsworth was denied a heroic finish by England allrounder Dani Gibson who hit a last ball boundary to win the match. Ainsworth relied on bowling on a length, but it proved predictable for Gibson who clubbed 15 runs in the final over.”It was disappointing to not get the job done. Everyone got around me after the match to make sure I wasn’t upset,” she said. “It’s a learning experience. It’s about being really clear over the plans and how to execute.”Ainsworth burst onto the scene with an impressive WBBL debut against Hobart Hurricanes in Launceston on the same day as her Year 12 graduation.”I had to miss the graduation, but I checked in with my mates on FaceTime after the game so that was at least something,” she said.The WBBL has been a steep learning curve for Chloe Ainsworth•Getty ImagesHer subsequent debut at the WACA netted a three-wicket haul against Hurricanes, including clean bowling star batter Heather Graham with a pearler that knocked out middle stump.Ainsworth’s starring role saw her thrusted in front of the cameras for a post game media engagement along the boundary of the Lillee-Marsh stand, while giddy family and friends over the fence chanted her name with gusto.”My mates were taking the mickey out of me,” she laughed. “It feels weird having attention. I’m not the most out there person, but it’s all part of being a cricketer at this level.”The spotlight still feels rather surreal for Ainsworth, who last week was supposed to be celebrating the end of schooling with friends in a rite of passage for high school graduates in Australia.Instead, as temperatures soared in Perth amid a pre-summer heatwave, she’s been putting in the hard yards in a determined bid to help Scorchers push for a second title in three seasons.”It would have been nice to celebrate with friends, but I’m committed to cricket,” Ainsworth said. “It will be amazing to play in the finals. I’ll be doing everything I can because I’m competitive. I want to win.”That should be music to the ears of Scorchers fans.

Issy Wong talks about being a marmite fiend, Taunton’s best-kept secret and her mum’s Yorkshire puddings, with a little help from her MI team-mates, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jhulan Goswami

Interview by Vishal Dikshit11-Mar-2024If you could just eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Just one thing every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Oh my god! Probably Marmite. It’s a spread we have at home, savoury spread. I take it everywhere with me, so I’ve got a jar of it. It comes with me in my suitcase. You can have it on toast for breakfast, sometimes you can even have it like a toasted sandwich for lunch or on toast with scrambled egg and then for dinner if you’re making a gravy, you can put Marmite in the gravy. So it’s pretty versatileWhat’s your go-to meal?
All the hotels do a chicken breast, mashed potatoes and vegetables which is pretty good. It’s quite plain but it’s just a safe bet, you know what you’re going to get. You get vegetables, you get carbohydrate, you got protein, often comes off quite nice like gravy as well? Which is nice. Tastes pretty good.What’s the least healthy thing we’d find in your fridge right now?
In the mini-fridge [at the hotel], not a lot actually (). In my fridge at home… I quite like custard. I don’t have it on its own, but it gets stored in the fridge. Or Babybels. Do you have them here? Little cheese wrapped in wax. I could smash like six of them in a row ().What’s one food you had to give up to get fit for cricket?
Everything in moderation is all right. One meal isn’t going to make me unfit for cricket. It’s when you have one meal seven times a week that you’re probably going to be in trouble. Probably try and eat less ice cream and save it for special occasions. Which cricketer you know is the best cook?
I think Harmanpreet’s a pretty good cook – she got her hand up over there. Harman, you have to cook for me. You can’t say you’re the best cook and not cook for me.Harmanpreet: I can make… omelette?If Harman was not sitting here, who would you name?
Charlie Dean once cooked me some… she hardly cooked it, it was some very raw broccoli. Very undercooked broccoli. Not very good. Katie George is pretty good. She cooks a lot of good food. I’ll say she’s probably up there. She makes really good chips, but healthy chips.

“Taunton do yoghurt with banana and honey. You look at it and think, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be horrible,’ then you eat it and you’re like, ‘This is great!'”

Baked?
Yeah, baked in the oven. Very good.What is your favourite thing to cook?
I like barbecuing. I got a barbecue for my birthday couple of years ago so I’m all over it. I do Korean barbecue, chicken thigh. All sorts, really.One food you’ve discovered on cricket tours and grown to love.
What’s it called, ? Just .One food you miss when you’re on tour.
My mum’s Yorkshire puddings. My mum makes very good Yorkshire puddings.Jhulan Goswami: Why didn’t you bring some here?Wong: Gosy! You can’t bring them; they’ve got to be cooked fresh. Someone show her a picture. Yorkshire pudding goes with like a roast dinner with bit of gravy. My mum makes the best. If you want a Yorkshire pudding, have my mum’s. No other Yorkshire pudding tallies up to it.Which cricketing venue serves the best food?
Everybody says Lord’s is good. I think it’s too fancy because you sit there and then you got to wait, and they’ve never got enough of anything. And it’s always been fancy.Everyone says Lord’s, what do you say?
I think Edgbaston’s pretty good. They grow a lot of their own vegetables and stuff in the garden, which is nice. Where else is the food good? Taunton, they do a – it sounds really nasty – it’s yoghurt with banana and honey. You look at it and think, “Oh, it’s gonna be horrible,” then you eat it and you’re like, “This is great!”. You just have it every day for how many days you’re there.What’s your go-to post-workout snack?
Chicken roti (). We had to do something the other day [before the WPL 2024 started] where we had to agree on something we all ate after a game. And all three of us [Goswami and Harmanpreet] had to say chicken roti.And a protein shake, maybe.

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The star of India’s ten-wicket win over South Africa in the one-off-Test accepts that she needs to work hard to get back to the white-ball sides

Nikhil Sharma05-Jul-2024In a match where India became the first team to top 600 in a women’s Test cricket and Shafali Verma hit the fastest double-century in the format, Sneh Rana took back the Player-of-the-Match award. It was her 10 for 188 for the match, after all, that led India to their ten-wicket win – their third Test-match in a row. A good time for her to put in her bid for a women’s Test championship along the lines of the men’s event.”Of course women should have a Test championship,” she told ESPNcricinfo in the gap between the end of the one-off Test and the start of the T20I series between India and South Africa in Chennai. “We have started playing red-ball cricket in the domestic circuit too [from earlier this year], and we are playing more Test matches now, and getting good results. I think a championship will come as a big boost to women’s cricket.”Late last year, in December, India played England and Australia at home, and both series had one-off Test matches slotted in. India won both, beating England by 347 runs and then Australia by eight wickets – Rana was the Player of the Match against Australia too. Three Tests scattered across just over six months, after India had played just 13 Tests since the turn of the millennium, stop and start at that. Only four teams – Australia, England, India and South Africa – currently play Test cricket.Related

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That has made the victories, especially the ones against England and Australia, who play Test cricket most regularly among women’s teams, worth savouring.”It’s about the mindset, we have shown patience,” Rana said. “The challenges are the same, it’s just for longer. The tricks and strategies are the same, but we need to focus on fitness and those things. India are now doing well in all three formats. India have been doing well in ODIs and T20Is, we have been reaching the semi-finals and finals of the World Cups. And now we have won three Tests in a row. It’s a great feeling to win a hat-trick of Tests.”As such, it’s all the same. Just the colour of the ball is different.”Rana might say it’s all the same, but she hasn’t been able to make an impression in white-ball cricket quite the same way as she has in Tests. Her numbers aren’t bat in ODIs and T20Is – especially in the latter, where she has 24 wickets from 25 games at an average of 21.75 and an economy rate of 6.21 – but she hasn’t been a regular in the national team. She was left out of both squads in the ongoing series against South Africa too.

“He knows how to get the best out of each of us. That’s his biggest strength. One of the things I like most about him is that he motivates us a lot, before and during games”Sneh Rana on Amol Muzumdar

“This can happen – you are in the team sometimes and you are out at other times,” Rana said. “My best wishes to whoever is picked for the T20 World Cup [in Bangladesh in October this year] – I’ll want India to win and support them. I want to return to the T20I team, of course, and I’m working hard for it, and will continue to. Selection isn’t in my hands.”That said, it’s true that she doesn’t have the sort of variations some of the more successful white-ball spinners do. She accepts it, too.”Variations… I have one that goes on straight, and I vary the pace, and that’s what I am working on,” she said. “What are my strengths – everything I do is my strength. But yes, I trust my stock delivery the most, that’s my biggest strength. It’s helped me all these years. You would have seen that most of my deliveries are my stock offspin. I flight it, and it loops in the air, and it lands on the seam. That sometimes gets me extra bounce. It’s worked for me against most batters.”Sneh Rana hasn’t been able to hold down a place in India’s white-ball sides•Getty ImagesBack to the Test set-up, and the appointment of Amol Muzumdar as head coach for all formats, Rana said, has had a big impact. “He has changed our mindset and approach. He knows how to get the best out of each of us. That’s his biggest strength. One of the things I like most about him is that he motivates us a lot, before and during games.”All of this has come at an exciting time for women’s cricket in India. The Women’s Premier League, though much delayed, has come as a boon, and has thrown up promising new faces – Saika Ishaque, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana among them – and there is the domestic red-ball competition Rana alluded to.”Change has come,” Rana said. “Girls are choosing cricket [as a profession]. Competition has gone up, lots of girls are doing well, some of them have played international cricket too. This will help us.”Along with that, our match fees are at par with the male cricketers. We are getting more support and facilities. It’s all very positive right now.”

Having made his Test debut earlier this year, the Bengal fast bowler is ready to go again after recovering from dengue fever

Shashank Kishore04-Sep-2024On a pleasant Bengaluru afternoon, after working up a sweat during an intense training session, India fast bowler Akash Deep is on his phone to check scores of the first Rawalpindi Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh.He’s aware he could be in contention for India’s home Tests against Bangladesh later in September, and wants to see how their batters are faring. Watching cricket that is relevant to his immediate assignments has been Akash’s night-time routine lately. During the day, he’s been ramping up his bowling workloads and training hard.”I haven’t played any competitive cricket since the Bengal T20 League in June,” Akash tells ESPNcricinfo ahead of the Duleep Trophy from September 5 in Bengaluru and Anantapur. Dengue fever had sidelined him for three weeks until mid-July, but he’s done the work since to get himself ready in time for India’s home season, and hopes to add to his maiden Test cap that he earned against England in Ranchi this year.”I was on complete bed rest for those three weeks. When I came back to bowl, I realised the body takes time to get back into rhythm. You can do as much gym work as you want, but unless you bowl, those bowling muscles don’t open up.”Akash, 27, is just four seasons old in first-class cricket, and he’s made a strong impression as a skiddy bowler who can dart the ball both ways. When he was spotted by former Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary during a club game in Kolkata in 2018, Akash caused both “hair-raising excitement” – in Tiwary’s words – and frustration because of his tendency to bowl “four good balls and two hit-me balls.” A conversation with India fast bowler Mohammed Shami in Kolkata was a turning point.”He spoke to me about his issues with fitness, what he did to improve, how he came back from injuries,” Akash says. “That chat gave me perspective. I used to bowl mid-130s, but after following his advice, I worked on my fitness and I realised slowly I could bowl long spells without being tired.”In red-ball cricket, I’ve been focusing on consistency. How long can you land the ball on the same spot? Sometimes when there’s nothing in the wicket, you can tire out. My focus has been on building my endurance to bowl long spells and remaining consistent because you need to keep up the pressure and not leak runs.”As a fast bowler, I keep discussing with so many coaches. It’s about building up to get wickets in Tests. The formula doesn’t change, A good ball is a good ball at both club level and international level. My job is to keep hitting the five-to-seven metre mark, keep it there. The more you can bowl there, the more successful you will be.”These habits earned him three wickets in his first hour as a Test cricketer: Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley in the bag before he was six-overs old in Ranchi. As he reflects on those emotions now, Akash has put the giddy high of his Test debut behind him.”When you work hard and come this far, there’s a feeling from within that that I need to do a lot more to stay here. That’s my thinking. I feel I needed to work harder, so that I can play a lot many more Tests.”The journey to his India cap has been tough. In 2015 his father and brother, both of whom were unwell, died in the span of two months. It was then that he considered leaving home for Kolkata to play cricket seriously.”A lot has changed but I think of my dad,” Akash says. “I wish he’d seen me play Tests. Whenever I’m low or in need of that extra push, I think of him. It gives me the strength to get even better.”Akash Deep with his family on the day of his Test debut•BCCIAkash comes from Sasaram, a town in rural Bihar, where in 2007 his entire neighbourhood pooled in money to rent a generator and a TV to watch India play Pakistan in the T20 World Cup final. Sixteen years later, they were gathered around a giant screen outside his house to watch one of them play for India. Akash’s mother and sister, though, were rushing to Ranchi at a few hours’ notice, to watch him get his Test cap from Rahul Dravid.”Growing up, people in our village used to scold us whenever we talked about cricket,” he says. “All we kept hearing was it won’t feed us. No one had ever done anything that could be considered a big achievement. No history of sports, no proper grounds or infrastructure. But when I went back home after my Test debut, I saw kids playing with such joy and parents actually encouraging them. If because of me, awareness in my town has gotten better, what more can I ask for?”Akash is earnest and articulate. He attributes this to his mentors and expresses gratitude towards those who have helped him.”Arun Lal, he’s done so much for me,” Akash says, when asked about those he looks up to. “It’s amazing how some people come into your life. At a time when I didn’t believe in myself, he’d tell me how I’m the best and how I had everything to succeed. Those words to a nobody were very encouraging.”He believed in me more than I believed in myself. That motivated me to learn. When I made my Test debut, I called him to get his blessings. He said, ‘I knew this would happen, I told you five years ago.’ If you’re at five, he’ll build you up to be 10 on 10.”There’s determination to Akash and a hunger that leaves little room for complacency. He knows he’s just getting started. “I feel every stage I’ve got chance, I’ve tried to perform well. But I don’t feel I’ve achieved a lot. As a person there’s no age to learning. If I get into this mindset that I’ve achieved, then that (hunger) dies. I want to just stay fit, keep playing, focusing on that and not think of what I’ve done.”My mindset is simple. The next match I play is the most important match of my life.”

Three things hurt India considerably in the three-match spin-fest at the Premadasa: their luck at the toss, their execution of the sweep, and their resource deployment

Sidharth Monga09-Aug-2024India have just lost an ODI series in what can objectively be termed pretty extreme conditions. In no bilateral ODI series of three matches or fewer have so many wickets fallen to spin: 43 out of 54, which also includes three run-outs, leaving just eight for the quicks. Only once has more spin been employed in a three-match ODI series, back in 1997-98 when Zimbabwe toured Sri Lanka.ESPNcricinfo LtdHaving not won an ODI series against India since 1997, having lost the T20Is 3-0, Sri Lanka took a calculated risk. They were missing a handful of their first-choice quicks because of injuries, and did what they needed to do to make the ODIs competitive. They prepared pitches that would offer appreciable turn and natural variation to spin bowlers, and enjoyed a bit of luck in winning all three tosses and getting the best of batting conditions.At any other venue, batting first in a day-night game is fraught with danger because dew can handicap spinners in the evening, but this is where the R Premedasa Stadium’s history is worth knowing. There was a time not long ago when it used to be impossible to chase in day-night matches at this venue, dew or no dew. The stadium was built in low-lying marshy land, and the underlying moisture would come up to the surface of the pitch in the evening, giving fast bowlers a significant advantage.Related

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In the decade before the 2011 World Cup, 32 of the 45 day-night matches at the Premadasa were won by sides winning the toss. Before that World Cup, though, the playing surface was raised by three-and-a-half feet, and it did the trick. Sri Lanka chased successfully in their quarter-final and semi-final. The relevance of this history lesson now is that if you make a dry track, you need not worry about it getting better to bat on with the evening moisture or dew playing a significant role.Sri Lanka got their strategy right, had the rub of the green, and bowled superbly despite India getting off to three quick starts, thanks almost exclusively to Rohit Sharma, and defeated a side that had gone unbeaten through last year’s World Cup before the final, and one that had been dominating Sri Lanka in recent years.ESPNcricinfo LtdWe don’t have the HawkEye data to back it up, but the commentators suggested that it turned more and more as the matches progressed, and it does bear out in the batters’ output against spin. However, there seems to have been a clear difference between the sides in terms of approach. Sri Lanka seemed to be more conservative against spin while India looked to attack them more. It gave India a slightly better scoring rate but hurt them significantly with the wickets lost.In his analysis of his team’s batting, Rohit made an interesting point. He said India didn’t play the sweep shot as often or as well as Sri Lanka did. His observation was spot-on on both counts. Not only did Sri Lanka employ the various varieties of sweep more often, they also fared much better when they did. There is a good reason why India didn’t try it as often: they a lost a wicket on every fifth attempt.ESPNcricinfo LtdIf played well, the sweep brings more than just the immediate runs scored. It makes the fielding captain defend more areas of the field, opening up spaces elsewhere. That is particularly true if you play the reverse-sweep well. The threat of the reverse-sweep can force captains to deploy a deep point and open up the extra-cover region. It also messes with the spinners’ length.Historically, India haven’t been the greatest of sweepers. Improving on all kinds of sweep was the endeavour when Rahul Dravid and Rohit led the side. As with all things, there is a delicate balance: you improve on this new shot but don’t disregard your traditional strength, which is to get to the pitch of the ball or go right back. That India weren’t excellent on that front in this series is something that will concern them, especially Virat Kohli, who was twice caught on the front foot without getting anywhere close to the ball, giving him little chance to recover against the ball that didn’t turn.ESPNcricinfo LtdThese numbers don’t automatically make India a poor team against spin. Over the same period since 2019, India have the best average against spin in ODIs and only England and South Africa have scored quicker than them. Nor do those numbers necessarily make them the best batting unit against spin. It probably suggests that when there is appreciable assistance for spinners, India perhaps don’t do enough to force the opposition bowlers out of their comfort zones. This is something Rohit has said India will continue to work on.The one other thing that stood about India’s series loss was their less-than-optimal use of bowling resources. Even that possibly came down to their obsession with keeping a seam-bowling allrounder ready should Hardik Pandya not be available. That is possibly why they persisted with Shivam Dube through the series when the conditions called for a spin-bowling allrounder in Riyan Parag. Sri Lanka’s spinners, then, not only fared better but also bowled a lot more than India’s: 81.1% of their team’s overs to India’s 65.3. Some of this might have been down to there being more assistance for spinners in the second innings but the make-up of India’s XI perhaps also had something to do with their willingness to pay a short-term price for what they believe is a long-term pursuit.

All the stats highlights from the third ODI and the one-day series that Australia whitewashed

Deep Gadhia17-Jan-2025308 for 8 – Australia’s first innings total against England in the third ODI is the highest score in the Women’s Ashes ODIs since they began in 2013. This is also the first instance of a team breaching the 300-run mark in the Women’s Ashes. The previous best was Australia’s 296 for 6 at Coffs Harbour in 2017.249 – Runs added by Australia’s five pairs after the fall of their fourth wicket at 59 are the most by a team in ODIs after the fall of the fourth wicket. Only six times have teams added more than 200 runs for the last six wickets, four of which have been done by Australia.2 – Ashleigh Gardner became just the second woman in ODI history to score a century at No. 6 or below. The first one was West Indies’ Shemaine Campbelle when she scored her only hundred to date against Sri Lanka in 2013.316.67 – Georgia Wareham’s strike rate during her unbeaten 12-ball 38 is the highest by a batter in a women’s ODI innings, among batters who have scored at least 30 runs. Her strike rate of 264.28 during her knock of 37 in the previous Ashes stands to be the third-best.

Ashwin leaking runs in the powerplay and Jadeja failing to pick up wickets have added to CSK’s woes

Deivarayan Muthu10-Apr-20252:44

Can Ashwin and Jadeja get back among the wickets?

R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja claimed 55 wickets each in 67 IPL matches together for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) between 2012 and 2015. Ashwin’s creative genius dovetailed beautifully with Jadeja’s metronomic accuracy, turning Chepauk into a fortress. Between 2012 and 2015, CSK won 18 of their 25 games at home, boasting a win-loss ratio of 2.57.In their quest to recreate that winning formula several years later, CSK splurged INR 9.75 crore on Ashwin and reunited him with Jadeja and his beloved Chepauk. But the grand reunion hasn’t produced the kind of output CSK and their fans might have hoped for. CSK have already lost two in a row at home and another defeat in Chennai will leave them in unfamiliar territory.Ashwin has conceded almost ten an over for five wickets this season and has completed his quota in only three out of five games. While Jadeja’s economy rate (8.07) is better than Ashwin’s, the left-arm spinner has got just two wickets in five matches and has not completed his quota in any of those.Related

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Ashwin came into this IPL as a retired international cricketer and started it looking like someone who hadn’t played professional cricket for three months. His first ball to Suryakumar Yadav, in the powerplay against Mumbai Indians (MI), was right in the slot and was pumped over the covers.That foretold Ashwin’s powerplay run this season: 78 runs off 30 balls for just one wicket at an economy rate of 15.60. Between 2012 and 2015, his powerplay economy rate was 6.25.The entire landscape of T20 has changed since then. It has become a different sport, with batters trying to launch every ball into orbit. Mitchell Marsh, who is among the top run-getters this season, recently described going at a run-a-ball in the powerplay as “panic stations”. Specialist offspinners are a dying breed and Ashwin, arguably, is the last of that breed.6:50

Chawla: Dhoni as captain will help struggling Ashwin and Jadeja

He has dipped into the carrom ball and turned it the other way, but batters just keep coming at him. There are also other factors that have hampered Ashwin. Chepauk no longer offers the sharp turn that it used to in the past, with CSK going on the record to express their dissatisfaction with the pitches at home. In Guwahati, CSK perhaps made a tactical error by throwing Ashwin at Nitish Rana, who was promoted to No. 3, to take advantage of his match-up with the spinner.Ashwin hasn’t had luck going his way either. In his final over against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur, Ashwin looped up a carrom ball wide of Priyansh Arya’s swinging arc and drew a mis-hit, but Mukesh Choudhary misjudged the catch and ended up stepping on the boundary cushion.Ashwin isn’t the only spinner who is going for runs in the powerplay. Even a mystery spinner and a modern superspecialist like Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) Maheesh Theekshana is going at over ten an over during this phase. The powerplay has become such a hostile environment for bowlers, especially spinners.

“We’ve actually restricted teams to below-par scores, and it’s been the batting that has held us up on this occasion”CSK head coach Stephen Fleming

CSK coach Stephen Fleming lauded Ashwin for fronting up to do a difficult job for them.”That sixth over is a tough over, so don’t underestimate that role that he’s playing,” Fleming said in the lead-up to CSK’s game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). “And after that, he came back really well. I think the last couple of overs went for single figures. So we’re asking him to do a tough role, but what we are doing is taking wickets, and that’s been the positive thing. We felt we’ve actually restricted teams to below-par scores, and it’s been the batting that has held us up on this occasion.”Unlike Ashwin, Jadeja doesn’t bowl in the powerplay; he usually bowls in the middle overs. Jadeja, who has retired from T20Is, has always had excellent defensive skills, but the arrival of Noor Ahmad has given CSK’s attack a point of difference. So they have preferred Noor’s left-arm wristspin over Jadeja’s fingerspin during the middle overs this season. Noor is currently the Purple Cap holder, with 11 strikes in five games at an economy rate of 8.33 and an average of 13.63.”I think we’ve got some good options with the spin department,” Fleming said when asked if CSK were under-utilising Jadeja the bowler. “Ruturaj [Gaikwad] has been able to use the appropriate bowlers for the batsmen that are in. Jadeja bowled really well in the last game. Noor Ahmad has been the key wicket-taker, so he’s dominated to this point. We’ve sort of got six bowlers that can provide good options throughout. Batting-wise, he’s moving up and down the order, depending on what we need. We really like his partnership with MS [Dhoni] at the back end. That appeals to us. There are other players in the squad that we’ve highlighted to be up the order, but he’s been up to No. 5, I think.Noor Ahmad’s addition has given CSK another spin option•AFP/Getty Images”He’s been in early and throughout, so just trying to get a gauge on who’s to bowl death, who’s in the middle, and work it around that way. It’s not a set stage that Jaddu has to come in. We’re quite flexible with it.”Sure, Ashwin and Jadeja haven’t produced the kind of impact they did back in the day, but don’t count them out. On either side of two expensive overs in Mullanpur, Ashwin threatened to shut PBKS down with the wickets of Nehal Wadhera and Glenn Maxwell in successive overs. Had Choudhary held onto Arya’s catch, it would have been a completely different story. In the same game, Jadeja bowled three tight overs and kept even the left-hand batters in check.On the eve of the match against KKR, when Devon Conway tried to line Ashwin up in the nets, the bowler cleverly dangled the ball away from his reach and made him look silly. It tore open a portal to his heyday when he used to make left-hand batters look silly.But of all the things that have taken CSK by surprise this season, their world-class spinners struggling at their fortress might be the biggest.

And was England’s 22-run win at Lord’s the closest there by margin of runs?

Steven Lynch22-Jul-2025Is it right that England’s win last week was the closest in a Test at Lord’s? asked Dennis McKinlay from Scotland

Last week’s exciting Test against India at Lord’s was the 149th to be played there, so it was something of a surprise to discover that 22 was indeed the narrowest victory margin by runs in any of them. The previous closest was 43, when Australia beat England in 2023. South Africa beat England by 51 runs in 2012, and Australia beat England by 61 in 1888.There have been two two-wicket victories in Tests at Lord’s, by Pakistan against England in 1992 and by England against West Indies in 2000. However, perhaps the closest Test of all at Lord’s finished in a draw: at the end of a famous match against West Indies in 1963 England were nine down but needed just six to win.West Indies were 11 for 6 during their horrendous collapse in Jamaica. Has the sixth wicket ever fallen at a lower score in a Test innings? asked Jason Cameron from Trinidad

The dismissal of skipper Roston Chase in the second innings in Kingston last week left West Indies perilously placed at 11 for 6. The only team to lose their sixth wicket earlier in a Test were Australia, who dipped to 7 for 6 in the follow-on against England at Old Trafford in 1888. Australia were also 11 for 6 at The Oval in 1896.That 1888 series, incidentally, is the only one of three or more Tests in which the highest score in the series was lower than the 75 (by Brandon King in Grenada) of the recent encounter in the Caribbean – England’s Bobby Abel made 70 at The Oval. There have only been five other such series which did not feature an individual century from either side.West Indies made it to 26 for 6 before Scott Boland’s hat-trick, and were grateful to a misfield for the chance to avoid equalling the lowest total in Test history, New Zealand’s 26 against England in Auckland in 1955. They still suffered the second-lowest; West Indies’ worst before this was 47, against England, also at Sabina Park, in 2004.Justin Greaves has been part of both 2025’s Test hat-tricks. Has anyone else been part of two in Tests? asked Colin Henderson from England

The unfortunate Justin Greaves was the first victim of Scott Boland’s hat-trick in the third Test in Jamaica last week, just as he had been when the Pakistan spinner Noman Ali achieved the feat in Multan in January.Greaves was the fourth man to be part of two Test hat-tricks. The first was arguably the most notable: the South African wicketkeeper Tommy Ward, making his Test debut in the Triangular Tournament at Old Trafford in 1912, was the third victim of the Australian legspinner Jimmy Matthews in both innings, thus completing a king pair.Another Australian legspinner, Stuart MacGill, was the middle man in the hat-tricks of Darren Gough (in Sydney in 1999) and Jermaine Lawson in Bridgetown in 2003), while the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharana was the first victim of Wasim Akram (in Lahore in 1999) and Abdul Razzaq (in Galle in 2000). Akram took hat-tricks in successive matches against Sri Lanka, but the batters were all different.England’s Stuart Broad remains the only man to be involved in three Test hat-tricks. He took two – against India at Trent Bridge in 2011, and Sri Lanka at Headingley in 2014 – and was the final victim in Peter Siddle’s birthday hat-trick for Australia in Brisbane in 2010.Boland was the tenth Australian man to take a Test hat-trick.Only Stuart Broad has been part of three hat-tricks – as the perpetrator or two, and a victim in the third•Getty ImagesThe just-retired Angelo Mathews, the Waugh twins, and Steve Smith were all born on June 2. They have amassed more than 37,000 Test runs between them. Is this the most Test runs “born” on a single day? asked Siddiqui Saleem from the United States

It’s a reasonable guess – and a correct one! In total there have so far been 38,282 runs scored in men’s Tests by players born on June 2: that’s 10,927 by Steve Waugh, 10,477 by Steven Smith, 8214 from Angelo Mathews, 8029 by Mark Waugh, 416 from Lindsay “Dad” Weir of New Zealand, 213 from England’s George Lohmann… and not forgetting six by Jayantha Silva of Sri Lanka. Second on this particular list is October 27, with 32,417. That includes 12,400 from Kumar Sangakkara, 8786 by David Warner, and Mark Taylor’s 7525.The best day for bowlers is July 3, with 1104 wickets, the main contributors being Richard Hadlee (431), Harbhajan Singh (417), Ewen Chatfield (132) and Henry Olonga (68). A close second with 1074 wickets is June 24 – made up of 604 from Stuart Broad, 246 byGraham McKenzie and 224 from Vernon Philander.Apparently there’s someone who played in the same Test side as Victor Trumper and Don Bradman. Who was it? asked Michael Hunter from Australia

Victor Trumper, who played 37 Tests between 1899 and 1911-12, and Don Bradman, whose 52 matches came between 1928-29 and 1948, are the two most famous Australian batters of the past – Bradman because of his phenomenal scoring feats, and Trumper because of the unusual elegance of his batting. Both have inspired shelves full of books.As Trumper played his last Test before the Great War – he died of Bright’s Disease in 1915, aged only 37 – it needed a long career to have played alongside both him and the Don. My first thought was that it might be another fondly remembered batter, Warren Bardsley, but although he made his Test debut alongside Trumper in England in 1909, he played his last Tests in the 1926 Ashes, aged 43, a couple of years before Bradman’s debut.And it turns out that the man who played with both is a less celebrated figure. The New South Wales allrounder Charles Kelleway made his Test debut against South Africa in 1910-11 alongside Trumper (and Bardsley). He appeared in most of Australia’s Tests from then until 1924-25, but missed the 1926 tour of England – but was recalled after three years out of first-class cricket for the first Test of the 1928-29 Ashes tour, in Brisbane, where one of his team-mates was Bradman, making his debut. It wasn’t a happy occasion for the Australians, who lost by a whopping 675 runs: Kelleway bowled 34 wicketless overs and was out for 8, and then went down with food poisoning, missed the rest of the match and never played again; Bradman was out for 18 and 1 and was dropped for the only time in his life.Eighteen months later, after Bradman scored a century in the first Test of the 1930 Ashes series in England – he went on to amass a record 974 runs in the series – Kelleway, who was in a unique position to judge, was asked whether he was a greater batsman than Trumper. “It is very sad, because it is very nearly true,” he said. “In a century there will be only one Trumper, and in a century there would be only one Don Bradman.”Three England players – Jack Hobbs, Phil Mead and Frank Woolley – opposed both Trumper and Bradman in Test matches.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Deepti Sharma, Megan Schutt and Marizanne Kapp have bowling landmarks within their sights

Namooh Shah29-Sep-20251 – Bates is 257 runs away from becoming the leading run-scorer in women’s international cricket. Bates (10,612) is currently second in the list after Mithali Raj (who finished with 10,868 runs).Bates is also just 104 runs away from reaching 6000 ODI runs. If she does so, she will only be the second after Raj (7805) to reach the landmark.Related

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112 – Runs required by Mandhana to complete 5000 ODI runs. She will be the second India batter after Raj and fifth overall in women’s ODIs to reach the milestone. Mandhana will also be the fastest by innings if she manages to reach the milestone in this tournament.323 – Runs required for Bates to surpass Debbie Hockley’s tally of 1501 in the women’s ODI World Cup and become the leading run-scorer in the tournament.1000 – Mandhana is 72 away from becoming the first to score 1000 runs in a calendar year in women’s ODIs. The record is held by Belinda Clark, who scored 970 runs in 1997.Suzie Bates is eyeing a number of records in the women’s World Cup•Getty Images1 – Bates will be playing her 350th international at her second match of the tournament. That will make her the first player to get to 350 international caps in women’s cricket.3 – Marizanne Kapp is 12 away from becoming the third-highest wicket-taker in women’s ODIs, having taken 169 wickets before the start of the tournament. Kapp will surpass Cathryn Fitzpatrick and Anisa Mohammed, who finished their career at 180 ODI wickets. Jhulan Goswami, with 255 wickets, heads the ODI list, while Shabnim Ismail is second on the list with 191.150 – Schutt and Deepti have 140 wickets in women’s ODIs and need ten more to get to the 150 mark.Schutt, on 34 wickets, can also become the leading wicket-taker at women’s ODI World Cups if she picks up ten more wickets. That will take her tally past Goswami’s 43. Kapp, with 32 wickets, also has a chance to overhaul Goswami’s tally.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 – Mandhana, currently with 16 international hundreds, needs two more to become the most prolific century-scorer in women’s international cricket. Meg Lanning with 17 is currently at the top.3 – Both Mandhana and Bates are three away from topping the list for most hundreds in women’s ODIs where Lanning sits at the top with 15.198 – Runs Pratika Rawal needs to complete 1000 runs in women’s ODIs. She has a chance to become the fastest to reach the milestone if she does it in the next five innings.