Following his retirement, the New South Wales seamer discusses a career with an unusual route

Alex Malcolm27-Mar-2023How do you reflect on what you’ve achieved in your career?I’m incredibly proud knowing I was nowhere near the level of talent that 90% of the cricketers I played with and against were at. I’d like to think that I gave it everything I possibly had, coming from the country, being a Bathurst kid, and a wicketkeeper-batter until I was 20. Nothing ever really is as it seems. You can always change and set your focus on different things and achieve. Obviously getting a baggy green is incredible. But even just playing for New South Wales after my pathway and upbringing being so different to everyone else. It’s really unique and it hasn’t sunk in, the magnitude of it. But I’m very proud of it.How did you convert a rare opportunity for an uncontracted 23-year-old out of grade cricket into a 14-year first-class career?I don’t know the answer to that. I think the one thing that stood out to me was that I’d given the wicketkeeping gloves away, and initially I was focused on batting and getting myself six opportunities in the next grade above rather than just one. That was the focus, and I was constantly then having to dispel people that knew me as a keeper and a batter that I was now a bowler. And then from there, I was also not the 150kph sexy new toy that was going to be the next 15-year superstar at Test level that inevitably is part of the psyche when it comes to picking teams. It was built into me and the way I go about things from a young age that I love proving people wrong.Related

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I’m a determined guy. I’m sure [my wife] Kim will say even when it comes to playing monopoly or scramble at home how bloody competitive I am. When I got my first chance I was literally coaching a kid in an indoor centre for a living, playing grade cricket, not on contract. I got the call I think on a Wednesday and I had to be there on Thursday afternoon to meet Simon Katich at the SCG and was told you’re going to play the Shield game against Queensland on Friday.It drove me to want to just soak that all up and enjoy it, but you get one chance and I’ve seen so many people miss that or get overawed by it. I guess once I had that sniff and I had done well I never wanted to let that go. And I still don’t now to be honest. But it’s a reality of life that you have to at some point.How did you turn yourself from a 195cm wicketkeeper into a first-class bowler with incredible skill level with immaculate control?I didn’t have people teaching me. To be honest, it came from trial and error, failing on the go. Bowling to set batters in grade cricket and having to figure it out, rather than it just being my attributes that got me selected if that makes sense. That’s part of the stuff that I see now. Inevitably kids come into a talent ID situation, people see stuff and they want to accelerate that process and get them to try and figure it out almost in Shield cricket. I was so lucky that I had to wait until I was 23. I’d had such a big body of work of learning the skills and being put under pressure, but winning a few competitions in first grade and those grand finals, doing really well personally but also most importantly getting across the line and winning before I played Shield cricket was massive.Trent Copeland took a wicket with the second ball of his Test career•Associated PressDo you think that is part of the reason why you had so much success at Shield level first up? And then how did you find the jump from Shield cricket to Test cricket in such a short time?My first ball in Shield cricket bounced twice before the keeper. It was one of those things now looking back on that, the ridicule or the how slow does he bowl type narrative is…it was interesting that that was my entry point into first-class cricket. At no stage were any of my team-mates saying things like that but inside your own mind you always doubt, are you good enough? You doubt whether you belong. [Copeland went on to take 8 for 92 on his debut, which remained career-best figures]I was able to settle in and just have a good time with it and remember who I was as a person, and what I do well. There was a whirlwind stage of success in Shield cricket and we had just come off the Shield final down in Hobart. We didn’t win that final but myself and Pat Cummins in particular had bowled a lot together and started to forge what it is to be successful at the elite level. When we went over to Sri Lanka and then I took five wickets in the tour match I felt really confident that I could do a job in Test cricket and I guess the challenge, reflecting back on it when I was picked, was incredible.It wasn’t necessarily the conditions that were most conducive to my success but I think now watching our Australian team playing in the subcontinent, how difficult it is to have success. It was bloody phenomenal that I was able to be over there with Nathan Lyon in our first tour and we could beat Sri Lanka in the subcontinent. It’s disappointing that probably about three years after that I was 10 times the bowler I was when I did play international cricket and probably more like 20 times the bowler now. But that’s the reality of it.When I got dropped it was in South Africa, the Vernon Philander famous game in Cape Town. And after that moment, there were some bloody good bowling conditions that I missed that stung me a little. But you think of James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Cummins, Josh Hazlewood that all came onto the scene immediately thereafter and credit to all of those guys I just could never work my back.How did you reconcile the fact that you were a better bowler as you got older than when you played Test cricket and yet there were no opportunities, particularly in conditions that might have suited you in England or South Africa? And how do you feel in general about Australian cricket’s preference for bowlers with ball speed over the last 10 years ahead of seam or swing bowlers who have been successful at Shield level? At no stage do I feel bitter or angry about anything to be honest. People are employed and have their own necks on the line to make these sorts of decisions. It’s not easy. And whether you like it or not, there is an arbitrary view that ball speed is essential to success in Test cricket. I’d like to think that there are many guys around even currently that are proving that wrong. Essentially there are multiple tours where I think I was bowling at my best and could have really made a long-lasting difference in international cricket.

The way our contract system is working and the way we pick teams even at the national levels, I think is centered around young kids or elite talent and if they’re not already elite by 25 it’s hard to find a place. It’s not to say that no one will push through that. But really, I think we’ve lost some good players in that ilk

Particularly the year where we played Victoria in the Shield final [2018-19] and I think I took 50 plus wickets [52] and felt at my peak and was using a Dukes ball in Australian conditions that was flowing straight into an away Ashes. Sids [Peter Siddle] was back in the frame then and did a really good job and they ultimately took guys they thought could play significant roles and [the chance] didn’t come. That was probably the moment where I realised that my time at that level was done. Despite my success, there was no avenue back, and as I said, I don’t look at that with bitterness.There’s a little bit of frustration that there was no other opportunity. But my hope is that people continue to be seen, be it batting or bowling really, not for the aesthetic, not for the opinion that sort of precludes people from playing, but rather for what they deliver. And that should afford them the opportunity to at least be given the chance to try and succeed at the level. If they fail, so be it. But people guessing on whether someone can be good enough because of ball speed or the way their technique looks when they bat, I don’t love that about our sport in this country.’I was 10 times the bowler I was when I did play international cricket and probably more like 20 times the bowler now’•Mark Brake/Getty ImagesThe era of Australian domestic cricket you played in was for a long time led by Greg Chappell as national talent manager and youth development was a priority above performance for a number of those years you played. How did you find being in a system that viewed a cricketer like you as perhaps someone who didn’t quite fit the age and style profile in terms of what was trying to be achieved?I must say I got really lucky. To debut, in my case at 24, outside of the contract system, it’s so unique. Not many people got the chance let alone were able to make it stick so I was very, very lucky. Greg Chappell was the one who selected me and was the selector on tour and delivered the message that I was going to make my Test debut. So this is in no way a direct reflection on my relationship with him.My opinion though is when I started, there was a real fierceness about the contest in Shield cricket. There was a fierceness to the 2nd XI team in New South Wales and whoever we were playing against was the second-best state team that walked out onto the field for the [CA] 2nd XI competition. Whether a kid was 18 or if they were 29, if they were good enough, they were playing in that game. Inevitably you’ve got to have an eye on the future and look towards who could be a long-term player for us. You’ve got to look at things like who to award contracts to. That’s part of the reality of why you are picking these teams. I get that nature of it. But my obvious impression is that we’ve lost the 25 to 31-year-old cricketer from our game and whether they’re interested in playing because the contracts just simply aren’t there and the amount of opportunities simply aren’t there.That to me is something that I’ve seen diminish over my career and something that I’d love to see come back. I don’t know the answer specifically on contracts. But I think you ask any of the elite cricketers, particularly batters, but I would say bowlers as well, what age do you become your best self, the best cricketer, know your method and have the ability to sit in your own skin and just enjoy cricket and flourish?Batters, in particular, would be saying 27, 28, if not even 30. And bowlers are probably the same. I certainly was the same. My last five years have been so much better from a bowling sense. The way our contract system is working and the way we pick teams even at the national levels, I think is centered around young kids or elite talent and if they’re not already elite by 25 it’s hard to find a place. It’s not to say that no one will push through that. But really, I think we’ve lost some good players in that ilk.Trent Copeland picked out Marnus Labuschagne as one of the best batters he had bowled to•Getty ImagesDo you see a future where someone will play three T20s and 112 first-class games like you did? How difficult will it be now for either a young batter or young bowler or a late developer to have that career arc as opposed to focusing on short-form cricket?I think there is a lot of things at play here. There are way more opportunities to excel in T20 cricket now. There’s way more money available for people which has the natural pull of guys taking that opportunity at the outset to give them the money so they can then focus on this long term and have a full-time commitment to doing it. I don’t begrudge anyone for taking that path. The answer is no. And I guess the rationale for me saying that is I have a real concern. And I’ve voiced this to CA quite a few times and numerous people within the pathway.

I don’t know if everyone knows that, but I’ve never had a locker in my entire career. Something as simple as a locker to go and put my kit in every day.

I see U19s and U17s cricket at national carnivals, and I see a lot of people come through that are just unbelievable cricketers. But there’s not a single red-ball game that’s being played in domestic underage carnivals. And the requirement of a forward defence for example, is almost a waste of a ball. So temperament and technique which I think are two of the most central characteristics for anyone succeeding at the next level, and particularly Test level, is almost seen as a waste in our pathway. No one would ever be sitting there as a coach and saying don’t focus on your forward defence or don’t get better at it. But you’re also playing with white balls that swing for about five overs. They don’t move off the seam. These sorts of things to me are part of the reason why my answer is no to your question.I really hope that we get to a point where it’s a hybrid of both. Test cricket to my knowledge is still in CA’s mission statement, to be the number one Test nation. I’d love to see a bit of the focus and a bit of asset management go towards that as a priority. I’m talking about athlete development and not just bums on seats and who’s watching. I don’t profess to know all the answers. But kids being required to be good at a forward defence or be accurate with the ball for long periods of time, I think needs to become an essential part of our pathway.How difficult is it then for the likes of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood to traverse across three formats at international level?It’s tough and I think for those three guys in particular, it’s almost a case of what’s coming in the next 12 months? Is it a 50-over World Cup? Okay, let’s focus there. Is it a T20 World Cup? Let’s focus there. If it’s the World Test Championship, an India or an Ashes series, and in the case of this year it’s all three, we really need to turn our attention there. I think they are, and there are a few batters as well, three of the last people that will be dominant forces in all three formats and able to play all three formats. Not because people aren’t capable, but just because I don’t think it’s possible.We’ll start to see, much like England have already done, almost a completely different unit that’s playing white-ball cricket to Test cricket, splitting coaches, things like that. When T20 first started, I think you could get away with just being elite, just in general as a cricketer. Now, conditions, tactics, the prowess of those games are so specific that you really need to be someone that’s really focused on it all the time. Otherwise, in the big moments sometimes it gets exposed.Who are the best batters you have bowled to?Marnus Labuschagne sticks out at present. I remember a Shield final at Allan Border Field that he got the better of us significantly. But there have been times when having the ability to move the ball around and set plans and work a batter over, I really found it was a good litmus test on whether I am actually up to the challenge and still good enough. Mike Hussey I found a thrill of a challenge mainly because it was never like he just took you down, but it was more that he understood game planning. He understood his strengths intricately and the moments where you’re able to knock someone like that over even in amongst the times where he would hit you to all parts, was always a good challenge.Trent Copeland in his role with Channel Seven•Getty ImagesNew South Wales has been the gold standard in Australian cricket for a long time and it was during the majority of your career but the state has struggled in recent times. What is happening there currently and what does need to happen for New South Wales to get back to being a domestic force?My opinion is that the talent is there. So that needs to be dispelled from any conversation, that we’re not producing the talent that we always have. There’s no doubt in my mind that there is talent. There is the ability to dominate elite-level cricket and be Test cricketers just like there has been for so many years. The interesting part is the programs and the training environment have been what they have been for almost 15 years in my experience.Essentially we have had no home ground, no training facility that is always our own. That’s now changed. So hopefully Cricket Central can be a part of one home, one locker, one place to call your own and train and get better in a consistent environment. I don’t know if everyone knows that, but I’ve never had a locker in my entire career. Something as simple as a locker to go and put my kit in every day. Because we go to the SCG some days, Blacktown, Bankstown, then we’re using nets at Olympic Park. It’s basically been a bit part process to try and get an elite facility.Then we’re playing one to three games at the SCG and then grade grounds and country grounds where we stand there at the toss and we have no idea essentially on how to build a game plan, what to do at the toss or even a best guess on what the pitch is going to play like, versus our opposition that are walking into the same venue every game. So these are a few of the little challenges that I think are going to start to be naturally fixed.Outside of that, I see a lot of hope. I see a lot of belief in the ability and the talent. But I still see a lot wanting to aspire to do well rather than getting in, taking it head on, and believing that we’re going to just be better than the opposition and not take a backward step. And that’s not anyone in an individual sense. But I hope that certainly in a training environment and playing sense in the future that becomes a priority.Lastly, how did you find mixing playing with being a commentator for Channel Seven and how advantageous was it to still be playing with and against some of the players you were commenting on?I think it’s been a real asset to me in the sense that I’m living and breathing it still and playing with and against these guys knowing what they’re practicing, what they’re struggling with, who’s done well in the last Shield game. Those sorts of things are first-hand information that is just always there for me in my mind when I’m speaking on air, particularly about domestic players. The actual physical nature of doing it whilst I played was a nightmare. To juggle it was a lot of planning. But I’m really fortunate that I had the chance to do it, and I bloody love doing it. So I can’t wait to do more of it and dig in and maybe even focus more on the content that we’re going to produce and then expanding the horizons. Not just being an analyst but hopefully being a well-rounded broadcaster on all sports.

The IPL’s best batter took on one of the most ferocious bowlers, and unsurprisingly, it made for an enthralling duel

S Sudarshanan01-May-20233:59

Moody: Jaiswal has jumped the queue for India call-up

Imagine you could ask for qualities to be the perfect batter. What would you ask?The ability to pick length early? Height? An array of wide shots at your disposal, those you can audaciously show off with thousands in attendance? Or maybe just a clone of Yashasvi Jaiswal in his current mood?And perhaps Jofra Archer is the embodiment of a perfect fast bowler – the high-arm, repeatable action, searing speeds and an athletic body.On Sunday an imperious Suryakumar Yadav and a belligerent Tim David might have shred Rajasthan Royals’ death overs into pieces as Mumbai Indians registered the first successful 200-plus chase in the IPL at the Wankhede Stadium. The enthralling act, though, was the duel between Jaiswal and Archer.Jaiswal is the human equivalent of fusion music. His build, face and frame could be mistaken for a fresh-from-school lad’s. But his audacious strokeplay – the authoritative cuts, the disdainful pulls, the inventive drives – belie his age. Sure, his height helps to an extent, in that he uses his reach to slice the ball through point and takes long strides to get to the pitch of the ball to attack spin.Related

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Archer is pure vibes – lean figure, sporting dreadlock and tattoos, with a small matter of bowling fast. Bloke last played proper, top-flight cricket in 2019 before being sidelined by injuries for a couple of years. He returned to display a skill the human body is not naturally meant to – run in and bowl fast – and picked up three wickets in his first competitive game in over two years.In IPL 2023, Archer has not been part of the XI regularly. He was playing only his third game this season on Sunday and began with a couple of friendlies – short, harmless deliveries in late 130s. Jaiswal took full toll of the second. Banged short from around the stumps, Jaiswal duly pulled it well over deep backward square leg.Archer had overstepped on that occasion but delivered the free hit at 142.2 clicks and the deliveries that followed only rose in speeds. The last couple of balls in that over were speared at 148 kph and 149.3 kph respectively and on both occasions, Jaiswal was squared up and beaten all ends up.Jaiswal has been the leading run-scorer in the powerplay in IPL 2023 and his strike rate of 165.69 is only bettered by Faf du Plessis (173.27) and Ajinkya Rahane (222.22) among batters with at least 100 runs in the phase. He showed every bit of his range against Riley Meredith by hitting him for four fours in the penultimate over of the powerplay. Royals had rocketed to 65 for 0 at the end of six overs on the back of Jaiswal’s 23-ball 41. His opening partner Jos Buttler’s contribution was only 11 off 14.Most of Mumbai’s bowlers bore the brunt of Jaiswal’s class. Legspinner Piyush Chawla was brought on to stem the run-flow and responded by dismissing Buttler and later bamboozled Devdutt Padikkal. But Jaiswal took 23 off the 11 balls he faced against Chawla, hitting him for two fours and two sixes. Half-trackers from the legspinner were walloped over the ropes and Jaiswal was unafraid to play the reverse sweep against the wrong’uns. Against Royals batters not named Jaiswal, Chawla conceded 11 off 13 balls.Before this season, Jaiswal had only faced 134 balls outside the powerplay and scored 181. This year he has scored 201 runs in 131 balls after the first six overs, at a healthy strike rate of 153.43. He used the crease well to get inside the line to scoop-pull the short of length balls in the arc from deep square leg to long leg or to make room and explore the arc between wide long-on and cover-point.Picture the sequence of 4, 4, 4 that took him past the century-mark. Jaiswal first moved towards off, allowing Meredith to aim middle and leg, only to wristily flick it wide of fine leg. A ball later he picked the off-pace length ball to heave it perfectly in the gap at deep midwicket to bring up a maiden hundred in the format off 53 balls. Then, he backed away, saw the slower length ball outside off and used the width to crash it through backward point.Jofra Archer, back in the Mumbai Indians strip, picked up the wicket of Jason Holder•BCCIAnd so, when Archer came back for his last over with figures of 3-0-22-1, Jaiswal was readily waiting on 104 off 54. After R Ashwin got off strike on the first ball, Archer had men stationed at fine leg, deep backward square leg, deep midwicket, long-on and deep backward point. The short-ball ploy was well advertised as he ran in from around the stumps for the final five deliveries of the battle.Archer took pace off and bowled the first two of those into the surface spotting Jaiswal back away to make room, past his attempted swishes. On the next two balls, though, a predictable off-pace length ball travelled the distance – first via a loft over long-off and then via a heave over deep midwicket. In a typical fast bowler’s fashion, Archer then responded with a 145.9 kph snorter outside off to undo Jaiswal.In the following over, the last of the innings, Jaiswal would hit two more fours off left-arm pacer Arshad Khan before being dismissed for 124, the highest score by an uncapped player in the IPL. A hundred and twelve out of those were through boundaries as he scored 67 off 24 in the last eight overs when Royals scored 99. The next-best score for the team on the day was Buttler’s 18. That he was unflinched in his duel with Archer and stuck to his technique impressed Tom Moody, who was at the Under-19 Men’s World Cup in South Africa in 2020, where Jaiswal topped the charts and returned a Player-of-the-Tournament performance.”You can just see there was something unique… He was at a different level than all his peers across the globe at that point,” Moody said on ESPNcricinfo T20 Time:Out.”He’s absolutely come of age. He’s facing a very good bowling attack. Jofra Archer cranked it up [on Sunday]. He was bowling close to 150 kph regularly. [Jaiswal] weathered that storm, he took him on early. His first ball went for four, his second ball went for six out of the ground. Jofra came back with something close to 150 that beat his outside edge.”But his composure… his position at the crease whilst playing that delivery was strong. He was not leg side and was very much in line with it. He has got a pure game that he just plays proper cricketing shots and holds a good position at the crease. Every time he grows – and that’s another step today – he grows in presence in the game.”Kumar Sangakkara, Director of Cricket at Royals, was also effusive in his praise for Jaiswal.”[Our conversations are] about playing good shots, trusting his ability and reading the game situation really well,” Sangakkara said. “And when he does get a start, about maximising [his stay] and to keep that intent going throughout the innings. Before this season he hadn’t batted much outside the powerplay. But today and in the previous game, he showed that when he keeps his intent going and is looking for boundaries and knows his scoring areas, he has the ability to play the big innings for us.”Jaiswal firmly has the IPL 2023 leading run-scorers’ hat on. None more apt than one for the perfect batter.

After the WPL, 30 cricketers were picked for an intense camp in Bengaluru to improve fitness levels

Shashank Kishore21-Jun-2023Remember Ellyse Perry’s acrobatic save on the boundary to deny India in the T20 World Cup semi-final in February?Here’s a recap: she sprinted along the rope from deep square leg, covered at least 20 metres, threw herself towards the ball at full stretch and pushed it back while airborne. It saved Australia two crucial runs in the penultimate over in a game they won by five runs.Four months have passed since that heartbreaking day for India in Cape Town. The women’s team is preparing for a new bumper season that begins with a limited-overs tour to Bangladesh in July, followed by home white-ball series against South Africa and New Zealand in September and October. Then England and Australia also visit for a full tour that includes Tests on either side of the new year.Given the volume of cricket coming India’s way, it’s fair to say that moment of athletic brilliance from Perry has had significant impact on their approach towards fitness and fielding.In May, the senior women’s selection panel picked 30 “targeted players” for an intense camp in Bengaluru. The notable highlights were the implementation of the Athlete Monitoring System (AMS) and Injury Prevention (IP).These systems aren’t new. Teams across sporting landscapes have used them in high-performance environments. That it’s being embraced in women’s cricket in India, starting with the Women’s Premier League (WPL), is noteworthy. With two world events – the 2024 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh and the 2025 ODI World Cup in India – in the next 24 months, the BCCI hopes the steps they have taken will help the team finally win that trophy.So, what is AMS?It’s a software that monitors fatigue, sleep, mood, menstrual cycle and non-sport stressors to mitigate injury risks and maximise performance. It helps monitor data, workloads, past injuries, rehab cycles, performance post-injuries.Why is it significant for women’s cricket now?It has helped the National Cricket Academy tailor roadmaps for each player to ensure their fitness levels continue to remain optimum. For starters, the yo-yo test has been replaced by the one-mile test, a DEXA scan to measure body-fat percentage, vertical jumps, broad jumps, 10- to 20-metre dash, and several endurance routines.”Because it was the off season, we went heavy,” explains Vidarbha’s Disha Kasat, one of the top domestic T20 run-getters in the past two seasons who was part of the camp. “With the lifts in gym, with our runs. Even fielding, we were taking 50 catches in every session. Everyone’s parameters improved from day one to the end of the camp.”Australia have been undisputed leaders when it comes to fitness standards•AFP/Getty ImagesJhulan Goswami, the former India captain, believes this new outlook can be pathbreaking. She had a ringside view of these processes as a bowling coach with Mumbai Indians in the WPL. This, she thinks, can help narrow the gap with Australia, the undisputed leaders in the women’s game.”There’s no comparison [with Australia] on the fitness front,” Goswami says. “They’ve set the benchmark in women’s cricket and it’s a start for us in India to try and aspire to match those standards. Today, players realise skills alone aren’t enough.”It can only take you to a certain level. But to have long-lasting careers and take your game beyond, fitness is very important. You need that ruthlessness, the aggressive mindset. And for that your fitness plays a key role. Hopefully the preparation for next year’s T20 World Cup has started with this.”‘Hiring full-time S&C coaches a turning point’A significant step in this fitness revolution is the formation of a core group of strength and conditioning (S&C) coaches for the women’s set-up. Anand Date coming on board full-time has been a game-changer. Date has over a decade’s experience in S&C, having worked under Rahul Dravid at the NCA and with various men’s India A and age-group squads.Date’s responsibilities now include working with several franchise S&Cs and other coaches that women’s players work with to help maintain continuity in monitoring fitness.”Earlier, we didn’t have a full-time S&C coach. They were all appointed on a series-by-series basis. Now, having Anand Date on board full-time has helped push fitness pedals,” says former India batter VR Vanitha. “He used to build on the fitness parameters of players once they came back to the NCA or national camps after a break.”AMS has ensured players aren’t under-training or over-training. Each player’s workload is mapped and it ensures there’s accountability from their part, even when they aren’t at the NCA. Now even the state teams are embracing this system. The data helps bring everything under one roof.”

“There’s no comparison [with Australia] on the fitness front. They’ve set the benchmark in women’s cricket and it’s a start for us in India to try and aspire to match those standards. Today, players realise skills alone aren’t enough. To have long-lasting careers and take your game beyond, fitness is very important.”Jhulan Goswami, former India captain and Mumbai Indians bowling coach

Workload management is just one aspect. There’s injury prevention too, a system that determines through a series of tests – on shoulders, hip flexors, and hamstring for example – certain markers that are then assessed to tune workloads.”This system determines the extent of injuries, what the fitness levels of a player is at any given time,” Vanitha explains. “It monitors a player’s physical state even before they break down. Essentially, it’s an alarm to those monitoring. It helps tapering workloads if there are markers that suggest potential injury.”While fitness was the focus of the camp, the players did skill-work too. They were divided into groups, handed specific tasks and put through a series of match simulations. They were assisted by experienced net bowlers and side-arm specialists.”Hrishikesh Kanitkar sir [interim head coach of India Women] made me work on my batting, find my own way to do it,” Kasat explains. “He was very flexible. He told me ‘these are your options, see what works for you and find your way out with this as your end goal,’ rather than saying ‘this is the only way you should go about it’. Practice sessions were intense.”‘WPL will close gap between domestic and international cricket’Goswami believes the WPL will have a wide impact on the women’s game in India. “This year, we didn’t have time to prepare for WPL. Teams just went with the flow, picked players on raw numbers,” she says. “Next year, teams will have an opportunity to prepare, conduct camps, scout players, shortlist performers. That will automatically lift the domestic tournaments because players know there’s an added incentive to get noticed.”Previously, the gap between domestic and international cricket was massive. Players found it too steep and took time to bridge this gap. This won’t be the case going forward, because there’s a massive platform now.”Disha Kasat (far left): ‘If I have to go to my training venue, which is at least an hour from my gym, I have to ensure I’m spending my time productively when I’m at the nets’•BCCIThis is where preparatory tournaments play a massive role. Currently, a high-performance squad, comprising several age-group players that featured in India’s victorious Under-19 Women’s World Cup campaign and WPL performers, is in Hong Kong to play in the Emerging Nations’ Asia Cup. Most of the games have been washed out, but the tournament held significant potential because the previous women’s A tour was before the pandemic.”Tournaments like the Emerging Nations Cup is good, but India’s level is way above, say, the A team of Sri Lanka, Pakistan or any of the other teams,” Vanitha says. “What we need is exposure to the A sides of England, Australia. Also, we need to expand our base. While the focus should be on the Under-19s, we shouldn’t lose sight of those who are in the 20 to 23 age group.”Goswami has noticed players having that motivation to be a part of the franchise system, now that they’ve seen what the WPL offers, both in terms of opportunities and money. Vanitha has also seen players go out of their comfort zone.”I’ve seen some people joining better training centres, more people taking their nutrition seriously, which is vital for athlete progress,” Vanitha says. “Cricketers are going and accessing top coaches in India. This itself speaks there’s internal motivation from the girls to invest in themselves.”Kasat is an example of someone who has gone the extra mile. The Vidarbha captain, who hails from Nagpur, lives in Bengaluru during the off-season to train under a private coach. Kasat, who played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the WPL, also has access to training facilities set up by Rajasthan Royals in Talegaon.”In Nagpur, everything comes too easy,” she says. “In Bangalore, there’s a price you put on everything. Time spent in traffic to go from A to B can be exhausting. There’s a sense of purpose. If I have to go to my training venue, which is at least an hour from my gym, I have to ensure I’m spending my time productively when I’m at the nets. You want to get something out of every session. I’ve lived and trained in Bangalore for two years now. It’s not easy, but it’s made me a better cricketer.”Kasat had the opportunity to train with Perry at RCB and observe her work ethic. Her takeaway from that experience is simple: “If she can, I can too.”

He’s returned from a serious injury with remarkable speed, right at the moment when New Zealand need his skillset most

Karthik Krishnaswamy12-Oct-20232:11

Who does Kane Williamson replace in the XI?

The world of 2023 is profoundly different to the world of 2019, but some things have endured. Kane Williamson is one of them. He’s the only guy from this photograph to feature in this one.He’s done this against all odds, recovering with remarkable speed from a knee injury that had all but ruled him out of this World Cup, and on Thursday afternoon he brought to Chepauk the warm glow of the familiar.Here he was, in that knowing way of his, choosing the blandest possible response to every press-conference question. Here he was, in that diffident way of his, making his way to the nets, his head momentarily turned by the noise of a dozen cameras snapping at him in burst mode. Here he was, in that finicky way of his, choosing which ball to force square on tiptoe and which ball – near-identical to the watcher from afar – to dab fine.Related

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Here he was, New Zealand’s captain, preparing for his first game of his fourth World Cup.Much has been made of this tournament showcasing a format going through an existential crisis. At the same time, though, this World Cup also showcases a format that’s experiencing a rare period of stability, with no major rule changes taking place between 2019 and 2023. For all of T20’s growing influence, Williamson doesn’t think ODIs have changed to any great degree in this time.”Yeah, I think with the number of T20 sort of World Cups that we’ve had, it’s probably meant that there’s been a lot more T20 cricket building up to those events,” he said. “Yeah, I mean it probably keeps evolving a little bit and there’s probably a bunch of things that still remain quite similar that you do need to still keep considering […] We saw in 2019 where there were expectations that there’ll be scores of 400-plus where in fact they were probably more [in the] 250 to 260 range, and so there’s still a lot of adjustment and adapting to the way you play that gives you the best chance, and I think every team does it a little bit differently.”New Zealand have brought to this World Cup a squad that allows them to bat differently in different conditions, and they’ll be thrilled at the timing of Williamson’s return. They won their first two games while rattling away at well over a run a ball on flat surfaces in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, but Chennai promises to be different. It’s here, perhaps, that they will most need Williamson’s skillset.Kane Williamson bats at the nets•ICC/Getty ImagesNo team has made 300 in the last 12 ODIs at Chepauk, and Sunday’s World Cup clash between India and Australia was decided by Test-match virtues. India won because they bowled with better control for longer, and because their batters showed greater staying power in tricky conditions.New Zealand already possess plenty of staying power in Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell and Tom Latham – all proven Test batters – but in conditions that are likely to bring spin into play, and against a Bangladesh attack made for those conditions, they’ll gladly welcome more of it.You don’t need reminding of all the times Williamson’s staying power has won New Zealand World Cup games, but here’s a recap anyway. Auckland, where Mitchell Starc looked all but unstoppable. Birmingham, where Williamson masterminded a seesawing chase of 242. Manchester, where he turned 7 for 2 into a total of 291. Manchester, again, where he scrapped away in seaming conditions to give New Zealand a total they could bowl at.For every ODI that looks like an extended T20 slugfest, there’s one that ebbs and flows like a condensed Test match. These tend to occur quite often at World Cups, for a number of reasons. They feature a number of matches on used pitches, for one. Perhaps more crucially, teams bring their best attacks to these tournaments, having spent much of the build-up resting key bowlers and testing out new faces.It’s against the best attacks and in less-than-ideal conditions that the best batters stand out from the crowd.This is why teams won’t worry too much about their linchpins even if they’ve not scored too many runs in the lead-up to the tournament. Joe Root scored one fifty and made seven scores of 11 or less in his last nine ODI innings before this World Cup, but it was no surprise to anyone that he began the tournament with back-to-back scores of 77 and 82. Williamson, dogged by injury, has played only 12 ODIs since the 2019 World Cup, scored his runs at a strike rate of 70.33 – well below his career figure of 80.97 – and hasn’t featured in the format since January.It’s likely, though, that none of this will matter on Friday. There’s every chance, instead, that Williamson will mark his guard, waggle his bat behind him in that twitchy way of his, and flow into his drives like 2019 never went away.

In a turn of events too improbable for Hollywood, a cricketer from Afghanistan became a feted hero deep in the heart of Texas

Peter Della Penna31-Jul-2023One of the burgeoning traditions that has quickly become a staple of the first season of Major League Cricket in Texas, as it is in the IPL, is the sea of flags in the stands. Almost all of the franchises involved in each night’s match made sure to have stacks of flags ready to hand out to fans as they walked in through the gates of Grand Prairie Stadium.There were hundreds of neon green Seattle Orcas flags waving in the grandstand at Sunday night’s final. These were engulfed by thousands of blue MI New York flags. Being a sporting event in the USA, a few fans brought in Old Glory to twirl around, and another American flag arrived into the stadium before the start of play courtesy of a parachute jump team.But the flags that arguably stood out most of all at Grand Prairie Stadium were the distinct tri-colour black, red and green of Afghanistan. Seemingly in every corner of the stadium, there was at least one, and usually two, Afghanistan tricolour banners parading around and being waved in tandem.Related

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Two decades ago, when the US military invaded Afghanistan, the latter’s national cricket team did not exist. A men’s side playing under the aegis of the Afghanistan Cricket Board did not appear in an Asian Cricket Council tournament – let alone an ICC one – until June 2004. On that day, Nawroz Mangal opened the batting with a century while an unknown 19-year-old spinner named Mohammad Nabi led the bowling attack taking 3 for 28 in a four-wicket loss to Oman at an empty Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur. Rashid Khan was just a five-year-old boy then.Fast forward 19 years to a scene in Grand Prairie, Texas that would have seemed infinitely more ludicrous than the moment in “Back to the Future Part II” where Marty McFly gets out of Doc Brown’s DeLorean time machine to walk into the centre of Hill Valley in October 2015. A very confused Marty, played by Michael J Fox, looks up at a flashing neon news ticker to see an update that the Chicago Cubs have just beaten a team from Miami – a baseball franchise that didn’t exist in the Back to the Future realm of 1985 – to win their first World Series since 1908.Nicholas Pooran scored an extraordinary hundred in the chase•SportzpicsIt’s highly improbable that even the brilliant mind of Robert Zemeckis could have concocted a Hollywood story where a boy from war-torn Afghanistan in 2004 becomes one of the biggest stars in international cricket and is feted by the masses in the Lone Star State in the summer of 2023. Texas is a place with as nascent a cricket heritage as the one Afghanistan had in 2004, which was a time when most Texans’ – like most other Americans of the time – only thoughts about Afghanistan revolved around hunting down Osama bin Laden.But when Rashid showed up for his first match in Texas for New York on the night of July 17 – fresh out of a business class seat on a flight from Bangladesh where he had just finished captaining the Afghanistan T20I side – the fans in Grand Prairie Stadium went delirious. It was sheer pandemonium in the front row of section 101 on the southwest grandstand of the venue near where Rashid was fielding on the boundary at wide long-off. Things got so rowdy from a crush of fans crowding the front five rows in search of selfies and autographs during the first innings when New York were fielding that extra security guards had to be re-assigned to the area to disperse the throngs of fans who did not have tickets in the section.It was no surprise, then, that when the starting line-ups for the final on Sunday night were shouted over the loudspeakers by stadium public address announcer Aaman Patel – who himself is another too-good-to-be-true character, a North Carolina native who was one year old when Afghanistan played their first match in 2004 – that Rashid got the most raucous ovation. And even on a night when New York stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran scored one of the most extraordinary centuries in a T20 franchise league final anywhere in the world, it was Rashid who continued to be the pied piper for fans all around the ground.Rashid Khan registered figures of 4-0-9-3•SportzpicsThough the match had been announced as a sellout for weeks, there was some mild curiosity as to what the atmosphere would be like without the presence of the Texas Super Kings in the final. Though the crowds at the 7200-capacity Grand Prairie Stadium had been consistently healthy throughout the tournament, only matches involving the hometown Super Kings had been sellouts prior to the final. But the long traffic lines coming off the South Belt Line Road Exit to the stadium entrance at Lone Star Parkway, which were snaking around the adjacent Lone Star Racetrack parking lot 90 minutes before play, quelled any doubts that the inaugural MLC final would be anything less than a grand occasion.As special as Pooran’s unbeaten and chanceless 137 not out off 55 balls was – studded with 13 sixes and a hundred which arrived after just 40 balls – the screams, shouts and cries for Rashid before, during and after his sensational spell of 3 for 9 (seriously?! A 2.25 economy and 19 dot balls on a night when every other bowler went for more than a run a ball) were relentless from start to finish, and continued well after Pooran jammed out a yorker through fine leg for the winning runs. During the victory celebrations on the field, there were regular calls in the stands from fans shouting for an autograph or a selfie with, “Nicky!”, “Polly!” “Trent!” and “David!”But outside of the appearance made by New York’s billionaire owner Nita Ambani, who showed up along the sidelines to take pictures with her team’s joyous fans, the only other person requiring a robust security presence to keep over-exuberant fans from losing control in their zesty fervour to get close to their hero was “Rashid! Rashid!” After spending a considerable amount of time taking selfies and signing autographs with fans, Rashid was finally yanked away by the New York team officials, who were waiting for him to come back to the team bus before commencing with further victory celebrations back at the team hotel.Over the course of the last three weeks, there were a series of far-fetched fantasies most people would never have believed possible a generation ago. A sold-out cricket stadium to watch a domestic franchise league in Texas, let alone anywhere else in the USA, would have seemed more miraculous than turning water into wine. But a globetrotting, multi-millionaire, best-T20-bowler-in-the-world legspinner from Afghanistan being showered with pure unadulterated love by American sports fans on US soil would have simply been far too good to be true. At Sunday night’s Major League Cricket final in Grand Prairie, Texas, seeing was believing.

There is a three-way battle for a confirmed spot in the women’s final

Sampath Bandarupalli21-Aug-2023ESPNcricinfo LtdMen’s tournament
Oval Invincibles – Wins 5, Points 11
Oval Invincibles stand on the top of the table, leading second-placed Manchester Originals by two points. However, Originals have a better net-run-rate (NRR) than Invincibles. If Invincibles register a win against the Trent Rockets on Monday, they will directly qualify for the final.However, a defeat would mean they would rely on a favour from Southern Brave to defeat Originals, who would climb to the top via NRR if they won.Manchester Originals – Wins 4, Points 9
Manchester Originals have a chance of qualifying for the final directly if they beat Southern Brave in the last match, as long as Trent Rockets do them a favour by defeating Oval Invincibles on Monday. Despite being close to a direct final qualification, Originals are not yet confirmed of their play-off berth as they could fall as low as fifth if results go against them.Though Originals have the best NRR among the eight teams in the men’s competition, they could finish below Southern Brave if they lose to them by a margin of around 42 runs. If that happens, Rockets will also finish ahead of the Originals on NRR irrespective of their win margin against Invincibles.Though Welsh Fire are behind Originals on NRR by more than 100 runs, they can also move ahead of Originals – if Brave defeat Originals by 42 runs and Fire win against the Northern Superchargers by around 62 runs.If Rockets beat Invincibles on Monday, Originals have to make sure they don’t lose by more than 41 runs to Brave and hope Welsh Fire can’t catch them on the NRR. And if Rockets lose on Monday, Originals will be confirmed to finish in the top three if they can ensure their losing margin against Brave is less than 42 runs.A win on Monday night would do wonders for Rockets’ play-off chances•ECB/Getty ImagesTrent Rockets – Wins 3, Points 7
Trent Rockets will more or less seal their place in the playoffs with a win against Invincibles on Monday. However, there is a chance they could miss out despite finishing with nine points – but they could qualify for playoffs even with a loss against Invincibles. For that to happen, they need Southern Brave, Welsh Fire and London Spirit to lose their last matches.Rockets must ensure they don’t lose by more than 45 runs, as any margin higher than that would push them below Brave’s current NRR. And in case Rockets lose by 75 runs to Invincibles, they will need the following results:
a. Brave lose to Originals by at least 31 runs.
b. Welsh Fire to lose by at least 13 runs against Superchargers. But Superchargers shouldn’t win by more than 43 runs.At the same time, the Rockets could still miss out on a top-three finish, despite a modest win by 15 runs. The following results, if they occur, could see the Rockets miss out on playoffs even after a 15-run win:
a. Brave to beat Originals by 58 runs, Originals do not lose by more than 26 runs.
b. Fire beat Superchargers by 79 runsSouthern Brave – Wins 3, Points 7
Southern Brave, the 2021 champions, could miss out on the playoffs for the second straight season if they lose to Originals in their last league match. Although, just a win might not be enough for Brave as they would need to win by at least 42 runs against Originals to move past them on NRR. Trent Rockets are likely to finish ahead of Brave if they win against Invincibles, while Welsh Fire could also catch up with a big win.Scenarios for Brave if they win:
1. Brave, Rockets and Fire win: Brave’s margin of win against Originals should be either 43 runs higher than Rockets’ win margin against Invincibles or within 17 runs of Welsh Fire’s margin against Superchargers.
2. Brave win by less than 42 runs: Rockets should lose to Invincibles, and Brave’s win margin should not be less than 16 runs of Fire’s margin against Superchargers.Brave, in fact, could end up in the play-offs even with a defeat – but that requires Rockets to suffer a big defeat as they are currently about 40 runs ahead of Brave on NRR. They would also need London Spirit and Welsh Fire to lose their respective matches, and at the same time, Northern Superchargers should defeat Fire by a handsome margin which could see them overhauling Brave’s NRR. If Brave lose by 20 runs to Originals, the only way Superchargers can go ahead is with a win as big as 50 runs.Welsh Fire kept their play-off hopes alive on Sunday night•Getty ImagesWelsh Fire – Wins 3, Points 7
Welsh Fire have won three of their seven completed matches this year, the same they won across the first two seasons combined. But they would need more than just a win in their last match to be assured of a place in the play-offs. They are currently 60 runs behind on NRR of Trent Rockets and about 19 runs behind Brave, the other two teams likely to end up with nine points.If the Rockets win, then Welsh Fire’s win margin against Superchargers must be beyond 60 runs. If the Rockets lose, then Welsh’s fate relies on the margin in the Originals-Brave match.A loss for Welsh Fire could make things complicated for them with already a poor NRR. In addition to Rockets and Brave’s defeats, Fire would also need London Spirit to lose as they could finish with eight points. Fire would also face a potential threat from their opponent of the last game Northern Superchargers, who will end with seven points but have a poorer NRR.London Spirit and Northern Superchargers are relying on other results working in their favour•Getty ImagesLondon Spirit – Wins 3, Points 6
London Spirit, unlike the remaining teams in contention, won’t have the NRR headache. All they need to qualify is for Rockets, Brave and Fire to lose their last matches and finish with seven points. If that happens, Spirit, who face Phoenix in the final league match, must win to seal the third place.Northern Superchargers – Wins 2, Points 5
Four consecutive defeats pushed Superchargers to seventh in the points table and left a heavy dent in their NRR. However, they still have an outside chance of making it to the play-offs. For that to happen, they would need to defeat Welsh Fire in their last league match and expect the results in all three other matches to work their way – Rockets, Brave and Spirit to lose.That would still not be enough for Superchargers due to their NRR, as they would need nearly 115 runs to cover between them and Trent Rockets, who have the best NRR of the teams likely to finish with seven points. If the Superchargers win by 75 runs against Fire after the Rockets suffer a 40-run defeat to Invincibles, they will end up with the best NRR among the teams with 7 points and finish third.ESPNcricinfo LtdWomen’s tournament
Southern Brave (12 points) are best placed for the direct route to the final, as a win against Manchester Originals (11 points) in their last league match would be enough for them. However, they can earn it even with a narrow defeat against Originals if Superchargers also secure a close win against Welsh Fire (10 points) on Tuesday.Brave and Superchargers are separated by more than 20 runs on NRR ahead of the last round of the league phase. Welsh Fire would need to beat Superchargers and hope Brave lose against Originals on Wednesday to finish as the table-topper.Brave will be in a must-win situation on Wednesday if Fire defeat Superchargers, or Superchargers beat Fire by about 22 runs, or with around 16 balls to spare.

There has been no shortage of sixes this season while young pace bowlers have caught the attention

Andrew McGlashan07-Nov-2023

Grace Harris’ broken bat

It will be hard to go past it as moment of the season: Grace Harris calling for a new bat then proceeding to still launch a huge six despite the bat snapping in half having said: “Nah, stuff it, I’ll still hit it.” Next ball, with a new bat in hand, she launched another six in what became an astonishing WBBL record 136 not out off 59 balls with 11 sixes.

"I need a new bat… nah, stuff it. I'll hit it anyway"

Absolute gold from Grace Harris #WBBL09 pic.twitter.com/ALTwrJOWRH

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

It came after Harris had been left out of the T20I series against West Indies with Australia opting to use Phoebe Litchfield in the middle order. “Thought it [the handle] just clicked a little bit and didn’t want to be given nicked off as the ball went past and I didn’t hit the ball,” she said. “When I faced up, I thought it’s probably hanging on, when they get that looser handle they are at their best, they are pinging. Thought I’d still hit it for six, they’d been going miles today…it went for six, so paid off for me then.”

Sixes rain

It helps when Harris hits 11 on her own in one innings, but there has been no shortage of sixes in this year’s edition. Closing on the midway mark there have been 148 meaning this season has a good chance of challenging 2018-19 season when there were 266 in total. Alongside Harris, Chamari Athapaththu (13) and Litchfield (10) – more on Sydney Thunder’s success below – are both into double figures of sixes. It’s worth noting, however, that Katie Mack who, for a few hours, was the tournament’s leading run-scorer has yet to clear the rope once in nearly 300 runs.Grace Harris produced the moment of the season so far•Getty Images

Where’s the third umpire?

The controversy so far this season has revolved around the absence of a third umpire in the non free-to-air TV games of the tournament. It first came to light when Rhys McKenna was given out stumped (via the ball bouncing off the wicketkeeper) despite the foot being firmly planted behind the line. A few days later, Amanda-Jade Wellington tried to affect a run out by pulling out the stump but got her timing marginally wrong – something that would have been spotted by a replay. And Lizelle Lee was given a huge reprieve early in her 91 against Sydney Thunder when she was ruled not out to a stumping.There will be an increase in fully-produced TV games under the new broadcast deal next season which will allow wider use of the full DRS that was first brought in last summer. Cricket Australia has also said they will look to have a third umpire for line decisions in all games, including those that are still only streamed. However, former New Zealand wicketkeeper Katey Martin called for an immediate in-season solution although that appears unlikely to happen.

Eye on the speed gun

There is some pace around the Australian game, and that’s even with Darcie Brown having been out injured so far this season. Milly Illingworth, the Melbourne Stars quick, stood out in the opening game when she nudged 121kph against Sydney Sixers and wasn’t afraid to bounce Ash Gardner. She has been used sparingly by Stars, and is not a fixture in the XI, but the promise is hugely exciting.

Welcome to the Big Bash, Milly Illingworth!

Keep an eye on this 18-year old. #WBBL09 pic.twitter.com/d0UZhM5GKr

— Weber Women's Big Bash League (@WBBL) October 19, 2023

“She probably took me by surprise a little bit,” Gardner said. “I watched a little bit of footage [before the match], but you probably don’t get the full grasp until you face her. She had some pretty good pace behind her, which is exciting for Australian cricket.”Chloe Ainsworth has been more of a regular for Perth Scorchers and marked her debut with a double-wicket opening over which included a searing second-ball yorker to remove Lee. She then found herself on a hat-trick against Sixers before, like the rest of the attack, coming in for some treatment from Harris. In the return fixture against Hurricanes, Ainsworth then claimed 3 for 25. She was visibly emotional when unable to defend 12 in the last over against Adelaide Strikers.Over at Melbourne Renegades, left-armer Sara Kennedy is another who has been given her first taste of the WBBL. The left-arm pace angle is rare in the women’s game and she, too, is capable of nudging up the speed gun as she showed at the WACA where she claimed her maiden wickets – striking twice in three balls including having Gardner lbw.

Thunder’s revival

The only way was up for Sydney Thunder after they registered one victory last season, but they have certainly shown promising signs of a turnaround. Approaching the midway point of the campaign they are top having notched five wins in six matches including a significant victory over Brisbane Heat at North Sydney Oval under a new leadership group headed by Lisa Keightley. It had felt as though they had put together an excellent draft by securing Marizanne Kapp, Heather Knight and Lauren Bell, but it has been their fourth signing, Athapaththu, who has been the revelation and has forced herself into their top three overseas, meaning Bell has been benched. Coupled with the evolving power hitting of Litchfield and the resurgence of Hannah Darlington, they are looking a very well-balanced team. Belinda Clark, the former Australia captain, has also been working with them in mentoring capacity.

Since the start of 2022 no batter with a significant portfolio against spin has scored quicker than him, and this shot, which goes against what makes a pull a pull, plays a big role in that

Karthik Krishnaswamy26-Oct-20232:25

Klaasen on being labeled as the ‘best finisher’ and working on his six-hitting

When is a pull no longer a pull? If you’re the kind of person who spends an unhealthy amount of time dwelling on the precise meanings of cricketing terms, you might find yourself pondering this when you watch Heinrich Klaasen play the pull.Defined most simply, the pull is a horizontal-bat shot hit across the line of a short-pitched ball. Klaasen’s pull, particularly against spin bowling, routinely fails to check all three of those boxes.Consider the one he hit off Adil Rashid en route to his 67-ball 109 against England at the Wankhede Stadium. It could hardly be described as a horizontal-bat shot, since his bat was at something like a 45-degree angle to the ground. He didn’t hit across the line of the ball as much as through it, his bat swing tending towards that of a back-foot drive on the up.A rendition of the pull that has brought Heinrich Klaasen so much success against spin•ICC/Getty ImagesAnd the ball from Rashid was really not short at all. It was a more-or-less good-length ball, a wrong ‘un probably destined to miss leg stump at slightly below stump height. Klaasen shifted his weight on to the back foot and swung his hip open so his front leg was well outside leg stump, brusquely reclaiming the room that the bowler had tried so assiduously to deny him. From this position he swung his bat through an arc both smooth and ferocious, his arms at full extension, and launched the ball well beyond the wide long-on boundary.This was a shot that occupied the outer limits of what a pull is and does – not really a pull at all, but nonetheless the most devastating of pulls. The Klaasen pull may, in fact, be even more than that; it may well be the most devastating weapon against spin in all white-ball cricket.!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();